I've been looking for a car for Rob, and am about to get serious, as money has magically appeared for it! I'm primarily looking via Craigslist, but also dealer-related sites like cars.com, vehix.com and the Star-Ledger's on-line site. Also occasionally trolling local dealer's inventories. I have found that many people have no freakin' idea of how to advertise a car!
For example, take a look at this ad from Craigslist -
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02 VW Jetta grey/blk - $4800 (Iselin)
Date: 2010-06-07, 4:00PM EDT
Reply to: ************
runs great, rides great,great on gas, ice cold A/C , pwdl, pw/windows
* Location: Iselin
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
**************************************************
Included is a low front 3/4 shot. So, no info on engine (there are 4 different types available in the Jetta) or trans (auto or manual??). No indication of the number of miles! No model (again, there are several different models available). No contact info other than going through the Craigslist contact (which can be slow). But at least they note the location, many ads will say 'New Jersey' or 'North Jersey', which isn't much help, considering it takes me an hour in either direction to reach the borders of the state!
This guy is advertising his services as a mechanic -
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MG Triumph British Car Mechanic (Windham, NY)
Date: 2010-04-28, 5:04PM EDT
Reply to: sale-eb8ev-1715034096@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
MG Triumph, British Car Mechanic available to help complete your restoration project or repairs to British Cars.
The shop is located in Windham NY area, reasonable rates by the hour or the job. Many MGB parts available!
Jack
*************************************************
So what is missing? How about a telephone number of e-mail? Or an address? Geez....
And why can't people take 10 minutes and give the car a quick cleaning before they take pictures? I mean, really....
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Freecycle Strangeness
I recently re-started my membership to a couple of Freecycle sites, trying to locate some free furniture for AJ's off-campus house for this summer. If you don't know what Freecycle is, it is a series of Yahoo! groups that allow members to advertise stuff that they are getting rid of for free, instead of sending it to a landfill. It's a great site (I belong to a local Princeton group as well as one in Delaware) but there is wacky stuff on it pretty frequently. Here are a few from the last couple of days -
- OFFERED in Plainsboro interesting contents of top desk drawer!
TI 60 calculator,Silva Hiking and Orienteering Compass, staple remover, box of JT 21 quarter inch staples, two plastic coasters with cork inserts,vinyl covered clipboard folder thing, fountain tech pen with refills, Bates Model K Listfinder with quite a few original page inserts, chalk ball, the type athletes use on hands. Yes, weird, but interesting assortment, please take all and share what you don't need.
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- Wanted: Pick for guitar; used or new. Thanks.
First time learning to play guitar, so any good pick is fine.
Thanks.
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- OFFER: Grapefruit (Plainsboro)
I have 4 grapefruits if anyone is interested.
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- wanted-hand mannequin-hopewell
Does anyone have a hand mannequin that I could use? I'm knitting fingerless
mitts for a church fair and would like to display them.
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- OFFER: tree leaves, Pennington area
A long shot, I'm sure - I'm still raking up leaves from last autumn. Does anybody need or want some? Compost or mulch? Let me know.
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- OFFERED in Plainsboro interesting contents of top desk drawer!
TI 60 calculator,Silva Hiking and Orienteering Compass, staple remover, box of JT 21 quarter inch staples, two plastic coasters with cork inserts,vinyl covered clipboard folder thing, fountain tech pen with refills, Bates Model K Listfinder with quite a few original page inserts, chalk ball, the type athletes use on hands. Yes, weird, but interesting assortment, please take all and share what you don't need.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Wanted: Pick for guitar; used or new. Thanks.
First time learning to play guitar, so any good pick is fine.
Thanks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- OFFER: Grapefruit (Plainsboro)
I have 4 grapefruits if anyone is interested.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- wanted-hand mannequin-hopewell
Does anyone have a hand mannequin that I could use? I'm knitting fingerless
mitts for a church fair and would like to display them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- OFFER: tree leaves, Pennington area
A long shot, I'm sure - I'm still raking up leaves from last autumn. Does anybody need or want some? Compost or mulch? Let me know.
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Monday, April 5, 2010
Deathride 2010....
I had an interesting ride back from UDelaware yesterday, after driving AJ back to school after spring break. The normal 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hour ride turned into an almost 3 hour odyssey (in our Odyssey). So here is what happened....
I by-passed the Delaware Memorial Bridge as the traffic on I95 in Delaware was backed up exiting onto the approach to the bridge. No big deal, I have done this before, simply taking I95 north through Wilmington and then cutting over to New Jersey via the Commodore Barry Bridge at Chester, PA. This then leads you to Route 130 which then dumps you onto I295. Mission accomplished, I settled in for the remainder of the drive home. Traffic was heavy, and about 5 miles south of the I295-I76 interchange in Bellmawr, there was a large construction zone, with 2 right lanes and one left lane that was actually on the southbound side. Signs indicated that you should bear right for local exits, but not realizing this ALSO meant the I295-I76 interchange, I jumped into the left lane as there was very little traffic in it. As I entered this crazy intersection, with a lot of traffic and multiple lanes, cars crossing over, etc., I saw that I had 2 options - stay on I76 and take the Walt Whitman Bridge into Philadelphia or take I676 north towards Camden. I did the latter, figuring I could find a way to cut over to I295 again. No luck with that, as there was no signage on I676 indicating how one could get back to I295. At that point, I figured that I would simply cruise over the Ben Franklin Bridge and take I95 north again and back to home.
Unfortunately, I continued to outsmart myself....! I saw the signs for the waterfront district of Camden, where the aquarium is, and knew that the main road that led to the aquarium also led directly back to I295 and the NJ Turnpike, so I got off at that exit. Instead of heading towards the waterfront to my left, for some reason I went straight through the light and ended up in a very bad section of Camden, known as the Red Zone.... This is when I determined that if I got a flat tire, I would continue to drive on the flat tire! I wandered around this area, trying not to stop moving and avoiding looking around as much as I could, until I saw a street that went a ways back the way I had come. I ended up next to the Rutgers Camden campus and took Cooper Ave back to I676 and went back the way I had come. End of story?
Well, no. Once I got back to the I76-I295 interchange, I somehow again missed the signs for I295 North and ended up on Route 42 South, heading towards Atlantic City! I went about 6 miles down this road before I realized that it wasn't I295! Once I got turned around north again, the traffic was backed up due to an accident. At that point, I got my iPhone out and started looking at the Maps app to see where the heck I was.... The next exit had a 'To NJ Tpke' sign, so I took that, along with most of the other cars sitting in the traffic jam..... This was Route 168. It took me about 20 minutes to get to the Turnpike, getting on at Exit 3. Almost immediately I see the signs warning of 'heavy delays ahead'.... Fortunately, I knew that Exit 4 would put you right back onto I295 (they Turnpike and I295 are only about a mile apart at that point). So, back on I295, basically just north of where I had gotten messed up an hour earlier!
I left AJ's dorm at Delaware at 6:30 pm and arrived home at 9:20 pm.
I by-passed the Delaware Memorial Bridge as the traffic on I95 in Delaware was backed up exiting onto the approach to the bridge. No big deal, I have done this before, simply taking I95 north through Wilmington and then cutting over to New Jersey via the Commodore Barry Bridge at Chester, PA. This then leads you to Route 130 which then dumps you onto I295. Mission accomplished, I settled in for the remainder of the drive home. Traffic was heavy, and about 5 miles south of the I295-I76 interchange in Bellmawr, there was a large construction zone, with 2 right lanes and one left lane that was actually on the southbound side. Signs indicated that you should bear right for local exits, but not realizing this ALSO meant the I295-I76 interchange, I jumped into the left lane as there was very little traffic in it. As I entered this crazy intersection, with a lot of traffic and multiple lanes, cars crossing over, etc., I saw that I had 2 options - stay on I76 and take the Walt Whitman Bridge into Philadelphia or take I676 north towards Camden. I did the latter, figuring I could find a way to cut over to I295 again. No luck with that, as there was no signage on I676 indicating how one could get back to I295. At that point, I figured that I would simply cruise over the Ben Franklin Bridge and take I95 north again and back to home.
Unfortunately, I continued to outsmart myself....! I saw the signs for the waterfront district of Camden, where the aquarium is, and knew that the main road that led to the aquarium also led directly back to I295 and the NJ Turnpike, so I got off at that exit. Instead of heading towards the waterfront to my left, for some reason I went straight through the light and ended up in a very bad section of Camden, known as the Red Zone.... This is when I determined that if I got a flat tire, I would continue to drive on the flat tire! I wandered around this area, trying not to stop moving and avoiding looking around as much as I could, until I saw a street that went a ways back the way I had come. I ended up next to the Rutgers Camden campus and took Cooper Ave back to I676 and went back the way I had come. End of story?
Well, no. Once I got back to the I76-I295 interchange, I somehow again missed the signs for I295 North and ended up on Route 42 South, heading towards Atlantic City! I went about 6 miles down this road before I realized that it wasn't I295! Once I got turned around north again, the traffic was backed up due to an accident. At that point, I got my iPhone out and started looking at the Maps app to see where the heck I was.... The next exit had a 'To NJ Tpke' sign, so I took that, along with most of the other cars sitting in the traffic jam..... This was Route 168. It took me about 20 minutes to get to the Turnpike, getting on at Exit 3. Almost immediately I see the signs warning of 'heavy delays ahead'.... Fortunately, I knew that Exit 4 would put you right back onto I295 (they Turnpike and I295 are only about a mile apart at that point). So, back on I295, basically just north of where I had gotten messed up an hour earlier!
I left AJ's dorm at Delaware at 6:30 pm and arrived home at 9:20 pm.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Dixie's Latest Conquest
So yesterday Dixie decided to stalk and take out some sort of creature in our back yard. I am not sure what it is, but it was fairly large and had some fight in it.
She had been whining about going out several times during the course of the morning. Right after non, she went out and was just standing on the patio gazing intently towards the back fence. I thought she was having one of her Alzheimer's moments where she goes outside then apparently forgets why she wanted to go out.... Kind of like me going to the grocery store without a list. Then I looked up and saw something waddling across the yard at the base of the fence. Dixie spotted it the same time as me, and she took off like I haven't seen her run in a couple of years. I yelled after her, then assumed that whatever it was would get under the chain-link fence between our yard and the Hamiltons. Once I saw her pounce and start growling and shaking her head back and forth violently, I knew that wasn't going to be the case. It was kind of gruesome, as she was very single-minded and focused on apparently killing the poor beast. That took a couple of minutes, and then she came out from behind the tree in the corner of the yard with the carcass drooping in her mouth. I finally got her to put it down and come to me. She was covered in blood, and looked like she had two big burises under her eyes on the side of her muzzle... I could not tell whether the blood was from her or the animal but I feared the worst and started thinking about how to protect the interior of my car if I had to take her to the vet...
Well, long story short, I got her into the bath tub and all of the blood washed off, although the sides of the tub and shower looked like the shower scene from Psycho as she shook herself off several times during the ordeal. The bad part for her was that I would not let her back outside until Rob came home from school 2 hours later to help me dispose of the remains!
She had been whining about going out several times during the course of the morning. Right after non, she went out and was just standing on the patio gazing intently towards the back fence. I thought she was having one of her Alzheimer's moments where she goes outside then apparently forgets why she wanted to go out.... Kind of like me going to the grocery store without a list. Then I looked up and saw something waddling across the yard at the base of the fence. Dixie spotted it the same time as me, and she took off like I haven't seen her run in a couple of years. I yelled after her, then assumed that whatever it was would get under the chain-link fence between our yard and the Hamiltons. Once I saw her pounce and start growling and shaking her head back and forth violently, I knew that wasn't going to be the case. It was kind of gruesome, as she was very single-minded and focused on apparently killing the poor beast. That took a couple of minutes, and then she came out from behind the tree in the corner of the yard with the carcass drooping in her mouth. I finally got her to put it down and come to me. She was covered in blood, and looked like she had two big burises under her eyes on the side of her muzzle... I could not tell whether the blood was from her or the animal but I feared the worst and started thinking about how to protect the interior of my car if I had to take her to the vet...
Well, long story short, I got her into the bath tub and all of the blood washed off, although the sides of the tub and shower looked like the shower scene from Psycho as she shook herself off several times during the ordeal. The bad part for her was that I would not let her back outside until Rob came home from school 2 hours later to help me dispose of the remains!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Olympics Wrap-Up
Well, the Vancouver Olympics are wrapping up tonight, the last event was the men's hockey, won by Canada, 3-2. The US got the silver.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the Olympics overall. I prefer the winter games to the summer, almost every event in the winter is cool, even the curling and the biathlon (x-country skiing and shooting). The venues were nice, and the scenery in and around Vancouver was tremendous. I suspect there will be a dramatic increase in the tourism to that area over the next couple of years.... I know I would like to visit there!
The medal count ended up with the US #1, with 37, followed by Germany with 30 and Canada with a respectable 26, after a slow start - and a lot of pressure! And the Canadians ended up with the most gold medal, with 14. So, good for them. They put on a great show and deserved all of the success that they had, especially since they didn't beat the US in medal count!
The first week, I watched almost everything, but by the time the second Tuesday rolled around, I have to say that my interest was waning a bit. Too much Bob Costas will do that to you, I guess. And the coverage was a bit irritating, too, as it was impossible to not see what happened suring the day before NBC showed it at night. If you spend any time on-line or watch any TV, it's hard not to see what's going on..... And of course, the sappy segments are a bit much. But the athletes are very impressive, many of them not just one-trick ponies but real people with real lives outside their sports and ready to make contributions to society once their competition days are over (Shaun White excepted - enough with him, already).
Don't know who will have the next winter Olympics (ok, I looked it up, Sochi in Russia. So we'll be ready for the Putin Games, I guess...) but they will have a hard time outdoing our friends to the north. Congrats, eh!
I have to say that I really enjoyed the Olympics overall. I prefer the winter games to the summer, almost every event in the winter is cool, even the curling and the biathlon (x-country skiing and shooting). The venues were nice, and the scenery in and around Vancouver was tremendous. I suspect there will be a dramatic increase in the tourism to that area over the next couple of years.... I know I would like to visit there!
The medal count ended up with the US #1, with 37, followed by Germany with 30 and Canada with a respectable 26, after a slow start - and a lot of pressure! And the Canadians ended up with the most gold medal, with 14. So, good for them. They put on a great show and deserved all of the success that they had, especially since they didn't beat the US in medal count!
The first week, I watched almost everything, but by the time the second Tuesday rolled around, I have to say that my interest was waning a bit. Too much Bob Costas will do that to you, I guess. And the coverage was a bit irritating, too, as it was impossible to not see what happened suring the day before NBC showed it at night. If you spend any time on-line or watch any TV, it's hard not to see what's going on..... And of course, the sappy segments are a bit much. But the athletes are very impressive, many of them not just one-trick ponies but real people with real lives outside their sports and ready to make contributions to society once their competition days are over (Shaun White excepted - enough with him, already).
Don't know who will have the next winter Olympics (ok, I looked it up, Sochi in Russia. So we'll be ready for the Putin Games, I guess...) but they will have a hard time outdoing our friends to the north. Congrats, eh!
Friday, February 19, 2010
'70's Cultural Icons - Clothing Edition
For some reason, last night I started randomly searching in Google for various '70's clothing items, and came up with some great stuff....
Earth shoes - these are probably the reason that I have back issues today! If man was mean to walk with our heel lower than our toes, we would have been born with our heels in a hole....
Frye boots - oh yeah, these were the coolest things ever, and the switching back from these to Earth shoes probably contributed to my achy back!
A popular fabric back in the day, Qiana, was also an effective way of losing weight, as it would trap any and all sweat against your body....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiana
Nike Cortez - the first sneaker they made, I had a pair when they came out in the early '70's. Funny to see them back in stores now.....
And, of course, bell bottoms! I had a pair of hip-hugger, denim bell bottoms that were my favorite pants for decades... ummm, years......
Platform shoes, anyone? I had a pair of plain brown ones very similar to these. Worked perfectly with the bell bottom jeans!
Seems to me I wore a powder blue tux to my Senior HS Prom, probably not unlike this one...
Ahhh, good times for sure.....
Earth shoes - these are probably the reason that I have back issues today! If man was mean to walk with our heel lower than our toes, we would have been born with our heels in a hole....
Frye boots - oh yeah, these were the coolest things ever, and the switching back from these to Earth shoes probably contributed to my achy back!
A popular fabric back in the day, Qiana, was also an effective way of losing weight, as it would trap any and all sweat against your body....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiana
Nike Cortez - the first sneaker they made, I had a pair when they came out in the early '70's. Funny to see them back in stores now.....
And, of course, bell bottoms! I had a pair of hip-hugger, denim bell bottoms that were my favorite pants for decades... ummm, years......
Platform shoes, anyone? I had a pair of plain brown ones very similar to these. Worked perfectly with the bell bottom jeans!
Seems to me I wore a powder blue tux to my Senior HS Prom, probably not unlike this one...
Ahhh, good times for sure.....
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