Well, Well, Tire Discounters

Look, no one reads this blog, so here's a secret (kinda).

In 2014, I was in a commercial shoot that was for TV and print.

I sent an email a year or so ago when they were using some of the video to make web commercials that were on Youtube, but got no reply from my agency, which is fine, but last night I had to send another email.

Why?

That's me. It's from the video we shot in 2014. (you can stop watching after the first few seconds).

So, here's the deal: they shouldn't do that. I'm not sure about the details of the actual contract, but they should have paid for this specific use, and if it expired at some point, which it very well may have, well, that's just a little sketchy to do, in my opinion. *update* I've seen all 6 of these Cincinnati ones so far, one not far from my house! The photo above is 1 of the 3 in the Dayton area, of which I've seen 2. The other is far enough out of the way that I have no plans to make that journey!

**update 2: I actually called the 2 billboard companies and asked nicely "hey, LOL, I'm on a Tire Discounters billboard, who knew that image would be used, you know? I'm curious, and I totally understand if you can't tell me, but as I have friends and family that would like to see one, how many of these are there?" It was all super friendly, as I am like that, and they happily told me there were 3 in Dayton (she gave me the locations and said she'd never talked to someone on one of their billboards!) and 6 in Cincinnati (she told me there were 2 separate "buys" and that they had only 6 of the 9 total). I was nice, they were nice, so that was all good.

NOW, be sure, I will allow the agency to handle this, (and they are working on it) and I'm not going to drag TD on social media, especially because, although I doubt it, the contract may have included all uses: but as no one will read this, the secret is safe on here.

Here's another from last May that used me.  And another.

Here's one from the crop of web ads on youtube that spurred my email in 2017.

** Update in March: Oh, I'm, looking for tires, and guess who is all over the TD website?

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On a side note, on my website, I've added affiliate links for photo stuff, here they are as well, if you want to buy anything and make me some small commissions! Thanks!

Stuff I own and use:

XT1: https://amzn.to/2BX0dOd

XM1(with XC16-50): https://amzn.to/2BZKYnU

XF 35mm WR: https://amzn.to/2UcWDXv

XC50-230: https://amzn.to/2GR3Jhm

Tripod Ball Head: https://amzn.to/2XntgUe

Soft Bag Inserts (make any bag a camera bag): https://amzn.to/2Ue3XSv There are color versions of this black insert, which I will buy if I replace these: the black makes it harder to see black lens caps, etc... :)

Newer versions of my "good" camera:

XT2: https://amzn.to/2Ud9mJI

XT3: https://amzn.to/2UenVMW

Friday Car Fun

Well, the search continues for the right TT, more on that in a bit.

First, after all this, don't think I've forgotten about my VW Things! Or VW Busses, for that matter! I need a daily driver, so that will have to wait (probably another 10 years, lol), but I still like to look.

Bus first: as the ad says, you aren't likely to find a bus that isn't a rusty shell for $5K, so I hope this finds a good home soon.

This Thing, on the other hand, is a little steep ($5500) for having no engine. I mean, yes, Thing prices are stupid high, but IT HAS NO ENGINE! :)

For example, there's this Thing that has an engine. And seats. And, well, pretty much everything. For a mere $1000 more, think of it, actually driving! Let me compare thee to a summer's thing...

This is a 1973 VW Thing. It runs and is roadworthy. In the past that has had floor pans replaced has some rust and dings (See pics). It could use some restoration and will need a new top. It has a roll cage and the heater, though I've never tried to use it. I put a new windshield, and master cylinder in recently. This car's a lot of fun to drive around!

I would so love to roll up to work every day in this...you see me rollin' in my orange Thing...

Compare again to this (very nice) $8900 Thing that is NOT ready to drive...

Don't forget about The Samba, I think the prices here are sometimes a little high (not like eBay, oy vey), but these are typically knowledgable folks on this site.  A nice online community, actually!

You will see ads there that are also on Craigslist and ebay, of course. There are definitely some that are asking a lot! I'm never sure if anyone ever gets what they are asking, of course, anywhere their ad may be posted! The one linked is actually cheaper on craigslist than the samba.

If you want to go large, here's a guy selling everything VW that he owns. $125,000.

So, I found a TT that checks all the boxes:

What are those, you ask? Quattro, Convertible, 225hp, Stickshift (6spd), not on runflats, not the green color I thought I liked till I drove one.

The guy had a problem, though, after the ad went up with the driver's door lock, and was like,  "call me in a week, it's not ready, we thought it was good to go, but now, no, uhm." He was super nice, not the usual used car feel to him, even though, yes, he's a used car guy.

He had 4 calls on it, he said, but I used the 'not the Dave Thomas from Wendy's" joke so he'd remember me. For this price, ($3550) I don't even care about the apparent tear in the driver's seat (I don't care for the baseball stitched look, but I can deal). I am ready to say "I won't even try to negotiate the price, I'll fly down as soon as I can get a flight."

On a side note, on my website, I've added affiliate links for photo stuff, here they are as well, if you want to buy anything and make me some small commissions! Thanks!

Stuff I own and use:

XT1: https://amzn.to/2BX0dOd

XM1(with XC16-50): https://amzn.to/2BZKYnU

XF 35mm WR: https://amzn.to/2UcWDXv

XC50-230: https://amzn.to/2GR3Jhm

Tripod Ball Head: https://amzn.to/2XntgUe

Soft Bag Inserts (make any bag a camera bag): https://amzn.to/2Ue3XSv There are color versions of this black insert, which I will buy if I replace these: the black makes it harder to see black lens caps, etc... :)

Newer versions of my "good" camera:

XT2: https://amzn.to/2Ud9mJI

XT3: https://amzn.to/2UenVMW

Car Curiosities

As you all know, I am in the market for a new (used) car. I have settled on the adorable little Audi TT Quattro, as I almost never transport more than one passenger, it's a stick, a convertible, and it's AWD.

Today's installment of my internet sleuthing (I am gathering comps to arm myself with a lowball offer to a local used dealer that has one that checks all the boxes, as he's asking about 1K too much, in my opinion) takes me to a car in Toledo, Ohio, that I spotted a week ago for the ridiculously low price of $2800.

They've listed it 3 different ways on the web, and while that's not that odd (their own site and those 2 craigslist ads), it gets more interesting....

I don't want this car as much, as it's FWD, but to double check I simply Googled the VIN and within a few clicks got this old Car Gurus ad:

What is remarkable that just a few years ago and only 3000 miles ago, this car was described as Original, Unmodified and Fully Maintained.

I have to go to Toledo for work on the 29th, so you know I'll do a drive by if it's still there!

Monday Musings

Plenty going on these days, not too much to write about, as far as I am concerned. Cars and house work, painting walls and assembling IKEA furniture, cleaning gutters, that kind of stuff.

We had a scare with a used car purchase, but the dealership handled it well and so did we, after initial freaking out! See, we've been looking for a car for my daughter (who is a college junior and living at home at the moment) as well as a car for me (my 98 Camry is approaching 250,000 miles and can't have much longer).  The day after we bought it (quickly) and traded in her nearly worthless Honda CRV (warped valves), we pulled the work history from our local dealership and they had recommended a new transmission just last September.

After much wringing of hands, we went and talked to the dealer and they were like "oh, that's crazy, we'd never sell a car like that, let's check that out independently" at the same time I actually called the previous owner to see if he'd gotten it fixed or checked out and determined Toyota had lied...which he had and they had. All is well, they handled it nicely.

Welcome to the garage, Toyota RAV4. We are now a 4 Toyota family, 3 of which all have about 140,000 miles, plus my high mileage Camry.

Unfortunately, we still paid more than I wanted to, as a part of the family plan wherein she gets a new-to-us car (used) and I replace my aforementioned Camry with something I've been wanting for oh, gosh, I dunno, 30 years: a convertible. This means that I either overspend or I don't get what I want.

Ugh.

See, I'm paying for this by taking some un-designated rollover cash before I allocate it, and after the taxes come out, I had to take out more than I anticipated. Stupid taxes. Oh, well, the kid has a safe car now.

If you come here for the fun, I should mention the other blog has been filled with updates about the weight loss, nearly 50 lbs as of today (49, but who's counting? ME. I'm COUNTING). Woot!

Smoking in Cincinnati

Two stories of interest locally involve smoking and the Cincinnati City Council!

As a part of the national trend, the city is moving towards some marijuana legalization. Nothing final on that yet. Generally, I'm anti-drugs, so not sure about how they are planning to make this work.

Interestingly, they are working on raising the age to buy smoking products to 21 years from the current 18. Sounds simple, right?

Nope.

You see, there's a grant involved. You know what happens when money gets dangled in front of Democrats, right? A grant for 2-3 people to enforce the 21 year age limit. That's great, right, we get the new law rolling for a few years via the grant, then it's on it's way...

Nope.

The city, which has no current enforcement of the 18 year limit, wants to continue to fund these new enforcers past the grant. Hmmmmm. Well, they've never had a permit for the sales of tobacco/smoking products (like Vaping, etc), so why not create that?

Yep. $500.

How many businesses sell this stuff? Hundreds? New income for the city!!!! Plus, there's NO WAY 2-3 staff can enforce this!!!!! ID'ing is already mandatory and standard operating procedure for any store that sells the stuff, now, why do we need any staffing of this at all when THEY ALREADY CARD EVERY BUYER?

This, my friends is why I'll never be a democrat or liberal. These thoughts would have never occurred to me. New law based on grant and new fees to cover ongoing expenses enforcing an update to an existing law that has no enforcement or budget for it.

This is a fantastic illustrative example of government creep and the difference between seeing issues from a liberal/progressive/democrat world view and a conservative/liberty/republican one.

Kudos, though, to David Mann (D) for seeing the absurdity and pointing much of this out in council, according to my non-related morning AM talk show host, Brian Thomas on 55KRC, who also hit all these points that I was making to the car radio as I listened. LOL

My only other point would be: what's the age limit for legalized pot? Hmmm? Higher? Lower? I have no idea, but you may soon be more able to smoke pot than tobacco in Cincinnati.

Seriously, What Is The Matter With These People?

You know the people I mean, right?

The media!

This morning, on my local AM Talk Radio favorite, which uses NBC news for the top of the hour bits, a story of the impending Presidential funeral was about....the seating chart.

Yes, the Hot Take was that Obama and Trump might only be one seat away from each other. Blah blah blah tradition blah blah blah GW with family blah blah blah and they haven't been getting along blah blah blah. It's the funeral of a former President and this is what you are thinking about, and you actually decide that it's worth saying out loud IN A NEWS REPORT?

OHMYGOODNESSWHATISTHEMATTERWITHYOURBRAIN?

Well, the answer is easy, it's Trump Derangement Syndrome. I mean, like when the Mayor of London was asked about Trump after a terrorist event, they can't help themselves because EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TRUMP (or, as the twitter hashtag goes, #OrangeManBad).

Seriously, people, you need a break. Maybe a job handing out pennies to kids at Wal-Mart so they can ride the penny pony (or rocket or whatever). Step away.

***Just an update, my FB feed had a few people that fit this description. Step away, people, step away. You really need to let go the TrumpHate, it's poisoning your brain and your soul.

I Haven't Done a Car Post in Forever!

I have been looking for a car, as I have a car that is dying (but hanging on: do not go gently into that night), and my options (read:budget) is limited, but in a search for VWs here locally, an Audi TT Convertible showed up in SearchTempest and I went "oh, I like that."

I mean, who wouldn't? (This isn't the one that caught my eye, but it's for sale in Miami for cheap $3700) (posting expired)

This was maybe 2 months ago. Like 3 days later, a co-worker pulled up to unload some stuff for a baby shower in this:

A 2005 Audi TT Convertible. Well, I drove it the other day, and I have to say, it's a fun car.

He's been driving it a lot lately, now that he's got the wheels he wanted on it, and has blacked out the badges and lenses. All the reports on the car are that:

1. It's an Audi, so when the timing belt and water pump need to get fixed, it'll cost you.
2. Everyone who has one loves it.

Well, that's a wrinkle. I've been saying for like 8 cars that my next car would be a convertible. I've been on the Thing bandwagon for years, but I need a car that I can drive daily. This could be that. BUT the cars that I can afford are not much newer than my 98 Camry, so that's not cool. Also, these are 2 seaters, which is fine most days, but some days I need to transport more than one other person. Argh.

One of the other cars that caught my eye when looking locally on Craigslist for "convertibles" was a cute little Fiat, but it's gone now. The reviews (my wife's boss had one) were "meh" but at least it has a back seat! 

Ok, I'm not posting pictures of each of these, and they will get sold and the links will die, but here's a roundup of some Audis as a pricing baseline:  **all the links are dead, sorry I didn't post pictures, but that takes forever****

2003 asking $3900

2003 asking $4900

2008 asking $6900

2003 asking $5995 (gone)

2005 asking $5190 (I like the dark green!) ($5090) ($4900!!)

2002 asking $5400 in yellow ($4600!!!!!!)

2006 asking $6888 which is a weird price.

2002 for $4000 (have you noticed a lot of silver cars?)

This is a little expensive locally, and this is on my radar as one I want to buy.  This is scary cheap, but again, it's a 2001 (the rear window has duct tape). That place has a Mini Cooper I'd rock for $4900. (posting expired)

Ok, now for the real car I want. Best of the lot, in my view, is this one for $7000.

I'd hate to bring it up here in the snow and road salt.

Cheapest of the lot is $2000. You can see why. (posting expired)

"For the most part the car is complete

Has dents dings and some rust. Overall the car is solid! Floor pan is rusted where the battery sits. Has engine and tranny. It is not running."

As I've said, I need a car I can drive back and forth to work, and a 73 or 74 Thing isn't a good choice for that. Nevertheless, here's what's on The Samba.

Here are the rest of the links:

$3500 needs help (expired)

$5220 with rust and a scary doll

$8000 and not enough photos to prove their claim of niceness. (deleted)

Interesting with winch for $6950 (expired)

Of course, if you want, you can spend a lot more. I've seen them for sale at prices like this (all over ebay), but never seen confirmation of ones actually selling for that price... LOL


Lastly, nearby in Indy, here's an actual good deal on a VW camper: $5000. (deleted, so likely sold)

It's Enough To Make You Curious....

I know that this is merely coincidence, that because of the conversations I had with my college freshman about going to see this last night that I was primed to spot this, and that's all (see cognitive biases stories, natch), but it's still weird.  **maybe it’s real: Your Phone Is Listening **

So, yesterday, my son calls and asks about The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as there is a showing/performance happening this weekend (including last night) that he was invited to. Funny conversation ensues, and I encourage him to go and drag his roommate (who needs to loosen up a bit, in my opinion) as well. His roommate has a photo of Reagan hanging in the room, which is fine, but he's a little tightly wound, even for me, Mr. Conservative.

He went, enjoyed it enough as one might, and that's that.

I didn't search for showtimes, or my usual internet sleuthing about what the cast is up to these days, and yet, it's like our devices were listening to us... of all the random crap Yahoo suggests as "stories" (that are more like ads to get you to go to dumb sites like this one), what are the chances that today one of the suggestions is:

Yup, that's just weird.

Speaking of cognitive biases, this Jim Acosta thing...

There was an almost-good article on Yahoo (they do occasionally accidentally perform acts of journalism, but usually it's just PuffHost crap) about how people are seeing what they want to see in the Acosta-brushing-the-intern's-arm-away video, and it comes very near, among all the loaded words and clear bashing of the infowars guy, to making a salient point: if you are on Trump's Team, it's clear that he pushed her arm down so he could keep the mic: if you are on Team Acosta, he "brushed her arm." Those are the literal words in the article, stated as fact, not as opinion, which is why I say that it is "almost-good" and that it "comes very near."

Update, when I just searched my history to find the link, I see that it's actually from Time, and I now stand by all the accusations about an accidental act or journalism.

Scott Adams went live on Twitter as he does (Periscope, I think, actually) and explained very well how Acosta is playing the same game Trump is, from a communication/persuasion perspective, and they both got what they wanted out of the exchange. He also pointed out, and I agree, that during a presser, in the White House, Trump gets to run the event, and that Acosta doesn't.

Here's my actual take: Acosta gets to do what he did (ask whatever he was trying to ask) AND Trump gets to tell him, that's enough, it's someone else's turn. It's his presser. Watch the whole video, Trump answered him. He did keep the young lady from taking the mic. Or am I just seeing things through biased eyes?