Oh, Yahoo News, You Suck So Much.

I have had a Yahoo email for years, it's my first email and it's limitless, so it's unbelievably full of crap, mostly. It is and has been my main email, though.

What that means is that I suffer through the home page on a daily basis with the unbelievably bad choices of liberal bullcrap stories and editorial choices they are so filled with.

Yes, I said "unbelievably" twice. However, it's totally believable, as they do it on a daily basis. Today's example is pretty egregious:

As soon as I saw the little blurb, I thought I was seeing things, I mean, I liked him as a presidential candidate (remember when the Republicans had 2 black male candidates and the Dems were all white?) and didn't recall that part of his career. (yes, yes, I now know that was a Trump nickname for him, so shouldn't they have capitalized it if that's what they were going for? Of course not, they wanted to minimize his credentials)

It's in a prominent part of the Yahoo homepage as well, top stories and all:

I mean, they are getting roasted in the comments, but Libs don't read the comments, they only read the headlines and think they know it all. I mean, it's not like he was the Director of the Kansas City Fed or anything (narrator: He was, in the 90s).

Hey, journalists, this is why people don't like you. You are either the ones doing this crap or you let this crap happen.

Ah, News.

Ok, not much to say today, I just noticed that it's been a month since my last post.

The City Council of Cincinnati has copped a plea to shenanigans, and the taxpayers will pay, of course.

I am lined up to buy a car, after months of searching. The short version is that I was emailing back and forth with a guy in North Carolina with a 2003 Audi TT and after checking the VIN, had agreed on a price when, with a week to go, a note I placed on a local car was replied to!

"Sure, I'd sell it, although I wasn't planning on it" was the reply, and for $100 less than the other car, we have a deal, unless something really awful turns up in the #rd party mechanic check. Then, another guy I texted also replied, "hey, the car is still available" LOL That one was in Colorado, I liked the wheels, but the turbo was out.

So, there's that.

They got the title squared away, but the seller is sick as a dog with the flu right now, so it'll have to wait until next week. ARGH.

That's the main event! Well, and the stupid van needs tires. #adultingsux

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.