Yeah, I know.. I should be watching the debate, tonight. I can’t bring myself to do it. I probably wouldn’t anyway, (Quite frankly, this early on, there’s no point did following this nonsense very closely….) but at least tonight there’s an excuse; there’s a decent thunderstorm I am watching as I type this.
OK, OK, I know, I’m not supposed to be using a computer when there’s storm. As a 20 year pro in computers, trust me, I know.
But frankly the only thing that I’ve ever run into problems with during a thunderstorm is the power; and that’s not a problem here. Let’s just say I’ve got enough battery power store in the garage to keep this house lit for a month. I may lose the broadband connection but likely not.
Personally, I’ve always liked a good thunder storm. Perhaps it is akin to watching the trains with the kids; it’s a free show, of extreme power. Particularly, I enjoy watching thunderstorms at night, because you can see more of a lightning going on, cloud to cloud, and, occasionally, cloud to ground as it’s doing tonight. Thunderstorms around here tend to get nasty two or three times per year, but almost never spawn tornadoes, so they’re not looked at with dread in these parts as they are elsewhere. A local luxury, I suppose. One of my earliest memories is sitting on the front porch of the house where I grew up, with my father, as we watched the storm blast through. I remember a few years later driving across the southern part of Ontario, on into Windsor, and then into Detroit, through a truly wild storm, which was little more than a light show. In retrospect I don’t understand how my father managed to continue seeing through all of that. A couple of flashbulbs go off in your face and you’re not expected to lose a little vision ?
Anyway, quite a show, tonight.
* I find myself in (for me) a strange situation, with the new truck I showed you a few days ago.
Thing will take a little understanding, on your part, I think. I’ve been driving for 30 years, and in all that time, every car I’ve ever had has been a ‘project car’, where it needed work of some type or another. Every one of them. When I bought something, I gleefully added a mess of stuff to it; Performance stuff, usually, though nearly as often, some comfort addition, or some entertainment electronics.
The new truck, however, has left me in the situation where there’s so little the thing needs, I feel somewhat disconnected from the process. It doesn’t need any upkeep; it’s in near perfect if not perfect condition, mechanically. Wheels are already aluminum, and they look fine. Tires are new, and the truck has ‘Tires for Life” as a part of the deal. It’s under warranty, end to end, save the consumables, such as brakes and light bulbs, and filters and so on, and will be, until 100,000 miles, (It’s at 33k now) so I don’t need anything there.
Appearance, too, is near perfect, save for a very few and very minor scratches and whatnot, which are fairly easy to deal with, and some of which I’ve dealt with already. Some of them I’ll let Lee, my brother deal with.
So, it’s down to getting and installing simple stuff. Some mudflaps, perhaps. Window and hood deflectors, perhaps. Past that, cleaning stuff, I guess. Little chrome do-dads. Maybe Alteza Tail Lights. Running boards, perhaps.
I suppose I could get a bunch of stuff that people usually install on SUV’s (Say, a bush bar, added lighting, jack the thing up a bit…whatever…) but the thing has a rather elegant look and feel to it as SUV’s go. It’s AWD, not 4WD. It’s meant for snow, and rough weather, not off-roading, though it’ll DO off-roading if you don’t ask much. Adding such things would detract from that aspect, so I dunno as I’ll bother. Bottom line is, the thing is bone stock, and yet doesn’t need anything custom… nothing I get for it is going to improve the performance or looks by much.
Don’t misunderstand my comments; this is not a matter of boasting; Quite the opposite, in fact. You see, if I had managed to get the vehicle into this shape myself… as I have in the past with the van this truck replaces, for example, you could call this boasting. I was really proud of that van. Any moron can go to the store and buy such a vehicle, assuming they have the ability to sign papers. As in this case. The others, I actually had a hand in making them what they were.
So, now we have this thing. My comment… my amaze… is on the concept of not having a “project car” for the first time in my driving life, and trying to decide if I like the feeling or not. It’s weird…I’m really enjoying the thing, but the enjoyment has taken on a totally different quality, since I don’t have to work on the thing to make it enjoyable. I’m finding, at least in the initial stages, I don’t miss the building process, the way I thought I would.
And that bothers me; I wonder if this is just me (shudder) getting older.
* I’d told you people a few days ago that the “fairness doctrine” was coming back. I’ve been concerned about it, for years now. McQ confirms my thought.
He still, however, doesn’t get that such a law is the product of a supposedly ‘mixed government. How in the world can he suggest of one side of his mouth that the fairness doctrine is coming back with a vengeance, and then of the other side of the small say that his plan of “mixed government” is working like a charm?
* Nice to see that Dodd Harris will be blogging at OTB starting today. He doesn’t know this, but…The success of his old site, Ipse Dixit, (which is still up and answering, despite having been officially down for years, now…) is one of the reasons I started BitsBlog.
Speaking of OTB, Schuler, over there, makes an important point about the Suicide attack today in Pakistan:
…. I wonder how this incident jibes with Robert Pape’s hypothesis of the connection between suicide attacks and military occupation. Who is occupying Pakistan? Surely not the United States. If what we’re doing in Pakistan is occupation, is every U. S. embassy an occupation, too?
Indeed; this would seem to put a wrench in the argument of anyone trying to put forward the idea that we’re being attacked in Iraq, because we are there. You would think that a look at lower Manhattan would have dissolved that idea long ago, but I guess that not everyone is bound to logic. As to that, might take on why that point of view is so popular, is that if those making that argument were to actually have to face the implications of attacks such as the one in Pakistan today, they would have a leg to stand on, argument wise. And so they don’t. But, since they are not bound a logic, they continue to argue against our fighting and defeating radical Islam.
* I should also mention the Honorable Mention in the Caption Contest, there.
* For the music, tonight, I’m listening to some Gordon Lightfoot (Greatest Hits Vol 3). Rather than get into a personal discusiion, I’ll provide you a link over to Power Line where a discussion on the man and his music is already in play.
* WordPress 2.2 is here. I’m a little concerned about the upgrade process, particularly since this software than working reasonably well. I suppose, that eventually, I’ll have to upgrade. You watch; what I do the template on using won’t work anymore. Or something. It’s always something.
Tags: BitsBlog, Nightly Ramble
