The Vent and Rant Thread

[Greg Anos]

Could be worse.

A lawsuit on the executor of my late aunt's estate, implies that the executor defrauded the estate of 388,000 USD.

The sad thing was, if he'd been a smart crook, he would have gotten 2.4 million . . .

Where there's a will, there's a way . . . .

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I'm of the same mind as your father. I've pre-paid for everything possible - casket, transport, cremation etc.

BR

Hell, I've arranged for cremation and a tupperware container. That's it. I don't want a service, a wake, any of that drivel. And I would come back and haunt Mr. H (or whomever) if they spent ridiculous amounts of money just to live within conventions. Ixnay on that.

Blossom--I am so sorry for you being stuck with this.

Hitch

[Hemmi]

My mother decided a couple of years ago to donate her body to science. She made all the arrangements and spoke with a local funeral home so they would have everything necessary when the time comes. Once the medical school is done with her, they will bury her body and notify us once that's done.

[Rumpelteazer]

My eczema flares up when I'm either stressed, like the last couple of weeks, or when it really warm, like the last couple of weeks.

During the last couple of days I've had a mega flare up, it feels like I've got breakouts on all the "hotspots" and I'm itching all over. None of the oils and creams that normally work (shea oil/butter has been working very well lately) are helping. So for the first time in months I had to put on the cream the doctor prescribed. Hopefully it'll work soon and I won't have to apply it long.

[wodin]

Another flat tire! ARRGH! I HATE run flat tires. The only place they stock them is at the Mini dealer. The last one I had I ran all over town to all the tire outlets and no one would touch the run flats except the Mini Dealer. So I had to make an appointment, take a half a day vacation, and pay $$$$.

The only up side is they had a same day appointment so I won't have to rent a car whilst waiting for my appointment.

[Greg Anos]

I hate incompetent journalists. Read an article on CNBC about the growing popularity of synthetic diamonds.

Pictures of the rig used to make them.

Only. . . . . There are two other <cheaper> processes than the one shown. One was patented in either 1999 or 2000 There was a big article about both processes in Wired magazine in 2001.

There's a word for the journalist. . . It's called RESEARCH!!!

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by wodin

Another flat tire! ARRGH! I HATE run flat tires. The only place they stock them is at the Mini dealer. The last one I had I ran all over town to all the tire outlets and no one would touch the run flats except the Mini Dealer. So I had to make an appointment, take a half a day vacation, and pay $$$$.

The only up side is they had a same day appointment so I won't have to rent a car whilst waiting for my appointment.

I'm still choosing run-flats for my Mini, because they have less propensity to explode when punctured at high speed. I like that. But yeah, I had to buy a non-run flat to get home from vacation last year, and then look into swapping it for a run flat, to match the remaining tires. Fortunately, at least my dealership gives me a free loaner car for my service appointments. On another occasion, they were out of loaners (their own, or Enterprise's rental cars).... two days in a row, when I had an appointment and gone in ..... when they finally had a loaner, they gave me a free Full Detailing on the car. Man, it was so squeaky clean that I almost want to buy one every year.

[wodin]

Wow, great service! One of the things I like about the Mini is the service. The only equal I've found is the BMW service, but then they're really the same company.

My lease will expire in ten months and I'll have to decide on another Mini or something else. After hanging around the dealership yesterday while they changed the tire those new Countryman Minis looked good. I'll only need a car for a year or two after this one as I'll be retiring somewhere in there and Susie and I will only need one car, but damn! A new Mini would be nice.

[wodin]

Hmmm. Maybe I'll lease a Beemer.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by wodin

Wow, great service! One of the things I like about the Mini is the service. The only equal I've found is the BMW service, but then they're really the same company.

My lease will expire in ten months and I'll have to decide on another Mini or something else. After hanging around the dealership yesterday while they changed the tire those new Countryman Minis looked good. I'll only need a car for a year or two after this one as I'll be retiring somewhere in there and Susie and I will only need one car, but damn! A new Mini would be nice.

You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. I mean, seriously, I think that they are cute as the devil, and for some environments (like London, particularly, or any very cramped city), absolutely perfect for tricky parking, and all that, but having been in an accident once, with a very small car, in which I was obscenely lucky not to have died a pretty horrible death, nyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I want a bit more protection between me and the Grim Reaper. Out here, we tend to have long stretches of road coupled with a fair amount of high-speed driving, and I'd be too chicken to zoom around in a Mini, or one of those itty-bitty suppository cars you see running bout. (You know the ones; we could pick one up and put it in the bed of Mr. H's Dodge Ram p/u truck...)

Not to mention, if you're in an environment with a lot of 3/4- or 1-ton p/u trucks or SUVs, the windscreen/pax compartment is just RIGHT at the right height to careen into the worst part of the truck...I just can't. Just color me yellow.... (Sorry, that says YELLOW.)

Hitch

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. I mean, seriously, I think that they are cute as the devil, and for some environments (like London, particularly, or any very cramped city), absolutely perfect for tricky parking, and all that, but having been in an accident once, with a very small car, in which I was obscenely lucky not to have died a pretty horrible death, nyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I want a bit more protection between me and the Grim Reaper. Out here, we tend to have long stretches of road coupled with a fair amount of high-speed driving, and I'd be too chicken to zoom around in a Mini, or one of those itty-bitty suppository cars you see running bout. (You know the ones; we could pick one up and put it in the bed of Mr. H's Dodge Ram p/u truck...)

Not to mention, if you're in an environment with a lot of 3/4- or 1-ton p/u trucks or SUVs, the windscreen/pax compartment is just RIGHT at the right height to careen into the worst part of the truck...I just can't. Just color me yellow.... (Sorry, that says YELLOW.)

Hitch

Au contraire mon amis, The Mini Cooper S Countryman is not a small car. They are considered "crossover" SUVs, and just because the styling make them look small a quick walk through of a parking lot reveals that they compete effectively with most midsized cars. Now the Mini two doors are another matter, those you describe pretty well.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din. I mean, seriously, I think that they are cute as the devil, and for some environments (like London, particularly, or any very cramped city), absolutely perfect for tricky parking, and all that, but having been in an accident once, with a very small car, in which I was obscenely lucky not to have died a pretty horrible death, nyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I want a bit more protection between me and the Grim Reaper. Out here, we tend to have long stretches of road coupled with a fair amount of high-speed driving, and I'd be too chicken to zoom around in a Mini, or one of those itty-bitty suppository cars you see running bout. (You know the ones; we could pick one up and put it in the bed of Mr. H's Dodge Ram p/u truck...)

As Wodin mentioned, the Mini Cooper S Countryman isn't really a small car. The standard Mini Cooper is, more or less.

I was gobsmacked not long back seeing a Morris Minor parked near me. (Pic attached.) It looked like the larval form of a classic black London taxi. It was a quite compact four door sedan, and somewhat shorter than most standard US passenger cars.

NYC is currently seeing an increasing number of small cars - the Smart car. Two seats and enough luggage space behind the seats for a briefcase or so. If all you want to do is drive in the city, they're good choices. Exceptional fuel economy, and able to fit in tiny parking spots. They aren't all that fast, but you don't care. NYC used to have an in city speed limit of 35mph. That got dropped to 25mph after a nasty accident, and I just snorted. Given traffic in Manhattan, good luck getting up to 25mph, let alone 35mph, unless you are driving at 3am. I was really tickled to see a Smart car with commercial plates, a contractor's logo on the side, and a roof rack with a tiny ladder strapped to it. If all you needed to do the contracting was tools, the Smart car was a decent choice because there was enough space to hold those.

An old friend would agree with your notion about driving big cars for safety. He drove big V8 boats, and claims doing that saved his life because he emerged unscathed from an accident that would have totaled a smaller car and him. He was making noises a while back about getting a HumVee. I said "Bear in mind you will get gas mileage in the single digit range" He believed gas prices would plummet. They did from when he got the idea, but not that much. He has a standard sedan (Honda, IIRC) that he hates, and his pride an joy is a lovingly restored canary yellow 1957 TBird convertible. Opportunities to drive that are a bit limited, however, but it turns heads when he does.
______
Dennis

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

his pride an joy is a lovingly restored canary yellow 1957 TBird convertible. Opportunities to drive that are a bit limited, however, but it turns heads when he does.

I have a friend with one of those too, in a powder blue color; he bought it new when he was first married. They are currently having it restored from the frame up and he expects to be driving it, and turning heads, again about this time next year.

If your friend is as much of TBird nut as mine, they may know each other.

[Greg Anos]

I refer to Smart cars as "coffins on wheels". Just bury the both of them in the grave. . .

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

As Wodin mentioned, the Mini Cooper S Countryman isn't really a small car. The standard Mini Cooper is, more or less.

I was gobsmacked not long back seeing a Morris Minor parked near me. (Pic attached.) It looked like the larval form of a classic black London taxi. It was a quite compact four door sedan, and somewhat shorter than most standard US passenger cars.

NYC is currently seeing an increasing number of small cars - the Smart car. Two seats and enough luggage space behind the seats for a briefcase or so. If all you want to do is drive in the city, they're good choices. Exceptional fuel economy, and able to fit in tiny parking spots. They aren't all that fast, but you don't care. NYC used to have an in city speed limit of 35mph. That got dropped to 25mph after a nasty accident, and I just snorted. Given traffic in Manhattan, good luck getting up to 25mph, let alone 35mph, unless you are driving at 3am. I was really tickled to see a Smart car with commercial plates, a contractor's logo on the side, and a roof rack with a tiny ladder strapped to it. If all you needed to do the contracting was tools, the Smart car was a decent choice because there was enough space to hold those.

An old friend would agree with your notion about driving big cars for safety. He drove big V8 boats, and claims doing that saved his life because he emerged unscathed from an accident that would have totaled a smaller car and him. He was making noises a while back about getting a HumVee. I said "Bear in mind you will get gas mileage in the single digit range" He believed gas prices would plummet. They did from when he got the idea, but not that much. He has a standard sedan (Honda, IIRC) that he hates, and his pride an joy is a lovingly restored canary yellow 1957 TBird convertible. Opportunities to drive that are a bit limited, however, but it turns heads when he does.
______
Dennis

We have a crapload of Minors out here. I wasn't talking about the Countryman. At all. We have Minors and all those wee electric cars. I mean, those teeny suckers. Because we are Boonie Dwellers, lots of those who "moved out of it all" see the distances, and think "oh, I need a car that gets awesome gas mileage," and for those that work down in the city, they're not wrong. So, they get Minors and those suppository cars (the oddball electrical ones), and move up here. But, shhhhhhhhhhhhugar, boys, we got us some real live rednecks, horses, horse trailers, and all that dadgum stuff up here, and I know for a fact--because I drive our Ram, which is not on big tires, jacked-up, or any of that stuff--that when those wee cars get behind you, you CANNOT SEE THEM. I could back over one of those suckers without knowing, until it was too late.

And because we have long stretches of road, with high speeds and all that, I just worry about the reality of flipping a Minor at 80mph (I flipped that car, in the accident to which I'd referred), or worse, slamming into the back end of an elevated p/u truck. I mean...physics are physics=MA, y'know?

Hitch