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Whirled Views 7.24
Good morning everyone!
Today’s quote is from a statesman and philosopher: “Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This conflict with difficulty makes us acquainted with our object, and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.”
Topic: Watercooler Chatter, WorldMagBlog
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Edmund Burke
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Gender Neutral
Daily a Christian should study its Bible,
An atheist study its what?
Random number table?
To each its own purpose of life.
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On the old blog, you could send someone an email by clicking on their name. How do we that now?
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there is much more to God than his use of adversity
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Xion, I believe that some folks did not want their e-mail address available to the general public. I myself received threatening e-mails from some people. In fact, I had the Local Police investigate that individual for possible violation of Ohio laws. This is why we have registration now. Plus a lot of people were getting unsolicited spam from outside sources. Some people in meet the regulars have chosen to publish their e-mail addresses. I have not done so. Lynn has my e-mail address and if you wish to e-mail me, you can contact her.
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I have to say, I’m a bit dissatisfied with the forum/blog software. In several other forum formats, the interface options are quite a bit easier to use (think text options and smilies), and profile information is very user configurable – including the option to make or not make your email address viewable.
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In addition to the blog software not being personalized or easily configurable, I find it highly irritating to be logged off right after I post, losing everything I’ve typed. Even worse is when the blog software logs you off as you are still typing! Inevitably that is the one post you spent 30 minutes writing, previewing, formatting, researching and providing links for… ~all gone~! grrrrrrr!
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make it man, type it all out on a word document then copy and paste to the blog.
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3, 5-7.
Think of it as adversity in action. Good for you. Divine plan working through WOW/
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Joe B.: Enjoy your virtual iced coffee!
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Kbells,
I’m quite aware that one can do this. I am registered on more forums than I can count – so I’m not inexperienced in these difficulties. I’ve just gotten used to forum software that is easier to use and that works correctly. All of the forums have their idiosyncracies, but none of those others even come close to the sheer random nature of this software.
I’m advocating for excellence, not a second rate status quo – Random’s exhortation to make do with adversity notwithstanding.
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Sorry, guys, that you experience problems using our site. We’re constantly looking to make improvements and fix the problems that frustrate you. Continue to let us know what’s not working, and we’ll look into it. Thanks for your patience.
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This morning’s WSJ has a couple of interesting articles over on the personal side:
Pardon Me Your Slip Is Not Showing has some interesting thoughts about present fashion trends and the death of modesty. Interesting to read as a sort-of old guy. Curious as to what our younger women make of it.
Second article was Allen Barra’s Too Far from Escapism, about the current film, Dark Knight. He considers the nihilism running through the movie and ponders its source, ultimately suggesting that this may well be a 180-million dollar snuff film. It’s a good read
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I’m not a young woman, Harris, but this issue is an ongoig source of tension between my husband and me (both in our mid-40’s). I have slips tucked away in a drawer (in various sizes, like much of the clothes in my closet, that reflect my perennial struggle to lose weight and not gain it back), but he always tells me I don’t need them. He likes the current fashions and wishes I would wear them more, and buys me clothes that seem too revealing to me but he thinks are perfectly fine.
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Ah, “Your Slip IS Showing” reminds me of a famous past discussion right here on WOW
don’t knwo why someone would want to hear from just younger women, then tend to become wiser with age, are you looking for wisdom or what?
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15-sorry, try again
don’t know why someone would want to hear from just younger women, they tend to become wiser with age, are you looking for wisdom or what?
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Lighten up, REG, he’s just looking for an opinion.
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Actually, the article pointed out that wearing of slips seems to separate by age.
So it’s the marketer in me that wonders if the article’s observation was true for women, here, too.
Culturally, I’m intrigued by the link of fashion and privacy and modesty. Or clothes can say so much. But then again, I’m one of those guys who keeps wearing a tie (somebody has to keep them in business
).
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There is a hilarious essay on the media’s groveling before Obama, re the NYTimes fiasco.
You can find it at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,389724,00.html
The ‘PWB transcript’ part is where things really get funny.
I don’t know how to do a live link, so you would have to cut and paste, if you are interested.
It is worth the trouble, though, in my opinion.
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WOW. Speculators got toasted a little with Oil at $124 a barrel now. That is down 20% just by Bush saying he was going tot remover the Presidential offshore drilling moratorium. There is still about another 10-15% in speculation out there and Bush should announce he wants to release 10% of the petroleum reserve to smoke it out into the open.
If the anti American left would actually Drill, Drill, Drill everywhere and open up nuclear, wind, solar, oil sand and shale along with building a new refinery or two and building some coal gasification plants, oil would go to $75 and stay there – maybe a little lower.
Let the elected whack jobs know you expect them to approve all supply side initiatives on energy immediately, without question, or they will be tossed out of office never to seen or heard from again if they stick to their ‘Hate Americans and America’ policy on energy they implemented in the past.
You give it to them between the eyes like we did on immigration and they will be forced to do the right thing for America once in their lives.
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As a young woman myself (I just turned 21 this week), I would like to say that I find it hard to understand the mindset of other women my age who think it’s okay to show themselves anywhere they go (even church!). I do understand that it is harder to find more modest clothes, but it’s far from impossible, so what’s the issue? For a while I thought it was brought on by feminism (Women can do whatever they want!), but now I think it’s brought on by the individualistic nature of our culture (Well, I guess feminism is individualistic in nature, too.). The whole idea of “I can do whatever the heck I want, and if you have a problem with it, well, you don’t have to look at me or be around me” leads to dressing in a way that has no consideration for others. As well, this individualism is a paradox. While doing whatever you want, you are dressing in way that shows no respect (read: consideration) for yourself! So, you can do whatever you want, but you don’t respect yourself, so how is that better than not being able to do whatever you want, but at least having respect for your body? I don’t get it at all.
Oh, and I own (and wear) several slips in varying lengths and styles for various occasions. As far as a link between fashion and modesty, I will offer up this anecdotal evidence. My sister-in-law works in the fashion industry. She manages one of the couture departments at one of the larger Nordstrom stores. As such, she is extremely “in fashion”. She’s 25, and she owns several slips (and wears them, too). Maybe they’re coming back? : )
Sorry if that was more than you wanted to know. : )
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On the slip issue, I grew up with undershirts that I wore under light-colored clothes. When I had my foster kids, I bought them some white blouses and soon discovered they were quite sheer, so I bought undershirts as well. A couple times I went to pick up the girls from school, and found to my dismay that the six-year-old had taken off her blouse and was standing waiting for me in her undershirt, holding her shirt. Why the teacher allowed that is beyond me.
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Good grief.
Anyone here want to talk about HUNTING or PICK-UP TRUCKS or SOMETHING?
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How about modesty at the beach or pool? Our girls wear shorts and shirts over their swimsuits, but honestly, even though we live in FL, we stay away from the beach most of the time.
Yikes, the boldness of women these days!
(Thankfully our 2 sons are still young enough to think that’s gross.
)
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Sorry, Drill.
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I am in the mid-fifties; grew up with slips. Still wear them. I was shocked when I went to a summer wedding and was probably the only one with nylons on. I will admit that I am hopelessly behind in fashion, generally. I hate this year’s fashions, so I will be even more behind next year.
I also hate the “let your bra straps show” thing. My youngest daughter and I went round and round about it. She is much more modest now that she has a husband and two little boys.
Sorry, Drill!
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OK, Drill. My son is learning to drive and we need to get him a used vehicle, preferably a really old one that doesn’t cost much and won’t be too outrageous on insurance premiums even for a 16-year-old male. My husband likes the idea of a pickup, but the first one we looked at (from newpaper classifieds) was big and my son was uncomfortable with it. (He has been learning on my husband’s Ford Taurus and a similar sized sedan in drivers ed. He doesn’t even like driving my small SUV.) My husband’s reasons for looking for a pickup are 1) it would give us a way to haul brush and leaves to the compost site, as well as any other hauling of large objects (such as our current need to replace our unpredictable stove, that seems to have only two settings some days, high and off); and 2) there seem to be more manual transmission pickups around than manual transmission cars, and my husband really wants our son to learn to drive one. Any suggestions?
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I find it highly irritating to be logged off right after I post, losing everything I’ve typed.
That doesn’t happen to me. Once I log on, I remain logged on.
Even worse is when the blog software logs you off as you are still typing! Inevitably that is the one post you spent 30 minutes writing, previewing, formatting, researching and providing links for… ~all gone~! grrrrrrr!
Yesterday I spent at least 3 hours responding to a post. I’m definitely thankful that God didn’t see fit for me to experience that kind of adversity.
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Careful Drill,
One of ladies may tell you she took her husbands’ pick-up truck to go hunting for a new slip to wear for something they’re attending this weekend. You may not get the type of conversation you were seeking, since they are not from this planet.
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Of course you live out in the country, Pauline, but I’m assuming you’ve run all the numbers on adding a teenage boy driver. We had to up our deductible to $1000 when the second teenager got his license–and indeed, he had to put it off a year because we couldn’t afford the premiums.
First son owns a 1995 Toyota Tacoma, purchased used 9 years ago; it feels like a light tin can to drive. Manual transmission, too, but that’s a good skill for anyone to learn. Everyone cheered when he bought a truck, it’s very handy to have one in the family. I think I’d look for an older, heavier one, though, if I was doing the purchasing.
I like my CRV, but manure hauling in plastic trash cans for the garden–is that manly enough, Drill?–is a little trickier in it than in a truck.
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You are hardly going to go wrong looking at National Geographic for fashion/modesty guidelines.
I remember back in junior high how we (boys at least) checked it all the time. Of course, that was in the 1950s. Things may have moved on a bit since then.
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I will add Random’s Law:
Whatever you cover up you will make very exciting. Once upon a time, ankles were a real turn on.
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Michelle says;
“I like my CRV, but manure hauling in plastic trash cans for the garden–is that manly enough, Drill?–is a little trickier in it than in a truck.”
She’s obviously been here on Earth for a while. She seems to have picked up enough of the language and customs, at least enough to be able to communicate with us locals to some degree.
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Okay. Let me explain.
It is NOT that I am SQEAMISH or in ANY way EMBARRASSED about talking about UNDERGARMENTS including BRAS and SLIPS.
It is just that they are so plain DANGEROUS and should NEVER be taken lightly.
Why these things are highly complex and often can result in ABSOLUTELY FRIGHTENINGLY CATASTROPHIC injuries, especially for us men, who usually are just seeking to be HELPFUL when the absolutely unexpected tragically happens, you know.
Why some of these things have more hooks and buttons and elastic and fasteners and doo-hickies than my John Deere tractor has hydraulic hoses.
Yep. There is a LOT of structural tension and compression going on and complicated sophisticated fittings and things, which without good training and a certain savvy in engineering mechanics and structural dynamics can result in life-threatening and even HUMILIATING injuries, even probably death, although, come to think of it, there are probably worse ways to die, I guess, maybe.
You NEVER get the right statistics on this sort of injury either, because men are reluctant to admit to it.
I mean, you can’t BLAME us, can you?
It is not exactly like you are going to tell the TRUTH, is it, what with you walking into the store where all your buddies are sitting around the stove drinking Dr. Pepper?
Instead you make up some bizaare story about how you got those FIVE STITCHES on your nose fighting off a rabid 85 point, 8000 pound buck with your pocketknife and a rolled-up copy of the Progressive Farmer, or something.
Of course, most of THEM also have similar injuries, too.
Personally, I think we need some kind of National Lingerie Association equivalent to the National Rifle Association, which could give us classes and saftey seminars, that sort of thing.
Anyway, that is why I get worried when people talk so lightly about dangerous stuff like bras and slips and all those other things with mysterious French names with various mysterious functions.
So I hope you people understand my concern is purely saftey-related.
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Friends,
The debate on Founders & Religion continues on this thread. Victoria, Joel Mark, Drill, and others if interested check it out there.
Drill,
You intimated on another thread that you had an academic position. Care to elaborate on that? I find that interesting.
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Here’s an article from the Washington Times on the Democrats plan for funding their pet projects. Sadly, some Republican ones too.
http://tinyurl.com/5dbkpx
The Senate will soon consider legislation with an impressive-sounding name — Advancing America’s Priorities Act. But the bill being pushed by Democratic leaders includes lots of lawmakers’ pet priorities, such as a commission on the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the War of 1812, $1.5 billion for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and $5 million for a museum in Poland.
The legislation lumps nearly 40 separate bills into one and authorizes numerous “earmarks,” the targeted spending for projects that Democrats often ridiculed as pork-barrel when they swept into power 18 months ago.
Critics are even more concerned about the way all this spending might be approved. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is threatening to use a parliamentary tactic known as “filling the tree,” which would preclude amendments and make it difficult for lawmakers and the White House to block projects they consider wasteful.
The bill is an example of government’s inclination “to throw money and create a credit card and charge it to our kids,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, who is leading efforts to thwart a vote on the legislation.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Democrats need to consider such a tactic to counter Mr. Coburn’s “unprecedented obstructionism” in placing a hold on many of the individual bills so they could not be rushed through the Senate.
5 million for a museum in Poland? Wow.
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I love reading your “stories” Drill; what a laugh!
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I always hear Democrats complain of voter suppression and what not. Why doesn’t their concern extend to the military? Why won’t they back this? And the Pentagon and Whitehouse should be ashamed as well.
http://tinyurl.com/6lookb
From Real Clear Politics;
Rep. Roy Blunt, the House Republican whip, on July 8 introduced a resolution demanding that the Defense Department better enable U.S. military personnel overseas to vote in the November elections. That act was followed by silence. Democrats normally leap on an opportunity to find fault with the Bush Pentagon. But not a single Democrat joined Blunt as a co-sponsor, and an all-Republican proposal cannot pass in the Democratic-controlled House.
Analysis by the federal Election Assistance Commission, rejecting inflated Defense Department voting claims, estimated overseas and absentee military voting for the 2006 midterm elections at a disgracefully low 5.5 percent. The quality of voting statistics is so poor that there is no way to tell how many of the slightly over 330,000 votes actually were sent in by the absentee military voters and their dependents and how many by civilian Americans living abroad — 6 million all total.
Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: “While virtually everyone involved … seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain.”
Sad. And a disservice to those who serve us in the military.
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It is good to have some laughs here. Drill, your acumen is beyond parellel again.
I so have some good news to share. We are now grandparents to another granddaughter born on July 14. We spent the week with the parents helping with the task of welcoming a new one into the family. The two sisters love their new little sister. Grandpa and Grace (4 years old) rode horseback everyday. Lots of fun and a very busy time. Good to be back, but miss all of them.
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Drill,
Bras are alien technology, that the women brought from their home planet. The military has been trying to weaponize the technology for years, but to no avail. Unfortunatly we’re not that far advanced yet.
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Harris — Thanks for the movie review I may have to see the movie now.
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Jon Rowe: Sure, but this is as much as you will get from me on it:
Regards academia: Twenty years as an engineering professor at a major university.
Oh, my heyday is long over – did a heck of a lot of research, though, at one time, mostly for DOD and NASA, but a lot of industry research as well. I probably have thirty or maybe forty former graduate students, MS and PhDs, sprinkled hither and yon throughout the world – they are, I think, the most significant professional ‘accomplishment’ I could claim out of my professional engineering career, including innumerable journal articles and monographs and papers.
I (and my wife – more her than I) own and operate a working cattle farm, too (which you can easily gather from some of my posts); whether teaching and consulting (I still do – I love to teach) or farming or just making a general nuisance of myself to people is my major thrust these days, depends on the time of year and my inclination at the moment.
How did all this come to be?
I grew up on a poor-as-dirt farm adjacent to an Air Force Base in Virginia a very long time ago. Watched the airplanes overhead as I hoed endless acres of corn or tended livestock in the sweltering heat, barefoot and burned black in the unforgiving sun, and swore I would get away from the farm some day, walk away and never look back, and never ever touch the cursed ground again.
Left, got my degrees, fell in love, got married, had kids (well, my wife did the hard part on having the kids), worked in industry and government and finally academia for too many years, ending up where I am now, and back on the land a LOT further west than where I grew up, and loving it – and loving and appreciating the country people I mingle with every day – more and more. Hence I sometimes write about them here and elsewhere, not ALWAYS accurately, believe it or not.
So. After about a half century, things have just about come full circle for me.
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Real AJ,
Ev’dently durin’ the civil war there’s a feller lived roun’ these here parts who musta thought long and hard about this issue, and even got some ideas.
But he never did get that thar double barreled cannon to work right.
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Wasn’t it a man who brought up the discussion of slips? Can’t blame this one on the ladies.
Blame this one on me, though—
Does anyone wear girdles anymore?
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Very interesting Drill.
I’d like to publish more in scholarly journals even though as a community college prof. I’m not expected to at all. The historical research & publishing is just an avocation. If it takes me somewhere else, so be it. But I’m perfectly comfortable where I am right now.
I’m not a math person at all. That part of my brain probably isn’t any more than average in intelligence. Having university level engineering knowledge is something that is really special. Far fewer PhDs in that than in humanities subjects.
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Pauline:
On your pick-up truck question, my advice would be to ignore the secondary question of actual usefulness of the vehicle.
The important things for your pick-up truck selection do NOT include ‘usefulness’ or ‘transmission type’ or stuff like that. These are secondary concerns, at the most.
What you want is a BIG pick-up, so big in fact that when your son pulls up behind an ordinary car at a stoplight, the driver of the car looking in his rear view mirror can only see tire treads.
Also, make sure you remove the muffler when you get it, if it has one that works – a pickup truck with a working muffler is a shame to the man who drives it. If, however, the pickup you select HAS a muffler but it is mostly disconnected and dragging on the ground, that is okay, you don’t need to do anything else about it. That should work, especially if it makes a great deal of noise and generates sparks when the pickup is in motion.
Without the muffler, the pickup SHOULD sound like a Saturn V rocket engine at launch. If it does not reach that level, you probably need to remove even more of the exhaust system. As a test, when a properly tuned pickup pulls up behind a car at a stoplight, the noise and vibration should be sufficient to crack the side-view mirrors on the car and shake the fillings out of the teeth of the occupants of the car in front.
The pickup SHOULD also generate a good deal of black acrid smoke when the accelerator is pushed; if it does not, have it looked at by a qualified mechanic.
Finally, you need to place about a dozen smashed up Mountain Dew cans in the back of the truck, along with the head of a deer or a dead turkey. If you don’t already keep this sort of thing in the back of your existing vehicles (always a good idea), you can generally find most of these items alongside an average county road without much effort.
But most important for bringing your truck into code is that you need a DOG. He can go either in the back of the truck or in the cab.
NOT a sissified groomed shampooed cat-loving dog – I mean a big ol’ REAL dog, slobbering everywhere and scratching, complete with a few sores, stinking to high heaven of skunk, maybe with a few chicken feathers still stuck to his nose.
You get all that done and your son should be GOOD TO GO.
Good luck.
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Drill,
You fergit the spittoon and firearm in the rack…
Yer slippin son.
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Karen O,
Yes I believe we have Harris to thank,or blame, depends how you look at it, for bringing it up.
And I hope not about the girdles. The sight of one, even not on a women, always made me wince. You can just look at certain things and know it would be uncomfortable, possibly painful. Bras, nylons (control top or not), girdles, and thongs are all in that category. I am thankful that in the morning, I only have to decide which boxers, and nothing else. It’s one of the perks of being a man. Being a male may have cost me the ability to multi-task, or dress myself in clothes that match, but I’ll take that trade. You ladies got it rough. We got the good end on this difference in the sexes.
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To go back to the “What needs to be improved about the blog user interface” topic:
I could certainly use an “edit profile” option, as mine is rather outdated, to say the least.
That was a funny story (as usual), that you wrote, Drill. Maybe you should become a humorous author…
If anyone is looking for something to talk about and religion will turn into a debate, politics were make you depressed, and there isn’t too much else, why not talk about cars?
Oh, but then nobody really likes cars all that much.
I’ve noticed that more teen bloggers have recently arrived on the WMB. I think that’s a good thing, because it’s good to have a mixture of views from people of all ages.
Something else:
Something worth reading about is the “Rebelution,” started by Alex and Brett Harris, younger brothers of Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye.
The twins’ book, Do Hard Things is a good read, and not just for teens. Enough of that for now; if you want to find out more, read the book.
Speaking of books, has anyone read Ted Dekker’s Circle and Showdown books? They’re the Circle trilogy, The Lost Books series (written for young adults),Showdown, Saint, and in September, Sinner. Several of his other books tie in with those. They’re good fiction books for those looking for something interesting to read.
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Jon: Well, I think what you are doing in terms of scholarship is very fascinating and interesting (and important) and I have appreciated your links and work, even if I don’t agree with many of your conclusions.
My background in terms of scholarship being entirely technical, I may be used to a higher level of certainty and objectivity than ever possible in historical research like you do, which may in itself be one source of my discomfort with your ‘findings’ (I have stated frequently that you seem to extrapolate beyond the available data for ‘determining the Christianity’ of the founders.)
In a way, you may be ideally positioned in my opinion – you are apparently independent of any funding on your ‘avocation’, hence beholden to none for what you do or investigate or conclude.
If I look at history, the greatest contributions and most meaningful advances often came from individuals who were NOT affiliated with or beholden to the ‘machine’ of the day.
So I am glad you do what you do and wish you the best, even if I sometimes (mostly?) vigorously disagree with your conclusions.
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Drill,
I don’t know that your advice will help my husband figure out how to spend the chunk of tax refund we’ve allocated to this purchase, but it sure will give him and our son a good laugh.
I’m afraid my son will fall far short of your ideal, however. His objection to the one pickup was that it was too big. And he and his brother have never been on good terms with dirt. Though if my husband gets to drive whatever it is we get, it will be full of Mountain Dew bottles in no time.
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Make It Man: Well, the rifle rack would be standard, I would think. Seemed obvious to me, but for completeness, that is a good point. Obliged.
I would beg to differ with you on the necessity of a spittoon, however. Just use the side window (try to remember to actually roll it down, though – if you don’t, after a while, the window gets sort of hard to see out of).
This is, in fact, why many pickup trucks out where I live have artistic-looking spray patterns of a rich dark brown hue all over the outside of the driver-side front door.
As a (related) aside, it is also wise (I know this from bitter personal experience) to stand at LEAST six feet away from the window of a pickup, when you are talking to a driver who is chewing.
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Very good advice, Drill.
I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.
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Pauline: Good luck with the truck buy. In reality, I agree with your husband about the usefulness of the truck in hauling – and with your son too. With the price of gas or diesel these days, the smaller the better, if it still fits your (and his) needs.
Momoffour, Real AJ, Rio, Grandma: Thanks – but regards my take on lingerie, there is SOME truth to it.
My wife about shot me a long time ago when (we were preparing to go out), I got my tie zipped up and snagged in the back of her dress (and whatever mysterious items lurked beneath the dress), not long after we were first married. I was just doing what I was told, too. She had ASKED me to fasten her up, after all.
Fortunately, it is hard to shoot someone who is actually physically attached to your back.
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#38 The Real AJ
Thanks for pointing to this travesty. It’s not hard to figure out why not a single Democrat joined in sponsoring Blunt’s legislation . . . BHO worked like a drop of oil thrown into a pan of water with pepper floating on the surface when he tried to mix it up with the troops. Funny how many in the background seemed to simply ignore him and went about their business.
Andrea Mitchell thinks a lot of the favorable footage we saw was faked and/or gleaned from miles of tape:
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=1764
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Pauline,
In regards to your pick up–it should not have a tailgate. If it does, promptly take it out, put the tailgate down and back it into a fence post. That will make it look authentic.
Drill, my Dad forgot to roll the window down and spit on the window way too many times. No one wanted to drive his pickup.
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Drill,
Pauline: I know it’s not a truck, but we had an ‘87 Volvo 240 wagon for a few years while my husband was in medical school. Manual transmission, decent in snow (MUCH better than the Ford Ranger of that era that we had for a while), will hold a full-size appliance (laid on its side) in the back with the rear seat folded down, pretty good cargo space even with the rear seat up, cheap to insure, and 32 mpg highway.
We had to replace it 2 years ago, with about 200,000 miles on it, because there were holes in the floorboards and it wouldn’t pass the state safety inspection. Its replacement is a ‘96 Volvo 850 – wide enough to get three car seats in the back seat but very expensive to fix.
Even the ‘87 could sometimes be expensive to fix, but our mechanic has a pretty good supply of “parts cars”, and he used a lot of used or rebuilt parts on the old car. As old as it was, the car was reliable and solidly built – a good “student car”!
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Drill,
Thanks of course I will let anyone here know of any “notable” developments in my research. I’ve got something coming out in print next month I’ll alert you to. Not that controversial because it doesn’t have a whole lot of “he was an X” in it. I tried to slip it in there but the editor took it out.
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Pauline, what price range are you considering by the term “inexpensive?” Considering the outrageously high prices of fuel these days, I would consider an economical car like a ’90s to ‘01 Acura Integra, or another fuel economical vehicle like that such as a Ford Escort, etc. They average over 30 mpg on the highway and both are available in manual or automatic transmission. However, I’m not sure yet which truck I’d recommend if you’re set on buying a pick-up. I like (and am more familiar with) cars rather than trucks or other vehicles, but my dad bought a ‘94 or ‘95 Toyota pickup several years ago and it seems to have served him well. Those trucks (Toyota Pickups) aren’t usually very expensive, and his seems to have served him well.
It has all-wheel drive, but the V6 means the gas mileage will most likely be worse than what you’d get on a four-cylinder.
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Oops, I didn’t mean to put the “served him well” thing twice.
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My wife had trouble with her bra straps falling off her shoulders. She got a couple of little strap thingys that connect the shoulder straps up higher. These little things also help keep the straps from showing when she wears sleeveless blouses.
http://home.amazon.com/tag/bra%20strap%20connector/products/ref=tag_tdp_sv_istp
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Drill,
My husband wants to know if you have heard Brad Paisley’s song “I’m Still a Guy”?
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Drill- In saying the pickup should sound like a Saturn V, should you not also add that the rumbling should be enough to cause a small car, like a Prius, to vibrate off the side of the road and get it out of your way?
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Consumer Reports has lists of the best and worst cars to buy used. It’s in the auto issue.
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Rio,
We have about $1800 left from our tax refund. Personally I was aiming to find something closer to $1000, but my husband wants to consider anything up to $1800. (Somehow I don’t think he’s factoring in title, registration, etc.)
For ongoing expenses (gas, insurance) I expect my son to pay a significant amount from his earnings at the job he has been told he has to get in order to get his license (since he has to be insured whether he has his own car or not once he gets the license).
He just got called this afternoon to interview for a job at the supermarket down the street. (Nice small supermarket where the teens who do the bagging also take your groceries and put them in your car for you as a matter of course. Work uniform is black pants and white shirts. Also the best meat department in town.) It would be a great first job, I really would like to see him get it. (And he won’t even have to pay for gas to drive to work if he’s willing to walk to save money.) It’s his first ever job interview, I’m sure he’s nervous about it, if anyone is inclined to pray… 1:30 PM tomorrow.
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Pauline,
I’m praying about your son’s job and will continue.
God bless your family
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That’s a good one, PeterL. But I think you’d need size to go with it, something like a Ford F-350 or another big</ truck. The Dodge Ram SRT-10 is probably a “dream truck” for some (it has the previous generation Viper engine), but the price at more than $25,000…
Pauline, I doubt you are going to find a car with less than 100,000+ miles on it for that that much.
But if it works…lots of things will work as long as they’re reliable. And you never know, the perfect deal may land right in your lap.
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I’m sorry everyone, the bold font was a mistake.
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I’ll probably post this again tomorrow, but for those who pray, I’m traveling tomorrow (a couple of hours) and will see the lady with cancer and her family. In order to be discreet with family matters, I haven’t said it before, but this is a member of my “extended family” and not “just” a friend. At any rate, from the best that I understand, she has been told she is terminal, and from what I heard last week it is probably too late for surgery to help. So pray that I will love this family well as I see them tomorrow. All her children are adults, but it still can’t be easy to go through this. (She’s only about 50.)
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Oh Cheryl, I am praying for you and will continue. God bless you as you witness and comfort those around you.
Love and prayers,
Victoria
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I will pray, as well, Cheryl D. I hope you find the strength and wisdom to do the best thing and say the right words.
Pauline – hope your son gets the job. I don’t know the song or group your husband mentioned. I am a sort of Rip Van Winkle when it comes to modern culture, both good and bad.
Grandma: I have seen the results of someone who chews forgetting to open their window – it is pretty disgusting, to be honest. It is a messy habit, to say the least. In my opinion. I remember my great Aunts, who were spinsters, chewed and took snuff when I was a kid. Maybe that is why they were spinsters?
Jon Rowe: Sounds good – I would be interested in that (article/results). Sometimes I track on your comments without commenting myself. So there are probably more people reading them (and others responses, which also I think tend to be very good – often I agree with them) than just the people who are posting.
Peter L.: Well, if the Prius does NOT get out of the way of the truck fast enough, it might get stuck in the tread of one of the truck tires, which would make the Prius’s passengers very very dizzy what with going round and round and round . . .
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Rio, I’ve also enjoyed Ted Dekker’s books. I liked the Circle Trilogy best of all those I’ve read, I found them more interesting than the Showdown books. Thr3e and the 2 Blessed Child books were also good reads.
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Rio,
I realize we can’t get much car for that amount of money. But we would like to teach our son to start out the right way, paying cash rather than getting in debt. All he needs is something to drive to school when he has too much to carry (e.g. French horn plus anything else in addition to a backpack full of books), or when he has evening rehearsals, and to youth activities at church. And to work in bad weather. That should be a good deal less mileage than I put on my vehicle in a week, and I only have a 5-mile commute. I do hope whatever we get him lasts longer than the year my first car (which I got for $1000 and had a great deal more than 100,000 miles on it) lasted me. But if he can just get the experience working and handling his money responsibly (including saving money for the next car, whenever he does have to get one), he’ll be ahead of a lot of young people these days.
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Speaking of small cars, does anyone else remember the old Honda 600 car from the late 60s? It was a 2 door car with a chain-driven 600cc motorcycle engine. I remember my brother commenting that it was so small a VW Bug could blow it off the road!
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You’ll be in or prayers, Cheryl.
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the quote is from Edmund Burke.
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Yes, going into debt is certainly not the way to go.
If a car is supposed to be temporary and tide you off until you find something better, than I guess one the Camry (or something like that) that my mom got years ago will do. She paid a few hundred dollars for it and it lasted more than a year before “giving up the ghost” while on the road going somewhere. Apply the “seek and ye shall find” concept and you might come up with something decent.
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Correction:
“one like the Camry”
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When we moved to five acres of woods on an island, my wife decided she needed a pickup. It had to be small because she is small and otherwise couldn’t see out of it. It had to have an automatic because she doesn’t like to drive stick (though she has done so, now she doesn’t feel like she has to do what she doesn’t want to do unless she considers it virtuous, in which case I have to do it, too). It had to be cheap because we are cheap and not rich.
She ended up with a Ford Ranger because a used one was for sale. It’s been OK.
When I retire (very soon, if I don’t get fired first) we will get rid of my little car (which may die first, unless I die sooner) and probably get rid of her little truck (because it’s getting long in the tooth) and buy another little cheap AT truck, not necessarily a Ford Ranger. Though now because of gas price she is talking about getting a scooter for the five miles into town. All you never wanted to know.
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