Welcome To Utah, Have Some Snow!
There are some videos making the rounds about Seattle drivers getting a bad rap about winter driving. That’s like saying people in Texas don’t know how to drive in the snow. Low-hanging fruit if you will…
Utahns on the other hand… Well we are generally prepared for snow and we don’t close for business when we get a couple of inches on the ground. In fact, I have been here for almost 14 years and I have had to show up for work every. single. day despite the fact that we have had whiteouts, tornados, etc. That said, even a small, insignificant storm can thwart the most experienced winter drivers. In this video you can see there are only a few inches on the ground but what you don’t see it the layer of ice underneath and that cold-hearted bitch I lovingly refer to as “gravity.”
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wow. I feel sick now.
Hmmm. A thin layer of snow with ice underneath. That does sound a lot like typical Seattle freeze-thaw-freeze conditions, but in addition we've got plenty of hills that make that video look like it was shot on level ground.
All in all, I'm rather glad my university decided to suspend its operations for most of last week. I stayed home.
I thought my hour and half commute this morning in Minneapolis was bad. I only *almost* got hit a couple times.
OFF TOPIC: Hooniverse always occupies a major chunk of my internet time and I always enjoy what I get, but there are some days when every post seems to kick ass. This is one of those days. Maybe I'm just in a good mood, but especially considering that discussion we had about the relevence of the fusion redesign recently, I gotta say I'm as impressed with the site as I ever have been and I've been here since a couple months after it started although I come and go as far as commenting goes. The personal stories like the Charles Barrett Special Commando, Postcards from a Peugeot and the mytery project car hinted at today as well as the near lunacy of the found on craigslist type stuff recently really have me realizing just how awesome this place is.
Thanks.
Alright, enough sucking up to the writers.
Also, I just have to crack 50p and blantant brown-nosing seemed a sure-fire way to get it.
I'll
drinkplus-1 to that.well that worked. damn you people are easy.
I hope you like Bradley GT kit cars…
I usually come to the defense of Utah drivers – I think they're generally stuck in the fatty midsection of this nation as far as drivers go – but this just makes me cringe. Not for the vehicular destruction and the possible injury, but now everyone across the nation thinks we're a bunch of friggin' idiots. Oh well. I suppose there's worse things, I mean people could be reading about our politicians instead…
Utah deals with snow and ice conditions better than any other state I've ever been in. Sometimes, the perfect conditions just present themselves.
A few inches over sheer ice incapacitated my 745 last week (in my own driveway, fortunately) so I can easily believe it. Having a friend cheerfully drive right past me in his Subaru had me a bit incensed, though.
It's amazing how narrow the operational envelope of cars can be, and how quickly that can change. Reduce available friction through water and ice, and your only hope is studs and chains.
Agreed.
<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5249/5206582903_3b59dc0159.jpg" width="350">
There was a good 360 by the Cavalier!
I grew up in Washington. When it snows in Seattle, I wait patiently for the videos of people trying to get up and down Queen Anne Hill. They never disappoint.
(At least the Subie at 1:15 in this video knows what opposite lock is.)
Unbelievably slick. I cringed a lot. People never cease to amaze me.
5201 – 5250
Here we are. I found a comment at the very top of an article by my steady boyfriend.
5201
Hi there,
Thanks again for finding the new place. Your steady BF was our HSNC last year. He sent some really nice stuff that my kids really enjoyed. You know how to pick them Skaycog.
My MiL is annoying to my wife sometimes, like saying in passive aggressive ways that she is too fat. It's pretty frustrating, I can't really say anything cause then I will hurt her feelings, and then Aga will be mad at me for upsetting her mom. This I know from experience, so better to just keep my mouth shut. Yesterday we went to that spa. It was awesome. I think we were there for four hours and my legs were like jello. I had a really good chocolate ice cream there. We also ate, pretty good food. Aga had the chicken, me the eel. Of course I messed-up with the stupid slippers again. Turns-out that there were a first set of lockers for the shoes. Oh and then I put on my slippers there on the carpet, and a guy told me now my slippers are dirty and I can't wear them. Why must it be so hard with those slippers always? And they just assume you know all the intricacies involved.
Today is fun fair at the grade school, should be fun yet crazy. It snowed on Wednesday, they salted, no Volvo driving
But my parents have lent me one of their cars, the big new ML. I feel like a gangster now.
Have a good one,
5202
szm, zsm, ice……..Spring is in the air, but winter will be back Wednesday apparently. My weekend was the usual……..blah, blah, blah. When you said "so better to just keep my mouth shut" regarding MiL, that was a very wise statement. Even if what you say about her to Aga is true, and Aga knows it, it can't come from anybody but Aga. I forgot…..when is she coming? How was your weekend?
5203
Ok, I'll bite… is this some sort of inside joke I missed somewhere down the road?
It's a numbers game, join in!
I'll try to explain this to you, my dear. About three years ago, a "Stormchasers" thread was accidentally started by Scandinavian Flick and me, and with the help of many others, we made it to 5000 comments: http://jalopnik.com/comment/23222306/ After that, some of us decided to start another one and go to 10K comments, but got interrupted by "Nibbles". At one time, Dearthair suggested that we do the same thing here. So, when we weren't able to continue there, we came here and change posts every 50 comments. Since we've been here, our other 10K one has been restarted with only four of us trying to get to 10K. We are presently at 8715 and just started posting images with that number, as you can only talk about the weather and food so much. *takes breath* A couple of us are still carrying on here, and this is where we are doing this 50 comments. Want to join us?
Hi Skaycog,
My MiL arrives on Saturday. My weekend was pretty terrible in some respects, great in others. I came in Sat/Sun at work, been very busy getting ready for upcoming vacation. Michelle wanted to DM a D&D game, but I had no time
Kevin's birthday party went very well, but someone stole a bunch of Aga's photography stuff when she was not looking! That is very mean thing to do. I hope this week goes better, but like Aga says, things could have been worse.
One neat thing is after Aga realized her stuff was stolen, I saw that OLRF had sent a CL magent and some small trinket for Jake. That's cool, cause we did not get anything for HSNC this year (that's okay, things happen). When that comes in the mail it will be the HSNC gift I say to Jake. Oh and then I decided to celebrate life a bit and came home from work to help Aga.
Have a good one,
5204
smz, mzs, sun………That's terrible about the photography equipment being stolen. Will insurance cover any of it? I tried to explain to Jo about what we are doing here. Did I explain it well enough? Your trip is coming up, isn't it? When?
5205
Hi Skaycog,
You always explain well. We leave on Friday, not this one, the one after. The insurance will want a Police report and from past experience, Police depts that are in places like Lombard are byzantine and time sinks. I had someone damage my car in a parking lot, like someone dropped something heavy carelessly on the fender and hood at Home Depot, after looking into all it would take to get insurance to cover the repair, I decided it was not worth it. It will cost $300 to replace it, not worth getting put into a more risky casualty company or whatever it is called and paying that $300 year after year to our insurance company after all that effort. Do you know that I have never had home/car insurance pay for any of my stuff? I'm stubborn like that. Recently in IL there have been people abusing home owners' insurance to get new roofs and siding, stuff like that really bugs me. Man I can't wait to see what OLRF has to surprise Jake! Thursday I'm supposed to go eat lunch with Aga, yippie!
Have a good one,
Mike
zms, zsm, yam…….Okay, you're leaving Friday of next week. Got it. Was the damage you sustained in a parking lot to your family car? That would really upset me……people are idiots. It's a beautiful day in CO, but that is about to change this afternoon with rain, snow, and they don't know how much…….2 to 8 inches. They also don't know how long it'll last. *sigh* I have plans to go to the mountains Sunday, so I hope the storm (or whatever) is over in a couple of days, so the snow will melt off the roads before Sunday.
How long will your MiL be there?
5207
Hi Skaycog,
Yes it was to our first minivan. It was not too bad cause a little while after that I run into a mail box. You see it was really important, my sandwich was about to slide off of the passenger seat and I went to grab it. Then I hit the mailbox on the other side of the street. It went right over the fender and popped straight-up. So now I had balance to the fender damage, the fengshei or whatever it is was all good again. Oh and good it was not my neighbor's kid or something. I left the mailbox with a note in front of our neighbors' door. In the end it was great because they thought it was funny about the sandwich and they were friends with a contractor that was able to get them a replacement mail box no charge even. I really liked those neighbors, so did Aga, one of them had an Aveo, and really some things really impressed me about that little car. They were lesbians though and some neighbors were obnoxious because of that. One thing I really liked about them was that they adopted a kid and really were very good parents. One of the people in particular that caused them grief was not a very good parent in my opinion, and that girl was his own blood! Oh and they knew how to make great food on the grille too.
It's windy here, supposed to cool down. We have astronomy planned for cub scout meeting, hope it does not get too cold. I have a good feeling about your trip to the mountains, they like to exaggerate on the weather news, It will be good by Sunday in CO, cross my fingers. Did you hear about all the tornadoes? Some south of us in IL, pretty deadly stuff. There was a story about a mom that lost parts of her legs to save her kids. My MiL is going to be around three weeks, but here's some bad news, she has kidney stones, and so now we are not sure she is coming on time! Remember last time her passport was expired!? She is under a lot of stress, her husband, and now Aga's younger sister are causing her grief. I'm really lucky with Aga, her mom and aunt (mom's sis) like to made a big deal of every drama, Aga is not like that, and her life is better for it.
Have a good one,
5208
PSL Kind of bummed, no one has gotten my reference to the last Captoin Contest: "@!#?@! for a moment I thought I saw a Coily." In Q-Bert when you died because Coily the snake touched you, that's what Q-Bert would say. Also the Samurai that got sold in Japan right after they stopped selling them in USA was called the Coily, since it had rear coil springs to help with the roll over stuff. A lot of times people don't get my silly captions, oh well. I am a little bizarre, so there is that.
zsm, szm, sno……….That is a funny story about the sandwich and neighbor's mailbox. If your MiL is coming this weekend, why are you going on vacation the following week? Are you taking her with you? Yes, I heard about the tornadoes near you……it's heartbreaking. I'm so glad I don't live in tornado country. Eastern CO gets quite a lot of them though. I awoke this morning to just a very light covering of snow with light snow falling. The sidewalks and roads are just wet, so that's good. Again, the forecast was wrong. I don't know how much the mountains got, but I think Sunday will be good for my trip.
Later!
5209
Hi Skaycog,
Email notifications basically stopped working for me all over here recently, just a heads-up in case it's not just me. We take any family that comes for vacations to USA on our vacations, just like they do when Aga takes a kid to Poland. So yeas, that's the plan, MiL goes with us. See told you about the weather. I had a really bad night of sleep. Aga woke me all sleepily, "What's that noise." It was incredibly windy. So I went downstairs and stayed-up just in case from a bit after midnight to until 2AM. After it was so incredibly windy it got spookily calm, I was worried, listening, looking, and waited-up until the winds became normal again. It's hard to know what were the winds because there is that IL wind farm news, but 40+ MPH winds were predicted two days back, this was stronger than then.
<img src="http://images.mocpages.com/user_images/12960/12404246631_SPLASH.jpg"> Hey today is international day of the woman. And I'm going to lunch with Aga, how convenient! Thank goodness for the finer sex and their finer qualities! Here's a Lego Ford GT. That reminds me, neat story of neat woman:
http://atomictoasters.com/2012/02/what-ever-becam…
Have a good one,
5210
mzs, msz, fry…………….Thanks for pic of lego GT. I've seen pics of it assembled, but not in pieces like that. Where did you have lunch yesterday? I hope you got a good night sleep last night to make up for the night before. I had a waaaay too early morning today…….I woke up at 3:45 and couldn't get back to sleep for no apparent reason other than I couldn't stop thinking. I HATE THAT! So, needless to say, I'm pretty sleepy today. Oh well, worse things can happen. Have a great Friday………YAY……..FRIDAY!!!
5211
Hi Skaycog,
Must finish cleaning house, MiL arriving soon! Got a coffee now. Man I hope you got a good sleep, I did this night! Fell asleep while Aga was watching Friends and woke-up at 8AM! So I am guessing 9 hours at least. But I was tired, lots of hard working at work. You can tell probably from how I post here, so crazy posts one after another through the day. It's funny how my writing mood changes according to stress. But get this, it's not this Friday we leave! Next one, so I have more breathing room WRT work.
Some crazy funny and other annoying things happened today, I'll tell you when I get a chance later. Have a great weekend. Don't think I will get radio in the Volvo today, drat. Oh did I say that Volvo club meet this year is in St. Louis? It is this summer, I want to go! There is a group coming through the town over on the way in a caravan of old Volvos.
Have a good one,
Mike
smz, zms, sno………Well, here I am back home already from trip to mountains. Weather forecast sure missed that winter storm! We left town and it was cloudy, but light rains had stopped. Then it started raining again, and it turned to light snow, and then the higher in elevation we got, the more harder it snowed. When it started sticking to the road and visibility was very limited, I decided it was foolish to go any further, so I turned around and came home. The sky is blue and the sun is shining at home. It was too risky to take a chance, and the higher we would have gotten, the heavier the snow would have been. So, now I'll get some stuff done around the house with NASCAR on in the background.
I hope your weekend is going well with your guest.
5213
Hi Skaycog,
I did get the radio installed that night! http://forum.hooniverse.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&… Yes it is very nice with my MiL here. We just had a big party for a lot of reasons, one of them her being here. That's too bad about the mountain trip. I had that happen twice for me. One time was with Aga, in that case CHP was simply too cautious, they have a reputation of that. And another with my father, Kev, brother, and cousin in Nevada. In that case the weather turned bad very suddenly and yes it too was scary. That reminds me, I watched some of the NASCAR in Las Vegas as well. I also have four tickets to a Nationwide race in Joliet later in the year.
Have a good one,
5214
Hi Skaycog,
Man I can't remember the crazy funny thing anymore! We took the cub scouts bowling, I bet it was related to that. Anyway the annoying thing happened there too. One of the dads was 80minutes late to pick-up his son! Has not even apologized yet. And second time he was late, first time he just left and left the kid at our house, expected the kid to walk home in the dark after the meeting! It's the older kid from boy scouts that helps out as part of his boy scout requirements. Well he doesn't actually help much, he's only like 11 or 12 my guess. The kid is home schooled and I think it's like a chance he gets to spend time with other kids. The first time was cause Kevin was home and he wanted to spend time with Kevin. This last time I think the dad thought Kevin was going to be there too (but he was at archery). In any case it's really annoying me. The dad knew that we were busy, my MiL coming from Poland. I told him the timing, he asked to call 30 minutes before bowling ended. I asked the kid to call at the right time, only way later did I learn that he was not able to get through according to him.
So Kevin is at archery, needs to get home, has bass practice, archery is running late, I have this kid here for almost an hour longer at this point. One of the other moms had stayed to bowl more with her sons, i did with Jake (but not really, let that other kid bowl for me while tried to arrange what to do). Aga needs me home early to let the bass teacher in in case they don't make it in time, I can't ever have the kid alone with only one adult. So I leave with Jake (the kid is with the other mom and all the other adults around just bowling, so that's okay, while they bowl) get home, wait for Aga, the bass teacher arrives, she's okay wot stay with Jake and Kevin. I drive with Aga to get the kid (see now two adults so okay – you and I know I will never hurt a kid, it's more to protect me from insane parents which I'm not taking chances with this inconsiderate and annoying dad at this point) and when we get there, the dad had come and picked-up his son. Anyway the other mom was a really nice lady, I thanked her.
Oh writing this I remembered the funny thing. Aga had run the vacuum cleaner with out a filter. So I was fixing it. But because of this I ran out of time, just borrowed another. It was crazy busy that morning though. Michelle also had a singing concert, ridiculously tight schedule.
Have a good one,
5214.5
szm, smz, zzz………I hate this time change. I wish they'd leave it one way or the other and quit messing with my sleeping habits. Okay……I got that out of my system. But I do think my brain is more acclimated to this mode than the other, probably because we spend more months here. You are very wise in your thoughts on two adults with one child due to the craziness going on nowadays. It's unfortunate, but that's what it has led to. That dad sounds like a real jerk. There's always those too.
I've never watched a Nationwide race, but I think it would be awesome to see one in person. Yay you for having tickets.
Busy Monday.
5215
Skaycog…
Still been busy lately. But more my own fault this time. I decided to start a rotation at work so I am working part time in the tax department and part time in marketing. The work hasn't really gone away though so it's been a challenge to keep up on both jobs. But there are a lot of positives and it's been super interesting seeing what the marketing group does. I've gotten a lot more insight into the operations of the company, and the work is more dynamic and interesting. And the people are just a hoot to be around, they probably have about 15% the seriousness of the the staff in accounting (big surprise…lol).
I hope your busy Monday gets a little more relaxing this afternoon!
5216
mzs…
That feather pillow story is just too funny! I can just imagine the feathers all over!
That's neat that your MiL is here from Poland. Anything planned while she is around the next few weeks? It sounds like there will be awesome weather for at least the next week!
Speaking of weather, that was a neat article you linked me to. Positive lightning is certainly a weird thing. That's why it is recommended that if you can hear thunder from a thunderstorm, then you are within range to be hit by lightning and thus you should move indoors even if the storm and the rain haven't yet arrived.
Happy Monday!
5217
Hi Tower!
I have a meeting soon, have not been getting notifications here reliably. Anyway, the big plan is a trip to Texas during spring break! Your appearance reminds me I need to do taxes
Yesterday Aga, her mom, and aunt went to that spa place. So they did not make it home in time, I had to get home and watch the kids after school. When Aga got home Jake said it, "was awesome. Dad should get is from school everyday!" I really did not do anything much, just made sure they did homework right away, ate dinner, and then we went on bike rides, Jake helped me to switch an inner tube, and then we went in the hot tub like a swimming pool cause it was nice out. Anyway, that made me happy that they all had such a good time so simply.
Hi Skaycog,
That guy, I saw him yesterday when I went to pick-up Kevin and his friend from boy scouts. He did not even say anything, I was expecting an apology. Aga says he's a jerk so full of himself he does not even see he did anything wrong. Anyway, I'm speechless about him. I don't know what to do, I don't want him to keep being late like this, but I don't want to cause any trouble since his son needs to do this for half a year for his boy scouts advancement. Oh I'm in charge of a food drive if I can put it together in time. The person that was supposed to do it bailed
But I drove the Volvo again yesterday, Kevin's friend said it was "Awesome!" Hee hee hee. Mna little things like that can really cheer me up 
Have a good one,
5218
zms, smz, goo…………..My taxes have been done for several weeks now and e-filed. I will get some back from Federal and a tiny bit back from State. That's got to make you feel good about the kids wanting you to pick them up from school all the time. Kids are so open and truthful about things. It sounds like Aga and her mom are enjoying her visit. Good deal. Happy Taco Tuesday!
5219
TowerofPower…..It sounds like you're really enjoying your time in marketing. I think you really love your job from the way you talk. You're very lucky, as so many people don't enjoy their work. Spring is here this week. It's supposed to get in the middle and high 70's all week. Hopefully, though, we will get some Springtime snows. My Monday did get less busy, and today (so far) is going well.
5220
Hi Skaycog,
Off to see Kevin play bass in orchestra now. They laid off some people here today, I had a lot of trouble concentrating during work because of that.
Have a good one,
5221
mzs, msz, cow……….Were the layoffs at work an expected thing? That's really sad. Do all your kids play an instrument? I once took piano lessons and even gave a recital, but I grew bored with it. My brother started to learn the drums, but that didn't last long. Everyone is enjoying the Spring like weather this week. I even opened my house early last evening for fresh air. It was wonderful.
Happy Hump Day!
5222
Hi Skaycog,
Expected but unexpected – see last year when there were layoffs CD was not touched. It was announced that after a reorg, they would have lay offs. I just did not expect it to happen cause similar situation had occurred before without any eventual job losses in CD. Anyway, I expect 150 lay offs later this year, I fear those. I feared those that happened here this week too, because in the morning it was announced that computing jobs were to be axed and then I had a meeting early in the morning, yikes. Turned-out the meeting was about work instead of 'sorry everybody you're fired.'
Jake still does not take any music lessons, now he is taking swimming lessons. He wants to do drums, so I expect someday soon he will. Those will be loud. The others do, Kevin used to do guitar and bass lessons, now just plays guitar by himself and has orchestra and bass lessons. Michelle has voice and piano, next year she wants to do viola, I expect she will not have time for the voice lessons then. I'm glad my kids are musical, I did not have the attention for it, so in particular I am really proud of Kev for sticking to it.
Have a good one,
5223
zsm, mzs, pft…………It's absolutely beautiful weather here! The lower elevations are in need of moisture desperately, but I don't think any is in the forecast until possibly next week. Nothing is new with me. I have an appointment in about an hour, so just wanted to check in. Do you do anything for St. Patrick's Day?
5224
szm, msz, bbb………What a great picture………I love it! What's the story behind it? Thanks so much for sharing it with me.
Good luck on the basketball hoop endeavor with all the cement still attached. That is quite a job. One more day left in this week……hurray! Have a great Thursday night. Again, thanks for sharing that photo!
5226
Hi Skaycog,
The basketball hoop was hauled-off, well not really, some metal scavenger sawed off most of the pole and took that to get some money. I was sad, but my back still hurts from two days ago. It was not meant to be
The photo was from Las Vegas. We visited two car dealerships there that trip, I think it was almost six years ago now. This was the Maserati dealer at the Wynn I'm pretty sure. They had other exotics for sale/on display as well.
Just fixed my bike, leaving for work. Got any neat-o plans coming up?
Have a good one,
5227
smz, szm, fry……….Too bad about the basketball hoop being hauled away. Like you said, it wasn't meant to be. I hope your back isn't seriously out-of-whack and is just a little stiff. Thanks for info on that Ford GT in Las Vegas. That's really neat.
My Saturday night will be at friends for a combined birthday/St. Patrick's Day dinner of corned beef and cabbage. I'm going to take some jalapeno cornbread. It's a Marie Callender's mix, so it's no big deal. But the MC cornbreads are to die for. Other than that, weekend is pretty much the usual.
Happy TGIF!
5228
MZS: Hello, MZS, It's cool that your kids play musical instruments. My Sister and I used to back in Middle School. She played the Cornet(which she still has) and I first played the Baritone Horn*(which I hated and it was mega heavy, also it had a big dent in the horn part, when someone dropped it down the stairs) I then upgraded to the Alto Sax(which was awesome and I love to this day) I did quite well, I might add.
* Actually this was in Elementary School, not Middle School. I first played the Alto Sax in Middle School.
5229
Hi BB!
You know I played sax as a kid too, well tried to. My fingers are all crooked and I could not reach those buttons at the bottom, the flappy ones on that rod if that makes sense. Oh and I had attention issues
I also tried guitar, that I really tried hard, but again my fingers let me down, some chords could not reach and others not enough power to press down even with electric guitar. I really really tried though because I wanted to be cool. It was so important to me then, ha! Also I thought girls would like me 
Man was I strange kid. That story in the morning about the car shows reminded me. Your dad and you always go and check-out cars like even in dealerships, you must be excited for the nice weather coming. Any neat shows you will be going to? A lot of the times the out door ones around here are free, though I like one at a fair, and you need to pay for that one, but more for the carnival rides and demolition derby that one.
Hi Skaycog,
You will be drinking then! Bottoms-up! We have a party tonight. Going to play games with friends, should be five couples or so. Aga prepared a lot of movie trivia themed questions this time. You should go to Las Vegas sometime, you're closer than us, there is a lot of car stuff there in fact! There was a MC restaurant near where to where we lives in CA. It was very disappointing since the food was worse than the MC food you could buy at the store. I was all excited to go eat there cause some of the MC stuff I had made at the apt. Oh well. My back is almost better now.
Have a good one,
5230
msz, zsm, pop………It's Monday. What a fast weekend! St. Patrick's dinner was absolutely delicious. For dessert, there was a homemade carrot cake which was incredible! It was a very enjoyable evening. I only had one glass of wine because I was too full from the good food. How was your party? I have been to Las Vegas several times, and it's quite a place, to say the least. The Imperial Palace car display is great. Happy Monday…….*grumble grumble*.
5231
Hi Skaycog,
Aga made carrot cake for the party, it was her friend's birthday too. It did not go well at first for me since I said not a nice thing about my MiL, that was bad and stupid. I was in the dog house for a bit, but all is better now. Men are stupid and I'm particularly good at that. Also after a few games I went to sleep on the coach. It's raining now here, maybe I will drive the car soon. The oil was unburned gasoline, I adjusted the carbs better cause it's hot out, it's better. Also my wife's cousin and his wife came to visit. They got married not too long ago and this is the first time we met them. I took them on a ride in the Volvo, they wanted to see work, so I took them. Showed them around for 90mins, they said it was the most fun they had on the whole trip here. Here's a photo: https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-a… But they did not want to stay for boardgames
Have a good one,
5232
@MZS: Hey MZS, your workplace looks impressive, The Volvo looks small, but maybe it's just the building!
Yeah now that great weather is here, I'm looking forward to going out and looking at more cars, but first we must buy a new one, as we haven't had a car for awhile. Not since the Mercury. The trees are starting to bloom, so that's nice to see, but that brings bugs with I don't like! 
5233 – Happy Monday!
Hi BB,
It is a small car, just inches longer than the new 500 and a smidgen shorter and thinner: http://hooniverse.com/2012/02/23/truck-thursday-f… They saw the buffalo here as well https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-a… Well really they are bison. Good luck on car purchase, it takes a couple of grand to get a decent one. Did your parents ever think to rent one on a monthly basis? I've never done that, but it may be something to look into if you run into a situation where they really need one on short notice. Blooming trees make for nice photos too, another thing you like, yippie.
Have a good one,
5234
@MZS: Hey MZS, Thanks, although I'm not sure when we will be getting a new car, but I know it will be soon. I'm hoping month or two, but can't be certain. I really like those photos of the Fiat 500 and your Volvo, It's pretty cool to think how close in size they are to each other. I love the new Fiats. I wonder what your Volvo would look like next to an old 500, you know the really small ones. It's a dark and rainy morning, but I like it
Your wife's cousin and his wife look like a very nice couple. Did they like your Volvo?
5235 – Good morning!
smz, msz, mom………That's a great picture of your cousins and your Volvo. Actually, the whole picture is pretty impressive. What on earth did you say about your MiL that was so bad and stupid? You don't have to tell me if you'd rather not. It must have been a case of you opening your mouth and inserting your foot?
The winds night before last here were like 60 mph and damaged a lot of trees, roofs and fences in the area. I muted the TV several times because I wasn't sure what I was hearing was the wind. I HATE WIND!!!!!!!! I think I've mentioned that about one hundred times now. 
I bought a new 1:64 scale Ford GT40 to add to my collection on my garage wall. I now have 50+ of them.
<img src="http://www.milezone.com/images/detailed/18/w3798o.jpg"width="500"/>
Happy Taco Tuesday!
5236
szm, smz, boy………The week is almost half over, and I look forward to the weekend. We've rescheduled trip to the mountains for this Saturday. The weather is supposed to be perfect! I slept almost nine hours last night, so I really am rarin' to go today. The night before, I only got seven hours' sleep which just isn't quite enough for me. Life is sweet. I hope your day is going well.
5237
Hi Skaycog.
I have not been getting a lot of sleep recently. Shutdown is getting ready to go and I have been working from early to late and sometimes can't shut the brain off in bed. I just barely got everything done today 2:15PM and got the okay to go on the vacation with my family! It's crazy. At first the shutdown was going to be way earlier, than a month earlier, not it's right bumping with the kids spring break. Anyway last night was pretty bad of course because of me really worried like Aga would have to cancel reservations (her back-up plan was to Smokey mountains with her mom and our kids), only got 5hrs at most sleep, couldn't shut off the brain. Anyway, everything worked-out. There used to be four people doing my job, it's stressful now with just me left. Can't wait for the needed vacation! I went on a long bike ride with Jake, read Kevin more of teh The Hobbit, and pretended to be the world's slowest rally driver in the Volvo along the deserted roads here at work (shhh don't tell). Man that was fun. Radio is nice too to have. Enjoy your trip to the mountains!
Have a good one,
5238
mzs…
That's a super neat picture of the Amazon in front of your iconic building. And next to the Fiat! That really gives some perspective into how big even little cars are today!
This is some pretty weird weather right? I finally broke down and put my summer tires on. The winters are just so squishy when its 80 degrees out! Now watch, it will cool down and snow or something in the next couple weeks.
I'm sorry to hear about the job uncertainty again. That's got to be rough on all you guys to have all of these periodical layoffs. And like I've mentioned before, it's just a bummer to see this kind of research and it's support continue to get cut. Hopefully everything works out.
5239
$kaycog…
Wow…50 Ford GT40s…that's dedication right there! I haven't been up to too much. I've got a video game party this weekend to go to. Those are always fun. It's a good excuse to hang out with friends during the winter months when there isn't much else to do. Although you wouldn't know it was suppose to be cold this time a year with the current weather!
Have a good Thursday!
5240
zsm, szm, mtv……….Thankfully, you'll be able to go on vacation anyway. It's hard to get any quality sleep when we have so much to think (and fret) about. We need to remember that worrying about things doesn't solve anything, and it's not good for our health. We can't help it though. How is Aga's photography going? I kept meaning to ask you that. Nothing new here. It's a beautiful day!
5241
TowerofPower…….We're going to have 80-degree temps in CO this weekend. The last few days were in the 60s with some wind. Re my colllection of 1:64 scale Ford GT/GT40's, I put my whole heart into whatever I do in life, and that includes collecting these little cars and my obsession with that car. Have fun at your video game party this weekend. My trip to the mountains Saturday is still on. Nice to see you!
5242
Hi Tower,
Yeah it's rough. Plus all the hard work, it's a lot of people that have to work much harder now since so many less of us here now than before. With the uncertainty it makes for grim mood sadly. What can I do? Look for another job I guess, but really I have a lot of dedication to the people I work with and do enjoy it for the reason that it's science endeavor. See I'm in the situation that a lot of us are now that since so many people have left, we're the only ones left that know how to get certain things to keep working. I'd feel so bad if I left because of that. I'm just worried something will happen politically that forces the hand of the lab and we all get let go no consideration about science or how hard we worked.
The weather is crazy, two days ago we ran AC! I hope it will not be an incredibly hot summer, but it might be. When it's hot then cool, we get big storms, those scare me. You'll like them though I guess
I did some spirited (for me) driving last evening. There are a lot of really empty service roads here. The Volvo in a turn if the rear wheels hit any perturbance, it just causes the back to slide out very severely more the way I am turning if that makes any sense. This is fun when you know to expect it 
Have fun at your game night!
5241
Hi Skaycog,
The photography is going well. She has a shoot coming-up after the vacation. She's not fretting about that too much anymore. Also replacements for some of the stuff that was stolen has come in. One lens she decided not to replace, she wants instead to get two better ones soon anyway. But that will be something like $400 so we'll wait. It would be sort of silly to get it now and then replace it so soon. But we will not have a very good telephoto lens (man I think that's the term she uses) for the vacation. We have one on the back-up camera though that should be good enough. You know how much she likes to take photos, I think it's a big reason of why she likes to go on vacations, ha! We are going to beach, she takes scenic photos there, I get to see Aga in bikini, win/win!
Have a good one,
5243
smz, zsm, fry…………Holy cow, what a busy day! Time is really flying by, but at least it's getting closer to the weekend. I'm so looking forward to the mountains tomorrow. It's going to be an absolutely beautiful weekend! I hope you got a good night's sleep for a change. It makes things easier to cope with. What's going on for you this weekend? Don't you leave for vacation a week from today?
TGIF…….YAY!
5244
Ha ha ha, man I'm bad at explaining, we are already in Little Rock
Have a great trip to the mountains!
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/531431_1968648794011_1776713148_967233_100190302_n.jpg" width="500"> How was your trip to the mountains? Hard to believe sea re having good vacation from this photo, but we are. Jake had a temper tantrum here, not much you can do about those, just wait them out. It's a funny photo though. We saw alligators yesterday and ate great seafood and pizza. Also been to the beach, there were horses there even, strange place Texas, I like it.
Have a good one,
5245
smz, mzs, tnt………That has to be the greatest photo ever! I really got a laugh out of it! I hope you're all having a wonderful vacation, even though Jake didn't look too happy at that time. LOL! I sure screwed up again as to when you were leaving. I was confused from the beginning. I think I do better when I'm given a date and not "a week from next Friday" or something like that. My Saturday in the mountains was fantastic! We saw lots of deer, as always, one coyote and a small herd of cow elk. They were beautiful! Deer are always seen, but elk not very often. The temps were in the 60's compared to the 80's in town. Now we're back to Monday. Enjoy your badly needed time off!
5246
Just dropped by to say hi and give you this link: http://blogautomobile.fr/rallye-de-paris-2012-bel…
Hi, ami! Thanks for the link……..sweet! It's so nice to see you again! I hope life is good for you.
As you can see, now I'm living more to the south of FranceI'm a lot less on Hooniverse… That's how much more I'm enjoying myself. But as you can see I have not forgotten my American friends! Thanks for asking. I've been to the Motor-show in Geneva where I also had lunch with a Friend. That was great. And last week I test drove 2 vehicles. One was the new Peugeot 208. A very nice small car, I will probably have one somewhere in the future.
<img src="http://www.leblogauto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/peugeot208.jpg">
But the really cool vehicle I drove was the fully electric Renault Twizy. I had so much fun during the half our drive that when I got out of it I had a ridiculously big silly grin on my face! It was awesome and I'm not easily impressed!
Here's a picture of one and aa video I found on Youtube. Bye for now.
<img src="http://www.renault.fr/gamme-renault/vehicules-electriques/twizy/twizy/ze-car/a-chacun-son-twizy/att00402536/gammetwizy.jpg">
[youtube 8dm5UDuJ3eE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dm5UDuJ3eE youtube]
How fun you got to drive a Twizy! Thanks for sharing with us. You do sound very happy with your move to Southern France. I'm so glad for you. Hey! Don't be a stranger here.
Hi Vavon!
Sorry I missed you, I was on vacation, but I am glad to see you are having fun doing what you do! Keep on keeping on good buddy! That Twizzy is cute, I'll read about them some soon, I wonder how much they cost and when they go on sale. Google here I come. I have to stare at that 208 a bit longer, I have a feeling it would be a lot like Honda to me. They always look to me at first in a way where I am unsure about the new looks, then it grows on me. Here's a French car I liked the first time I saw it, I even got a little toy car of one, now Jake has it.
<img src="http://alexanderbusk.blogg.se/images/2010/citroen04_119056628.jpg">
Have a good one,
V0 + 1
Hi MZS,
That doesn't matter at all! I hope you had a great holiday. To be honest the 208 is a car that isn't photogenic at all. It has too much little details wich don't show up well in pictures. Some cars just look better in the flesh. I still prefer seeing little 205s and 206s tough. The C3 is a nice little car too, but I prefer the 2CV! These modern cars all suffer from the same problem in my eyes: high beltlines and gigantic wheelarches… A trend I don't like at all! Have a good one too, bye-bye
<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5018/5544163734_e74e11a262.jpg">
$kaycog…
It sounds like you had a good trip to the mountains. Elk are pretty awesome to see! I've only seen them in the wild once at Yellowstone, and a couple times in a zoo. They are big animals up close too.
That's a good way to go about life, put your heart into what you are doing and don't worry about what others think. You should write in to Ford about your dedication to the Ford GT/GT40. It'd be a long shot but maybe you would end up with a special $kaycog edition GT, how cool would that be!
Have a good Monday!
5247
mzs…
Make sure to save that picture. It's pretty neat. Aga has a good eye and really captured the tone of the moment with that one. I hope the vacation is going well!
Thunderstorms can be a bitter/sweet type of thing for me. It's fascinating for me to watch and understand what's going on dynamically. So many things have to happen, and so much power can be unleashed. It really makes you feel kind of small. I can also freak myself out though…especially at night when you can't see what's going on. I always overreact, watching the radar…waking up my girlfriend…looking out the windows…going downstairs. Nothing really ever happens though, which can annoy the people around me.
Have a good Monday!
5248
TowerofPower…….What you said about me writing to Ford and them making a Ford GT Edition for me is hilarious! You funny man!
I went to the mountains again Saturday. As always, it was beautiful, and this time we saw a total of about 50 deer. At 10K elevation, there is still snow on the North side of trees. Hopefully, there will be more all over after tonight. We are expected to get snow tonight. I certainly hope so……….SO DRY!
I'm off to find a new place for us. I'll be back in a little bit. Good to see you!
5249
Stormchasers……..New place for 5251 – 5300: http://hooniverse.com/2009/11/04/hooniverse-asks-…
5250
Also, needs moar background music.[youtube LtGWtxtgmB8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGWtxtgmB8 youtube]
I run No Script in Firefox, so I read your comment and looked at an empty box. As I clicked the box, I was expecting Yakety Sax. Blue Danube seems appropriate, as well.
I want to drive up to Bountiful and smack the guy who filmed this. Clearly, he filmed for quite some time. Perhaps instead of filming, he could have walked up to the top of the hill and told drivers to stop attempting this hill.
Civic duty, look it up.
Yes, but then he wouldn't have become a youtube sensation. Gotta get your 15 minutes somehow.
BTW – civic duty – pshaw. It's all about personal responsibility now.
Ah… .to see some people take personal responsibility. That would be nice.
In the comments he says that there both civilians and police already at the top warning people. Not sure why the police didn't just shut the road down. Maybe it's one of those western "only one road" deals.
Probably not a "only one road". The Mormons did a really good job of designing most of UT so that kind of thing doesn't happen.
I can't quite make a comparison to Seattle, but one of the technical challenges to driving icy Utah roads comes from the way the road is 'crowned'. Unless you can drive down the middle, gravity just pulls you over to the curb.
Most of Texas suffers from ice, not snow, which is a completely different animal.
I'm Texas born-and-raised, as is my wife, neither of us having lived outside Dallas county until the winter of 1997. We moved from Texas to Evergreen…Colorado.
Yeah, it was interesting, but there never were any wrecks or getting stuck with either vehicle. Well, her Intrepid didn't make it to the house @ 9K feet until I bought steelies and studless snows, but if you could see how steep it was, you'd understand.
Lemme put it this way…one short section of dirt road, when dry, mud, or snow-packed, was almost impossible to walk, it was that steep.
At the same time, 4' of snow in 24 hours got my attention like green & purple clouds didn't in the past.
All depends on what you grow up around.
This said, softball-sized hail gets everybody's attention.
4:15…Chevy Trailblazer driver:
Oh, yeah! Mister Plow?! This'll teach you to block my driveway!
Methinks this didn't turn out as he intended.
It looks like excessive speed and inappropriate equipment seems to be the major problem here. Go slow and stay home if you don't have the right rig.
Having grown up in the mountains, where it regularly fluctuates wildly between +3C and -10C, I'm used to these conditions, although it's usually with a lot more snow. So coming to Alberta and watching the chaos is nothing if not entertaining.
I shared the story on my Book of Faces last year about the lady in the Grand Cherokee who did a pirouette in the middle of a 110-km/h freeway, narrowly missing three lanes of traffic and embedding herself in the ditch a few meters in front of my car. I pulled over to make sure everyone was okay, and she was fully stuck there. I took one look at her tires and saw the problem. Two- or three-year-old all-seasons do not work in winters around here. Winters or nothing. They were smooth as a baby's butt. I commented on that to her: "Ma'am, you need to get a good set of winter tires, you've got no grip with these things, you're gonna kill yourself!"
She gave me the snarkiest "my-god-you're-an-idiot" face, and scoffed. "Tchah! I don't need winter tires, I've got four-wheel drive."
I was stunned for a second or so, and saw the smug nodding faces of her three kids in the vehicle with her. I shrugged, and said, "Well, then I guess I just imagined you sliding through three lanes of traffic and diving into a ditch, and I guess I'm imagining you being stuck here, so you don't need my help! Have a nice day. Try and keep warm while you aren't actually sitting here."
And I hopped in my rear-wheel-drive V8 sedan, with shitty winters that were STILL better than her all-seasons, and drove off without so much as a slip.
Sometimes it's the conditions, but sometimes you just can't fix stupid.
In the 18 years I've been winter vacationing in UT I have seen some REALLY BAD driving. You'd think that people who get that much snow would learn better. I mean, people going sideways on major onramps sparking off the barriers, people going down the mountains backwards, somebody passing a snowplow on the right.
Similar thing happened a couple years ago near where I grew up: [youtube d5exATIaQiI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5exATIaQiI youtube]
This is typical. Utah drivers need like three snowstorms before they remember how to drive in the snow.
We've had one day of significant snow in Boise this winter, which I'm told is highly unusual. I did some
major oppo funsnow-drive practice in my truck (the joys of unemployment) and the wife had to go to work. Fortunately, the brand-new all-seasons on her car did all right. But snow tires are on the list of things to save for this year.Wow, that is such a tricky spot. I can't imagine living in such an area, even though I love the idea of snow, the whole practice of shoveling snow and teeth chattering weather would be pretty hard for me.