farewell pontiac; some of my thoughts on the present state of cars
I just learned recently that as of 2010, Pontiac will be gone, and that's not the only GM brand disappearing. Saturn, Saab and Hummer are getting ditched as well.
I can't honestly say I'm going to miss Pontiac as there is no car from them I'd ever want besides the 1989 Formula (only because it looked cool and the name was cool) and the Solstice.
Growing up I always saw Pontiac as a GM afterthought. All they ever had were rebadged Chevys that were styled different with crappy body cladding everywhere. The only time I ever saw them break the mold was with the Fiero and the recent Solstice. Funny how the only splashes they've made since 1984 were with small cars.
My opinions on cars these days are a whole lot different compared to years ago.
First of all, all new cars right now suck. There is absolutely nothing out there made by anyone, be it car or truck, that makes me say, "I want that." That's sad, because there's usually at least one car I want, even if I can't afford it.
Second, new cars are too expensive. It costs at least 20k (figuring in taxes and delivery) for an average 4-door sedan and there's no way to buy one for less. So not only with new do you get a car you don't want, but you pay too much for it to boot.
Third, where did the utility go? Want to know a vehicle that's difficult to buy new these days? A minivan. Neither Chevy nor Ford has one. You have to buy a Dodge, Kia or Honda - all of which are stratospheric-priced. Want to know another vehicle that's difficult to find? A 3-door hatchback. Honda, arguably the company that made the best 3-door hatch that ever existed (Civic 3-door hatch), doesn't offer one. And lastly, try to find a real true-blue station wagon - from any company that is a CAR and not a "crossover".
My suggestion for anyone shopping for a new car is simple: Don't.
There is no new car worth buying right now, by any company. Save your money and buy used. Just research the car you want, and if the reviews don't spell it out to be a lemon, go for it.
My current pick of the moment (and if I could afford it I'd buy one in a heartbeat), Ford Freestyle. This car is a total sleeper. It's got utility, usually loaded, low miles and cheap. I've seen these things with less than 15,000 miles on the clock selling for $9000. So what if I can't tow? Who cares? Want to know what else? People who own it love it. There is NOTHING WRONG with this car and it absolutely baffles me why they don't/didn't fly off dealer lots.
officially on dtv
I got one of those digital converter boxes for over-the-air television (which is what I have) a few weeks ago and finally got around to setting it up yesterday.
Here's what I have to report about it.
Does it work? Yes, obviously it does. I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 channels on the rabbit ears. The reception is mostly okay. But I still get digital "chop" on a few channels periodically. I'm currently debating whether or not to get an amplified set which would cure that ill. Since I can't erect an outdoor antenna (I live in an apartment) nor do I feel like using some long-ass wire to put the ears next to the window (which has no guarantee of working), that's basically my only option.
Older non-amp'd rabbit ears simply don't work optimally with these DTV boxes simply due to the fact there's no way to tell if you're tuning it right - assuming you even have the option to tune on the set-top. Mine does in fact have a tuner knob and I could see the difference when tuning analog but there's no way to know when on digital. With digi you either have chop or you don't as there's no "snow". So if you tune and one channel comes in better with less chop, it may completely screw up another or just drop it altogether. The whole process is an annoying crapshoot.
When in setup mode on the DTV box (mine is a Magnavox by the way), the best signal strength reported is 42 out of 100. It goes no higher on any channel. It would have been nice to crack over 50 on at least one channel, but no dice there. The rest of the channels are high 20s to high mid-30s on the strength meter. With the amp'd ears this would most likely change to mid-50s on the high and high-30s on the low. And yeah I'd be more comfortable with that. I guess it all depends how much the digital chop bugs me. If it bugs me enough, I'll get an amp'd set of ears. If not, I'll just deal with it.
I sincerely do appreciate the fact there's a "zoom" mode for the HD channels so I don't have to see the bars without "scrunching" the image. I also like that the box acts like a cable box in most respects (as far as general operation, the menus and so on).
Yes, it's annoying I have to deal with another remote control (bleah), but that's par for the course I suppose.
So yeah, I'm officially on digital TV now.
I can deal with the idiosyncratic nature of the way it works because it's free and I don't feel like paying for cable television.
hidden menus in garmin nuvi
The Garmin nuvi does contain hidden menus, if you know where to find them! :-) The model shown in the video is a 270 model.
"Dr. Nightmare" voice file for Garmin nuvi 2xx series
For kicks I downloaded the Dr. Nightmare voice file from Garmin along with the Boo! Bundle just to check it out for my Garmin nuvi. Kinda nifty. I like it. :-)
driving a dorky car and getting away with it
The unofficial-yet-somewhat-official rule of whether a car is deemed to be "vintage" or not is if it's at least 25 years old.
