New car! (New to me, anyway)

My brother and I had been talking about getting new cars for the last year or so. We both liked the Challenger, he liked the Taurus and Cadillac CTS, while I liked the Mustang. I considered buying a Mustang GT Shelby Cobra, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of buying a car with the sticker price more than half the cost of my house. In any case, I'm not the kind of guy who needs the top of the line, very best to enjoy something. I am the kind of guy who likes to have his cake, and eat it too. For instance, in 2005, I had $25k to spend on a vehicle. I considered buying a nice, full sized truck (F-150, of course) or buying a decked out Harley Low Rider or Fatboy. Instead, I bought a bottom of the line Ford Ranger for $13k AND a Harley Davidson 1200cc Sportster for $10k.


My brother knew I was considering a new car, and his friend decided she wanted to sell her 2007 Mustang Convertible. I've always wanted a convertible, but I always thought of a caddie, or some other older boat. He got us together, she sent me some pictures, and we worked out a deal!


After tax, title, and licensing fees, the total cost of the car was about $19,000. That leaves me ~30,000 (if I had bought the Cobra) that I can spend elsewhere, like on a new garage or a new roof, or some other home improvements.


I'll still get the enjoyment of driving a convertible, having a fairly fast car with a manual transmission (5 speeds of fun!), plus it's a beautiful automobile. I'm feeling rather proud of myself right now! (pats himself on the back)

Learning to dance

Well, you guys are gonna get a good laugh out of this one. I know I still do.

Yep. I started taking swing dance lessons. Jitterbug, to be exact. The most shocking aspect of all is that I really enjoyed it. I had a blast!

Well, not the first time. The first time sucked. I went to an actual dance, which begins with a lesson an hour early. I thought there would be 10, maybe 20 people there, and there were hundreds. My friends and family know I don't do well with crowds, and though I managed to keep the panic down for the lesson, as soon as it was over, I bolted out the door. Ever see The Aviator? The scene where Howard Hughes meets the senator for lunch; the senator has put his thumbprint on Howard's drinking glass to rattle him. Howard pulls off the meeting spectacularly, but once he gets out the door, he falls apart. That's how I felt at the first dance.

So where did I get the idea to learn to dance? To impress a girl, of course. I met her at a New Year's Day dinner party at my neighbor's house. We've gone hiking a few times, or walked around the neighborhood, but she's very busy. She's told me that she doesn't want a boyfriend right now, because she's so busy with her job and school (she's going through her residency). However, she enjoys swing dancing. She dances almost every weekend. Soooo, if I want to spend time with her, I need to learn how to swing dance!

She went to the first dance, but got there after I had left. I still didn't know what I was doing, and was way too nervous to enjoy myself, so it was better that I left (like a scaredy-cat!). The next day, she came over and showed me the triple-step that had kicked my ass the night before. She explained to me that in Swing, the male leads and the female follows. She said that the woman will do anything the man leads her to do. Of course, that put a smile on my face! I like the simple, conservative, "old-fashioned", premise there.

By the time she left, I had the rock-step, and triple-step down pretty well, so we went to a dance at Baldwin-Wallace college that evening. She and I danced twice, but then I sat down to listen to the student band while she danced with other guys. She's an excellent dancer! I did have fun, though, and wasn't nervous at all, with the much smaller crowd.

A couple of weeks later, I took my first Jitterbug lesson. (Everytime I write or read "jitterbug" I hear George Michael in my head...) I had asked my friend's daughter to join me, because I wanted someone there that I knew, to make it easier. She agreed to go, but had to cancel at the last minute due to work. I thought about skipping it, but that was the first class of the series, so I grew a set and went alone. To make a long story short, I had an incredibly fun time. The teacher was excellent, very low-key, patient, and well prepared. We learned the beginning steps to the Jitterbug the first hour, then the beginning steps to the Balboa the second hour. There were as many guys as girls, with lots of couples, but also several single women.

To teach, all the men got behind the male instructor, and all the women got behind the female instructor, and we just practised the steps, first without music, then he'd play something so we'd get the beat down. It was very elementary, which made it easy to learn. Once we had learned the steps, the women formed a circle around the instructors, and the men paired up with them. We'd practice the steps for a minute or so, then the ladies would rotate to the next man. This was great because we got to chat a bit, practice, then she'd move on. Even if one woman knew what she was doing, the next 5 didn't. We got to learn, joke, and laugh with each other. It kept things very informal, and loose.

I already knew the jitterbug steps, so that was easy. The Balboa was new, and it took a bit longer to pick up, but I finally did. As the lesson went on, I gained confidence. When I danced with the lady instructor, she told me that I had a strong lead, which was good. Also, as my confidence grew, I imagined dancing with S. I'm truly looking forward to being able to dance with her. Since this type of dancing has specific rules, and moves (it's not free style), I probably won't go to another dance until I know what I'm doing. The Lead must be able to think ahead, and transmit to the Follow what he wants her to do next (spin, twirl, come in close, whatever, I don't know yet). I want to be able to do that well before I dance with her. I want to sweep her off of her feet.

Back at it again!

It must be that time of the year. It's cold outside, it's overcast. I don't feel like doing anything. So I look into Everquest. Last year, I saw Project 1999 just getting started:

Relive the classic Everquest MMORPG Gaming Experience as it was in 1999 and onward. Project 1999 is a free to play Emulated Everquest Server giving Players the opportunity to experience Classic EQ Once again, starting with the original 3 continents and a max level of 50, with the look and feel of the old interface and several modifications making game mechanics similar to how the game used to be. Project 1999 is the best and most popular classic Everquest experience.

They don't expect Kunark to come out for a few months yet. Yes, the good old glory days of Everquest, when your corpse could rot with all of your equipment on it, if you didn't get there in time. When the Everquest world seemed big, because you had to run everywhere. When the thrill and excitement of killing a Vengeful Composer after being killed so many times by him before just made your day!

Come back, my friends...come back! I need a shaman buddy!



Man, look at that bearskin hat! Back at level 4 killing wolves and bear cubs. I sure wish I had a SoW!

EQ Emulator can be found here.

The Getting started guide can be found here.

I'm sure you can figure it out. Feel free to ask any questions! Hope to see you in game.

Happy Birthday David

My brother Morgan and I visited David for his birthday. We brought along a big surprise... We parked down the street from Shane's house, and walked to their backyard, where David and Shane were playing catch. Shane had positioned David with his back to the gate, and was asking him what would make him surprised for his birthday, as I let the dog loose....


It was quite the happy reunion, complete with hotdogs!


Of course, we had to don our magical helms, choose our weapons, and fight to the death in the age-old style of Mortal Combat!


I slid the sword deep into my foe's chest... and he expired with much honour and dignity. Then we fought again!


Uncle Morgan buys the bestest presents!


A new battle sprung up between the three warring factions....



But alliances were made, and even Uncle Morgan's superior air power proved to be insufficient against the combined onslaught of the reunited father and son.


Man, my GI Joe had kung-fu grip, and I was damn happy for it! I'm jealous of all the cool toys kids have these days. OTOH, I'd probably just blow them up with firecrackers.

Smash-up Derby

I had never been to one of these. It's held at the Lorain County Fair each year. As far as I know, this is the only fair to hold this particular contest.

I've been to smash-up derbys before. I've even seen a motorcycle derby. I had never seen a Combine smash-up derby though. Yeah, Combines. If you're too lazy to follow the link, a Combine is used to harvest grain. They are relatively expensive, and can be quite large. On to the pictures:


There were 5 heats. Each heat had either 5 or 6 combines. They started off with the older, smaller models, and worked up to the larger ones.


I was cheering for the Pink Panther, and he did pretty good, but only the last two combines from each heat move to the finals. Pink didn't make it.


As each combine came out, the announcer would tell us the year, make, model and price of the vehicle. The first ones cost around $10,000 new, which at the time of purchase was a lot of money. I think the most expensive one cost $85k, new.

There were broken axels, one guy lost a main drive wheel. We saw a yellow combine get pushed from one end of the field all the way to our end, right into the concrete wall, and he had both of his steering wheels torn off from the impact.


Love that diesel smell...


Throughout the evening, folks commented on my niece's jacket:


Again and again, she was compared to Sgt. Pepper. Eventually, she asked me, "Who IS this Sgt Pepper guy, anyway?" After I stopped laughing, I told her, "Ever hear of a group called the 'Beatles'?" She told me she was going for the Michael Jackson look. Oh well, generation gap. It reminded me of the Mindset List.

My nephew (background) and his cousin (foreground) expressed their enthusiasm.


Between the 5th heat and the final heat, they had the pick-up derby. THAT looked like a lot of fun! Come to think of it, my dad has a 1988 Ford Ranger at home that he isn't using....


Me, my sister, my niece, and my nephew's cousin, as well as my brother, brother-in-law, and nephew went to the show.


The final heat was the longest. It lasted about 15 minutes. Overall, the derby lasted about 3 hours. Not bad for 8 bucks.


By the end, we were cold, hungry, and ready to go home. I didn't pay attention to who won. I was thinking about that 45 minute motorcycle ride I still had to get home.


It was pretty cool to see, but I put that in the "Once is enough" category.