October 29, 2003
Death Statistics - Global
"Make a note of how in one recent year, guns murdered four people in New Zealand, 19 in Japan, 54 in England, 57 in Australia, 66 in Switzerland, 151 in Canada, 373 in Germany, and 11,798 in the U.S. Note how the NRA hates stats like this. Send this note to all your friends, using the subject line: "Fun data to toss around at a GOP party or when scoring Vicodin for Rush Limbaugh."
Care of The Fix.
Makes ya wonder why other countries have gun control, eh?
My Mini Hits the U.S.A - Port Newark
Ha, tempted by my Buick nightmare, I seems as if my Mini has sailed into port.
Let the countdown begin.
I no longer want. I need.
October 26, 2003
Anxiously Awaiting MINI
Ben has treated me to many fun test-rides. I really have no complaints. I do want to know where my MINI is and for now it is on the "TAI SHAN" across the sea from Britannia to Port Newark and hopefullly right in my hands.... I tracked my VIN: WMWRE33474TD76580 on the WW Cargo Tracking Site
Special thanks to Ben at Morristown MINI for all the help and for not being 'that' sales type of person I loathe. I really hate being 'Sold' and MoTown MINI is my kinda[1] place...
Should be here late October/Early November. WHEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
Got the Cooper S with just the Sunroof as the option. Kinda neat stripped as it is Why not treat it like a motorcycle with a roof? . 16" wheels maybe upgraded later and the Paint is Dark Silver with black top and why not add some Bonnet stripes?
Special thanks to Ben at Morristown MINI for all the help and for not being 'that' sales type of person I loathe. I really hate being 'Sold' and MoTown MINI is my kinda[1] place...
MINI AUTOCROSS ought to be a ton of fun!!!!!!!
[1] Talk to Ben as he is the 'man'
A 'list' is not a 'forum'
email is not browsing the net. a 'list' is email and a 'forum' is the net/web/
Get it? Got it? Good. Here is a chance to learn some terminolgy to make sure you don't seem so ingorant.
Jeez, I just don't know how to explain it. Everyone is so confused and blurs all the electronic data paths. After all, am I so geek? OK, I am. So be it.
Folks need to stop confusing 'forum' v. 'mailing list'!
It's quite simple.
A forum is in your web browser (aka a freakin website) and you may get alerts that someone spoke like christ to you but holyjesusonrollerblades, that does not equate to you getting it in your email. Get a grip. you got alerted via email after you subscribed (and I bet it said "you asked for this". Go to the website and reply, absorb or otherwise use that website to communicate.
If you signed up via email to a listserv, that is _not_ a freakin' forum. It is an email list. You signed up, Right? And they sent you an email back to confirm, you agreed. That is not a forum. Maybe you read in the email that you could go to a website to get off the email list via punching in your email and submitting but still, you are not in a forum. Hey silly, your email client tells you you can just reply? Read the freaking readme or the list charter. They usually have very simple instructions. If you can read, you should be able to understand the instructions of how to gett off the mailing list.
Stop confusing the two. Email is Email. The Web is the Web and the internet is the internet. the web is the internet and the internet is the web. But stop confusing it with an email discussion. I beg of you.
AhkGH!
Forum = internet/web
Mailing list = email _only_
BING! please don't confuse email with a 'forum' --- grrrrr
October 23, 2003
Recall the Jeep Liberty!
3 weeks and counting without my Jeep Liberty. Go figure.
Ya know, I just don't know what to say about this. Has American Quality sunk to a new low after recovering from the 90's where they improved after the 80's?
OK, here's the scoop ...
I have had Jeeps:
1997 Grand Cherokee Laredo (Tan)
2000 Grand Cherokee Laredo (Silver)
2000 Grand Cherokee Laredo (Blue)
2003 Liberty (Silver)
These have all been purchased from Bisson Motors in Rockaway, NJ and we deal with Bruce (an owner) and normally all is well. I have done all the maintenance on them like oil, differential and other fluid changes.
Lately, the Blue GC has been exhibiting pulsing in the brakes - to a point it is scary at times. Bruce says it is okay and it just needs new and bigger calipers because after the last time, Jeep realized that just Cutting the rotors to fix it, new calipers are now standard. Funny, 2X the Blue one has had this issue. The lease is up this weekend so no point in getting the work done. I mean really? Lack of communcation anyone?
Even funnier is the fact that we owned two (yes, 2) 2000 GC's. My silver one was pretty much bullet proof. No brake issues and I tend to drive harder than my wife, or shall I say, I drive normal. My wife drive's like an old lady (but she's beautiful and I love her :). Still, even more issues plague her GC (remember - same year as mine. Twins) like, a passenger door panel that comes loose. Another is a dashboard problem. One of the indicators of the fan blower knob fell into the dash making a bright pin hole show the light from behind the dash and makes driving at night a PIA.
Oh, and let's not forget that the driver door solenoid does not lock [her blue] the car. How I admire and love how the keyless entry allows for the "bzzzzzzz" sound and the driver door not lock. Really I do. In fact, setting the door to lock manually after locking it via the keyless entry key-fob makes for interesting comments from friends, family and clients when I use her car.
My tan jeep, my silver jeep and now my liberty never exhibited any problems like this. I was impressed by the build quality of them. Really, Jeeps have awesome 4WD prowess and make a state-of-emergency snowstorm seem like a drive to get groceries with the windows down and good music on the radio on a lovely spring day. So why the issues?
Ah, now you ask, eh grasshopper?
OK, in January 2003 (as of posting, that is less than a year ago!) I got wooed by Bisson Motors to come in, get a new GC for less than my Silver GC I was paying for. Cool. But I was tired of the GC's. I wanted something that handled a bit better. Bruce said to take a liberty out for a spin. I did. Took it out alone for 45 minutes and had a blast. I got a stripped Liberty for less than anyone else. Cool. Nobody could match Bruce's price. Good. Leasing over and over and dealing with one person (an owner of the dealership no less) has its merits. Who doesn't get tired of the hassle of arguing about car leasing?
Until 3 weeks ago...
Communication breakdown, it's always the same [A La Led Zep]
12K miles on my Silver Liberty and I actually like the truck. I have a normal routine. I live 32 miles from my house to where I am working now. So 64 miles per day of interstate on a clear commute of super slab highway. Really not much stop and go traffic at all.
Case in point. I ride motorcycles during the summer and my wife drives only locally - job in same town.
Turned in '97 GC with about 20K miles. 3yr. lease allotted 12K per year. Should have been 36K miles.
Turned in 2000 GC with about 24K miles. 3yr. lease allotted 12K per year. Should have been 36K miles.
Turning in 2000 GC with about 22K miles. 3yr. lease allotted 12K per year. Should have been 34K miles.
So we turn in our trucks to Bisson with very low miles.
Ah, you say, what is your problem Erik? I'll tell ya.
In the August rains I was driving my Liberty home on a horrible stormy monsoon-like day. I got off the interstate and at the first light, 2 miles from home, the Liberty started to sputter. I pulled over as it had almost no power. I thought something was really wrong. I let it sit, popped the hood and thought I'd hoof it home. Well, after a bit, she fired up and was normal but then the check engine light was on. Got the truck up to Bisson Motors, left it.
Days go by. I call. I am told that I can pick it up. Ask if it was fixed. Nope. I go up, ask Bruce what is wrong, something about a faulty sensor that they reset and that it is ok to drive. He says he will call me when the part comes in and we can arrange for more service.
Never heard back. But I had shades of the same experience 3 weeks ago. Oct 03, 2003 to be exact. Driving home one night, the Jeep just loses power and off I go to the side of the road. Again. Nice. This Jeep Liberty is not even a year old for Pete's sake. Argh.
OK, she won't start. Fumble through the paperwork in the glove box and call Daimler Chrysler roadside assistance. Truck shows up and I send him up to Bisson to get this taken care of. I do love to be left on the side of an interstate waiting for my lovely wife to pick me up. Must have been a fun visual to see me. After all, I had a baby carriage, a set of skis, a cull camera bag and a handheld CD. Get that mental picture? Good.
The next day I call Bruce at Bisson and he says they will take care of it but he has no loaner cars. Son of a.... I tell him I cannot be without and he says call Monday.
I call Monday, he says he will get me a loaner via Enterprise Rentals (next door) and I get out early, no pay for that, btw. I talk to him, he knows the truck is in but no clue on what is wrong. Sends us to Enterprise to get a car. We go over there and what a pain, we are sent over, we get the trainee, he knows nothing of the code we give him, the supervisor gets it all straight but since we have no credit cards anymore (only bank cards), we have to leave a deposit of $250. OK, we get that down to $150 so we might not bounce checks. Enterprise saved the day being lenient. Thanks! Rent cars from them!
What do I get? AN OLD-MAN-WITH-A-HAT car as my gym teacher/driving instructor once told me.
So, 3 weeks later I get a call from the service manager (3 WEEKS!) saying that my Liberty needs a new motor. Oh, this was the first communication I have had with the dealer. 3 weeks baby. I ask if that is a common problem and being short on time, don't ask if it is covered by a warranty. He says no, but the 'folks' from DaimlerChrysler are coming in tomorrow to take a look at the engine. He explains that the timing chain broke, sent all the valves in the engine to bits and that two cylinders are gone. I know engines, and that is just not any sort of good karma at all.
I should have a new motor installed in the Liberty and be able to take it away on Monday or Tuesday. Great. I can leave 3 weeks of Buick Century rental Hell behind me.
So, questions for the class:
Dealer Communication?
Why did the dealer have trouble contacting me for 3 weeks?
Why did the dealer not fix the first sensor?
Why do I now feel a sense of doom in Jeep Vehicles?
Why do I not trust Jeep to screw my family and me on the GC to be handed over this weekend?
Should I be with legal counsel?
And really, how does one bust a timing chain at around 12K miles?
And who in the name of jesusrollerbladingchrist thinks I should get another Jeep?
And last but not least. Where's my hat? I need one. After all, I am in a Buick no less.
More Info:
http://www.erikgilchrist.com/blog/000081.php
http://peoplewhopissmeoff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130
October 22, 2003
More Mullet Haiku
A weekly ode to follicular joy, because we can
Stop sign on dirt road
Taunts me with its brand new face
Hand me my damn gun
(Haiku courtesy sundry demented Fix readers. What's a mullet? What's haiku?)
October 16, 2003
Crazed Cowboys - Hip Hop Country?
Strange title, innit? :)
I am on a few mailing lists and Paula's (AKA: Crazy Miz B.) posts have always made me smile, go huh?, or otherwise catch my attention. She preaches the gospel of the Crazed Cowboys. And boy does this music Rock!
Their third (uh, I think) Album is entitled Welcome to Hip Hop Country!! and is full of "George Strait meets the Beatles gone country at a hip hop rave"
I searched around and you can get it from their section on CDbaby but I found it cheaper on Amazon. I have a copy coming but you can listen to the samples as well. I just dumped the samples into iTunes on my beloved Mac and while they are not complete songs and the samples are a bit 'tinny', iTunes is set to let them all fade together so the incomplete sample tracks don't sound too bad. Hrm, that was a nice run-on sentence, eh?
Can't wait to get the CD to get the full quality. This is the stuff folks, good funky catchy tunes with a neat bass line. They rival BootSauce (The Brown Album) for my fun and enjoyment.
October 15, 2003
Ashfield, MA - Panorama
Ahhh! The Gilchrist Summer Palace in the Autumn.
Click the image above for a decent image that should fit in your browser. For the Broadband folks, click Continue. Enjoy.
These pics compliment these 1972 images and these. Enjoy.
Ashfield Fall Festival Pictures - 2003
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More images? Click on 'Continue'
A lot of these pics are available on Kait's site too.
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These pics compliment these 1972 images and these. Enjoy.
A lot of these pics are available on Kait's site too.
More Mullet Haiku
A weekly ode to follicular joy, because we can
See that tube-topped chick?
She loves my old Iroc Z
Her teased bangs salute
(Haiku courtesy sundry demented Fix readers. What's a mullet? What's haiku?)
October 14, 2003
mmmm. bacon!
This was the start of breakfast at the Gilchrist Summer Palace over the Columbus Day/Fall Festival Weekend. And yes, it was a seriously bad idea to mix this with coffee. Seriously :)
October 09, 2003
Buick gets the Chinese Takeout
Just some random lunch-time shots of me and my rental Buick and take-out-chinese. Man, do I ever loathe this Buick. They might as well call it a brick with no power, no brakes and the worst suspension I have ever had the displeasure of tire-squealing!
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Thanks to David S. for the shots, Rich for the Mullet talk later that day that had me crying with laughter, Mitch - who needs a job at a major coporate heartless facility to tame his eccentricities. Let us not forget Patricia who is a trooper keeping us males in check.
October 08, 2003
And Now, Mullet Haiku
A weekly ode to follicular joy, because we can
Trans-Am belches oil
While I belch your phone number
Schlitz spilt on vinyl
(Haiku courtesy sundry demented Fix readers. What's a mullet? What's haiku?)
October 03, 2003
Spamming MT :: MT Spamming
OK, I got penile-enhanced spammed last week. Bastard spammers. I have nothing but cursed (literal and figurative) disdain for any spam tactic.
I Digress.
A few links to help the MT community:
Here (long) and here (some say the comments are grok-worthy)
I am looking into all of this but felt it needed be said. Thanks to WedDesign-L and AdSight for the heads-up and the hosting (respectfully)
Erik - master of the spam draw n' quartering faction. New in PDF and Paperback :)