2026.01.28
Didn't want to post a photo from yesterday, with the indignity of being under a pile of snow in the mechanic's lot. Here's a photo from happier, earlier times:
Such a fun car. So easy to park. Fun to drive and bop around especially if you did the overdrive thing. Could hold a tuba in the backseat. Great stereo system. Reliable. (Later years not withstanding, distinctly less waterproof... having to scrape off ice from INSIDE the windshield... and in summer no AC...)
I remember early years, when I would sleep over at my girlfriend K's family's, and noticing it patiently waiting for me curbside. It made me think of a cowboy's steed, which is when I gave it the secondary nickname "Hoss" and programmed the stereo display greeting to say "howdy".
I've only owned two cars, both new. (Kermit, the '96 Civic, was a fun hatchback as well.) I might hold off for a bit on a replacement, I can borrow Lynette's car. Maybe I'll need to get a new one once band stuff unthaws. Looking to buy my first used car, probably a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris. They don't make 'em like they used to, literally.
(side note: I think the gas was about full when it started having gas tank issues that led to me calling it. And it got towed around and barely driven since.)
The podcast Retronauts usually talks video games, but Episoe 744 Dartmouth Time Sharing System and the Birth of BASIC is worth checking out. It's so weird to think of the era just before that, bringing stacks of punchcards to be run. 80s kid don't even know how easy we had it, access to programming platform wise.
We need to make big changes in how things work based on having our limits tested and the guardrails broken, bringing us to the brink. We should be talking about that before the journalists turn this into a debate about what the next election should be about. It must be about everything. Nothing clever. This is what happened and this is what we have to do. For example -- Increase the number of Supreme Court judges, and give them terms of five or ten years, and have an age limit. The Justices must have a personal stake in the decisions they make. They should feel like servants, not gods.