04 May 09 08:57, Roger Nelson wrote to Roy Witt:


 RW>> Mine comes up for renewal this month. If they don't lower the
 RW>> premium, I'm moving on. Already have a quote for less.

 RN> The older you get, the higher the premium.

They still think that I'm in the roadside assistance business. How can a
Isuzu Rodeo cost more to insure than a Chevy Silverado, both of which are
within a year of age? And, the Silverado has full coverage, while the
Rodeo has only liabilty coverage.

 RN> My insurance company has had mimimal increases on me over the years,
 RN> but they can't single me out, especially since I'm a very careful
 RN> driver and have no accidents or moving violations.  They have to
 RN> increase everyone in my age bracket.  The older you get, the more it
 RN> costs to live.

Damn! I didn't know that or I wouldn't have gotten so old!

 RW>> I don't eat the stuff, so that wouldn't bother me.

 RN> Turned out to be my daughter who was up that early and she wasn't
 RN> frying bacon.  My nose deceived me.  She was making French toast.

Well that's different. I'd eat that!

 RW>> And a lot different person than they were on foot.

 RN> Dr. Jekyll toward drivers while a pedestrian and Mr. Hyde when a
 RN> motorist.

It doesn't pay to be an aggresive pedestrian.

 RW>> Not here...the stop or yield signs are for the local traffic.

 RN> Wow!  I don't believe I've seen that here.

Drive down the frontage roads in Texas and you will soon come to a Yield
sign that gives the right of way to vehicles exiting the freeway. I swear!

However, you won't see a Yield sign for the existing traffic on the
freeway when you want on.

 RW>> And a crazy place to have to drive.

 RN> Especially at night in the rain.

My favorite driving weather.

 RW>> RN> That seems like an extreme amount of money just to run some
 RW>> pumps.

 RW>> Union labor...

 RN> Maybe so.

 RW>> I was there for only a couple of hours and figured that out. Another
 RW>> Los Angeles I don't need.

 RN> While New Orleans wasn't as big as Los Angeles when I lived there, I
 RN> have gotten to like Houma, especially when I lived here before
 RN> despite the types of drivers it has.  The only difference between
 RN> Houma when I lived here before is the amount of traffic it now has.
 RN> It's unbelievable for a relatively small town.  The phone book has
 RN> doubled in size.

They say the population here is double what the sign says it is. I guess
we'll find out next year.

 RW>> Last time I was in San Diego I asked myself, what am I doing here?

 RN> If I went back to New Orleans, I'd probably say the same thing.

As a small town boy, I was happy to be there when I first arrived. As the
years wore on, it became more and more crowded. I hadn't realized how much
until I moved here and then went back for a visit.

 RW>> Yeup...out of curiosity at first sight, I stopped and asked what
 RW>> they were allowing and what they were ticketing for. Allowing 85mph
 RW>> on the freeway, 65mph on the off ramp and 55mph in the 45 limit.
 RW>> Then later, it became 45mph in the 45 limit zone.

 RN> I don't know if you can trust what they say.

Heh...this was the same cop who came to my house to stop a civil
disturbance between me and the jerk across the street.

 RN> Normally they are telling you what they were told at the morning
 RN> briefing, but that can change the next day or even the next shift,
 RN> depending on the mood of the watch commanders.

That could be, enticing me into speeding on his watch...

 RW>> Yes it is and they keep a tradition going all year long. The town
 RW>> began as RW> a German immigrant settlement, funded by a German
 RW>> Prince, named Solms.

 RN> I didn't know that.

He had a girlfriend back in Germany that he built a house for here in the
city. She never made it here and why he went back. The place is called the
Sophienberg...her name was Sophie. Today it's a museum. There's a whole
history of this place that would keep one busy for a long time.

 RW>> I'm told that up until the 1960s, everyone spoke German here.

 RN> It might be worthwhile to visit there someday just for the German
 RN> potato salad and the German chocolate cake.  A lot of factors have to
 RN> come together.  At the moment, I don't trust my car's steering.

You don't have to drive here to enjoy the chocolate cake. There's a bakery
that sells their goods by mail...the oldest bakery in Texas.

 RW>> Not from something he got here, I hope.

 RN> Naw, I think he had some kind of pre-existing condition which the
 RN> parents of the kids making that trip were aware of (I hope), but
 RN> didn't consider it life-threatening.  I wish I had gone.  The
 RN> pictures and movies they brought back looked like fun.  The tubing
 RN> down the river would not have been my favorite thing, however.  I
 RN> like to be in control.

Depending on the flow, you can choose the day that the faster river isn't
flowing very fast and enjoy a leisure time in a tube. I'd say, don't tube
the fast moving Guadalupe, but do tube the Comal...it's a short spring fed
river that eventually flows into the Guadalupe.

 RW>> I suppose it could be if you're starting out from the south side of
 RW>> SA.

 RN> Alright.

 RW>> Yeup, the extra pressure could blow some seals. That happens on
 RW>> regular steering as well, just not as easily.

 RN> I think I may need two outer-lower steering rods as well.  Those
 RN> things don't come with grease fittings.  I hate that.

If it had more than one on each end, that's a funny kind of Rack and
Pinion...usually there's only one rod on each end. They shouldn't need
greasing, since they're greased and sealed at the factory.

 RW>> I 'bounce' the steering wheel off the stop in those cases. You can
 RW>> hear the difference where you're on the stop and the pump is working
 RW>> harder than it would be if it weren't against the stop.

 RN> I haven't tried that to see if Ford products differ than the others.

Chrysler products make the most noise.

 RW>> Not something I would enjoy...but the riverfront job might be.

 RN> As it turned out, I was very popular with the folks who hired me
 RN> (States Marine) and they gave me a lot of overtime.  That didn't sit
 RN> very well with the union members.

Of course not.

 RN>   This was the Clerks & Checkers Union and 2/3rds of the membership
 RN> had to vote you in as a member,

Ahhh, Clansmanship...that must suck...

 RN>  so because I was well liked by one company, I was disliked by the
 RN> membership because I made more overtime than they did.  You can guess
 RN> what happened from there.  It was a fun job because all I had to do
 RN> was get the plan from the plan man and tell the longshoremen what to
 RN> load first (FILO) in the freighters.

Should be easy enough. Reverse the 'ports of call' and load accordingly.

 RW>> Heh! We still have half of half a pound of coffee given to us when
 RW>> we moved in this house. That was 2005. Pulled it out of the
 RW>> refrigerator for Thanksgiving and it was still good stuff.

 RN> If kept in the freezer, it's still good.

It's been in the fridge, but if you say so, I'll move it to the freezer.

 RN> One of the guys on my bowling team eats breakfast and lunch.  He eats
 RN> nothing for supper.

I'm like that. Although I snack for dinner.

 RN> He has a flat stomach and so does a man 90 years old who also bowls
 RN> on my team.  I'm jealous!  (-:

I would be too.

 RW>> A friend of mine who owns an alignment and muffler shop here has a
 RW>> cherry 1966 El Camino with the buckets and console in it. He wants
 RW>> to trade it for my 98 Z28, but I'm reluctant to do so. His son owns
 RW>> a body shop, so there's nothing wrong with the car, even has a
 RW>> rebuilt 350 in it, but I don't want an El Camino. I sold mine and
 RW>> replaced it with a pickup and never looked back.

 RN> If in your place, I would not consider it.

So far, I've resisted his offer and he understands. I doubt that he would
do the trade either, if he were in my shoes.

 RW>> I would trade my Z28 for a 1966 Chevelle SS though.

 RN> My daughter bought a 1965 (I think) Nova SS.  It sits out front on
 RN> four brand-new tires, needs an engine and some interior work.  The
 RN> body looks to be in good shape and it's painted a royal blue, which
 RN> just happens to be my favorite color.

Sounds like a nice car. It's worth quite a bit if you can get it on the
road.

 RW>> Owning a classic GM product shouldn't bother you...they have nothing
 RW>> in common with the company today, save for the name.

 RN> If I had my '57 Bel Air back in the shape I put it in, I wouldn't
 RN> give a thought to what those jokers are doing today.

I don't give a thought to what they do anyway. I'd like to have one of
their new Z28s, but they've put that model on hold and are only selling
six bangers. Oh well, I already have a Z28 that I like better.

 RW>> They screwed up by asking for government aid...you'll notice Ford
 RW>> wasn't that stupid and is doing just fine without it.

 RN> You got that right!

I think that's because of a family tradition of keeping it in the family.
Certainly, old Henry is looking down and smiling.

 RW>> They're around, you just have to keep looking. Although, they were
 RW>> uni-bodies and may not be as stout as the El Camino with a frame
 RW>> under it.

 RN> Last week I decided I wanted to trade my Mark VIII in on an Explorer.

Bad move. I bet you'd like an F-150 or the Lincoln model better.

 RN> The guy I spoke with said he'd call me back in a few minutes, but I
 RN> have yet to hear from him.  The exact same thing happened when I went
 RN> online at another dealership.  (-:

Good...now you can go look for a nice F-150 or the Lincoln pu.

 RW>> That figures...I wasn't a fan of theirs when I had their service in
 RW>> San Diego.

 RN> My experience with DirecTV here has been excellent.  Every time I
 RN> asked them for some technical help in the past, I got to speak with
 RN> some very knowledgeable people and if my problem couldn't be solved
 RN> over the phone, a tech was sent (I had the protection plan) to fix
 RN> it.  I recall the first problem I had was getting monaural sound
 RN> through a stereo receiver which was sent to the stereo TV.  I made a
 RN> mental note of everything done so I wouldn't have to call unless
 RN> something new came up.  Then I switched to Dishnetwork...

LOL! They love you now. I did that with Uverse...I was a very satisfied
Dishnet customer, but AT&T made an offer I couldn't refuse. A month later,
I told them to come and get their crap and re-instated my Dishnet.

 RW>> The catch is that for the price, you only get the basic channels,
 RW>> 100 of them.

 RN> And, as I discovered later on, no technical support.  I was aghast!

I haven't needed it.

 RW>> We have their 200 channel package for $49.95/mo, no premium movie
 RW>> channels...they also offer 250 channels, including all of the
 RW>> premium movie channels, for $99.95/mo...I block quite a few of the
 RW>> channels that don't appeal to me, such as CNN, MSNBC and all of the
 RW>> religion and auction channels. I wish they'd offer a pick and choose
 RW>> package, because I can probably put all of the channels we watch
 RW>> into a 100 channel package.

 RN> I had that same argument with Charter Comm. (Cable TV) when I lived
 RN> in Mandeville.  I'd rather go without TV if cable was the only
 RN> choice.  I often wonder if the owner (Paul Allen) knew what was going
 RN> on in that company.

As long as he got his cut, he probably didn't care.

                R\%/itt




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