22 May 09 07:57, Roger Nelson wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>> Not that much C4! It's like Brylcream, a little dab'l do ya...

 RN> Jeez!  I haven't used that stuff since I was a teenager.

How about Butch Wax?

 RW>> There's your opening shot to get it straightened out. Son, I
 RW>> apologize for not being able to make your graduation, but let's let
 RW>> by-gones be by-gones and get over it.

 RN> Did that already -- twice.  All I got was a USMC tee shirt.

Kids do the darndest things.

 RW>> Truth be told, many San Diegans would say 'good riddance' if they
 RW>> ever left town. There are better things than that in SD. Scripps
 RW>> Institute of Oceanography is a small college that has always held my
 RW>> interest. They've got a great salt-water aquarium that's right on
 RW>> the beach. I used to get super filtered salt water for my aquarium
 RW>> there. In by-gone days, there was the El Cajon Speedway, a 3/8s mile
 RW>> oval race track, the Carlsbad Drag Strip, which died from the
 RW>> effects of industrial expansionism, the many beaches one can swim or
 RW>> surf at, the many, many car shows throughout the year all over the
 RW>> county. Heck, one weekend we spent a night and half the day camping
 RW>> in the mountains and then the afternoon at the beach. When you're
 RW>> hard up for something to do in SD, yeah, you can take in a ball
 RW>> game, there you can get a nap.

 RN> Sheesh!  Every year, Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints,
 RN> threatens to move the team to San Antonio.

I've heard. I wasn't for that and told a local radio talk show host that
when he posed the question of whether SA should allow tham. There was a
choice given between the Saints and the Chargers then, which I didn't
support either.

 RN> We now have the right team hierachy, except for Benson, the right
 RN> coach and a pretty good team.  Problem is we have the wrong owner.
 RN> Benson started at the same Chevy dealership I worked at and the owner
 RN> saw something in him and allowed him to be the manager/opertor of a
 RN> SA dealership he opened.  It didn't take Benson long to figure out
 RN> (he's a book keeper) how to take advantage of others.  He can't take
 RN> it with him, though. I don't care for camping, but my kids do.

There's a Tom Benson Chevrolet in SA...is that one of his dealerships? I
got a mouse-pad from there with the new Camaro on it.

 RW>> BTW, so did the 5 tax increase propositions in California on
 RW>> Tuesday. What a screwed up state.

 RN> It's been heading in that direction for a long time.

I think I got out of there in the nick of time.

 RW>> That could also indicate a need for more excercise so you can
 RW>> continue bowling.

 RN> You're probably right.  Lots of exercise machines around here and no
 RN> one is using them.

 RW>> In spite of the O'bama stupidness, Texans aren't going to give up
 RW>> their trucks very soon. What's even more interesting is that the TX
 RW>> legislature wanted to raise the gas tax so they can build more and
 RW>> better roads. What they ended up doing is giving cities/counties the
 RW>> power to raise the gas tax in their area, which won't affect the
 RW>> entire state.

 RN> That makes sense and it doesn't.  I can understand the reluctance to
 RN> give up a truck (I swapped mine for a car because changing a 16" tire
 RN> on a 3/4 ton truck is taxing -- NPI),

Can you say; road service ?

PS - mine has 18" tires on it. I found a set of new take-off Infiniti QX56
wheels in Houston for a song, under $320...ordered some Koumos from Tire
Rack and had them dropped shipped to a local tire and battery store for
balancing and installation.

 RN>  but it seems to me the best thing to do was let the state make a
 RN> blanket tax increase.

That wouldn't be very popular in Texas. We have remote areas that don't
need any better roads than they already have. Big cities like Dallas/Ft
Worth, San Antonio and Houston would reap the benefits of a state wide
road tax.

 RN> That would seem unfair to the smaller towns and while it is, the
 RN> legislature appears to have taken the easy way out of a sticky
 RN> situation.

I think they did what was best for all Texans...those who need more road
stucture can tax those who use it. Those who don't need more roads, don't
get taxed extra to pay for what they won't be using. Fortunately, Texas
legislatures only meet once every two years.

 RW>> Now, if they'd put that on the ballot as proposition, people driving
 RW>> these so-called crowded roads in Dallas can vote them in or not.
 RW>> Vote them in and you get better roads, vote them out and you drive
 RW>> the same old roads until they become dirt again.

 RN> And NOBODY would want that.  I believe all tax propositions should go
 RN> before the people for a vote.

If you take a look at Alpine, Del Rio and Eagle Pass, they don't have
roads they don't need. How would you feel if you lived there and had to
pay higher fuel taxes to build and/or improve the roads in Dallas and not
get any benefits out of the tax unless you went to Dalla? Putting that on
a referendum for the whole state to vote on would override any votes in
that low population area.

 RW>> That was then, today, there's an agency like California's Highway
 RW>> Patrol called the DPS (Department of Public Safety) with black,
 RW>> unmarked cars patroling the roads. Some of them have a Texas star on
 RW>> the door, but it's faint.

 RN> The sheriff's office had a Corvette doing that at one time, but I
 RN> believe it was mostly used in some other fashion like a sting
 RN> operation.

These guys are using Ford Crown Vics...mostly black, white and cream
colors.

 RW>> Without a power booster those brakes were about as inefficient as
 RW>> dragging your foot. Back in their day, there were plenty of Tri-5s
 RW>> that ended up crashing because of them. It's a good thing Chevrolet
 RW>> made a lot of them, because they'd be as rare as hen's teeth today
 RW>> if they didn't. Just like 57 Fords. (which out-sold Chevy that year)

 RN> Look at it this way: at least it wasn't a 1935 Hudson Terraplane (my
 RN> brother owned one and I taught myself how to drive with it) with
 RN> mechanical brakes.

My dad had a 1937 when I was a kid. When it died, it sat along side the
house and I and the neighbor kids used it for a play car.

 RN> That was literally like dragging your feet on the street to stop.

I had a 31 Model A Ford like that, and a 1937 Ford. I couldn't get insured
in the 37 when I was first licensed, so I bought a 1940 Ford, which had
hydraulics. I had to install hydraulic brakes in the Model A in order to
get it insured (1960).

 RN> I don't remember if my '57 had power brakes or not, but even if it
 RN> did, it would be unwise to ride the break pedal to stop.

In those days.

 RN> Pumping the pedal will be less strain on the brakes and prevents
 RN> overheating.

Today's cars that have ABS brakes can be ridden; it (ABS) does the
pumping.

 RN> The '57 Fords had a smooth shifting automatic transmission, but in
 RN> those days you couldn't pry me away from a Chevy.

I had a 51 Ford Victoria that came with a Ford-o-Matic after high school.
It was a good transmission. You couldn't get me into a Chevy in those
days. :o)

 RW>> Isn't the Atlantic is a different color because it's deeper?

 RN> I don't know.  I do know it isn't blue like the Gulf Stream.  When we
 RN> went out that day we could see water spouts all around us and when we
 RN> got back, my bil told me we were out so far we were actually fishing
 RN> in The Devil's Triangle.  (-:

Bermuda...My daughter lives in W Palm Beach and she and her husband have
been there.

 RW>> Kinda like my sister and BIL have failed to convince me to move to
 RW>> Illinois or Wisconsin, so I could suffer the cold with them.

 RN> You don't actually miss the sub-zero temperatures, do you?

Every time I step outside and get hit in the face with 90 degree temps!

I say to myself, ahhhh, how great it is to be here and not there.

 RW>> Kinda like leaving home after that long.

 RN> I suppose so.  That's her life now and I've given up trying to get
 RN> her back to N.O. primarily because I no longer live there.

I convinced my sister and bil to join me in San Diego, only to have them
move back after a couple of months because he wasn't satisfied to wait his
turn for a job at the local telephone company. He was a lineman in
Illinois, but PacBell wasn't hiring at the time, but had him on a wait
list for when the would. It wasn't costing them much to live there, as I
was paying the rent on a 4 bedroom house.

 RN> I sure am glad I wasn't living there 4 years ago.  It was bad enough
 RN> in Mandeville.  We went without electric power for two months.  I'm
 RN> glad I left there, but I do miss living there at times.  Coming back
 RN> here enabled me to renew old acquaintances with my friends who are
 RN> still alive and get back into bowling.

That's cool. At least you know somebody there.

 RW>> That's what I think about the stupid traffic lights at two major
 RW>> intersections here.

 RN> Somebody ought to complain.  (-:

I do, all the time.

 RW>> I out-ran the smokie who was chasing me in my Corvette. He got lost,
 RW>> while I ended up sitting in his favorite sitting spot.

 RN> LOL!

 RW>> Three.

 RN> ? 

 RW>> Too much, but go on.

 RN> It's about right for the work needing to be done.  It's the first
 RN> time I saw my car up on the rack.

My friend Harry says they put a computer in the trunk to control that air
ride. That must be a pain to fix too.

 RW>> I already have. Last weekend, he ended up driving a customer's 1998
 RW>> Crown Vic because he didn't have the part required to get a fix on
 RW>> the turn signals. I asked him if that Ford CV was the same as the
 RW>> Merc GM and he said they were almost identical cars, with some minor
 RW>> differences. Both a good choice, he said.

 RN> I think I'll go with that then.

Don't forget to get some road service insurance so you can call someone
out to change those 16" tires. :o)

 RW>> BTW, my Rodeo is for sale. (3rd choice) A little small for a 6'4"
 RW>> frame, although a very good vehicle.

 RN> I pass.  (-:  I'm already bending a lot to get in and out of the Mark
 RN> VIII.

It's not low like your Lincoln, it's quite high actually. The 'cab' isn't
exactly large in comparison to a Explorer or Tahoe. My knees almost hit
the dash and I know I'm shorter than you.

                R\%/itt

Joy lives in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in
the victory itself.

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