Greg's Horrible Waste of Internet Bandwidth

"So sorry for your loss". Life is full of tragedies; death is but one of them. When someone we know, someone we care about has a loss, we feel compelled to say... something . We want them to know that they're in our thoughts, in our prayers, that they know we care and that we're there to support them. A decade or more ago, we stammered for the words. In times of tragedy or loss we needed to something to say, but we didn't have those comforting words. The awkwardness increased as the Internet and social media grew, and we were more closely associated with our friends, no longer separated by distance and time. Then, slowly, a phrase was born that allowed us to express our empathy, easily. "I'm truly sorry for your loss". A simple phrase, but it acknowledges and empathizes with the loss, and can open a dialog where we can further discuss our shared grief. Recently, however, this simple phrase has become a trite habit. Instead of using the phra...

You've seen the trucks strung along for miles on the open road. Long lines of 'em bringing goods to the masses. Watching them, I had some thoughts on how to improve things... Reduce conflicts: give them their own lane, accessible only to trucks; Improved eficiency: allow them to couple together a longer string of trailers, so that only one truck is pulling many trailers; Improved energy generation systems: design them with a hybrid drivetrain system, like maybe the diesel engine drives an electrical generator, and the traction motors are electric instead; Improved safety: the driver can manage the traction energy but instead of rubber on asphalt we use some kind of rail system to guide the rig to limit traffic conflicts; the the truck/trailers will be guided by these rails; Give the truckers a horn that they can honk at cars at intersections. I'm shocked no one has ever thought of this before.

Heady Topper...the "Unicorn of Northeast Beers". Extremely desirable IPA, extremely limited availability... My wife and spent a weekend in VT visiting friends, and could not find the stuff even after it had been delivered to distributors less than 24 hours earlier . Quick inventory from the places we hit showed that they had received somewhere around 100 cases, yet none was left. The only place we could find any Heady Topper was a couple of $9 cans at the Burlington Marriott bar. A quick primer for those not familiar with this beer: Heady Topper is the flagship Double IPA from Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury VT . It is a very smooth "New England style" IPA, probably the "OG" Big Bang creation of the NEIPA. Not very bitter, very fruity. Highly desirable, Heady has a following that rivals almost anything else. In order to get this beer, the brewery publishes its production schedule and distribution channels, and fans will wait in line at  for hours to be ...

So there seems to be a new trend in car rentals—well, maybe it’s an old trend, but I’m just noticing it—where the agencies snag your license and credit card and point you toward the garage telling you to “pick whatever you want” (within your rented category of car, of course). Nice spin on the “or similar” jargon when you’re signing up. And so it went when my wife Thea and I arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport on a recent nice sunny weekend (a wonderful reprieve from this past New England winter) for a friend’s wedding and a couple of recreational days in Key West. ... http://goaheadtakethewheel.com/the-2014-chevy-spark-catching-an-enthusiast-by-surprise/

So three weeks ago I noticed an irregular, random high-pitched "beep" from under the dash of my '11 GTI. I noticed it right after my wife came back from driving the GTI to Pittsburgh. During that trip she rolled past the 20k miles for the scheduled service reminder, which then "gonged" at me each startup. I didn't pay much attention to the beep at first, since it coincided with the service reminder; probably same issue? I can ignore the service reminder, so I can ignore the beep. I'll get the car serviced next week or whatever (hell, the service is free, right...?) The noise was not startling or anything, just a random audible "beep". Well, the following week we were going to drive the GTI to the NJMP 12 Hour, so I decided to have the service done beforehand. Thea took it in and I asked her to discuss the beep with the service manager (she heard it during the Pittsburgh trip). Car got serviced quickly, but Service Manager says h...

A short time ago, conversation among friends turned to Van Halen (no idea why). We were discussing the band, their history, and the eighties. One friend turned to me and said "they (the band) are so over-rated..." "Over rated?", I replied. "Are you kidding me?!?" 1978 was a bad year for rock. The pop charts were filled with disco , and while Led Zep had just released "In Through the Out Door", Ozzy was getting into a tizzy with Black Sabbath. Rock/metal music was still a late-60's/early-70's-attitude, a ponderous mix of old blues and heavy guitar riffs. It seemed - to me, at least - as if metal and rock was quickly on its way to the "classic" radio stations. Out of this mess exploded the band Van Halen. When they hit the charts they were a sharp lightning bolt in a sky of disappointing music, a distinct turning point from 70's metal to 80's rock. Eddie Van Halen's refreshing guitar sound was nothing like we...

Eat. Race your lawnmower (yes, they're "lawn tractors". I'm sure the  grounds are manicured well. and quickly.) Eat. Visit an elephant.      Eat. Ride a Ferris Wheel.   Paint your face (and catch a few ZZZZZ.....) Catch a concert. Or two. Or Three.   Eat. Check out some arts and crafts. (They had beer competition...but no beer sales. Boo.)   Visit some animals (and pretend that know which are the good ones...)   Burr, it's getting cold in here!   Chew your cuds... Hatch...   ...and grow.     Drag some things around... Learn about history...  ...and, um, whatever this guy's doing. See some pretty cool old farm equipment... ...and dream about the next vacation. Get your picture taken on a tractor. See some really cool birds of prey... ...