ambivalent images

Pentagon City Mall

A large American flag hangs in the central atrium/courtyard thingy at the Pentagon City mall. We went shopping here w/friends from Colorado a few weeks ago after they arrived here but their luggage did not. I'd never been to this place before and found it much larger and generally nicer than I had imagined. It's metro-accessible, too, for those who need the mall fix but don't have the automobile that most malls require.

Mailbox Message

A message painted on a neighborhood mailbox. What could it possibly mean?

This reminds me: I miss BORF. When he was arrested a few weeks ago I couldn't believe the level of invective I saw about him. People were so glad he was arrested and so happy to think he would be going to jail. Call me whatever you like, but I enjoyed seeing his stuff around town. It was certainly of a higher quality than something like this (above), and while he didn't seem to have a highly coherent politics (at least not according to this “profile”), his stuff was generally on a different level than a lot of the random graffiti you commonly see. I know I wouldn't be too thrilled to see messages and stencils spray-painted on my car or something, but the only places I saw his stuff were on trash cans, electrical service boxes, sidewalks, and the backs of public street signs. Those items can all use some livening up if you ask me. It was public art with a message (albeit a confused one). What's wrong with that?

Leaky Hydrant

A D.C. fire hydrant leaking all over the sidewalk and street. This hydrant was this way for at least a week, maybe more. Was someone fooling around with it, or did it just spring a leak?

D.C. Convention Center Not

The old site of the D.C. Convention Center is now a big vacant lot. I know this is a boring picture but I'm still surprised by how different this area looks now compared to just a couple of months ago. It's much nicer now! I'm sure the city is going to put up some crappy condo/starbucks complex to fill this space and block the open space that it has now opened up, but for now this part of the city looks better than ever to me.

Walton's Eureka Sunbeam

An old vacuum cleaner store in Bethesda sports a very cool sign. What do you think — 1950s?

On Empty

The fuel guage on the new car reads empty. I took this as I sat in line at the DMV inspection station to get the car inspected before it could be licensed. That took over an hour and most people just sat there idling their vehicles, polluting the environment to get a sticker that says their car doesn't pollute the environment too much. Makes sense, right? I kept turning the car off though b/c I was out of gas and thought I wasn't going to make it. I did, it was fine. I told this story already, didn't I?

A058

My ticket number as I waited in line last week at the DMV to register the new car. I think I mentioned that it took something like 8 hours to get the car inspected and licensed. The DMV personnel who helped me were all very nice and seemed to know what they were doing, so it wasn't their fault things took so long. Still, I hope someday I'll live someplace where I don't have to deal with this much bureaucracy to take care of things like this.

Half-Blood Prince

The latest Harry Potter as it first came out of its special Amazon shipping container. Thank you, M, for letting me read it!

Seat 48C

This stub of an airline ticket from London to Dulles was randomly (or accidentally) discarded near the entrance to the D.C. DMV on C St. NW last Saturday. Tickets like this tell stories. There used to be a website devoted to that idea where you could post an image of a stub along with the story to which it was connected. In fact, it looks like Matt Haughey used to do it (scroll down to the bottom and you'll see a link to “Ticketsubs”). I wonder why it disappeared...

Mini For Reals

An original Mini Cooper sits on the street making its newer descendants look rather big and bloated by comparison. If you've seen Four Weddings and a Funeral and you remember the opening scenes and the first race to the first wedding, you've seen one of these original Minis in action. They were tiny tiny cars, which was a lot of their appeal. I like the new Minis, though. I haven't driven or ridden in either the new or the old, but I'm pretty sure I'd appreciate the new one even more if I did.

Yay! I can't breathe!

A billboard in the Gallery Place metro station sends a double-message. From the pic at right you may be able to see that this is an ad for “electricity from coal.”

On the subject of the metro, there's a station I visit frequently where the down escalator is being repaired. That means the only way down is via the elevator (slow and won't hold many people) or the regular staircase. Meanwhile, there's an up-escalator that works fine, yet people insist on going up the regular staircase, forcing the throngs of people coming down to make way for them. Every time this happens I have to try very hard not to ask these people what the heck they think they're doing. And why should I care? I don't know. It's irrational. Say goodbye to roadrage, say hello to metrorage!

Cobalt Front & Back

The new car from the front, above, and from the back, at right. I think that takes care of most every angle of the car so I'll stop with the car pictures. ;-)

Oh, except that I might have some comparison pics showing the similarities between the Cobalt lines and those of other recent vehicles. But then again, maybe not; we all know that cars in the same class tend to borrow heavily from each other.

Someone asked if we've named the car. The answer is no. I don't know if I've ever named a car, although I know some people really like doing that. I did suggest “the rusty rocket,” but L. strenuously disapproves. My second suggestion would just be “Flashy.” It's short, it's sweet, I think it describes the vehicle fairly well. The only problem is that certain readers of blogs “with more sugar!” may confuse our car with Flashy Mcgeniuspants (see more from Flashy here). Plus, if you name a car and start anthropomorphizing it like that, you'll also have to face the question of gender—is the car male or female? Or something else? Perhaps we should just call it “the car”....

Window Stickers

The fuel economy window sticker from our new car (and another at right). The explanation for this sticker doesn't tell you much except that the EPA figures the average driver drives 15,000 miles/year. What I don't understand is why this car would be classified as a “subcompact.” If you look at the list of subcompacts, you'll see they're basically all sporty coupes. Class sizes are apparently determined according to interior volume, so from this I'm guessing that the EPA is talking about the coupe. (Is it possible that the coupe and the sedan have the same interior room? I can't see how....) Compare that to the list compacts; the compacts (the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, VW Jetta, Dodge Neon, etc.) look much more similar to our Cobalt. In a side-by-side comparison, the Cobalt does pretty well against the Civic and the Corolla, although it's not surprising to see that the American make is bigger in all external dimensions and smaller in all internal dimensions. Why must that be?

Sky High Prices

A sign at one of the many gas stations we patronized during our vacation shows the high price of a gallon of gas. At right is another glimpse of the new Cobalt taking a drink at the pump. (Yeah, it has a "spoiler." We wouldn't have custom-ordered that option, but when you're buying on short notice and you must have orange, you're probably going to end up with some options you didn't want and maybe without some you did. I do think the spoiler enhances the look of the car, though, so it's all good.)

The ever-rising price of fuel was only one of the reasons we were reluctant to invest in a new car. For some time we've talked about hoping we could postpone a purchase until there were better alternatives. For example, we really like the idea of the Prius, but it's not made by GM, and we sort of have to/want to buy GM for several reasons, primarily because L's dad worked there and because it's an American make. (Our Cobalt was “assembled” in Lordstown, Ohio; Chevy claims 75% of its parts come from the U.S. or Canada, including both the engine and transmission.)

Unfortunately, according to the government, the Cobalt doesn't do much better on fuel economy than the old Corsica—the Corsica supposedly got a combined MPG of 24, while the Cobalt is rated at 27. (I can't seem to link directly to the comparison, but here's a screenshot.) That's pretty sad considering the Cobalt should have the benefit of 10 years of technological advances, has a much smaller engine (the Corsica had a 3.1L 6-cylinder; the Cobalt has a 2.2L 4-cylinder) and is a smaller car. Maybe the extra 1 cubic foot of luggage volume in the Cobalt makes it guzzle more gas. At least we're doing slightly better, but I hope if we ever buy another car we'll be able to do much much better. For example, both the Cobalt and my my mom's car are considered “subcompacts,” but her car gets 41 mpg, on average. And yeah, ok, it's diesel and there are problems w/particulate in the emissions of diesels, but still...

The bottom line is that whatever we're driving, it seems inevitable that someday we'll all be singing along with the Kinks:

I can score you some coke and some grade one grass But I can't get a gallon of gas I've got some downers some speed all the drugs that you need But I can't get a gallon of gas There's no more left to buy or sell There's no more oil left in the well A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere For any amount of cash

I do hope when that day comes we can at least get the grade one grass.

Bowtie and Cobalt

Our new car in the shadow of the giant Chevrolet bowtie. I know both are clipped, but I was a little distracted. The big bowtie comes from an old Chevy factory around Flint, I believe, but it now lives at the dealership where we bought our car.

Pretty orange, huh?

UPDATE: I added links to Vic Canever Chevrolet, the dealership where we bought our car. They were extremely helpful and I'm pretty confident they gave us the best deal they could. If you're ever in the market for a new GM (primarily Chevy) or a good used car, and you're in or near the middle of Michigan, Canever's is a great place to begin your car search.

Sign Your Life Away

Signing the paperwork to buy the new car. The saleswoman pushed the paper in front of me and said sign. I said, “What am I signing?” L's dad said, “You're signing your life away.”

Oh man.

“And you may ask yourself-Well...How did I get here?”

Tow

The old car getting hooked up for the long tow back to Michigan. After the car broke down and we finally settled on a plan of action we had to wait about 4-5 hours for the truck to arrive. When it finally got there, it was another 5 hours back to Michigan. Three people and a 60 lb. dog in the cab of a pickup? I don't really recommend it. The best part was our drive through northern Ohio—it's actually a very pretty part of the country!

Last Chance to Buckle

A dire warning for Ohio drivers leaving the parking lot where we waited for our tow truck.

Fatal Drip

The coolant drip that ultimately killed our car—at least as far as we were concerned. This picture is looking up from the ground; it might look upside down because the firewall to the passenger compartment is at the bottom of the photo. As best as I and others I consulted could tell, the source of the drip was the condensation outlet from the heater core—the line that allows air conditioner condensation to drip out on the ground instead of building up elsewhere. Apparently if antifreeze starts pouring out of this drain that's a sure sign your heater core has basically disintegrated so that coolant that flows in there is just rushing right through the box and out on the ground.

A heater core is not an expensive or complicated part, but it can take some time and effort to dig out and replace. On this car (a 1995 Chevy Corsica) you apparently have to remove the dash for the job. I wasn't too excited about that, so I was thinking maybe we should pay someone to do this. Unfortunately, this problem appeared on a Sunday morning in Springfield, Ohio, and there was not a single mechanic open in town. Fun. At first we decided to just get a room, wait until morning, and take it to a mechanic then. After much debate and consideration, we decided instead to wait for a tow to a friendly dealership where we could just get rid of the broken beast in exchange for something in orange. And while it may sound like we made this decision lightly, I assure you we did not. Investing in a new car is asking for its own kind of new trouble so we considered it long and hard. I guess we'll never know if we did the right thing, but, well, we live and learn, right?

Lucy

My cousin's dog posing for the camera in Indy. Lucy is a very sweet and very tiny little Shitzu.

The Accordion Vote

A bumper sticker on the back of our friend's car in Indianapolis. Thanks, you guys, for showing us a delightful time in Indy!!

Beer Drive-Thru

A drive-thru liquor store in downtown Ann Arbor. These aren't that common in most of the country—for fairly obvious reasons, I would think. Still, it sure is convenient if you'd like something from the liquor store!

Darn Near Something

A sign alongside a Michigan road denouncing the Department of Natural Resources. I don't remember the details of the story, but the outline is something like this: The owner of the land you see behind this sign was a wetland. The owner started a development project on the land to fill in the swamp and make a trailer park or something. At the time, he either didn't know he owned a protected wetland or didn't care or the land wasn't actually designated as a wetland at the time he started his project. Whatever the case, the DNR stopped him and he was very not happy. I believe he was/is legally obligated to restore the land to its previous condition, or to make a good faith effort to do so, so what he's doing is every couple of months he comes out and moves some dirt around. Otherwise, the land just sits there, looking pretty ugly and telling all passersby that DNR stands for “Damn Near Russia.” I find this endlessly entertaining. I bet this landowner was thrilled with Kelo v. New London (the recent Supreme Court decision that said the government can take private land to give to private developers for purposes of “economic development”)!

Catfish (shark!)

The catfish L. caught. I'm told it was probably about 20 pounds, but I hefted it in the net and it seemed a heck of a lot heavier than that. We tossed it back—catfish are scary!

Anchor

The anchor sitting on the deck of the pontoon as we cruise across the lake.

Bait

A wax worm all ready to entice a bluegill to its surprise demise. Waxworms worked well for the bluegills, but nothing was working for the pike. Pike are apparently very difficult to catch during the summer. In the winter, it seems easier for some reason—perhaps because they don't have much food so they're more likely to find and bite at your bait. Whatever the case, you use small fish to catch bigger fish, so this picture at the right is what they call a “sucker chub”—a little fish you put on your big 3-prong hook to sucker a pike into thinking it's going to get a free meal. Although I've never had the chance to try it, I'm told this is how you catch a pike:

1. Hook up the sucker chub with a bobber a couple of feet above it on the line. Cast it out and just let it sit.
2. Watch the bobber. When it goes down, get ready.
3. Once the bobber goes down, wait for it to come back up and then go down it again. You're waiting for the pike to really get it in its mouth. When the bobber goes down a second time, jerk the line pretty seriously to set the hook.
4. Reel it in and have a net handy—you probably just caught a big fish!

Shadow Fishing

My own shadow while fishing from the front of the pontoon boat. If you look closely you can see the shadow of the pole I'm holding and not catching any fish on. We actually pulled in quite a lot of fish this day (bluegills), but I took this during a slow period when the fish just weren't biting for some reason.

Fireworks Fourth 2005!

Fireworks over the lake in Michigan. I hope everyone had a terrific holiday!

Road Dog Sisu

Sisu looking over the back of the front seat on the long drive to Michigan. She doesn't have a lot of room in the back seat because she has to share it with her crate, but she's still a great road dog.

June Bloom II

Yes, I know it's July, but I took this in June, so here you go. I'm thinking of doing a brief series of flowers, or bumper stickers, or Sisu pictures for the next week. We'll be traveling so it will be hard to post w/much regularity. We'll see.

June Bloom

A flower in our landlord's front yard. The hot and humid weather apparently doesn't bother these flowers; they've been going crazy for several days now. Justin Hankins has some awesome flower photos up, although I'm not sure where they were taken. I often think of the beauty I hope to have around me when I move away from this swamp, but I might miss brilliant colors like this (and this!) in heat of summer.

Still, other parts of the country have beauty you just don't often see around here. For example, sunsets like this are common in the west/northwest. Meadows with aspen trees like this are also very nice and more common out west (although some of those flowers look like the picture taken above locally, don't they?).