My Soap Box

Call it what you like, what happens when the cash runs out and clunkers remain to clog the nation’s highways, foul the air and gulp petroleum reserves like frat boys at a kegger? I had what could by any definition of the word have been considered a clunker. All four fenders, both doors and parts of... Sign in to see full entry.

And now they want to go there. The August issue of Popular Mechanics has a headline on the cover proclaiming, “Why we need to go to Mars” and it is written by none other than Buzz Aldrin. To be fair, I have not read the article but that won’t stop me from offering an uninformed opinion. Now I can... Sign in to see full entry.

A wealth of information lies at our fingertips. We can shop on-line for anything we can name and some things we probably should leave un-named. A popular feature of most shopping sites is the ever popular consumer review where we can purportedly see what everyday consumers have to say about how... Sign in to see full entry.

Publish or wallow in obscurity. As regular readers (well, maybe reader, thanks Mom) might realize, I have been conspicuous in my absence. I’ll admit I would rather have been consuming Absinthe, but I wasn’t. It is just that real life has commandeered my spare time and change. Speaking of changes,... Sign in to see full entry.

Finally I can sit down at the computer and type a few lines. Summer is like a dream, only it’s that dream where you are in the middle of the railroad tracks wearing cement shoes and the train (summer) is bearing relentlessly down on you. The pressure is on at work, the new IRS ruling about the tax... Sign in to see full entry.

Gas prices are rising faster than the summer temperatures it seems. But what if you raced 1/10th scale radio control cars for a hobby? Would the cost of racing also then be scaled down? Well, yes, these cars are not cheap, but far cheaper than thier full sized counterparts. One thing that might seem... Sign in to see full entry.

Summer is bearing down on us, that inevitable run away freight train full of lawn chores, long weekends and projects best suited for sunny weather. Memorial Day weekend found us at one of the biggest RC car races in the northwest with nearly 300 entries. That’s a lot of racing. I was entered in the... Sign in to see full entry.

It’s hard to realize how much time one spends blogging until one spends time doing other things. We are approaching a re-model project of major proportions and getting ready for it has consumed much of my spare time. It is also the start of lawn season, RC racing season and all manner of things... Sign in to see full entry.

Well Daimler-Chrysler is no longer, so will the Italian maker of diminutive cars be able to pull the American giant’s fat from the fire? Ok, I haven’t owned a Chrysler but I did own a Fiat. It is commonly known that Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tomorrow, or Fix It Again Tony. Things Italian are... Sign in to see full entry.

Recorded music assails us at every turn. In elevators. On car radios. Cell phones. Yet, experiencing the music live is the way music is meant to be experienced. Another thing the live experience brings to the fore is that one might just learn to appreciate music that one might otherwise ignore. Such... Sign in to see full entry.