I have always been interested in cars.  Up until about 7 or 8 years ago, I could tell you what any car was that I saw. Unfortunately, too many cars look the same now, and that has made it a lot harder to tell what they really are. Lately I have been thinking about what my "perfect" car would be if I could just make one myself.  This is what I have decided so far: 1) It would have the body of a 1970 convertible VW Karmann Ghia, only a bit bigger so that it could have a real back sea...

This is a picture of my daughter holding an Ugly kitty.  She is a 3+ month old kitten that has lived in a pet store (in a cage) for over a month.  She looks at me each time I go in to buy dog food.  I always think "poor ugly kitty, nobody buys you". Now, she's a really sweet kitty.  She's the first one to go to the side of the cage when somebody walks buy.  She purrs really loud at the slightest bit of attention.  But, she's ugly.  She's small and skinn...

In the article by Cordelia: https://forums.joeuser.com/Forums.aspx?ForumID=17&AID=120476   she "tagged" me.  Which, I guess, means I have to write embarrassing tales of my youth.  I have so many to choose from.... I'm having a hard time distinguishing between "embarrassing" and simply "stupid", so I'll just write down 5 things that pop into my mind: 1) When I was fairly young (not sure what age, but in elementary school).  My parents installed a nice shiny chandeli...

I'm home today sick (have strep throat) so I decided to finally write a couple articles.  I just posted about my corn stove: Corn Stove (shameless plug) and now I am writing about the birthday cake I made for my daughter's Halloween themed birthday party last weekend. Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until the morning of her party to decorate it.  So, it was really a "do or die" type situation.  I decided to try using Fondant to decorate with.  As was poin...

As I get older, I start pondering odd things.  I look at my daughter and wonder what the world will be like when she is my age.  It makes me quite sad when I realize that the Earth is going to be in pretty bad shape in 26 years from now if we don't do something (just look what has happened in the past 25 years). I have began to ponder the Iroquois belief that "in our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." So, a ...

Many people celebrate Christmas with the inclusion of "Santa Claus".  But, did you ever think about how he became "Santa". Well, "Santa Claus" is an American version of two other countries traditions.  You hear "Santa" called "Jolly old St. Nicholas" and probably never even think about it.  Well, "Santa" and "St. Nicholas" really are the same, even though how that came to be is a bit odd. The name "Santa Claus" comes from a Dutch legend of "Sinter Klaas".  It appears th...

Christmas is an interesting time of year for me.   I’m not Christian.   I’m not any “religion”.   That is not to say that I am atheist, because I am not.   I just haven’t decided yet what I should believe.   But, with that, I end up questioning everything.   One of my biggest questions for winter is: “Why do we celebrate “Christmas” and why do we associate certain things with it?”   This is *not* an anti-Christian article.   It’s an artic...

I got this via email.  I'm not saying this is true, or anything.  But, I find it funny because I can hear Kerry reading this in my mind, except with putting the "schmooze" tone with it so that it sounds positive. JOB APPLICATION NAME: John Kerry RESIDENCE: 7 mansions, including one in Washington DC, worth multi-millions. I served in Vietnam (four months). EXPERIENCE: Law Enforcement. In my career as a U.S. Senator, I've voted to cut every law enforcement, CIA, and De...

I saw this gif on www.wincustomize.com and for some reason it just cracks me up.     Have any more to add?

It seems like people are going crazy over hybrids lately.  They talk about how much more efficient they are so they save money.  But, do they? Ok, there is a bit of debate over if the hybrid is "better" for the Earth (they require massive batteries that wear out then need to be disposed of, and they don't get *that* good of gas mileage yet).  But, either way. there is a huge issue with if they are "cheaper". The best example that I can think of is th...

Awhile ago I decided that I was getting tired of paying bills.  By that, I mean that I had a bunch of different bills that I had to pay monthly and it was getting to be a pain to budget.  So, I decide to get a home equity loan to pay off all the annoying bills and then be able to deduct the interest on taxes.  Since I had my house appraised about a year ago, I knew how much it was worth and I knew that I could borrow enough to put everything into one lower payment. This is what...

My heart has been heavy lately.  The world around us seems to be so wrong and dangerous.  However, the more I look around, the more thankful I am that I live in a country that is typically well educated, civil, and cares about her people. As September 11th approaches, I can't help but think of the images that I saw that day and the sadness that people endured.  Lives were changed, and the world changed forever. However, there is a past event that haunts me even more.  I...

1) Buy a Harley Davidson.  Put a real exhaust system on it.  Ride it wearing a Polo shirt, khakis and topsiders.  Use turn signals instead of made up hand signals. 2) Get pulled over by a cop.  As soon as he walks up to the window ask: "Sir, do you know why you pulled me over today?" 3) Buy a lowered, windows blacked out Excursion.  Fill the back with speakers.  When at stop lights by people blasting rap, crank the stereo playing toddler tunes.  Noth...

I grew up with pack rat instincts.  I reuse stuff when I can, and I recycle what I can't because garbage seems like such a waste.  (We only have 3/4 of a bag of garbage a week that we throw out from our household). However, it's hard.  Everything in todays world is throw away.  I caught myself doing this because I like to save money.....wait...what was that I just said?  Yep, it's true.  To save money, you end up throwing more things out in todays world. Thing...

Dear Bob the psycho VW Freak, I have deleted the article about putting a Karmann Ghia on a custom chassis.  Now, go away.  You need professional help.  I am glad that you think that I am going to hell for ripping up a classic VW. I am glad that you got your kicks out of posting as me on car sites.  That was a nice touch.  Though, I am a bit scared that you read all my articles and pulled out so much information about me.  I think I have learned that there are ...