Episode 247: Shout-outs, YouTube Video of the Week, Bet’s New Favorite, Pet Stories, What’s Up With That?, Stennie’s Highlight, Earworm of the Week, Fuck-Offs and You-Rules, Scratch-Off: Live!, Best and Worst Cars We’ve Had.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed Sierra Rein, Lee Rocker and Frank Sinatra. “New Fave” bumper by Krizzer.
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Belated kudos to Bet for soldiering on with the podcast so soon after losing a good buddy.
Kudos to Stennie for the weight loss. You’ve lost all that weight through diet alone, right? You’re not exercising, too?
As a teen-age driver, I had to share a car with my older brother so you can guess how many times I actually got the car! We had two different big-ass 4-door American-made sedans. We always named our cars after the old ladies from whom we bought them — we had Lillian (after my grandmother) and Eunice (as in Barrett, Bet). My junior year in high school, Steve went away to college so I actually got to drive the car to school. Then, he got put on academic probation and had to come back home for the next school year which meant my senior year I had no car! Unfair, right? But I got to ride in the Pacer. The main thing I remember about it was how incredibly heavy the doors were — all that glass!
So, no car senior year, no car all 4 years in college and no car my first year living in Richmond and then, around 1984, I bought a 1978 Chevette. I loved it — loved having the hatchback; it had a great heater and was easy to park in the City. My next car, my first new car ever, was a 1987 Honda Civic which I also loved — it was maroon so a perfect Virginia Tech car and it was great in the snow but it died an early death. So vehicle #3 was a new 1994 Mazda pickup with extended cab . I fell in love with driving a truck and the dogs and I used and abused it a lot. I finally had to replace it when I got a speeding ticket driving it on a country road while avoiding a back-up on Interstate 81 where I was afraid it would over-heat.
My favorite vehicle — only my 4th ever — is my current truck, a 2006 Honda Ridgeline. This was the first year Honda made a pickup truck and I still absolutely love this truck. It has heated leather seats, a full-size back seat that folds up (I can get my bike inside that space without taking the front tire off) and a trunk (ala a car’s trunk but made of heavy duty plastic with a plug so you can use it as a cooler!) . I don’t see how any one who owns their own house can not have a truck — we pile it high with yard crap all the time and head to the dump. My Dad calls it a “city truck” but I assure him it gets plenty of use as a “real” truck. I will keep this truck until it dies and then I’ll replace it with another Ridgeline!
Oh, totally dress up Milo as a dragon. That sounds awesome. I am a bad mommy, and am reusing Nicholas’ costume from last year. It still fits, and he doesn’t care. I’m not even sure if I’ll take him out trick-or-treating. There’s nothing right here, and they were supposed to have taken them around during the school day. He doesn’t eat the candy, and last year he didn’t want to knock on the doors anyway. Something I’m finding disappointing is that everyone gives out the same candy nowadays — you no longer seem to get those weird candies that only popped up on Halloween. Now everyone gives out the same M&Ms, mini-snickers, and other Hershey kinds of things. Where did all the good candy go?
Congrats on the weight loss, Stennie. I’ve done the big weight loss thing twice, and it feels great and it can be a great deal of work. Low-carb was also the way to go for me too. If you want to try something a little more flexible, look into South Beach – it was kind of a kindler, gentler Atkins. I need to get off the preschooler leftover diet and do some serious “no white foods” dieting myself.
I’m catching up today so, Bet, please accept my late condolences on the loss of your friend Seth. That is the saddest thing. I can’t imagine losing even an acquaintance like that. But it is wonderful what he gave the world–his music, his humor, his voice and his joy.
Zaphod is 13 and Ecks is 15. Sadly, Zaphod has been diagnosed with kidney disease, which is not something cats survive from, apparently. However, if we keep the IV going he will stay healthy but I don’t know for how long. His energy level is generally fine though he does retreat to safe places in the apartment more often than he used to. He likes either enclosed spaces (the cat litter box, corners, the cat carrier) or spaces he can see most of the room from. His favorite place currently is my grandfather’s huge dresser. It’s quite tall so he can see the entire bedroom, into the living room and almost to the front door. But this behavior isn’t normal for him. Usually he just hangs out in the window or on one of the couch armrests. I caught him on the coffee table and on the kitchen table a couple times each yesterday which is annoying since those are supposed to be places we eat off of. :\ Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind the IV as long as I heat it up first. Then it’s like a warm bath on the inside 🙂 When I gave it to him at room temperature he’d get freaked out a little and go hide in his carrier. Anyway, thanks for the sympathy. On top of my other projects, being dayjobless and having Sierra out of town for 5.5 of 7 days a week, the sympathy does help.
Glad you guys liked my fictional character tweet 🙂
Sten, I am SO with you on the gmail “suggest you include” feature. First off, it’s dumb–who needs suggestions for who to send email to? You don’t sit down to write an email to Bet and think: “Gosh, I’d like to say the exact same thing to my mom and to Scotty Dude.” What’s worse is that it suggests ex-bosses and people I don’t even know, like customer support people. Second, like you said, GIVE US A CHOICE!! I think Google is starting to get a bit too big and bloated for my tastes…
On to the latest ep of HB, Sten, just yesterday, Ecks finished eating in the kitchen, pooped in the box then went into the bathroom and threw up on one of the bathroom mats. >_< It was like a feline version of the board game "Clue".
Congratulations on the successful diet, Sten!! I had a very similar experience when I changed my diet to whole foods. Saw results very quickly. I also found that eventually, I'd lost the taste for a lot of the "bad" stuff that I used to love. I still have the urge to eat pizza, donuts and 3 Musketeers Bars (and others)–but when I do, I find that I often don't find them as delicious or satisfying as I used to. As a result, it's fairly easy for me to say yes to pizza once or twice a year, and yes to healthy stuff much more often.
Bet, I think you can find the Bootlegger's Cove episode on YouTube in ten-minute chunks. I couldn't find the whole thing anywhere. Sorry 🙁
It's been a long time since I've owned a car, so I'll just talk about my best car–my first. A 1979 Honda RX-7. It was awesome. Super-speedy and sleek looking. I had friends tell me that if you squint it looked like a Porsche. The only bad thing about it was that it was barf brown. Seriously. Worst shade of paint ever. Maybe some sort of rotten-egg-yolk-yellow could have been worse. But I loved that car.
OK, I have typed enough for this comment! But I am all caught up! Hoo-ray!
Congratulations on the (almost) 40 lbs Heidi!
250th episode? MUSICAL! Do a regular show, but do it to a tune. And singing. With rhyme.
Some comments about your reactions to my song hates:
1. I don’t like Electric Trains because it is whiny.
2. Yes, it is Secret, Profane and Sugar Cane. I mistyped. I’m glad Mike isn’t listening anymore. He’d have slammed me for that.
3. Fixing a Hole is also whiny.
Punim Update – he’s 32 lbs at 4.5 months. He’s darling. Really. And adorable. And smart. He’s Punim the Wonderpuppy!
Bet – I’m sorry your video didn’t win. It was fantastic. It made me smile. I did catch several of your “easter eggs.” I’m a fan. If your video had liner notes, I’d memorize them.
Some penguins do OK in hot weather. You know, there are penguins in South Africa. For realz.