Silence is Golden.

Those words were originally coined by AMC Theatres as the slogan for their campaign to get people to silence their mobile phones during the movie. They are also fully appropriate words to explain how mellow and laid-back things are here at home now that my mom and my sister are away on a nice vacation in Dominican Republic. I hope they're having fun out there, as things have been rough for mom and she deserves a vacation...

Megan has introduced me to another of her totally awesome friends, her name is Jamie. I absolutely enjoy having Megan as a friend, she is one of the best people I know. She helps me through many of my issues and I help her through hers.

I'm loving my DOT job

David was nice enough to give me a short lesson on motorcycle riding on Sunday the 13th. Although I still need some more work, I feel a bit less fearful now...

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jill, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Annette, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Sherazada, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Alena, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Gisel, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Dina, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Nicole, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Jill is my newest friend, I ran into her here on Xanga, and felt she'd make a very nice friend from the second I found her page. And sure enough, she accepted my friend request in short order.

Gisel is another awesome friend I made back in March. What was, and remains, very awesome about her is that I did not find her: she found me! I got a friend request from her on Facebook, and of course I accepted. She is an awesome girl who I look forward to learning more about. I do know this much: her boyfriend should be very lucky to have such a pretty and sweet girl in his life!!

More news coming soon!

TRIVIA FACTS: The first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were built by William S. Harley and the Davidsons in a tool shed, and their pre-production prototype even had a carburetor made from a tomato can! 

AWESOME JOKES:

AWESOME QUOTES:

"Take this four times a day. And stay off airplanes. They're flying cesspools." -Dr. House, in Episode #303 "Informed Consent"

AWESOME COMMENTS:

"Yay!!! You have peace for a while!!! Score for family vacations where they leave. Glad you think Christina and Jackie are great. Thanks for dealing with my guy problems and being a sounding board. : )" -Megan

"Great car pics btw. Glad you finally got to a car show." -Megan

AWESOME CAR PICTURES: And now, since I don't have any new eBay finds this week, I am instead showing additional car pictures from Livingston, NJ's 14th Annual Fourth of July Car Show. (NOTE: Only a limited amount of them will appear in this update due to space constraints. The full album can be found here and is also available on my Facebook page.)

It is not every day that you see one of these. Pictured above is a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro with the special Pace Car option package. Sold under RPO Z11, the 1969 Pace Cars were all Dover White RS/SS convertibles with orange houndstooth interiors, orange Z/28-style striping, white body sills and rear panels, Rally Wheels, bright exhaust tips, and cowl induction hoods. While most of the 3,675 replicas sold through Chev dealers were powered by the 350 smallblock, a small number were built with the L78 375-horsepower 396 backed by a Muncie four speed. This one has the 350 motor more typical of the Pace Cars.

Pictured above are three Chevrolet Corvettes. From left to right they are a 2005, 1982, and 1974.

The town of Livingston brought out this awesome 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air to the show. Based on my knowledge of the GM police vehicles of the time, I conclude that this unit is NOT a factory-original police package vehicle, but rather a 1955 car the department purchased and converted into a replica of what one of their police cars of the 1950s would have looked like.

END OF THIS WEEK'S UPDATE

Please leave eprops and comments using the links below. If you want to read updates from past weeks then you can scroll down further.

Currently Watching Monty Python's Life Of Brian - The Immaculate Edition see related

There still continue to be massive up and down fluctuations in life, and they worry me. When I am at work, I am in high spirits because I just love my job. But my personal life continues to deteriorate rapidly. Although things are not as bad as they were two weeks ago, I am still concerned about the future and whether or not I will continue to stand tall in the face of this neverending assault on me...

Add to that, mom was suddenly experiencing a massive string of car trouble. Her Jeep's mirror was broken off by a yellow truck (possibly one of North Bergen's sanitation trucks, but that is merely a guess based on some paint chips left behind from the impact). Then on Wednesday morning (July 2), the Chrysler would not start. And it was stuck in a Wednesday spot. Mom put signs on the car saying it wouldn't start, but those street sweeper guys wrote up a ticket anyways When I came home from work I gave it a boost and got it up and running again. Then the following day, it again would not start! My uncle had a look at the car and determined its battery needed replacement. He replaced the battery on Sunday, July 6.

There are areas of hope, however. The Fourth of July weekend, although it had a few close calls, went much better than I expected. I managed to catch Livingston, NJ's 14th Annual Fourth of July Car Show. On Saturday July 5, mom and I went to Long Island to pick up grandma and bring her to our house to spend a few days.

A special thanks is in order for Megan, who did so much to cheer me up this past week, and (briefly) introduced me to her two best friends.

And now time for birthdays!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Czarina, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Vidhi, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Marcelo, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Maria, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jennifer, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Michele, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Shawntel, Happy Birthday to you!!!

I went to elementary school with Maria and her sister Porzia, and had lost contact with them in 1998. I regained contact with them briefly in 2001 after they too moved to North Bergen, but once again lost contact after graduating NBHS. I found her again a few weeks back thanks to Facebook. Maria and Porzia are beautiful, sweet, friendly girls I remember them fondly as being amongst the very few people I went to elementary school with who were actually nice to me. I am so glad to have found them again

More news coming soon!

TRIVIA FACTS: Herbert Hoover could never properly pronounce the word "radio." He'd say "RAD-EEE-O" instead of "RAY-DEE-O".

AWESOME JOKES:

AWESOME QUOTES:

"Gorgeous women do not go to medical school. Unless they're as damaged as they are beautiful." -Dr. House, in Episode #101 "Everybody Lies"

AWESOME COMMENTS:

"I love the 'Be Polite' bike. I can imagine the looks he gets when he 'pulls someone over'." -Michael

AWESOME CAR PICTURES: And now for some car pictures from Livingston, NJ's 14th Annual Fourth of July Car Show. (NOTE: Not all of them will appear in this update due to space constraints. The full album can be found here and is also available on my Facebook page.)

Pictured above is a 1948 Lincoln Continental Mark I. The 1940s Lincoln Continentals were designed by Henry Ford's eldest son, Edsel. Edsel, unlike his father, was uninterested in the mass-production cars his father thought were always the bread and butter of his business, heck he had little interest in the company as a whole. But one specialized idea he came up with won the appeal of higher-class carbuyers that Ford was having trouble appealing to. The Lincoln Continental was an idea Edsel came up with as something he wanted as his personal, custom-built luxury car. He discussed his idea with Eugene T. Gregorie, who sketched it out and presented it to Edsel for final approval. Edsel admired the finished, but ordered one change: he ordered that the spare tire be mounted outside thr trunk, in a special housing over the rear bumper. This became a trademark of the car, and all such spare tire housings are referred to as "Continental spares" to this day. The very first of these Lincoln Continentals was hand-built on an accelerated schedule so it would be finished in time for his vacation to Florida in March 1939. While in Florida, he showed the car to friends and networking contacts he had made. Interest in the vehicle was very high, and Edsel when he came home to Detroit had 200 orders in hand! Therefore, limited production of this car began. These cars were extensively hand-assembled, and the first batch of cars (two dozen made in 1939 and 400 in 1940) even had hand-hammered body panels (because dies for the machine-pressing of the body panels were not ready until 1941)! Pearl Harbor forced Lincoln to stop making these. In 1946, production resumed. Post-WWII versions of this car, such as the above example, had more chrome than the original pre-war cars. The unique look of this car is very much admired. The powertrain, however, was not, as Lincoln's V-12 was a nasty oil burner. Many Continental owners wound up being fed up with the oil-burning habits of the V-12 and in the 1950s replaced the V-12 with V-8 engines made by Cadillac. Other examples, such as this one, had different powertrains installed when they were restored. This example has a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet V-8, a 9" Ford rear, and upgraded suspension parts from later Ford products. The owner also added an MSD ignition, power steering, and upgraded the brakes to disc brakes. This vehicle won first prize at the show.

Pictured above is an awesome 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible. 1960 GM cars in general were basically very similar to their wildly tailfinned 1959 counterparts, but with a more subdued look to them. This Impala has the 283 cubic-inch V-8, leather upholstery, signal-seeking AM radio with dual antennas, the optional seat belts, and the optional Continental spare tire. The original radio probably does not work, but the owner left it there for authenticity's sake. I like how he added a modern stereo in a manner that is both readily accessible and readily removed should a future owner want to remove it for showing the car in a purely original form. A 1960 Chevrolet Impala hardtop coupe appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (with hydraulic suspension) and in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (with regular suspension).

I have shown a number of the rare "fuelie" Corvettes made between 1957 and 1965 on this site, but this one represents the very first "fuelie" I ever saw in person. For those of you who may not be aware, "fuelie" is the Corvette enthusiasts' term for the rare fuel-injected Corvettes made between 1957-1965. Fuel injection was one of the experimental, futuristic ideas that was tried in the 1950s, but did not take off due to its high price and poor reliability. GM, however, improved the system in the 1960s and kept offering it on Corvettes. Although its reliability got better, its sales did not, as it still cost far more than equally capable conventional engines available on Corvettes. This example is a 1963 Corvette, a Corvette already famous as being the "split-window" design. This "split-window" treatment was used this one year only. William Mitchell, the stylist who designed this car, wanted the split window because he felt it made the cars look more dramatic. Zora Arkus-Duntov, the engineering genius who transformed Corvettes from "fiberglass bathtubs" into sports cars with reasonably responsive handling attributes, said that the split window impaired rear visibility. GM had already committed to the split window for 1963, however, they heeded the advice of Duntov and produced the 1964-1967 versions of this car with a larger, one-piece rear window. This makes the 1963 a hot collector item. As for it being a fuelie, it is a very, very rare collectible item easily worth $250,000 in the condition this example is in.

Currently Watching Independence Day [Award Series] By Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch see related

June 23-27 proceeded smoothly, as my awesome job at NJDOT keeps me afloat in the otherwise treacherous sea of BS I have to deal with in life.

June 26 was actually fun, as I went to see a concert after work by the North Bergen Players. My choir buddy Kathleen did a lovely rendition of Barbara Streisand, and my friend Ema from NBHS also sang her heart out quite beautifully

It was nice to see such great reader support for my sufferings...things have at the moment quieted down and hopefully they'll remain stable for some time.

The weekend was, once again, quite lackluster, as thunderstorms and family instability meant I had no fun...AGAIN.

Hopefully the coming 4th of July will have nicer weather...

And now, time for announcing birthdays

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Veronica, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Nagma, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Marissa, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Theodora, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Courtney, Happy Birthday to you!!!

More news coming soon!

TRIVIA FACTS: There is now a skateboarding school in Afghanistan. Click here to learn more about it.

AWESOME JOKES:

AWESOME QUOTES:

"We can live with dignity. We can't die with it." -Dr. House, in Episode #101 "Everybody Lies"

AWESOME COMMENTS:

"I liked the CSI comic! I used to watch CSI: LAS VEGAS in Chile last summer ..good times :) I know what it is to be affected with family problems, just keep your head up! Be proud that your career is going great! More thunderstorms are scheduled for this week..wtf?! I am really getting used to these suckers...I also share your way of thinking about the whole camera situation..getting into debt to spoil the brats at home does not make sense. Enjoy the week!" -Alejandra

"Dear Gabriel, It is disheartening to read about your problems at home. I pray that things get straightened out and you are rewarded for your stamina and forthrightness. Why would you have to pay for a camera your sister lost? My digital camera is pretty good and only cost $179.00. At least your job seems to be rewarding. And I hope your online social group is growing. You're always so nice spreading around birthday cheer!" -Michael

"On the post I didn't comment on: The pages take awhile to pull up here at work because of all the large images. I don't know the hairy details of the situation at hand but why should you pay for something SHE lost?  It doesn't make sense. Good luck bud. I'm sure you're hard work will pay off! " -Marianne

AWESOME CAR PICTURES: And now for some new, never before seen car pictures, featuring another awesome classic cop car I found on eBayMotors.

Pictured above is an awesome 1976 Plymouth Gran Fury police car currently for sale on eBayMotors. This was an actual police car used by the Florida Highway Patrol, with its factory-original fender tags and stickers to document its police-only options, such as the special 440 cubic-inch V-8 and the extra welds and body and frame reinforcement. Emergency equipment is all correct, and the paint, though somewhat worn from age, is original.

This 1998 Harley-Davidson Road King police motorcycle is currently for sale on eBayMotors. It served with the Austin, TX police department until 2006. The current owner changed the decals from "POLICE" to "BE POLITE" so that he could exhibit the vehicle in its pictured form at car shows while still having it remain street-legal.

And now for something I have never shown here before. Pictured above is a 2006 Harley-Davidson ElectraGlide UltraClassic Peace Officer Special Edition. This is one Harley-Davidson's rather interesting way of honoring its nearly 100 year long relationship with the law enforcement community. This is a version of the Ultra Classic sold exclusively to law enforcement officers. It is not a police bike, but rather a special edition of the civilian UltraClassic, oriented primarily to be a weekend-use vehicle. And it has been successful indeed, as the reputation of these bikes combined with the high level of equipment offered on them makes them perfect for weekend road trips. Features include the King Tour Pak, a wider two-person saddle with backrests designed for comfort on longer rides, and a variety of available audio systems. This particular example has the best of those audio systems: the optional AM/FM/CD stereo with built in CB radio and intercom. That audio system is better than the ones you see in most CARS! It is absolutely awesome!

Currently Watching The Man With The Golden Gun By Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Hervé Villechaize see related

The new patterns of life are now taking hold: Weekdays are fun instead of boring, and weekends are becoming steadily worse as mounting family problems continue to worsen. Laura has launched an all-out attack on me, blaming me for not being willing to fork out $1,200-$1,500 to replace the digital camera she lost in Providence, RI two months ago. I simply am unwilling to take the path of the average American and dig myself into debt to sustain a level of existence that I cannot afford to pay for with funds immediately on hand. I have for years grown weary of being blamed for everything from chores not being done to lapses in people's quality of life. What quality of life do I have? Aside from the progress I have made careerwise, and the fact I am finally beginning to see the results of healthier patterns of eating, nothing has improved. I still fail in my quest to solve my family's crippling emotional and financial problems. I fail in my quest to have more fun, despite the efforts I have put in as of late (more details on that below). I have failed in my quest to learn to ride a motorcycle (putting me now a year behind my brother in that respect). I fail at finding a girlfriend (although I have been trying since 1995 and the reality is it will take another decade at least to succeed there). I have been working hard for years and I have a piercing need inside me, not so much for a girlfriend, or for riches, or fame, but rather, I have a need for RESULTS. I have a need to see the fruits of my labor, I have a need to see the results of what I do, so as to be able to accurately determine which things I do are worth continuing, and what needs to be changed or discontinued. I can not sustain indefnitely this hemorraghing of myself, my happiness, and my emotional stability for the sake of people who are ungrateful or insufficently grateful for the things I do for them.

The Scripture says "a prophet is never welcome in his own home." As time goes on, I see more clearly that I am merely a necessary nuisance in my home, rather than someone that people are happy to have and take pride in. I am necessary because I help keep a roof over our heads. I am necessary because I am an example of what hard work and diligence will accomplish. I am necessary because I have a sense of direction and am unafraid to drive to places I have only seen on a map. I am necessary because without me, my sister could never get As on projects she leaves to last minute. I am necessary because I can fill out paperwork that everyone else finds daunting and incomprehensible. I am necessary because I am the only one who sees the logic of both my mother's thought processes and of the way the modern world works. Nobody else in this house has the power to serve as the via media between Mom's ancient, over-conservative, iron fisted policies and Laura and David's desire to have a totally uninhibted typical American youthful existence, complete with reckless spending, lack of accountability, lack of boundaries, and lack of fear of taking huge risks.

I do have to thank all those who DO acknowledge the work I do: Alejandra, Jesenia, Megan, Kalyn, Simo and the many, many lovely NYC friends, my other online friends, my high school and college friends, my friends and former coworkers in Fair Lawn, the friends I made in my time at CMX, the awesome people I have met so far at NJDOT, my family in Long Island, my choir buddies, and the family I have in Providence, RI. And there is a reason Alejandra and Jesenia got listed first: go see Awesome Comments, and then it'll be self explanatory.

I am looking forward to another awesome week working at NJDOT, as it is the only thing I have to look forward to that's fun. I tried to have fun on Saturday June 21, but failed. I drove out to Morris County College to see a car show, but it turns out it was scheduled for the 22nd! OOPS...and since we had thunderstorms on the 22nd, well, no use driving out on the highway needlessly when you know the weather sucks.

I am also happy to report that website traffic for the month of June has been the highest it has ever been since after I graduated from NJIT. This is another issue that had been worsening my already sad emotional state, and I am hoping these gains can be sustained as the months go on.

And now we acknowledge the birthdays for this week

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Brianna (right), Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Caroline, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Lisa, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Priscilla, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Joy (right), Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Alexis, Happy Birthday to you!!!

More news (hopefully good news) will come soon!

TRIVIA FACTS: The horn on the 1968-'71 Plymouth Road Runner makes the same "BEEP-BEEP" sound that the Road Runner cartoon character makes in his cartoons.

AWESOME JOKES:

AWESOME QUOTES:

"Cameron. I love you." -Dr. House, in Episode #211 "Need to Know"

AWESOME COMMENTS:

"Then you know what...Happy Father's Day! At least you bring money to the house and make sure your siblings have their basic needs. Go you!" -Alejandra

"I agree with Alejandra, we can say Happy Father's Day to you too, eh? :) Wasn't that storm super intense? I'm really glad my power didn't go out, but that must've been really sucky for you. And Kalyn didn't have power til the 13th? Wow, man. I'm glad you're having fun at your job. :D And, I quite like that shirt you got. The colors are really cool. :]" -Jesenia

AWESOME CAR PICTURES: And now for some car pictures, featuring two awesome Chevrolets I found on eBay recently.

This awesome 1972 Chevrolet Bel Air police car is currently for sale on eBayMotors. It served the town of Frohna, MO, from 1972-1996. When it was retired, it was purchased by the renowned ex-cop and classic car collector Corporal Edwin Sanow (He should be a familiar name to anyone who read last week's update, as he has written eight books on the restoration of police cars, including the book featured as reading material in last week's update). Mr. Sanow restored the Chevrolet to its original glory, with all of the correct lighting and equipment it had while in service. The 1972 Chevrolet police cars were powered by a special 402 cubic inch V8 that was available only to police agencies on this model (only Impalas offered the big-block engine to the general public). This car has only 30,000 original, fully documented miles, and has all of its original build sheets and dealer paperwork dating back to its original purchase in 1972.

Pictured above is a rare 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS pickup. Chevrolet produced this sport pickup from 1990-1993. It is powered by the 454 cubic inch V8 producing 230 hp and 385 ft-lb of torque. Combined with the handling oriented suspension with Bilstein gas shocks, and the 3.73 rear axle ratio, this made for a sport pickup with remarkable acceleration. The interior was equally performance oriented, featuring special, ergonomic, high-back sport bucket seats and center console. The dasboard was different from the stock model's dash and had instruments with bar graphs rather than conventional gauges with needles. Exterior appearance was unique too, with 454 SS emblems, special blackout grille with red-trim Chevrolet logo, and an air dam with integrated fog lights. 16,953 of these special trucks were made in its four year run, and they are tough to find in good shape. Prior to seeing this one on eBay, I never knew the 454 SS even existed!

This nice 1983 Chevrolet Malibu 9C1 police car was sold on eBayMotors in 2006 for $4,995. It served with the San Francisco, CA police department and was restored to its original splendor.

This is a 2000 Chevrolet C/K pickup which has the 454 ci V-8 engine, automatic transmission, and 4-wheel-drive. It was used by the California Highway Patrol for commercial truck enforcement. These CHP trucks are rare and desirable.

Currently Watching Monty Python Live By Eric Idle, Carol Cleveland, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman see related

Let us begin this update with some Father's Day reflections.

As most of my loyal friends and readers know, I lost my father at a very young age. If you are not a loyal reader and don't know, or need a refresher, click here to read the update from last month where I discussed for the first time ever in my Xanga history his last days.

Since then, I have been filling the void left by his loss. I became the father figure to this family. After all, it was my father on his deathbed who called upon me to rise to the challenge. And so I did. OK, I never changed diapers or cleaned up their vomit, but I have done pretty much all the other father stuff. I help with homework, do taxi duties, runs to the hospital when needed (my last run to the hospital with my sister was in late April when she had a seasonal asthma attack), projects and reports from school, distribute good advice, help fill out paperwork, etc. And of course I have been the breadwinner of this house since 2006. I do more for my family than many REAL BIOLOGICAL FATHERS do for their families!

And now we move on to the major recent news in my life...

We had some nasty storms in the week of June 8-14. We lost power, I had trouble with my internet for about 4 days, trees went down, it was crazy. My bffl Kalyn didn't get her power back till the 13th because of the large tree that fell on her block! The road was closed for most of the week from that tree...

So far, I have been enjoying my work at the NJDOT. I even got issued a vehicle, but it is a Prius, grrrrr. NOT ENOUGH LEGROOM. But it is better than all the other Japanese cars I ever drove in my life, which means that at least Toyota is making progress these days (the Corollas actually have less legroom than a Prius, both the 1990s ones and the newer generation). Hybrid cars are weird compared to regular cars, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. I wouldn't buy a Prius, however, but if I chose a hybrid vehicle in the future I'd go for the bigger Ford Escape hybrid. I have driven Escapes and they have decent legroom.

June 14 was pretty uneventful. Then it rained AGAIN. Thankfully the thunder wasn't enough to wreak havoc, as we barely finished cleaning up after the last storm

This week's book selection is something I got myself for my birthday, along with some new summer clothes.

And now, we acknowledge this week's birthdays

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Aubrey, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jessica, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Quannie, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Yassmin, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jacqueline, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Johanna, Happy Birthday to you!!!

More news coming soon!

TRIVIA FACTS: The former Soviet Union was the first nation in the world to have a system of blood banks.

AWESOME JOKES:

AWESOME QUOTES:

"Don't worry, Mommy and Daddy are fighting, but we love you all the same as before. Now go out and play, bring Daddy some smokes and an arterial blood gas." -Dr. House, in Episode #201 "Acceptance"

AWESOME COMMENTS:

"You haven't told me what you did last night with the power outage...Hugs!" -Alejandra

"Dear Gabriel, What, no classic cars! (Just kidding.) Hope your internet service returns soon. (RYC: I only had 7 comments on the "History" entry for a long time. As soon as I mentioned that I wanted people to read it however, more people stopped by and now it has 21 comments, which is more like it! You were one of the first people to comment. Thank you so much.)" -Michael

AWESOME CAR PICTURES: And now for some car pictures, inspired by a lovely 1960 Buick I found on eBay recently.

Pictured above is a 1959 Buick Invicta hardtop. Buick sales had plunged in 1958 because of a recession that gripped the nation that year, so desperate to improve sales, they released this car. It had a totally new look with almost no ties to the past appearance-wise. I like the look of those 1959 Buicks. By the way, the tailfins on these cars are completely flat, unlike on the Cadillacs of this year. The fins on this Buick only look like they are getting higher as you go back, that is a clever optical illusion the GM stylists came up with.

Pictured above is a 1960 Buick Electra 225 convertible currently for sale on eBayMotors. The 1959 Buicks, although they attracted attention and brought people into dealerships, were not as much a success as Buick hoped, so for 1960 they tried to improve sales by toning down the look a bit. The flashy, die cast chrome blocks grille of the 1959 car was replaced by a more conservative looking vertical bar grille which represented an evolution from the look the very popular 1955 Buick cars had. The tailfins and headlights also had less chrome on them as well. One cool feature of the 1960 model was its dashboard. What your eyes see is not the instruments themselves, but rather a mirror image of them, as the numbers are etched on the bottom and a mirror on the rear inside face of the dash projects the numbers to the view of the driver. The changes did not help, as Buick sales dropped further this year as the recession that began in 1958 was still going strong. But in 1961, something new came from Buick, which brought them back to the top...

In 1961 Buick introduced a smaller car, to serve as a lower cost companion to its big cars, as a way to appeal to a new breed of customer who wanted a small car that had more comfort and luxury options than the basic compact cars (i.e. Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant) of its day. It was called the Special. This car was such a success that in 1962 Buick added a higher model, which revived the glorious Skylark name. The 1962 Buick Skylark came standard with the new 215 cubic inch V-8. This engine was much smaller than a typical V-8 of its time (which was 300 cid or more), and was a balance between performance and economy: it got better gas mileage than the big V-8s but had more power and torque than the smaller 4 and 6 cylinders typical of a compact car. This car had bucket seats, which was the de facto option in every performance car of its day, as well as other options which were either performance or luxury oriented. The Skylark was a success, and its 1963 version (pictured above) sold even better. I like the look of the 1963 Skylark very much. Although it is smaller than typical cars of its day, it is very roomy inside, as I sat in the front seat of one and was comfortable. It is a car I may some day own.

I got this cool looking short sleeve shirt on eBay for only FIVE DOLLARS! Brand new!

Currently Reading Police Cars: Restoring, Collecting and Showing America's Finest Sedans By Ed Sanow, Jim Post see related