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FAVORITES:

State: New Hampshire (closely followed by Vermont)
Car: Mitsubishi Evo X
Attire: Stained, but clean, jeans & T-shirt
Color: Purple
College memory: The night a couple friends and I went... oh right the statute of limitations isn't up
President: Ronald Reagan
Drink: Raw milk
Olympic sport: Super G
Ski resort: Burke Mountain
Word or phrase: "Minor details" (said dismissively)
Vermont resident (current): Rusty Dewees

LEAST FAVORITES:

State: California (closely followed by New York)
Car: Chevy Aveo
Attire: Turtleneck & sweatpants
Color: Brown
College memory: The Saturday night I was kept awake until 4am by the party in my suite when I had to get up at 8 for church.
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Drink: Dr. Pepper
Olympic sport: Curling
Ski resort: Anything in western NY.
Word or phrase: "Compromise"
Vermont resident (current): Bernie Sanders

Catch me if you can...

So the only angle from which my Saturn appears to have a complete fresh gloss black paint job is from the rear (having just painted the rear bumper and trunklid this evening). There is also one shiny black headlight cover and a shiny section on the right front from cover-up work this weekend. But no matter. The only view you're going to get of my car once I turn it on is from (you guessed it!) the rear. Heh heh. Seriously though, if I did what the guy in this video did, that wouldn't be any joke.

Caledonia Fair

So I went to the fair on Sunday to watch the demo derby as is my tradition every summer. However, after asking various friends and family members, no one wanted/was available to go with me. So I went by myself. Mistake. Going to the fair by one's self is absolutely no fun. The one exciting looking ride I wanted to go on required pairs of people so I had to wait around for several minutes and ask several people before I found someone willing to go with me. The ride did, indeed, turn out to be exciting, but also nausea-and-headache-inducing. Luckily I had not eaten any food for several hours so I did not lose my cookies, but it effectively ruined my already-starting-to-wane enthusiasm for the fair. Ah well. I did make use of the nice weather to do some work on my Saturn (installing new speakers and some painting).

New Car!

I am now the proud owner of a 1994 Saturn SC2 2 door coupe. The 124 horsepower twin-cam engine has 138,000 miles on it, the fiberglass body panels will never rust, the frame is solid, the car returns mid-30's milage figures, and I paid a whopping $900 for the car. Only things it needed to make it road-worthy were new tires, windshield wipers, a coolant temperature sensor, and an oil change. Oh, and I have to figure out how to unplug the drain lines on the sunroof so it doesn't leak. But so far it seems like a heck of a bargain.

Southern Auto Auction

Yesterday my boss and I went to SAA in Connecticut for the 4th time since I've been working at Morse Auto. Our mission? To buy a Chevy Suburban for a customer who owns a surveying company, and buy a Honda CR-V for a new customer wanting a car update.

Buy a Suburban? "Oh my goodness, I don't know if there will be any available!" my boss says. LOL. "More like holy cow which one do we choose?" he continues.


There's 20 Auction lanes that sell 5,000 cars in about 4 hours!
Dozens of trailer-trucks to bring 'em here and then away.
Administrative wing.
Entry and exit lanes.
2004 Black Suburban and 2004 Black CR-V we bought. The Suburban sold new for $41,000, the CR-V for around $25,000. Tomorrow we will be selling the Suburban for $10,500 with our profit built in. Talk about depreciation!

The CR-V, meanwhile, will go out the door for around $15,000. Even with gas prices in the $4 range, that kind of price disparity means you will have to drive the 25 MPG CR-V well over 60k miles before it repays the initial extra cost with fuel savings over the 18 MPG Suburban.

Text Message Delete

I never thought I would have the material for a Job Tate grade post of this title, but I managed it tonight:

Audrey: so why are you growling at me?

me: cuz you are encouraging me to be a better person when i dont feel like it
Audrey: hahaha that is the best quote ever!

Apt pix

District of Columbia v. Heller

Second amendment supporters like myself were given some encouragement by this decision this week. It scares me to think this was a 5-4 decision, however, and even the opinion of the court contained some questionable reasoning.

Good:

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a
firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for
traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
Pp. 2–53.
(a) The Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, but
does not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operative
clause. The operative clause’s text and history demonstrate that it
connotes an individual right to keep and bear arms. Pp. 2–22.
(b) The prefatory clause comports with the Court’s interpretation
of the operative clause. The “militia” comprised all males physically
capable of acting in concert for the common defense. The Antifederalists
feared that the Federal Government would disarm the people in
order to disable this citizens’ militia, enabling a politicized standing
army or a select militia to rule. The response was to deny Congress
power to abridge the ancient right of individuals to keep and bear
arms, so that the ideal of a citizens’ militia would be preserved.

(Emphasis added.)

Amen.

But...

Bad:

(f) ... United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174, does not
limit the right to keep and bear arms to militia purposes, but rather
limits the type of weapon to which the right applies to those used by
the militia, i.e., those in common use for lawful purposes. Pp. 47–54.
2. Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited...
The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on... laws
forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools
and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications
on the commercial sale of arms.

(Again, emphasis added.)

What?! Are you guys smoking crack? Did you miss that part that says "shall not be infringed"? Last I knew, that phrase meant you can't place restrictions on the right here and there as you see fit.

And don't even get me started on Stevens' dissent. Oh Boy. Yeah. I'm really trying. Not. To. Say. Something. Really. Nasty...

Moving Weekend...

was busy and complicated, but I bought a nice computer desk at a yard sale that was conveniently going on nearby that weekend, along with a bed frame and box spring (I already had a couple mattresses). I spent my evenings all week cleaning the place and putting things away, but its looking decent now. Pics to be added next week (this post updated 6/28).

And now,

I have an apartment lined up :) I'll be starting to move in this coming Friday. It is a studio apartment but I have a private bathroom and kitchen and the living area is a pretty big room. Plus, even though I have to pay for heat and electricity separate from rent (which is only $400), the owner told me that last winter, even thought the apartment was empty and the heat left off, it never dropped below 65 because the tenant downstairs apparently appreciates 80 some-odd degree temperatures. So it sounds like my heating bill will be minuscule.