I helped my dad do this to my mother. I was working in the mailroom when I was in college at a GM subsidiary and my Father worked there as well. I get a call and find out it is my dad (which if you knew my dad, calling me at work was something he would never do). He told me my grandfather died that morning and he…

Honestly I see this as the death keel for the diesel in cars. They have made the exhaust too damn restrictive. Yes the torque is nice and it gets much better gas mileage, but now they keep turning the screws to make it so you cannot meet emissions. I don’t know if it is the gas companies, they US auto companies, the…

I do not think that it is the biggest problem. I think that the biggest problem is that they don’t take into consideration how the family’s income is being spent on the college. My income is 100% not going to be paid for my son’s college. I gave my son a ton of money when he was 3 for college, and that was his college…

I doubt this was legal. Not that you could not claim your daughter, but as a head of household. She had to have a dependent to legally claim head of household. She was legally single.

You know its funny. I have been wondering why the Mazda Sky-Active Diesel cannot get the US EPA Certificate, but the VW Diesel can (and without Urea). Now I know why. This should make the Mazda engineers quit pulling their hair out.

People have always laughed at me, but I only order new cars. This way I can cross shop between dealers. I walk in and say I am ordering a car. Here are the specs (as I have never found a 100% car on the lot I want), how much is it to order it? I have found that Japanese car dealers are less likely to play ball here,…

Late model used chevy cruze or what ever. Small enough they aren’t driving their friends all the time, cheap enough to dump if they wreck it, and you won’t mind the dents ;)

I glued a magnet on the top of my cooler (inside), and got a 50 cent church key and leave it in there. The string method works as well.

Leather seats and heated seats, I will never own them if I have to pay for them .. I actively do not buy cars that have leather or heated seats. Subaru outback is off my list as the only way to get the 3.6 engine is with leather seats .. so that car is not on my list. I would love a manual but any car that can have…

Bolivia Special. It was the last of the specials before they tried to make them artifically hard, and the episodes just got crazy expensive for the sake of crazy expensive. Plus I think this was the last time they were themselves before they started scripting the gags.

465 - the beltway around Indianapolis. It is 6-16 lanes wide and it is 55mph - the entire 38 mile loop. Everyone drives 70mph at least, and frequently you get passed going those speeds. The Indianapolis City Council has had many bills presented to up the speed limits, but they have stated (on record) that the revenue…

Personally I won’t consider the NHTSA worth a crap until the recall my car. Yes it is now almost 10 years old but the initial complaints to the NHTSA were in 2005. The damn driver seat breaks at the brackets as they were made too weak. The drivers seat is not connected to the car any more. 450+ complaints. NHTSA…

Simple. Research. I negotiate contracts all the time as I am a consultant by trade. I know based on simple google searches what consultants make in my area and if someone wants to low ball me I call them on it. I have also negotiated offers for full time work and the same thing applies. Know what is 100%, 75%, 50%,…

Grab the bag out of a box of wine (after it is empty of course). Drain it and make it flat. Wrap a dry t-shirt or sweat pants around it (after you blow it up to personal taste) as a pillow. Now you don’t need a huge pillow to get that big pillow feel. You can also use ziplock bags you put your clothes in but this…

My worst was when I purchased my latest car. I ordered it, so I got all the options I wanted and negotiated the price. The contract was straight forward. XX car, YY options for ZZ price. Got the car in, and they “detailed” it for another 250 dollars, installed blinking rear lights for 359 dollars, and security etched…

I could. Just easier to ignore the call. Too much work involved with sending letters and all that jazz. Especially when there are dozens of firms calling me.

The worst experience I had with selling a car had to do with after the car was sold. The sale was fine, it was sold to a son of a high school teacher I had (and liked). He bought the car (a 1985 Chevy Blazer). We sold it, took our plate, gave him the title, canceled insurance. Great. Well he did not take it to the BMV…

Experimenting with this (I love me some oven cooked mac and cheese), one of the things you can do is create the roux but not add the cheese. Then when you are ready to cook, take the pasta, put your cheese directly in there, and then pour the roux on top. It makes “pockets” of cheese vs. a consistent cheese sauce.…

I just wish I could get rid of them as they are calling me for someone who used my phone number and dumped it. I have never been in debt (well collections) but get called 5-8 times a week looking for someone not my family. I keep reminding them that it is illegal to call cell phones for not the correct person, not my…

They stop random people walking at the casinos .. It is and American destination, and lots of varying opinions. Same thing could be done on NYC streets.