Wait a Minute...

Let's see... John Edwards, who has denied for years that there was any truth to the rumors that he had an affair, now admits that he had an affair back in 2006 or so. The affair ended, however, just before the "window of conception" for the baby that is rumored to be his. His wife has known about this for a couple of years now and it's all in the past.

So then, why was John Edwards meeting the purportedly-former other woman in a hotel a couple of weeks ago?...

Al: The News That Fits, We Print

Presented for your amusement, a particularly good story from the Onion regarding the future hopes of the House of Al. Click on the picture or the title for the link.

Genesis Revisited

As I mentioned earlier, I bought a tech package Genesis (black exterior, tan leather interior) on 7/31. I hadn't thought about the fact that it was the last day of the month, but that seemed to have made the negotiations go even more smoothly; the fact that I was ready to write a check for the difference right then seemed to help.

Yesterday, I made one unpleasant discovery: the car's front license plate bracket had been mounted to the front bumper by the use of sheet metal screws through the bumper itself. I normally remove the front license plate bracket, but when I took it off, the look was hideous--the sheet metal screws had left ragged upraised holes when they were unscrewed.

The dealership was willing to have the bumper sanded out, filled, and repainted if I wanted--but they also offered an additional price adjustment if I'd keep it as is, and they offered to get me a black plate with the word Genesis in silver in the distinctive Genesis font. I liked that idea well enough, so I agreed to go with that.

Here are some observations after tw days of driving:

(1) The cooled driver's seat is wonderful. Driving in Georgia's 95 degree August afternoons is much more pleasant when you have that coolness on your back. It's a shame they changed plans to offer this feature on the passenger's seat as well; I can't say too much about how great it feels without Susan giving me a hard time!...

(2) Lexicon 17 speaker sound system = audio excellence. It requires a little fiddling to find the right balance of treble, midrange, and bass, but once you find your preferred audio "sweet spot," the sound is impeccable. I tried the Lexus Mark Levinson system, but it sounded mushy. Acura's ELS system is superlative, but there's no midrange control and the system won't play the audio from a DVD-Video. The only vehicle that Acura makes that can do that, as it turns out, is the Acura MDX, because you can add an optional rear entertainment system and use the DVD-Video player to play back audio from DVD-Video discs--but that's a lot of extra money for one feature. The only thing that the Lexicon system lacks that it should add is an audio control for the center speaker; I find it to be tuned slightly low in comparison to the other speakers.

(2) HD radio really does sound great. I'm most impressed with the clarity and the dynamic range.

(3) XM radio sounds superb as well. I can't tell if they're running Neural Surround processing on the channels that offer such or not, but the surround setting on the Lexicon certainly creates the impression of surround from some XM channels.

(4) Bluetooth is adequate but not superb. The speaker volume is a little soft, but if you turn it up to sufficient loudness,the volume is excessive on the ringer when you get an incoming call. There's no mass import of a phonebook, at least not that I've found so far; I've had to load the phone numbers in one at a time (the easiest way Ifound to do that was to call a number once, then bring it up from my "called numbers" list, push the controller to the right, then choose "add to phone book" and program in the proper name). And hanging up the phone seems to require two moves, not one: you have to push down to select "end," then push in to confirm the selection. This should be done with one button on the steering wheel or the controller (and if it is possible to do it single-button and I've missed it, someone let me know, okay?). Adding a phone to the bluetooth system is quick, easy, and intuitive; I had programmed my iPhone to work with the car in less than three minutes of test-driving (at that point, I had already decided I was going to buy it, so I figured why not?).

(5) Navigation system seems to be at least as good as Acura's (which is much better than Toyota's or Nissan's), with one tiny omission: I can't find a way to determine the elevation above sea level of my current location, which is something that I used to bring up a lot on the Acura when driving in the mountains.

(6) They added an automatic trunk unlock, but they should have gone the extra step and added an automatic open/close control as well; the trunk will pop unlocked slightly, but you have to lift it open (which means getting fingerprints on that lovely black pearl paint), and then you get more fingerprints on it when you close the trunk again. Yes, I know there's an interior handle you can use to pull it down and if you're quick, you can tug and move your arm out of the way and get it to latch... but I rarely complete that move effectively.

(7) I don't use sun roofs very much at all, but one person already asked if they offered a panoramic sun roof option; that's something they might consider in the future, as these things seem to be increasingly popular.

(8) Center console is a bit small when you've connected an iPod.

(9) New iPod interface software/firmware is really needed; the current connectivity is basic and minimal. They need something that allows full randomization from any playlist, something that displays artist, song, album, and playlist data, etc.

(10) Mileage is right where Hyundai guessed it would be. My mixed around town/highway mileage is about 21.3 mpg, and we were getting 26 mpg on a 60 mile trip at 70 mph on the interstate.

(11) The car is quiet--so quiet, in fact, that twice my wife thought the car had failed to start.

(12) The A/C system seems a little bit undervented in the front; a larger vent with more cool air diffusion would have helped increase airflow and expedite cooling on hot days.

(13) The glove compartment is a bit smaller than it should be, and they've gone with a single glove box rather than the increasingly popular "large glove box below, smaller glove box above" approach. If there's room in the dash to carve out that extra space, they should consider doing this.

(14) Not only does the passenger seat not get cooling, it also doesn't get lumbar support, according to my wife (I haven't sat in that side so I can't address this from experience). Should be added to a car of this caliber.

(15) The car seems to be frequently confused with a BMW when seen from the front; I've had three people make that mistake so far.

(16) the DVD changer will play MP3 files burned to a DVD-R disc, but it won't randomize across folders, so if you have folders based on artists or albums, random will only play all the songs in that specific folder, not every song on the DVD-R.

That's it so far--more observation to come, I'm sure...

New Genesis

Yes, I bought a new car.

Ever since I read the first reviews of the Hyundai Genesis, I was intrigued. Everything about it sounded like an upscale luxury car--well, everything except the Hyundai name and the $35-$40k pricetag. The car actually offers more than an Acura RL or an Infiniti M or an entry level Lexus 460, for a whole lot less money.

I've enjoyed my Acura MDX, but I've been dissatisfied with the lack of DVD-Video audio support, the rather simple radio features (no RDS, no HD radio), and the cabin noise at higher speeds. I've also been a bit concerned about Acura of late; Honda seems to be making one wrong move after another with their luxury brand, and I think their misdirections could jeopardize the entire line.

The Hyundai drives like a charm; the Lexicon 17-speaker 7.1 sound system is superlative, with iPod integration, HD-radio, DVD-Video audio playback, and more; the cooled driver's seat is amazingly comfortable; the cabin is comfortable and quiet; and the styling is sophisticated without being ostentatious, which is something Acura can no longer say.

There is the fact that it's a Hyundai, which means that customer service is rudimentary and lackluster (shuttles instead of loaners, for instance), but I don't plan on spending that much time at the service site. And of course, the 5 year/60k mile warranty pretty much eliminates any need for an extended warranty, since I hardly ever keep a car for 5 years or more.

I've only had it for one day so far, but I'm impressed. More to follow, of course...

My Type of Humor

Print geeks, this one's for you...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

El Pollo SoSo

This evening, Susan and I tried El Pollo Loco for the first time. We had seen the chain on many occasions during the years when we travelled to California fairly frequently, but we never got around to trying it then. The chain began to open locations in Georgia year or so ago, but none of those early locations were anywhere near us; finally, a few months ago, they opened a location about ten miles from here on Holcomb Bridge Road, so we added it to our "we ought to try that some day" list.

We got some coupons in the mail that made it possible for us to try a variety of items with minimal investment; add that with an errand run that put us in the general area anyway, and that was enough to make El Pollo Loco a go.

I wish I could say it was something wonderful, but it wasn't. None of the food we got was bad, but there wasn't a single thing we purchased that someone else doesn't do better. The burrito was good, but nowhere nearly as good as Chipotle's or Willy's; the chicken was good, but Publix' Chipotle Mole rotisserie chicken is better; the rice was okay, but the Spanish rice at any mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant is better; the beans were adequate, but Chipotle's beans are amazingly good in comparison.

So-so food isn't a problem in itself--it's better to be adequate at many things than to be sub-par at all of them--but when you combine it with a staff that seemed to prefer that no one come in, and a restaurant that was dirty and poorly stocked (no containers for salsa until I asked... twice; no napkins in the dispensers), and the result was a pretty mediocre first impression. I don't foresee going back unless we happen to be hungry, have coupons in our pockets, and find ourselves near another location.

Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey

Today, Susan and I headed back to Cedartown for a few hours. Susan was born in and grew up in Cedartown, while my parents were born there. I lived in Cedartown for a year or so when I was four and five years old, before we moved to Rome; later, Susan and I lived there for almost six years after we got married. In between those two times of calling Cedartown home, I visited there regularly to visit grandparents and relatives.

From my parents' stories and my own childhood visits, I remember Cedartown as a small but growing community with several large employers (including several factories--Goodyear, Jockey, and Arrow Shirts all had large operations in Cedartown at one point). It was a town with its own groceries, its own clothing stores, its own restaurants, its own office supply stores, its own department stores, its own furniture stores, its own auto dealerships... in short, Cedartown was the sort of town that dotted the landscape in the 1940s through the 1960s. It was a town that families could call home, a town where it was possible to find everything one needed without having to travel out of town. Of course, Rome was only a half-hour away, and Atlanta was two hours or so--but most residents found it quite possible to carry out their lives in Cedartown without having to make the trip to these larger towns.

I remember that my grandmother's house on Olive Street was just a few hundred yards away from a factory of some sorts that was just on the other side of Highway 27 (Olive paralleled Highway 27 south of Cedartown); I saw that factory hundreds of times, but I had no idea what it actually produced. Nevertheless, it was a large building, and its parking lot was filled during the day, which meant that many dozens of people worked there and earned a paycheck.

That's the way these small towns were in the middle of the last century: they had reached a sort of municipal "critical mass" that made it possible for them to be largely self-sustaining. They weren't suburbs or bedroom communities--they were homes, and they met their residents' needs. People lived there; they worked there; they went to school there; they raised their families there; they shopped there; they saw their children make a home there. Generations were born and lived and died there, and other generations followed in their footsteps.

I remember being amazed when Dad told me that Cedartown had two thriving movie theaters in the 1940s; by the time I was visiting there in the 1960s, it had only one barely-surviving theater. Susan and I went to the West Theater a time or two when we were dating and after we were married, but for the most part there was no reason to go; it was a run-down theater with second-run films that never appealed to us.

Cedartown used to have at least two car dealerships---a large Ford dealership and a large Chevrolet/GMC dealership. If either is still there, we could find no evidence of it today. The lots are converted or empty; the only cars that can be bought there are used cars from small lots that dot Highways 27 and 278.

Factories are torn down or empty. Industrial parks are now home to small businesses, mostly distribution centers; there is no sign that anything is thriving there any longer. Homes that were once opulent and impressive are worn and dreary; most of Cedartown seems to be in deterioration or decline.

Cedartown isn't an exception. All over, there are small towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people that were once thriving, healthy communities; the shift in economic focus in the past forty or fifty years has eliminated the local factories that offered numerous jobs to support the residents, and it appears that for the most part, the only jobs in small towns like this are sales/cashier jobs at the local WalMarts or grocery stores or fast food establishments, or jobs in the many banks that somehow still survive in these declining communities.

It's sobering to realize that in my own lifetime, I've witnessed the gradual elimination of local self-sufficiency in Cedartown--and I know the same process is occurring in hundreds (if not thousands) of similar towns. I see little chance of reversal; as more manufacturers shift to a global focus, moving more of their factories to facilities in other countries, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for communities like Cedartown to offer that balanced hometown experience to its residents.

Communities like Rome, with 35,000 residents in the city limits and another 20,000 or more in the surrounding county, have a greater chance to survive--but even these towns are suffering from some of the same shifts that have devastated the small towns. By the time my nephew Oliver is old enough to really understand the stories of our childhood, the sulf-sufficient small town may seem as isolated from his own world as the pioneer villages of the 1800s were from my own childhood.

Bleak Anniversaries

It was one year ago yesterday that I spent my last pleasant afternoon visiting Dad, taking him out to lunch, and taking care of routine household matters for him. It was such a mundane Monday afternoon that I can only remember small fragments of it--I remember that Dad really liked the meat loaf that they had on the buffet at M&J's, so he went back for seconds. I remembered that Dad had me show him again how to play a videotape on the television in his bedroom, because he found some old tapes he wanted to watch again. I remember helping him make the bed, and his chuckle as he talked about how much he liked to sleep on clean sheets.

The next three weeks will be filled with much less happy anniversaries, and I'm already bothered by it. I think that, once I get past this first anniversary of Dad's stroke and hospitalization and death, it will be better.

I hope so.

Having Trouble Finding Sympathy...

I think I'm supposed to feel really sorry for the two people pictured in conjunction with this story. Try as I might, I'm not mustering up a lot of sympathy...

(I'll wait while you check it out: you can click on the link above, or you can just click on the URL here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545 )

First off, a reduction in caloric intake might have some beneficial effects...

Secondly, notice that "Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree." I do not accept the premise that "a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job."

You know, if you really want to eat and have a roof over your head, it's time to get over a 17-year-old accident and move on to finding a way to making yourself a productive member of society, dontcha think?...

Perhaps at some point in the very near future Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will begin to kick in and Ms. Nunez will actually begin to take responsibility for her own existence. Maybe it's not too late to teach the same sort of self-sufficiency to her daughter...

I'll Be Looking at the Moon...

Jo Stafford died on Wednesday at the age of 90.

There are hundreds of women with beautiful singing voices, but no one had the pure, melodious, heartfelt, caring sound of Jo Stafford. I first discovered her music about twenty years ago; she instantly stood out from every other female vocalist of the 1940s and 1950s, though, because her voice had a sincerity and an emotion that surpassed anyone else I had heard from that era... or from any other, for that matter.

She lived a long--and I hope, deservedly happy--life, but that's never comfort enough to her family and friends. I hope they can find some touch of solace in the fact that her recordings not only captured the spirit of a bygone time, but that they will continue to do so for many years more.

If you haven't listened to her, I offer a link to my favorite of her recordings, "I'll Be Seeing You." Give it two or three minutes and you'll see why I see her recording of this classic as the definitive one.