Well, the sore throat has the doctor stumped. She thought for a while it might be Infectious Mononucleosis (which made me wonder who I’d smooched in the past month, and I came up with the slightly depressing answer of not one person
), but the test came back negative. The best guess at this point is that I’ve got a low-level allergic reaction to the grass mold that’s been going nuts with all the rain, and that’s had my sinuses draining down my throat. Dunno. I’ve got some Nasonex [warning, noisy] which may help with that, and we’ll see. If it doesn’t go away in another week or so, it’s off to a specialist. Fun. Or not.
As for the car, I’ve decided I want something that I can haul a little bit of stuff in (mostly my trike, but also odds and ends for around the house) without being a truck or a minivan, and while still being at least a little fun to drive (yes, I know I’m looking for a fun station-wagon
– anyone know where I can find a 1973 Chevy Chevelle SS Wagon or a Rambler Cross Country, or others from this gallery?), and fitting into my garage (which means no more than 17 feet long). So yesterday I went out and looked at a Dodge Magnum and a Chevy Malibu Maxx. Then I looked at a 1987 Chevy El Camino. Frankly, the last is the most appealing, even if there’s some stigma attached to the car (though to be honest, little more than driving a Camaro). As for the Magnum, it’s hard to say. Something about the actual thing left me cold (and not just the thirty-grand pricetag for the RT — that actually seemed reasonable when compared to the prices for other cars). The Malibu Maxx is nice enough, with a body by Saab, but it’s front-wheel drive, which I still don’t like. It would feel like settling, I think, and I just can’t see dropping twenty-thousand on one. There’s also a 1957 Ford Sedan Delivery I see on CarSoup that makes me pretty wiggly, but I’m pretty sure it’s too big for my garage, being over two feet longer than my Camaro is.
I’m going to call a high-school classmate whose family has an auto delaership today and see if there’s anything he’s got, too, plus stop back and take the ’87 El Camino for a spin and decide if I think it’s worth $6,000 (Edmunds says $4,800 if it’s in nearly mint condition). I think I might go look at some of the Subaru wagons, too.
Oh, and I managed to mow the lawn yesterday, too. Now there’s a bunch of clumps of grass scattered around that I should probably rake up, but at least I’m no longer living in a jungle.
- Last week, sdb started making some notes on press bias. People read them and commented, and he’s since fleshed the ideas out into The Legacy of Cronkite, which takes a good look at the press. He still concludes that:
[sdb]The days of Murrow and Cronkite are gone. We citizens have to start thinking of news reporting as being about as reliable as advertising.
- It says the Patriot Act Besieged by people who don’t think it’s right that the government should operate in secret, while everything the people do is fair game. Sounds right to me, but I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one. Let’s hope Congress will let the thing sunset. [endwar]
- Here are The 14 Characteristics of Fascism, inc case you have trouble recognizing it when you see it. Does the U.S. qualify? I wouldn’t say so, but there are plenty of things that make me think we’re heading in the wrong direction. [vowe]
- The PiPress Editorial Conceal-Carry Law: Permit info reveals culture, not policy has a bunch of problems. Joel Rosenberg points them out, but the most glaring is:
Okay, so if you’re getting a permit so you can carry concealed to protect yourself from a stalker, do you think it’s a good idea for that stalker to be able to know whether you have a permit or not? The Pioneer Press does. [press-patch]We remain hopeful that future legislatures will revisit permission to pack, beginning with the small practical step of making it a public record who has applied for and received a permit.
- I’m not sure, but the fact that St. Paul to study closing caves has me wondering. I think it’s a shame to close the caves entirely, but letting them be a source of natural selection isn’t working. It would be neat if there were some way to turn them into a tourist attraction, but they’re not that cool. [press-patch]