notes from behind the coffee counter

Last night I sat and watched the news with all the tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy and I realized that he was the last of his kind. The Liberal Lion of Senate is gone and there is no one left to fight for people like me anymore. I’ve come to the conclusion that people like me, the liberal left wing of the Democrat Party, are either dying off or no longer being listened to. This summer I got to spend an evening with friends in Eugene, Oregon (which like Bloomington, Indiana has become a place of exile for liberal minded people) and had that odd feeling. What we stand for, and what we feel America needs to do as a nation is not only longer relevant but reviled. Sad but true. I’ve kind of lost hope in the system and unfortunately no longer have the will to soldier on. Senator Kennedy will be sadly missed.

I feel so alone now.

I’ve been getting e mail and snail mail lately from Ford on their new Fiesta. Awhile back I wrote that I was very interested in this car. Well turns out we’re not getting the 3 door hatch here in America, just the four door hatch and a four door sedan (thats dog ugly if you ask me.) What the fuck?! So I googled Ford Fiesta Two door Hatch and came across this article from Motor Trend from June ‘08. Here its not even certain if any of the hatchbacks are coming here, although Ford’s website pretty much confirms a four door hatch. But what I noticed was in the comments. A lot of people want the 3 door hatch. I noticed in the Autoblog Green review, too. A lot of people want the three door hatch. As of right now the only companies making a three door hatch is VW with the Rabbit (and the Golf GTI) and Toyota with the Yaris.
With that all said it has been getting good reviews. Over here they have spy photos of the sedan version. Judging from the reactions in comments its not a hit, but the hatch seems to be liked.

So Please Ford, bring the three door here!

Well another vacation is over for us. Kind of cliched to say so but time does fly. We didn’t get out to the clubs as much as we wanted to (I got sick Thursday night, not to mention I fucked my back up hiking Mt. Hood.) We did do a lot of walking, though with my mom. She came out to spend one week with Jen and I. This was her first real vacation in over thirty years. She had a real good time. Last night we went for a walk and wouldn’t you know it we came across a really cool neighborhood on SE Belmont. Really nice home and a shit load of coffee shops and bars. We had coffee, Illy at that, at a place called the Pied Cow. Kind of reminded me of The Spoon in Bloomington, only this place was opened real late and served booze (seems to be normal in Portland) and dessert. We could use a late night dessert place in Bloomington. I took more pictures than I want to think about. Must say I didn’t use the wide angle lens as much as I thought I would. A few times at Crater Lake and Mt. Hood it came in handy but otherwise I think I wasted my money. In fact there were a few times I wish I had a long lens, but packing that would have been a nightmare (my carry on is way too heavy now.) However the normal lens, a Nikon 24- 70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S I rented was sweet. Love to get one but its a two grand lens. Thats what rental sites are for. Well stay tuned for my post when I get through sorting and editing through all my images. Looks like its getting near boarding time.

Jen and I went to The Faery World Festival in Eugene today. This was the event we planned our vacation around. The last two times we came out here we missed it (last year one of our favorite authors, Holly Black, attended.) It was originally scheduled at a winery but it was sold and the festival moved to a different location. Unfortunately, it was still blazing hot out. But nonetheless we still had a good time. We also spent a shit load of money. I’m such a sucker for alternative clothes its sickening. In fact whenever I come out here, especially in Portland, I drop a lot of cash on clothes for Jenni. I’m one of those boyfriends/husbands that likes to buy his girlfriend/wife clothes. Cool clothes. And she always looks awesome in them. Its a good thing we didn’t bring a lot cash to the festival because we would have spent it all (there was this top hat I wanted but she wouldn’t take a credit card.) Jenni did treat me, actually she said it was an early birthday present, to a kilt. I’ve been wanting a black one, for awhile now and I finally found it. Jenni wanted me to have one longer than I wanted one, by the way. Its cool as shit.

One of my favorite photographers, J. Corsentino , was there showing off his Time Of The Faeries collection. I love the imagination of his work, not mention his creative use of the models. This along the lines of something I’d like to do. It was great to meet him, too. If I had the money (and thank the gods I didn’t) I probably would have bought a lot more of his prints. Awesome work, really. There were bands playing all day and through the evening. Today was good faery day, tomorrow is bad faery day. We haven’t decided whether we’re going tomorrow. We could go back tonight (we had our hands stamped) but we’d have to pay an entrance fee again for tomorrow. But its going to hot again so I’d rather go in the evening but we already have plans. Oh well.

Anyways, yesterday we went out to to Crater Lake. Its a giant lake that’s a volcano that collapsed about 7700 years ago. Its one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen. Really. It took us about two maybe three hours to get out there. Incredible. I’ve never seen water so blue in my life. We did a lot of walking. And I took a lot of pictures, close to 500. I haven’t even begun to sort through them and tag them so it’ll be a while before I post them, probably when I get home. I really don’t feel like doing that on the road, after all I am on vacation.

So this year I rented a Ford Edge. I requested a Sport Utility, specifically a Jeep Grand Cherokee*, because I knew we were going to go hiking and it would be handy. But it seems the people at Budget–Rent–A–Car classify an Edge as an SUV. Its a crossover (can’t the auto industry come up with a better term for this class of vehicle?) Ford classifies it as as a crossover. The car press classifies it as a crossover. The EPA classifies it as a crossover. If you don’t know what a crossover is, sometimes referred to as a CUV, its basically an SUV on a car chassis. In the case of the Edge its on a Mazda 6 platform. They have the room of an SUV, but not quite as big as a traditional station wagon, and the ride height. Also they’re usually front wheel drive with an all wheel drive option, which is not the same as four wheel drive. The benefits, clearly a subjective view point here, is better gas milage and a better ride. True, but its not a truck. The trade offs are lower towing capacity and its not something I’d blaze down a bumpy dirt trail. And all wheel drive doesn’t work the same as four wheel drive. (See here for a good explanation.) As far as the gas milage is concerned its better than an Explorer but not by much. Too be fair though, I’m not terribly disappointed. I’ve had my eye on this vehicle since it came out. Its sharp looking, for sure. Now that I’ve lived with it for three days I can say I’m pretty impressed. It has a really nice ride and handles far more like a car than a truck. It has plenty of room. The back seat has a huge amount of leg room. It has some cool options, too. Like when you’re backing up the car it’ll beep when you get too close to something behind it. Oh yeah THE most important option: I can hook up my iPod to the stereo. Priorities, man. Priorities. Right now my only complaint is the braking. This is one heavy vehicle. It seems to take a lot to stop it. I mean I have no way of testing it but I bet the braking distance in this thing is huge. Oh yeah, its very powerful. Its got a V6 but if you’re not looking at the speedometer you’ll be doing 90 in no time. I usually don’t like to used cruise control but here it was a good idea. The one really cool option is the Panoramic Vista sunroof which is a giant sunroof that covers the front and back seat. Unfortunately this one didn’t have it. That would have been cool to have on the highway and around Crater Lake where the scenery was just gorgeous. More on that trip on my next post.

*I know Budget specifies that a particular vehicle is not guaranteed. They specifically state “or similar vehicle.” That’s my point. They’re not similar.