Well, nothing super that is certain. But I am still on this side of the grass, am upright and breathing! So that’s a pretty good thing.
Of course that’s not to say that the old man is in tip top shape, actually far from it. But what the hell, I am 82 years old and still ambulatory, I’m not in a care facility and still aware enough to drive a car. What’s not to like> well, things like the malignant tumor they removed late last year, the diabetes that I have been blessed with for over 14 years, the prostate surgery that I had just a few weeks ago, the cancer that they found in my prostate when they did the surgery. Oh and now, an aneurism found in my lower abdomen just a couple of days ago.
I tell you boys and girls, as that older movie star Betty Davis once said, “Getting old is not for sissies”. But we must travel on, until we don’t anymore.
ME? I am happy enough I guess. I live in a comfortable home, have a wife who loves and cares for this old curmudgeon, with children and grand children who are also glad the old guy is still around. And now I hear that I have a great grand child, born of my eldest granddaughter. So there is that!
Apartment Living
We now live in a high rise condominium building with a nice two bedroom unit in our name (and the Credit Union of course). We moved to this apartment back in late March of 2023 from a house in Newport News, Virginia. I thought I would deliver my thoughts on the differences in living in a single family home and neighborhood, as differentiated from living in a multifamily condo apartment complex. They are very different of course and here’s a few points for explaining the difference in my humble opinion!
We have during the course of our over 45 years together, lived in a number of apartments, both rentals and in condo owned. During our time together we have lived in many areas of the United States and offshore as well.
We once lived on a 54 foot motor yacht as members of a DC area Yacht Club and as live aboard people in the yacht club’s marina. Four years we lived on that boat and in that yacht club marina. We found the residents/yacht owners to be very friendly, helpful, considerate and watchful of our selves and our yacht. Frankly, every where we traveled on that yacht, in marinas large and small, we found the people associated with marine life to be egregious, outgoing, and welcoming in their attitudes.
In all of the apartment buildings we have lived in, some for several years, we never knew our neighbors other than to say hello on the elevator, in the lobby or garage. There was no welcome from our neighbors on our same floor, and the hello nods was pretty much the extent of our neighborly interaction. Sad, huh? Part of this was our fault, we are not party people and shy away from large gatherings. So this inhibits our interaction with neighbors in these settings. But by the same token, in the marina or in our single family house neighborhood, we quickly integrated ourselves with the community mainly through the resident’s inclination to be outgoing and welcoming us to that community, either water borne or land lubber.
EV vs ICE
Confused, well the EV stands for the all electric battery powered cars and trucks that are rapidly entering our world. And the ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine or the motor drive cars and trucks we are all familiar with that use fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel.
Having lived through several instances of the oil and gas industry companies foisting phony crises on the driving public over the years, this latest one was basically the straw that broke the camel’s back for this old man. So we have arrived at the decision point, stay with our Buick ICE Small SUV, trade if for a newer model of the same car, or purchase an all electric drive vehicle (EV). What ever way we finally wind up, (heavy leaning toward the EV side), our next vehicle will be from GM. We have, over the years owned quite a few General Motors vehicles, from Chevy, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and even Caddy’s. We are staunch GM supporters, not only for the great cars, but also for the OnStar systems that comes with these vehicles. OnStar has saved our bacon for a number of instances, some minor and some intensive and worrisome.
But be that as it may, I am sick and tired of the big oil companies screwing over the American motorists. So, the EV is looming large in our next vehicle decisions. We will wait until the spring of next year to hope that the knuckleheads in the Federal Reserve get their heads out of their nether region and correct the idiotic high interest rates. The economy is in pretty damn good shape so those jerks need to stand aside, lower their interest rate back to where it was before they started their stupid game of manipulation.
EV? Oops
In the several months since I first began this blog entry, I discovered that the major auto companies are not really serious with regard to the EV environment.
Ford has dramatically withdrawn from the EV production of their vehicle products. The Mustang EV is still being sold, but there are little indicators that Ford is really behind this product stream.
GM has also played games with the EV. This company had one of the best selling EVs to be made available. The Bolt and Bolt EUV were extremely popular even with the older type of battery packs. Yet GM decided that 2023 was the last year for this car, , , until they found out that the public was irate at their decision to kill this great small electric vehicle. GM then decided to bring the Bolt back in a new format, using GM’s newly designed batter system. They also promised an EV platform for the Chevy Equinox. It was to be priced in the same area as the Bolt. Every indicator had this small SUV to be released in the product year of 2024, but, times changed and GM postponed the release of this vehicle to the year 2025 approximately.
Chrysler (owned by Stellantis) was barely in the playground. Their focus was on their Dodge and Ram products both with ICE drivers. They claim to have a great EV coming soon. One simply must trust that this corporation will follow through.
WELL, this old man decided that he might be dead before any of these powerhouse vehicle manufacturers actually started moving EV cars for the masses, not the wealthy. So we will stick with the ICE class of automobiles for now. Going back to the GMC small suv, Terrain.
Misty Lady Thought and Comment 