Classic Cars rule

The rule I've heard a few times before is that a car is a classic when it reaches quarter century old. However, there are other factors involved too. Some cars are just destined to the junkyard regardless.

 
The 50's, 60's and early 70's have a lot of collectible vehicles. There's too many to even list right now, so I won't try. Personally, I don't see very many compelling vehicles from the middle to late 70's until the early 90's. There are some (like the old Z or the Mustang), but not many. Commonly, cars from the 80's just plan suck in styling and performance. The boxy cars of the early 80's are ugly for being boxes on wheels. The aerodynamic cars of the late 80's are ugly for being wings-with-bubbles on wheels. I don't think there are many collectors trying to score a 1989 Ford Taurus.

 
I was at the recent car expo in San Francisco. I found there are many compelling vehicles. I think the middle 1990's to now (and hopefully for years to come) is going to be an era with many collectible cars. Vehicles popular in the Tuner market almost already have a collectible status, like the previous Honda Civic. In addition, there are loads of new, interesting models or resculpts, like the Dodge Viper, any BMW, certain Subarus, the previous and new Mustang, etc which will likely stand the test of time.

 
It has inspired me to hold on to my car and keep it in great all-original condition for the next 20 or so years.

Retail Sales Prediction

Based on what I've seen so far, I predict that overall U.S. retail sales for this xmas season will be stronger than expected, particularly for mall retailers. The malls (at least in the SF Bay area and Silicon Valley) are as busy as I've seen since 1989.
Partially linked to this, Walmart (and prolly most other non-mall discounters) will suffer this year, as people are going to the malls, or are shopping for the better quality goods. Target looks like it positioned itself to have the best of both worlds since it expanded into the malls (replacing Wards in many locations), and maintains the perception of higher level of quality goods at good prices.

Gift giving strategy this year...

This was going to be a comment reply, but it got so long, I figured it qualified as its own blog entry. :)
Last year, I used online purchasing with dropping shipping a lot. My strategies and intentions are different this year. I did a lot of discount buying of DVD's thru Columbia House this year. They don't do gift wrapping (not that I would pay $4 per gift for that service thru other sites anyway). They also don't drop ship (or at least it's a pain in the ass to get them too). It all worked out. I was able to get enough credits to get myself the last James Bond box set ($100 value) for free, and I'm averaging $11 including taxes and shipping for recent DVD releases. Everyone wins. :)
For the more important gifts (like jewerly) , I feel its best to delivery in person anyway because makes it more meaningful.

Pressing matters

My computer at work busted for a couple of weeks. It was returned and is almost back to normal so I can do my job uninterrupted.
My g/f and I had a little trouble a few weeks ago. That has cleared up.
My finances were in a bit of a mess over the past month. That is getting cleared up. The worse is behind me.
The most pressing matter before me now is how to get my xmas gifts into the hands of their recipients, without driving all over Northern California. :)

Banking eggs

I recently had all of my money stolen out of my checking and savings accounts at my main bank. All the checks and payments I made were bouncing all over the place. It’s a mess. I have to contact each creditor individually and convince them it wasn’t my fault so they will reverse their returned check fees.
I’ve been unsatisfied with how my bank has handled this affair. They’ve dragged their feet on the carpet of inefficiency. It is likely I will be ending my relationships with this bank and its affiliates as soon as this matter is completely fixed.
Fortunately, I have back up money stashed away in a couple of separate accounts at different banks. The old saying comes into play; never leave all of your eggs in one basket. I didn’t have a lot of money in my separate accounts, but I had enough to re-pay this month’s bills before they were too late.
I have these back up sources because I direct deposit relatively small amounts each paycheck into these other accounts. In fact, the amounts are so small, they don’t make a difference in any given month by themselves. But collected over time, they do add up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I also thought that I'd share the most unusual keyword search hit come come across my site that I've seen in a long time: free pictures of hermaphrodites. Ugh!