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Cars

Orderin’ time

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Tomorrow sees me traveling to Pittsburgh to offer a workshop at one of my campuses, which is very exciting. However, the real excitement for the day will come after class when I swing by Bill Gray Volvo before heading back home for the evening. The reason for my stop will be to order what you see above you: a 2012 Volvo S60 T5 in Vibrant Copper. I am excited to see how the ordering process goes with Volvo as compared to Audi back in 2009 – and, of course, to start driving the new leased ride!

What’s in a name?

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Engadget asks the question that makes up the post title as it regards product names in the gadget world and comes up with a four prong answer.  They categorize things into the columns of good, safe, meaningless or bad – examples, being Kindle, iPhone 4, Nokia N9 or Epic, in that order.  The reasoning is pretty spot on and I especially like the acknowledgement that with enough time and consistency, even a meaningless naming scheme carried forward by a strong brand can produce recognizable monikers like BMW 328i.  Or maybe I just like the fact that crossing over into automotive territory was necessary to make the point?

Love for sheets with a ‘z’

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Amen, Jalopnik. Your description of the feeling I get when I see a Sheetz come into view is absolutely spot-on. As I beat the pavement from campus to campus, I can always rely on Sheetz to get me warm sustenance in the form of a delicious pretzel sandwich with little hassle and consistent results. A perk to PA’s roads can’t be discounted!

My thoughts exactly

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“Cars are the biggest – and most abundant – set of sculptures that we have in contact every day in our lives.  Although they’re reproduced by machines and they’re computer milled stamps that make them, actually every one of them was originally carved by hand by men and women using techniques not a whole lot different than Michaelangelo.” – Chris Bangle, former Design Director of BMW

And that is precisely why I am so hooked on cars, neurotic about my cars and hopelessly devoted to the cult of cars. (Caught this in Objectified, a documentary on industrial design that is speaking directly to my soul.)

Fair warning

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Should this perfectly preserved, weirdly still-stocked 1988 Canadian BMW dealer ever open its doors to the public – and, more importantly, its storage area – I will be taking at least three days off work to embark on a pilgrimage.  We can call it a religious obligation.

(Autoblog)

My windows, my choice

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As much as I hate to imagine children touching the windows of my car, this concept from Toyota called “Window to the World” is pretty darned cool.  Really reminds me of the recent-ish Corning future of glass video.  The YouTube commenter on that one earns another point in my book with his suggestion of buying stock in Windex.

Salt in the wounds

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Not only is Audi not bringing us the newest A3 until model year 2013, they are now on the fence about whether to bring the Q3 (a 2012 in Europe) to the US until even later.  This dithering has already swayed me to the Volvo camp for the next lease (test driving this Thursday to be sure) but now they are letting US auto journalists like Autoblog drive the forbidden Q3?!

Audi, you are a cruel temptress.  (And I think you know that.)

Unexpected beauty

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Sometimes the world we inhabit can be stunningly beautiful when least expected.  Case in point:  after winging through four hours of Maryland and Pennsylvania driving tonight, I stopped in at the carwash off of Benner Pike as it does a better job with bug splatters than the one on Atherton.  Through some magic of alignment and happenstance of time of day, I managed to pull into the no-touch wash bay just as the sun was setting with the frosted door as a frame.  The result was sublime.

Home buying changes

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Rising gas prices have an affect over many aspects of our lives. Besides increasing the cost of operating automobiles, more expensive fuel leads to an increase in the cost of shipped goods, food and airline tickets. Can gas prices also create changing attitudes amongst home shoppers?

Very interesting.  I’ve known quite a few people that drive over 100 miles each way to work on a daily basis and could never imagine how that worked in a practical sense.  Perhaps this article is saying that it doesn’t?  Or won’t any more?

(Autoblog)

That’s one way to get Top Gear

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Franco is a Top Gear Philippines reader who got started with his personal obsession with the magazine when a friend traded him an issue for a carving of a Ferrari.  From a single block of wood.  With working doors and full interior.

Did I mention that Franco also carves wonderfully detailed cars in his spare time?  He’s quite good, as you’ve probably seen in the video above.

(Autoblog)