Dodge Caliber

Since I saw the first pictures of this car in a magazine, my thoughts were that this must be my next car.  It is a seriously good looking car with the high stance, big wheelarches, and 18" wheels.

And then when seeing it in the flesh for the first time, my thoughts were confirmed, and I decided to go drive it as soon as I had some spare time.  That happened on Friday afternoon.

As I got in the car, my first thoughts were that it feels a bit cramped after he space that I expected from its size.  The centre console is quite wide, and the driver leg space is actually less than in my Conquest.

The trim on the inside was better than what I expected after reading all the bad write-ups in the local magazines, but I'm used to a Toyota Conquest, the reporters are used to driving the latest and greatest.  Same can be said for the power and acceleration, it wasn't impressive, but certainly better than the expectation set by the reporters.

As I started the car, AC/DC Thunderstruck started playing on the radio, big coincidence, but still one of my favourite bands, so I got to test the impressive sound system.  It is seriously impressive for an out of the box system, with very clear sound across all the ranges and volume settings

As for the actual drive, as I said previously I was fairly happy with the power and acceleration, but what put me off enough not to buy this car, was the fact that you can't see anything from the driver seat.  You can't see the bonnet at all.  Yes, I could move the seat higher, but then my head would be touching the roof, so that was a no-go. 

The A-pillar is situated closer than any other car that I've driven before, in such a way that it changes almost every curve in the road to a blind-curve, you cannot see oncoming traffic at all!  Now in my opinion that is dangerous, and my first thought was that, as in the software world, where most engineers never get to test-drive their own products to see the shortcomings, this design engineer never drove the car, because I think he would have changed this had he driven it.

The last thing that seriously ticked me off, was the salesman.  From the time he introduced himself he seemed off, and it got worse.  It took him a full 10 minutes to find the keys for the car, now if there was hundreds of cars standing on the floor I would understand, but out of the 7 cars in the showroom there were only two Dodges, how difficult can it be.  Then, without the usual sales pitch about all the features, he handed me the keys with a frank "Drive it around the block" and walked off.  The block isn't very big, and there are speedbumps, so I decided to take it further.  Then upon getting back, he couldn't wait to get me out of the showroom, choosing not to even gime an estimate of how much they would give me for my car on a trade-in, only repeating "…it is big, it is american, and you should buy it."

Piss-off buddy, I'll find another car, and even if this one was good enough to buy, I would have gone to another dealer to get some service.

So, that means I keep on looking for a car, and until I find something spectacular, my paid for Conquest will have to do the job.

When will it stop

It seems that crime in this country has stepped up to a new level of violence.  The gangs doing cash-in-transit heists don't hesitate to shoot in public places anymore, and when they get the chance they try to kill the security personnel in the vehicle as well.  I suppose that is to ensure that they don't get identified later on.

I think it is time that we challenge government, on a local and national level to stop riding the gravy train, and start doing something about this.

It seems that all they are doing is changing names of places, because of arbitrary events that happened there.  Get real, I don't mind my tax money being spent, but not like that.  Rather use the money that you have allocated for name changes to enable the police to more effectively fight crime, and to alleviate the needs of the homeless.

Once all of that has been done, and the crime rate has significantly dropped, then by all means commemorate the death of your great-grandfather's horse by changing the name of a town you've never been to.

Telkom

<RANT>

After checking out all the options, I decide on getting an ADSL line for internet access, as this will cost me less than my current dialup costs from home.  This decision was made after confirming with the idiot at the telkom helpdesk that my ISP charges stay the same.

Now after getting the line installed after almost 4 months of waiting for them to upgrade the exchange, they want to nail me with a R199 a month ISP charge.  Bend over and take it without vaseline! 

F#$K!!!!

</RANT>

So, I will be changing ISPs then, can anyone recommend a CHEAP good one?

What would you do?

Two Choices

What would you do? You make the choice! Don't look for a punch line; There isn't one! Read it anyway. My question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

 

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:
"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

 

The audience was stilled by the query.

 

The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child." Then he told the following story:

 

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

 

Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

 

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

 

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

 

The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

 

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

 

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"

 

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

 

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

 

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, run home! Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

 

That day, said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.

 

Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his Father so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

 

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people think twice about sharing.  Public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

 

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity to brighten the day of those with us the least able, and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

 

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

 

May your day, be a Shay Day, sunny today tomorrow & always!

 

Hitting kids ‘will be criminal’

So now the government is trying to tell me that the bible is incorrect, and they're trying to criminalise corporal punishment.

I am a firm believer in corporal punishment for kids, I grew up with it, and am a better person because of it.  No I do not agree with a parent hitting a child in anger, but kids need discipline, and the best method is still corporal punishment, when applied right. 

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