8 weeks old German Shepherd puppy. Fun times - my two adult dogs are not fans.

This little bugger just scampers in and plops on the cool floor

Toad got dusty when we did the CO Oppo meet. I took it to the gym and then Costco and it was raining when I left the store.

That got the car too dirty, so I did some quick svending, and just had to take a few photos.

I love this car. We return to regularly scheduled programming.

Little chunk eats more than his 100lbs brother and he poops like it’s his only job.

Here are a few recent photos

Few blocks from my house.

And I mean it literally and figuratively. He passed away peacefully in our house, and the vet took him to the cremation place.

He was the bestest dog ever, and will be missed. Thank you all for you kind words in the past few days.

A year ago, I came to Denver with my wife to test drive the FIAT 124 Abarth, the Fiata. The one they had in stock was a manual (a must), but it didn’t have the Monza exhaust.

I didn’t like it and my wife hated it. I’m 6ft 200lbs, and wife is an ex college volleyball player at 5’11”, and we just felt squished. Plus, the car didn’t make the right noises - once I was expecting because I used to have a 2014 Abarth GQ convertible - with the roof down.

That afternoon, I found a 2019 Abarth 500 hatchback for sale, at a dealership a mile down the road from the place where we were having lunch. We stopped by, and the car was like new - 750 miles on the clock. So, I bought it.

One year and one day later, and 6000 or so miles added, I’m still in love. This car always puts a smile on my face. I can’t think of anything this side of an M2 or a Cayman or a 911 that would do it for me.

This little jerk was left alone for 45 seconds and chewed right through my only MacBook charger. I had to drive to Denver and back to get a replacement from work.

He’s lucky he’s cute.

A little while ago, I got the idea for a piece of art for our entryway. Wife just got a horse, I love taking photos of horses, but I wanted to try something different.

Enter Lowe’s and the most expensive 4x8’ piece of really nice birch plywood. This was an excuse to buy a palm sander too. 5-6 boxes of nails (close to 400 per box), and I was ready to hammer.

I sanded and stained (dark walnut) the plywood weeks ago, and had the piece sitting in my garage forever. Last Friday, I started the nail project. Everything was eyeballed - distance between nails and how far I hammered them in. I was going for close but not perfect so it didn’t look too… machine made I guess.

This is how we started.

I went around and hammered nails deeper as needed, and I used needle nose pliers to change angles as needed.

We finished the nail part tonight. Just under 2000 nails I think.

My plan is to find some boxed metal in this similar galvanized look, and to weld a frame around this, to hide the plywood edges. I’d also create a mounting system in the back as this will be fairly heavy to hang. I might make it float an inch from the wall.

I like how the lights shimmer on the nail heads, so depending on where we hang it, I might get a light on the opposite wall to shine on it.

I am still not convinced that we should stop here - original idea was to fill the outlines with nails.

For my next project, I might do an automotive design.

Any “art” critics on Oppo?

As some of you might know, I had a friend that died recently, and both my wife and I decided to get what we want out of life now, instead of waiting for the house to be paid off.

So, I've been hunting for M2/M3/M4/Cayman/Boxter/911, with a manual. Very hard to find in Colorado.

My M2 search is for 2018+ models, under $50000. One popped up somewhat locally for me, down in Denver metro area, some 90 minutes away from me. Gray, 22k miles, $45k, slightly higher than nationwide pricing but in line with KBB and NADA and decent for Colorado as we don't get many here.

I contacted them, verified the car arrived, and that it was a manual. Amazing service off the bat - they contacted me right away, told me they changed all 4 tires, sent me a personal video walkthrough of the car, told me they were waiting for one part, and when I asked what part, they said "license plate bracket". I figure it was one of those front bumper brackets which attaches to the bumper and the plate lives in it, just like I have on my Abarth. Those are model specific, so I presumed they were just waiting on that part.

So, I arrange a time to come and drive it - wife was heading downtown to pickup some work stuff, and I figured I'd tag along. Usually, we'd take the RDX for highway driving, but I brought the Abarth so I could trade it in case I couldn't leave without the BMW. I arranged an approximate time, told him I'd call when I leave Fort Collins and when I leave downtown for more precise ETA.

I texted when I left FoCo, and 43 minutes later, as we arrived to downtown Denver, got an answer that they were still waiting on the part. The license plate bracket. So before I left downtown for another 30 minute drive down to Highland Ranch, I texted if I could still drive the car as he was sounding like I couldn't, although a license plate bracket doesn't matter - dealers in Colorado just slap a magnetic DLR PLT on the back or even on the dash and you are good to go.

Well, not this one apparently, this one could only show me the car - after we've been chatting for 2 days about driving it - but I couldn't drive it. Standard dealer bullshit of "get them in the showroom regardless of everything".

I text again, telling him I need to know within 5 minutes if I can drive the car or not, in awe that I can't drive it after we talked about it for two days, after I drove 70 miles, all because of the missing bracket.

No text comes back, wife comes back to the car in 5 minutes, and we turn around and head home.

26 minutes after I texted him that I needed to know in 5 minutes if I should head down or not, I get another message saying he's still looking into it. I was already half way out of Denver by then.

I politely texted him that I was half way home, and thank you for your help.

Another 15 minutes later, and suddenly "he obtained exclusive permission to drive it before they get the license plate bracket". I'm like are you fucking kidding me here?

Suddenly, I am getting calls from the sales manager, texts are arriving and they are so sorry, and they will make it right, just come in.

Well, go fuck yourselves. I bought two previous vehicles from Schomp. Guess where the third one won't be coming from??

I am still in shock a bit, that they used a missing license plate bracket as an excuse to try to get me into the showroom, but not to allow me a test drive.

I hate how dealers ruin a huge part of my hobby and the shopping experience because of... I don't even know why. At least they didn't do false imprisonment like they tend to do with missing keys for the trade in and not letting you leave.

@ranwhenparked Well, you aren't too far off, when you look into it. There are so many hybrid/phev/ev options on the market right now.

@grindintosecond I get like 16 with the Tundra and 22/23 with the RDX. 29 would be awesome.

@ranwhenparked No clue. It seems to me that hybrids were the darlings of the industry and that the crown has been taken over by the EVs, leaving PHEVs in the dust, as an afterthought. Why? Not sure. I still think they make the best vehicles for vast majority of people.

@grindintosecond They already announced them at 22/29, but not official EPA numbers.

@ranwhenparked Full EVs are more popular, that is about the only answer I have, although PHEV cars might be by far the best option out there.

@shop-teacher What is the worst thing a parent has done at your school?

@shop-teacher You are supposed to befriend them! Imagine how damn cute a duck sized horse would be!

@454ssracetruck That is super cheap for a lease on what is probably $45k+ truck. Looks great!

@gibbsemphasis I saw someone very uncomfortable with the dimensions of their vehicle this morning. I was in #2 curbside pickup at Chic Fil A with my Abarth, when someone backed into spot #1 with a cargo Savana van, and smacked the pillar with the #1 sign because they backed in way too far.

I usually feel pretty good with the Abarth and the Tundra, but I park the Abarth as far as possible. I don't want door or cart dings.

@facw That is freaking awesome