Cars and Coffee, June, 2015

From the absurd....

....a 1930's vintage Packard (American)....

....and the always stately Rolls Royce (Great Britain)....

....to the ridiculous....

 

....a tiny post-WWII Gogomobile (Germany)....

....that pretty much summed up the most recent Dallas Cars and Coffee show.

While I must say I'll never tire of seeing cool cars of every description, I'm becoming less enamored with the usual stuff, regardless of its Bling.

Well, OK, maybe just a bit of Bling for old times sake.

(Ferrari 599)

 

Classics like this MGA are what grab my attention these days.   (And Big Joe's, too!)  But wait....IS this an MGA?

The boot lid says it's an MG 1600. *must Google*

As those who know old time off-roaders will attest, a Land Rover Defender wasn't necessarily the best, but dang, did it look cool!  Still does.

This nicely turned out BMW Z4 was of interest....

....even if the owner, who left his cap on the dash, thinks it's a Jaguar.  DOH!

Speaking of BMW's, I LOVE this Z8!  (The prototype "little blue pill"?)

And to us old geezers, this '54 (?) 'Cheeevy' was pretty slick, too.

Talk about secure in your manhood!.....or maybe it was just a lost bet payoff.  Yeah, let's go with that.  :)

If I sent K to the paint/body shop on "certain days of the month" *ahem* this is probably what she would come back with.  Yes, she's often "decisiveness challenged".

My friend Neil even brought his classic '90's Subaru SVT, although he was too chicken to bring it into the arena.  *Come on Neil, share your toy with us peasants next time*  ;)

But my favorite of the day was....

....this pristine Jaguar E-Type.

Wow!

And that was my Cars and Coffee,  June, 2015. 

S

Another completed new custom home. Now I can slip back towards retirement again.

Today we're turning over to the new owners, Mr. & Mrs. "S" (no, not K & me), our newest custom residence.  I had time to take a few pics, so I thought I would share:

 

This is a 6,300 square foot home on a nicely wooded site that backs up to Breckenridge Park in Richardson, one of Dallas' nicer suburbs.

 

Here is a view looking from the Great Room towards the "nice" kitchen.  As you can see, their style is "soft contemporary", which I personally like very much.  Amenities include a Sub Zero refrigerator, a 5-burner/griddle Wolf range top, two freezer drawers, a microwave oven, a steam oven, a convection oven, a warming drawer, and a high-end dishwasher.  See that port-hole window in the swinging door?....

 

That opens to the "prep" kitchen, a modest-sized second kitchen where they can cook on a daily basis and make a mess.  They entertain a lot, so I suppose the "nice" kitchen is for their parties.

 

 

Discreetly off to one side Mrs. S has her own "craft room".  (Woman Cave?)

 

Adjacent to the "nice" kitchen is the downstairs bar, which includes a small fridge and an icemaker. (Trust me, they're there, hidden behind cabinet door fronts.)

 

....which is convenient to the formal dining room....you know, the space where you're required to use the good plastic ware.  ;)  It also has a nice view of the pool.

And of course, a tasteful foyer staircase.  The arched opening behind that leads to....

 

 ....a library....

...then on to the Master Bedroom, both having a nice view of the wooded back yard.

 

....and the master bath....which is next to the utility....

 

....and just a few steps away from....

 

....the master closet.  It's actually larger than it looks here!

Accessible via either the front staircase or the back stairs off the Great Room you can barely see there on the left is the game room, which is actually twice as large as this photo intimates.  See that bookcase on the right....

....it opens to reveal a hidden room behind.  Holy Alfred Hitchcock!

Yes, they like storage.

And over the garage is the media room.  Crank it up!

 

The bar in the corner has another mini-fridge, an icemaker, and a beer tap. (No, it didn't come with a complementary keg.  I checked ;)

All the upstairs rooms have this nice view of the pool and the outdoor kitchen....

....which sports a sink, icemaker, mini-fridge, grill, warming drawer, and storage drawers, as well as a wood burning fireplace for those chilly evenings.

In addition to all this, there are 4 other bedrooms (one more downstairs and three upstairs) each with its own private bath, plus 2 powder baths, a mud room, and a three-car garage.  

They are moving in this weekend.  I'm glad it's them and not me.  :)

S

We just can't have nice thangs!

Something tells me this isn't going to be a short lived phenomenon.  It started in Iraq, then Syria, and now it's spread from North Africa to Afghanistan.  And of course volunteers are now pouring in, an estimated 17,000+ so far, including more than a few from Europe and America, too. 

Considering the historic attraction of such behavior to copycat actors, does anyone really believe this can be confined to a few malcontents the other side of the world?  I've read that their (ISIS) goal is to pit the "Infidel" world against Islam.  Us vs them.  They would love that. 

So what to do?  How do you tell the good guys from the bad guys?  Do we relinquish some of our freedom, especially our right to privacy, for security?  Is even that enough?  Do we take a stand?  Where?  Here?  How?

I would hate to be a quiet little Muslim shopkeeper in the West today.  Like it or not, they're involved.

Wasn't life simple when all we had to do was crawl under our school desks when we saw the big, bright flash?  Oh, and worry about that polio thing.

Ahh....the days.  ;)

S

As Elvis once said, "Thank ya, thank ya very much"

 Wait...I think I see a $20 still hiding in there.

Now seems the perfect time to thank a lot of people for all their help and support during my recent puny spell.  And Lord knows, I have a lot to be thankful for.

First, I happened to be only a few blocks away from Presbyterian Hospital/Plano when my doctor called to say there was more going on with me than a simple food allergy that he first thought, and that I should go straight to an emergency room.  

Things happen for a reason, I truly believe that.  Was this a coincidence?  I've experienced too many coincidences in my life to believe in "coincidences".  I feel my Maker was looking after me that day (He always is) and directed me to that hospital at that time.  And as usual, He always knows best. I believe, simple as that.  Thank you God.

And what a wonderful family I have!  My wonderful wife Kelly, aka K, would have stayed at my side for all 11 days if I hadn't absolutely insisted that she go home and take care of Jax The Dog, and herself, too.  (Or was it 12 days?  Time flies when you're having fun  :)  She was more than amazing.  Thank you wonderful wife. And thank you to her company and boss(es) who told her to take whatever time off she needed to see things through.  They really are wonderful people.  :)

My daughters Kristan, Andrea, and Erica were always there, either in person (Andrea and Erica) or on the phone from San Antonio (Kristan).  I remember one night I woke up to find Erica sleeping in my room on that thing that doubled as a guest bed.  That was very comforting.  And to make that happen, her spousal unit Donnie had to hold down the home front.  So did my ex, who went into uber-babysitting Grandmother mode.  And SIL Chris, also a Dr, gave the family reassurance long-distance that my docs were doing things by the book.  Thank you all.

And my bro, Todd.  While I was out of commission he took over all the field oversight that I usually do to see that the homes we are building stayed on track.  He's usually the office admin guy, but he really stepped to the plate in a BIG way.  Thanks little bro.  :)

And a big shout out to all of the doctors....Dr Rosen-Schmidt, Dr Blatt, Dr Boorla, Dr Illum, Dr. Hughes, and the guy who gave me the goofy gas that caused me to not remember much of it.  They were absolutely scary smart!  And all the nurses and assistants who catered to my every whim.  WOW!  I simply can't describe how dedicated and caring and compassionate they were....every single one I dealt with, no exceptions.

Presbyterian Hospital/Plano is the ONLY hospital I'll ever go to willingly if I ever come unglued again, they were that good!  (Remember the abysmal hospital food from years past?  Not at Presby!  Their "Five Star In-Room Dining" featured choices like grilled Mahi-Mahi, chicken marsala, pan seared beef tenderloin,  braised short ribs, three-cheese oven baked lasagna, chipotle salmon, and more.  And it was GOOD!  Can't say much for their jello, though....Scott doesn't do jello :)

And here's the kicker:  I never thought I'd say this about an insurance company, but United Healthcare Insurance has REALLY stepped to the plate and performed as advertised.   Yesterday we received their explanation of benefits summary, and my bills (that appear to be complete to day) totaled just a few bucks shy of $400,000.  YIKES!  Yet my cash out of pocket is only $6,054.  Whew!  Thanks UHC! 

And of course you, all of my friends either in person or online who sent their kind thoughts and prayers....thank you so much. :)

Yup, I've been blessed for sure.  Now I'm ready to get back to leaving silly smart-assed remarks all over the internet.  Hey, it's my calling.  :)

S