Saturday, January 28, 2017

Only in Green Bay, by Jared Cook

nypost.com
The following thanks to theplayerstribune.com and Jared Cook, free agent tight end signed by the Green Bay Packers this past season. Links provided, check out their web site.

Jan 21, 2017  Man … it gets cold in January.
On second thought, O.K., I guess that’s kind of stating the obvious. I should probably start this article with something more provocative. But you’ll have to forgive me. I really am just now starting to notice the cold. For me, this is a big deal. Usually, around this time of year, I’m somewhere warm.
Usually, right around now, I’m on vacation.
An NFL season lasts 17 weeks. Seventeen weeks. Depending on where you’re coming from, that can either sound like a very short or very long time. I’ve heard guys talk about it like it’s “only” 17 weeks. And then I’ve heard other guys talk about it like 17 weeks is forever. Throughout my career, I’ve always envied that first group — because I know what it means.
If the season is flying by for you, that means you’re winning.
My teams haven’t done a lot of winning in previous years in the league. I’ve had those seasons of six, seven, eight wins. You’re reading this, so you probably follow football — and as an NFL fan, you know what I’m talking about. Those 6–10 seasons when you’re trying to stay optimistic … and you’re giving it your all … but by around Week 12, when you’re sitting there, 4–8, and looking up at the top of the division like it’s on the moon … you know it’s over. No division chase. No wild-card chase. No playoffs. And really, once December hits, no meaningful football. And still, you give it your all, and you’re out there competing. Because it’s what you do. But, man, it’s tough. It’s tough not putting together a winning season after fighting with your teammates in the trenches all year.
Those are some brutal winters.
I’m a family man — my family means everything to me. And the only possible silver lining of missing the playoffs all of those years was that I knew I’d get to spend more time with my wife and my kids. So, right around the end of December, once my teams were out of contention, my wife and I would go ahead and start planning our vacation. Vacation — sounds great, right? But it was always bittersweet. It not only became an annual tradition, but also a kind of admission of failure. Making our vacation plans meant another season of not making the playoffs.
So when I became a free agent this past off-season, I was determined to find a team with a winning culture. And when it comes to a winning culture, well … for me, Green Bay has always been the pinnacle. You walk into the building and it’s championship banners. It’s Super Bowl banners. It’s trophies on trophies. The retired greats who line the walls — we’re talking, the guys who basically started the National Football League. Lambeau. Lombardi. Starr. All the way up to Favre. That level of tradition. You walk in, and you feel it right away: In Green Bay, it’s about Packers football — past and present.
It’s about upholding history.
And it’s about winning rings.
When I was in St. Louis last year, playing in the NFC West, a lot of our flights would end up being to and from the West Coast. And with our schedule, plus the fact that Green Bay played a lot in prime time — it meant that anytime I would sit down to watch football, the Packers would be on TV. One of my teammates on the Rams was from Milwaukee and had a lot of love for the Packers. So he would always be there watching with me. And I just remember: the looks that we would give each other, every time that Aaron Rodgers made one of his patented plays.
You know the looks I’m talking about, because you’ve probably exchanged them with your own friends while watching the Packers. That look you give after Aaron uses his legs to avoid what seems like a sure-thing sack, makes two tacklers miss, and then hits his man — where only he can catch it — 30 yards downfield, in wide open space. That look you give after Aaron flicks his wrist and connects with his receiver for an easy touchdown, back shoulder, impossible timing, right on a dime.
And then there is that last look that we would give each other, which you probably have to be in the NFL to recognize. In the league, you always want to be professional, and you never want to seem too hyped about another team’s player. But every now and then, Aaron would make a throw so perfect, and so out of this world, that we couldn’t help it. We’d watch the play unfold, then pause, then turn to each other, and then give each other what I can only describe as The Look. The look that says, Dude is a beast.
And then I signed with Green Bay in the offseason — and all of a sudden, I was right in the middle of it. It was real life.
The day I came on board, Aaron gave me a call.
“Hang in there this season,” he told me. “Because we’re about to have a lot of fun. We’re about to go on a ride. So just hang in there, and come along with us, and you’ll see.” Man — I’m telling you. After seven years in the NFL, I’ve had a lot of introductory phone calls with a lot of confident people. But Aaron’s was on another level. Dude was as cool as a fan.
But as high as my opinion was, from afar, of Green Bay’s winning culture, and of Aaron’s excellence, there was a part of me that was still prepared for anything. Especially with the way that so many of my NFL seasons have gone previously — I think I had just learned to be level-headed. In this business, when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
But not with Aaron, and not with Green Bay.
The first thing you notice about Aaron, when you meet him in person, isn’t how smart he is. It’s how generous he is with how smart he is. He’ll give you these random quizzes — not in an adversarial way, but in a thoughtful, healthy-competitive, coaching-you-up way. Something like: O.K., on that route there, how does how you ran it differ from how we talked about it? Or: What’s the signal for killing the play? Or: On what down and distance are we expecting a certain defense to show a certain scheme? It’s always something.
And with Aaron, the thing is — he’ll make you feel like you are the most important guy in the room. Like the key to the Packers winning the Super Bowl, ultimately, will be your personal ability to keep up with him. It’s a type of leadership that is constantly asking you: I’m all in — are you all in? That is telling you: I’m keeping you on your toes, because I’m always on mine.
And just like Aaron exceeded my already high expectations in person, so did Green Bay. The fans there are … man, What can you even say? When I signed with the Packers, obviously I was looking forward to the first home game of the regular season. Lambeau Field … sold-out crowd roaring on full blast … hopefully getting to do a leap. Week 3 against Detroit — that’s when I figured I’d get the Full Lambeau Experience.
I had no idea how much sooner it would come.
The fans sold out Lambeau for a training-camp practice. A training-camp practice. It’s called Family Night, and it’s basically just a full-speed practice, right in the stadium. Sold out. Not an empty seat in the house. It was an unreal experience for me. In all of the places I’d played, I’d never seen anything like that before.
I’m sure that many people have heard about how great Lambeau is, and how great the fans are — and if they haven’t been there in person, they probably think it’s all some big old myth. But trust me: Our fans deserve every bit of their legend status. Packers fans … they’re insane. Packers culture … it’s insane. And I mean that in the best way possible.
A lot has been made out of Aaron’s comments after our Week 11 loss to the Redskins, and the winning streak that we’ve put together in the couple of months since. When it comes to Aaron’s “run the table” comment, it seems like everyone has an opinion. My opinion?
That was just Aaron being a leader.
By which I mean: That was Aaron being Aaron.
When Aaron makes those great plays — it isn’t only a matter of skill. Those plays also take an amazing level of intelligence and hard work. In practice and in drills, he perfects the little things. He never gets tired of doing the little things right. That’s what makes Aaron so great at what he does.
That is what separates him from everyone else.
You also have to be thinking deeper than everyone else to make those plays. You have to be able to see what’s on the field … but then you also have to be able to see what’s going to be on the field, a second from now. And two seconds from now. And at every second until the exact moment the ball hits your receiver in the hands. To play the quarterback position as well as Aaron has played it, you basically have to see the field, not as it is — but as it will be.
You have to see the future.
We won in Week 17, on the road, against our rivals, to clinch the division.
Back shoulder, two-inch window, impossible timing, right on a dime.
Aaron Rodgers Play. And not the last.
As special as this winning streak has been, and as special as this playoff run has been, on a team level — on a personal level, it’s also been extra-special.
This weekend will mark the 20th week of the season for us — my longest season. And I’ll tell you what: It’s flown by. The last two months have felt like a blur — like a really good dream. I mean, where else but in a dream do you go on a six-game winning streak to make the playoffs? Where else but in a dream does Randall catch that Hail Mary to end the half against the Giants? Where else but in a dream does Aaron huddle us up, with 12 seconds to go in a tie game against the No. 1 seed in the conference, and say, “Get open, I’ll find you” — and it works?
Where else but in a dream does this season even happen?
The answer, of course, is Green Bay.
For seven years, I was a guy on the margins — not feeling like I was making much of an impact, and playing for teams that weren’t experiencing a lot of success. Now, I’m playing for the best franchise in the world … for the best fans in the world. And with the greatest quarterback of all time. I know one thing for certain: It has made me cherish every moment.
And hey: Now that I know what football is like in January — I figure, why stop there?


Wednesday, January 25, 2017

How Much Do You Know About Your Drivers Daily Challeges

overdriveonline.com
Article thanks to Jeff Crissey and ccjdigital.com. Links provided:

Dec, 2016  At the 2016 CCJ Fall Symposium in November in Scottsdale, Ariz., we sat down with two exemplary company drivers for a panel discussion on driver challenges – Danny Smith, Truckload Carriers Association & Randall-Reilly’s Company Driver of the Year and driver for Big G Express; and David Green, longtime driver and trainer for Werner Enterprises. In addition to their careers over the road, both men are captains for the American Trucking Associations’ America’s Road Team, a national outreach program of 19 professional drivers who advocate for highway safety and industry image.
Speaking to a ballroom full of fleet executives, both men listed detention time as a top challenge they and other drivers face on the job. Although this is hardly a new issue, so often I hear fleet owners talk about detention time in terms of productivity and profitability losses. But to hear Smith and Green tell it from the driver’s perspective, “You’re sitting there worrying about, ‘I have a mortgage payment and insurance payment to make, and I’m sitting here not making any money,’ ” said Smith.
“It wears on you,” added Green.
A recent survey of 482 company drivers and leased owner-operators by Randall-Reilly’s Overdrive and Truckers News shed some light on another problem: fleet respect for drivers, or more specifically, the lack thereof. Unlike truck parking and detention time, this fortunately is an issue that fleet managers and executives can directly control.
In the 2016 What Drivers Want survey, respondents were asked what one thing drivers most disliked about their jobs. The No. 2 response was “it’s a thankless job – nobody respects truckers or appreciates what we do” at 19.5 percent, behind only “regulations make it harder to work and make a living” at 45.0 percent. Further down the list was “I’m not making enough money,” “my family life is strained because I’m never home” and “I’m not getting enough miles/loads.”
Survey respondents also cited lack of respect as a top-three response as reasons fleets are having a hard time finding and retaining drivers, or reasons they or others would consider changing jobs.
“Working for a guy who has never been a driver, it does make the job a hell of a lot more frustrating,” said one respondent. Said another: “All the fleets that I’ve driven for, I’ve felt somewhat like I was merely a warm soul in the seat.”
Dave Jackson, president and CEO of Knight Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 24), readily admitted his lack of experience and knowledge of what it is like to pick up and deliver freight every day. So he took matters into his own hands, hopping in the passenger seat alongside longtime Knight driver Allen Reeder for a 33-hour ride-along – hooking up and sweeping out a trailer, performing pre-trip inspections, eating at a truck stop, hanging out in drivers’ lounges, sleeping overnight in the bunk, waiting for unload – to get a better understanding of the challenges the company’s nearly 5,000 drivers face on the road.
“Industry-wide, there is a fundamental problem, and that is the level of engagement between professional driving associates and the companies they work for,” said Jackson. “There’s a whole lot more to being a truck driver than driving the truck. There are a lot of little pieces that have to go right, and some of those you control, but most of those you don’t. This has been an eye-opening experience for me,” he said of his ride-along.
Unless you started your career as a driver or owner-operator, chances are good your eyes are closed to the daily strains on your workforce. Hearing drivers complain about their challenges is one thing, but it is entirely another to see them firsthand. As Jackson learned, gaining that valuable experience can only help soothe the frustration that often occurs between the corporate offices and the roadways.

http://www.ccjdigital.com/how-much-do-you-really-know-about-your-drivers-daily-challenges/

Saturday, January 21, 2017

One year later….trucks still crashing into infamous ‘Can-opener Bridge’

hardworkingtrucks.com
Article thanks to Tom Quimby and hardworkingtrucks.com. Links provided:
Some of us at work may deal with jet planes flying overhead, noisy elevators, creaking doors, flickering lights and squeaky copy machines.
Duke University employee Jurgen Henn deals with truck collisions. There’s about one every month near his job at the infamous ‘can-opener bridge’ in Durham, N.C. There was another one this week. It was crash number 112 since Henn began keeping count eight years ago, not long after he began working inside an office building that overlooks the train trestle.

The crashes have become such a regular spectacle that Henn put up cameras to monitor the bridge and started a website, 11foot8.com to record the action. Hard Working Trucks first reported on Henn and his crash cams about a year ago. And since that time, the trucks keep coming and so do his website views. His latest video, which he posted this week (shown below), had over 10,000 hits within two days.
Henn’s website has become so popular that he even sells pieces of the truck that have been shaved off by the bridge. Some have even been autographed by drivers whose egos take the biggest hit. Henn does not know of anyone who’s ever been seriously injured after striking the bridge. That goes for the crash on Tuesday.
“Heck, the truck that got stuck (Tuesday) might have made it had it been fully loaded and heavier,” Henn told cnet.com. “Those trucks are a good reminder of all the close calls in our life that we don’t even notice, where we just slip by disaster, and we don’t even know it.”
The City of Durham has put up warning signs and even installed a sensor-activated sign that lights up whenever trucks over the height limit draw near. That still won’t stop drivers, though, many of whom Henn says just don’t realize how short the clearance is until it’s too late.



Wednesday, January 18, 2017

How Truckers Can Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions

new-year-quotes.com

Article thanks to Jim Sweeney and the RoadPro Family of Brands. Links provided:

Don’t give up smoking and junk food; don’t exercise more; and don’t quit smoking in 2017 – at least not all at once.
January is the time when we resolve to quit bad habits and adopt good ones; resolutions that often last no longer than February. There’s a reason our good intentions melt away before the snow does; psychologists call it “willpower depletion.”
Most of us have only so much willpower, the theory goes, and it can be drained from overuse. Your willpower can be depleted every time you have to exercise it to avoid temptation, like not smoking a cigarette or ordering a salad instead of a Big Mac. Confront too many of those situations and your willpower is likely to give out, no matter how determined you are.
So does that mean you shouldn’t bother trying to change, that you’re doomed to failure? Not at all. Willpower is an amazingly powerful force; and the more you believe in it and yourself, the more likely you are to succeed at your resolution.
But there are smart ways to go about it, methods that will make you more likely to succeed. Here are some tips that will help you turn those resolutions into permanent changes:
Do one at a time – Quitting smoking, changing your diet and exercising more are all difficult; trying to do all three at once is nearly impossible because of our limited willpower. So pick one and pursue that. Don’t necessarily choose the one you think will be easiest or most difficult; pick the one where success will benefit you most and make you happiest and most proud. When you succeed at that, you can go after the others, armed with the knowledge that you can change.
Set mini-goals along the way – If your ultimate goal is to lose 50 pounds, don’t make it all or nothing. Start by losing five pounds, then another five, then 10 and so on. Having goals along the way makes it easier and allows you to celebrate those accomplishments. And even if you don’t lose 50 pounds, maybe you’ll lose 35.
Set a realistic timeframe – It’s rare for a smoker to quit cold turkey or for someone to start jogging 40 miles a week. Serious lifestyle changes take time, and a too-short deadline doesn’t allow for that or for the occasional backsliding.
Get help – There is a lot of free, helpful information out there to help you along the way. Find out what’s been proven the best ways to quit smoking or lose weight. See what’s worked for other people. There’s no need to go it alone.
Make notes – It’s been proven that charting your progress will help keep you on track. Count calories or the number of cigarettes you’ve smoked. Technology, such as apps and fitness bands, makes it easier than ever to monitor your progress.
Don’t go it alone – Share your goals with others and look for a partner(s) who’s trying to accomplish the same thing. Discussing your resolution with someone – and maybe even competing with them – will keep you strong. Family and friends also can provide support.
Forgive yourself – You’re going to slip up, skip a workout or have another smoke. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed; it just proves you’re human. Acknowledge the mistake and get back with the system. In fact, studies have shown that scheduling cheat days or small “rewards” will help keep you moving toward your goal.
So, go ahead and resolve to get healthy this year, but go about it the smart way and you’re more likely to reach your goal. Good luck!

http://www.roadprobrands.com/

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Couple Spends 2 Months In Jail After Cops Mistake Baking Soda For Cocaine

huffingtonpost.com
Article thanks to David Lohr and huffungtonpost.com. Links provided:
Nov, 2016  A Utah couple spent more than eight weeks in jail after authorities in Arkansas mistakenly identified bags of baking soda as cocaine and arrested them for allegedly transporting $300,000 worth of drugs, Salt Lake City’s KUTV News reports.
Gale Griffin and her husband, Wendell Harvey, haul cargo for the U.S. military. They were delivering a load in May, when guards at Fort Chaffee, an Army National Guard installation, conducted a routine search of their truck.
During the search, the guards found several baggies containing a white powdery substance, which Griffin explained was baking soda that she was using to treat an upset stomach. Unconvinced, the guards notified local police.
When officers tested the powder using a $2 narcotics identification kit, it was identified as a controlled substance.
The officer said, “’You have over $300,000 in cocaine,’” Griffin told KUTV News. “I told him, ‘I never had two nickels to rub together. Are you crazy?’ He said, ‘I’ve never had two nickels to rub together either, but now I’m the owner of your truck.’”
Unable to afford bail, the couple stayed behind bars until mid-July, when a lab analysis found that the substance was, in fact, baking soda and contained no illicit substances.
We’re not chemists, and we don’t roll with a chemistry set in the back of a police car,” Fort Chaffee Police Chief Chuck Bowen explained when Little Rock’s KATV News asked about the mistake.
Field tests for drugs can often be incorrect. In a Nevada study, authorities re-examined a number of field tests conducted from 2010 to 2013 and found that 33 percent of them had resulted in false positives, KUTV News reports
“There’s no telling how many mistakes they’ve made,” Harvey told KATV News. “It’s a mistake, but these mistakes happen quite often I think.”
All charges against the couple were dismissed. However, Griffin and Harvey now find themselves out of work because their security clearances – required to haul cargo for the military – have been revoked. They also say they had to wait a month after their release to regain their truck and it was heavily damaged. A GoFundMe.com campaign has been started to help them get back on their feet.


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

The 10 Best Cities For Truck Drivers

The following is a guest post thanks to Chris Kolmar and zippia.com, a "career expert" site. Links provided:

We used the most recent data to determine the best cities in America for Truck Drivers to open up shop.
Chris Kolmarby Chris KolmarBest States For ProfessionsRankings - 1 month ago
Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Truck Drivers, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.
To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer truck drivers the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where truck drivers get paid well, relative to the cost of living, and jobs are plentiful.
So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for truck drivers.The result is this list of the best cities truck drivers:
  1. Morristown, TN
  2. Midland, TX
  3. Fayetteville, AR
  4. Casper, WY
  5. Gary, IN
  6. Odessa, TX
  7. Fargo, ND
  8. Billings, MT
  9. Bismarck, ND
  10. Michigan City, IN
So there you have it — Morristown is the best city when it comes to being a truck driver.
And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a truck driver? That would be Ithaca.
Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for truck drivers and for more on the top ten cities.

How we determined the best cities to be a truck drivers?

Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:
  • Availability of jobs
  • Pay
So in order to find out the best cities for truck drivers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well truck drivers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:
  • Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given city.
  • Average annual salary.
  • Average annual salary for entry level work.
To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living.
This left us with enough data for 412 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.
In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 412 where 1 was the best.
We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for truck drivers in America.
So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for truck drivers. Click the "read more" link below for a chart.



Saturday, January 7, 2017

In A World Of Change, This Impala Stays The Same

streetmusclemag.com
Article thanks to Kyler Lacey and streetmusclemag.com. Links provided:

Check this original '62 out! I had one in the late 1960's, 327 inch motor and a factory 4-speed. It was a great car.

Nov, 2016  Joe Clotfelter of Poulsbo, Washington, is the owner of this stunning 1962 Impala. “I was at Goodguys event once, and a lady came up and asked me who restored my car. I replied, ‘nobody, it’s just original’.” This car has never been repainted, and the rustless body is completely original. It’s never been taken apart, it’s never been in an accident, and it still has the original windshield between the a-pillars. Although it has received required maintenance and some changes, it largely remains as it was the day it showed up at the dealer lot.
There is more about Joe and his car that makes this story so cool. This isn’t just a beautiful, original 1962 Impala that he recently acquired. Joe actually bought this car way back in 1968, when it was a mere six years old. That makes this his first “real” car, as Joe explained. “I had some ’57 Chevy junkers before this, but this is my first real car. I found it on a used car lot in Bremerton, Washington.”
My car back in Milwaukee

He drove the heck out of it after he bought it, because it was all he had to drive. It wasn’t until around 1973, five years after buying the Impala, that he bought something else to replace it as his daily driver. Even after he aquired a newer car to drive every day, he decided to keep his Impala. When he purchased the replacement car in the early seventies, the Impala’s value just didn’t warrant unloading the decade old ride. “I probably couldn’t have gotten $1,500 for it,” he explained. “It was worth more than that to me.”
“While I was raising a family and working, the car stuff kind of got put on the back burner,” Joe said. He found a nice, dry place to keep the car, and put it away for a while. His intentions were always to pull it out someday and fix it up. Finally, in the late ’90s, he felt it was time to revisit the area behind the steering wheel of the Impala.
The Impala lived in many different places during the course of the two decades or so that it resided in storage. During that time, he had to move it every couple of years. “With having kids and not having money to fix it up, I’d store it with whoever had a place for it,” Joe detailed. So when it got in the way, he would have to find it another temporary home.
The entire time it was in storage, Joe never forgot about it. In some ways, it was still just his old car, but we’re sure it started looking more attractive as the years went by. While time was passing by, he knew the value was going up and it was becoming a much rarer item, as other Impalas of the same vintage rusted away in fields and were crushed at wrecking yards.
streetmusclemag.com

After twenty years of storage, Joe finally had the time and money to get it back on the road. He figured he’d pull it out of storage and put a new paintjob on it. The years in storage had been kind to his old car though. With a twinge of surprise in his voice, he said, “When I got it out of storage, I cleaned it up, and realized that it was so nice, it didn’t even need a paintjob.”
After getting his old car out of hibernation, changing the brakes and wheel bearings, and getting it back on the road, he was ready to put a few miles on it. He drove it until the original 327 cubic-inch engine got tired, so he pulled it out to have it rebuilt. While he was waiting on that to happen, he dropped in a Chevrolet Performance ZZ4 350 cubic-inch crate engine in the car so he could keep driving it.
“I always had the intentions of putting the original engine back in, but it runs so nice, I just left the ZZ4 in it.” Joe continued, “I still have the original engine if I ever decide to go back.” The car itself only has 144,000 miles on the odometer, and with the new engine (and a new front seat cover), it was ready to be driven. “I have had different hotrods and roadsters over the years, and if I can’t drive it across the country, I don’t want it.” he explained.
In the Pacific Northwest, even cars that are stored inside will usually have rust when they are this old. It is a hazard of the area. With Joe’s car though, it is surprisingy just as solid as the day it was built. “What amazes me is that everything just works,” Joe said.
Joe made sure that we know he drive’s his car – a lot. He has driven it to Arizona seven or eight times, and plans on driving it to Texas, for the Lone Star Roundup next year. He takes it to car shows during the summer and uses it the way it was meant to be used. He takes good car of it, stores it in a nice garage, and doesn’t see himself changing anything else on it.
Joe has a hard time pointing out a single thing about the car that stands out. “It speaks for itself,” he said. “It’s such a cool thing. It’s comfortable and it drives great.” In other words, it’s just a good, straightforward, old Impala, and that is part of what makes Joe like it so much. It has power steering, a radio, and a heater, but that’s about it as far as options go. It you want cool air, you better roll down the windows.
Joe had a smile on his face as he said, “You know, when I get in that car and I’m driving down the road looking through the windshield, it’s like I’m eighteen years old again.” This is the car that he was driving back when he started dating his wife. What he once held on to because he knew he couldn’t sell it for more than $1,500, has become a priceless artifact of his past that he would never let go of—it doesn’t hurt that it’s also a badass Impala.

http://www.streetmusclemag.com/features/car-features/keeping-it-simple



Wednesday, January 4, 2017

A Comparison Of The Dodge Ram And The Volkswagen Jetta

51st State Autos
The following is a guest post thanks to and written by Charles Partos. He has a business in the UK called 51st State Autos, importing American vehicles for UK residents. Links provided:

Buying a car is one of the biggest purchases that someone can make. It is extremely important that you weigh your options and do your research before you make your final decision.
First off, it is important to figure out where you are going to buy your car from. The Internet era has ushered in a wave of new car buying apps and websites. Among the most popular are TrueCar, Carvana, and Craigslist. These websites make it incredibly easy to find the car of your dreams. You can search by make, model, year, mileage, and a variety of other factors. They also make it much easier to find buyers for a car you are willing to sell. However, these sites are not always safe, and you are often limited in your options.
Luckily, you can still purchase a new car the old-fashioned way - by going to your local dealership.
Although these new websites have certainly revolutionized car buying, are still a number of advantages to buying your car from a brick-and-mortar dealership. A dealership may be able to install custom features in your new car, such as an audio system, or a new set of wheels. You also have a better variety of makes and colors of the car you desire.
A dealership is also more likely to offer assistance and to be flexible with the price, as they have a financial incentive to keep you as their client and maintain a good reputation. Perhaps the greatest benefit buying from a dealership is that a dealer can offer you a wide variety of financing or leasing options. You do not need to pay for your car straight out of pocket!
Once you have decided where you would like to purchase your car, it is important to decide which type of car works best for you. The Dodge Ram 1500 and Volkswagen Jetta are two extremely different cars that fit two very different lifestyles.
The Dodge Ram 1500 is a diesel pickup truck with an impressive V8 engine. This car is American-made, and is one of the best vehicles in it's class. It is best suited to a person who needs a car with a lot of brute force. It can handle all types of difficult terrain and haul over five tons. However, it has a refined, comfortable interior with leather seats and real wood trim. This car is best suited to a person with a hands-on job, who has a lot to haul around. The Dodge Ram 1500 would also perform beautifully in a rural environment. It also would be an excellent family car, as it has lots of room to hold luggage and spacious seating.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact sedan that is high in both style and efficiency. It has an impressive 40 mpg fuel economy and an excellent suspension system for smooth driving. Its small size, impressive fuel economy, and sleek look make it an excellent choice for city-dwellers. A small car such as the Volkswagen Jetta may not be the best pick for a person with a large family, or for someone who needs a car that can pull a lot of weight. However, if you want to commute in style, and cut down on fuel use, the Volkswagen Jetta may be the right car for you!
There are many things to factor in when you buy your car. It is important to make sure you are making the most of your money, and to guarantee a good sale. It is also important to make sure to do your research, and pick the car that best fits your lifestyle. However, if you do your homework, you are sure to find the perfect car for your lifestyle and for your budget!

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