I haven’t had an orthodox career, and I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”

You really like me………

I have been nominated for the Personal Blogger Award by Vanessa Chapman http://vanessa-chapman.com 

This is an award bloggers award to each other as a way of showing appreciation for the blogs they enjoy. I am humbled and honored.

(I plagiarized the rules from Vanessa as I feel there is no reason to re-invent the wheel.)

The rules for accepting this award are as follows:

1. Thank the award-givers and link back to them in your post. Easy-Done

2. Share 7 things about yourself. Ok hope I don’t scare anyone, but easy-done.

3. Pass this award along to 15 other bloggers. Fail! Only could nominate 13!

4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award. Will let them know as soon as I’ve posted this

Seven things about myself;

1. I am 45 years old and I can’t wait for retirement. When I refer to retirement it is not in the sense of me walking away from a career, gold watch in hand to sit on some god forsaken island, smoking pot until I die.  On the contrary, I cant wait to start the second half of my life.  To re-invent myself and live life twice.  I have had a stellar first half, the second half can only get better.
2. I can walk into a burning building, rescue people from a crushed or damaged vehicle, repel off a 5 story building with confidence and walk under a ladder without fear of superstitious reprisal.  But I cannot, and I mean no way, no how can I stand being in the proximity of a spider.  Those eight legged little freaks get me every time.  You want to hear a full-grown 200 pound man jump and scream like a 6th grade school girl then toss a black widow my direction.
3. My ability to tell the dimensions of something from sight are frustratingly astounding.  Spatial relations are my thing and I am borderline “rainman” about it.  Have a picture to hang, I can tell you one side is off 1/2 inch any direction just by looking at it.  Just had your new bookshelves installed, I am the guy who within 20 seconds of being in the room knows exactly where the carpenter “cheated” or “shorted” you on material.  It makes me crazy and it makes my friends crazy as well.
4. Scary movies are stupid and a waste of time.  I laugh through them which annoys everyone.  I can tell exactly what is going to happen when it is going to happen. 
5. 1950′s pin-up girls are awesome.  You can have your skinny, anorexic, vegan, boney butt tooth picks.  I like my women with natural curves, and clothing that leaves something to the imagination. 
6. When I was 10/11 while walking up my long driveway (we lived in the country) a car pulled up with a creepy guy in it who asked me if I wanted a ride.  Then told me to get in the damn car. He had one hand on the wheel and one in his trousers.  Thank god I had enough sense to run.  I still have nightmares about that guy even at 45. 
7. I am terrified I will fail as a father.  I put up a good front, but deep down inside I always feel as though failure is right around the corner.  It’s why I write this blog.  It allows me to laugh, vent, and share my experiences.  I can look back on it when I am feeling low and remind myself of all the good I have done with my children.  I know they will laugh looking back on all this as adults.

15 bloggers to pass this award along too.

Soshi-Tech- http://soshitech.com

More valuable information in one blog than should legally be allowed in the states of California and Utah.  Everyone else is OK!

A Detailed House- http://adetailedhouse.com

I love houses and the fine art of decorating them in some of the finest trim.  If you are a closet design geek such as myself who also thinks you can take on any project, than this is the blog for you. The photography is very well done also.

Raising a Realist- http://raisingarealist.com

Scott is a mild-mannered high school English teacher. This blog is his attempt to capture all of his daughters moments.  As a parent of four, I can relate with his tag line. “126 kids but only one will wipe my but when I am old”

Mayahood- http://mayahoodblog.com

Adventure seeker, world traveler turned mother.  She has a mixture of her views on motherhood along with guest posts.  It is an entertaining blog.

Bucket List Publications- http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com

This one is near and dear to me as it is a blog that completely follows the premiss of getting out there and doing all those things you keep putting off.  They even pick some of your bucket list suggestions and through donations make it happen for you.  It’s quite the premise and I enjoy reading it immensely

A Confederacy of Spinsters- http://confederacyofspinsters.com

This is one of my favorites!  Three women from Texas, each one taking a turn writing about life trials and tribulations all under pseudo names.  Grace, Mae and Kate.  Its is always witty, relevant and fun!  I look forward to new postings they way one waits at the window for a long-awaited package from UPS. 

Musings of a stay at home Jewish Father- http://stayathometatte.wordpress.com

Another blog dedicated to a male role model at home raising his child.  Its funny and real with great pictures as he chronicles the day-to-day life of a stay at home dad.

In My Opinion- http://diane-ownes.com

Diane is on a quest to ask a different, relevant question everyday for a year. Interesting concept and I find the answers entertaining.

Debut Dad- http://debutdad.wordpress.com

Brenden is a first time dad who lives in Australia.  He blogs about juggling the changes in his life with the birth of their first-born child. Good luck Brenden and keep em coming. 

Vanessa Chapman- http://vanessa-chapman.com

Vanessa nominated my blog,  and although she is already nominated I enjoy her blog and look forward to every new edition she puts forth.  From superstition to the purchase of a new pair of boots.  She is funny and I find her blog to be a good way to blow a little time at work! Ha!

365 trinkets- http://365trinkets.wordpress.com

This blog is a reminder of how much crap we accumulate as adults.  His mission? To get rid of 365 trinkets he has stored as treasured keepsakes over a 25 year period.  The blog revolves around taking pictures of each one (for memories sake) then getting rid of said item. 

maggiemaeijustsaythis- http://maggiemaeijustsaythis.wordpress.com

A blog dedicated to writing poetry and personal trials and tribulations.  I enjoy the freedom with which she expresses herself.

Take a shower- http://takeashower.wordpress.com

A blog about Eloise and the raising of her five children.  She writes about the past and present, reflecting on the moments in time with the raising of her five children.

I am sorry to say I only have 13 to nominate for this award.  I fail!  But the thirteen I have chosen I follow with great intent.  I enjoy many other blogs but they are new to my collection and I havent gotten the chance to know them well enough yet for a nomination. 

Vanessa you were right, I also anguished over my choices.

We recently got a tough assignment by the Planet’s Auto Association, a global firm which protects car makers’ interests worldwide. Brandpowder’s task was to rehabilitate big, expensive cars in the eyes of people, shifting their perception from disgust to tolerance. Not an easy goal, considering people’s green awareness to global warming and the fact we are going through one of the worst oil crisis ever.                                             Can a car smile? P.A.A’s friendly logo.

There was only one person who could get his hands dirty on the job and still come out unscathed, so we called Chris Law. Beside being one of our best freelance contributors, Chris is also a car nuts. He immediately accepted the challenge and, a week later,  came back to our office with the Answer.

” Gotcha!” he said with a big smile. He paused for a second, just to keep us guessing for a while. Then he asked: ” You guys know where petrol is coming from? “.  None of us had a clue, of course. So he continued: ” Petrol is formed by deposits of organic materials, such as dead algae and plancton which, million years ago, were trapped under a thick layer of sand and silt. Then, enormous pressure and temperatures slowly turned this pulp into a reserve of oil and gas.”

Chris showed us a black and white geologic rendering of Earth’s multiple layers. “Cars are vegeterian!” he announced, banging his hand on the table. His point slowly started to drill a well into our brain, and we soon realized we had hit something big. Cars as herbivores eating seaweed salads! That was not only a picture capturing our imagination, but also a revolutionary idea.

Should I feed my Jag with Scottish heath?    (Chris studying the future of energy)

We decided to develop a whole strategy around this concept: Vegetarian Cars, after all, sound armless and even friendly, and the statement is irrefutable. We later came up with a strong visual for the campaign which, after client’s permission, we are now glad to publish on our blog as a world premiere. Have a good read!

Banality pays: A ‘green’ car should always be green. (double spread ad)

No cars were harmed during the making of this shooting.

This poster outraged eco activists. Sports cars’ owners were enthusiastic, though.

The Countach’s set the template for the modern supercar. It’s mid-engined, with plenty of scoops and ducts to channel air to a massive V12. The profile is low, wide, and sleek, making the Countach look like a very angry doorstop. Then there are the vertically-opening “scissor doors” and the signature wheels, which were passed on to the Diablo and Murcielago.

Outrageous styling is a given for any modern car that dares to call itself “super,” but the Countach did it first. It really is a child of the excessive ‘70s. Unfortunately, that applies in more ways than one.

Since Nixon resigned, engineers have made massive strides in improving the handling of cars. The Countach may look like a drivable dream, but it is more like a nightmare. The cabin is cramped and all of the controls, especially the clutch, require extreme effort. Countaches are so difficult to park that Lamborghini factory workers used to get out, and sit on the door sill, to park them. Sound crazy? Check out this demonstration.

Every supercar owes its existence to the Countach, but thankfully things have improved with time. Just look at Lamborghini’s own Aventador, which has the same head-turning looks but is much easier to drive. It can also top 200 mph, something the Countach could never do. The Platonic supercar is still great to look at, but that’s about it.

For example you are a remarkable auto technician but don’t have a shattered auto to patch however you need to get started on the business of fixing these sorts of automobiles. And so, where do you check out uncover them? The greatest location is at an on-line auction. Right here you will have 100′s of sports cars and trucks to pick out from. Quite a few possess a salvage title, quite a few are simply damaged and have to be regained. Should you have the know-how and the abilities to patch these vehicles then a salvage car public sale, either locally or on-line is the place to store. Make sure you understand just what you are purchasing though. Various vehicles are certainly not more than worth it, those which have flood damages are a great instance. But, if you ever understand what you’re doing then you can analyze the circumstance and decide if it’s worth every penny to repair.

If you ever didn’t understand or know it already, these types of autos and vans are alluring sellers. Many people recognize the advantages of purchasing a smashed up or abandoned cars to patch. Lots of individuals purchase them, deal with them up as well as re-sell them. Or, they utilize the functional parts to patch a different automobile. Just because a vehicle is viewed as ‘salvaged’ will not indicate it’s ineffective. Building up a salvage car is an extraordinary activity to carry out. You are going to not merely be helping the atmosphere by reusing products however you will also be conserving hard earned cash over the charge of buying a new one. In the event you reconstruct the vehicle to particular specifications at that point you can easily anticipate the automobile to complete the examination to succeed road lawful once more.

Mandy Hathaway is a professional car blogger of the very informative site CarLabs who writes about the best way to do with your Abandoned Cars and Sports Cars.

The Camaro holds 37% of the sports-car market while the Corvette accounts for 28% in the luxury-sports-car segment… more than doubling its closest competitor, the Porsche 911!

“With the addition of the Camaro ZL1, there are only a handful of brands in the world with two cars that can match the performance, technology, and excitement of Corvette and Camaro,” said General Motors North America President Mark Reuss. “Unlike many competitors’ performance cars, the Corvette ZR1 and Camaro ZL1 are appropriate for both daily drivers and track use from the factory – with standard coolers for brakes and drivetrain.”

“And we challenge any company to bring two cars to compete with the Corvette ZR1 and Camaro ZL1, dollar for dollar,” Reuss said. “They will discover what enthusiasts already know – that Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette are the world’s best performance cars for the money.”

If you’d like to find out why the Chevy Camaro and Corvette are America’s favorite performance brand, stop by the dealership… we’re here to help.

Bob Bell Chevrolet of Bel Air
1230 Belair Road
Bel Air, MD 21014
(888) 844-0314

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Click below for my review…

For more information, click here.

Photo Courtesy of Toyota Motor Company

Vinnie Richichi has been driving vehicles of all kinds and covering the automotive scene for over 20 years. His Drivetime-radio vehicle reviews have aired on radio stations across the US as well as his website www.drivetime-radio.com. You can hear Vinnie weekdays on The Vinnie and Cook Show on Sportsradio 93-7 The Fan.

1. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

Topping the list of the most expensive cars in the world is Bugatti Veyron Super Sport which costs $ 2,400,000.Only 30 cars were ever produced.It is the upgraded version of the original Veyron. It is also the world’s fastest street legal production car. This car has been developed, designed and produced jointly by The Volkswagen group and Bugatti Automobiles at their headquarters in Alsace, France. Although Bugatti is the own subsidary of Volkswagen, it is branded separately and is sold only in specialized Buagtti showrooms. This car has a top speed of 268 mph = 431 kmph.

2. Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster

The newest and the most expensive Pagani is the Cinque Roadster. It stands for style and is very exotic. The car is priced at $1,850,000 and stands at the second place among the world’s costliest cars. It has a top speed of 217mph.

3.Lamborghini Reventon

Then comes the Lamborghini Reventon which is priced at $1,600,000. It is the most expensive, fastest and the best Lamborghini ever built. Leave alone owning this car, don’t even dream of seeing it in your life because of its rarity. Only 20 units of this were built, so your probability of spotting it is one in billions. It has a top speed of 211 mph.

4.Enzo Ferrari

Next comes the Limited edition Enzo Ferrari also known as the Ferrari Enzo. Although the selling price $670,000, this car isn’t available for sale as only 400 units were produced. It is available at some auctions for prices over $1,000,000. There is no doubt that this is the most popular supercar ever built. The name comes after the Company’s founder Enzo Ferrari. It has a top speed of 301 kmph.

5. McLaren F1

Who would believe that this car was introduced way back in 1994, 15 years ago. It costs $970,000 and it was the costliest, fastest and the best looking car during the 90′s and even now manages to stay in the list outperforming most of the supercars built today. Take a bow Mclaren for making this amazing car with an unbelievable top speed of 240 mph in 1994.

Related Posts:

1.Top 10 Fastest cars in the world in 2012

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My oldest is almost sixteen, although that may be of concern to some parents for me it brings a sense of excitement and joy. The other day we ventured into the DMV so he could take a shot at passing his driver’s license written exam. I am proud to say he is now behind the wheel of any car we allow him drive. My son handles the pressure of driving a vehicle with incredible confidence. He remains calm and relaxed, very aware of his surroundings and for a new driver relatively smooth on the accelerator. The complete opposite of myself at his age. I was nervous. Terrified really, it scared the hell out of me driving down the roadway. I must have looked like a triathelete crossing the finish line when I finally drove on the freeway! Sweat pouring down my face, shirt soaked in perspiration! 55 mph seemed as though we were traveling at light speed! All those vehicles around me while moving fast, I swear looking out the windshield was like peering out the front of the Millenium Falcon at warp factor one! While we are on the subject of reported space junk, I was always relegated to driving my mothers 1972 Pontiac station wagon. Yuck! Major cool points lost! I prayed everyday that none of my friends saw me in that chocolate-brown hunk of poo with wood siding!

Yet my son doesn’t seem to care. Mini-van or truck, scooter or explorer it means nothing to him. As long as it has a steering wheel and motor he’s willing to drive. I don’t know if that means I had higher standards as a kid or he just enjoys the thought of driving so much he doesnt care. I really wanted to drive too! I started daydreaming about it when I was thirteen. I would spend endless hours on a Saturday just sitting behind the wheel of my dads 1963 GMC truck pretending to drive. I would close my eyes and see myself steering through town, waving at my friends, all while applying the clutch and shifting gears. My dream car was a 1966 Chevy Chevelle. Second runner-up was a 1968 Chevy half ton stepside truck. I dreamt about them, prayed I would own one. I knew exactly what they would look like, from color paint, rims, interior and stereo systems to where I would park them in the high school parking lot. I had it all figured out.

So what went wrong? Why doesn’t my son seem to care the way I did? Why doesn’t he have the same love for cars ? Why are his expectations so low? He has no answer to any of my questions when I ask him.

In my day your car was a rite of passage, a step into manhood, it defined who you were as a young male. Today no one seems to care. His friends don’t care! When I pick him up at the high school there isn’t one nice custom car/truck in the parking lot. Even the little Honda’s are bone stock! What the hell!

Anyway I wrote this a while back in regards to a piece about your first vehicle. I entered it and it was chosen as one of the final stories. The whole reason I looked it up and am posting it to my blog is simple. I am left pondering. Will my children have the same memories of their first vehicles as I did? Or have those days gone the way of cruising and eight tracks? Gone forever, replaced by video games and techno geeks?

Anyways here it is….

My Freedom

The day I brought it home I had no way of knowing the effect it would have on my life so many years later. This machine of dreams made of steel, fabric, glass and wood. It was green and had the smell of old vinyl which hit you hard as you opened the door. The body lines curved, rolled and seemed to run on with no end. The glass was large and bulbous, when you sat inside you felt as though you were a fish looking out at the world from a mobile aquarium. There wasn’t much chrome on this metal masterpiece and that was the way I liked it. Anyone could have a flashy ride with a little money and some elbow grease, but it took someone with confidence and grit to pull off the industrialized look that it held when your eyes fell upon its shadowy form.

My 1964 Chevrolet stepside had a three on the tree with a 289 V8 that rumbled at idle. The gas tank was right behind the seat, which left a hint of petrol wafting through the cab on a warm summers day. Right next to the fuel cell I had carefully mounted a motorized windshield wiper container, which I had filled with whiskey. There was small tubing running under the rubber flooring towards my glove box. When you opened the glove box there were three cup rings where whiskey was dispensed through a small metal wiper fluid nozzle into your waiting glass. The entire thing was wired to a marine switch which ironically in today’s age of not drinking and driving was located next to the ignition.

I loved this truck! I hardly slept at night waiting for the morning, just so I could drive it somewhere, anywhere! I made up excuses to run errands for friends or family just so I could be behind the wheel. It rode rough, had a steering wheel the size of a manhole cover, no air conditioning, and drum brakes that didn’t stop worth a darn. It was primitive, but I loved it! Whenever I see one drive by I am flooded with memories of first dates, parties with my friends, drag racing at the end of the boulevard (yes we still cruised back then) and loading up with my closest buddies then traveling where ever and whenever we felt like it.

You see this was my first truck, my first car, rolled into one. It was the epitome of teenage masculinity, my identity, my solace. It opened the door to freedom from my shuttered world and behind its closed doors it held all the secrets of our journeys together.

Maybe he shouldnt have memories of a first vehicle after all. Sounds like trouble waiting to happen. A Honda civic will do nicely thank you….

I am not much of a car enthusiast. I ride a Ducati Monster 696+, and have not bothered to purchase a car for the three months of winter when I cannot ride. While the TTC subway is horrendous, I imagine that car payments would prove to be far, far worse. Regardless, I was called upon by the senior editor of a Toronto magazine to attend the 2012 Toronto Auto Show to shoot the Jaguar XKR-S. With my head cold, and returning from a visit to Hamilton where V. took care of my poor soul, I hit the city and paid my $20 to enter what has to be the biggest product show I have ever witnessed. Fast cars, faster girls. and lots of dads dragging their children through the arena to oogle both.

Can I stress the impossibility of shooting a luxury car for a luxury magazine at a car show? Where might I begin? The fingerprints? The cheap halogen lights? The people rubbing their bodies all over the vehicles? Nope, it would be the guys with their cellphones trying to take professional images while pushing me over that killed. Thirty minutes and I had the spins from crouching too long, but I did convince one of the head car girls to let me shoot a few interior photographs before I left. Overall…I was not happy with my actual photography [how could I be under those impossible conditions], but I managed to create great quality composites from 5-7 exposures in Photoshop. I have posted two full body shots with one half retouched and the other as the scene actually was. All I can say is that my hours retouching film negatives make pretty much anything possible. I would post the full composites, but the editor might still want to pick them up for an upcoming article on this beautiful $150,000, 550 HP car.

For the rest of the week, not being able to get off the couch, due to this head cold, left me with only a few options: eat, sleep, read or watch films. I have a thing about television – I do not watch it. Television rots our minds with useless bubblegum ideas and laugh tracks. Given that eating is not easy, that I have slept for the good part of three days, and that my chosen novel [Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe] is depressing the hell out of me, I decided to try out the Metropolitan Opera’s online offer to try out their monthly subscription for 7 days free.

While you need a credit card, and you will be charged $14.99 if you forget to cancel before the seven days are up, the opportunity to watch endless opera for seven days seemed like a dream come true…to a degree. I love learning. Learning and experiencing the great things our world has to offer is what I value more than money or fame. While V. and I were lucky enough to enjoy the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Tosca a few weeks ago, the opera is an expensive endeavour. Tickets tend to run between $100-$600 for in demand performances, and you need to wait years for specific performances to arrive.

Personally, I adore the idea of Wagner’s Ring Cycle; four days of opera performances about the Norse gods. Unfortunately, I have tried to listen to the Met’s performance on cd, and I just could not follow for long enough to gain any understanding from it. The visual component is intrinsic to understanding the performance. Alas, I cannot afford the $2000 for this year’s cycle performance in New York, but with the online player I was able to finally sit through the entire performance of Das Rheingold from the late 1980s. Perhaps not the most active evening, but for those three hours I was glued to the screen as my Peachtree Audio nova amplifier converted the digital signal through USB to my analogue speakers via a built-in Digital Audio Converter. It was brilliant and crisp.

Earlier in the day I was enthralled with Bizet’s Carmen performed by  Elīna Garanča. I felt like my time was being well-spent, and finally recognizing where certain piece I knew came from made the universe just a smidge better. So if you end up sick on your couch, and need a break from sleeping the illness away, then I can recommend trying the opera service. While I will cancel the subscription later in the week, it is something I will definitely renew when I have time again to spend a whole month watching operas that I could never experience otherwise. Until then…Gotterdammerung might get watched Monday night, if time allows.

No matter how good it looked and how great the promotion photos were, the 190 never became more than a bleak shadow of the 300. It was what we in Norway call a “gubbracer”, an old sod’s sports car – Ted

And by the way, if there is something that really pisses me of it is professional photographers that can’t manage to get the horizon straight – Ted