la bahia has closed

the awesome mexican seafood place around the corner from me, which opened earlier this year, has shut its doors as of dec 28. damn, we were planning on doing our new year's eve dinner there.

i am greatly saddened.

i like the new TT

and i really like the new TT. i didn't drive it, but did sit in it and loved both the interior and the fantastic views in the (no longer?) blind spots.

at $52k sticker for the one pictured, that puts it in Cayman territory, and i note that they share the same goofy hatch structure. BUT the TT does have quattro drive, apparently, which makes it more interesting to me.

i confess i like the look of the older TT's better, but i further confess i'd rather have a new one.

R8

i sat is this beauty today...

fit is pants

gf and i went to test drive cars today, for her. the destination was Fletcher-Jones in chicago, who sells VW, Audi and Honda in the same building (and Mercedes across the street).

we were treated to a Honda salesman trashing VW's, and a VW salesman trashing Hondas. pretty big turnoff, i must say. and i've had my own run-ins with their service dept, so i couldn't recommend anyone getting their car serviced there, either.

even more ridiculous, they refused to let us test drive a Jetta TDi, because, according to them, they only had 1, TDi's are in high demand, and they "didn't want to put any mileage on it." eh? if they're in such high demand, i don't see why they'd have any trouble selling one with 17 miles on it as opposed to 14. hrumph.

so we were happy to take out two of their cars anyway, a Rabbit and a Fit. note that in both test drives i was merely a rear seat occupant, but we arrived at the same conclusion:

Rabbit = great fun
Fit = pants

in the Fit, i was hyper-aware i was in an econo-box. i was very aware of the fact that we were all in same space, separated only by a seatback. in the Rabbit, i really did feel some ownership of the backspace area.

and the roadfeel couldn't be much more different. my VW @ 10 years takes bumps better than a new Fit.

downside of the Rabbit, as gf tells me, are:
1. mileage
2. non-availability of a manual on the 4-door

and i'll add:
3. no engine choices

So the Rabbit emerges as the only viable option today. The Fit is right out.

next up: Mini Cooper (S? not sure)

sidelines

i must be bored of "normal" football because i keep wanting to see all these crazy rules changes. here's the latest:

stop putting the ball between the hashmarks. i say, when a play is over, the ball stays put. unless you go out of bounds, in which case it goes on the nearest hashmark.

this way, if the ball carrier is tackled near the sideline, the teams would line up lopsided and we'd see all kinds of plays that either take advantage of the huge expanse on side one (return of the option?), or tricky, precision plays that go down the sideline.

it would also be interesting to watch a team trying to run out the clock, having to be wary of straying too close to the sideline.

so i want to see that, and of course giant footballs.

bush v shoe

Q: Why did the Iraqi reporter throw his shoes at Bush?

A: Because Fox News didn't cover it when he sat with the bottom of his shoes facing Bush.

"half the distance"

i am in favor of the NFL losing the "half the distance to the goal line" rule. i say: march off the penalty. if it winds up in the endzone, award a safety to the other team.