Sure, I mean Johnny Cash, but I digress. I rarely post anything on this blog that I consider to be political and try to focus on things I am doing with my life. But I have become aware of things that hope others are paying attention to in their lives and holding onto their precious resources in this time of trial and toil. We had started pull back some time ago on credit, loans and excess (Sushi mainly). After looking across all of the credit accounts that I have left open (it is not always in your best interest to close an account and better to keep zero balances) and started to notice many “changes in terms of service” for these accounts in the mail. Then I decided to go back do some analysis on APR creep. You would think in this moment when the interest rate is at or near zero, how the hell can banks and credit card companies jack the rates into the stratosphere?

Here are the changes…

• WAMU (Is that !$%*# CEO Kerry in Jail yet?) now CHASE – Has moved their APR calculations to some new, obscure APR aggregation timing mechanism which kicks in every time Simon trashes a song… is now @ 23.95% on new purchases.
• AMEX BLUE – 21%

Then you get pissed. You call them up, cancel and ask the person on the phone who “fakes that they care about you as a customer”, that the company that they work for is behaving unethically and criminally (TARP you took, I say --yoda) and they are now contributing to that deceit.

So I needed something a little more grounded after all of this, hence I am listening to Johnny Cash tell it straight and true.

Is it good? Is is great? Yes, this movie was very tight, great photography and excellent direction. It never deviated from the story in anyway and made a brutal sport/show very sympathetic. He should get the Oscar.

Normandy Park is a sleepy little south Seattle suburban area with it’s own police force and a small neighborhood feel. What it lacks is anything resembling a commons area for meeting up, doing business, a solid pub and non-fast-food restaurants. Initially when the Normandy Park Towne Center was proposed, I had high hopes and then they diminished when I saw that the design was more strip mall than a true center and the place is designed to be car centric and the huge parking lot that creates a wasteland in the middle of things. But that is just me wishing more folks would read Suburban Nation and take to applying it.

We have a solid community restaurant that is not named Starbucks. Cafe Mia just opened and it is configured with an open area and a walkup counter that at first impression I thought it was a little cold, but as the neighborhood comes in, it warms right up. I like the idea they have for the wine sales, it is all done retail and they charge corkage. So getting a great bottle is as easy as going to your favorite shop and not taking the typical 70% restaurant markup. The food is very well done and simple. Very good cheeses and excellent pizza. We have fallen in love with their gelato and especially the tiramisu flavor.

Another review here…

Cafe Mia
19803 1st Ave. South, Suite 104
Normandy Park; 206-429-3145

View Map…

I managed to get the Motor mount all cleaned up, added some new metal and welded it in. I am close to finishing up the suspension section  of the project and I did the suspension tie (a thicker piece of metal that connects the outer to the inner consoles). I then moved onto the first half of the inner firewall and added the new metal to the center tunnel to attach the new floor pan when I get to that. Progress is good, but the metal work is taking more time than I wanted and so I am running behind. The good news is that all the pieces are coming together and within tolerances, so I am super happy with the strength of everything and my overly aggressive welding techniques.