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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Bruce Hauben, Bruce993@PorscheNet.com
NOR'EASTER Online - August 2002
Northeast Region Logo
  • By now you're all tired of reading and hearing about my fuel cell difficulties...and I have nothing more to say on the matter. However...just kidding. Seriously, I spent some quality time with David Husak at the just past NHIS event as I checked him out to move from the White to Black run group. Watch out Greg...heee's baackkk! And, as Joyce and I are track carless, David was gracious enough to offer me a drive in his very nicely modified RS America. He got to be a passenger and seemed to be enjoying the ride. In all due disclosure, I was not offered the drive until after I'd moved David to Black.

    •    
    Anyway, I feel fully exonerated now as David's new fuel cell, also manufactured by Fuel Safe, is leaking from precisely the same area as my three did before I got a good one. There's got to be a story here and one wonders what those Fuel Safe guys are doing on their lunch hour.
      
    I was reading a review of the new Honda SUV Pilot - sounds like a very good, lesser-priced alternative to the Acura MDX. But I'm not here to shill for Honda nor do I actively own any of their stock. However, they've come up with one of those niceties that you have to say, "why don't they all have that" and "why didn't someone come up with that 20 years ago"? When a door is opened, one of the windows automatically goes down a little bit. Not enough to get you soaked in a thunderstorm, but enough that when you close that door it is not necessary to SLAM it. The air in the passenger compartment is able to escape through that open window. Ingenious? No! Just basic street smarts. (ed note: Audi’s also have this feature!)
       
    Seeing the monthly membership reports, I know that more and more of you are renewing your membership for 2 or 3 years, rather than one. What I don't understand is why more of you are not renewing for 3 years. Yes, I know that it is only a $6 savings over 3 years, or 5%. And I guess that if you ran a present value on that $6 it would be around 1.5% per annum, not much. But that's not the real reason for renewing for 3 years even though it's still more than most money markets these days. By renewing for 3 years you don't have to write a check every year, or if you use your credit card you still have the hassle of filling out the form and mailing it back. And if postage is now $.37 in 2 more years it will be $.45 so you're really saving close to $7. If you're anything like Joyce and me, you want to do everything possible to simplify your life, not add to its complexity and annoyance factors. Hell, I've even threatened to get rid of our street Porsches in an attempt to contract and simplify my life...not really. Only when 2 of our vehicles are in the shop, the other 2 are waiting to go in, the trailer needs new brakes and tires and I'm trying to find time to paint the house. It's true, the more toys you have the more aggravation they are.
       
    Well, I'm hoping I can put that all behind me for 8 days while we're out sailing next week. You'd be amazed at how your day changes without email, and the computer, and a telephone. Oh Oh, I forgot that we still get cell reception off the New England coast. If I remember to turn it off, leave a message and I'll call you back. See you at the marina or the track.

    Oxymoron
    "Oxymoron" is one of those words that I know when I have one but am not sure how to define it. After reading Oxford I'm now totally confused.

    Ox-y-mo-ron - A rhetorical figure in which an epigrammatic effect is created by the                        conjunction of incongruous or contradictory terms.

    Here are some examples:

    • Peace force
    • Plastic glasses
    • Work party
    • Government organization
    • Authentic replica
    • Benign tumor
    • Congressional action
    • Microsoft Works
    • Jumbo shrimp
    • Friendly fire
    • Global village
    • Kosher ham
    • Postal service
    • Working vacation
    • Amtrak schedule
    • Government initiative 
    • And on, and on, and on!
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