Thursday, March 28, 2013

My Car Is Officially Old (And So Am I)

Cadillac unveiled the New! Improved! 2014 CTS this past Tuesday, making The Dowager Tart officially obsolescent, if not obsolete.  There's this about that...

 

Cadillac generated a lot o' press with this unveiling, with articles here, here, and here.

So, here we are... our Tart bein' less than a year old and already out o' date.  This isn't the first time this has happened; we bought our 1983 Baby Beemer which was upstaged by an all-new platform in 1984 and our 1996 Impala SS was discontinued the year we bought it.  History repeats itself... always and ever.  That said... we love our Tart and will continue to love her even as she's been pushed aside by the New! and Improved! model.  (sigh)

Tuesday was also my birthday, wherein we turned 68 years of age.  That ol' cliché that goes "if I knew I was gonna live this long I'd have taken better care o' myself" certainly applies here.  That said, we don't look all THAT bad... witness this cheesy cellphone pic from Monday evening:



We... Diego (who took this pic), Felicity, great-granddaughter Mya, great-grandson DJ (not pictured), Buck, grandson Sean, and me... celebrated my birthday with drinks and dinner at El Pinto in ABQ, an establishment I've gone on about in the past.  El Pinto could very aptly be described as "the Restaurant At the End o' the Universe" when it comes to quality... there are none better as far as Mexican restaurants go and precious few restaurants, in general, that exceed El Pinto's quality.  They make damned fine salsa, too.

We split our actual birth date between family and friends, more specifically the SN1 family in the morning and Blog-Bud Lin and her friend (and house renovation contractor) Kyle in the afternoon.  I arrived at Lin's place early Tuesday afternoon at which time we proceeded to drink copious quantities o' beer and smoke cigars, plural.  I let it slip that Tuesday... this day... was my birthday and Kyle immediately responded with "Well, if today's yer birthday, then you need a present.  Wait here, I'll be right back."  Kyle went out to his car and returned with this:



That, Gentle Reader, is a Ruger 22/45 target pistol.  My mouth fell open and I sputtered protestations that I couldn't accept the gift but Kyle wouldn't be denied.  So, there you... and me... have it.  Is that cool, or what?

Our evening ended with a scrumptious dinner of Salmon Almondine accompanied with prodigious quantities of fresh asparagus.  We would have topped off the evening with tumblers o' Johnnie Walker Green but, alas.  I hit the wall and fell into bed at 2230 hrs.  We'll save the scotch for another time.

So.  We're home and it was a wonderful week away, spent with family and friends.  It was almost TOO much fun, Gentle Reader.  Almost.

13 comments:

  1. It looks like there is no need to wish you a happy birthday - you had one! Cool gun. I don't know much about guns, but Toby has been wanting to buy me one since last year when we took our CC class. He bought Jesse a small pistol, but the gun shops have been low on guns and ammo with waiting lists for both. Finally on Tuesday, they called with the gun that Toby had been wanting. So I got a new gun too. Ammo is another matter. We did get a box of hollow-points, but could not buy any cheap ammo for practice. Still, we shot a few rounds. I like the new gun.

    Happy birthday!

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    1. My birthday was happy, indeed, Lou. I haven't shot my new gun yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna like it. The thing fits my hand very well. I'm glad you got to pop off a few rounds with yours.

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  2. Happy Birthday, Buck!
    Sounds like you can haz fun. Please to have more happiness for you, ok?

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  3. First off, Happy Birthday my brother-in-arms (and brother-in-blogging as well)!

    Looks like you had yourself a fine old time. Good on ya! You deserved it! Good to see AFMaj Buck at home. Is that for a while or does he have to go back to the badlands any time soon?

    And Buck, you look good in the picture, you look damn good!

    Glad to see you back at the blog too. I was starting to get the shakes not having my daily fix of EIP!

    And that's a damn fine birthday present!

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    1. Buck goes back to the desert on April 4th, but only for two and a half months. He took his mid-tour leave late so it wouldn't be a pull to finish his sentence... and then he's off to Langley. Thanks for the other kind words, Chris... they're much appreciated.

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  4. Looks like you and I will share the same age for only around 41 days, Buck, as I turn 69 May 6th, lol.

    PS: TOO much fun? Au Contraire, my friend. You know what Mae West once famously said: "Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL!" LOL!

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    1. Virgil, YOU are an ol' fart! ;-)

      Ms. West and I agree on a lot o' thangs, too.

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    2. PPS: Of course I note the added "almost." Double LOL!

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  5. Here I am catching up on my blog-reading, only to find I missed your birthday! Mea culpa!

    Happy belated birthday, Buck! And may you have many more that are at least as much fun.

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    1. Thanks, Christina. I haven't posted about my birthday for a few years now, but it (birthday) was germane to the story about my present.

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