Happy Thanksgiving

I remember years ago someone told me that Thursdays are the best days to post blogs. So since then I've mostly posted my blog on Thursdays.

However this year is unique. Not only does Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) fall on Thursday as usual, but so does Christmas and New Years (Christmas and New Years always fall on the same day of the week). So the question is, do I post blogs on all those Thursdays?

Well, maybe on New Years Day.

In any case, if you live in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving!

I Like Cars with Actual Names

1959 Cadillac Coupe deVille

The other day I was at a stoplight behind an Acura ADX A-Spec. That's a mouthful. Not sure what that "A-Spec" means. It doesn't seem to mean more horsepower or anything sporty according the the Acura website. (There is a Type S ADX that has more horsepower.)

But I was struck by the designation of the car: "ADX." When I was a kid most cars had names. Yes some still do, but a lot of car companies have just gone to alphanumerics. Acura is one of the worst offenders, as are Cadillac (except for the Escalade and their electric vehicles) and Infiniti. The Ford F-150 (pickup truck) has been called that since 1984, but Ford and Lincoln still name their other vehicles such as the Mustang, the Explorer, and the Navigator.

BMW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz have, as far as I know, always used alphanumerics. They used to mean something. For example a BMW 540i was a 5-series with a 4.0 liter V-8 engine. The "i" meant that is was a fuel-injected gas vehicle.

Car names used to evoke emotions such as Camaro (a made-up word) or Bonneville. Ford sullied the Mustang name by attaching it to an SUV EV. I've read that Chevrolet is planning a Corvette line of vehicles, including an SUV. I hope not.

It got me thinking: which letters are cool on cars and which are not? There's only 26 letters in the alphabet and some haven't been used, as far as I know. Such as K or U. Even B found a home in the Toyota bz4x EV.

"GT" has been used a lot on cars, especially the Mustang. "GT" stands for "grand tourer" or "gran tourer" (or in Italian, "Gran Turismo"), Ferrari also used "GT" on some of its cars such as the  250 GT California Spyder. (I talk about what "Spyder" means here.)

I miss cars having names. the Cadillac CT5 isn't as evocative as "Coupe deVille." 

What do you think? Do you prefer cars to have names or just alphanumerics. And which letters aren't cool on cars? Let me know in the comments below.

Technology has Changed so Much

Atari 2600

My 6-year-old grandson came to visit on a recent weekend. One of the things he wanted to do was play video games on his uncle’s Switch (it might be a Switch 2; I can't keep up). He's coming for Thanksgiving, too, and I'm sure will want to play video games with his uncle then, too.

I realized he’s never lived in a world without video games or the internet or small portable screens, and big-screen televisions a couple of inches thick, if that. His father and uncles had video games but not handheld ones until the Gameboy came out.

I remember seeing my first arcade game at about age 15. It was a space thing that was a blatant rip off of Star Trek.  I specifically remember playing "Tank" on an arcade for a quarter.  I didn’t have home video games until I bought an Atari 2600 when I was 21 or 22. I remember circa 1994 (I was 33) learning about email and then the internet. Now look at me, blogging and stuff.

I stopped playing video games about the time I turned 50. I kept dying because I couldn't react fast enough. It was no longer fun. Although I did play "Angry Birds" on my phone. Even that was a long time ago.

My point: my grandson will grow up with stuff I never had. His parents are smart and limit his game time and his "tablet time." And I noticed he plays mostly educational games on his tablet. I just hope he gets to enjoy some of the joys of my childhood: playing outside and riding my bicycle all over the neighborhood.

When did you first play video games? How old were you? Let me know in the comments below.

NaNoWriMo is No More

It's November and for a lot of writers that means it's time for NaNoWriMo. Or, National Novel Writing Month.

Alas, NaNoWriMo is no more. 

The object of NaNoWriMo was to write 50,000 words in November. It was to get people who are stuck or think too much or have writers block to just write. I think it was Hemingway who said "Write drunk, edit sober." So NaNoWriMo was to get writers and want-to-be writers to actually write.

There was a national non-profit organization that ran it all and had a website where you could track your progress and "win" by actually writing at least 50,000 words. I did NaNoWriMo four times and won three (the other time I was stymied by the need for research). I haven't done NaNoWriMo since 2015.

The organization went out of business recently due to financial reason. There was some controversy surrounding AI, too, that eroded trust in the organization.

Of course, if you're a writer, you can do your own NaNoWriMo, just keep track of the words yourself. I did this on an Excel spreadsheet in addition to the website. Not every writer is skilled with Excel, however.

The spirit of NaNoWriMo can live on: just keep writing. Overcome writer's block, perfectionism, and procrastination by setting a writing goal and get the first draft of a novel written. 

There was a down side to NaNoWriMo. I discuss here. 

I'm sort of sad NaNoWriMo is no more. It was great camaraderie as writers would get together to write doing challenges and "sprints" (write as many words as you can in a set time). 

How do you feel about NaNoWriMo going away? Let me know in the comments below.

P.S.: I came so close to titling this "NaNoWriMo is No Moreo."