My neighbor claims that autonomous cars that you summon as needed will never catch on because then we'd have nothing in our garage to impress our neighbors with.
To many people, that statement is true. I drive a Mercedes-Benz, not to impress my neighbors (they drive Camry's and Accords and don't travel much and could care less what other people drive), but rather to enjoy the handling, technology, safety, quality of build, and the tremendous satisfaction I derive from driving a well engineered vehicle that fits with 95% of my personal needs and physical needs.
I've driven just about everything, but I keep buying Mercedes-Benz automobiles because I have found them to be trouble free, dependable modes of transportation that fit my physical being comfortably.
I think most people buy to suit their own needs and desires but the positive attention of others is a definite bonus. I also enjoy the attention of people who look at some of my vehicles and say "you drive THAT"?
Assume you don't mean the Mustang.. I guess the Ram gets some shock and awe affect!
To many people, that statement is true. I drive a Mercedes-Benz, not to impress my neighbors (they drive Camry's and Accords and don't travel much and could care less what other people drive), but rather to enjoy the handling, technology, safety, quality of build, and the tremendous satisfaction I derive from driving a well engineered vehicle that fits with 95% of my personal needs and physical needs.
I've driven just about everything, but I keep buying Mercedes-Benz automobiles because I have found them to be trouble free, dependable modes of transportation that fit my physical being comfortably
.
I agree Mike. When we bought the GLK MB had two models, the stripper or the everything included model. I don;t know who buys the stripper, probably it is used just to get people in the door. Then, when they see the everything model they want that one...even if it has things they don't want on it. But, who cares, buy the fully loaded model, you get half your money back for those options so they aren't as expensive as they seem.
If you can't get your mind around spending $45k for a car that is as good as a car can be then you don't need that car, buy something for less and drive from point A to point B and be glad you saved yourself $10000!
You really don't get back 50% of what you pay for the extras. My E400 was loaded with every option - $72,000 MSRP. My brother had an E400 he traded for his S Class coupe, but it did not have what I had regarding options. Both cars had a trade value that was identical per Manheim and KBB and several other sources.
In fact, a similarly equipped E350 had about the same trade value even though the E400 MSRP'd for $5000 more. You see, when a buyer is looking for a late model E Class sedan, they are going to buy the E350 (302 hp) for much less than an E400 (330 hp).
At the auction, E400 and E350 models wholesale for almost the same money (give or take $500).
I kind of agree that options don't uniformly give you a lot back at trade. But certain options do. For example, on higher priced vehicles leather probably returns a good parentage. Similar to wood flooring in house I guess. A MB or BMW may have a better depreciation rate than a Ford or Chevy, but the higher price means you'll still likely loose more "dollars" out of pocket through depreciation because of the much higher starting price point. But then, if someone is focused on depreciation they probably should buy a truck or SUV these days.
As for Orlando's U of Central Florida, I recently saw it was actually rated fairly well overall. I know it has an excellent Simulation engineering and programming degree. I think the academic snobbery and Ivy League legacy stuff is more noticeable in the Northeast or the west coast Stanford and USC locales. Most other places, once you're working your success is probably more dependent on outcomes than academic credentials. But those top colleges probably get you some valuable, higher level experience initially that can accelerate your ascent during your early years, as well as faculty contacts in industry. Smarts aren't the exclusive territory of elite schools, so sometimes I wonder if the Ivy League correlation to success is more about kids that go to those colleges have been very focused on themselves and busting their rears, so that may carry over once they are working?
Possibly they are more motivated kids but I think the correlation of Ivy league schools to success is more about networking after graduation....good "contacts" either through classmates, or families. Surveys of the top CEOs across the country do not show a preponderance of ivy league graduates however. Most come out of state college school systems.
Berri, I may have confused the issue by my post. What I was trying to relate was that if you have a diploma from Harvard in medicine, as an example, your choices for residencies are greater than if you have a medical degree from Florida Atlantic University.
When my nephew graduated from Harvard Medical School, he was offered residencies all over the country. Basically he had his pick. He ended up at Brigham and Women's in Boston and did additionally residencies at Mass General.
When I graduated from NYU with a degree in Business Administration, I had no difficulty getting in the door for interviews with corporations. But friends of mine who graduated from smaller colleges with the same degrees, had much more difficulty getting their feet in the door. One of my friends went to Ryder in NJ and another went to Northeastern University in the Boston area I believe, but both friends took twice as long to land a job.
Getting an interview is the most important step to landing a job - doing well in the interview is the clincher.
The same was true in getting accepted for my Master's Program and getting the fellowship to pay for my MA.
Berri, I may have confused the issue by my post. What I was trying to relate was that if you have a diploma from Harvard in medicine, as an example, your choices for residencies are greater than if you have a medical degree from Florida Atlantic University.
When my nephew graduated from Harvard Medical School, he was offered residencies all over the country. Basically he had his pick. He ended up at Brigham and Women's in Boston and did additionally residencies at Mass General.
When I graduated from NYU with a degree in Business Administration, I had no difficulty getting in the door for interviews with corporations. But friends of mine who graduated from smaller colleges with the same degrees, had much more difficulty getting their feet in the door. One of my friends went to Ryder in NJ and another went to Northeastern University in the Boston area I believe, but both friends took twice as long to land a job.
Getting an interview is the most important step to landing a job - doing well in the interview is the clincher.
The same was true in getting accepted for my Master's Program and getting the fellowship to pay for my MA.
I agree completely Mike; whether it's justified or not.
As another example - When my daughter was finishing her first year at Penn State, she asked for my input about if she should switch to a much smaller, although still in state, school. The reason she cited was that many of her high school friends were going there.
I just asked her if she was hiring someone, who would she consider for an interview first. Someone with their degree from Penn State, or someone with a degree from the much smaller school?
Harvard, NYU - no one can argue that those schools give a great education. One of the questions some ask though is ironically related to your discussion of options and depreciation; if you have to pay the freight on that prestige university degree versus say an in state Big 10 or PAC 12 degree, what is the breakeven point?
I don't have any doubt that a medical degree from Harvard is going to open a lot of opportunities. My wife has a nephew who just completed med school from U of Wisconsin in Anesthesiology and we have another friend who's daughter just finished a medical degree in plastic surgery from Ohio State and they both had quite a variety of opportunities too. I suspect the Harvard degree might impact more though for academic staff hospital positions or at major urban medical centers. NYU, among other things, is a big "retailing" college isn't it? I only mention that because it's an unusual specialty.
I don't know about today's job market, but it used to be that some time as a junior officer in the military could enhance job opportunities whether from specialized training like aviation, or just general leadership experience.
Penn State is an excellent college and a leader in supply chain management among other things. I also personally think it was unduly screwed over because the actions of a very few in the football program. They harmed the students and new athletes that had nothing to do with it all more than anyone else in my book by that harsh treatment.
Penn State is an excellent college and a leader in supply chain management among other things. I also personally think it was unduly screwed over because the actions of a very few in the football program. They harmed the students and new athletes that had nothing to do with it all more than anyone else in my book by that harsh treatment.
I agree that many suffered because of the inaction of a few. Unfortunately the ones who get punished, usually, never had a hand in what preceded them. That's almost always the way it is.
My son also graduated from Penn State and was one of the first few classes in the IST program. He then got his Masters at Boston U. He is now working at a very large defense contractor - one of GG's customers. He had no trouble getting an interview.
berri...you make a good point, especially regarding certain areas of studies. You mentioned the Uiversity of Central Florida. Yes, they are indeed good in VR, Simulation, and Training. The gov't recruits there all the time. I recruit there. Anyone who's in the Military Flight Simulation vertical, that's the "go to" school.
We wouldn't even bother to interview a Yale or Harvard grad who studied in the same or simlar field.
Law verticals? Harvard's the place.
Engineering? MIT or even my son's Alma Mater, University of Cincinnati. Computer Science? Stanford.
Point is, none of these schools are the end all to beat all. It is dependent on the field of study.
I graduated from a small(ish) school in Computer Science, Miami, at a time when companies were begging for CS grads. When I graduated, it didn't matter where your degree was from. My class was in such demand, I had recruiters calling me, ready to fly me to their HQ for interviews. 6-8 months before I graduated. I didn't have to chase any companies. I was fortunate that they chased me.
That's not the case today. There are much better schools than Miami for Computer Science, and a lot more people in the field. But, there are NONE better for a degree in education.
My first cousin is a Secret Service Agent. She went to University of Cincinnati, too. She majored in International Studies.
Just goes to show, where you go does make a difference, depending on what you want to do.
My college councilor (whom I've remained frieds with all these years) once told me that getting a college degree isn't the end game for a college education. The real objective is showing the world you had the tenacity, the focus, the drive, to first, finance your education. And 2nd, just enough smarts to graduate.
I think most of us will admit that we spent a whole lot more time honing our "social skills" than we did on class work (OK...maybe it was just me).
A lot different today. Today's students just have to sign a piece of paper and get "loans" to pay for college. It will come back and bite them in the deriere at some point, but money is no longer a barrier. Most of this age group had to deliver pizzas, wait tables, bar tend (which is what I did, in addition to grunt work in the summer (I loaded Pepsi trucks, outside, in the summer heat, hoisting 100s of cases filled with16 oz "GLASS" bottles of Pepsi).
Venture...if you want defense work, IST degrees are in high demand. That, and specific IT skills (security, WEB programming, language arts, computer aided design, etc).
I still like the Scion iA, basically a Mazda 2 sedan with the gaping schnozz up front from Scion. I have decided that I like it - weird looking front and all.
You may be able to get one cheap soon Iluv - Scion is going under, per Motortrend.
I've learned that my dad wants my sister and I to sell his 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and give the money to his four grandsons.
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
You may be able to get one cheap soon Iluv - Scion is going under, per Motortrend.
Wow - I didn't see that one coming. The announcement comes later today, apparently. I'll stick with my Soul.
Sounds like they'll keep the iA and iM and the other cars (save the tC?) and roll them back out as Toyota brands in 2017. No idea on the xB. The FR-S may get renamed.
Ah, I nailed it--I'm good at catastrophes. I was thinking $5K no problem because they ALWAYS find some little extra thing that needs attention. And after all, you want to car to look perfect.
Sounds like they'll keep the iA and iM and the other cars (save the tC?) and roll them back out as Toyota brands in 2017. No idea on the xB. The FR-S may get renamed.
Very cool - Dodge City does have a Toyota dealer - Lewis Toyota. So I could still snag one next year if I wanted to. Dodge City has a lot of new car dealers for a town of 30,000. Reason being there's two large beef slaughterhouses in town that pay a fairly decent wage that employ a large number of people. Lewis Chevrolet, Lewis Dodge, Lewis Toyota. There is a Hyundai dealer, Kia, Mazda, Chrysler, etc. For not a large town, but, we're in SW Kansas, agriculture central. They draw people from the boonies all over SW and western Kansas to shop in Garden City, KS, and Dodge City for new cars.
Makes more sense reading your update on Scion - I just couldn't see dumping the iM and the iA - they're not selling like hotcakes but I do think they're good cars, especially the iA, which is essentially a Mazda2 sedan made in Mexico.
Whew - what you just heard was a little sigh of relief coming from SW Kansas!
Sounds like they'll keep the iA and iM and the other cars (save the tC?) and roll them back out as Toyota brands in 2017. No idea on the xB. The FR-S may get renamed.
Whew. Sigh of relief. Dodge City has a Toyota dealer - Lewis Toyota. Just in case that little guppy-mouthed rig continues ta resonate in my mind. Actually, it's not going away, the crush of mine for the iA.
It just didn't make sense for Toyota/Scion ta dump all that work in the garbage they did on the iM and the iA. I think the iA is the best subcompact bargain on the market. I almost bought a Scion xA around 2005-2006 but held back.
I just got my second stone chip in the windshield this morning, and it was on I-75 once again. I got the first one when the car was about a month old, and got it done at Safelite...$100 to get it filled. A new windshield will cost $1500 for a Mercedes with the monogram on the lower right corner, or $700 for the exact same windshield without the monogram. The new one is just a small dot with a thread, on the upper passenger side. I doubt if filling it is necessary or would do much to help. Guess I'll see what the insurance company says. I was going to wait and have it done when I am close to trading it in as I hear stones hitting it a lot on I-75. I could get a new windshield today and it could get a chip tomorrow.
The only thing I can add is my friend scraped the rear panel in his Maserati and they wanted $4000, the Accura dealer has a shop that does nice work and they charged $1200. Just a guess but I think the Accura shop covered a lot of expenses a long time ago and they have built a very good business by being very fair in their pricing.
That was higher than expected!
The only thing I can add is my friend scraped the rear panel in his Maserati and they wanted $4000, the Accura dealer has a shop that does nice work and they charged $1200. Just a guess but I think the Accura shop covered a lot of expenses a long time ago and they have built a very good business by being very fair in their pricing.
Is Accura the Canadian way of spelling Acura? Ha! Sorry! Couldn't resist!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
berri...you make a good point, especially regarding certain areas of studies. You mentioned the Uiversity of Central Florida. Yes, they are indeed good in VR, Simulation, and Training. The gov't recruits there all the time. I recruit there. Anyone who's in the Military Flight Simulation vertical, that's the "go to" school.
We wouldn't even bother to interview a Yale or Harvard grad who studied in the same or simlar field.
Law verticals? Harvard's the place.
Engineering? MIT or even my son's Alma Mater, University of Cincinnati. Computer Science? Stanford.
Point is, none of these schools are the end all to beat all. It is dependent on the field of study.
I graduated from a small(ish) school in Computer Science, Miami, at a time when companies were begging for CS grads. When I graduated, it didn't matter where your degree was from. My class was in such demand, I had recruiters calling me, ready to fly me to their HQ for interviews. 6-8 months before I graduated. I didn't have to chase any companies. I was fortunate that they chased me.
That's not the case today. There are much better schools than Miami for Computer Science, and a lot more people in the field. But, there are NONE better for a degree in education.
My first cousin is a Secret Service Agent. She went to University of Cincinnati, too. She majored in International Studies.
Just goes to show, where you go does make a difference, depending on what you want to do.
My college councilor (whom I've remained frieds with all these years) once told me that getting a college degree isn't the end game for a college education. The real objective is showing the world you had the tenacity, the focus, the drive, to first, finance your education. And 2nd, just enough smarts to graduate.
I think most of us will admit that we spent a whole lot more time honing our "social skills" than we did on class work (OK...maybe it was just me).
A lot different today. Today's students just have to sign a piece of paper and get "loans" to pay for college. It will come back and bite them in the deriere at some point, but money is no longer a barrier. Most of this age group had to deliver pizzas, wait tables, bar tend (which is what I did, in addition to grunt work in the summer (I loaded Pepsi trucks, outside, in the summer heat, hoisting 100s of cases filled with16 oz "GLASS" bottles of Pepsi).
Venture...if you want defense work, IST degrees are in high demand. That, and specific IT skills (security, WEB programming, language arts, computer aided design, etc).
I've learned that my dad wants my sister and I to sell his 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and give the money to his four grandsons.
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
Drive it down to Dallas and see what the Fast & Loud guys will give you for it.
Then wait until they take it to auction and buy it back for less than they put into it.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
I've learned that my dad wants my sister and I to sell his 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and give the money to his four grandsons.
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
Drive it down to Dallas and see what the Fast & Loud guys will give you for it.
Then wait until they take it to auction and buy it back for less than they put into it.
Not sure I'd want to drive that truck 1000+ miles from SoCal to Dallas with no A/C and no cruise.
But, jeez, could reach out to them and see what they say (!).
I think it looks pretty strong and looks like a small bug, so not really worth gluing.
I worry about mine spreading. The kits at Harbor Freight work and are cheap, but I got a "bigger" kit for not a lot more at Amazon that will do multiple chips so I can keep after mine. We get hit crossing the arroyo dips on the way to town here - the county is slow to sweep up the gravel after a rain floods them.
A matter of degrees... a couple of years ago I was hanging out at my buddy's tire shop/garage (almost as good as the barber shop for getting the latest news) with a group of customers shooting the breeze. This 20-something was lamenting the fact that he was having trouble finding a job, so one of the guys asks him what his major was. He answers, "16th Century Russian Poetry" to which the senior citizen sitting next to him says, "You thought you were gonna get a job in THAT?" I added that the guy who has that job probably isn't dead yet.
You do what you gotta do. The paper from Penn State says I have a BS in Electrical Engineering. Life is funny sometimes!
The only thing I can add is my friend scraped the rear panel in his Maserati and they wanted $4000, the Accura dealer has a shop that does nice work and they charged $1200. Just a guess but I think the Accura shop covered a lot of expenses a long time ago and they have built a very good business by being very fair in their pricing.
Is Accura the Canadian way of spelling Acura? Ha! Sorry! Couldn't resist!
Exactly,,,,,and Cadillac is Caddillac....we usually add a few extra letters.
I think it looks pretty strong and looks like a small bug, so not really worth gluing.
I worry about mine spreading. The kits at Harbor Freight work and are cheap, but I got a "bigger" kit for not a lot more at Amazon that will do multiple chips so I can keep after mine. We get hit crossing the arroyo dips on the way to town here - the county is slow to sweep up the gravel after a rain floods them.
You mean I'm not the only one who gets stone chips?
I didn't know there were DIY kits.....how do you know how strong they make it.
I wouldn't do a DIY in my case, I will make it worse than what it is now.....with my DIY ability I will smudge the whole windshield.......
I've learned that my dad wants my sister and I to sell his 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and give the money to his four grandsons.
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
Drive it down to Dallas and see what the Fast & Loud guys will give you for it.
Then wait until they take it to auction and buy it back for less than they put into it.
Not sure I'd want to drive that truck 1000+ miles from SoCal to Dallas with no A/C and no cruise.
But, jeez, could reach out to them and see what they say (!).
Turns out the Gas Monkey Garage has instructions on how to submit a vehicle for consideration. Just sent them an email, picture included.
Don't mess with dealers. Let Rick help you if he can. He knows everybody down there. I haven't seen the truck, so it's hard to say much about the value, but it'll fall in the $5K--$15K range I would imagine, unless it is something spectacular. Given that siblings are involved, it's always best to have an appraiser set a fair market value.
I've learned that my dad wants my sister and I to sell his 1970 Chevy C-10 pickup truck, and give the money to his four grandsons.
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
Drive it down to Dallas and see what the Fast & Loud guys will give you for it.
Then wait until they take it to auction and buy it back for less than they put into it.
Not sure I'd want to drive that truck 1000+ miles from SoCal to Dallas with no A/C and no cruise.
But, jeez, could reach out to them and see what they say (!).
Turns out the Gas Monkey Garage has instructions on how to submit a vehicle for consideration. Just sent them an email, picture included.
Tesla refuses this rude customer a car he ordered:
The customer is always right, goes the saying. But if you're rude, don't expect that maxim to apply universally as one man found out.
Earlier this week Stewart Alsop, a San Francisco venture capitalist, shared that his order of a Tesla Model X was cancelled after he wrote a blog post that criticized chief executive Elon Musk for starting a company event late.
Alsop titled his late September post, "Dear @ElonMusk: You should be ashamed of yourself."
"For you to stand up at 8:52 p.m. and not even acknowledge that you have wasted your own customers' time was insensitive and poor judgment," Alsop wrote.
Alsop said that he'd placed a $5,000 preorder for the Model X and expected to test drive it at the launch event on Sept. 29 in Fremont, California.
But then the event started later than expected. The invitation noted that doors would open at 7 p.m., and encouraged guests to arrive by 7:30 p.m. A clear start time wasn't specified, but according to Alsop, Musk conceded in a phone conversation that the event began 30 minutes late.
When Musk arrived on stage he opened with what Alsop described as "an amateur slide show." Alsop, angry and hungry, stormed out before the event ended.
In a followup post this week Alsop said he'd been banned from ordering his Model X, and expressed shock given critical posts he'd authored on other companies such as BMW.
He will be stuck continuing to drive his "irritating BMW X1."
Musk weighed in on the episode early Friday morning. "Must be a slow news day if denying service to a super rude customer gets this much attention," he tweeted.
Comments
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Assume you don't mean the Mustang.. I guess the Ram gets some shock and awe affect!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I agree Mike. When we bought the GLK MB had two models, the stripper or the everything included model. I don;t know who buys the stripper, probably it is used just to get people in the door. Then, when they see the everything model they want that one...even if it has things they don't want on it. But, who cares, buy the fully loaded model, you get half your money back for those options so they aren't as expensive as they seem.
If you can't get your mind around spending $45k for a car that is as good as a car can be then you don't need that car, buy something for less and drive from point A to point B and be glad you saved yourself $10000!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
You really don't get back 50% of what you pay for the extras. My E400 was loaded with every option - $72,000 MSRP. My brother had an E400 he traded for his S Class coupe, but it did not have what I had regarding options. Both cars had a trade value that was identical per Manheim and KBB and several other sources.
In fact, a similarly equipped E350 had about the same trade value even though the E400 MSRP'd for $5000 more. You see, when a buyer is looking for a late model E Class sedan, they are going to buy the E350 (302 hp) for much less than an E400 (330 hp).
At the auction, E400 and E350 models wholesale for almost the same money (give or take $500).
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
As for Orlando's U of Central Florida, I recently saw it was actually rated fairly well overall. I know it has an excellent Simulation engineering and programming degree. I think the academic snobbery and Ivy League legacy stuff is more noticeable in the Northeast or the west coast Stanford and USC locales. Most other places, once you're working your success is probably more dependent on outcomes than academic credentials. But those top colleges probably get you some valuable, higher level experience initially that can accelerate your ascent during your early years, as well as faculty contacts in industry. Smarts aren't the exclusive territory of elite schools, so sometimes I wonder if the Ivy League correlation to success is more about kids that go to those colleges have been very focused on themselves and busting their rears, so that may carry over once they are working?
Berri, I may have confused the issue by my post. What I was trying to relate was that if you have a diploma from Harvard in medicine, as an example, your choices for residencies are greater than if you have a medical degree from Florida Atlantic University.
When my nephew graduated from Harvard Medical School, he was offered residencies all over the country. Basically he had his pick. He ended up at Brigham and Women's in Boston and did additionally residencies at Mass General.
When I graduated from NYU with a degree in Business Administration, I had no difficulty getting in the door for interviews with corporations. But friends of mine who graduated from smaller colleges with the same degrees, had much more difficulty getting their feet in the door. One of my friends went to Ryder in NJ and another went to Northeastern University in the Boston area I believe, but both friends took twice as long to land a job.
Getting an interview is the most important step to landing a job - doing well in the interview is the clincher.
The same was true in getting accepted for my Master's Program and getting the fellowship to pay for my MA.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
As another example - When my daughter was finishing her first year at Penn State, she asked for my input about if she should switch to a much smaller, although still in state, school. The reason she cited was that many of her high school friends were going there.
I just asked her if she was hiring someone, who would she consider for an interview first. Someone with their degree from Penn State, or someone with a degree from the much smaller school?
She finished at Penn State.
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
I don't have any doubt that a medical degree from Harvard is going to open a lot of opportunities. My wife has a nephew who just completed med school from U of Wisconsin in Anesthesiology and we have another friend who's daughter just finished a medical degree in plastic surgery from Ohio State and they both had quite a variety of opportunities too. I suspect the Harvard degree might impact more though for academic staff hospital positions or at major urban medical centers. NYU, among other things, is a big "retailing" college isn't it? I only mention that because it's an unusual specialty.
I don't know about today's job market, but it used to be that some time as a junior officer in the military could enhance job opportunities whether from specialized training like aviation, or just general leadership experience.
My son also graduated from Penn State and was one of the first few classes in the IST program. He then got his Masters at Boston U. He is now working at a very large defense contractor - one of GG's customers. He had no trouble getting an interview.
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
We wouldn't even bother to interview a Yale or Harvard grad who studied in the same or simlar field.
Law verticals? Harvard's the place.
Engineering? MIT or even my son's Alma Mater, University of Cincinnati. Computer Science? Stanford.
Point is, none of these schools are the end all to beat all. It is dependent on the field of study.
I graduated from a small(ish) school in Computer Science, Miami, at a time when companies were begging for CS grads. When I graduated, it didn't matter where your degree was from. My class was in such demand, I had recruiters calling me, ready to fly me to their HQ for interviews. 6-8 months before I graduated. I didn't have to chase any companies. I was fortunate that they chased me.
That's not the case today. There are much better schools than Miami for Computer Science, and a lot more people in the field. But, there are NONE better for a degree in education.
My first cousin is a Secret Service Agent. She went to University of Cincinnati, too. She majored in International Studies.
Just goes to show, where you go does make a difference, depending on what you want to do.
My college councilor (whom I've remained frieds with all these years) once told me that getting a college degree isn't the end game for a college education. The real objective is showing the world you had the tenacity, the focus, the drive, to first, finance your education. And 2nd, just enough smarts to graduate.
I think most of us will admit that we spent a whole lot more time honing our "social skills" than we did on class work (OK...maybe it was just me).
A lot different today. Today's students just have to sign a piece of paper and get "loans" to pay for college. It will come back and bite them in the deriere at some point, but money is no longer a barrier. Most of this age group had to deliver pizzas, wait tables, bar tend (which is what I did, in addition to grunt work in the summer (I loaded Pepsi trucks, outside, in the summer heat, hoisting 100s of cases filled with16 oz "GLASS" bottles of Pepsi).
Venture...if you want defense work, IST degrees are in high demand. That, and specific IT skills (security, WEB programming, language arts, computer aided design, etc).
@Mr_Shiftright has given me the name of an appraiser in SoCal, so I'm hoping this person can look at the truck, give us a valuation, and help us sell it. Ideally, to someone who will maintain it like my dad did for the last 46 years.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Wow - I didn't see that one coming. The announcement comes later today, apparently. I'll stick with my Soul.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Very cool - Dodge City does have a Toyota dealer - Lewis Toyota. So I could still snag one next year if I wanted to. Dodge City has a lot of new car dealers for a town of 30,000. Reason being there's two large beef slaughterhouses in town that pay a fairly decent wage that employ a large number of people. Lewis Chevrolet, Lewis Dodge, Lewis Toyota. There is a Hyundai dealer, Kia, Mazda, Chrysler, etc. For not a large town, but, we're in SW Kansas, agriculture central. They draw people from the boonies all over SW and western Kansas to shop in Garden City, KS, and Dodge City for new cars.
Makes more sense reading your update on Scion - I just couldn't see dumping the iM and the iA - they're not selling like hotcakes but I do think they're good cars, especially the iA, which is essentially a Mazda2 sedan made in Mexico.
Whew - what you just heard was a little sigh of relief coming from SW Kansas!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Whew. Sigh of relief. Dodge City has a Toyota dealer - Lewis Toyota. Just in case that little guppy-mouthed rig continues ta resonate in my mind. Actually, it's not going away, the crush of mine for the iA.
It just didn't make sense for Toyota/Scion ta dump all that work in the garbage they did on the iM and the iA. I think the iA is the best subcompact bargain on the market. I almost bought a Scion xA around 2005-2006 but held back.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I got the first one when the car was about a month old, and got it done at Safelite...$100 to get it filled.
A new windshield will cost $1500 for a Mercedes with the monogram on the lower right corner, or $700 for the exact same windshield without the monogram.
The new one is just a small dot with a thread, on the upper passenger side. I doubt if filling it is necessary or would do much to help.
Guess I'll see what the insurance company says.
I was going to wait and have it done when I am close to trading it in as I hear stones hitting it a lot on I-75. I could get a new windshield today and it could get a chip tomorrow.
Any opinions?
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The only thing I can add is my friend scraped the rear panel in his Maserati and they wanted $4000, the Accura dealer has a shop that does nice work and they charged $1200. Just a guess but I think the Accura shop covered a lot of expenses a long time ago and they have built a very good business by being very fair in their pricing.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
What about seeing if insurance would pay for a new one? Or wait until I get the next one....averaging one a year!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Then wait until they take it to auction and buy it back for less than they put into it.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Or conversely, you could be Larry Ellison or Michael Dell and be college drop-outs. (no degree earned).
Or you could be that 12% of America's top CEOs who earned their degrees from foreign institutions.
But, jeez, could reach out to them and see what they say (!).
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
You do what you gotta do. The paper from Penn State says I have a BS in Electrical Engineering. Life is funny sometimes!
Exactly,,,,,and Cadillac is Caddillac....we usually add a few extra letters.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I didn't know there were DIY kits.....how do you know how strong they make it.
I wouldn't do a DIY in my case, I will make it worse than what it is now.....with my DIY ability I will smudge the whole windshield.......
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Be curious if I hear back from them.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2024 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
The customer is always right, goes the saying. But if you're rude, don't expect that maxim to apply universally as one man found out.
Earlier this week Stewart Alsop, a San Francisco venture capitalist, shared that his order of a Tesla Model X was cancelled after he wrote a blog post that criticized chief executive Elon Musk for starting a company event late.
Alsop titled his late September post, "Dear @ElonMusk: You should be ashamed of yourself."
"For you to stand up at 8:52 p.m. and not even acknowledge that you have wasted your own customers' time was insensitive and poor judgment," Alsop wrote.
Alsop said that he'd placed a $5,000 preorder for the Model X and expected to test drive it at the launch event on Sept. 29 in Fremont, California.
But then the event started later than expected. The invitation noted that doors would open at 7 p.m., and encouraged guests to arrive by 7:30 p.m. A clear start time wasn't specified, but according to Alsop, Musk conceded in a phone conversation that the event began 30 minutes late.
When Musk arrived on stage he opened with what Alsop described as "an amateur slide show." Alsop, angry and hungry, stormed out before the event ended.
In a followup post this week Alsop said he'd been banned from ordering his Model X, and expressed shock given critical posts he'd authored on other companies such as BMW.
He will be stuck continuing to drive his "irritating BMW X1."
Musk weighed in on the episode early Friday morning. "Must be a slow news day if denying service to a super rude customer gets this much attention," he tweeted.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250