At the Cardinal-on-Car Café...

... you can find your perfect place.

A midday outing on New Year's.

Kind of gloomy. But the worst of it was the ice. Hard to walk at all.

Turkeys and Jesus.

11 minutes of walking and driving, with Althouse and Meade... and turkeys and Jesus.

Class warfare, Madison-style.

Last night, around 6 p.m., Meade — who's driven cars for 40 years without ever getting into an accident — was driving our Audi TT in the right lane on University Avenue, going the speed limit. Suddenly, a Toyota Yaris cut directly in front of him, missing our front left fender by half a car length. About 150 feet later, the Yaris braked and turned into the Whole Foods parking lot. Meade turned there too and drove over to where the Yaris was parking. When driver — a 40-ish white female — emerged, Meade called out, politely: "Excuse me. Do you realize that you cut me off over on University Avenue?"

Her comeback, in an acid tone: "Honey, if I had your Audi, I would drive better."

Why mention the Audi? What was she thinking? I mean, it's hard for me to imagine saying anything but "I'm really sorry." And there's no way Meade could have driven better. I assume she meant he should have driven faster, above the speed limit, because she wanted to go faster, and she needed to be in the right lane so she could make her turn into Whole Foods. We were just annoyingly in the way. And annoyingly riding in an Audi sportscar. She's in a Yaris. We're in an Audi TT, so fuck us. Honey.

IN THE COMMENTS:  edutcher said:

She was trying to bluff her way out of the fact she was at fault. 

Not so much bluff as distract. Like she's saying: You think I did something wrong. You did something wrong. You own something expensive. Not shame on me. I am the 99%. Shame on you!

Yesterday, we drove past the new "Occupy Madison" encampment...

... which you can see in the first 10 seconds of this 14-minute video...



... and you can hang out with Meade and me for the rest of the drive if you want. You'll see some more of Madison and the University of Wisconsin and eavesdrop on us. It's not all politics, I assure you, at 2 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday.

ADDED: A couple extra videos for reference. Here's the awesome song "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man:



And here's one of the wonderful "I'm a Pepper" commercials from the 1970s:



Of course, you must know the Herman Cain "smoking man" commercial, and here's the take-off by the Huntsman daughters.

AND: 2 more references. Donald Rumsfeld:



And Little Edie:

Loading up on hostas.

What we got...



... at the Hosta Hut...







... at the Flower Factory in Stoughton.

Frontyard, backyard.

In front, we've got a "fence" of alliums where the hedge used to be. Photo — enlarged — by me:



In back, after 25 years of my back-to-nature approach, it's been a lot of work getting to blank-slate level, and Meade has drawn a semi-circle on the slate. Meade took this picture too. (Enlarge.)

A drive in the country.

We took the TT for a spin Sunday afternoon...

No, that's not the first snow.

That doesn't count. We have a standard for what counts as the first snow, so you have not won your bet. Not yet.

Meade said the first snow will be before we get up and look out the window on December 2. I said after.

At the Gas Tank Café...

... it's time to get tanked up.

At the Mississippi Sunset...

Last night, somewhere south of La Crosse.

Leaving Chicago.

I stop to memorialize the botanical arrangements in the hotel's 2 lobbies:





Pic #1: 7th floor. Pic #2: ground floor.

Looking up from street level at the building we still call the Sears Tower, which was visible — from the 39th floor — along the right edge of the second picture in The Chicago Breakfast Café:



Meade took the wheel of the TT, and I tried taking pictures from the passenger seat. Unlike that time we drove home at night in the rain after the Dylan concert, the blur of movement didn't work too well. I had to wait for red lights, and I liked this one, with that onion dome:



ADDED: I'm not going to "still" call that the Sears Tower, since that was never the Sears Tower. That's the John Hancock Center — as several commenters, including, here, Jessica, have let me know.

Meade shoots a bunny.

(Enlarge.)

Loaner.

Got my car serviced today. The loaner was a Mercedes GLK350.



I'd never driven an SUV before, and it wouldn't have been my choice. But it wasn't bulky and horrible. It was kind of fun to drive. And black cars are sleek and elegant. Still, I was glad to get my Audi TT back.



It's so much more fun and comfortable and so much more my style.

About those Cincinnati sandwiches.

Trooper York has quite a picture — in a post that's about the Althouse Cincinnati meet-up (which I talk about minimally, with pictures, here). In Trooper's comments:

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

Now dag nab it Trooper; I ate the Hot Brown (which was actually more like a Hot White -- being chicken & all and not the original Roast Beef -- but the chicken is healthier, not that I'm worried about my health, but... Where was I? Oh, yeah).

(Ha ha. Hot White. Here's my pic of the Hot (supposedly) Brown.)

Any way, it was not a crap sandwich as you have portrayed (yeah it did look pretty wild when it came out of the kitchen with a knife stuck in it -- and this was a classy place; well classier anyway -- I mean it is usually the dives where something comes out of the kitchen with a knife in it- and its usually the cook... Where was I? Oh, yeah).

It was a pretty good sandwich (I mean the comments over at Althouse; Heart attack on a bun! It was CHICKEN for cryin' out loud! It’s the original white meat! Not like it was pork or something… Where was I? Oh, yeah).

And I was with some classy folks (not that I would meet and tell you understand, but you know Althouse was there; how much classier can you get? And the place actually served long neck PBRs! Do you expect a place like that to serve a crap sandwich? I mean hell, it’s not the Congressional Dining Room for Pete’s sake! I mean there they KNOW a carp sandwich when they serve one… Where was I? Oh, yeah).

Carp sandwich?

So, I want y’all to lay off my dinner; it was a great place and a helluva good time (you know the place has been open since 1861? My Great-Granddad ran a hotel on that block in the 1870’s; most likely he probably had at least one beer there himself, back in the day. He was German ya know we seem to have some sort of reputation as beer drinkers… Where was I? Oh, yeah).

Redneck responds to Darcy's request for details about the meet-up:

Any way Darcy, as much I would like to accommodate you and spill the beans on last night (now there’s a meal that would deserve comments! What if I would have had a plate of beans and rice? Not like a place classy as that, and on the northern side of the river would even serve beans, but… Dag nab it; did it again! Where was I? Oh, yeah).

A gentleman never tells the details. We had a good time, ate a good meal and all parted amicably.

One detail I will spill; Not only did I get to meet Althouse; I also got to meet Silvio.

And he took me at the light. I got to admit THAT was not the highlight of the evening (no redneck, even us edjamikated ones, like to admit that we lost a drag race, but her ‘chauffer’ caught me flat-footed trying to retune the radio when the light changed. First I knew the light was green was when I heard the roar of an Audi’s exhaust… Where was I? Oh, yeah).

The End.

Ha ha. Makes me think of this:

At the Mud Parking Lot Café...

... you can keep the conversation going without me. Right now, Silvio needs me. I'll join you when I can.

We just brushed the snow off the top of the car....

... and backed out.

***

That reminds me: Bush bails out the auto industry.

IN THE COMMENTS: Ron says:

Ah, snowy, silver Silvio...how we've missed thee!

No new wheels for you, Althouse? Not even a new TT? (I know you didn't like last year's!)

Maybe for Christmas...

The car is too perfect for me: beautiful, fun to drive, great in the snow and ice. I just can't think what could replace it. See what a 2009 Audi TT looks like. Men must have their mean car face, so Audi lost a customer. I'll be doing my best to preserve my 2005 car -- which has less than 40,000 miles on it and only one very tiny dent.

Gays Mills, Wisconsin.

Seen — through the fisheye lens — from the overlook as you drive into town from the east on Route 171:


(Enlarge to see the town.)

There is a historical marker right there telling you about the establishment of the apple orchards in this valley alongside the Kickapoo River. The landscape is so dramatic because it's driftless — the glaciers didn't make it this far. I drove all the way out here today because the cabbie who picked me up at the airport on Thursday told me that the apple trees will be in bloom along Route 171, and it's a great drive. (We'd been talking about flowering trees in Madison.) Go out past Gotham and Boaz to Gays Mills. He was right about the trees and the drive. There were great curvy roads for my Audi TT Coupe to get some exercise after all these long months sitting in my driveway when I was living in New York. There were almost no other cars out on Route 171 — mostly motorcycles. You could tell that everyone driving there was driving to drive. Propitiously, the radio played "Radar Love."

And here are the mills:



I was out traipsing about on the bank of the Kickapoo, trying to get a good shot of the water rolling over the dam. Took a picture of this sign that I didn't bother to read.



Because these things can't apply to me. I'm lucky. A cabdriver tells me about where to find flowers. And — also last Thursday — as I hoisted my two big bags off the luggage carousel at the airport, I was talking to a nun and, when I turned to leave, she said, "God bless you." I was reentering Wisconsin, and everything seemed propitious.

In a glitzy but filtered place.

I'm here at my car dealer's getting a glitch in the window fixed. Yesterday, I got in my car -- an Audi TT Coupe -- and saw that the driver-side window was down an inch. It refused go up. The service guy on the phone said it needed to be reprogrammed. How could it get unprogrammed? I asked. He didn't know. Cars aren't mechanical so much anymore. They have their own minds, and they make their own decisions. In the future, look out. That thing might do... who knows what? If it can think, no, I want to keep the window cracked at all times, what else might it decide to do? I know, there are 12 Stephen King books I haven't read on this theme.

Anyway, the new Zimbrick European is pretty glossy. Get your special Quattro Starbucks coffee...



And sit down in the lounge or -- I like it here -- at this work station...



See that convertible? That's what I'm getting when my lease on the coupe expires. But not silver. What's with all the silver? Everyone wants a silver car, the service guy informs me. Enough with the silver! And enough with the roof.

Well, get to work. There's WiFi here, but it won't let me get to Blogger to post or even to read my blog. ("Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time. Reason: The Websense category 'Message Boards and Clubs' is filtered.") But I can read blogs that don't have comments. Hmmmm. I'd like to upload these photographs but I can't get to Flickr. ("The Websense category 'Personal Network Storage and Backup' is filtered.") And I can't get to BloggingheadsTV -- no streaming media -- and I can see that Mickey Kaus is saying that he took Bob Wright to task for going easy on Andrew Sullivan. I definitely want to see that when I can. I've watched the Bob & Andrew Show and found Andrew insufferable. Frankly, I have little patience for just about anyone who fancies himself a theologian, but what on earth makes Andrew Sullivan think he's credible as a theologian? The claim that Jesus speaks to him?!

• • •

Okay, I'm now in a place where I can get on the unfiltered web, so let's watch the part of The Bob & Mickey Show about Andrew. Noting that Bob pursued Andrew about Darwinian theory, Mickey says:

Why didn't you bring up that [Sullivan's] whole book was about wanting to rationalize gay marriage and to smite the opponents of gay marriage. And that is his Darwinian impulse that is underlying his whole very interesting, cogent theological discussion....

Having a discussion with Andrew Sullivan where you don't talk about gay marriage is ignoring the sexual drive that underlies human nature.

They get into a nice big fight about whether -- to put it more bluntly than they actually do -- Sullivan's theological posturings are all a manifestation of his sexual drive. "He's driven by his sexuality and the political dilemmas that puts him in as a conservative," says Mickey. Bob seems disgusted by the idea that everything a gay man thinks is driven by his sexuality. But Bob thinks everyone is always driven by sexuality, Mickey asserts. Bob wrote a book about that ("Moral Animal"). I wonder whether there's some reason to feel different about heterosexuals and homosexuals when it comes to making these big Darwinian claims. It's easy to say things about heterosexuals, but you worry that saying equivalent things about homosexuals is actually going to hurt people by stirring up hostility and prejudice. Mickey seems to realize this and throws in a "Not that there's anything wrong with that" as he glides on to the next subject.

Convention, Convertible, Contrex, Chardonnay, Condom.

Stumbling into the BlogHer conference, completely late for Day 1, I go first for the test drive. There's a bunch of cars, including a line of Saturn Sky Roadsters, but I know the one I want to drive. This red one:



No, not because it's red. Because it's the only one with a manual transmission. I wonder if they got it right about the proportion of women who are interested in sports cars and have the taste and skill to want a stick shift.

How does the Sky compare to the Audi TT Coupe I just drove 2400 miles? The seat doesn't adjust, so I couldn't get myself into the ideal position. That's my biggest criticism. But it was fun to drive, and it looks really cool -- all curvy. My TT isn't a convertible, but maybe when I buy my next car -- probably another TT -- I'll think about getting the convertible. It was awfully hot and bright, but the wind-in-the-hair effect is sublime. (When I was in high school, I drove a 1961 Chevy Impala convertible. Sea Foam Green.)

I went to the writing workshop, already in session. In the part I heard, they were talking about how to title your posts to best attract the kind of traffic you want. Am I following any rules about titles? I wonder. I do whatever amuses me at the moment, but maybe I could extract a set of rules from my behavior. I sort of hate to hear the "official" rules, because now I have to think about whether I'm following them, whether I should, whether I ought to want to break them on purpose, and whether I want such thoughts in my head. As opposed to tripping along on instinct, my usual approach.



All these bloggers are overloading the Hyatt's WiFi and even their Ethernet connection. (I did remember to bring an Ethernet cord.) Connection is spotty. I'm a little frustrated. I'm drinking from a freebie bottle of Contrex. Did you know there was special water for women? It tastes awful, and within the hour, I start to feel sick to my stomach. Possibly a coincidence.... I remember I have an over-the-counter remedy stashed in an obscure pocket of my computer case. I swallow it... without water.

I light out early, taking the light rail back into town, where I nestle into a banquette at my posh hotel.



The remedy has restored me. Along with that big glass of Chardonnay...



And that lovely tuna roll...

I'm getting good WiFi, so I download my photos, and work on this blog post. I pause to browse through the goodies in the Six Apart tote bag I got earlier in the day. What companies got in on the BlogHer action? Trojan! What condom was selected for the lady bloggers? Elexa! I see it's a condom with "a woman's perspective."

What else have I got here in this bag?

IN THE COMMENTS: I throw down the gauntlet:

I want a fancy-schmancy post modernist to deconstruct this post!

Sippican pens an awesome entry. Is there thermite? Of course. Elizabeth says one perfect thing. And XWL flings himself into the exercise -- over here on his blog -- and writes a whole essay on the title alone -- and don't forget this post has a passage about titles -- before declaring deconstruction crap. But he said such cool things that I can't believe it. Like this:

Convention: intentionally ambiguous meaning here, both in the sense of a 'convention' as meeting, and 'convention' as accepted method of doing things, this double meaning (with a third less obvious, but nevertheless informative meaning of 'convent'ion, given the 'sister'ly nature of the BlogHer conference, this particular 'convention' could be seen as a modern descendent of a 'convent' and therefore 'convent'ional in a secular imitation of the religious 'convent') serves to inform every aspect of the rest of the post. Next the concept space suggested by the term 'convertible', a (no doubt) intentional mimicking of the c-o-n-v-e- of the first word in the title, but with the changed ending a change in inference.

"'Convent'ion" ... that rules. If only the Saturn had been an Ion my head would have exploded.