Cadillac CTS review
Before I get to the CTS review, let me discuss two things;
First of all, I have a rival in the blog world; there is ANOTHER mean teacher; http://hthemeanteacher.blogspot.com I challenged her, via comment, to a mean-teacher-off. I wager I win; I am MUCH worse. I post my students' crowning, um, achievements on my blog for all to admire, and so far this week: I made one girl in Honours cry because I gave her a 0 on her project because she didn't put her name on it, and I smirked; I have used the Spoon of Stupidity several times; I mocked one child in front of the class when he whined about running out of lead for his pencil and not having enough money to purchase lead for his pencil; I still have that iPod because the child did not write a sufficiently groveling letter; and I mocked that student's pictures on his poster in front of all the classes and then cut them out, scanned them, and put them in the Museum of Idiocy. I laughed at Irene when she shrieked Oh My God! It LEAKED on me! (meaning my pen) That's DISGUSTING! (and then another student recorded me laughing on his cell phone and showed all the other classes; he also recorded me saying the word "Deutsch" which he thinks is funny). So I think I am worse, and it is only Wednesday.
You all know I have previously made reference to the one friend that I have who is needy and demanding and somewhat annoying, but I still try to be nice to her, partially because it is inspiring to know someone with that claw-your-way-to-the-top ambition. Now she is whining about o I don't spend time with her, etc., and she feels all lonely or whatever, and I think, well, let me try. So last week she called me on Saturday when I was changing the coolant in my brother's car, and wanted to know did I want to hang out with her. I try to explain to her that I am busy. She gets huffy. So I called her up on Sunday and invited her to go to Lowe's with me so I could buy some plants. She said fine, and while we were at Lowe's she bought a new smoke detector and I installed it for her. I explained to her, or I thought I explained to her, that I worked until 7:30 last Friday, I am very busy during the school year, I do not have the time or the interest to hang out with anyone (particularly drink in bars, which I HATE) so it has nothing to do with her, I am busy and do not see anyone but will try to still do things with her when I can. I mean, I put in a new smoke detector for her, which is nice.
Then look at what she sends me.
Hey Alan:
That was fun going to Loew's on Sunday and thanks so much for
installing my new smoke detector. The red light is not on, so I
can't tell if it's really on or not. Usually a red light stays on.
Do you want to go out after work on Friday?
Did she just not get it? Do I have to be really blunt (apparently so)? I think I will just have to tell her that I am sorry but I do not drink in bars, I have no interest in "going out" and that if she wants she can come over and have a couple of beers and talk while I grade papers. I do not mean to hurt anyone's feelings but I don't know how to say this any other way.
We were discussing car repairs and she said that she went to the Volvo dealer because her car broke down and they came back and said that it was the computer (basically) and it would cost $1,400 to fix. She started crying (not on purpose, she said) and they then reduced the price to $1,000. I am envious.
Cadillac agreed (they'd better) to fix the car and gave me a CTS as a rental car. Well, I've driven it home and then back to work and here are my overall impressions.
I like the Omega/Catera better. The CTS has a lower roofline than the Omega; it feels squat and is wider but not taller or longer. But the seats, particularly the driver's seat, are narrower and somewhat pinchy and uncomfortable. The car is faster than the Omega, but the Omega has a better dash layout, with a large speedometer in front of the driver with the tach to the left. The controls in the Omega are less confusing and better placed.
The CTS lacks the Omega's feeling of stability. It also clearly was intended to sell at a lower price point than the Omega; the headliner in the CTS is made out of an odd polyester leisure suit sort of material whereas the Omega's is standard fuzzy cloth; The CTS lacks the rear seat air ducts, nice trim, and has weird pimply hard touch vinyl surfaces that apparently came from the Malibu and remind one of cow tongues in place of the Omega's smooth and elegant soft touch surfaces. The CTS has a foot brake instead of a hand brake, and I read that the hand brake actually works differently somewhere. The console in the Omega is better finished and more functional. The CTS lacks the Omega's handy door bins. The example I am driving lacks the sunroof, and I miss it.
At any rate, it was NOT a particularly inspiring car to drive. For that price, I think one should feel captivated; but it was blandly competent without the luxurious feeling of the Omega.
First of all, I have a rival in the blog world; there is ANOTHER mean teacher; http://hthemeanteacher.blogspot.com I challenged her, via comment, to a mean-teacher-off. I wager I win; I am MUCH worse. I post my students' crowning, um, achievements on my blog for all to admire, and so far this week: I made one girl in Honours cry because I gave her a 0 on her project because she didn't put her name on it, and I smirked; I have used the Spoon of Stupidity several times; I mocked one child in front of the class when he whined about running out of lead for his pencil and not having enough money to purchase lead for his pencil; I still have that iPod because the child did not write a sufficiently groveling letter; and I mocked that student's pictures on his poster in front of all the classes and then cut them out, scanned them, and put them in the Museum of Idiocy. I laughed at Irene when she shrieked Oh My God! It LEAKED on me! (meaning my pen) That's DISGUSTING! (and then another student recorded me laughing on his cell phone and showed all the other classes; he also recorded me saying the word "Deutsch" which he thinks is funny). So I think I am worse, and it is only Wednesday.
You all know I have previously made reference to the one friend that I have who is needy and demanding and somewhat annoying, but I still try to be nice to her, partially because it is inspiring to know someone with that claw-your-way-to-the-top ambition. Now she is whining about o I don't spend time with her, etc., and she feels all lonely or whatever, and I think, well, let me try. So last week she called me on Saturday when I was changing the coolant in my brother's car, and wanted to know did I want to hang out with her. I try to explain to her that I am busy. She gets huffy. So I called her up on Sunday and invited her to go to Lowe's with me so I could buy some plants. She said fine, and while we were at Lowe's she bought a new smoke detector and I installed it for her. I explained to her, or I thought I explained to her, that I worked until 7:30 last Friday, I am very busy during the school year, I do not have the time or the interest to hang out with anyone (particularly drink in bars, which I HATE) so it has nothing to do with her, I am busy and do not see anyone but will try to still do things with her when I can. I mean, I put in a new smoke detector for her, which is nice.
Then look at what she sends me.
Hey Alan:
That was fun going to Loew's on Sunday and thanks so much for
installing my new smoke detector. The red light is not on, so I
can't tell if it's really on or not. Usually a red light stays on.
Do you want to go out after work on Friday?
Did she just not get it? Do I have to be really blunt (apparently so)? I think I will just have to tell her that I am sorry but I do not drink in bars, I have no interest in "going out" and that if she wants she can come over and have a couple of beers and talk while I grade papers. I do not mean to hurt anyone's feelings but I don't know how to say this any other way.
We were discussing car repairs and she said that she went to the Volvo dealer because her car broke down and they came back and said that it was the computer (basically) and it would cost $1,400 to fix. She started crying (not on purpose, she said) and they then reduced the price to $1,000. I am envious.
Cadillac agreed (they'd better) to fix the car and gave me a CTS as a rental car. Well, I've driven it home and then back to work and here are my overall impressions.
I like the Omega/Catera better. The CTS has a lower roofline than the Omega; it feels squat and is wider but not taller or longer. But the seats, particularly the driver's seat, are narrower and somewhat pinchy and uncomfortable. The car is faster than the Omega, but the Omega has a better dash layout, with a large speedometer in front of the driver with the tach to the left. The controls in the Omega are less confusing and better placed.
The CTS lacks the Omega's feeling of stability. It also clearly was intended to sell at a lower price point than the Omega; the headliner in the CTS is made out of an odd polyester leisure suit sort of material whereas the Omega's is standard fuzzy cloth; The CTS lacks the rear seat air ducts, nice trim, and has weird pimply hard touch vinyl surfaces that apparently came from the Malibu and remind one of cow tongues in place of the Omega's smooth and elegant soft touch surfaces. The CTS has a foot brake instead of a hand brake, and I read that the hand brake actually works differently somewhere. The console in the Omega is better finished and more functional. The CTS lacks the Omega's handy door bins. The example I am driving lacks the sunroof, and I miss it.
At any rate, it was NOT a particularly inspiring car to drive. For that price, I think one should feel captivated; but it was blandly competent without the luxurious feeling of the Omega.
posted by SavageATL at 7:25 AM
2 Comments:
I saw your comment on mean teacher, but I'm pretty sure I'm the meanest teacher of all. When kids see me walking down the hallway, they run in the opposite direction. I have also managed to make two parents cry (both fathers) during parent/teacher conferences. It isn't a good day unless at least one child leaves in tears. I've got one victim I like to pick on when I'm having a slow day, but it's so easy to make her cry that it's no longer a challenge.
I love my job.
While I appreciate the link, I think my philosophy on the subject of Mean Teacherness is different from both yours and Marydell's. While I've been expressly forbidden from teaching elementary school, because I think it's funny when they cry, I was more known during my tenure as a classroom teacher for meanness because I had extremely high standards of behavior and performance and I cut exactly zero slack.
I had other titles for my blog, but they were all taken. While I'm fond of my title, it does fall down in that it suggests the blog is more about teaching than it really is. And now that I'm not actually teaching... well, let's just say "Mean Curriculum and Instruction Wonk" lacked the requisite 'zazz.
Anyhow, if your interested in evidence of my abject cruelty to The Youth of Today, here's some entries:
http://hthemeanteacher.blogspot.com/2005/04/fries-and-prejudice.html
http://hthemeanteacher.blogspot.com/2005/04/on-being-mean.html
I hope you enjoy perusing them and then calling me a pussy poseur afterwards.
Cheers!
MT
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