YOU SAY POTATO I SAY PORSCHE

Porsche Pronunciation

A friend recently introduced me to a PBS site feature "Do You Speak American"; in particular their "beastly mispronunciations" page. Imagine my delight when I spotted "Porsche" right between "Pecan" and "President".

Porsche PORSH.

In my experience, how you pronounce this word/name depends largely on whether you own the automobile in question. Porsche does not appear in any of my references, so I must rely solely on the evidence of my ears, which tells me that those who own a Porsche (or wish they did) tend to prefer the disyllabic POR-shuh, while those who don’t (and could not care less) tend to prefer the monosyllabic PORSH. Because the great majority of us don’t own (or aspire to own) a Porsche, I recommend the monosyllabic pronunciation as less ostentatious.

LOVE, SOFT AS A LEATHER BOXSTER SEAT

Love, Soft as a Leather Boxster Seat

You'll all be relieved to know that my car and I are back on speaking terms. I love my car. I know, I know I promised to love in good times and in bad, but my vows were seriously challenged by economic hardship, unrequested revving, check engine lights, and plastic window woes.

But today, today, all was right with the world. I put that top down, I pulled my rabbit fur collar around my neck, I turned on that seat warmer and zoooooooooom. With Brazilian Reggae music cheering me on, I pulled out. The clutch was as soft as butter, my foot on the pedal did my bidding and miraculously (in LA), the freeway opened up for me.

Now, this must have been why I bought it in the first place. Truth be told, I didn't know why I bought it. At first it just seemed to be a pain in the ass. I figured maybe men called this pain-in-the-ass fun, but that I needed to be in a floaty, no feel of the road, automatic with an ipod plugged into the dashboard. But no! I judged too quickly.

I was only on a short trip, but now I know what it's like to feel the road calling.

She's calling.



Technorati Tags: Boxster, Joy of Driving, Porsche

BABY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!

I had some trouble driving today. The clutch didn't feel right. I felt the death grip of another $3,000 repair looming. I struggled with the clutch on my way into work, But then, on the way home I got the feel again. Crisis over. But why? What had changed? Only one thing: my shoes!

I'd been driving in sandals for weeks, but today I switched to my sneaks. The distance from foot to pedal was off and my brain took its own sweet time adjusting.

That's when it hit me. A beautiful synergy of women to car to shoes. Buying new shoes was finally elevated to the ranks of necessity. Every woman's dream: a legitimate reason to buy a new pair of shoes!


I didn't have to look far either. What do you know, Adidas just came out with the Porsche driving shoe.

I just don't know...it sure looks like a sneaker to me!

PAM PLANS TO PIMP HER PORSCHE!

pam plans to pimp her porsche!

My dash:

1. crappy cup holders (which FYI can launch a hot starbucks latte right into my lap in a single bound)
2. Single CD Player/Radio
3. CD holders - a huge waste of available space (who thought of these? the same person who asked the glove box? argggghhh, where is a girl to keep her driving gloves??? (and don't say in the weird spot behind my head, anything in there will melt from engine heat, and not the door storage, even weirder, who will ever remember somethings in there without a flashlight?)
   
4. Some small storage (which is where I actually cram my cd's)

Ah the choices,

1. Convert the center compartment (oh maybe that's where my gloves should be) into either a) a groovy cup holder via Styrofoam project or b) a glorious arm rest!!!
2. Add a cd-changer, and custom iPod adapter in the front trunk
3. Add an in-dash GPS where the cups holders are

I was pleasantly surprised to see CNET's Insider Secrets editor, Brian Cooley (in a segment called "Geek Your Car" ) demonstrating an Ipod installation in a Boxster! He doesn't mention the car brand, but take a look, it's obvious.

But wait! there's more! I love this guy Brian. He follows the iPod upgrade tutorial with a LOW TECH solution. I felt the joy of outsmarting technology. You choose: $400 for the alpine and the install, or $40 bucks for a couple of cables.

BOXSTER LANDING PAD

Welcome to Boxster Heaven! If you’ve just landed here, the blog follows my love/hate adventureswith my Boxster. Stats: 2002 (bought used in 2006), manual, Boxster(not "S"), plastic window; I'm a majority inner-city driver and am woefully un-garaged!

Find links to some of my favorites (by topic) below.

Take a look at the topics below and then sign-up to receive updates when new articles are published. If you have a feed reader, you can get into Heaven with RSS. Subscribe in a reader:


If you aren't a subscriber yet and want to catch up, here are a few highlights by topic to get started:
Bumps, Cracks, Parts and Price

• Boxster Bump Shatters Local Girl
• Rainy Days and HubCaps Always Get Me Down

Warranty Woes

• They Can't Get No Satisfaction
• Don't Wanna Be an American Idiot
• Rear Window: Hitchcock Meets Boxster
• Die Yuppie Die
  

Wheels & Wax

• Underneath the Old Oak Tree

Humor

• Up the Porsche Evolutionary Ladder
• My Friends All Have Porsches I must Make Amends
  

Porshi-ku (Porsche Haiku)

• 8-6-7-5-3-0-9: FREEDOM IN FORM? PORSCHIKU CONTEST ...
• PORSCHE HAIKE (AND TYLER TOO)
• PORSCHE HAIKU (PORSCHIKU?)
• BOXSTER HAIKU

GO AWAY YOU NPR LISTENING PORSCHE DRIVING YUPPIES!

by pam ashlund

"... note to artsy rich kids: don't stay here and laugh at the kitschyness of East LA and then go back to Silver Lake. I've seen how quickly you spread in an area, drive the rents sky high, infest the place with tacky pop culture and disconnected cynicism, and then boot the locals out. Don't make us start a chapter of the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project down here! You've been warned." (emphasis mine)

This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last, that I write about Porsches and Politics. I still find it hilarious that there is anything to say there at all. I felt I had truly crossed one of the surreal lines in life when I found myself supporting a protest in front of a local dealership (about a warranty squabble). What had I come to? There are so many more important things to do. Then again, what's life without a little laughter?

I recently moved into a renovated loft in a neighborhood that has been "down and out" for close to fifty years. I did think about the Porsche, but only in terms of theft. I did not think about what it would symbolize to my neighbors.

Who would have thought owning a Porsche would set off a firestorm of controversy over neighborhood gentrification? Alright, technically that's not what started it, it may have my whining about wanting to find a decent grocery store, but it didn't help.

Oh well. It all started with a blog post on the merits of one LA area (Silver Lake) and my new neighborhood (Lincoln Heights). Understandably, my comments touched a nerve in the community. I would leave it at that, but in pursuit of a deeper understanding I studied one of my critics website. There I found thought provoking comments on gentrification (something I give a lot of thought to these days), but then....I saw it--a link to a website called Mission Yuppie Eradication Project.

The Yuppie Eradication site was hilarious and representative of the wit that makes Northern California so unique. But as I read on I got a creepy feeling that this wasn't tongue in cheek. It was a website that advocated violent resistance (what they refer to as "controversial methods") as follows:

Tips on Making Yuppies Pay

• Vandalize their cars: Mercedes, Lexus, Porsche, Jaguar, and anything that your family wouldn't be able to afford. (emphasis mine)
• Throw shit at Yuppies as they drive by, especially if they are on their cell phones.
• Don't patronize Yuppie establishments.
• If you are sitting with friends near Yuppies, spread rumors about increasing crime in the neighborhood.
• Organize your community against developers who help gentrification.
• Organize your co-workers against your Yuppie boss.
• Work with your neighbors to find out who owns what in your neighborhood
• When Yuppies invade it means higher rents, so organize a neighborhood Tenant's Association to keep a lid on rents.
• "Don't listen to Yuppie radio stations, which includes your local NPR affiliates.

"That does it", I thought, bashing Porsche's AND NPR??? To quote a favorite movie "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Oy. Signing out.

Technorati Tags: Lincoln Heights, Gentrification, Loft, Los Angeles, Silver Lake, LA, YUPPIE

NOT CRUSIN' IN MY BOXSTER (SOB)

Not Crusin' in my Boxster (sob)
by pam ashlund

Had to leave the baby in the body shop. Thank god for insurance, so the work was covered and...so was the rental car. The insurance agent called me up and said "I don't know if we're going to be able to get you a Porsche." It had never occured to me that they might actually try to give me an "equal or better" car rental. "Oh don't worry, any car will be fine" I heard myself saying.

And so it was.

I took my drive from Los Angeles to Harbin Hot Springs in a PT Cruiser. The last time I came up was in the Boxster. Thus the drive was, shall we say, much lamer! Instead of pleasure the curves gave me a headache. The less than lusterous drive aside, I arrived to Harbin on Monday afternoon, with an hour to spare before my Watsu appointment.

I checked in at the front desk, with a nice woman called Aqueous. She read me my room info, and then looked up and asked "Do you still have your Porsche?" Her question stunned me for a second. It rang out like an accusation. But before I could get out a "what the heck is it to you AquaVelva?", I saw that she was just reading from the computer screen and trying to save time on typing in the license plate. I guess, in the context of this beautiful serene hippy retreat, it could have been my guilty conscience." "No, I'm driving an ordinary American rental you moron" I thought, but smiled and said "No, not this time."

Om.

Technorati Tags: Porsche, Boxster, Harbin Hot Springs, PT Cruiser

REAR WINDOW: HITCHCOCK MEETS BOXSTER

Rear Window: Hitchcock Meets Boxster
by pam ashlund

Back in April, 2006 I ran into a great couple protesting in front of Downtown LA Motors. In solidarity, I did a write-up of their struggle in "They Can't Get No Satisfaction". I felt bad for them because sometimes when you make a $50 or $60K purchase and you pay god knows how much in regular maintenance and repairs...and all that money pours directly into the pocket of your dealer...and you NEVER protest...you just keep opening your wallet. Finally, you come in five years later and ask for a measly four-hundred dollar repair..and...they refuse. Come on people, that was just a bad business decision. Had Downtown LA Motors just fixed the dumb piece of plastic, they might still have a customer, who might want trade up that Porsche in the near future. How else could someone make a 10,000 percent return on investment? But nooooooooooo, they had to make reference to a nonexistent policy. It's not covered in your warranty? What kind of sports car owner wants to hear that? Please. Tell me another one.

Why am I on a rant about something that happened last April? A picture says a thousand words:

Three guesses whose rear window that is? I guess it will be a cold day in LA when somebody reimburses me for this one....

Technorati Tags: Boxster, 2002 Boxster, Rainy Day Magazine, Convertible Top, Porsche, Plastic Window, Downtown LA Motors

WHAT DO HARRY POTTER AND PORSCHE HAVE IN COMMON?

What do Harry Potter and Porsche have in common?
by pam ashlund (provided by anonymous source)

An anonymous relative made an astute observation with this comparison:



Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, Insignia, Porsche, Wheel Center

RAINY DAYS AND HUBCAPS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

Rainy Days and Hubcaps Always Get Me Down
by Pam Ashlund

Came out the other day to wax the baby (by hand of course). When I got to the wheel I noticed something missing. The cap with the Porsche Insignia was gone on the front right. On closer inspection I saw a suspicious mark on the hub. Looks like someone (foolishly) tried to pry off the hubcap.

Question of the day: Did somebody try to steal my car or did I just hit the curb?

Here's a snap of the gaping hole in the middle of the hub. ;-(













Here's the suspicious chip:















And here's the "before", the way my front right wheel used to look!

Maybe it's time to try one of Rainy Day magazines projects. They have the perfect project for me: Making Porsche Boxster Wheel Center Crests...in Color! I am SO on it!

Technorati Tags: Boxster, Car, Hub Cap, Insignia, Porsche, Rainy Day Magazine, Wheel Center, Hub