Want a New SUV? Go Chevy, Not Toyota

According to common contemporary American vehicle ideology, the masses believe that Japanese cars are inherently economic and reliable.  This national notion has harmed General Motors’ sales.  Historically, I haven’t been a GM supporter.  On the contrary, I’ve always disliked Chevrolet.  But after driving the latest model of the Chevrolet  Suburban and Toyota Sequoia, I’ll take the Chevy.

Based on comfort, styling, power, and feel, the recent redesign of the Chevrolet Suburban trumps its closest competitors. Chevy and Toyota are often compared because they are the top two leaders in vehicle sales in the US. In the past several years, Chevrolet has been making an average product. Not terrible, but by no means exceptional. When Toyota closed in on Chevrolet’s market, they were forced to wisen up, and start creating quality vehicles. And they have.

The newest Suburban features comfortable leather seats, finger friendly audio and AC control knobs, a quick uptake and sleek looks. Toyota’s rebuttal to the Suburban is the Sequoia. It is based on Toyota’s largest truck, the Tundra, and shares the same unimpressive façade. It also shares the 5.7 liter iForce V8, which actually is pretty impressive. It gets up and goes, have no doubt, but unfortunately it’s a stab of uncontrollable power– which isn’t a bad thing, if you’re in a drag car. I’ll bet the truck delivers power more predictably during towing, however. In contrast, the Suburban accelerates quickly and predictably. The exhaust note is particularly pleasing, especially when selecting the least fuel efficient driving setting, “V8 mode.” The SUV’s computer will stifle cylinder operation for the sake of gas mileage in the other much less fun modes.

The interior of the Toyota feels cheap and reminds me of a fisher price toy. The AC controls feel loose when turned. The gear selector has the most awkward shape and placement. I wonder if I’ll break it as I pull it through the shift maze the Japanese are obsessed with. The cockpit of the Chevy is a whole different story. Knobs that feel expensive inlaid on a smooth surface are the hallmarks of the center control panel. Straightforward styling and practicality dominate. The steering wheel, optionally wrapped in leather, is easy to grip and amply aims the Suburban to the operator’s desired destination.

When it comes down to it, the Chevrolet just drives better. It’s built on a solid frame and handles responsively in traffic. This is the 9^th, and possibly the last, generation of the Suburban and it is the best yet.

Happy Easter Hyundai!

Not only is the latest generation of Accent egg-shaped, the cars come in Easter colors!

The Accent is Hyundai’s smallest car.  It’s sole purpose is cheap transportation.  It’s tiny, cute, and now comes with Hyundai’s brand new Assurance Plus financing plan.   The plan allows buyers to retain their vehicle for three months after they loose their job.  The pessimists (or realists, depending on how you see it) over at Korea’s finest foresee even more layoffs within the year.  If this happens to you, and you just bought one of their cars, Hyundai will pay your car payments for 3 months.  If you’re still unemployed you can just take the thing back to the dealership without negative effects on your credit.  All car dealerships take back their cars if owners cannot make car payments, but it usually kicks the owner’s credit in the ass.

A more interesting set of Hyundais is the Genesis.  There are two: the Genesis sedan and the Genesis coupe.  Each is a totally separate vehicle with few common bonds.  They are both RWD and are a noticeable step above the average Hyundai.  The designers actually tried to create a few high-end products instead of an econocrapbox-max (sorry Accent).

The two-door is what really excites me.  It can be ordered with one of two engine configurations, one a 3.8-liter V-6 with 306 horsepower, and the other is a 2.0-liter turbo four, with 210 horsepower.  And remember, rear-wheel drive!  Its wheels are set close to the corners, similar to the other comparable sport coupes.  This design allows for better handling and steering response (think Mini Cooper, but less so).

The car is a bit heavy as it sits (3300 lbs) but in the fall we’ll see a track version that costs $3,000 less, weighs less (no sunroof, no blue tooth, powerless seats), and features a torsen LSD and Brembo brakes.  All from the factory, all under warranty.  Hyundai, who do you think you are?  Honda?

The second car with the Genesis name plate is a sedan.  It’s larger and emulates a Lexus.  It’s yet another good example of why Japan should take Korean metal more seriously.

The sedan is the largest project Hyundai has taken on yet, and they’re aiming for the top.  A 375 horsepower 4.7 liter V8  powers this four thousand pound beast.  The styling and quality of the workmanship are alongside its Japanese counterparts.  The interior possesses several more amenities than a typical Hyundai, such as a center console media selector knob and a navigation system.    Roomier, comfier, and quieter than any other Hyundai, this large luxury sedan may not be quite as nice as a BMW or Lexus, but for $37,250, it’s a great deal!

Parallel Lives: Bikes and Cars

Cyclists and drivers do not need to be enemies. It is true that both piss each other off on a regular basis. Bicyclists disobey red lights, ride side-by-side in the street and think the road was designed solely for them. Car drivers disobey red lights, drive way too fast and think the road was designed solely for them. These differences are really similarities.

Each operator considers himself the most important person on the road. I know I do. When I’m driving, pedestrians and cyclists annoy me. When I bike, cars become individual icons of death at every intersection.

Bicycles and automobiles can live amongst each other, if only each demographic understood that both sports are similar.

Bikes and cars share many parallels. Both can be raced, taken off-road, modified, spent too much money on, and enjoyed. Beading a tire is the same principal in both. Both can be used for commuting to work. Both are fun forms of transportation. In each sport, racing technology trickles down to consumers.  The front fork on a mountain bike resembles the shocks found on cars. Both carry the same duties of absorbing impact from the surface of the earth.

My favorite parallel is the specialization of bikes and cars. Each can be built for specific purposes. But the trouble starts when a machine takes on too many responsibilities.

In both worlds, a mixture of specialized features equals a ride that attempts to be everything to everyone, and successfully useless at any individual task. Take for instance a hybrid bicycle like the Giant Expedition. It’s too heavy to go as fast as a road bike. It has no suspension, so it cannot be taken into the mountains and keep the rider comfortable. It has racks and lights, so it’s almost a commuter bike, but again, too heavy and sloppy.

The car counterpart of the hybrid bicycle is the small SUV. A small SUV, like the Ford Escape, was designed for multiple purposes. It has four doors, a rear cargo area, more ground clearance than a car, and an optional all-wheel drive system. It looks like it could go on some mountain trails, until you take a peek at the suspension components. The rear independent suspension, allows each rear wheel to move in separate vertical directions from the other one. This sounds like it would be good for off-roading, but it is not. It is weaker and provides less ground clearance. The four doors are great for a family, but not as practical for a single person. Sure he can truck around his buddies, but so can a van. The Escape is also not as fast and agile as a smaller car.

Both of these sound like a great buy: “One machine for all of my needs? Awesome.” But the reality is that while they each perform basic tasks well enough, as soon as you encounter a specific situation, the machine becomes worthless. In these examples, the off-roading aspect is their the greatest shortcoming. A Specialized Stumpjumper and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon are the step above. Each was designed specifically for off-road applications. Huge shocks, fully suspended and burly; these two will get the job done. But ride them on the street and you immediately see the need for a road-only bike or car.

The best of both worlds is a garage full of equipment designed for specific purposes. A mountain bike for the mountains, a track bike for the velodromes, and a road bike for the roads. You’d also need a Jeep for the mountains, a turbo AWD Legacy for the track, and a Ford Focus for the streets. Damn, this is getting expensive. Now we see the shortcoming of specialization.

Tattoo me now… tattoo!

Before I get permanently scarred by an ink-depositing needle, I research.  I come up with an idea for a tat in my mind, then I draw it, then I Google image it.  I look for ideas based not only on other people’s tattoos, but also from art, history and symbolism.

The first tattoo that I paid someone to put on me is a set of Legos.  Both of them are located on each tricep.  I wanted a Lego tattoo since high school for many different reasons.  First, I am a huge fan of symmetry.  I like the way the little 4-peg cubes are perfect geometrical shapes.

Just after I got it, early 2006

Most importantly, the Legos are symbols of my heratige, not only becasue I obsessivly tioled over Legos as a child, but also because the Lego corporation is based in Denmark- the country of my Viking ancestors.  I have visited Denmark twice, and went to the original Lego Land the first time at age 16.

The next tattoo I got is an Española Zia.  I really wanted to get something that represents my  love of my state, plus the fact that I was born and raised here.  So, I decided upon a Zia.  What better way to represent my state other than using its symbol?  But as I researched, I saw that a whole hell of a lot of people have a Zia tat, so I researched further.  The Española Chamber of Commerce created a symbol to represent the town and the state at the same time.  It’s essentially a blocked-off, three-pronged variant of the traditional symbol.  This tattoo is also symmetrical, and as such, I placed it in the center of my back.  The Zia represents the sun, as well as seasons and winds.  The four portions each represent a different season, and the cyclical nature of the symbol mirrors the cyclical tendencies of life.  I like to believe my version is an attempt to find consistency and uniformity in the chaos that is life.  It’s split into four distinct portions, and the blocked off look portrays stability.

It’s been a year since I got my last tattoo, and keeping with my tradition of telling blood donation people that I just got a tattoo and may have Hep C, I need another one.   I’ve been tossing ideas around and photoshopping like a mad man.  I have arrived upon an idea that first manifested itself years ago.  I’m gonna get three side-by-side squares filled in with gears.  The three panels represent past, present and future.  The gears represent my gear-headed nature.  It’s gonna be carbon black, just like my others.  I’m not sure what my aversion to color is.  It could be the fear of colored tattoos looking cartoonish.  It could be that I remember a famous graffiti artist proclaiming that everything should be painted in black and white first, because color is just a crutch used to cover up a lack of talent.  It could also be because I’m from Spaña, and I’m used to black prison style tats.

During my research, I came upon several tattoos that I wish I had thought up first.  These were found mostly by accident and appear in no particular order.

The first is a tattoo of an automotive diagram of a turbocharger.  I like it because it shows the wearer’s love of turbos and is also a testament to the size of his undoubtedly large testicles, because this is a huge painful tattoo:

boosted arm!

Some forum speculators insist that he should get a legend for the diagram on his other arm.  The next tattoo that’s right up my ally is this one:

I like this tattoo a lot because I’ve often had a cup o’ joe, then hopped on my bike.  The tattoo lacks one thing though— the extreme need to pee after drinking coffee then biking.  Maybe there should be a droplet falling off the gear- to denote urination, chain lubrication, and java anticipation.  The next image is another that heavily involves symbolism.  Heck, it is a symbol.  It’s the symbol for an NPN transistor in an electrical diagram:

The next two tattoos I found online are food related:

Cut it up!

Fork you, I'm eating.

These two are hilarious and memorable, two traits that I find appealing in tattoos.  The next few are music related.   I have considered a band tattoo, but still have not found anything that I want forever.  When searching “band tattoos”  I arrived upon Adam Duritz and the playlist for 94 Rock tatted on some unfortunate people’s backs:

The Counting Crows' frontman, Adam Duritz.

Rock on!

This is why I research my tattoos.  I won’t regret them if a) I know exactly what they mean to me, and b) I can’t see them!   I cannot see my tattoos without trying, how could I regret them?  Plus, our society is changing.  It is no longer taboo to tote tattoos.  All of mine are easily concealed by a t-shirt, and I’ve had no problems finding jobs thus far.  As soon as I visually mangle my body with another tattoo, I’ll be sure to update!

Bicycles: Necessity versus Commodity

So cycling has become a rather trendy activity, and like every other trend, Albuquerque is a few years on the up-take.  We’ve just got some new bike lanes (driven up Coal or down Lead in Nob Hill lately?) and a revitalized spirit of greenosity.  Greenosity being the subscription to, and advocacy of, environmentally friendly ideas, but not really following through with them. (i.e., buying some reusable grocery bags then forgetting them at home).

But back on topic- bicycles.

There are two major categories that all cyclists fall into.  The first is called the “necessity” group.  They ride their bikes because they have to.  Sometimes they’re homeless and they traded a fellow house-less comrade a 40 ounce Steel Reserve and an Army t-shirt for a basic bike.  Other times the necessity cyclists are working-class stiffs who just need a mode of transportation and lack a car.  These people ride their bikes for transportation and because they have no other choice.  Which brings us to our second major category of bicyclists, the commodity cyclists.

These guys are the ones who have a car or two, but find enjoyment in riding their bikes.  They range from your average spandex-clad over-accessorized road racing individual, to the weekend adventurist mountain biker, to the around-town fixter.  These people could drive, but this is their hobby.  They’re in it to grab life by the handle bars… at their convenience.  They enjoy the fresh breeze from time-to-time, but when the temperature drops below 40, they cruise the Volvo.

Now, when you see a person on a bicycle you may wonder which category he or she fits into.  Some tell-all signs of a necessity cyclist are; riding on the sidewalk, pulling a little trailer full of everything he owns; wearing his work uniform, and not trying to look cool- he’s just biking to work.  The exact opposite is true of the commodity cyclists; they only ride in the road, as if it were designed specifically for them.  If they have a little trailer it undoubtedly has their future cyclist child inside.  The commodity cyclists clip into their pedals.  The commodity cyclists wear a uniform as well, but it’s a uniform determined by style.  The road racers have their spandex jerseys and the fixters have their expensive tight clothes and wear locomotive engineer caps.

The sub-genres of cyclists are arguable, but the two main categories hold true.  Sometimes there are border-line cyclists such as biking hippes, in which case it’s difficult to determine if they are a commodity or a necessity.  If you are ever unsure, just ask yourself; is this guy’s bike a mode of transportation or an accessory?

Modern Classics?

Much speculation has been made on which cars will one day become high-dollar auction babies. Automobile Magazine recently proclaimed that the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS will one day be a collector car. I have to disagree. The car is really a Chevy truck with a Capiece (Capiece, as in Ca-piece of crap) body atop it. The only people driving them are a couple of gangstas. But I see the journalists’ point- the car is one of the last big displacement rear-wheel-driven Chevrolets. The car symbolizes the end of an era. The era being one of poorly built, unreliable American RWD gas hog cruisers.

Another car, mentioned in Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, is the recent installment of the Pontiac GTO. Unlike the original version of the car in the 60’s, this one was merely borrowed from Australia. The car is a Holden. Not that the Aussies make bad cars, in fact, the Ford Falcon and the Holdens are wonderful, powerful cars, but they’re just not American. A re-badged car, with played-out Grand Prixish styling just doesn’t do it. The car may be worth money down the road, but only because so few were sold, not because the car is special.

Everyone’s speculation has one major flaw: they want so badly for the modern American car to be what it once was- a symbol of wealth, prosperity and stability. The problem is that American cars have been terrible for the past 30 years. The classics now- 1969 Camaro SS, 1964 and a half Ford Mustang and the Dodge Hemi Dart are all from a time when reliability was not a factor. No cars lasted very long, so only muscle and styling ruled. Recent cars just don’t instill the same emotions that the classics do. It may be a nostalgia for classic steel, but it’s difficult to believe that the plastic cars of today will sit in our children’s garages and be silently adored.

In today’s day and age, important cars will rule the collector market. Important cars and BMWs. By important, I mean the Honda Insight. That little bug of a car was the first ever of its kind. It’s strangely stylized and a hybrid. And by BMWs, I mean every M3 ever. Each generation is completely reworked and completely bad ass. The E30 M3 is already a classic— try finding one under ten grand.

American cars just don’t have that charm anymore. Nissan Skylines and Italian works of art will only get more and more expensive and desirable. In the meantime, Chevrolet Cavaliers will be donated as scrap metal to be forever forgotten.

Japan Is the Cheap Germany

Of course I’m talking about cars, not the people. The Japanese have one method of creating cars: copy America and Germany, yet not carbon copy, more like cheaply and poorly copy. We’re speaking in terms of styling only, because Japanese cars really are the most reliable cars on the road. Toyotas and Hondas will last forever. But their drivers have to live with plastic mediocrity. Ok, ok, so that’s a little harsh. I guess I just have a few vehicles in mind when I libel the Japanese car manufacturers.

For instance, every large Lexus is a knock-off of a BMW. A poor knock off. They have more cheap plastic and they don’t drive nearly as well as their Bavarian counterparts. The 2008 Lexus LS 460 is a duplicate of the 2006 BMW 750iL. They look the same, weigh the same, and are the same length. The BMW came out 2 years before the Lexus and has more refined features. To unlock the 750 you need only touch the handle. As long as the key is in your pocket the door will unlock. The Lexus mimics this ability. The key can still be in your pocket (ugly square thing) but you have to press a cheap little black rubber button on the car door handle to unlock it. The little button screams low quality, especially in the face of the touch sensitive handle BMW offers. Plus the interiors of BMW’s have always been better. They are ergonomic and intuitive.

Another example I have is not any one car versus any other car, but rather a comparison of manufacturers. Infinity versus Audi. Not only is Infinity just a slightly upgraded Nissan, it produces cars that don’t really get my blood pumping. Now don’t get me wrong, the G35, which is the US version of the Skyline, is fast and fun, but in no way compares to the Audi S4, much less the RS4. Audi builds wagons that inspire, while Infinity can barely design lines that hold my attention. When I drive an Infinity I can’t tell any difference between the Nissan it’s based on. Same handling, same lame seats, and same uninspired design. When I hop into an Audi I feel like I’m in something ten times better than Audi’s parent company’s cars, Volkswagen. More power, nicer features, and much more attractive. The Audi A4 wagon has an electronically controlled air-ride suspension that, when hung up on a large rock, can lift the vehicle up 6 inches. Even if you don’t ever off-road your Audi, that’s a cool feature. Try changing ride height in a G37.

All I’m saying is that Germany is making the better high-end cars right now. They’re faster, and in my opinion, look much better. But this could all change overnight. In the early 1900’s Chevrolet introduced the idea of releasing a new model year car every year and they’ve all been doing it ever since. Each company rolls out about five new cars a year― there’s bound to be some better luxury Japanese cars in the future.

Lazarus Has Finally Fallen

So for those of you who are familiar with the Bible, Lazarus was a blind man whom Jesus helped. First he gave him back the sense of sight, then when Lazarus died, Jesus reincarnated him. Lucky guy, this Lazarus. I’m not religious or anything, in fact, quite the opposite, but I have always liked the name Lazarus. I first thought it was cool when I went on the set of a made-for-TV mini series called The Lazarus Man. It was about some bad ass cowboy who couldn’t be killed. My dad gave me a tacky teal jacket that had the show’s logo on the back. I wore it until it could be worn no more.

So fast forward to junior year high school. I really wanted a car, a new car. I had heard of this car coming out in Europe in 1999 called the Ford Focus. It looked stellar, nothing like Ford had ever made before. So I coaxed my parents into buying it for me. I told them it got great gas mileage and that it was much safer than the airbagless 1987 Cop Edition Crown Victoria I was careening around in at the time. After owning the Focus for a few months and driving it around like the teenage jackass that I was, I decided it needed a name. It needed a name that people could read when they saw me speed by them at the governed 108 miles per hour. So I dubbed the sport compact Lazarus, because I felt invincible in the car. How juvenile.

So after moving to Albuquerque to attend UNM, I kept the car and the plate. I fielded questions about why I had picked that name and got sour looks from atheists and Christians alike. Then in June of 2007, the plate went missing. Disappeared from the back of the car. I reported it to the Albuquerque police, then spent a few hours dealing with getting a new one at the DMV. I paid for a new plate, then had to send away to Santa Fe for a new vanity plate. Set me back about $30. Sweet, plate’s back, nothing to worry about.

Now fast forward to last Friday. I was speeding (I really need to stop doing that) and got pulled over by a female UNM police officer. After sitting there for a few minutes I heard more sirens. Two other cop cars pull up behind her cruiser. They jump out and reach for their guns. “A little excessive, do these guys think this chick cop can’t handle me?” She came back to my window, “My computer says this car is stolen.” “What the fuck?” I thought as the men approached my car, hands on holstered guns. “Well, my plate got stolen last year,” I told the chick cop. Everything eventually got straightened out because she looked it up and saw that it was just the plate that was stolen. One of the male officers told me to go see APD and get the stolen tags code removed from my record. So after signing my name saying I’d show up in metro court, I took off to an APD sub-station. The APD officers told me they would have taken me out of the car at gun-point because catching thieves is how “cops get their jollies.” They also told me that I’m not actually supposed to have the vanity plate saying Lazarus. Because it was stolen, there were now two of the same license plates out in the world. Someone else could theoretically pop my plate on their car and commit a crime and I would be to blame. So now I had to return back to my favorite place in the world, the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division. I spent a few hours there before I finally got to talk to a manager. He said he would have to confirm with the Santa Fe office that they issued me another Lazarus plate. So until he figures out the MVD’s ass from the MVD’s head, I have to roll around with a temp tag as if I just bought the car. After 5 hours, 2 police departments, and the MVD’s bureaucratic bullshit, all I have to show for the day is a temp plate and a court date.

So this marks the end of the saga. Lazarus is finally dead. I have had to resurrect him via the MVD a couple of times, but now it is time to just let him die.

Adjust or Bust: Is Camber the Answer?

So the SCCA season is back. I attended the first event in my war torn Focus. I placed 4th in my class, so now it’s back to work. I’ve made all the nessecary excuses (The other guys have more horsepower, more parts on their cars, their bald tires make them go faster, etc) and now I just need to focus on the real roots of the problem. 1st major problem- I’m not as good at racing as they are. I really don’t want to address that problem because it stifles my ego, plus I can’t get more seat time if there are no races. So the second problem- my car is slow. But that is an intrinsic problem of the Ford Focus and throwing even more money at the car for a few horsepower is not the route I’m gonna go. So the last issue that I’ve decided is the root of my woes is the alignment. I have every part I could get my hands on to run a racing suspension- lowered stiffer springs, stronger shorter shocks, front and rear anti-roll bars and poli bushings all around. I even have front and rear camber adjustment equipment. All this and I’m running stock camber numbers! What the hell man? Performance parts without the performance, time to put an end to all that…

But before that, maybe I should explain what the hell I’m talking about. Camber? Huh? Camber is one of the changeable suspension specifications on every car. Camber is the amount of tilt a wheel has in perpendicular relation to the ground. As you’re facing the car, if the top of the wheels tilt toward each other, there is negative camber. If the top of the wheels point out and away from each other, there is positive camber. Camber is important to keep at manufacturer’s specifications for vehicles intended for daily driving. If the camber on a car is where it’s supposed to be, tires will wear evenly. In racing, tire wear comes second to lap times.

I’ve kept my camber at a stock setting because I was worried about prematurely wearing out my tires on the streets. But now, fuck it. The tires on the rear are the ones that came with the car (in 2001) and are as hard as rocks and the fronts are some worthless cheap Kumhos. So if I destroy those I won’t be heartbroken. Plus, it’s all about the handling. This weekend is open shop day, so I’ll do the alignment myself and it’ll be free. Can’t beat that!

An Age of Entitlement

Many contemporary senior citizens have been known to describe the current generation as one who feels entitled to handouts in life. These fogies have been overheard stating that we are all lazy and expect something from the world in exchange for merely existing. I propose that it is not a problem with a certain age group, it is a problem with everyone alive today in America. We have already met all of Maslow’s needs, so now we expect more. When people don’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, how safe they will be, or if they will be alive the next day, they begin to look at life with a new perspective- a perspective based on entitlement. We all feel that we are owed more. This is in part because of the nature of capitalism. We are taught to be good consumers, to buy up everything we can- even if our interest in the product is remote.

The idea that it is not just our age group, but everyone alive right now stems from my personal experience. I work with an older gentleman who is very lazy. He expects everything out of others, yet refuses to participate when he is called upon. Another older gentleman I talked to inadvertently dated himself when he said that, “young people these days have no work ethic. In the industrial revolution everyone worked and made this country what it is today.” His argument fails to include the ethical boundaries that people in that time period disregarded. There were no child labor laws, women were not allowed any positions of power, people of color were discriminated against, and ignorant business plans and ruthless CEOs ran a society fraught with immoral behavior. Now we are trying to save the environment whose destruction they pioneered. We are creating new sustainable methods for energy consumption, living, and working. There have been many advances in the medical field and in the computer sciences.

Some people would argue that these new technologies allow us to be more lazy. Instead of writing a letter, we can just send an e-mail or text message. Instead of going out and meeting people, there are websites designed for dating. In part, this argument is valid, it is easier to communicate. But this new ease only promotes networking. We can now have orders shipped from China without ever talking to anyone. We can be productive from our homes. Stay-at-home moms can hold down a day job online in a rural community. Nothing like this has ever been possible before. We used to have to move to the overcrowded city and struggle.

The societal laziness does not come from new technology. New technology gives us more resources to perform previously difficult tasks. The phenomenon is based in our own view of the world. We, as Americans, have been told that we are the best country on Earth. We have been given participation ribbons in grade school just for showing up. We are provided with thousands of consumer options everyday. We no longer have to worry about many of the problems the rest of the world faces. Our society is becoming service-oriented. We can have our shoes shined, our homes cleaned, our cars driven for us, our food cooked for us- all for a price. We have come to expect these services from everyone around us. This new age is one of entitlement for sure, but maybe we can still save it. There are hard workers out there, there is some work ethic left.