What We're Talking About Around the Office
* Sanjaya! (Although by the time this issue comes out ,we won't remember what this meant.)
* "At this very moment, Pete is teaching the IT guy how to improve storage capacity on our computers. Perhaps later he'll take apart his new cell phone to increase reception in rural areas. Don't laugh--I caught him doing exactly that a few months ago to his brand-new $250 phone."
* Did anyone keep track of how many hours Hazel spent online shopping for a crew-cab diesel pickup? We've seen his paychecks. He can't afford one anyway.
* What about the hours spent fantasizing about ownership of an M38A1? That wasn't Hazel.
* The movie 300--"The killin' was sweet!"
* The best e-mails we've been getting have been from troops deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq who say reading our escapades reminds them of home and makes their time there go by more quickly.
* Installation stump of the month: "The winch I decided to run on my J-20 is perhaps the widest in the industry, and it wouldn't fit in the bumper I picked. I had to make a custom bolt-on plate for it."
* Overheard after the claim of shifting dust storms on Mars are creating global warming on that planet: "There are polar aliens trying to rest on the last piece of martian ice caps."
Jeep News & Rumors
* Libertys are flamers! Some '06-'07s are being recalled after issues with a blower motor in the A/C system and supposed complaints of resulting fire.
* We should find this endearing, but it seems kind of icky. At every concert they hold on their current tour, singers Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill will display their red '78 CJ-6. Cute, right? It's named Date Jeep. Purell, right?
* A Jeep with reliability issues? Who knew? Consumer Reports' latest new-car, owner-satisfaction survey put the V-6 Grand Cherokee in the least-satisfying category of midsize SUVs. At least it has company--the two-by Liberty scored least-satisfying small SUV.
* Sirius backseat television will end up in some '08 Jeeps.
Waste-Powered Jeep
As if! We're actually talking about vegetable oil, which is what MJKL, owner of 52 Carl's Jr. franchises in Arizona, is converting its corporate fleet vehicles to run on in the future (that being 2010). Part of the lineup, including Jeeps, actually has already made the switch to a mix of diesel and waste vegetable oil from the restaurants (first put through a filtration and treatment process).