WCSAGD Returns! With Regional Flair! And Shlara!

I don't get a lot of positive feedback in life, so the generally warm reception you gave to my What Car Should A Gheorghie Drive series was greatly appreciated.  It's been all downhill since then so I'm firing it back up.  This time I'm identifying cars physically near the Gheorghie at issue to make acquisitions that much more tempting.

Speaking of tempting, Shlara gets the first edition of this reboot because (a) she responded enthusiastically when I asked for her zip code, and (b) there are some legitimately cool cars near her.

Shlara's original WCSAGD car was a Fiat Dino, so it only makes sense that her local car should also be a Fiat: this 2017 Fiat 124 Abarth in Alexandria.  The original Fiat 124 from the 1970's was very cool and very unreliable--it spawned the joke that Fiat stands for "Fix It Again Tony."  The modern 124 is a Mazda Miata with a different body and engine.  So it's reliable, but has the heart and look of an Italian sports car.  These are legitimately cool cars and the Abarth versions are the fastest.  This one is an automatic, but I don't know if Shlara can or wants to drive a stick, and it's more practical in DMV area traffic.

KBB says this is worth around $16,000.  Let's hope Shlara wants a toy car!

But maybe she doesn't.  She's a practical sort and I can envision her saying "What the hell am I supposed to do with that tiny car!  I have stuff to haul!"  I get it.  Luckily for Shlara, there's a 1970 Ford Ranchero for sale in Rockville.

I don't need to tell you why Shlara needs one of these, just look at it.  I have no idea what this will sell for but it's under $13k with only a day of bidding left, and $20k seems like all the money based on historical BaT sales.

Perhaps this whip is a little too salt-of-the earth for Shlara, and like the Fiat it only seats two people so Shlara might decry "I have friends!  I need more seats!"  Fortunately for her, a guy in Springfield is selling a 1964 Cadillac Coupe DeVille with a 6.0 liter Vortec V8 swapped under the hood.  Oh, it has flames painted on it too.

Hopefully the fuzzy dice are included in the sale.  I think this is the perfect ride for Shlara, it's as if someone turned her into a car.  But if she thinks this is too loud (literally and figuratively), I have one more great option for her.

There's a 2019 VW Golf Type R in Herndon.  The Type R is one of those perfect cars that appeals only to people like me and is thus doomed to go extinct in the US.  It handles like a dream (it's a Golf, after all), can be maintained by any decent mechanic anywhere in the country (again, it's a Golf), comfortably seats four people and a holds lot of cargo (more Golf), and gets over 30 MPG (Golf!!) while simultaneously churning out 288 horsepower to all four wheels so it goes like stink and handles snow well too.  The Golf R is essentially an Audi S3 in a more convenient, stealthier package.  Everyone should want one but no one does because most people are knuckleheads.  But not Shlara!  She's ready to Uber out to Herndon to pick this up.

That's all for now.  Send me your zip code if you want your own list of regional, attainable cars curated just for you.

The Health Benefits of Being a Gheorghie: Why You Should Post More Often

Alternate headline: Gheorghe: the Ikigai

As one year ends and another begins, it's customary or at least fashionable to reflect upon the year past and think about the ways one might seek to improve their health, wealth, or happiness in the coming year. Unless you're Dave, who channels Neil DeGrasse Tyson and points out the fact (and it is a fact) that the distinction between December 31 and January 1 is entirely fabricated by humanity and really doesn't have any particular cosmological relevance.

I digress.

As it happens, I watched a documentary series the week between Christmas and New Year's entitled Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones. The concept of blue zones was initially popularized by Belgian demographer Michael Poulain, and references places in the world where people are supposed to have a greater-than-average life expectancy. Entrepreneur, distance cyclist, explorer, former Cheryl Tiegs-dater, and personality Dan Buettner ran with the concept. He produced and stars in the documentary series.

Buettner and his team studied the lifestyles of people in Ikaria (a remote Greek island); Loma Linda, CA; Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; and Nicoya, Costa Rica (all of which claim to have larger numbers of centenarians and lower incidences of mental decline and other disease than average), and identified four broad thematic similarities: move naturally, outlook, connect, and eat wisely. Each of the categories can be broken into three subcomponents, as seen below:

It's important to note that Buettner has a stake in our believing in the concept of blue zones and some of the prescriptions that follow from the way people live in them. For example, he's published a series of books touting blue zone dietary habits as a way to eat more healthily. Do I actually know what the people of Ikaria actually eat? I do not, and as such have no means by which to evaluate Buettner's claims.

But the point of this post (which the author finally gets around to in the fifth or sixth paragraph, just like they taught him in writing school) has little to do with diet. I think we're all aware that we should eat more vegetables, lean meat, legumes, and healthy oils and fewer ultra-processed foods, complex carbohydrates, fats, and alcoholic drinks. No, the thing I found most interesting about Live to 100 is its exploration of connection and purpose as vital ingredients in the recipe for longevity. 

As it happens, Okinawa serves as the exemplar for both concepts in the documentary. In Japanese, the word 'moai' means "meeting for a common purpose". As practiced in Okinawa, moai are intentionally-formed social groups that provide emotional and financial support while providing members with a shared sense of purpose and connectedness. 

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that seeks to define the things that give a person a sense of purpose and reason for living. In Live to 100, the filmmakers profile an exceptionally fit and vigorous octogenarian (whose name I cannot recall, sadly) who spends much of his time fashioning musical instruments from wood and then playing those instruments with friends and family. He wakes up each morning to make music and the means to allow others to do so.

It isn't a real stretch to get from the Blue Zones philosophy to the ways in which G:TB benefits those of us embracing the Gheorghian way of life. Yes, some of us don't eat terribly well. Sure, others probably drink too much or exercise too little. But another way the filmmakers frame the importance of connection is via the notion of belonging to the right tribe - our little moai is at least a foundation. And if you aren't waking up and thinking about how you can bring a little more Gheorghieness into the world (as in postcount), I think you know what you need to do.

The life you save may be your own.