Throat Fire

Today’s post will be short, but not so sweet. About 11:30 PM last night I was awakened to that sensation I know all too well, the feeling that my throat was on fire. This state happens when I have an episode of breakthrough reflux.

Instead of just stomach acid splashing into the esophagus, an organ that does not have a lining designed to deal with the acid, small portions of food accompany the acid with reflux. The pain and discomfort are overwhelming and I start coughing. I’m not sure if a very small amount of food actually makes it all the up–the wrong way–the esophagus, spills into the trachea and reaches the bronchial tubes.

Last night’s associated coughing lasted far longer than any other in recent memory. I have an awful headache this morning and am actually afraid to eat anything more than just a couple of small bites.

If you want to read about GERD, you can here. By the way, I have had my upper GI tract scoped 17 times.

#ThroatFire

#GERD

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

Sunday Supper

Actually, I don’t eat supper or dinner or whatever you want to call the last, and usually biggest, meal of the day. I have a very bad case of GERD, have had my upper GI tract scoped at least 17 times and have found that simply not eating after 3 or 4 PM is very helpful in reducing the number of horrible reflux attacks. Have you ever been awakened because you can’t breathe and your throat feels like it is literally on fire? I would MUCH rather go to bed hungry every night than have even a 1 in 1,000 chance of experiencing what the gastroenterologists like to call “breakthrough reflux.”

******************

People trying to find out why Jared Zimmerman is no longer on Car Fix and/or people trying to find out why Cristy Lee is no longer on All Girls Garage clicked on Disaffected Musings often enough yesterday to generate a number of views that was three times the daily average. Where Is Cristy Lee? is now the most read post in the history of this blog, not counting the About page.

The on-air talent on Motor Trend is usually very tight-lipped about speaking in public regarding their personal lives and what is happening with their shows. I have read that Heather Storm was not happy that the network announced her departure from Garage Squad before she could reveal it on “social media” and before, I guess, the network had said it would make the announcement.

As a car nut (maybe I’m just a nut and cars have nothing to do with it) I watch Motor Trend more than the average TV viewer. If a non-football show is not on Motor Trend, an episode of American Pickers or a Mecum Auction broadcast, then I am almost certainly not watching it. I have read that despite the hundreds of channels available to cable/satellite subscribers, the average family watches just 17 channels. Of course, the move to streaming has really changed the way people consume TV.

******************

On this day in 1979 Chevrolet began production of its first front-wheel drive car, the Citation, as a 1980 model year vehicle. This car was one of four built on General Motors’ 2nd-generation X-platform. These were the first all-American developed front-wheel drive cars introduced for high-volume/mainstream sales. (The other three cars were the Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix.)

See the source image

From Barn Finds a picture of a 1982 Citation in X-11 spec. The X-11 was the “high performance, high looks” version. The car was equipped with a 2.8 liter/173 cubic-inch V-6 that produced 135 HP/145 LB-FT of torque. Yes, that passed for performance in 1982. The base Citation engine was a 2.5 liter/151 cubic-inch inline-4 that generated 90 HP/132 LB-FT.

I was still in college when these cars were introduced and I liked the looks of the X-11 Citation. A poor reputation based on quality and safety issues, not all of which were definitively proven, killed the X-platform which was discontinued in 1985. People have forgotten that these cars, particularly the Citation, were enormously successful, at least at first. In its albeit long first model year of 1980 (beginning in April of 1979, that’s why I’m writing about it today, remember?) about 812,000 Citations were produced. That’s more than the number of Mustangs produced in its first, and also extended, model year of 1965 that began in April, 1964.

Citation sales declined sharply; in 1982, the model year of the car pictured above, only 166,000 Citations were made, of which only about 9,100 were the coupe. The next model year saw sales decline to fewer than 100,000 (92,184, to be exact).

Of course, front-wheel drive cars came to dominate the US market until the sea change to SUVs (many of which are FWD if they’re not AWD) and pickup trucks. If we buy a 2006-07 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS as our Corvette companion, we will be driving an ideological descendant of the Citation as the Monte Carlo was FWD from model year 1995 through its end in 2007.

Does anyone have any opinions and/or experience with an X-platform car like the Citation? In general, please feel free to submit thoughtful comments, to click on any (or all) of the related posts listed at the end of each post, to sign up to follow the blog, to tell your friends about Disaffected Musings, to click on any hyperlink (the words in blue), to click on any ad in which you have genuine interest OR all of the above. Thanks.

#SundaySupper

#GERD

#ChevroletCitation

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

Wednesday Words

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”

I don’t know the source of that remark, but that is how I eat. I have no choice as I suffer from a severe case of GERD, Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease. I have had my upper GI tract scoped at least 17 times. Basically, I eat almost nothing after about 3 or 4 PM every day.

I have grown accustomed to going to bed hungry every night. In fact, I am happy when my stomach “growls” from hunger at night. That “growling” means I will not be awakened by the feeling of choking on my stomach contents and of feeling that my throat is literally on fire.

I think human beings can get used to almost anything. People who insist on ignoring their own realities are pissing into the wind, in my opinion.

******************

I suspect many readers don’t look at the comments. I am going to show part of my reply to a comment from 56packardman:

My father, a Holocaust survivor who watched his family murdered by ~~Nazi~~ troops, always said that Americans have no idea how good they have it. Too many people in this country have a severely deficient lack of perspective. Not being able to buy your child an expensive pair of sneakers or not being able to binge watch a TV show because you have to work are NOT tragedies in any way, shape or form.

A tragedy is what happened to my father. A tragedy is what happened to my uncle who survived a concentration camp only to be murdered when two pieces of sh*t robbed his grocery store in Bloodymore, Murderland. Not being as rich as you think you should be is not a tragedy.

Please read the comments and please feel free to send thoughtful remarks. The more people who participate, the better.

******************

I was amused by this part of a review of the 2020 Subaru BRZ in this article by Automobile Magazine:

“A six-speed automatic transmission is also available if you want to hammer one of the last nails into the manual transmission’s coffin while making the BRZ heavier.”

The article was titled, “The Lightest Sports Cars You Can Buy for Under $30,000.” From the article a picture of the aforementioned 2020 Subaru BRZ:

2020 Subaru BRZ 03

Both the BRZ and its twin, the Toyota 86, were listed in the article, which seems a little dubious to me. I like the looks of both cars and they are not slugs in terms of performance as their low weight obviously helps with their power/weight ratio. Maybe one of these days I will prepare a chart of HP per pound of various cars and then show the chart here.

#GERD

#TooManyCluelessAmericans

#2020SubaruBRZ

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

Monday Musings, GERD Edition

How many of you know what GERD is? It stands for Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease. I have suffered from it my entire life; I can remember getting heartburn in kindergarten. As it turns out I have faulty construction in that I have a hiatal hernia, which simply means that not all of my stomach lies below my diaphragm.

With a strict timetable in terms of my last meal of the day (usually no later than about 3 PM), two or three doses of Omeprazole per day and my running regimen (3-4 days a week, 30-45 minutes at a time), the GERD does not manifest itself that often, anymore. However, every now and then it reminds me it’s still around, like last night.

Being awakened by the sensation that I am choking to death and that my throat is on fire is way beyond unpleasant. The culprit was probably a small PB & J sandwich that I ate around 4 PM. My stomach doesn’t digest anything nut-based that well, anymore.

******************

Courtesy of 56packardman comes this Autoblog article about a BMW 507 available for auction. Why is that news? Beyond the rarity and status of the 507, this is news because this 507 was owned by the man who created the amazing look of the car, Albrecht Goertz. He also designed the Toyota 2000 GT and the Datsun 240Z. From the Autoblog article:

While as it turns out I have a “problem” with all German cars, not just ~~Volkswagen~~ and ~~Porsche~~, it is impossible for me not to admire the design of this car. (My German “problem” played a role in my selling my BMW Z4 last month.) I don’t know of any companies making kit car replicas of the 507 (a real one, of which only 252 were made, is VERY expensive), but I think such a replica might have a market. Look at how many companies are making Cobra replicas. Classic Driver currently has three 507s listed for sale, but all are POR meaning Price On Request.

******************

I don’t know why I am compelled to do this (I guess that’s the definition of compulsion), but here are links to all posts (besides the Home Page) that have generated at least one percent of blog views in order of most views:

If you’re relatively new to Disaffected Musings you might want to read some of these posts. Even if you’ve been reading for awhile, maybe you missed one or more of these posts.

As always I invite thoughtful comments by any and all readers. I am still waiting to read comments by the increasing number of Canadians viewing this blog.

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings