Lyra, when I had axle issues in my old car, they told me that it would make very noticeable noises before reaching the point where the car would be undriveable.

I think it might make a difference if the car is front or rear drive, and if it's the front or rear axle.

That's all I got. I had a rear-drive car that had rear axle noise but I got rid of the car before I had to deal with it.

ita should get her hands on the end of today's Ellen. I realize I watch too much TV.

Happy Birthday Lysana!

Happy Belated Birthday Laura!

I'm not sure I like the signs for what sort of day this will be, what with the police stopping highway traffic on my route to work for downed power line repair and the semi in front of me having a blowout soon after.

Cindy, born in Williamstown (or, okay, born in North Adams, because that was the nearest hospital back in the day).

If I knew that, I'd forgotten it. You should have stayed, darn it. I am very covetous of all the people who lived here at one point, but left before I could know them.

Lysana, are your 1st 14 years of area codes from Mass.? It was probably 617 or 413, if so.

Happy Birthdays to Lysana and Laura. Happy anniversary to kat p and her DH.

Area codes:

216, 202, 301, 32-2, 215, 610, 818, 650

Gilmore Girls: I liked Marty a while back when he looked like he was gonna be all "I don't count as a romantic prospect? Screw you" but he kinda wimped out on that. Logan's way better for the wild oat sowing that Rory so desperately needs to be doing.

Jesse, what's up with Ellen? Tell!

up until about 15 years ago, I could make local calls just by dialing the last 5 digits of the number.

Jamaica was like that. I was crushed when we went all 92x-xxxx.

Area codes, area codes: 809, 876 (well, theoretically -- I don't know what the Jamaican area codes where when I was actually domiciled there), 416, something in NY, whatever London was, 514, 313, 504, 734, 248, 810, 323, 310.

Give or take.

-t, I totally agree about the oat sewing. I hadn't realized that Marty ever gave a screw this platonic crap speech. Did he or is that from the end of this episode? I think when I see him on the screen, I sort of glaze over in part because I find him terminally boring even if he does get an occasional zingy line.

for my whole life, it was 617 for all the towns I've lived in which are now 781,

Not 4 years ago, before I got my cell phone, I spent 20 minutes in Harvard Square trying to call my mother on a pay phone, before I realized that I was dialing the wrong area code. That was one of my first, "these kids today!" moments of adulthood, I think.

(This was a good 8 or so years after the introduction of 781; I just completely forgot.)

I think the other problem with the introduction of 781, aside from the switching problem DX describes, is that they made 781 basically as a ring around 617 (metro Boston). So Salem and Quincy are both in 781, despite being on opposite sides of Boston; and Quincy and Dorchester, which are contiguous, are different codes.

Why, yes, I got into an argument with a telephone operator once about the wrongheaded way that "local calling" is designated in the Boston area, why do you ask?

whatever London was

I had to look up Brussels. I knew the country code but not the city code.