I'm zero-for-two so far today, with both Lazio and Vikings laying more eggs than my daughter's chickens... it's all up to Minnesota United now!

On the car front, four completely brand new sets of brakes, a fixed wheel bearing, plus a brand new exhaust system later, and my 350z feels like a brand new car! Combined that with the mind-bogglingly good tires I've got on it, and I'm sure the car would generate materially superior across-the-board benchmark results to when it was even brand new, seventeen moons ago.

About the "Invidia Gemini" exhaust specifically: it sounds more-or-less stock above thirty five hundred RPM or so-- but below that range, which is where ninety nine percent of driving generally happens, it's not just substantially louder than the stock system, but the low-pitched growl it generates makes the car intensely satisfying. My research paid off!

Beyond that, the car feels way up on power, partially because this is an actual dual system versus the fake Y-piped stock one-- but also because I think the old system had so many small leaks and holes, that the back pressure management was all messed up!

And the best part: my car doesn't need to comply with any of the bullshit new cars do; no freaking "backup cameras", no blinking lights or steering wheel wrangling when changing lanes, no GPS whatsoever, no "black box"... heck, my specific car's throttle isn't even drive-by-wire! And what few interventions it does have (ABS, STM) are either tastefully non-intrusive, or can be defeated with the press of a single button.

If my exact car were offered brand new on the market today, it's what I would buy! Feels good.