So Many Toys, So Little Time...

Well actually, it's probably more so little disposable monetary resources :)

You see, we recently got a brand spankin' new Nikon D90 at work for a project. I've been thinking about getting a DSLR for a while now. The D40 was what I had been plotting for, but after having some quality, umm private time with the company D90, I've decided to concur with a good buddy who's been incessantly heckling me about going "D90 dude, D90 all the way!"

Check out the attached pic... I can't believe how noiseless the damn thing is. At 1:1 pixel or hell feel free to magnify even more, it don't matter! Granted, the accompanying nikon lens helped *some*, but still, that is damn impressive.

Dang it, I still need to get a Les Paul too. And I should probably get my baby's window retinted sometimes. And also her dash - temporarily known as The Gaping Hole.

Aww, I made myself sad again. Or maybe it's need for some ultra-violence. Where's my lightsaber...

I Officially Hate Durham, NC

Last night/this morning is one of the more bizarre nights I have experienced in my short and fruntless life thus far... The recipe?

1. Start with generous portions of Stay-up-late-because-I-was-strangely-ultra-productive.

Catch up on work, readings, cleaning the apt, throwing out useless junk, relax on the guitar, etc.

All good, right?

2. Look at the clock while keep reminding myself that since I deliberately did not set the clock back one hour, I still have one more hour to goof off. The night is young, after all!

3. Falling a sleep for a little bit before being awaken by a frenzy of knocking on my door. I ignore it. It doesn't go away. Louder now, in fact. I try to look for my cell and then realizing I can only be armed with a knife at best. I quietly walk toward the door.

4. "Who is it? "Durham police" says some dude dressed like a cop in my peephole. "Can I see some ID?" "Are you Blah Blah? Your Firebird has been broekn into. I need you to come with me".

I nearly faint.

5. Turns out 5 cars in my apt parking lot were hit. They did catch the three retards responsible thanks to an apt neighbor who saw something suspicious in the parking lot and called it in. My beloved baby at first looks good.

"Still in one piece, that's a good sign", I told myself.

But then the lady with the "Forensics" jacket told me about one of the perps bleeding inside the car. I pictured the worst.

6. The actual damage - those three fucking retards apparently couldn't even learn how to properly boost a car. So they smashed my baby's driver side window to smithereen. And took... my 9 year old Alpine CD deck that was half dead. Earlier this week, I was actually thinking about getting a replacement. This was where the fuckers bled in the car - must have cut his hand(s) while ripping apart the plastic container around the CD deck.

You know, I would have seriously considered giving that CD deck to someone who needs it, much less three retards who managed to get caught not 10 minutes after they made their getaway in a camry. I asked the cops about their age. Something like 19, 21, 26. Yep, sounds like a moronic bunch.

7. Cleaning up the aftermath... gotta get a replacement window AND retint it to match the intact passenger and back windows. After an initial carefree period of shock, I think I have gone into the blinding anger stage. Not sure how you are *suppose* to go through the 4 stages of grieving, but somehow I just keep imagining breaking every bone in those fuckers bodies with my bare hands. And then shooting them in their knees.

8. Also, when I first heard the news, in my distraught state I tried to get dressed. Result? Ripping my favorite pair of jeans. It was piss old, yes. Hence the authentic wear & tear. It was just my luck that as I was preoccupied, i somehow stepped through one of those wear & tear holes and managed to rip it wide open.

So yeah, I take these a one big sign for me to get the hell out!

I've Come Undone

Boy, this All Hallows Eve sucks donkey balls.

You see, I just got the dreaded i-don't-know-how-to-say-this email from this girl I've been seeing. It wasn't totally unexpected, for some reason. I credit that to my awesome drunk-kat-sixth-sense. But it kinda sucks huge donkey balls when she tells me the issue was her ex who mercilessly dumped her but now claims to have feelings for her, again. The guy's good though... to throw this at her just when she's going through some tough breaks at work, not to mention her depression situation. I think he's just trying to mess with her head. But she doesn't think so.

Actually, I think it's working quite well. *sigh* I haven't replied her email. Not sure if I will.

In other news, I *volunteered* to work tomorrow morning due to bosswoman's kind request. Argh.. this weekend is gonna suck. Huge donkey balls. I should stop with the huge donkey balls reference... huge donkey balls have feelings too. Again, argh.

A part of me want to go kick her ex's behind. But that wouldn't solve anything. Also, at my current post-radiation weakened state, there's a distinct possibility her ex who happens to be a firefighter might kick my ass instead. Triple argh. Oh by the way, the radiation made things worse. Quad argh. Have I mentioned the weekend sucking huge donkey balls yet?

Really wish I am cleared to exercise :( I could seriously use some free weights/basketball/5k right about now.

Well, time for this drunk cat to go get drunk(er) and attempt to play awesome rock solos on my beloved strat. Sorry in advance, my apartment neighbors.

Wish me luck on waking up tomorrow morning for work!

Who Says You Can't Escape The Laws Of Physics?

I think you all would agree the hot thing right now is being "green". Green jobs, green products, green way of life. One of the things at the forefront of this movement has got to be the hybrid cars. Or in my book, the jellybean car club.

Don't get me wrong - I am a FDA-approved, USDA-certified tree hugger. I recycle everything I can, walk/bike to work, avoid turning on the heat during winter hours with my snowboarding gears, keeps my thermostat near 80F during summer days thanks to my birthday suit, and less but not least - I sometimes fantasize about cool animals like cheetahs and siberian tigers and polar bears becoming sentient and going all viva la revolucion on the humans. Preferably with friggin' laser beams attached to their heads.

But I digress. What I am trying to say is, the current hybrid jellybean car movement seems to offer an impossible conundrum - if I want to save the Earth (and the whales), do I have to drive jellybeans with skinny low-rolling resistance tires attached to their undersides?

But then inspired by the dinosaurs, who were the coolest animals ever (cheetahs and polar bears co-close-second, though), I seemed to have found a plausible answer in an automobile dinosaur - the Tucker 48 sedan.


This is a beautiful car, with sexy curves, rear-engine/rear-wheel-drive and most importantly, a third headlight smack in the middle of the front grill. Oh and it happens to be directional, too. Very sweet.

Actually, I lied. The truly most important feature of this car is its aerodynamics. With a drag coefficient of 0.27, it's still an excellently aerodynamic car. That doesn't look like a jellybean. Of course, you still need to take into account the frontal area, but still... point friggin' 27 for a 60 yr old car. Pretty friggin' impressive in my book.

I think the take home message is very clear here - dinosaurs are sexy and cool and we should do everything to bring them back to life!!!

The Curious Case of Roman Polanski

Today at lunch, my coworkers were discussing how Chicago would have been the perfect candidate for second place in the Olympic hosting bid war, and one thing led to another and pretty soon we turned to Roman Polanski.

Roman friggin' Polanski. I wonder if it's true there are actual Polanski supporters out there wishing for his unconditional release... or is it just media sensationalism at work? I mean seriously, why are we even debating his case? Because the victim wants to let it go to avoid ripping open old wounds? Or is it because he directed Pianist? This thing has me scratching my head. A rapist by any other name would be just as guilty. Or perhaps not.

Now I feel much better for skipping over Pianist back when it first came out :)

Knock Me Out With Those American Thighs

I lost another 5 lbs this week.

And nope, I am not jumping up and down with joy. Well, maybe a little for the fact that I'll have to ramp up my fried-chickin-with-ice-cream-on-the-side diet... Confused? Jealous? Both? Well you see, I recently had a little radiation therapy to whip my imperious thyroid into utter submission. Now before anyone starts showering me with generic get-well-soon comments (you were planning to, right...?), let me just say that I wasn't deathly ill or anything. Okay, maybe half-deathly. But long boring story short, I have been putting everything on hold more or less while the docs try to fix me. Sadly, that included staying up all night jamming on my strat, perusing the interweb and blogging about random stuff.

I did, however, score half dozen assorted dress shirts for like $8 each. Woohoo no more laundry!

Now where were we - ahh yes, extended sick leave. Basically, I am currently at the starting stage of feeling all-better. Just you know, minus 25+ pounds of muscle. Damn, I didn't know I had that much muscle mass... kewl! Hopefully everything will stabilize in a few weeks, and I'll be fully operational again. I haven't felt this weak/strengthless since oh probably soph yr of college. Recovery is gonna be a biatch. But I am very excited to see what kind of damage I can do once I am cleared for regular gym hours :)

Excuse me, I think my bowl of Breyer's mint chocolate chip ice cream is calling my name in a very, very sexy female voice. I am afraid I must leave you. Like now.

Oh By The Way...

I am now officially hotter than ever. Radioactively, that is. Now, should I go with spidey senses or green pecs?

GM's Money Back Guarantee = Me Get Extended Camaro SS Test Drive?

I heard that GM is offering a 60 day money back guarantee on their products. I wonder if I should drive up to the nearest Chevy dealer and ask for the keys to the nearest Camaro SS?

There's GOTTA be a catch there, somewhere... right? Well, I guess I better start googling for the nearest drag strip then :)~

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty...

BMW recently quit F1 to work on the hybrid thingie. They say quitters never win, but I think this is an excellent counterexample.


Eat that, you non-quitter-winners! I mean seriously, the specs call for a diesel-electric hybrid capable of 155mph governed top speed, better-than-Prius fuel consumption rate and a 0.22 drag coefficient that's "developed with know-how from Formula 1". Here's the official press release/cool pics gallery.

I was slightly appalled that the brunette was blurred out in one of those press photos. What, you took an entire person out of the depth of field just so we'll focus on that sweet sweet car? Never!

Oh wait... she's in focus in the other photos. My bad, yo.

But I am sure you'll agree, this car raises more question than she answers. Why does she look like a pissed-off kitty, with her ears high and eyes glaring? How many vital organs do I have to sell on the black/grey/transparent market to get one of these? Why wasn't there a redhead? BMW, inquiring minds want to know!

It's True Because It's Science!

This just in: Some Women Allergic To Sex

Bummer, I guess all those women were telling the truth... :)~ But like all merciful deities, Science showed compassion through the *ahem* recommended therapy. You know, the "... require sex two or three times a week..." part.

Guess all I need to do now is to find that lucky girl with hypersensitivity issues!

The '57 Chevy... Eh I Mean Chevy 230

In case you haven't heard, the Chevy Volt aka GM's Hail-Mary-All-In-On-7-2-Off-Suit was recently given a 230MPG rating. Although not completely official yet, GM is already pimping the Volt like it has an operational flux capacitor. I don't blame them though... after so many years of being treated as the retarded red-headed step child of the auto industry, GM finally has a big sound bite! Seriously, 230 freakin' miles PG!

But of course it's too good to be true. They're doing "fuzzy math", as in counting the miles driven by the battery and adding it to the miles driven in gas mode ("charge sustaining"). Since the battery is suppose to do 40 miles on its own, you essentially get a "free" 40 miles for the gas mode. Sad, because I do think the Volt is one step above the Prius type hybrid. And I do think it will put GM back into the race and then some. But to claim it goes 230MPG? That's something only a retarded redheaded step child would say.

I've always thought we should go with a new rating system... perhaps joules/km? Fine, metric system's evil - joules/mile then?

Nice Olive Green Shirt, Grandpa.

So I just had a dream. You know, from your typical passing-out-after-dinner nap. I woke up just before midnight. You know, big man-tears streaming down my face.

No, the dream wasn't about world peace. Or Megan Fox stalking me. It was, however, about my grandpa.

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

It all started with me walking around my grandparents' house, aka the house I grew up in. Everything looked so bright and clear and sharp - you could say this was my first "HD" dream. I felt like I was looking for someone as I walked up and down the hallway. A sense of relief came over me when I came to the stairs in the middle of the house. A figure slowly emerged, slowly walking down the steps. I instantly recognized the light olive green shirt and white shorts. White shorts that looked like diapers. I don't know why.

"Grandpa!" I shouted. His face appeared from the top of the frame, if you think about it as a movie. He was smiling big. His hair looks younger. Maybe it's the almost lack of white hair - or that there's still hair, period. His face looks younger too, and actually has a pretty healthy tan-ish glow.

I ran to the end of the steps to meet him. He kept smiling. Really big. No words, though. It was then that I realized he was the one I was looking for, and that grandma was the one who sent me on the search & rescue mission of sorts. I grab hold of grandpa's arm and dragged him toward the laundry room. Grandma was doing laundry, apparently with my sister as assistant. As I called to her that I found grandpa, I felt this enormous joy as if I was, well, dreaming. When grandma heard grandpa calling her by her nickname, she turned around and hugged grandpa with a death grip and um, kissed him on the chest - lovingly, I might add. I suddenly remembered why I was searching for him. Apparently, it was close to the anniversary of my grandpa passing away, and grandma had sent me to find a photo or something personal of the man. It appeared I did better than expected. Now I understood the overbearing joy.

Then the scenery suddenly changed. I was at home. Grandpa was walking in front of me toward the back part of the house. Soon we hit the kitchen. The sun was pouring through the open patio door. The air was of the sweet morning variety. Kitchen was somewhat messy, though. As we walk through the patio door, I bear hugged grandpa from behind and refused to let go. It felt good. Really good. Somehow, I felt like a little kid. I looked up to see that I barely reached his broad shoulders.

Grandpa effortlessly kept moving, dragging me along for the ride. Soon, we're outside. I felt a cool breeze. Sunlight galore. Everything looked and felt bright, if that makes any sense. I let go of grandpa. We both take in the scenery and I seem to utter something about how it's good to have him back (from the dead, apparently). And then he turns around, the sun behind him making him appear just as one dark shadow, and said,

"well, do you know why I missed this world so much?"

He then turned back as if to take in the beautiful scenery surrounding us, took a deep breath, turned back to me just enough to let the sunlight illuminate half of his face and answered his own question.

"it's because I couldn't let go of you all"

A mixed sense of inevitability and sadness flooded my senses. I started to cry. In my dream.

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

After I cried myself awake, I suddenly realized that it REALLY is the one year anniversary of my grandpa's passing, give or take a week or so. I know I don't want to forget this dream, and so here I am - blogging in my online diary at 1:45 am.

Maybe living inside the Matrix ain't so bad?

It's worth it, though. Now, to raid the pantry for some snacks before going back to dreamin'...

Ants Marching And Giant Anteaters And Marching Mini Steak Cows

It's official. The summer heat has claimed more victims - this time six-legged ones. You see, I came home yesterday all migrained up complete with pulsating temples - only to find quite a few ants exploring my computer desk area. I did have an open bag of chips in the vicinity, but noooo these ants weren't even side glancing at it. Instead, the were gunning for my trusty o' laptop. More specifically, congregatin' near my blog bookmark.

Yes, I have my blog bookmarked for the convenience of my inner narcissist. And yes, I've had to tell some kid (my sister) who was borrowing my laptop that it was some random Radiohead guitar tabs site.

But I digress. So, in my temple-pulsating state, I somehow started debating whether or not this situation would be better if I was an anteater. Specifically, the giant anteater because the physical dimensions more or less match. Think about it... if I was a giant anteater (G.A.E.), all these little pesky-and-almost-indestructible ants would be sweet sweet snacks on six-legged-fun-bite-sized packages! I wouldn't be slightly disgusted with them crawling around my computer junk. I would be very happy, indeed. It would be like chicken nuggets or bite-size T-bone steaks decided to crawl through my window sill and right into my lap.

Yum!

But being a G.A.E would have its downsides. For one, the lack of opposable thumbs and other digits would make it so much harder to get my narcissistic butt onto blogspot. For two, it would be quite a bit tougher to show off my super awesome bod thanks to all that G.A.E. hair. But then again, I would also look slightly more adorable.

I am glad to report when I called my apartment people to come terminate these marching anteater snacks, they had absolutely NO idea about the above thoughts...

I know, I gotst issues.

I Am Bender, Please Insert Girder

I just found out Futurama is coming back for at least 26 more episodes! Goddamnit, this makes the massive pain from running 5k today a little less, well painful.

Yes, the temp was "feels like 92F" and the route hilly. And yes, it's been probably a month since I last ran. And yes, I felt like I was dying after 33 minutes of woods & bugs & hot-girl-with-dog-passing-me. But futurama is back! Hooray beer for all!

Oh btw, here's a slightly better photo of my new baby, a '99 Fender American Strat :)~

Up, Up and Away! So Wishes GM.

I saw Up this weekend. It was my *gasp* first 3D movie, ever! Pretty cool, indeed. The movie itself was the usual Pixar hit - for the most part. I especially loved the first 5 minutes or so of the movie. I won't spoil it, so let's just say thank Buddha for the goofy & bulky 3D glasses that shields your eyes from other fellow moviegoers.

In other news, GM is officially applying for bankrupt protection. I am all for evolution weeding out the weak, but I seriously hope the Corvette (hell, the new camaro too) survives this ordeal in one piece. It's times like this that one wishes to be a billionaire - wouldn't it be just swell to buy up rights to say 'Vette/Camaro/Firebird/GTO/Solstice and form some sort of former GM All-Stars company? Yo Bill G, you listening?

Michael Bay Is Clairvoyant.

I finally caught up with the cool kids and watched Transformers the Movie. Now I know why people talk about Megan Fox. I also think I like the new Camaro more than I am willing to admit. My first impression of the robots, however, was that they were a bit too "organic" for my taste. Too much exposed wiring and whatnot.

And, of course, Jazz a.k.a. Pontiac Solstice GXP just had to die. From being torn cleanly into two halfish chunks, no less. Either Michael Bay has too much hate for Pontiac, or he had an inkling what was about to go down. Either way, sadness :(

New Toy

I love toys.

Especially toys that cost me a month or two's rent but plays oh so good.

*Ahem* Without further stalling, allow me to introduce my new black Fender American Strat! I am so elated, I am almost not sad about my empty bank account :)~

Oh and my "band" played our first "gig" over memorial weekend. Thanks to the friends who got married and allowed us to "entertain" them. Sadly, I couldn't air quote "married" because hey, two love birds actually tied the knot! It was so beautiful. And fun.

By the way, is it still the protocol to wait at least three days before calling a bridesmaid, who unfortunately did catch the bouquet?

MSNBC Says Proms Taking Hits From Economy

Umm... I think the guy on the right is doing pretty good. Well, maybe it's relative, as in he had to cut back from 4 to 2 girls? Damn economy indeed! :)~

Possible New Toy...

I have an inkling that a new toy might arrive soon...

stay tuned :)~

And It Continues...

On the way back from Guitar Center, you know to attempt to revive my poor guitar, I almost got sideswiped. I have never been involved in an incident with other vehicle(s). Sure, maybe I've taken a car airborne before. But no car were harmed in the making of that story - except my own that is. I'd like to keep that streak going.

*knock on wood*

Basically, the light turns yellow. I assume the other driver was slowing down, and he did the same with me. It's kinda like the 4-way stop situation. But with lights. Oh pretty yellow lights.

Oh Murphy, please show mercy on this poor soul!

I Want My Baby Back Ribs.

Yes. It's the D'oh baby again.

What now, you ask? Well, it seems Murphy decided to apply a somewhat urbane twist to his so-called law. Close your eyes and let the ominous music take us back to approximately 10 days ago... what's that, you don't hear ominous music? *kicks ominous music generator* Better? Good.

'Twas a dark friday night. Having just celebrated a buddy's engagement with gratuitous eating, drinking, guitar hero-ing, real guitar jammin', followed by more eating, I was on my way back home when I suddenly decided that I need to right my procrastinating tendencies.

"Yes! I will start turning my life around, eh take it to new heights through ceasing of procrastinatin'. Oh I know - I'll drop off my rent check today - the FIRST OF MAY - when it's due on the 5th!"

Incidentally, Jonathan Coulton's First of May was playing on my car stereo at the time.

Well, let's fast-forward to a few days later (thursday night), when I found a letter tucked into my apartment door seam when I got back from a long day at work. Hey, maybe the apartment office wants to give me some kudos for my awesome first-of-May payment. Maybe they wish to use me on the next monthly newsletter as a role model for all? I opened the envelope with anticipation.

Dear blah,

blah blah broke blah office, blah blah check box, blah blah you. blah blah stolen check, blah need to pay us by friday (tomorrow).

Blah!

If this is what kudos make you feel, I hate kudos.

So, after some calls and a few trips to the bank, it seems like I escaped more or less unscathed from this ordeal. Still contemplating if I should close down the old account and get a new one. So much hassle. Must...not...procrastinate...

Oh and last night, when I plugged in my trusty strat in to practice for my friends' wedding (friend marrying another friend!), the damn thing stopped making noises. Switching to my acoustic-electric shows the amp/cord are working fine. If I can't fix it myself, it probably wouldn't be worth it to take it to a shop. Which means I'll be buying a new electric within the next 10 days. Hurray!

More Ramen noodle, please.

You Want Moi? For iReport? Do Go On...

So, back on monday I submitted my first ever, um submission to CNN's iReport.com about the demise of Pontiac. I of course was temporarily crippled by immense sadness, as much as one can feel for a subdivision of a failing but still historic megacorp whose new politician overlords and greedy unions most likely hastened the death of said subdivision mentioned at the beginning of this so-called sentence.

What was that? Yes, I am not feeling as sad now that I got that sentence out of my system. And yes I agree, the GM execs who screwed the pooch with Pontiac now have blood on their hands. Or maybe 10W40. Either way, sticky thick fluid on their hands, I say!

*ahem* think happy thoughts, happy happy thoughts... as in, those responsible for this gruesome act shall be condemned to driving only Pontiac Aztecs for the rest of their (and their children and their children's children) natural life.

So... yeah I now think CNN just wanted to use the photo I submitted, since the commentary part was pretty much what I just rambled about :)~

It's Official. RIP Pontiac.

News leaked out last Friday, and I was hoping for a hail mary, mirace on ice, the empire strikes back return of the jedi-esque comeback. Alas, it looks like it's official. Pontiac is no more. Long live... Buick?! SERIOUSLY?

I think I am now officially apathetic about GM's potentially gruesome death.

:(

Time Warner Temporarily Less Greedy By Public Demand

The recent PR Bay of Pig by Time Warner shows that there is hell to pay when you mess with the public's unlimited access to porn, eh data.

So this is what being a victorious Cuban commie feels like.* Cool :)

The main reason TWC pisses me off? Mostly their desire to have the cake, molest it à la American Pie and then eat it too. TWC like most other major broadband ISPs seems to have a quasi-monopoly in their respective markets. It's inevitable that greed and lack of consequences will lead to crap like 40GB monthly cap or this seriously-it's-legal-to-do-this BS. I would have sooo paid cash to see a TWC exec meeting right after this thing blew up in their face!

I have used TWC as my broadband ISP since... HOLY CRAP, it's been my first and only broadband ISP! I still remember when the cable connection first went live at 2Mb/384Kb so many years ago. Right now I am on their "standard" connection, 7Mb/384Kb. Hmmm... the same upload speed for a decade?! That reminds me... this time last year I was going through TWC Hell, mainly because the node I was on was at 99% saturation between the hours of 5 pm to 3 am, and also the entire weekend. I spent countless hours with TWC support, who seemed to have a fetish of telling people to reboot their modems repeatedly. I was finally referred to a "tier 3" tech rep who really knew what was going on. She told me the node was essentially jammed, conveniently during hours when I am actually home and might want to use my paid connection. It was literally slower than dial-up. No exaggeration.

Loooooong story short, after 8 months of continuously bugging TWC, they finally split the node or whatever and I got a usable connection. During this entire "incident", I was still paying the Roadrunner standard fee.

Well, you know what I did when I heard TWC's "customers need more education" BS? I fired up uTorrent and started downloads for every Ubuntu and fedora distro images known to mankind, repeatedly :)~

I think I went through 40GB in three days or so. And that's just download :)


*no offense to Cubans, victors, current or ex-commies

A Bag 'O Weed, A Bag O'Weed...

Oops sorry... stupid Family Guy mini musical number that's so awesome and difficult to get out of your head :)~ I do believe it's the second most awesomeist Family Guy song after the AIDS song.

*cue peter griffin laughter*

So, a lot's happened since my last post! Pirate Bay guys lost (boo~~~), Pirates von Somalia got shot, Family Guy did their 420 special (crap, it's back in my head), and I need to go on a diet since I started exercising somewhat regularly (woohoo!).

Ok, let's take the first one. Court system being manipulated by parties with beaucoup amount of money? Check. Pirate Bay site still up and running? Check. More fans turned off by the suits at RIAA/MPAA/other misc collection of letters? Check. Artists seeing any dime of the potential settlement cash? Not likely, from the lawsuits up till now anyway. It was interesting to see the Pirate Bay guys' video responses. I seriously hope their faith in the Swedish higher courts is not misplaced. I know I would be PISSED if I am Swedish, seeing my judicial system pushed around like that!

Now, the real pirates... and hostage fighting back, and Nave SEALs, and multi-ship Mexican standoff, holy crap! I have mixed feelings about this one. I thought it was downright hilarious to have pirates-on-a-lifeboat playing who blinks first with an Aegis class destroyer. And each side was REINFORCING with more ships! Sorry... it's just such a comical and WTF moment, at least to me. It's sad that three pirates got headshotted. But then again, when they kidnap ships carrying humanitarian aids, that takes away from their Robinhood cause. I dunno... let's see how our beloved world leaders deal with this. Should be interesting.

Family Guy 420 special? Bag 'o we... CRAP. It's back again. On to the next topic, stat!

Ahh yes, dieting. By dieting, I mean eating more. Way more. You see, I've been successfully getting my butt to the gym and the running trails in the nearby woods. I am definitely feeling a little more energetic than before. But now I am hungry, like all the time! I've been off the Mickey D stuff for about 4 months now (woot). I'll have to double, nay triple my calorie intake if I want to keep up.

And Homer says, Mmmmmmmmm ICE CREAM... :)~

Converj This.

The Cadillac Converj was one of the cars that drew me to the Washington Auto Show earlier in the year. Unfortunately, it did not make an appearance even though the Volt and Tesla and Karma did. It seems like GM is betting their future on their Volt platform... and for once I think they might be actually doing the right thing. It's actually modular, so if/when say fuel cells become affordable (ha), they can just yank out the 4 banger and put one in there. If new battery technology comes through, just replace the battery pack. Actually, the engineering concept is pretty practical and sensible. Never thought I'd use those words to describe GM :)~ Of course, execution is another story. So far, GM seems to be on the ball with the Volt. For some reason though, the Obama people seems to hate GM just because. I mean, they finally have something good and you want to be anal about meager things like financial feasibility?

Okay, maybe they should be. But somehow I don't remember the same treatment given to the boys in the financial sector. Just saying. If I had to pick between giving my tax money to car makers or bankers...

Btw, what's up with Obama tapping all these RIAA lawyers for government positions? This is NOT the change I voted for... oh well, politicians

Spark Plugs + Wires + Fuel Filter = $450...?

So my baby has been going through some issues. A mysterious misfiring problem that seems to get better and worse depending on the moon phase. I finally broke down and took her to a local shop. The shop came highly recommended from a coworker friend, who claims to have been with them for over two decades. This is a pretty big step for me, since I don't like to have strangers touching my baby...

Guess what they told me yesterday?

"You need new plugs, wires and fuel filter for $450".

me: were you able to get the SES light to come back on?

"No."

Me: Did you even try?

"No."

Me: But like I told your guys when I dropped off my car, the light went off the day before. It went off once already - it will most likely come back on if you give it WOT, or run through the gears under 2K.

"Sir, we don't have time to drive 50 miles around to try to see if it would come back on."

(in my mind) well then did you actually DO any testing...?

Me: so the $450 is based on how many hours of work?

"3 and 1/2 hours"

Me: is John#1, John #2 or John#3 in? I spoke to them when I was there.

"everyone's out on vacation. For the entire week."

Me: ...

Granted, the last one is probably just a coincidence. But I took the car to the shop because I was worried it was something more serious. I think I was partly responsible because, well I gave them too much info when I dropped off my car. You know, when you go see the doctor, OBVIOUSLY you wouldn't want to give him/her anything more than "this hurts right here".

Anyway, guess I'll have to go the DIY route, just as the traffic gods intended.

RIP Raptor

Being somewhat of an aviation dork, I felt a bit sad when I heard the news that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had pretty much killed off the F-22 program in the name of saving some cash. I can definitely see where he's coming from, but the major media outlets' responses following the decision has been somewhat curious. A quick look around and you have stories from say Newsweek, MSNBC, CNN, etc all saying the F-22 is essentially worthless because it's not being used in the "war against terror".

I think that's a little short-sighted. Actual wars are hell, no matter if it's proxy wars between two superpowers or unconventional conflicts between people who take religion a wee bit too seriously and people who wish they had oil instead of drinkable water. Saber rattling is always better than actual wars. But if you have enough of a deterrence to prevent even that, then hey why the hell not? In that regard, the F-22 is a heck of a deterrence. Yes, I know everyone just WISH we have live targets to shoot at with our fancy stealth jet, but the world isn't perfect. Throwing away a program that costs however many billions in R&D money is a bit of a waste, especially when them commies (China) are gearing up for more regional conflicts and the ex-commies (Russia) is shooting for a return to former glory. They didn't restart their Bear patrols for nothing!

Ok fine, the Tu-95 bears are pretty cool, for a prop bomber :)~

But I do see the merits of the argument - at the moment, F-22s are pretty useless except for when our Air force needs to tell the world, OURS IS BIGGER AND BADDER THAN YOURS. But then I see Newsweek start arguing that the upcoming F-35 is also useless, and that there's absolutely no point in updating our air force - that's just stupid. Didn't some F-15 literally disintegrate in the air during a high G maneuver a while back, and the entire fleet had to be grounded? Isn't the current fleet of fighters children of the 80s, having being designed a decade or two earlier? Do they understand that modern fighter development takes decades, not months? Do they not know how children of the 80s tend to turn out? (oh wait, I am one. Oh well, more evidence for my argument)

This sounds a bit like the isolationist thinking prior to World War II.

But now that we've killed the F-22... can we bring the (Y)F-23 back? Pretty please?

Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!

I know the Final Four was a week ago, but just thought it would have been soooo appropriate if at the championship game one of the Michigan State players yelled that to say Hansborough's face before, you know drop kicking him into a deep well :)~

But a congrats to the ACC. You don't hear that Big East basketball nonsense any more, that's for sure!

Would You Be My Prom Date?

But only if you are wearing this classy prom dress...


No babe, that's not a photoshopped pic of what I want you to wear. Trust me, if photoshop's involved... hello transparent layers :)~

Foiled By My Own Smugness.

It would look like Microsoft somehow managed to gain a new fan in me from my last posts.

Well, remember that hang glidin' pig outside my window? Yeah, he crashed and burned.

You see, I had forgotten that I spent a few hours hacking Windows 7 Beta after the first install. Taking out unnecessary services, startup programs, windows media player 12, DRM crap. Basically a necessity for my trusty old laptop.

Unfortunately, after my unsuccessful attempt at making 7 beta and Fedora 10 mutually tolerable, I used window's system restore to try to fix the screwed up boot sequence. It didn't work. But when I finally got 7 beta back up, I saw that it indeed "worked". All that portly junk that I removed came back, and some. The DRM stuff is worst. Windows 7 will support more codecs natively (namely divx/xvid & h.264), but EVERYTHING is routed through the built-in DRM pipeline. You know, to protect the unalienable rights of swell guys over at the RIAA and MPAA. Even if the content isn't copyrighted.

Okay, I know artists gotta eat and RIAA and MPAA suits need to buy yachts. But it sucks when said built-in DRM pipeline system is grossly inefficient. Video and music files that my trusty lappy used to handle at the lowest power state (600Mhz) now consistently devour over 90% of the CPU at full speed (1.4GHz). Besides using more juice and creating more pollution, it generates more heat which keeps the laptop fan on constantly. Definitely not cool. Literally.

I remember I was able to override 7 Beta's built-in codec with Xvid in the first go around, which seemed to alleviate most video issues. But thanks to system restore, the 7 beta codecs are back and refuse to give up power.

D'oh!

Time To Mix It Up! Part II: Attack of the Linux Clones

So, in my last post you heard me ramble on about Windows 7 beta like a catholic school girl with a puppy crush. Well, if it helps, the switch to 7 Beta got me going so much that I decided to try out the latest linux Fedora distro via, you guessed it, dual booting.

It's been a while since I got messed with ubuntu on my other PC, a homegrown desktop that's a decade old. I know... damn. Don't get me started on my OTHER PC, also a homegrown desktop but even older (don't think it's polite to ask any more... yeah that bad). That baby sports a K6-2 CPU and Windows Me! Hey, don't judge. Genuine Windows 9x support comes in handy whenever an urge for old games flare up.

One of these days, I might just install MS-DOS 6.22 somewhere. Watch me.

Anyhoo... oh yes, trying to make Fedora 10 play nice with Windows 7 Beta. I got one word for you...

friggin'-disaster

Pronunciation: \o-'hell-no, -'shi-t-f-me\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English & Finger; see dual-boot on same drive with radically different OSes

1. Panic-inducing event. See Cuban Missile Crisis.
2. Cuban Missile Crisis.

First of all, I learned that the Fedora image file is a picky princess. My usb dvd burner was JUST not good enough for her. For a while I didn't think I would be able to attempt to get into this princess's pants with my stupid external burner as wingman. Fortunately, my laptop was big enough to have an internal slot-loading burner. Again, 6-yrs-old! I love my lappy. *Ahem* Sorry about that. But then... the same problem with the Windows 7 Beta/XP Pro setup came up. Basically, bootloader's confused and I can't get into either OS. No matter, just need to adjust some partition settings and booting order and position of crossed fingers. But no... the damn thing just won't boot up. At all.

So, after an hour or three of repeated OS installs (started to be a turn-off after the third cycle), I decided to utterly give up. Only now, I can't get 7 Beta to boot. Not even a little bit. There's a blinking underscore that eerily resembles the one on the Jurassic Park main computer after the power shutdown. You know, when Shaft the Jurassic Park IT Guy declared he needed to go switch some jumpers back on. Famous last words before the raptors got 'em, indeed.

Crap, now I want to watch Jurassic Park. Better wrap this up.

So yes, thanks to some googling on the work tablet, I was able to fix Windows 7's corrupted MBR (yes Fedora, bad princess) and boot up. I am happy to report that in the end no animals or data were lost. I guess I can try Fedora on the desktops... but right now, I am a bit exhausted and just want to sit back and watch dinosaurs chase after humans.

Is that too much to ask?

Time To Mix It Up! Part I

I was slightly bored this week, despite life obligations galore.

No, I haven't done my taxes. Yes, it's due like, soon.

I decided to try out big evil MS's latest and greatest, yep that Windows 7 Beta thingie. I downloaded it a while back, mainly to put my "blazing fast" road runner standard connection to some good use. I mean, there's only so much illegal TV shows and movies and porn that one can download. The ISO image had been sitting quietly on my My Book (WD marketing obviously failed to ponder the situation when a customer wants to announce ownership of his/her brand spankin' new external hard drive). A quick burn with Nero and partition work with Acronis and I am ready for a smooth installation of 7, right?

Wrong.

Well, not entirely. You see, I started by installing Windows 7 on a spare HD on my laptop (just realized it's 6 years old *sad gasp*). It was truly a pleasant surprise. Really. All the positive press and hype were true! I actually had a Vista SP1 install on the spare HD, which I used maybe a total of 20 minutes. Windows 7 blew it out of the water upon first impression, even if it was only 20 minutes. But that's like taking candy from a retarded sleeping sheep. Time to pick on the awake sheep - XP Pro. And the awake but drunk sheep - ubuntu. Sorry, no three-legged sheep with a fetish for Apples in my house, yuppiness be damned.

And the journey began... First, it turns out Windows 7 did not like dual booting with the XP Pro install on my laptop's main drive. No matter how many times I messed with the bootloader, partition type and position of my animal sacrifice to the Installation Gods, Win 7 Beta never made it past the first reboot. So I pretended I was French and capitulated to the stupid bootloader. An hour later, XP Pro was backed up before it was deleted off the drive, and soon I was staring at a strangely alluring Betta fish on my desktop.

And boy, Win 7 really rocks. Using my laptop as a test platform is good because a) it's 6-yrs-old and b) it's got a 6-yr-old CPU/chipset/Vid card combo:

Pentium M (banias) 1.4Ghz
i855 mobo chipset, rev b (woohoo, 33Mhz more DDR RAM speed than rev a!)
2GB RAM, maxed out :(
Radeon 9600 w/64MB RAM


So... with the "Aero" GUI maxed out, Windows 7 runs basically as fast as the old XP Pro SP2 install, which I've really streamlined for max efficiency (I know, it's Microsoft, but me like games and to be fair, XP has been rock solid). And once I adjusted the power scheme for passive cooling... my 6 year old lappy is back to her quiet self.

I think at that point, one of my eyebrows went up as I thought to myself, crap I actually might want to buy a copy of windows. Yes Vista, this is how it's done! And hell, I even left UAC (the uber annoying User Access Control) on!

Oh my gosh, did I just see a pig hang glide past my window?

Melinda Gates Says Women Are Eternally Insatiable

Maybe you've already heard... in an interview with generic mass media outlet, Bill Gates's beloved wifey mentioned how apple products are banned in the Gates household, and that sure at times she's a little envious of her friends sporting the iphone.

"Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone',"

-Melinda Gates

Guys and gals, I believe this is the official, FDA and Pope-approved proof that women might actually really want the moon! With access to the latest tech Bill's little start-up company has to offer, not to mention a few billion dollars in assets, Melinda couldn't resist the lure of the lowly iphone

Thank god we don't have a lasso that can actually reach the moon...

Oh Rick, Say It Ain't So

Things don't look too good for GM and Chrysler... What's new, right? Well, it looks like this might really be the end. The Obama admin looks to force major change in both corps, but it might be too little too late.

Too be honest, I hope both GM and Chrysler survive. It's never good to have less competition, even if the auto market is in the worst decline of the past three decades with peak oil very well past us. It would be just too sad to see the companies who brought us corvette/camaro/firebird/barracuda/road runner/superbird/challenger/minivan to go down like this. Especially when it looks like maybe, just maybe they are finally going in the right direction in terms of quality and design.

Fine, maybe it's nostalgia. Or maybe it's my family's apparent good luck with big three vehicles. Dad went through a ford and then oldsmobile 88. Mom had her Dodge minivan. All without major problems - except when they were hit by other incompetent drivers.

By the way, GM's proposing saving Chevy, GMC, Caddy and Buick. BUICK?! WTF... I don't believe I know anyone who drives a Buick. Ever. If their rationale is Buick's strong sale in China, well by all means, why not make it a Chinese market brand? And then have say Pontiac and/or SAAB in its place, for something like this:

Chevy - mainstream division, with exception of the 'Vette :)~
GMC - Trucks & SUVs division
Caddy - Luxury division
Pontiac/SAAB (maybe combine the two divisions..?) - performance division

Barbie's New Ride!

Wired.com just broke this exciting story: Pink My Ride: Barbie Gets a Beetle for Her Birthday. This thing's amazing... motorized vanity (IN YO FACE Xzibit), pink engine, pink everything. And if I am not mistaken, Heidi Klum with a huge beetle-esque flower resting oh so innocently on her skin.

I want one. Where do I sign? What do you mean Heidi isn't included in the base model?

Well then, good day to you, sir! I am sure there are other dealerships that can help me...

Morgami Cable... I Like!

My trusty old guitar cable was giving up the ghost... you know, cracked shielding, random noises and pops, numbs your finger if you touch it just right. As luck would have it, I found this 10% off coupon for GuitarCenter in my recycle bin. So... a quick drive later and I was at the store staring at all sorts of monster cables. I had heard good things about Morgami, but to be honest I've always held the notion that a cable is a cable is a cable. As long as electrons will flow, it should be enough. Not saying that I go for the cheapest available, but I definitely don't buy into the $100+ monster cable urban myth.

So... what did I get? The salesdude talked me into an 18 ft Morgami Gold. Cool for $55 + tax. It has lifetime warranty, and according to the salesdude, if I wear one out every month, I would be able to get free replacements for life. Okay, I'll bite.

What's that? You don't take coupons for cables? Damnit, my evil plot foiled! I had it all planned out too, whipping it out at the last second to avoid complications. Without discount, this is a little more expensive, and yeah the profit margin on it was probably insanely high. But I had to have one and didn't the patience to scour the net for deals, wait for shipping, etc.

Guess what... when I plugged the Morgami in for the first time, I actually heard a noticeable improvement in sound quality! The highs benefited the most, with a MUCH better tone, and just a fuller sound overall. Pleasantly surprised, I am!

Snow Day!

Oh please don't stop... yes, oh yeah that's it, keep going please...

:)~

Updated (later that night): Awww, you stopped. Oh well.

Car And Driver the Stand-up Comedian? Part II

In the article titled "Despite Woes, Detroit Shows Off", C&D personified each Big Three concept and prototype with a "How Sexy" celebrity connection. Let's watch...

The Chrysler 200C Concept:

"How Sexy? Jennifer Aniston after she fixed her schnoz."

2010 Buick Lacrosse:

"How Sexy? Helen Mirren - perfectly fit for the older crowd."

2010 Cadillac SRX:

"How Sexy? Jennifer Garner: The priority may be family, but it's a[sic] still a looker."

2010 Jaguar XF:

"How Sexy? Clive Owen: British but not effeminately so."

2010 Lincoln MKT:

"How Sexy? It's Celine Dion - nice body, odd face, comes from Canada."

2010 Lexus HS250h:

"How Sexy? Cheryl Hines - strange from certain angles but attractive."

Volkswagen Concept Bluesport:

"How Sexy? Heidi Klum in the finest from Victoria's Secret"

The Lincoln MKT comment was so wrong. Yet so right. Above's a pic of it but google more and see for yourself.

Car And Driver the Stand-up Comedian?

The latest issue of Car and Driver came in the mail last week. I didn't have time until tonight to flip through it. There were a few interesting quotes that brought a few true lol moments (at least for me). Check 'em out:

In the backfires section, Scott from Trabuco Canyon, CA wrote in about last month's article on the Nissan 370Z:

"The Nissan 370Z appears to be aging much like my wife - a few years after its debut, it's now wider and shorter and has a more commodious trunk awaiting my junk."

To which C&D replied:

"Hope you enjoy your new sleeping accommodations in the canyon."

And that, kids, is how you use a big word like commodious correctly. Also, it's how you get put in the doghouse. Or have crazy commodious sex in the doghouse.

By the way... SNOW!

Oooooh... This Makes Me Mad!

Here's a reason why sometimes common sense needs to be an official amendment to the Constitution.

Injured good Samaritan ticketed for jaywalking

A good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange reward for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket.

Family members said 58-year-old bus driver Jim Moffett and another man were helping two elderly women cross a busy Denver street in a snowstorm when he was hit Friday night.

Moffett suffered bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and a possible ruptured spleen. He was in serious but stable condition Wednesday.

The Colorado State Patrol issued the citation. Trooper Ryan Sullivan said that despite Moffett's intentions, jaywalking contributed to the accident.

Trooper Ryan Sullivan. What a guy. What a trooper.

If only the guys from Super Troopers can come and kick Trooper Sullivan's ass for being moronically retarded.

Oh and it gets better:

... Sullivan said the two elderly women haven't been cited but the investigation is ongoing.

What. A. Jerkwad.

Maybe I was brought up wrong. I believed the laws our elected officials pass are suppose to benefit the society. Make it better. I don't think a strict interpretation here benefits anyone EXCEPT the local state troopers' holiday fund.

I can basically see trooper Sullivan shrugging his shoulders as he stops by the ICU and hand over the ticket to that man. Not cool at all.

Good thing it's a beautiful day out... which means I can go for a run without snot freezing on my face. Hopefully that would take my mind off this, tax dollars at work incident.

Watching Juno And Operating Heavy Machinery...

... should be considered a potentially lethal combination. Case in point, over the weekend I had a mini movie marathon with a few good friends. It was late, past midnight even. Definitely way past our bedtimes. We had just finished Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Juno was on, and chips and assorted junk foods flowing freely all around.

"I am thirsty" I declared. "Where's closest 2 liter coke?"

"Lying on the floor by your recliner, pointing approximately due north" answered the retarded friend host.

I struggle to get up from the couch potato position. I reached around, over and under and found the bottle.

"Hey it's almost empty, mind if I chug it?" I asked the friendly host.

"Sure, knock yourself out."

So as Juno tried to get her hamburger phone to work, I started to untwist the cap to the coke bottle. Then suddenly, I hear a loud noise consisting of BOING and THUMP. A few milliseconds after, I felt a sharp pain in my right eye. The white cap was no where to be found.

Apparently, there was still enough coke in the bottle that when physically shaken, generated enough compressed CO2 to make the bottle cap into a make shift paintball gun. My face, and my right eyeball just happened to be in the way.

"Oh shit, did you just shoot yourself in the eye with the coke bottle cap?" asked the hosting friend.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, brings new meaning to bust a cap in your ass!" said another friend as he laughed and pointed.

Ouch.

First Up... '09 Washington Auto Show

Yep, it feels like eons ago when I had some free time to waste on the net. Good to be back!

So very tired. Must catch some seriously needed Zzzzz's. Here are some photos from the 2009 Washington Auto Show at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.. The complete album is here.

Anybody know the world record of most instances of washington in one sentence?