Saturday, June 17, 2006

fArt

The Raiders...... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh Sorry I fell asleep.

O: The sweet K*||'n clan will be in sin shitty for the Meatball's B-Day. Be prepared to bring your best drinking liver. The excitment starts July 28th at a casino near you. Be vigilant though, it is a limited premiere viewing only to last through the afternoon/eve of July 30th

D>M>
All you fuckers that live in the Bay and aren't rabid football fans.. GAAAAH

It drives me insane with jealousy.

WATCH and catch the fever:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jDDMfPk9rys

=)

Friday, June 16, 2006

Duke VaporWare Forever

The following things have happened since Duke Nukem Forever was announced...

  • There have been 125 hurricanes. 73 in the Atlantic, 52 in the Pacific.

  • Adjusted for inflation, the average price of gas in the United States has doubled.

  • The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, with extended editions.


Things that have taken less time than Duke Nukem Forever's Development...

  • The theory of General Relativity.

  • The United States' entire program to put a man on the moon, from Kennedy's challenge to the landing.

  • The United State's involvement in the Vietnam War.


More at The List

Elzar: It would probably be best if I chatted with you via phone on such subjects. Give me a call when you have a chance and Wylie is not occupying your time. Peace Yo

D>M>
The Great Gay North

So, the family is going to be NorCal for a few days coming up here, actually tomorrow. I doubt there will be anytime to see anyone, but we would like to try to show off the boy to those who have not seen him yet, which is everyone.

We are driving to SC tomorrow, and staying the night.

Then to San Rafael to check into our Embassy Suites hotel room, that has two rooms for the price of one, which means Wylie can sleep and I can listen to death metal. Then we drive around with a real estate agent all of sunday looking at the different areas up in those parts: San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Sebastapol, Novato, Occidental, etc.

Monday, we will probably look at Santa Rosa closer, as a friend of Leslie's lives there and can show us around a bit bettar.

After that, we may end up hitting Santa Cruz again (boo...) then home. But on the way, we could maybe hit you guys up for lunch, or dinner or some such nonsense.

So, thats my story.

Maybe, you guys could suggest some places around where you are, outside of SF, that are affordable-ish? I know about Enron's map, but I don't really know the scale, or the feel for the areas, you know?

Basically the reason for this trip is to get a feel for the people, climate, style, and whatnot to see if we could move up there and be happy with our decision.

Peace.
Something interesting happened at lunchtime

I went to pick up some chinese take out and started parking. As I was halfway into the spot the car on my left suddenly backs out (diaganally no less, straight in my direction). Naturally I honk, no biggie. Stops and I park in. This is where it gets interesting. I noticed the car didn't just leave, it just sat there. So looking at the driver, he stares at me in a semi-stoic posture, his passenger was more relaxed. Naturally, I figure he must have something to say or waiting for my acknowledgment (although I was wondering why, since he was clearly didn't look behind him as he was backing out).

So curiously I pointed out casually,
ME: "So you didn't see me coming in huh?"
DRIVER: (I think he was working himself up or something)
"So you didn't see me backing up?"
ME: "um, my car was already half way in the spot before you started backing up?" (pause) "you didn't even look huh?"
DRIVER: (flicks me a middle finger)
ME: "Nice attitude"
DRIVER: "What don't like it?"
ME: ( I turn around and dismiss him)

No need to say what that guy was, but what I don't understand is how American society is anymore. It seems the first reaction of people is to blame others or exhonorate ourselves from fault or responsibility and not only that, act instinctively the opposite. As if we have stopped to think rationally and put aside whatever is sensible or logical. Instead we replace that with our justifications.
I admit, I have been unreasonable a few times in the past, and I think I fall under the same problem. What is it that causes this angst? Is it the pressure from work? Pressure from our lives? Whatever the cause, a bad day, bad mood, a problem, doesn't give us the right to go around being an asshole. Some people are ridiculously wealthy being just such and have succeeded in life, but the ends certainly doesn't justify the means or so the saying goes.

This antedates to the BUS UNCLE video clip. Different situation, same style of idiocy, although BUS UNCLE was abusive to the point, you have to fight.
Hey Jael, give me a call or ping me on IM so we can arrange things....
Meeting up at Endgame sounds good. I'll call Enron and let him know it's on in case he isn't checking the hottest fucking site in town, the action taem!
YAAARRRGG! Cuz I'm the Pi-rat.

I'd be down for beer (since it was my idea), how's about we meet up in Oakland at the game shop there? then we can grab some nice food and beer at the wharf with the pleasant salty smell of soiled murky liquid from the Oakland bay? Have you been there? theres a good winery as well.

Positives:
Work is pleasant.
NBA is exci-titil-acting this year. (I invented the triple morphed word)
World cup is interesting.

Negatives:
Bush is still president
Weather is changing from global pollution
I'd like to have come up with the Girls gone wild idea when I was 21...

Thursday, June 15, 2006

too bad pirates of the caribbean 2 isn't gonna be rated ARRRRRRRRRRGHH!

Don't give me grats dude, it's not really a good thing. Was just sharing. And I thought about it, and was like SHEESH.
Uhh... congratulations?
i been drinking at work everyday this week! have a tally or 3 at lunch! i guess yesterday was the worst, 3 tall cans of coors light! then i went and met a friend at a bar afterward. I dunno, it's surprising how much Office Space is like real-life workplace. I AM UNTOUCHABLE! ...hic!
Haha, it's a blast reading and writing the comments. They're sort of like a mini-blog.

Have you guys shrecked out Pandora? It's part of the "music genome project," which tries to classify music by certain non-obvious characteristics. That sounds a little dry, but the upshot of it is, you go to the website and type in a bunch of artists or songs that you like. This creates a radio station for you that is composed not just of the artists that you liked, but it uses the genome business to put in artists and songs that it will think you'll like. Unlike the TiVo system ("You like Arrested Development? You'll LOVE Saved By The Bell!!!"), this one works really well. I've already found at least two new artists I thought were really cool. (Any of you guys heard of "The Knockout Pills"? Cool punk band.)

Do it!

Enron/Jael, what do you think about being manly men and grabbing a beer or two after work tomorrow night? I was thinking we could either meet at Jupiter's, near Games of Berkeley (in Berkeley), or good old Tunnel Top in downtown SF.

(Note, this was actually Jael's idea. I guess I stole it. What a rat bastard!)
Am I ever having a good time.

So after spending endless hours and being mostly happy with me game ratings/descriptions that I have pretty much finished up at boardgamegeek.com I decided to take a look at ElZar's and jr0n's. Oh man there is some funny shit. Props to the rock and jr0n. Especially the rock getting back on the horse and reentering out the lost entries. It is also awesome to see your opinions and memories of each game. Sort of personal. It can often explain a great many things too.

"Talisman in SPAAAAACE! This is a shitty expansion."

In other realms, eLzar, keep them coming. You already have three of these, but I know there are more. Go ahead and make me feel more inadequate about my rules divination skill:

"I can't tell you how many time Aaron was supposed to read these rules, or rather, the rules from the GW version. Now that the game is all pretty and streamlined, maybe he will, and maybe we will finally play this game!"

Man do I feel like a heel for not relearning such rules as: Fury of Dracula, Guerilla, Junta, Block Mania, Warrior Knights and what ever else I am forgetting. Ugggg...

D>M>
P.S. I laugh every time I look at Aaron's avatar.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

OMG

I can not believe that I have been screwing around in Boardgame geeks for so long. Time sucker. Stupid ElZaR and jr0n.

O. fArt: I have been interested in seeing 4400 since I heard very good reviews of it back in the begining of the first season, but I never caught an episode. Maybe I will have to make an effort to see it.

D>M>
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/the4400/
BTW..

Anyone else into the 4400 tee-vee show? The new season is just kicking up again sometime in the next week.. this one is a MUST WATCH/TIVO.. so good. The basic plotline is that a huge batch of people that went mysteriously missing at various points in "recent" human history (I think the oldest date someone got taken was in the 20's?) have been returned, all at once. The kicker is that they've all been "altered" in some way or another before they were brought back and reintroduced into society, via what "we" thought was a comet/asteroid on collision course for Earth.

Anyway. It's very, very good. I think the last season is out on DVD if you *cough* torrenters *cough* want to get caught up. ;)
Three cheers to Nerd cars!

That is pretty sweet Zar. I still dont know what the hell I am going to do for a wehicle yet. On the good side, I have finally received my first paycheck from the new company I work for. More cheers for being employed still.

Keep working at the boardgamegeek. I will. Its fun. I even worked on it during my lunch break at work. NERD!

D>M>
Cool!

Yeah, I forgot to mention how cool the auto-unlock and touch screens were IMO. The whole vehicle is pretty neato, and if/when we get around to buying our next vehicle, it'll probably be the Prius (or the equivalent "tech" vehicle at that unknown future purchase-date).
Ex-FX

So, we did it! We unloaded the FX on the Toyota people and picked up a Prius! Hooray environment! We got the package #3 which means none of the cool doo-dads that the #7 has, not GPS, no Bluetooth, no other stuff. But we do have a backup camera(!), a CD player (with MP3 playback) and an AUX plugin for the iPods of the world. Alot of the stuff that comes in this package, and standard really, is more of a luxury item than either of us are used to. The MPH is a digital readout, the car information is a color touch screen, and the backup camera is nice too, but the keyless entry and pushbutton ignition is really rad. The key sends a signal to the car that both unlocks it for you as well as acts as being in the ignition, so you just open the door, and push the on button and it starts! It is so silent when it starts, cause there is no gas, that you need to look at the HUD to see if the car actually started. It's rad. And it's a rad feeling knowing that as I coast, or sit at a light, or just maintain my speed, I am not burning an ounce of gas. I can even cruise around parking lots, slowly of course, and never have the gas engine turn on. Good stuff.

Anyway, that is all. And since the nice words of encouragement from Enron and Jon, I am back at it updating my collection on the BGG. That is all.
Hey Jael, I would love to give you spreadsheet access, but I still don't have your gmail address.

How long are you going to be in town for? I regret that I feel like such crap, hopefully we can get together at least a couple of times. Are you going to Aimey's birthday on Saturday? Enron, what are the chances of getting in some gaming earlier in the afternoon that day? (I imagine nil, but I gotta ask....)

Also this weekend for you SF Bay types, the Stern Grove Music Festival is kicking off on Sunday with a free concert by Aimee Mann and Seu Jorge (the guy who sang the David Bowie songs in Brazilian in The Life Aquatic). Show starts at 2:00. The special ladyfriend and I are planning on attending, I imagine we'll have to get there pretty damn early to get good seats though. Sounds like a good time! Mit alcohol!

WHY DO I HAVE TO BE OUT OF SUDAFED RIGHT NOW!? WHYYYYYYYY!???

I will go to the store and buy some.

Sudafed is a dangerous drug. It's great because you immediately feel SO much better after taking it that you get fired up because you feel good again and then try to overcompensate by doing all the stuff you didn't get to do when you were feeling really crappy before you took the Sudafed, thus overexerting yourself and making yourself even sicker. Did that make sense? I'm in a weird mental no-man's-land right now. The only thing I was smell is my own inflammation. The sick smell always reminds me of the smell of tongue depressors at the doctor's office.

"Steve," it would be an interesting experiment would be to catalogue the name and nature of every piece of porn we looked at. I think it would be hilariously disturbing! Well, maybe that's another Google spreadsheet, down the road.
still don't have access to the spreadsheets,

but from the sounds of it, it's probably good i don't. Just did a 1/2 mile jog to the gym and back... whew! tiring. I don't think I'm that old yet, so it must be a state of mental fortitude. When youre young, you just don't have that tired mentality, but when youre slightly older-young, the exhuberance to do voluntary strenuous tasks certainly decreases. Probably due to the accumulation of last year, i'm noticing a shortness of breath, and I can lift significantly less. There goes my fine Asian-aryan training for the 4th reich of board gamers. Ah hell...

47 mpg! and at a listed price tag of 32,000 for a van is extremely reasonable.
Well, if we could add recently played porno dvd's, I'd have more to contribute to the list. Last 3 viewed by Steve(?): Twindom, Filthy Fuckers First Time Amateurs (and I must say I am highly suspicious of this being some of their first times!) and the 4-star leader of the bunch, Chubby Chasers Gone Anal 3.

Yeah, don't play too many boardgames by myself.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

:(

Aw, that sucks. Well hopefully you can get the list back, if not the comments.

I see 89 games on your list, up 67 from earlier this evening (you can see how pathetic my evening has been). There should be a lot more of them?
Elzar

A similar fate came upon me. I found that in a few instances that occured to me. I decided to check my list after each entry. D'oh.

D>M>
FBGG

I spent the better part of the day, well, maybe not that long, but it felt like forever going through each game and clicking if I own it or not, and making lots of comments. As it ends up, only some of what I did shoed up in my collection, not everything...

... my spirits are broken. I am not going to get back to doing this for some time again. boo.
Koff, koff. I hate being sick. I was at work for all of three hours today. It was nine million degrees and I had a pounding headache; also there wasn't much going on anyway. Since coming home I've been alternating between rest, painting miniatures, watching Dodgeball (which sucks), and having mammoth nosebleeds.

For you mini painters, I found a good time-saving trick today that I didn't know about (maybe everybody else does though). Get yourself a size 2 flat brush. It makes applying even basecoats on things like large armor plates and cloaks go so much faster, it's disgusting. Easily twice as fast, and better-looking, than the coverage with a regularly shaped brush.

Aeryk I am liking the BGG comments so far. C'mon the rest of you dudes, all of you have at least a few board games. Get over there and join the fun! I wish people were playing more board games because lately I find myself going to the google spreadsheet every few hours, and being sad because it's only updated once every few days or so... maybe we can add board game lists as extra sheets to the current spreadsheet.

I used to be pretty into modern interactive fiction (ie, modern games written in the style of the old Infocom games like the Zork series), so I was interested to see Inform 7, which is the newest version of an IF development language whose previous versions I used to be fairly proficient with. The previous versions of Inform were C-like, object oriented languages. The new version is a major overhaul, a rule-based language in which you code in an interesting natural language style. For any of you guys interested in those type of games or just programming languages in general it's worth a look: Nostalgia Now!
Funny that we were just on this subject...

Japan only release of a 47 mpg Minivan.

D>M>
BGG

So, I am back at it continuing my struggle against the Boardgamegeek.com list of games owned. I noticed that you can export the list into some excel file or something, and thought when I was finished I would try and send it to Googlesheets. Maybe you could do it jr0n and send me the link. I could add everyone's lists to the AT site. Fun?

I am currently slogging my way though the 'H' section, and doing my best to make a comment about each game I log, which is a pain in the ass. I have yet to rate the games, because I feel that's really tough to do on a 10 point scale. I would rather like a 4 star system; a little bit less specific.

Anyway, back to it.
The general theory of relativity addresses the problem of gravity and that of nonuniform, or accelerated, motion. In one of his famous thought-experiments, Einstein showed that it is not possible to distinguish between an inertial frame of reference in a gravitational field and an accelerated frame of reference. That is, an observer in a closed space capsule who found himself pressing down on his seat could not tell whether he and the capsule were at rest in a gravitational field, or whether he and the capsule were undergoing acceleration. From this principle of equivalence, Einstein moved to a geometric interpretation of gravitation. The presence of mass or concentrated energy causes a local curvature in the space-time continuum. This curvature is such that the inertial paths of bodies are no longer straight lines but some form of curved (orbital) path, and this acceleration is what is called gravitation.

Monday, June 12, 2006

I got it.

We need to capture the energy from that collision and store it in one giant capacitor. Rule. We have 22 years to solve the storage system. Rule. I called it first. Patent. Suck it all of you! Im gonna be rich. Or Dead.

No seriously that collision was based on questionable calculations. It actually is well outside of the moon orbit. Current cals put it at 2.4 lunar distances. Just so happens one early calc turned up hideously ugly. Subsequent calcs were less grim. Good thing too because I like living. But that's just me. Nasa's NEO is a pretty nerdy resources for all you who follow Near Earth Orbit events and other astronomical research. They even have a sweet java program to track any of the NEO objects on a scale of time frames and views. Pretty cool.

Yeah the smart cars are sweet. Jon and I were looking at that page not to long ago. Pretty amazing little mobiles.

D>M>
Because I want a study break:

2006 Prius tax CREDIT (which is waaaay bigger deal than income tax deductions) is currently $3,150 (the largest credit of any hybrid) which suprised me. That drops to $1,525 next year and $762 the year after that for a total tax credit of about $4200-ish dollars over the three years.. I wasn't 100% clear if the $762 extends to the 4th year or not.. if so, that puts us up at about $5k. That's if the government doesn't extend or renew incentives for hybrids in the next legislative session. If they do, then the credit may go up or remain at max annual credit for subsequent years.. all just depends.

The Highlander, Camry and Escape were all the next highest at an initial credit of $2,600 with 50% and 25% reductions in subsequent years as well.

You know what I saw for the first time a couple weeks ago was one of those little quirky looking Smart Cars.. I don't know if those are hybrids or purely electic.. but I thought it was pretty freaking cool and futuristic looking! Ah hell, why not..

....engaging-internet....

edit: was looking at the UK website for smart cars that has more models.. that Brabus roadster is pretty freaking cool!

Here's the US webspace:

http://www.smartcar-usa.com/

Interestingly enough.. it's not a hybrid OR an electric car.. it's purely gas but with a next-generation engine design. I'm impressed! I like that they use dual spark plugs for each cylinder like they do in aircraft. That makes good sense for efficiency, power and reliability.

Article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217861/

(make sure to watch the crash test vs. a large mercedes sedan.. I was impressed!)

Too bad we can't get the Canadian diesel version that gets the same power but gets 70mpg instead.

Ok. Enough.. gotta get back to studying.
Without looking it up, I couldn't be sure, but I think the current tax break is 2k for at least the first year, maybe two, and then it steps down to 1k or something along those lines. Wouldn't swear to it though.

As for the shale issue, the simpler harvest-bake process is grossly s'expensive, yes. BUT.. it becomes commercially viable once the cost of gas begins exceeding $3/gal domestically.. which is right where we're at. If prices stabilize above $3 or continue to rise (as I believe they will due to insane increases in Chinese/Indian rising demand).. then all of a sudden we're in the driver's seat in terms of energy reserves. There's also a healthy reserve in the Gulf Coast of both shale and "crude", but environmental concerns (which are a bit silly, given that if *we* don't do it, another country is going to drill in the same international waters.. and then sell it back to us at an insane profit anyway) are keeping that from happening domestically.

You're essentially correct in so much that as long as we continue to demand insane levels of energy consumption, there will be no ultimate answer as we are out of balance with nature. That's just a statement of fact, regardless of how "green" or "corporate" any person's tendencies may lie. I think, in that regard, the Native American population had things right.

Oh well, it probably doesn't matter any bit anyway, being that we're due to get vaporized in 2028 from that gigantic asteroid that some studies have as being within 0.0002318 AU's of us (that's *inside* the moon's orbit for those keeping score).
Gas Master

Yes, I guess I should have been specific on the oil resovoir bit. The Oil shales are in fact huge in N.A. but no one has found an economical solution. I saw an insane concept that i believe Shell was atepmting. It involved heating an area of oil shale rougly several hundred feet in diameter to several hundred degrees and then pumping hot water into the system, producing steam, which pushes the oil up out of the shale into a collectable state. Only problem is the oil leeches out into the water table. To solve this, they create a ring of frozen shale/water around the heated site by pumping liquid gas into the shale. Insane amount of energy used to produce the oil. Uggg... The other solution involves mining and baking the shale. Not so cost effective either. Yeehaa!

Yeah the whole buy American thing for the sake of our economy and workers is lame. A large amount of US vehicle components are produced in other countires and vice versa, a lot of japanese plants are in the US. Ironic. Personally, I just dont like their design, engineering work, or QA standards.

Art I think you are right. I mean the nature of the issue is that we consume vast sums of energy just cruising around. There is no silver bullet. The generation and consumption of that energy is just a messy logistical problem no matter what the source.

fArt: Wasn't the federal tax break significant reduced at the begining of this year as a result of the large numbers of people purchasing Hybrids? Or is 2K the number they reduced it to?

Ja -El is right, it is Ikari Warriors. That was a sweet game. I spent many an hour myself on that one.

D>M>
I think it's Ikari warriors with an I

That was the old nintendo game.
Let's not forget the large tax write off for the first 2-3 years of the vehicle as well here. I think it's up around $2,000 a year for the first 2-3 years of ownership! That's fairly impressive in and of itself.

The reason American cars are teh suk when it comes to hybrid tech is that the Japanese only sell us their second and third generation hybrid technology.. and we're too far behind in research at the moment to produce anything better than second or third generation hand-me-downs. Sad. But, that's what happens (when bodies start slappin) when you're consistently graduating a third as many math and science majors compared to the rest of the technologically advanced world.

The truth is, we're a global economy today. So, I always laugh at the "buy American!" retards that drive around in their GM vehicles with foreign engines, transmissions, drivelines, and just about everything else. My Saturn Vue uses a Saab powerplant, a Subaru transmission/driveline for the full time AWD.. and many of the other major critical components. Ignorant American. That seems redundant anymore.

Aaron, small ironic point of order: The world's largest supply of oil *IS* actually in Canada, funny enough. The world's second largest supply of oil resides in the good ole U S of A in the greater Colorado area, mainly. The problem is that both reserves (which monumentally dwarf the Middle East reserves) are made up of sluff tar-sands and bitumen reserves that are only cost-viable above $3 a gallon-ish to harvest and refine.

Also-also: As has been brought up for consideration, what happens when EVERYONE is driving electric/hybrid vehicles? I love trying to figure out what the un-considered consequences of "solutions" are. I always think back to some quotes/articles I read that hailed the coming of the horseless carriage the solution to polution in urban areas (horse pollution). Funny, in retrospect. There is always unintended, unforseen consequence. Having tens of millions of gnarly poisonous-toxic hybrid batteries would certainly be one issue.. but then, I got to thinking.. wouldn't the effect of a hundred million electric cars (or more) on every highway in every city be similar to high-tension power lines on every street of every neighborhood?

Anyway.

I digress.
That's Yukari, with a Y

I think Ukari is the sequel to Akari Warriors. Man, did that game get a lot of play at the 7-11 by me on weekends. That and friggin' Double Dragon.
For those of you GameBoy lineage fans, here is a pretty interesting review of the DS Lite

D>M>
Hybrid Tech.

That is a really good point about all the components being manufactured in Japan. They tend to keep all the advanced development components within their borders until they are able to master it and pass it on to the neandertals of North America.

I have seen a lot of commentary about the US not having a true Hybrid. Yeah there are a bunch of "Hybrid" American cars, but they all seem to be Hybrid assisted that have some features to lift mileage a couple mpg, but nothing like the Prius, Insight, or Civic Hybrids. In fact some seem to be geared towards providing extra acceleration. Stupid. American manufactures just seem so slow to react to trends and completely oblivious to anticipating market trends.

On the other hand, I do not think I would ever buy an American Hybrid even if it were competetive. I mean the advantages would have to be huge. Why? Well, think of this: What is the single worst component of any American car, besides style (Read: Aztek)? The electrical systems. American manufacturers seem to cut corners here. So why buy a system with such reliance upon complex electrical systems. It could be worse though. You could buy a hybrid from the British. The American manufactures produce two things very well, large high performance motors and big vehicles.

Speaking of batteries, I guess Toyota has been toying with Lithium batteries for extended life and lighter weight. Only problem is Lithium Ion batteries are supAr expensive and toxic as hell. But the good thing is all the batteries are recyclable. None should end up in a dump.

Jordan and Ukari (sp?) have a Prius. I didn’t get a chance to ride in it this weekend though. Boo...

D>M>
More Prius Shmeeus

Not that I am trying to be a Toyota shill or anything like that, nor defend my decision to try and pick up a Prius, but here is more on my reasoning:

Admittedly, there is not a lot of financial savings in it for me, as far as long term goes. It's like I am slashing my gas cost in half, or more than half, but am paying in other ways for the opportunity to do so. And since I only plan on signing a 3 year lease, I am not really even coming close to getting the most bang for my buck. There have been stories of people leasing their Prius, then buying it at the end, and selling it for more, and in effect making some cash then and there. One story in particular: A woman leased her '01 for 3 years, bought it for $11,000 at the end, then sold it for $18,000. These things hold their value like a motherfucker.

More to my point though, while I am not saving money on the deal, it is an opportunity to "control" a little bit better where my money goes, and in a very loosely, roundabout sort of way, I feel I am making a positive change in the world; not only by saving the environment, but by voting and supporting policy with my dollars.

Obviously, the more eco-smarter cars there are out there, the more incentive manufacturers, politicians, businesspeople, etc. will have to make more of them. Every piece of the Prius is 100% made in Japan. What does that tell American auto makers? The Gov't decided as an incentive for people to buy hybrids that are a certain degree eco-friendly, they would issue those yellow carpool stickers so you could drive solo in the carpool lane. Well, they have stopped making those stickers, and are halting that incentive plan, along with the tax breaks, because SO MANY have sold.

These things can effect change in many ways, both good and bad. More people "saving" money on gas, the more expensive gas will be, the more killing to get more gas. Sure, the Prius is not going to effect global oil consumption one bit, but it is a start. Also, once these incentives are effectively removed, it may be enough to kill any interest in Hybrids for some, and then drive demand down again, and costs up, so the experiment may fail based on that as well.

Yeah, there is going to be an epidemic of dead rechargeable batteries in the future, and the back end looks funny, but it is worth it to me, to feel I can make some small difference when I fill up. Rather than paying $70 fucking dollars to fill up the car, and then make 15MPG, I can pay $50 and make 40MPG. It's psychological, and it's reality all rolled into one. I feel better, and Gaia can breathe a little easier at night.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Lake Tahoe is amazing. This was my first time there. So pretty, so much fun stuff to do. We are all definitely going to have to rent a cabin up there sometime and do some gaming/drinking/boating.

I haven't been that consistently drunk in a long time. I drank so much that after two days I was drinking, instinctively, but never felt buzzed or anything. Maybe that's what it's like being an alcoholic? Oh yeah also I got progressively sicker over the weekend due to a cold. And I kept getting bloody noses. And I went on a hike in some un-broken-in shoes and gave myself a hideous, bloody, painful gouge blister on my foot. Complete with livid red color and oozing pus. You guys should be sorry that I don't have a digital camera, because if I did I would so be putting a picture of that sucker up right now.

Oh yeah and Enron turns out to be a real Renaissance man. He was the captain on the boat and did an awesome job. The man knows how to grill a good tri-tip and chicken as well. Good stuff, thanks for coming up dude!
Car 1: "I got Bad Gas!"
Car 2: "You gotta get some of that good gas!"


If I were to spring for a hybrid, I think it would be the Civic hybrid. Which gets just shy of the Prius's mileage (within one or two mpg in both real driving conditions and sticker numbers), but it does not have the "junk in da trunk" look. Although, it does not have all the same cool gadgetry the Prius has.

Yes, certainly the mileage is quite a huge perk. Especially considering the cost of gas in both ecological and political terms. However, I do not buy any of the financial savings people believe they are getting. The cost of purchasing a hybrid instead of a comparable non-hybrid is about $5000 to $7000 dollars more. Typical savings on these cars can be expected to be around $500 per year as compared to a fuel efficient comparable car. That would mean it could take 10-14 years to recoup the extra cost of the vehicle. Even someone who drives a monstrous 25K miles a year would still only save $1000/yr. Then one begs the question of why they have not changed their driving habits instead. This is of course excluding the increased hybrid maintenance charges. As Art said batteries are spensive.

I have been torn on the hybrid issue for a while. It is one of several reasons why I have not purchased a replacement car yet. I hate the oil dependence and I hate what it makes our fine country do over seas. Boo... Why couldn't all the oil have been in Canada? On the other hand I am poor. Boo. And I drive so few miles now, savings would be nil. Even before my car died, I was driving less than 6K miles a year. I have even mulled over the idea of doing City Car Share up here for any local driving I need to do and forgoing owning a car completely. I donno. Often times I just wish I had my Accord again so that I don’t have to think so hard or feel guilty about buying anything that eats gas. Stupid conscience.

Speaking of eating gas, Tahoe was lots o fun. Tid bit of information though: Gas + Boat is expensive. Gassing up the boat after 3 hours of cruising, $96.00. Uggg. Good thing gas at the pump in the marina is a cheap $4.64 a gallon.

Ja -El: we are back. Aimey is doing her B-Day thing on Saturday. I will let you know once she gets a time slot.

A sign that you are lossing your hair: Sunburned scalp. Boo. Even with 3" long hair. I guess I have to put lotion in my hair now when I go out in the sun for extended periods. Boo to aging.

D>M>