On the block today:

One set of Mini wheels + race tires

One highly over-functional cell phone

:-) The race tires got interest within 10 minutes of being posted….

As I look out towards the new year, I just want to vent. I want to give voice to the few doubts and fears I have…

I’m working at a company that doesn’t have much of a reason to exist, making mediocre products that my customers dislike more with each passing iteration, working on a new product that will either fail outright or never be used.

Despite the above, I have a rough time relaxing this week…this car fever has me in its grip for two reasons–I’ve always wanted a BMW, but I love my MINI. I don’t love it more than I’d love being out of debt and in secure financial shape.

At my darling’s insistence, I went over to our doctor today to get my toe looked at; over Christmas, I noticed my middle toe on my left foot was ingrown on the right side. Today I got it removed, feeling very little pain thanks to some lidocaine.

The rest of the day, I convalesced watching season 5 of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” my most excellent Christmas gift from Bella:

So, 9am this morning found me at Beechmont Toyota, looking at a 1984 318i with 173,000 miles on it. Yes, this car was made when I was in Kindergarten, here I was, trying to decide how much rust was acceptable on my new “project car” / Daily driver.

Answer: Not this much. No way.

The 1984/1985 318i has the same engine (BMW’s M10) as the previous 3-series and the 1970’s BMW 2002 (yes, it’s alot of numerical designations…please try to keep up). Anyway, this lump of iron produces a bulletproof 101 hp and likes to rev, despite its lumpy cam.

Sell the mini, keep the change, and buy one of these babies:

Sleep: Haven’t gotten much lately. Whitney’s gotten even less. I require ~6hrs / night to function…she requires more :-)

Sickness: Apparently, I’ve given whatever I had to everyone in my area. Germs 1, Humans nil.

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Thought…a nice used 5-speed toyota pickup would fill my current needs quite well :-)

• something to commute in

• reliable as dirt

• good for going to Lowes, getting firewood, etc.

• runs on regular gas

Link

Does this make me a thief? A cheat? Immoral?

…Or just a guy pretty deep in debt?

…that way I could get through meetings where I want to throttle my PM, keeping both hands as busy as possible.

Ah, the glorious cold virus…it’s been with us for millenia and for the last 3 or 4 days, it’s been with me. For the past couple of days, I haven’t been able to talk (and all the people rejoiced…)

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Biggest, bombshell news of the past week is the revelation that the 5-speed British Midlands transmission in the 2002-2004 Minis is a ticking timebomb–after a certain amount of time the gearbox will fail, resulting in a $3-4k repair. The problem seems to be the gearbox was engineered for England, where it’s never much below 20 degrees F. In America we routinely see 0 degrees F and below.

• Managers are like gamecocks: More than two in a room at once, and somebody dies.

• Be sure to begin each lie with the adverb: “Truthfully”.

• Arrive whenever you want, then derail the meeting by asking for an update

• Accountability? Hell, I’d settle for competence…

Let me give you the conclusion: The logs never caught, the kindling ashes litter the bottom of the wet fireplace, and the house reeks of smoke.

Yes, I tried to make a fire tonight, and I failed.

My house has what’s known as a ‘built-in,’ a fireplace that is basically an afterthought. Lacking a chimney, it’s a triangular wart, occupying the place my Lay-Z-Boy should rightfully go.

Whitney has a cold, so I thought I’d build a fire and tend to her as she reposed on the couch. Lacking anything to use for firewood aside from our dining room set, I bought kindling at Lowe’s and wood at Kroger, for a total of $10.

Ah, I yearn for my firebrand, idealogue days, when being a Republican didn’t mean you parrotted everything that Ernie Fletcher & George Bush said. The days when I could hold my head high and say how much the democrats were ruining my state and my country.

Ooops. The Republicans are doing just as badly. Amazing how the view from the top isn’t as clear-cut as the view from beneath.

I ask myself why this is, and I return to what I thought in 2004: Conservatives can stomach a Liberal leader, but Liberals can’t stand a conservative, especially one as hapless as Bush. Why oh why didn’t we elect John McCain?

I made a resolution that I wouldn’t blog about my complaints about work, but that meant I stopped blogging altogether.

Check out This thread on thecarlounge.net

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Whitney and I ran out to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire matinee at Georgetown Theatres yesterday, and I’m of two minds about it: On one hand the acting, individual scenes, effects, and “wizard world” are all stunning, but on the other, the movie is unsatisfying. I attribute that dissatisfied feeling to the underlying book itself. “Goblet of Fire” transitioned the series from the Harry story-arc to the rise of Voldemort, and the movie makes a briefer trail through the same ground.

Last weekend, Whitney, Joey, and I ran in Phil Schneider’s 60+ mile TSD rally south of Lexington. Whitney tried her hand at driving, I navigated, and Joey held court in the back of the Pup.

It was a very intense rally, but Whitney and Joey were both magnificent. We ended-up with an aggregate score of only 230 after 60 miles, which was good enough for second place. But for an error on my part, we would’ve won :-)

The new Golf and Jetta weren’t just late to the U.S. they were several model years late. And to make matters even worse, VW dealers were fending-off irate customers who were saddled with quality problems from the get-go. And those customers rewarded VW for their callousness by abandoning the brand in droves - never to come back.

taken from: Peter’s latest Rant

I am Volkswagen’s ideal customer. Or, at least, I used to be. I really wanted a BMW, but I couldn’t afford one. (I argue no one can really afford a new one, but that’s another topic for another day!) The VW Jetta Mk.IV was like a baby 3-series, solid, serene, teutonic, and just snobby enough to be above the rice-burners from Honda and Nissan.

Waking up at 7 is early for most folks, but when you’re due to pick-up a pal at 7 and you wake-up @ 7 on the dot, it’s dead late…

I was supposed to get Gary at Nolan Ford this morning, but I ended-up 20 minutes late after a panicked, flight-of-the-bumblebee race around my house.

Didn’t shave, and that just feels icky…

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News: I’ve got my own office. Sort of. My perennial office-mate, Patrick, moved up to the 3rd floor, leaving his side of the office empty. I soldiered-on in the old furniture configuration for a couple days:

Article

The whole process confirms that the laws of nuclear physics worked just the same 2 billion years ago as they do today.

So, you mean things like Gravity, Electromagnetism, the Strong Nuclear Force, and the Weak Nuclear Force existed before people?!!

Fascinating article, but that conclusion is LAME…

“Jumping the Shark” v. To achieve a moment where people realize “it’s all downhill from here”.

On ER two weeks ago, they treated a chimp. A CHIMP. ugh. John Leguizamo’s character is awful, and Kristen Johnson is trying hard, but her character makes the show suck. Luca and Abbey are the only decent characters remaining.

For more details Jump The Shark

I hate edmunds.com…they’re verbose, unprofessional, and they don’t know passive voice from active voice (a particular annoyance of mine, thanks to Dr. Barbara Burch).

Article on why small cars rock