Me and my car go way back

1) Do you drive the speed limit?
Not too much over. I just can't be bothered to drive like i'm in a hurry.

2) Have you ever gotten a speeding tickect?
1, in Gainesville, years ago. It was a perfect day, too, quickly ruined.

3) What's the fastest you've ever driven?
I rode in a Ferrari Testarossa over 200 km/h(a little more than 120) on a highway in Switzerland. It was fantastic. I've driven up to 90, I think.

4) Do you listen to music in your car?
I never turn my radio off.

5) Would you rather be the driver or the passenger?
the driver

6) Do your passengers like to be backseat drivers?
Nah.

7)Whats the longest distance you've ever driven in one day?
New Jersey to Tennessee, 12 hours. Long enough for me.

8) Where was the first place you drove when you got your license?
I don't remember...it's been a while. I think I had to go pick up milk.

9) Did you have restrictions on where you could drive when you first got your license ? No

8) What kind of car do you drive? 2003 Mazda Protege

9) What was your first car? 91 Toyota Corolla. I remember it fondly now. Amazing how well nostalgia cleans memories.

10) How many cars have you owned?
Two

11) Did you pass your learner's permit test the first time?
I might have messed up parking the first time around, but I think I've got the hang of it now.

12) Are you nervous about driving over bridges/tunnels?
No. Should I have been?

13) Do you have a lot of junk in your car?
no, it is fairly clean.

14) Is your car clean?
yeah, but currently it needs a good scrubing

15) Do you sing while driving?
Yeah

16) Ever driven around without going anywhere?
Most certainly! I make a point to do just that.

17) Ever followed somone while driving just to see where they were going?
No.

18) Do you use cruise control?
If cruise control = steady right foot, then yes, I use cruise control.

19) Do you blast your music?
If I'm in the mood to, then yes.

20) Ever run a red light?
Don't think so.

21) Ever been chased by the cops?
no

22) Ever been in an accident?
Thankfully, not.

23) Ever have a flat tire?
Again, thankfully, not.

24)Do you have anything done to your car?
No, but I have a couple of stickers! "Life is Good"

25) Does your car have a sunroof?
No. Drag.

26) Is your transmission automatic or stickshift?
Auto

27) Does your car get good gas mileage?
27-29. my old toyota got better mileage.

28) Ever run out of gas?
I've come close

29) Ever run over an animal with your car?
I might have helped a squirrel move on to the next world.

30) What year is your car?
2003

31) Most passengers you've ever had in your car?
3

32) Places you usually drive your car?
Work, my brother's place, the poconos, Princeton, and countless places in between.

33) Ever get your car stuck somewhere?
Yeah. On the beach in St. Augustine at two or three in the morning.

34) Ever back your car into something/someone back theirs into yours?
Yeah. In the Border's parking lot, some dude bumped into me. I could see him inch up slowly, and then BAM! No damage, so it was more like a bam, I guess.

35) Ever get a parking ticket?
Yeah, I've gotten my share. Thanks, UF.

36) Ever driven without a license?
nope

37) Ever race your car?
Hahahahaha! My car? Seriously?

38) Have a good driver's ed teacher?
Didn't have one.

39) Ever had your windshield wipers stop working?
Yeah, they froze on my toyota.

40) Ever lock your keys in your car?
Yes. And it made me feel a special type of stupid, too.

41)Anyone ever throw up in your car?
no, but it was close twice.

42) Ever lose your keys?
nope

43) Ever have a dead battery?
Yeah. In one of the parking lots in princeton, among several other times.

43) Ever hit a paperbox or run in a ditch?
No

44) Ever leave your lights on?
Yeah, I have in my old car, but my mazda has a friendly little beep to remind me to turn them off.

45) Do you have a car payment?
Yes

46) Ever drive drunk?
Not at all. I'm very careful when it comes to that

47) Drive drunk people?
Yeah, that I've done.

48) Ever come close to getting in an accident but didnt?
I've had a few close calls, but nothing serious.

49) Do you like driving?
Yes, definetly!

50) Do you like your car?
It might not be the most exciting thing ever, but it does its job well and I like it.

The Police

The Police reunite for Grammys
Cool! I may be dating myself, but I remember holding the brightly colored Synchronicity album in my hands and listening to it constantly. If they actually end up touring, I'm there!

I may say "Yes," but...

It seems as though I have reawakened my inner bookworm. I have a whole shelf of books that I've yet to read, and like some maniac, I keep getting more. This can only end in tears (OK, unlikely...granted. But if I ever moved, I'd have to pack them all. Then, I'd have to carry them down rather steep stairs. Who knows, I may fall. That might cause me to cry.)
I made another trip to the Cranbury Bookwork on Saturday, and thankfully, I was able to stop myself at two books, which I may get to in 2008.
I'm currently reading Yes Man by Danny Wallace, and I highly recommend it! I'm not going to spoil too much of it, but here's the gist of it: he basically says "yes" to everything because he feels that saying "no" has brought him nothing. OK, that's not a very good gist, but I'm not feeling all that creative.
Nevertheless, pick it up if you get the chance. It'll make you laugh out loud, so read it in public for added effect.

Snow falling makes everything quieter

I've gone on a tear of buying books recently. Currently, I have an entire shelf of books I've yet to get to. I think I may need help!
I want to get a new computer. I think my reasons for doing so are rather specious, but the one I want looks cool (the iMac). Also, if I ever felt clever, I can add Windows XP on to it, thanks to Apple going to Intel chips. This way, I could have two computers in one! Also, it would free up my laptop for me to actually feel more comfortable taking it about. Ech, we'll see. I'm a Mac addict, what can I say.
On my way home, there was a light snow fall. It's been a weird winter so far, as it hasn't been all that wintry. I wouldn't mind getting a good snow fall at some point. The more extreme the weather, the better it feels when spring finally comes along.

Ignoring it won't make it go away

Tonight was the President's State of the Union address. I had thought I might miss it by staying away from any place that might have TVs, but I decided to trot out to the living room to see it on the big screen in surround-sound glory.
I was half expecting to hang my head in shame or to at least roll my eyes, but there weren't that many opportunities. I thought it was actually a decent speech, and now that I think of it, it was most likely because he was trying to curry favor with the new power in Washington.
He did speak of some interesting environmental policies that I'll have to read up on over the next few days to see if there's actually any substance to them.
Another point of interest was him saying that he'd create an initiative to take away earmarks (basically pork-barrel giveaways). These are usually added on to bills that have nothing to do with the earmark and aren't actually ever voted on, and they usually cost taxpayers billions. It would be kinda nice for Americans to realize how much money their houses of congress are throwing away, but I digress. Despite my liberal leanings, I guess I've grown up to be rather fiscally conservative.
I also agreed with him on some parts of Iraq. If we left now, it would hugely disastrous to the region and eventually to us. War is evil, and I'm a pacifist, but that doesn't mean I don't think. I get a kick from all the current antiwar folk...where the ef were you four years ago? A huge majority of the people gave him a blank check and didn't listen to all the information that was contrary, but was eventually proven true, to the administration's position. Ech. I digress. Again. Sorry.
So, overall, decent speech. None of the typical Bush gaffes. I always dig trying to figure out who will give a standing ovation...the left? the right? both? I'm sure there could be some good drinking games one can make from these speeches.

Bodie

I've been reading "The Lost Continent" for weeks now, but over the weekend, I read the part where the author, Bill Bryson, travels out west. In one part, he tells of his visit to some gold mining ghost towns in Colorado, driving up an unpaved disaster of a road in a Chevette. Of course, it starts snowing, and the only thing a Chevette is good for when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a snow storm is the four tires that you can take off and set fire to as a last gasp for heat.
OK, so I exaggerate. But reading that reminds me of how much I love the West and miss the opportunity to visit my parents when they lived out in Lake Tahoe. This was in the late 90s when I was in school, so during breaks in the summer and winter, I'd head out for several weeks at a time. It was fantastic, being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery one could ever imagine...grand mountains rising up from the bluest and clearest lake. wow.
Anyway, during one of my trips out there in the summer, my parents and I, along with a family friend, headed out to a ghost town called Bodie, in California, which is now run as a state park and left in a state of "arrested decay."
There are two roads into and out of town; one is a nice little paved number which gets you up to the 8400ft elevation of Bodie with relative comfort and ease, and the second, labeled "scenic" on the map, is an unpaved one-lane leap of faith down the mountain, through a ravine, and over a rickety old bridge.
I think it was my dad's idea to go down the second...why go anywhere if it's easy? Some background on my dad; this is a dude that went to Colombia at 20 because he thought Austria was "boring."
So, off we go heading on this snow-covered (might have been summer, but we were at a high elevation) road. It would have brilliant had someone then noted that, since it had last snowed a month ago, no tire tracks on the snow ahead was a bad thing and we should turn around.
Nope, we kept trudging along and the snow started thinning out. We had a cliff wall to the left and what appeared to be a lengthy and undoubtedly uncomfortable fall to our right...that is until we came upon our first little wooden bridge. Up until that point, I had been thanking God we were driving a rather sizeable and sure-footed SUV. When I saw that bridge, I realized that said sure-footed SUV was also quite heavy, and put two and two together..."Oh. This could be a problem"
Seeing as we didn't have much of a choice and no place to turn around, we wheeled slowly onto this little bridge and inched across. Now, we had a cliff wall to our right and a lengthy and undoubtedly uncomfortable fall to our left.
I think it might have been around that time that we noticed we were dangerously low on gas. Decidedly inconvenient, that.
The snow on the road did eventually disappear, revealing a rather unkept dirt and gravel road, and down we traveled to a valley below.
We were, naturally, quite relieved when we came to the end of this road. We looked up to where we had come, with some pride, I might add. There was a sign at the beginning of it that said it was closed and dangerous. Might have been nice to have a similar sign at the top, but who's to quibble about details.
Of course, coming to the end of this road lead us to quite another quandry. We were now in the middle of nowhere in Nevada on unmarked roads with a decision to make: we could either go into the darkness on the left or the darkness on the right. And we were running out of gas, and it was cold.
When in doubt, it's "go left," right? I think we might have actually flipped for it and ended up taking a left...which was a good thing! A few miles down the road was a mine, and there were several lights on in the maintenance building. We drove up to the place, and out walked a dude with a "WTF?!" expression on his face. Granted, I think he might have been drinking a little bit, but I'm sure seeing a group of utterly lost folk in a yuppie SUV wasn't that high on his list of plausible Tuesday evening events.
We told him our little story about driving down the mountain and being all out of gas and what not. It turns out going left was a good idea, as going right would have meant, and I quote, "You'd have been lost like you would not believe." Also, in one of the nicer random acts of kindness I've been privy to, he filled up our tank and then refused to let us pay for it. He gave us directions to get back to a paved road -- drive through the creek and take a right at the abandoned house (no, seriously. those were the directions.) -- and I don't think I've ever been happier to be back on paved land.
Looking back on that little adventure, it was bloody brilliant. I loved it! I miss the west and exploring the ghost towns. There is a history there that really appeals to me, but why it appeals to me, I'm not sure.
So, there I sat in Failte, reading about Bryson's trip, and that all came back to me. It was a welcomed interlude of nostalgia that left a smile on my face and a longing to explore middles of nowhere everywhere with a trusty Land Cruiser...and a spare tank of gas.

Papa

Well, this is a drag:
Mamas and Papas member dead at 66
I dug this band. When I was a youngin', and through the Beatles influence, I started getting into electric folk music from the 60s: Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Lovin' Spoonful, and these guys (along with a lot of other 60s hippie folkies who decided to plug in). Not a bad road on which to start appreciating music.
He's one of the few "celebrities" I've seen. My friends from Florida and I were visiting NYC in 2003 and hanging out in a bar on Bleeker St. somewhere, when in walks this older dude with a beard. Right when he walks in, the rather large group at the table behind us applauded him. We looked at each other with a collective "WTF?" So of course, for the next 15 minutes we were trying to figure out who the guy was. As he was leaving a short time later, it clicked (It was a nice little "A Ha!" moment.) I had read somewhere that his Broadway show, "Dream a Little Dream of Me," had its last performance that night, only a few blocks down from the bar, and this must have been a wrap party.
Yeah, I know...great story. But it was cool seeing one of the Papas.

Me exercise one day

For the first time in a year, I went to the gym over by my work complex. I managed not to hurt myself or make myself sore, but I did come to the conclusion that I was not born to run on a treadmill.
Whenever I got the thing going up to a decent speed, I felt like I was going to trip myself up and fall in a curled up heap to the ground; amusing to everyone else, but not so much me. Running on a treadmill shouldn't be a complicated thing in the least, and isn't for most accomplished bipeds, but apparently, I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, or especially graceful. Heh.
At any rate, I'll have to get used to it if I have any intention (or keep up the illusion I have the intention) on running the NYC Marathon in November. It's too bloody cold to do any running outside.

Big Bopper

OK, this isn't the most cheery thing I could post about, but I thought it interesting.
Autopsy plotted for Big Bopper remains

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The son of "The Big Bopper" has hired a forensic anthropologist to try to answer questions about how his father died in the 1959 plane crash that also took the lives of famous early rock `n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

A farmer found Buddy Holly's gun at the scene, so of course that lead to the inevitable conspiracy theories that a gun was fired on the plane and that maybe someone shot the pilot, who then proceeded to fly the plane into the ground. Highly unlikely that that happened, but the theories abound.

Although this is only tangentially related (even though a rather strong tangent, considering they died on the same plane), I still have to add the obligatory reference to the greatness of Buddy Holly: This guy who died at 22 was just as important as Elvis and Chuck Berry in the birth of rock and roll and determining where it would go. There, I said it.

Starting Idol with a loud sob

So, American Idol has started up once again. The first weeks are always rather brutal on the ears, as most of the people that parade in front of the judges are horrible and patently delusional, almost to the point where you feel sorry for them. Almost.
Anyway, after it ended, I had to put on the Beatles Anthology, like a musical salve. I was having a crap day, too, so not only did it help get Idol wannabes out of my head, it helped end the day on a good note. And a good note, at that, and in tune! Crap. They did more in a year than most bands do, period.

Human resources

I think I'll start this post of on a cynical note: anyone who thinks that large multinational corporations feel any loyalty toward their employees is delusional. I think the idea of job security and company loyalty went out the door decades ago. That being said, the converse is this: how loyal does one have to be to their employer? Several months ago, we had this discussion at work about how everyone was their own "business" with their own skill sets that they can charge a value for. I guess the idea would be to develop oneself to make themselves and their "business" more marketable and valuable. Great theory. I say, develop yourself as much as you can and always keep an eye on where your skills can offer you the most for your time. Because, seriously, time is short, cubes suck, and to paraphrase Office Space, "We just aren't meant to live like this."

I'm not necessarily that bitter about my job; this relates more to the situation my brother is dealing with right now. The company he's worked for has changed hands so many times I have a hard time keeping track. However, his company sold his division to someone else, and God knows what they'll end up doing with the employees. And of course, the higher ups aren't really saying much. So, my brother is in limbo, careerwise. It's not like that he's so low on the totem pole...he's a Director of Finance of his division, and yet he still gets dicked around. I'm sure there's some rationale for all of it, but that rationale involves treating people more "resource" than "human."

He doesn't necessarily want to leave Jersey, and he'll undoubtedly get a job fairly quickly, but we chatted about where he'd want to go if he had to move. Knoxville, TN came into the picture, as the cost of living is quite reasonable and the city (and resulting opportunities) is growing very fast. Of course, if he left, I'd have a hard time convincing myself that I should stay. I'd go down to Knoxville in a heartbeat, unless I managed to get an exceptionally cool job in NYC and found an interesting Graduate program somewhere. Many things to think about.

Overall, it sucks to have the future of a job out of your hands.

Just turn it off

One of my work colleagues and I got into a music discussion today during lunch, and it ventured into territory of bands we'd never really want to hear again.
After some further deliberation, here is my list, rather inconclusive it may be, and in no determinate order...
1) Steppenwolf. I think it was my roommate during my sophmore year in college who really dug this band. I liked them for a while, too, until I began to realize that if some hack ad writer said "Let's invoke the spirit of the 60s!" they would invariably turn to "Born to be Wild," or "Magic Carpet Ride" as a musical back drop. It became to be a trite, cliched joke for me.
2) The Doors. I dug them in high school. I'm not in high school anymore. Whenever I hear them, it brings me back....but sometimes nostalgia, frankly, sucks.
3) BTO. Bachman Turner Overdrive. Much like Steppenwolf for me, but the difference being I never liked BTO. The only good thing to come from it was a good joke in High Fidelity: "We're on the verge of calling ourselves 'Kathleen Turner Overdrive,' but tonight we are 'Barry Jive and the Uptown Five."
4) ELO. Great band, and Jeff Lynne is cool, although this band kinda reminds me of the 70s version of Oasis. I can't listen to them anymore.
5) Led Zeppelin. Blasphemy! It's been on classic rock stations since longer than I can remember. I guess after so many years of hearing the same few songs playing over and over again, I would just rather switch the channel. Plus, I can't ever seem to remember the song names. They could all be called "Chuck," and I wouldn't know the difference. My roommate's band does a pretty cool cover of "Kashmir," but at this point, I'd rather hear them do it than Led Zeppelin.
6) Jethro Tull. "Bungle in the Jungle." Seriously? Did I ever have a reason to like this band?

I'm sure I could think of others, but I think these will do for the moment.

Go Gators!

My school, the University of Florida, is playing against Ohio State tonight for the National Championship in college football. It seems as though the vast majority of people aren't giving them too much of a chance. Oh well. We'll see how it all unfolds in due time. Maybe there will be a surprise in store? A guy can hope!

UPDATE: Oh my God. I never expected this for a first half. 34-14, Florida. 3o long minutes left.

UPDATE, pt 2: Wow! YES!!!!!! Go Gators! I would have never expected an outcome like this.

The Lost Continent

I'm sure I noted this at some point or another, but I'm currently reading The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson. In it, he sets out on a search of the mythical " typical American small town" that he remembers from childhood. I'm enjoying the book so far, as he's a great writer, but at some points, the descriptions he writes of the people and places he visits just seem to come across as mean spirited.
He's originally from Des Moines, Iowa, but previous to writing the book, spent 20 years in England. So, while he was born in the states, he had a good dose of European in him...which makes sense, as in his book there seems to be a hint of the arrogance and condecension particular to some Europeans when they talk about the U.S.
I'm Swiss and Austrian. I'm fairly critical of the U.S., too. However, I find that tone so bloody annoying, to the point where I totally embrace my inner American just to spite them. (A little window into my mindset: You know those anti-smoking Truth commercials? If I didn't find smoking such a nasty and unhealthy habit, I'd pick up smoking just because I find them so damn annoying too. But I digress.)
Overall, though, once I get past that, it's still a great book, and I've been reading it fairly steadily for the last few days. It's rather moving, as reality dusts over everything he viewed with nostalgia.
On another note, I'm getting some good reading ideas from a friend at work, the latest being Danny Wallace's "Yes Man." The short of it: the dude is lost in his life, and one day, he gets advice from someone he meets on the bus who says, "Say 'yes' more." So he does, to everything that comes his way, and hilarity, apparently, ensues. I think I'm gonna enjoy this one!
On yet another note, I was in the mall today, and what do I hear over the speakers? The Cure! OK, so maybe that's not too strange, but it wasn't the usual suspects like Just Like Heaven or Friday I'm in Love, but rather a fairly obscure song of their's called Primary from the early 80s. That kind of blew me away! Not what one would expect to hear at the mall.

Big Oil

Raise your hand if you are surprised!
Group: ExxonMobil paid to mislead public

WASHINGTON - ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in a coordinated effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.

Granted, my cynical mind wants to know who this "Union" is, but really, are you surprised that a multibillion dollar multinational corporation would protect its cash source by any means necessary? Earth be damned.

Have book, will travel

I must be in a travelogue-reading kick lately. I just finished reading "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson and plan on sending that along to someone who wil undoubtedly appreciate it as much as I did.
I've started another of his books called "The Lost Continent," which I got this Christmas through my department's secret santa thing (incidentally, from the same person who suggested Bill Bryson anyway. Nice how that worked.)
Haven't gotten that far into it, but I've enjoyed what I've read so far. It's lead me to one of resolutions for 2007, which is to take greater advantage of the outdoors and more thoroughly explore my surroundings...not only my immediate surroundings, either, but longer trips. Given the oddly mild weather we've had this "winter," I might even try to go on a little hike by the Delaware Water Gap, and maybe even catch up with the Appalachian Trail where it cuts through the park. Well, if not this weekend, I'll do it some time over the summer.
So, for whoever might be stuck in their present locales, I highly recommend Bill Bryson's work for a little bit of vicarious travel fun.

New Year

Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. For the first time in a long time, I actually see the New Year ahead with promise and hope. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year, and I enter it with excitement for the new and a motivation to accomplish like I haven't in quite a while.
It's bloody fantastic, and I hope you feel the same.
Cheers, and have a great 2007.