yeah, I'm a little slow to this but I finally posted a few things on sale on ebay. I've used Craigslist to decent success (selling a $3k turbo kit) but seems like CL sucks for selling books or little toys. My goal is to just get rid of stuff I'm not using anymore for a few bucks in return. It's not really to make a profit or anything. Yes it is more trouble than donating some of this stuff to Goodwill but I think it is worth a little trouble for a few bucks. A lot of this stuff is theoretically collectible toys so we will see what happens. I plan to be on the low side for a quick sale but not too low.
If someone is interested in Star Wars, Smurfs, Ninja Turtles, or HotWheels, hit me up in the comments and we'll talk...
The added benefit is I may give the USPS a little business. Benjamin Franklin would be proud.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday
Sunday. Sleep in and wake up in a bed with pillows and a comforter SO fluffy it's called The Cloud. Make some coffee and perhaps a breakfast quiche and watch the Sunday Morning Show. Walk the dog and let her sniff EVERYTHING. No rush, just enjoy the heat of the sun on your face.
Time for a swim. Pick a lane there's no crowd. Warm up those muscles in the hot tub and then even though it's Sunday it's now time for Work! One mile later and we emerge with pleasantly tired muscles and step outside. The fall weather is still warm enough to sit on the outdoor pool deck and dry in the sun.
Hungry. Off to the grocers for a salad, heavy with onions, blue cheese, and green olives. Musty. An afternoon game of Scrabble. Some simple words, some complex words, always some dispute, always fun.
Heat up some pizza rolls in the oven and pour a glass of ginger ale. The TV goes on for an episode of The Good Wife. How does this show stay so good every time? Then CSI Miami in which the bad guy wears Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes! Don't profile! Toe shoe wearers ban CSI Miami! One last bathroom break and snack for the animals and then it's back to THE CLOUD.
Time for a swim. Pick a lane there's no crowd. Warm up those muscles in the hot tub and then even though it's Sunday it's now time for Work! One mile later and we emerge with pleasantly tired muscles and step outside. The fall weather is still warm enough to sit on the outdoor pool deck and dry in the sun.
Hungry. Off to the grocers for a salad, heavy with onions, blue cheese, and green olives. Musty. An afternoon game of Scrabble. Some simple words, some complex words, always some dispute, always fun.
Heat up some pizza rolls in the oven and pour a glass of ginger ale. The TV goes on for an episode of The Good Wife. How does this show stay so good every time? Then CSI Miami in which the bad guy wears Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes! Don't profile! Toe shoe wearers ban CSI Miami! One last bathroom break and snack for the animals and then it's back to THE CLOUD.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Sense of a 2011 VW Golf
Through some unforeseen circumstances, I had an opportunity to drive a 2011 VW Golf for about a week. Having never owned a (running) German car, I've always been impressed with their solidity, refinement, and understated luxury and comfort. The base Golf allows one to access these German car attributes for a reasonable cost and with hatchback practicality. Here is my analysis through my senses.
Sight
Certainly the best looking Golf has to be the 1974 MKI designed by Giorgetto Guigiaro. And the MKV and MKVI certainly have a sporty muscular vibe. However, the base MKVI designed by Walter de'Silva has a very clean, understated look that I prefer. It is simple and seems to have a little more sharpness compared to a more rounded MKV. Like a typical base car, the Golf comes with steel wheels and wheel covers. I would probably take the covers off or find something classic to cover the steelies.
Hearing
The Golf has good sound isolation from road noise as appropriate for a solid, comfortable German car. It is quite peaceful to drive. I didn't hammer the engine so I didn't notice any intrusive intake, engine, or exhaust sounds. Yes there is a radio although I prefer my radios always off while driving.
Taste
Go ahead and order a Happy Meal from the drive through. The Golf is an automatic so you will have one hand available to eat while driving. The softer comfortable suspension insures that your drink goes in your mouth and not in your lap.
Smell
Having only 1000 miles on the odo, the new car smell pervades the cabin. I attempted to subvert this offgassing plastic scent with multiple meals of chili and swimming laps in chlorinated pools...to no avail.
At 31 mpg highway using 87 octane, you will also spend less time sniffing gas fumes at the pump and more time smelling the dollar bills sitting in your wallet (you know where they have been, right?). Golfs are typically the more reliable of VW's so hopefully you won't be smelling the burnt coffee at the dealership too often.
Touch
The seats are comfortable and highly adjustable for a good fit. I prefer the traditional manual VW seat angle adjustment using a rotary knob rather than this lever switch operating an electric motor. The bolsters are correctly sized to support lateral movement, feeling snug but not getting in the way. Sitting in the Golf seats felt like a perfect little hug.
The gear selector knob feels good in the hand, perhaps better shaped than the GTI? Unfortunately the steering wheel is a problem for me. It feels too plasticky hard. It could be softer and preferably leather / synthetic leather-wrapped.
Balance and Acceleration
The 2.5 L Five cylinder engine accelerates this car perfectly fine. And 170 hp and 177 torque SHOULD be adequate except for two things: 1) There is a small dead spot in the accelerator pedal which makes the car feel hesitant upon initial acceleration (drive by wire?). 2) If one has driven the 200hp GTI this seems rather tame. However, it is really enough.
The 15 in wheels and tires are more appropriately sized than the huge 18" with rubber band tires you get with the GTI. It allows more comfort and isolation from the road.
The steering is not high in feel but is pretty precise. The solidity of the chassis makes this car feel rather stable.
Well...
So overall the 2011 Golf gives me a sense of comfort, calm, stability, refinement and solidity. It's not a car that inspires you to drive it like it's on fire, but when you do it will still be fun.
Sight
Certainly the best looking Golf has to be the 1974 MKI designed by Giorgetto Guigiaro. And the MKV and MKVI certainly have a sporty muscular vibe. However, the base MKVI designed by Walter de'Silva has a very clean, understated look that I prefer. It is simple and seems to have a little more sharpness compared to a more rounded MKV. Like a typical base car, the Golf comes with steel wheels and wheel covers. I would probably take the covers off or find something classic to cover the steelies.
Hearing
The Golf has good sound isolation from road noise as appropriate for a solid, comfortable German car. It is quite peaceful to drive. I didn't hammer the engine so I didn't notice any intrusive intake, engine, or exhaust sounds. Yes there is a radio although I prefer my radios always off while driving.
Taste
Go ahead and order a Happy Meal from the drive through. The Golf is an automatic so you will have one hand available to eat while driving. The softer comfortable suspension insures that your drink goes in your mouth and not in your lap.
Smell
Having only 1000 miles on the odo, the new car smell pervades the cabin. I attempted to subvert this offgassing plastic scent with multiple meals of chili and swimming laps in chlorinated pools...to no avail.
At 31 mpg highway using 87 octane, you will also spend less time sniffing gas fumes at the pump and more time smelling the dollar bills sitting in your wallet (you know where they have been, right?). Golfs are typically the more reliable of VW's so hopefully you won't be smelling the burnt coffee at the dealership too often.
Touch
The seats are comfortable and highly adjustable for a good fit. I prefer the traditional manual VW seat angle adjustment using a rotary knob rather than this lever switch operating an electric motor. The bolsters are correctly sized to support lateral movement, feeling snug but not getting in the way. Sitting in the Golf seats felt like a perfect little hug.
The gear selector knob feels good in the hand, perhaps better shaped than the GTI? Unfortunately the steering wheel is a problem for me. It feels too plasticky hard. It could be softer and preferably leather / synthetic leather-wrapped.
Balance and Acceleration
The 2.5 L Five cylinder engine accelerates this car perfectly fine. And 170 hp and 177 torque SHOULD be adequate except for two things: 1) There is a small dead spot in the accelerator pedal which makes the car feel hesitant upon initial acceleration (drive by wire?). 2) If one has driven the 200hp GTI this seems rather tame. However, it is really enough.
The 15 in wheels and tires are more appropriately sized than the huge 18" with rubber band tires you get with the GTI. It allows more comfort and isolation from the road.
The steering is not high in feel but is pretty precise. The solidity of the chassis makes this car feel rather stable.
Well...
So overall the 2011 Golf gives me a sense of comfort, calm, stability, refinement and solidity. It's not a car that inspires you to drive it like it's on fire, but when you do it will still be fun.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
My first car design: the pinewood derby
I can't remember anything about Cub Scouts except for the pinewood derby. For those unaware, this event involves scouts and/or their parents designing and creating a vehicle from a block of wood to compete with others on a sloped track, powered only by gravity. It was probably the most fun I had in Cub Scouts.
It was highly competitive then as well as now. There are many books and websites full of engineering strategies to get the most performance out of your car. I would say most often the fathers would take over the projects to have the coolest design or fastest car. I remember being stunned at the works of art that were produced while mine looked like a very fat doorstop.
Despite my present prodigious design and craftsmanship abilities, when I was 9 or 10, as you can tell by the photos I had zero design or engineering ideas and my only carpentry skill was the ability to keep my fingers attached to my hand. Believe it or not, I made this car mostly by myself. I think I had help sanding the mold lines off the wheels and drilling holes to help the car make weight at weigh ins.
There was no design. I copied the generic drawing that was in the included instructions. All the cuts were made with a coping saw which accounts for no cut being straight and no angle matching another. There are visible saw marks and gouges in the wood. I must have only had 60 grit sandpaper because the sanding marks are still visible. The inexplicable Tarheel blue painted body still has fingerprint marks where I handled the car wet. The silver stripe is painted freehand and the painted yellow headlights look like they are dripping. The wheels sport a heavy negative camber. Apparently I couldn't hammer a nail in straight either.
So how did I do? Half the time one of the wheels fell off, causing the entire car to fly off the track. But ages later I still have it. It sure is terrible, but at least I made it myself.
It was highly competitive then as well as now. There are many books and websites full of engineering strategies to get the most performance out of your car. I would say most often the fathers would take over the projects to have the coolest design or fastest car. I remember being stunned at the works of art that were produced while mine looked like a very fat doorstop.
Despite my present prodigious design and craftsmanship abilities, when I was 9 or 10, as you can tell by the photos I had zero design or engineering ideas and my only carpentry skill was the ability to keep my fingers attached to my hand. Believe it or not, I made this car mostly by myself. I think I had help sanding the mold lines off the wheels and drilling holes to help the car make weight at weigh ins.
There was no design. I copied the generic drawing that was in the included instructions. All the cuts were made with a coping saw which accounts for no cut being straight and no angle matching another. There are visible saw marks and gouges in the wood. I must have only had 60 grit sandpaper because the sanding marks are still visible. The inexplicable Tarheel blue painted body still has fingerprint marks where I handled the car wet. The silver stripe is painted freehand and the painted yellow headlights look like they are dripping. The wheels sport a heavy negative camber. Apparently I couldn't hammer a nail in straight either.
So how did I do? Half the time one of the wheels fell off, causing the entire car to fly off the track. But ages later I still have it. It sure is terrible, but at least I made it myself.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
X-Men are Groovy, Baby! A Lightning Quick Movie Review. X-Men: First Class
I dedicate this review to my girlfriend, whom I repeatedly force to watch movies based on kids' comic books...
My girlfriend turned to me and said "The guy who plays Jean Luc Picard is good."
I wholeheartedly agreed.
Apparently in his youth in the '60's, Professor X was a player, functional legs and all. Let me forewarn all you nerds: In reality, hitting on a girl by talking about her features as a genetic mutation is a low percentage game.
Professor X, and in fact the entire movie reminded me of a combination of Austin Powers and an old James Bond movie. Even the film quality had the graininess of a movie shot in the sixties. Unless that was our non-HD flat screen TV...
(quick warning, some spoilers ahead.)
Aside from the old looking film style the problem with this movie is that you really don't have much interest in most of the characters aside from Professor X and Magneto. The other characters just weren't particularly interesting. My girlfriend asked me who one of the mutants were and I couldn't tell her. I'm not an expert on X-Men, but I was pretty sure he was a made up character and definitely not one of the ORIGINAL ones. And lo and behold he was killed. The only other interesting character was Kevin Bacon, and only because it was Kevin Bacon pretending to be a mutant. Oh and Michael Ironside, looking a little chubs.
I want the real X-men! Where is Wolverine? Oh, there he is! oh...there he goes...
And where is the Stan Lee cameo? Did I miss it? My girlfriend even asked about it. Was he snubbed?
Special effects? Rather bad. Some, Crocosaurus bad.
So was X-Men: First Class worth a dollar? Well for a dollar a movie does have to suck pretty bad and I didn't regret seeing it. Actually we watched this movie for free because we had a promotional Redbox code.
For final comment I once again turned to my girlfriend.
"Well, it's for kids."
Groovy indeed.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Lightning Quick Movie Preview: In Time
Ok, this is a first. I'm writing about a movie that has not come out yet. It will come out in Oct. I'm doing this because I'm pretty interested in the concept of this movie. Of minor note one of the main stars is Justin Timberlake, who like me is bringing sexy back!
From watching the previews and doing some research online, In Time seems to be a movie where
1) people stop aging at 25
2) you have a countdown timer embedded on your arm. When your time runs out, you die. To live longer you have to find ways to get more time.
3) things cost time instead of money.
The last two concepts are very interesting to me.
In this world, traditionally we work about 25% of our total lives for money to pay for everything. Hey maybe that's where the movie got the number 25. The movie skips the money factor and gets down to the point. Buying things essentially takes time from your life because you need to spend time working to pay for it.
So here are a bunch of thoughts based on this.
1) Most things cost money.
2) You have to work for money.
3) Work takes time from your life, which is limited.
4) Time buys money but money does not really buy time.
5) The less things you need, the less money you need, the less work you have to do for money, the more time you have for yourself.
6) The more you stretch your money, the more time you have for yourself
7) You better enjoy your work because even if you are efficient you still need to spend time working
8) Enjoy your time because aside from being limited, you do not know how much you have.
From watching the previews and doing some research online, In Time seems to be a movie where
1) people stop aging at 25
2) you have a countdown timer embedded on your arm. When your time runs out, you die. To live longer you have to find ways to get more time.
3) things cost time instead of money.
The last two concepts are very interesting to me.
In this world, traditionally we work about 25% of our total lives for money to pay for everything. Hey maybe that's where the movie got the number 25. The movie skips the money factor and gets down to the point. Buying things essentially takes time from your life because you need to spend time working to pay for it.
So here are a bunch of thoughts based on this.
1) Most things cost money.
2) You have to work for money.
3) Work takes time from your life, which is limited.
4) Time buys money but money does not really buy time.
5) The less things you need, the less money you need, the less work you have to do for money, the more time you have for yourself.
6) The more you stretch your money, the more time you have for yourself
7) You better enjoy your work because even if you are efficient you still need to spend time working
8) Enjoy your time because aside from being limited, you do not know how much you have.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Update: PUR faucet filter
My initial January review can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/433hrzf
8 months later and our faucet filter is leaking. It looks like the o-ring on the screw-down cover is worn out, which is ridiculous since one rarely has to remove the cover unless replacing the filter.
I'm fed up with faucet mounts and ready to switch back to a pitcher or drink city water. However we did buy an exact replacement faucet mount. We will see how long it lasts...
PuR Vertical Faucet Mount System - Water Treatment
8 months later and our faucet filter is leaking. It looks like the o-ring on the screw-down cover is worn out, which is ridiculous since one rarely has to remove the cover unless replacing the filter.
I'm fed up with faucet mounts and ready to switch back to a pitcher or drink city water. However we did buy an exact replacement faucet mount. We will see how long it lasts...
PuR Vertical Faucet Mount System - Water Treatment
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Self Pity
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
D.H. Lawrence
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Transformers: Dark of the Moon. A Lighting Quick Movie Review
All you cheapskates can feel comfortable splurging a little to go rent Transformers: Dark of the Moon for $1.00 at Redbox. Except for all you moon landing conspiracy buffs. This will just make you more paranoid.
This is a good movie for being "based on toys from Hasbro". While you can't expect much from the dialogue or plot and the movie lasts a little long, it is bursting with visual spectacle:
Cool robots - though it's hard to distinguish one Decepticon from another.
Cool cars - I wonder how many DB yellow (the official Chevrolet color name) Camaros get sold due to this movie?
Action, fighting, explosions!
Lots of famous actors I didn't expect like Greensboro's finest Ken Jeong, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand. I actually enjoyed all the goofiness these actors brought to the movie over all the robot action.
And yes, every Transformers 3 review has to include a mention of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, our favorite robot in disguise and Megan Fox replacement. While she did fine in this movie, ol' wonky thumbs actually had more depth to her character in the first two Transformers movies.
How's that for more than meets the eye?
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