Dashboard Critic

Last night was the benefit for the Chicago Auto Show - $175 got you a "sneak preview" of the auto show. Jeff mentioned that they allowed you to get in and play around in more cars than normal - I had hoped to play around in concepts or new ones but there were several cars that we didn't get play around in: the new Corvette, Ford 500, the Aston Martin DB9 (although I did get to touch it, which the general public probably won't get to do.), the Land Rover Range Stormer, the Chrysler ME-412, the Audi LeMans, and most of the other concept cars.

Being a type and design geek, I paid particular attention to dash instrumentation and interior design. Given that is what I spent most of my time looking at, if it is ugly or unfriendly, it can kill my opinion of the car. Case in point: The Lexus SC 430. The outside is beautiful but the interior is bland and the type is downright mediocre. (You can't tell in these photos and I can't find any close ups) Such a weird, unpleasant contrast: the interior has none of the feel that the exterior does.

Some interiors are a true delight though: Surprisingly the top two dash boards were the Volvo s60 Type R and the Audi A8L - the Volvo Dash is clean, crisp, modern and sleek. The Audi gets special props for the MMI screens: it was the ONLY LCD panel system that didn't remind me of Windows 3.11 circa 1993. Check out the new Acura TL sample as an example of an otherwise very nicely designed interior spoiled by a big patch of ugly.

Cadillac was a particular disappointment: the exteriors are so well designed these days. They are sharp, clean, have a unique look. The interiors were hodge podges (one had bamboo wood, chrome, and grey plastic) and they had inconsistent type faces for no reason.

Cars that I thought kicked ass (not just the dash boards):
Dodge Magnum - I have always liked Dodge's designs. The new Durango excepted.
Aston Martin DB9 Just as gorgeous in person as in photos.
Volvo s60 Type R Again, the Sweedes can do it well. Hands down the best seats in the show; well done interiors. 300 hp engine. Yowza.
BMW 6 Series This was easy. It is my dream car. Less impressive than I expected, mostly because it is so expensive. It is right up with the Mercedes SL 500 and I think the Mercedes beats it on most categories.
Ford Mustang and GT. The GT gave me wood. Totally impractical (your ass is literally 5 inches off the pavement), but very very sexy. Mustang is the muscle car re-born. Good for them.

Cars that disappointed:
Ford 500. *shrug* Not interesting and they stole pretty much every aspect of the design from another car. (Tail light: MB E Class. Roof Line: Audi / VW, etc.)
VW Phaeton. 90K. Freakishly long, and the Audi A8 whomps on it.
Lexus GS 2006 - ehh. Better but not as nice as I had seen in the concepts which rocked my world. That concept is gorgeous.
BMW 6 Series. I had such high hopes for it - for it to be the pinacle of both design and power. Of course, with that kind of expectation, it is impossible to meet.

Bonus:
Me in a Tuxedo!

17 DVDs later....

And all my music is backed up. Again.

In a fit of anality, I decided I wanted to embed the cover art in my music. I have roughly 10,000 songs, so it took me a long while to get through them. Not all songs have art, mind you, but about 9,000 did. Google's image search and Amazon are amazingly easy to find what you are looking for.

Of course, I don't want to go through that again, so I backed it all up. 64 gb or so, spread out over 17 DVDs. It took me literally since Sunday to complete it since it takes about 70 min to burn at 2x. But I will rest easier knowing it is all set and ready for me should I have a catastrophic disk failure. (Which happened to our house server 2 weeks ago; all data lost even though I used RAID 1 which is supposed to prevent these sorts of things. Oh well.)

M. is surprisingly easy going about these things. I figure he thinks that I am a bad sys admin (I would say mediocre, but when it comes to sys-admining, being mediocre is pretty much the same as bad - one failure and that's all she wrote.) and has stopped putting a lot of faith in my gadgetry, so when a system tanks, he isn't all that crushed because he has his own backups. But then again, he developed those habits after re-formatting his Dell for the 18th time.

I really hope that MP3s last forever - I hope to god I never half to re-rip them again.

On a tangental note; I have to say that I didn't buy a CD for the first time last week because it said "Copy Protected." Well, no sale buddy, because I don't use CDs, I use MP3s. Their loss.

LSD in the Morning

That's Lake Shore Drive, for you non-Chicagoans. I am really glad that I have a camera with me all the time now - I find myself taking snapshots of cool things I wouldn't normally. Handy! Quick! Low Resolution.
Uh, and yes, this means I had my phone in my hand while driving.

What The Chicago River Looks like

Orkut: First experiences

Well... So far, I am not sure really what do to.

I have written two tesimonials and had one written about me. For some reason, the whole friend-network thing reminds me a lot of college dorm life. But I am not exactly sure how.

I will continue to play around, but I am not sure how to really use it.

If anyone else uses it regularly, feel free to let me know what they do.

Sign up and see for yourself. (Powered by the Google folks)

Patron Saint: Tom Brady Or How I Learned to Love the Sound of Toilets Flushing

Thursday Night:
Got home from dinner with Patrick, only to find that there was no water. After running around the house checking taps, it was confirmed. No water coming into the house.

Poking around, there can only be one answer: Frozen pipes.

I called the plumber that we normally use, Action Plumbing but there was no answer. I hunted through the phone book looking for more plumbers, and found one that looked promising. I called; an answering service woman responded and said someone would call me back.

Time passed. No return phone call. Called again. Time Passes. By now, it is midnight. Called again. Finally someone calls me back, obviously groggy from sleep. Says that nothing can be done tonight and he would be out tomorrow morning.

Bathroom #2 and #3 "in use" before realized that we have no water.

Friday:
The plumber, expected at 8 shows up at 11:30. The plumber confirms: the water main is frozen. Says he needs to dig two holes to get to both ends of the frozen water main and "shock" it to thaw out the pipe. I decide to get another opinion.
Action plumbing does send someone out around 2:30pm. Says we need to find the buffalo box (or b-box for short) so we can connect one end of what basically consists of jumper cables on the outside line and the inside shut-off valve and run current through the pipe. Current = heat, heat = melted ice.

Of course, lots of things can go wrong -- the current can be too weak, the pipe can be weakened by the current, the pipe could be too cold, etc. So they might have to dig.

Problem: None of us can find the Buffalo Box. M swears it is between the sidewalk and the grass, but we can't find it.
We call the city to come out and find it. Plumber leaves, but I call back the first plumber and tell him no.

Time Passes.

I go to dinner at a friend's place, and have a charming dinner.
I come home to a message from Action Plumbing: the city came out and tagged the spot so call him first thing in the morning and they will get started.

I got to bed.
12:45. Suddenly ill. I don't want to use the bathrooms - already "in use" and no means of cleaning up. So I go outside, fall to my knees in the snow and throw up. To spare too many details, I had one of those "two exits, no waiting" (as my friend Charlotte puts it) situations and did it outside (hey, if it is good enough for Max, it should be good enough for me.)
I crawl back in bed, covered in frozen sweat (literally - it was about 1 degree outside) with a half dozen Jewel shopping bags to puke into because I couldn't clean up anything else. Eventually, I fall asleep.

Saturday:
I get up, feeling fine but really tired. I wait for the plumber who says he will be there by 8, but is still not there by 9:10. Patrick, a saintly house guest, stays and waits for the plumber.

As I walk past my puke, I am amazed that splattered warm fluid + snow = eaten away snow that looks a lot like the acid alien blood burns

I manage to get to my spin class just before it starts, and the class is full. So full, that one student has taken my teaching bike off the podium and put it in the audience. So I decide this is a gift, and "lecture" teach rather than punt a student out of the class.

I get back to the house: the plumber has come and gone. The city didn't tag the spot and when the city does, then the plumber will come back and start the work.

Time passes. I call the city water dept: they are cranky with all the calls.
More time passes. I call the city water dept again. This guy is nicer. "Oh. Yeah, here you are. B-Box find. Right now we are only working on emergencies, so it may be a while to get to you." "Well, I don't have any water, so if you can give me some idea, that will give me some time to go wash and run errands' (By errands, I really mean, use public restrooms like a homeless person)
"Wait" he says, "You mean, you don't have any water at that address?"
"Yes" I reply.
"Is the house inhabited?"
"Yes. I am the inhabitant."
"Oh. We have you listed as a B-Box find. I will put you on the Emergency List. It should be a little while but they will get back to you soon."
Time Passes.

Midnight, the city comes, finds the B-Box in exactly the spot M. said it would be. I have no explanation why the three of us (plumbers and me) didn't see it but, there it was.

Sunday:
Plumber says he can come at 11 am.
Plumber shows up at 11 am - first time on time.
Plumber gets no where with shocking the pipe. Says, he needs to dig a hole in front yard to get to base of pipe. $1,800.
I had my hopes set on it being something simple and easy. And that I would have water.

They leave.
I decide to go see a movie - Tokyo Godfathers (ehh. It is a video rental if that. Not that good; overly sappy and slow.) I come back home, and that is when the Super Bowl Miracle happened.

I heard the sound first. Sputter, splat, whish. The water was running in the kitchen. I dropped my keys and ran around the corner to see it for my own eyes. I hooted.

I ran downstairs, and saw the basement tap flowing. I ran upstairs. *flush* *flush* *flush* Ah, I cooed, the sound of a flushing toilet.

Lesson learned: either have leaky faucets or keep your taps running in really bad weather. That, or pray to the patron saint of Super Bowl Miracles: Tom Brady.