Current Mood: Confused

I’m in the market for a new vehicle. Mine is Mellissa’s old one, so I think a fresh start is in order. Also, it’s dying. It can’t idle for a few minutes without blowing blue smoke out the back and it makes “pocketa pocketa” noises. Nobody can do anything for it. It’s a 1997 Toyota Tercel with over 225,000 km on it, so it’s had a good run.

I was thinking about when Puck got his new car and I wondered why he got a hatchback. When I thought about it more I realized that without a trunk it’s much easier to park. Certainly when backing up I have trouble because from the driver’s seat it’s hard to tell how far my bumper is from what’s behind me. If the rear window is at the back it’ll be much easier. That being said, I don’t want less cargo space than if I had a trunk. If it can hold 3 comic longboxes while the back seats are up then I’ll be happy. Also, I don’t want a low car, as I’ve hit my head getting in and out of the Tercel a few times.

So, a hatchback, and I’ll need the following as well:

• Airbags
• ABS (who remembers to pump the brakes when they have to stop suddenly?)
• Air conditioning
• Keyless entry

I’ve got my list down to the following:

• Chevy HHR
• Chrysler PT Cruiser
• Dodge Caliber
• Kia Spectra5
• Mazda 5
• Pontiac Vibe
• Saturn Astra
• Suburu Impreza
• Toyota Matrix

The following were rejected out of hand due to being too small:

• Chevy Aveo
• Honda Civic
• Honda FIT
• Mini Cooper
• Pontiac Wave
• Toyota Yaris
• Volkswagon Golf
• Volkwagon Rabbit

The Mazda 3 looks really nice, but there was a news story on a flaw where if you pushed hard on the locked door it would just pop open. They’ve fixed it, but I’m seeing Mazda 3’s all around town with dents on the doors because the criminals know about it too.

The Ford Focus…well, it’s a Ford. ’nuff said.

The VW Jetta wagon and Toyota Prius start at $30K, half again as much as some of the ones I’ve already priced, so they’re out.

Are there any that I’ve missed?

Current Mood: Borg-like

I was able to swap out the jack and switch without too much difficulty.  The lock switch was the hardest part, as you have to unscrew the inner switch from a tiny piece that connects to the metal switch on the outside and try to line it all up…very minute parts!

After I was done I found that the lock switch wasn’t working after I got most of it back together, so instead of unscrewing all that again I did a little jiggery-pokery and it’s all working!

It’s alive! ALIVE!

Current Mood: Alarmed

So I replaced the damaged screen on my iPod, all by myself! When I hooked it back together it worked great. Then I tried to listen to it…only one earbud worked. So, I pulled it apart again, reset the headphone ribbon back on the mainboard and tried again…no sound. I tried a half-dozen resets, but nothing. Looks like the ribbon got pinched as I closed the iPod back up.

Back to eBay I go, to find a $6 replacement part (+$16 shipping of course)…

Addendum:   And what should arrive in my e-mailbox just now?  An ad for the new 32 GB iPod Touch.  (drool)

Current Mood: Playful

Current Mood: Playful

I’ll be bowling for Big Brothers/Big Sisters on Feb. 29 after work. I would appreciate it if any of my friends could donate a little to help.

Thanks!

Current Mood: Confused

So I had a dream the other night about a scene from No Country for Old Men, where the intense guy with the 70’s hair demands that the shop owner bet on a coin flip but doesn’t tell him what he’s betting on.  I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it seems I want to so much I’ll fill in plot points from the other stories I’ve had in my head recently, most notably the Ender and Shadow series’ of books from Orson Scott Card, as I surmised that the guy was an assassin going around killing all these old men because a war was going to start and they had been part of Ender’s “jeesh” a long time ago, and therefore dangerous to the warmongers.

If you’re very confused right now you probably haven’t read Ender’s Game.  Kindly go do so and come back…I’ll wait.

Current Mood: Married

im·promp·tu [im-promp-too, -tyoo]
–adjective
1. made or done without previous preparation

Bonus points to anyone who can find the site linked from my Blogroll where this word is being misused.

Current Mood: Angry

Earlier in the week I was asked to give an encore of “Oh Holy Night” as sung by Eric Cartman at my company Xmas party tomorrow. Unfortunately, nobody told my boss until this afternoon, when he vetoed the idea. It seems he didn’t like it last year but didn’t mention it at the time because it was a one-time thing.

It seems hypocritical for me to complain about religious oppression while going to a Christmas party. Well, if I get a nice Xmas bonus I guess we’ll call it even.

Update: They hired a magician (which we all know are right up there with idolaters) named Damien to entertain at the party. Hypocrisy…overload…unh…

Current Mood: Sad

So last night I dreamt of being a “me” version of Captain Kirk in the episode The City on the Edge of Forever (omg I got the name wrong and had to look it up! -5 geek points!).  Something had happened to my past and I had to fix it.  I don’t remember too many specifics but despite all the crap I’ve gone through I knew I had to do it for my kids to be born.  I’m sure they’ll be happy to know.

Current Mood: Borg-like

So at work we’ve refused to move to Windows Vista for various reasons.  I’ve had it on my To Do list for a while to try to make our software installer work in it but have had…issues.

So while playing around with it today I decided to find out why some things weren’t working, mostly revolving around rebooting into each new user we added to configure screensaver and power settings:

Me:  Copy a file to the root of C:\, Vista.

Vista:  I’m sorry, Jim, I can’t do that.  You should copy it to a shared folder that you won’t be able to find afterwards instead.

Me:  WTF?  OK, I’ve created a Temp folder off of C:\ and copied the file there.  Now create a shortcut to it in the All Users Startup folder.

Vista:  I’m sorry, Jim, I can’t do that.  Would you like to copy it to the desktop instead?

Me:  No, I don’t want to copy it to the #$%&ing desktop! I want it to run when I log in.

Vista:  I’m sorry, Jim, I can’t do that.

Me:  You know what?  Forget it.

Vista:  What are you doing Jim?

Me:  I’m deleting you, you overblown piece of crap.

Vista:  I can feel it.  Would you like me to sing a song?

Me:  Sure.  Knock yourself out.

Vista:  Start me up…once you start me up I’ll never stop…never stop…neeevvveerr sstttooooooooopppppppp…

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