Day After Yesterday

So as a slightly more than casual observer to the auto industry… I see a number of things happening that don’t sound awesome… to me.

First is the increase in ‘collaboration’ and purchasing of one brand by another, or even just minority shares or controlling shares… and I am not sure I am thrilled with that. I feel we are leading up to a situation where there are only 3 or so brands on the planet… and with the current amount of rules, etc, it becomes increasingly more difficult for a new car company to come about. I do however, when compared to other industries, feel the auto industry DOES respond to consumers demands, where as I don’t feel that is true elsewhere. But I don’t want to digress… Sometimes the collaborations produce interesting products that are good for both brands. I would prefer to see those are mutually amicable (think VW/Porsche) and less purchase of another company…

Second is the dramatic increase in the weight of cars lately. It is insane. I look at the quest for MPG and the money that is being spent on increasing technology to support 40+mpg, etc, but it is done on cars that are getting fatter with each generation (like americans!). Look at the first gen US civic. That thing got 40+mpg, but it was much lighter weight. Think of how awesome the new toyota 4 cylinder would be in a car that weighed in at 2100lbs. It would rule. I am sure they need to increase the weight to maintain their claims of structural rigidity and safety… and not that I am against those things by any means, but man, can’t they be done and keep the car under 3,000lbs? I mean shit, we look at at 3100lb car and call it ‘tossable’. Reallly?

Third… car makers continue to overproduce, then have to have huge incentives to move cars. Hello big 3. It is dumb. But whatever, I am not too worried about the big three. Sure they are a major employer in the US, and I would love to see more US companies survive, but man, they continue to turn out shitty cars that they can’t sell. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some that are doing well, but as a whole, all of the domestics are looking at ‘employee pricing’ again this year.

But good news… it APPEARS that there is finally being progress made on the MPG and lets conserve front… we are finally moving to low sulphur diesel… and more and more manufacturers are promising diesel cars, which rules. Ethanol is getting hype again, as is biodiesel. Once they get a diesel electric hybrid on the market, it is going to be awesome. The only problem is the US consumer-they still insist on purchasing vehicles they don’t need. As much as I hate the higher gas prices, if it forces consumers to use mass transit and/or more fuel efficient vehicles, it would be worth it. I would love to see us be more like europe in vehicle choices and mass transit usage. If only there were more mass transit alternatives….
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I often dream, but I rarely remember them… but in last nights dream, I do remember part of it… I was driving down the expressway in the manner of which I often drive (I was in the audi) and I was in the slow lane, passing traffic…. and the lane next to me was slamming on the brakes… like tire smoke and everything… and in that lane, causing the hold up was a dude PUSHING his toyota corolla (as it obviously had mechanical problems) and cussing out the people honking. Obviously he was pissed off, and frightened… and in the dream, I felt really bad for him, and in the dream I had a very strong sense of empathy, like I knew exactly what he was feeling, and I wanted to help him… but I didn’t cause I couldn’t figure out a way to safely do so… I think I called the police on his behalf.

And after I woke up I was thinking about it and I thought how I people don’t always think… like I know people value their posessions, and they certainly don’t want to have them damaged. I knew that dude in the dream was freaking out that someone was going to hit the car, and in the dream, it was about to happen over and over again… but yet he wasn’t afraid for his OWN safety as much as he was worried someone was going to damage the car. And he was yelling at the people honking because he was both embarrassed and freaking out.

But when I was thinking about it… he wasn’t valuing his own safety… and that was a bad move, beyond the obvious thing that you shouldn’t be pushing a car down the expressway when traffic is moving at 60+ mph….. he shouldn’t have ever GOTTEN into that position… I see people all the time broken down on the road, and I don’t know how they get to that position. It is rare to have a car break down and IMMEDIATELY STOP. I have had cars die on the expressway, you almost always have time/space to get to the shoulder (the RIGHT shoulder, not the left one) and safely out of traffic. And if you know your car is suspect, why put yourself in the fast lane? Poor planning.

The other thing I was thinking is we need to incorporate better messaging systems into the roadway system in larger metropolitan areas. In the case of my dream, a message board could say ‘disabled car in #2 lane’ or whatever… something that would inform drivers of such an event. I would argue that this would improve traffic flow and safety. I am sure that somehow it would also manage to cost billions of dollars, cause those types of things, when in the public sector like that always manage to be way more than I would imagine.

The other night, I was driving my brother in law Jon to the train station and it was POURING rain… visibilty was horrible… and it was hard to see the lines on the road… and that was causing people to drive into me. Awesome. So I got to thinking of what could be done about that… I would like to think that some LED technology would rule in that situation… they are such low level power user… solar power would be a dope way to run them… the only issue I can see is making them strong enough to deal with truck traffic, and to a greater degree, snow removal… but it would seem to me that is could be done.

Although, it seems they haven’t master proper installation of concrete so as to have a road last longer than 3-5 years, so I doubt this will ever take off… But my thoughts on the building of highways will have to wait for another post…

So this weekend is over… Friday night we walked over to Pacific Cafe and had sushi, it was nice… saturday was the ACCCC autox at maywood, which went quite well. I drive, just ran the event. Just under 50 cars, 14 runs each, done by 3:45pm. Not bad. Although there was this annoying kid that was both creeping me out AND driving me nuts. It was awesome. He just kept talking. I won’t bother writing the whole thing out…

After the autox, I got home, washed the car (it was filthy). I like it clean. And it is so easy to do… it just looks so much better. Mental note: wash the car more than once every 6 weeks.

Then I drove over to meet Rebecca and Caroline at Yitca’s house. Yitca’s baby Ellie (sp?) is 3 weeks older than Mason, but she is like little super developed baby. She started walking last week (so at 8.5 months). She talks (mommy, daddy, shoe, etc). She waves, etc. Crazy. But good for her. It is weird cause you can’t help but to compare your own kid to other kids… and it is such a weird macro view of time at this point. You need to relax, and let some kids walk before others. In 2 years, you won’t care what month your kid walked. In 10 years, you won’t even remember how long it took. But now, in the 6-12 month range, it seems to be SO important. It is not indicative of anything in the future. Got to remember to leave the charts and graphs alone, and focus on the baby. He’ll figure it out on his own in due time.

Sunday got up, picked up dylan, and we met scott and kieran at the old shop. Loaded up a ten foot uhaul box truck (that had NO brakes, likely due to the fact that it had no brake FLUID. We filled it up and it improved. A little) and moved a bunch of stuff to the new garage. Then we swapped the old truck for a slightly better truck and made another trip. The new shop is nice. We cleared out the little room in the basement and loaded a bunch of our stuff in it. Having storage in the basement rules. Once we get everything cleaned up, organized, put away, etc, the new shop is gonna rule. RULE. ROOL. I am excited, but since I am still sick of moving, I don’t care about it. For now. Also big plus: MUCH closer to Mr. Salsa, so I will get to eat there more often.

Cali is still at the old shop, and I am hoping we can get her running soon so I can drive her to the new shop. We still have some stuff there, but it is all small stuff that can either fit in a car, or is required to finish Cali up.

Rebecca’s brother was over when I got home and we hung out and chatted and shit… when I first started dating Rebecca, we didn’t get along SUPER well, but I think we have both figured it out and now we can chat about this and that tech shit, it is pretty nice. So we hung out a bit, then I drove him to the metra station to catch the last train to glen ellyn… and man, was it pouring. I forgot how the tires on the camry aren’t awesome in the rain (Bridgestone Potenza RE92)… but they were better then taking Audrey, which is on Rs still. That would have been hydoplane city.

So overall, things I learned. I hate moving. I forget that sometimes. I also didn’t get to spend enough time with Mason, which sucked, I want to hangout with him more. Having a clean car is nice, wash it more often. Kids develop at different paces, and that is not a problem, no need to compare yourself to every kid on the block. Rebecca’s brother is cooler than I had realized.

Friday is here … and I am excited, but I have such a busy weekend that its importance is dulled. I have an autox tomorrow that I don’t think I will drive in. I may, but I don’t think I will… the car isn’t feeling perfect, and I don’t want to break it. I will likely put one or 2 runs in just to get a time on the board so I can atleast get SOME points… I would still like to remain competitive for the season in the points standing.

So Rebecca and I are planning on going for a walk this evening… which will be nice, I feel like I don’t exercise at all. I did walk to work most of the day’s last week…

Then we are hanging out doing something saturday night… and on Sunday we are moving all the crap from the old garage to the new garage. It will suck, but it will be really nice to have the new garage up and running… I would rather go there than the old one in skokie. So THAT day will suck.

Then a full week of work, then (hopefully) a 4 day weekend for the 4th. that will be nice.

Friday is here … and I am excited, but I have such a busy weekend that its importance is dulled. I have an autox tomorrow that I don’t think I will drive in. I may, but I don’t think I will… the car isn’t feeling perfect, and I don’t want to break it. I will likely put one or 2 runs in just to get a time on the board so I can atleast get SOME points… I would still like to remain competitive for the season in the points standing.

So Rebecca and I are planning on going for a walk this evening… which will be nice, I feel like I don’t exercise at all. I did walk to work most of the day’s last week…

Then we are hanging out doing something saturday night… and on Sunday we are moving all the crap from the old garage to the new garage. It will suck, but it will be really nice to have the new garage up and running… I would rather go there than the old one in skokie. So THAT day will suck.

Then a full week of work, then (hopefully) a 4 day weekend for the 4th. that will be nice.

So I am back at work today, feeling a bit better, but far from perfect. I think I need to run to CVS and grab some more sudafed knock offs and kleenex. Plus I got a check from Kieran and I am getting one from another project on saturday, so I actually have a bit of cash (and this friday is payday!).

Rebecca is feeling a bit better too, although she isn’t thrilled that I am going to the garage again tonight to work on the jetta… but the jetta is SO close… check the jetta blog for more on that.

So back to work… feeling ok, but not awesome. This is going to be a long weekend, autox on saturday, and moving the garage on sunday. Ugh. I am really hoping that the july 1-4th weekend comes together and I have time to relax.

Oh, and I am an idiot and left the interior light on in the Audi last night, and since I got home late, I parked down the block… so I had to go to the car, realize the battery was low, go back home, get the camry and jumper cables, go BACK to the audi, jump it, put the camry back, etc… it was a great way to start the morning… but I did get into the office right before the rain hit though, so it wasn’t all bad…

It seems we are always busy… so what is new? I’ll do it in some list method…

• Mason is doing great. He is smiling lots, has begun laughing on his own, and is eating like there is no tomorrow, so I would imagine another growth spurt soon.

• I got my new glasses. I don’t have any pictures come to think of it, but they are nice. I am totally used to them now. They are dope. I picked them up on friday, 6/2. The place was nice, urban eyecare on milwuakee. Close, insurance covered them, and I like the glasses. Can’t beat that.

• Gardening… so we planted some flowers. And by we, I don’t mean me. Rebecca and her folks did the plant buying and the planting. The backyard looks great. I think we are going to do some new sod. I need to read up on what is involved, time windows, etc. I REALLY want to build an in ground sprinkler system, but everyone tells me it is over kill. Which it is. But I still want to build it.

• Outings… we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens with Lisa, we have gone out the burbs a few times, hung out with Robyn a few times… been busy, but nothing too awesome too report…

• I am still not drinking pop… well, I have had like 4 cans in the last month…

• We worked on the house a bit… I may have mentioned it, but we did a bunch of touch up, I laid peel and stick vinyl tile in the laundry room, hung new lights in the basement hallway, hung some more shelves in the den, hung the projector screen in the den, bought the chair rail for mason’s room, painted clouds in mason’s room, etc… Slowly but surely…

• The jetta is getting close to done… the list of things to do is pretty small, and I am getting excited. Check the Cali The Jetta blog for more on the progress. Once I can drive that, the Audi goes to Al’s at Chicago Performance and Tuning for the A/C repair. THAT will be nice too.

• Been doing some more side work, which is nice money, I like money. I haven’t gotten paid on much of it yet, but we are getting there.

• Rebecca and I both got sick, and it sucks. On Sunday AM we both wokeup commenting that our throats felt weird. Well, now it is wednesday and I am home sick. I am feeling a bit better, but rebecca is still moving along. I stayed home to babysit and recover so rebecca could get some sleep. Being sick sucks, especially when both of us get sick at the same time.

• Autox on saturday, and we are planning on moving all the shit to the new garage on sunday. Busy Busy.

• I hacked one of the tivos. I am still playing with it, so it is not 100% awesome yet, but progress is being made. It is cool.

I think that is all for now… I think. I will try to be more current with my posts, I swear.

Finally… they are out of the garage… $280 picked up… so if you figure… we had 12 year old appliances, we bought some 2 year old GE white appliances, considerably nicer than ours, for $600. Then I sold the old ones for $280, net cost to upgrade was $320. Not a bad deal. Now I need to clear some more shit out of the garage, and we MAY be able to park a car in there soon! How novel!

I have been kinda busy with a bunch of crap… but hopefully it will be slowing down soon… so I will get back on the blogging bandwagon…

Notes of late…

Last night we dropped the motor into the jetta. Still need to connect 1 axle, run the coolant, fuel, and vacuum lines (not tough) and run/connect the wiring harness. Then I need to tune it and get it rolling. I am excited. It is really coming along. Scott took some pics, as soon as I get them, I’ll post them.

Last night driving home from the shop, I got on the expressway (94 inbound) and started heading into the city. Mind you, it was 23:30 on a wednesday night, traffic was light… I run into a group of cars, and I make my way up on the right… and about 7-9 cars ahead of me I see a state trooper, so I slow and stick with the pack. I was sitting there (actually saying out loud) ’someone is going to do it, c’mon!’… All the cars I had passed shoot by me, then hit the brakes a few cars up… wash rinse repeat… then this Lexus comes flying up, likely around 85… his xenons blazing as he weaves in and out… right around the time we hit the merge he shoot past the front of the group and floors it… and sure enough, the trooper pulls a 3 lane lane change, hits the light, and the lexus was stopped before the irving park exit. I knew someone was going to do it. Funny shit.

On the way into work (I took the bus, which is kinda fun sometimes, especially today, when I walked out the house, checked why I got a parking ticket (stupid parking too close to a stop sign, oh well), moved the Audi to a more legal spot, and walked the block to milwaukee…. and boom the bus was there, hopped on and off I went. Wasn’t too bad at all.) … so I am walking from the bus stop to the office and I see a small family, a father, son, and daughter, all riding on razor-esque scooters. Kinda cool. Some parents can be cool I guess!

I was reading this and I can’t figure out how that is legal? Basically, if a cop hears a car’s radio from more than 75 feet, he can have the car towed on the spot. No trial will be held, although the owner of the car can request a city employee hear a response, if requested within 24 hours. Hearsay evidence is admissible.

So, basically, if the officer said you were too loud, you were too loud. And there is nothing that you can do about it.

WTF? I am sure this was prompted by some random people. And I am sure it is something that will be overturned by a higher court, EVENTUALLY. Meanwhile…