On the Idea of New Vehicles

Not long ago I was talking about how I think the new 4Runners are a bit much in the money department for what they offer. They offer a lot mind you, but for $42K MSRP in top trim, hell that’s a substantial amount of a house in some parts, you know?

However, it occurred to me that a 4Runner is really in some respects a 4-door mid-sized truck with a built-in camper shell over an extremely short bed. In fact, the last generation of 4Runner was actually built on the Toyota Tacoma platform, so that really was an indisputable truth. The new ones are built on a larger frame than the Tacomas, but the idea is still the same, and it got me thinking: Couldn’t I trick out a new Tacoma and put a shell on it and be good? And in fact in some ways, better?

The answer is yes.

If we go Tacoma 4-door with shell, we gain better ground clearance, better weight (save over 400lbs), same door capacity, and actually the dogs would have more room in the back for themselves (even the short-bed is quite spacious compared to the 4Runner Cargo area capacity). Another thing that is great is that since the dog area is completely separate from the people place, cleanup is a breeze: simply hose it off. Since there’s no carpet to worry about, there’s no fear of doggy sheddings all in the fabrics, nor of any liquid seepage & subsequent funk, either.

There are downsides, however. You lose the option for the V8 motor, for one. Another is that you no longer have fingertip control over the dog’s climate, either. With the 4Runner, I can roll up and down the back window from the driver seat, so if it’s getting cold or hot, I can control airflow accordingly. Also, the Tacoma does not have a moonroof option. This would be missed for sure. And there’s certain creature comforts that would be given up, though maybe not really “missed.” For instance, the 4Runner Limiteds have Auto on/off headlamps, so you never have to worry about turning them on or off. And did I mention the moonroof? If not, hey, that’s awesome all by itself.

So space-wise & cleanup-wise, the Tacoma is really better for the dogs, however as far as climate control goes, the 4Runner is the favorite. But the dogs, they are hearty anyway; do they care much if it’s a little windier or not? And one has to wonder, after everything is considered and rolled into the price comparo, is the $11K difference in MSPR really worth a moonroof and roll-up back window and leather seats?

I don’t think it is, honestly. Though I’d miss the moonroof & back window control, I can’t say that an extra $11K later, I’d be happy with a decision in the 4Runner’s favor, all things considered.

Some might say “but you could skimp on some of the features of the Top-Trim 4Runner and bring the cost down to close to the Tacoma,” and you’re right, I could. But then I’m essentially getting the Tacoma anyway, but losing out on all the benefits of one. Except for the moonroof & back window, yeah, but the cargo area is a complete loss, and I’d still be spending more (in the neighborhood of $4-5K).

So it would still stand to reason: the Tacoma may be the way to go, even if the 4-Doors are ugly as all giddy-up.

Belated Anniversary, Visiting Blue Lake, & Canon Elph out to Warranty

We’ve been here a year now
Actually, over that. Our year anniversary in this place was actually the day after 4th of July (that translates roughly to about July 5th). Yup. See, we spent 4th of July 2007 with family down south, with our stuff packed, and then early the next morning started driving up. We reached our new home around 6pm, and had Round Table Pizza by around 7:15pm.

It’s been really awesome, I may have mentioned once or twice here already. I don’t plan on going anywhere. We’ve been pleased with the area, and though weather was a concern for most everyone (“it rains all the time!”), we didn’t find it particularly troublesome. Granted it was another drought year, but even so, we had actually wished for more rain – we could use it up here.

I just wish all these people would go away, so me & BigFoot could live in peace! :-D



Out to the Non-Lake today
We both have the day off, an I plan to get us ready & out of the house on a trek to Blue Lake again today. We were there not too long ago with all the pups, and we felt it was time to visit again.

Don’t let the name fool you; we’re going there to hang out at the river. Because there’s no actual lake. Just a river. A Mad, Mad River.

There’s a nice little hidden trail that we go 4x4-ing down, get to a nice spot removed from the roads, and hang out. It’s convenient, because then we can take all our stuff (say, a cooler, chairs, etc) and not have to lug it 4,000 miles just to get away from the frequented spots. Which is important when you have 4 dogs (we have 4 dogs! Holy crap!)

Don’t worry; the 4Runner’s rough, rugged, and ready for the trail. We’ve done it before, and dammit we’re going to shine again.



My Canon goes in for service
I emailed amazon about trying to return the products, and was met with chirping crickets. Yep, not so much as a word back to me on the matter.

Anyway, with having recently tried out other makers’ cameras, we can safely say that we’d rather put up with Canon’s occasional malfunction than the other manufacturer’s all-the-time sucking with their sucky suckiness.

It’s scheduled to arrive there in about 3 days (UPS ground is SLOWWWW…), and I’ll probably get it back about a week afterwards.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Ahhh.... Politics!

McCain Brings up Race card, to tell us that Obama Brought up Race Card First!
From a recent article in the New York Times:

By the day’s end, Mr. McCain proclaimed that he did not want to dwell on the issue either, although he repeated his campaign’s central charge that his probable opponent had injected race into their battle.

“He brought up the issue of race; I responded to it,” Mr. McCain told reporters in Panama City, Fla. “I don’t want that issue to be part of this campaign. I’m ready to move on. And I think we should move on.”

Let me Translate: “Well, I only brought race up because he brought race up. I don’t want to talk about it (ignore that I’m still talking about it); I want to move on, so let’s not talk about it anymore! Oh hey, did you guys know that Obama’s BLACK?!?! Oh, and he brought race into this debate. NEXT QUESTION!”

Or I could be even more contracted while still being accurate: “he started it!”

Seems to me that someone’s talking about race more than someone else… Mr. McCain, I’m looking at you.



The Official Response
The Official Response from Obama has been more or less to try and take race right back out of the campaign; Instead of doing like McCain and going “nuh-uh, not me, he started it,” he simply stated that he didn’t think McCain was being racist, he was being cynical & negative.

And hey, despite my reservations about the guy, this is the one thing that I definitely like about him: he stays on topic. I wish he’d get more in-depth on the topics, but he doesn’t let the debates slide into name-calling, he prefers to keep it on-target, and make people aware of the what the issues are, instead of looking to Britney Spears for Presidential Influence. WTF?



WTF? Britney Spears?
Yeah. See, the Republican Campaign is running a spot where they compare Obama to Britney. You know, because they clearly have so much in common. The color of thei… oh wait, no. Their hairdo is almost exac… nope, uh… oh! Got it: Their singing voices sound eerily simi… wait, no? Dammit, yeah I don’t get it either.

However, McCain does use an old Republican tactic at the very end, making a dig on the Dems for “Raising taxes.” See, they take a small truth, and then make up a complete fabrication about it. They lie, is what I’m saying, using a semi-truthful lead-in. Oh, and somehow because he doesn’t support oil digging off our coastlines or the Alaskan Wildnerness, he wants to keep us tied to foreign oil? Ha, I think he’s got the wrong shoe on the wrong foot, no? Anyone have a mirror handy I could hand to the republicans? No? Anyway, the tax thing:

• The lead-in: Obama will raise taxes.

• The Fabrication: YOUR taxes will GO THROUGH THE ROOF

• The Actuality: Yeah, Obama has (like most every democrat) proposed higher taxes. Well, not really. He’s proposed getting rid of the repeal of the taxes on the rich that bush (capitalization purposeful) and his crony republicans put into effect. A tax that only gets charged to people making over $250K a year. Is that you? No? Then you see the mislead: Obama Raising taxes somehow is going to affect YOU. Which, uh, probably isn’t, seeing as how a very small percentage of people make that much.

Sigh. I wish we could stay on topic and actually debate the issues as they are, without false lead-ins and such. If you’re FOR keeping that tax on the ultra-rich permanently repealed, then say so. Say it proud if you really are for it. Because if you’re not proud of your stance on it, then either change your stance or shut the f*ck up about it and stop lambasting your competition for their stance on it (which I fully support).



Ultimate Government Control: We’re getting closer
From a story in Yahoo! News this morning. Oh my god. Now, Border Agents can take your computer and electronic equipment and keep it indefinitely. That means, that nice $2,000 laptop you bought? Gone. As is all the information on it. You can’t lean on anyone to get it back. Because bush (capitalization purposeful) and his cronies have essentially said that you have no real rights, and if you thought you did, well you’re wrong mister!

We’re like, two short steps away from a military state, people. Seen V for Vendetta? I suggest you watch it.

Seriously? McCain 2008? How about Republicans never. I like my rights, thank you very much. And sh!t, I’d like them back, please. A**holes.

Of Mummies, Fruit Trains, & Bats

The Mummy: Tomb of The Excuse for yet Another
Rotten Tomatoes currently has this sitting at about 10%.

Yeah, seems about right.

And, what gives? I thought Jet Li retired like 3 years ago. Per his own words, no? I thought the overdone wire-fu thing was going to be put to rest. Guess not.



Pineapple Express (Translation: Fun with Drugs!)
Rotten Tomatoes currently has this sitting at about 78%. I like the cast, And I want to see it. But I freely admit, I’m fickle about comedies, so a high rating has really no bearing on my enjoyment. Hated 40 Year-Old Virgin myself. Not a big fan of the Fockers Series, either.



Still Pondering TDK
Rotten Tomatoes currently has The Dark Knight sitting at 94%. The more time goes on, the less I understand all the hype. The further removed from this film I get, the less I like it. To the point that anymore, I’m not sure sure I want to add it to my library.

All Excited about the Electric Cars, Now

The more I think about how cool it would be to ‘perfect’ the electric car, the more I long for that to happen soon. I mean, estimates for the reduction in air pollutants hover around 40%. Think of that: If we could create Battery Exchange Stations (link) tomorrow and get it all rolling by next week… that’d be an instant 40% reduction.

There are other cool upsides, as well. Noise pollution would almost disappear. No more “VROOOM!” right by your ears. Also, no more need to warm an engine. You go out, you put your key in (to turn it on: also, NO IGNITION!), and press the pedal. Since it doesn’t have an operating temperature to reach, there’s no fear of premature wear – press the pedal and go.

And did I mention no more ignition? Yes, yes I did. May not sound like much, but think about how cool that really is. Right now, you rely on a battery to start a gasoline/mechanical motor, that then needs time to properly warm up in order to get you somewhere. Now, however, you would just hop in & go. The battery is the motor, and it’s not an old rusty one, either: It’s the latest technology, Lithium-Ion. No more Coke & toothbrush, y’all.

Everyone keeps talking about the plugin hybrid. But seriously, if we could get the stations going, get the power sources mostly standardized*, then yeah, you could plug it in overnight and not worry, but you could also stop along the way and change it for a fresh one when yours is out of juice. Which is way more convenient, and even if they abandoned home charging (or relegated it to 220v or something so it was less prevalent), everyone could still be properly serviced.

And has anyone bothered to think what this would do to our ties to Oil? Seriously? Buh-bye, Saudi Arabia: hope you like your desert, cuz that’s all you gonna have no mo’, fools! America would finally be free (FREE!) of the tyranny of big oil and OPEC. A truly free nation. Finally.

Go electric, huh?


*Note that there would need to be different classes. A battery powering a commuter car isn’t going to power a pickup truck for long, I don’t think nor is either of those going to work well for a Big Rig. Also, things like ATV’s and motorcycles would need a small source for the couple hundred pounds they are. This could be gotten around to some extent by running sort of a parallel system with the smaller batteries, wherein the big rig uses the same ones, but just more of them. However, that would really limit the convenience of fast changeouts if you had to change 4 or 5 for a regular car, and 9 or 10 for a truck, etc.

Making Electric Vehicles Work in Our Society

Last night I watched a PBS special having something to do with how scientists are trying to get the automobile to be more efficient. Typical gasoline engines are at most about 30% efficient, you see. That’s right, of the 100% of the energy you put in, 65-70% of that is lost in the form of heat, leaving only about 30% of that to push you forward (or backwards).

One of the talking points was Tesla Motors. You heard of them? They’ve got this all-electric roadster that does 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. That’s pretty fast. And there’s lots of other cool upsides to it as well. Since it’s an electric motor, there’s full-torque immediately. No matter where you are speed-wise. Imagine that: No hesitation. Ever. And did I mention the lack of pollution? Or how about the lack of motor oil, air filters, timing belts, camshafts... and so on.

Downside is though, that it only gets about 250 miles per charge. And it takes 3.5 hours to charge it. And in thinking about this, it seems to be the one true problem electric vehicles have to overcome to become mainstream: the convenience factor. Because yeah gas sucks, but even if you could go only the same 250 miles on a tank, you could stop about anywhere and fill ‘er up. Takes 5 minutes, gets you another 250 miles, you know? But with the electric car, you go those 250 miles, then you have to rent a hotel room that lets you plug into the wall, then wait 3.5 hours… As you see, it’s not terribly convenient. I do however, have a solution.

Tesla, guys, give me a call. We have to talk. The answer to your problems is to standardize the power source. That’s what the auto industry did. Fuel is fuel is fuel, you get me? I can fill up in Kansas or California, and the car runs. 87 octane, baby. Well you gotta get with that program. What needs to happen is that you need to standardize the batteries/fuel cells into different groups or sizes. Then you make them replaceable. Then you turn gas stations into Charging Stations, or more appropriately, Battery Changing Stations. Now what happens, is the electric cars go into the station, their batteries are tested to see how low they are, the customer is charged for the costs to recharge it from its current state to full, and – now here’s the genius – instead of having the battery charged, it’s exchanged for a full one. And the station keeps all the uncharged/discharged batteries and charges them to full capacity for other customers.

Is this making sense? You’re making the electric car as convenient as the gas car. All the benefits, none of the hassle that currently exists. Seriously guys, I want to see this implemented.

And, of course, I want a cut. It’s a Great Idea®, dammit, and seriously? I should get a cut.

EDIT:
Apparently, I’ve been beaten to the punch. Still a good idea though, guys. And hey, here’s another one: Solar roof panels. Imagine that: a 4x4 vehicle out in the country, never needs to fill up. Runs out of juice/gas/power, it just sits and charges for a minute. How cool?

Way cool.

Grey Young, Back to Heavy Lifting, Acronyms attacking, & Pop Music

Grey @ 28
I awake from a nap yesterday, and The Girl is playing with my hair with the utmost intent. What was she up to? Trying to pluck a grey hair from my head. HOW DARE SHE!!

Yeah for some strange reason, I want to keep it. It’s not the first one I’ve gotten, I’ve had one or two pop up before, and I just wonder: is it normal to have grey hair before you’re 30? I don’t know. Seriously. I mean, they come, they go (without being plucked), and I’m not sure if it’s normal or not. But whatever, I sort of look forward to my Salt & Pepper.

I think I’ll wear it well!



Back to Heavy
So the last week (that I’ve been on vacation) I have been back to going heavy in the gym. Which, incidentally, is in the garage. I’m splitting my workouts up again for the next 4-5 weeks, doing each body part separately (where before I was combining opposites – back & chest, biceps & triceps, etc).

Feelin’ good. One rotation down thus far, and I’m matching my recorded maxes (at least since I moved up here). So I figure 5 rotations later or so, I should have added about 20lbs to my large muscle group exercises, and hopefully 10lbs to my supporting muscle group exercises. Then I’ll go back to lighter, more correct reps for a while before cycling back.

Eventually, I’ll be lumberjacking it again. Probably around Christmas.



Gaaahhh! Acronyms!
I don’t know why they can’t just make a law a law without some “catchy name” or some jazz. I mean, “No Child Left Behind?” Gay. But you know what’s worse? When they come up with an acronym and make up words around it. I give you HANG-UP.

I mean, holy sh!t. Get over it. Are you really wasting time trying to push legislation to have people not talk on cell phones? That’s what you deem important?

I almost feel like booking a flight with some of them and just talking up a storm. To make a point. That point being:

There are other things that maybe you should be putting effort into, instead.



Pop Music
OK, it’s not just me, right? I mean, doesn’t every new Tool song song just like every other new Tool song? Seriously. I think someone should maybe turn the page on their song sheet. Because I think they’ve been playing the same song all this time.

Also on this front: System of a Down. Their new stuff is not nearly as good as their old stuff. I have heard a few songs off their new album recently. I’m not impressed. They have become whiny losers, it seems. Like, they sound as though they hooked up with Clay Aiken producing. This is not a match made in in heaven, dammit.

I hope they get back to being hard alt-rock. Sooner rather than later. Leave the corny heart-wanking stuff to Clay. He’s perfect for it. Being gay and all.

Fonolo, Honesty in Web Sites, & Avoiding Buses in Canada

Fonolo: Sign me up
You haven’t heard of it yet most likely, but I urge you to go and read about it in-depth. The basic low-down though, is that it’s a website that has already mapped out all the phone trees of all the large corporations. Log on, find the service/person you want, call them (fonolo) and they hook you right up and transcribe the call, as well.

How sweet.



DPReview.com: Negativity is frowned upon? Way to keep it honest, guys
After my recent tirade about our horrible experiences with Canon Elphs, I went to this site to write my reviews/experiences on both the SD870 model & the SD1000 model. I wrote the reviews, but they never showed up on the site.

Apparently, you’re not allowed to create a truthful review pointing out actual issues with real hardware. Which I think is horrible. How the hell do you have a site composed of user reviews, but censor/delete/not post reviews by those users? It’s doubly as bad, having read their ‘rules’ on reviews, first of which is “don’t write reviews about hardware you have not used,” and one of the first reviews I saw that day was a review by someone about a just-announced (and not released) camera that so much as said “I haven’t used this camera, but there others are good so I’m sure this one will be too.”

Anyway… The Girl got hers back yesterday, and all seems dandy. They replaced the whole optical unit and it seems to be working flawlessly anymore. Mine was sent away, and if Canon can fix the issues and make them not come back, then I’ll be satisfied.

We went and looked at other brands of cameras, just in case. Truthfully, none of the others are anywhere in the neighborhood of Canon’s equipment. So I’m still pulling for them.



Holy f*ck, Canada’s becoming America
Found this sad news on another blog I stop by occasionally. Holy cow, is it not totally horrible? I linked it to a friend of mine over IM, and his response was to “never send me anything like that in the future.”

So, having just read that, why don’t you go ahead and hop on over and read it? And then you, too, can wonder: “no one bothered to – I don’t know – help?”

Movie: The Bank Job, & Netflix Upgrades

The Bank Job
Yesterday Netflix saw fit to grace us with a couple of movies. One we decided to pop in for the night was solely The Girl’s decision to watch. It’s supposedly “based on a true story,” revolving around a 1971 bank heist in London that was never solved. How true the movie itself is however, is not quite clear. But I’ve heard it said that it’s true like the Titanic is true: yeppers, there was a big ship that sunk in the ocean. Well with that out of the way, how was the movie on its other merits?

Surprisingly, I think I liked it more than The Little Woman did (she normally picks out some big-time losers. “Let’s watch The Animal!” Dear god). It was a pretty watchable movie I must say, though not without its own folley. Some of the stuff you watch just seems so ridiculous, as in “there’s no way that happens” or “wow how convenient for them…”

The basic idea is that the crooks were sort of guided to the mission by MI5 agents, because there’s something in a certain safe deposit box that they want buried instead of held against the Royal Family. Namely, revealing photographs of Princess Margaret (Who, by the way, has an awesome rack).

But again, I stress that this movie is probably true like Titanic is true, so don’t get too carried away looking for truth in the details. Yes there’s rookie mistakes that make you cringe, but those rookie mistakes were actually real: their radio conversations were recorded (why didn’t they bother to cover themselves better? Duh!), and in the context of the movie – that these guys weren’t professional bank robbers – it makes sense. So you can give it a little leeway and not feel stupid in doing so.

It’s not surprisingly awesome though, just surprisingly watchable. You could definitely do better (Ocean’s 11, anyone?), but it’s also definitely possible to do worse. It’s worthwhile entertainment that doesn’t get added to the library, is what I’m saying. It’s a B-. Rotten tomatoes this time almost agrees with me to the letter.



Considering more Netflix goodness
We’re currently on the Two Movies At Once plan, which means that we have two in our possession at most at any given time. This seems to work out OK most of the time, except if we have 3 days of movie time and especially if there’s a Weekend in between.

Because, if we watch one on Monday, send it in on Tuesday, we don’t get that refilled until at least Thursday. Which means that we only have one movie to watch from Tuesday to Thursday. Now, this works so long as we watch a movie between Sunday and Tuesday; as soon as we pop one in on a Wednesday, things get a little tight. We watch one on Thursday night, it gets sent in on Friday, they receive it on Saturday… We’re not receiving it until Monday or Tuesday. Almost a week later.

Which, truth be told, is probably fine for the most part. I mean, on a typical workweek, that’s probably fine. It’s just that on a nonstandard workweek, it could really suck. Like, for instance, if I was on vacation. We get by during the slow times with a rental from the local video store, but at almost $5 a pop, how often do you do that before the additional cost of Three Movies At Once starts making fiscal sense?


The answer is once. The difference between 2 and 3 movies is a whopping $3.

Movie: Invincible

So I totally forgot to write anything about it, but yeah, we saw Invincible about two weeks ago. My bad.

Well actually, not quite. You see, it was the movie featured in this recent blog about Netflix Rocking (if you read that one).

Anyway, the movie. It’s a Disney adventure, if you didn’t know, that’s only loosely based on a true story. What, did you think Pocahontas Really sang in perfect english? Yeah, anyway... The characters are real, the era is real, the basic outline is real. But did I mention it’s a Disney movie? Which means that of course, everything in between is complete fluff. The good guy is 100% good, the bad guys are all 100% a**holes, and “The Girl” is of course both beautiful, smart, and perfectly in-tune with the hobbies & interests of the good guy. You meet her near the beginning, and it’s not like there’s any doubt that she’s going to get f*cked by the end. You know, except it’s a Disney movie, so no one ever has sex. Sort of puts a damper on the whole f*cked idea I know, but hey: it’s not like we didn’t fill in the blanks.

The movie is OK. Just OK. Not even really all that good, really. I thought I’d take a chance on it because of the Star Power. I like Marky Mark dammit, he typically does a good job picking out roles and them playing them (seen The Departed? Yeah). Of course, there are exceptions, right (seen Shooter? Yeah). This movie, I must say is one of those exceptions.

I’d have preferred they called it “Invisible,” and made it as such, as well. That way I could have skipped it.

It’s just not – as I said – that good. It’s not worth watching. If you’ve ever seen a Disney movie before, then you already know what happens, and there’s not really much of a surprise in store for you. And since you know how it’s all going to play out – how the fluff is fluffed, you could say – it’s just not ever interesting. You get bored. Immediately.

Such a forgettable movie. So much so, in fact, that I forgot to blog about it for two weeks. Fittingly.