Category: Automotive

Riders on the Storm

We had exactly a week of pleasant weather a week ago, and now its been back to cold and rainy every day for a week once again.

My next-door neighbor put in a new driveway. It looks really nice, but it sidles up right against the property line, and is edged with stone blocks that make it a good deal higher than his old driveway. I was concerned about the possibility of the watershed patterns changing, creating the potential for flooding on the side of my house, where I re-concreted the foundation a few years back and re-graded the earth. But seven days of solid rain have pretty much shown it’s not going to be a problem. Still, it motivated me to do a bit of landscaping on the shrubs on that side of the house.

I finished a few longstanding tasks. For the first time in a while there’s no big pressure to get stuff done. Even work is at an even keel these days. Summer’s coming soon.

We finished the project of painting the trim in the house: all the baseboards, door frames and window frames. Started back in February, the whole thing took eight sessions. Now everything is clean and shiny. Starting the fall we’ll paint the doors that need it.

Jeannie helped me put a new hard drive in my computer. I bought the drive last December but I’ve been too busy to get around to it. Then once we got into it, what was supposed to be a simple task took three days because of difficulties doing the backups.

Got my Origami e-book done. Hooray! Look for announcements about its availability soon.

Been continuing to get to know the Pilot Hoban. Lots and lots of buttons for the heater and the radio. Last week for the first time we took it further than the train station or kids’ school. Had fun with XM radio working my way thru a zillion station. They have about 20 rock stations, cracked into subgenres like petroleum distillates, but apparently no prog station and no steely station. I noticed an Elvis station and a Grateful Dead station. I want a combination of the two. “Fire – fire on the mountain, where you can be lonely, uh-uh-huh, yeah-eah!”

We watched The Blues Brothers movie with the kids, since Lizzy had done the song Soul Man in honor band, and I’d played her some of the Blues Brothers records. She was surprised it wasn’t a documentary. Michelle was upset that Jake and the rest of the band ended up in jail since it was Elwood was doing all the driving and Jake was just in the passenger seat. And besides, the light was yellow in the first place!

May Flowers

Back to the ol’ grind grind. Turmoil at work. Ah, the impersonal slings and arrows of working for a large corporation. I lost my private office recently in yet another reorg, and moved to a new location. Which is fine as far as it goes: I’m in an open area now with my actual colleagues, so the arrangement makes sense and is more social and congenial than it was before when people were scatted all over several floors. And we’re on the sunny side of the building. The thing is, my location has a built-in desktop that was several inches too low (I’m 6’6” tall). Before I left on spring break, the building services people came by and said they’d raise my desk, but when I got back they’d done nothing and closed the work order, declaring the problem solved. So I had to go after these people, which was a drag. When pressed they refused to fix it as a matter of policy. Picking up a screwdriver would cross an uncrossable line it seems. So I moved to another location nearby with an adjustable desk, causing lots of annoyance to my neighbors I’m sure.

Some good news: it was a lovely weekend. The first really warm weekend of the spring, with hint of summer. The girls had their dance recital on Saturday, and both did really well. The studio puts on a really nice show every year with acts and costumes and music. Sunday we did some more yard work, planting and edging, and I went skating and took the Mustang out for a ride, and we made a barbecue.

Also: getting used to the new car. At first I was just relieved to be done with the car shopping ordeal, but now I’ve driven it a few times, mainly to the train station and am starting to get a feel for it. It’s certainly much quieter and less falling-apartish than the old car. Plus the color is really nice. Blue with hints of purple and green when the light strikes it the right way. The stereo is weird. It has subwoofer, so the bass tends to be muddy and indistinct. Also all the bass is coming from the back of the car. It took some time, but I adjusted it to sound better. Next up is figuring out how to set the clock and the radio presets.

I figured out “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on guitar. Don’t ask me why. The song’s been stuck in my head since the 70’s. Needed to get it out. Lizzy asked my why all songs about disasters are so long (she’s heard me play American Pie too). I figured out the secret for WotEF: it never resoloves. The first and last chord is an A sus, so you never know if it’s in a major or minor key. There’s not a C or C# anywhere in the tune, just a void.

Spring Break

Another mainly rainy week. We’ve been on spring break, such as it is. Took a few days off of work because the kids were off school. Manly catching up on our rest and doing odd jobs. Last Wednesday I worked at home and the kids did art all day. Thursday the rain stopped and I got a bunch of yardwork done. Turned over the garden, laid down cedar mulch under the hedges. Pretty much done with the spring cycle.

We finally retired El Jeppo last week and replaced it with a shiny Pilot in a very attractive shade of blue. Yes, our quest is at an end and good riddance to the whole ordeal. On the way back from negotiating the deal I was say to Jeannie it would have been nice to get a better trade-in price. But then back windshield wiper stopped working and I remembered why I needed to get rid of the old bucket o’ blots, and considered it was probably a fair deal. We named the new car Hoban after the famous starship pilot Hoban Washburne.

Last Friday I took the kids into the city for a visit to the Guggenheim museum. It’s been years since I’d been there, before I moved to California. Lizzy has been getting into abstract and impressionistic art. This was the perfect exhibit for her. It was all about the birth of Modernism, 1910-1918, plus a side exhibit on the Bauhaus. Lots a Picasso, Mondrian, Kandinsky and others all in one place. Modern art’s greatest hits. It’s been a while since I checked in with this stuff and it struck me how deeply the language of modernism has come to permeate every day pop culture, media and industrial design, to the point where it’s almost invisible. It’s always interesting to image a time an place where ideas we now just accept were new and radical and challenging. Plus the gallery itself is a most excellent space, with it’s snail-shell spiral main hall.

Jeannie has been making Lego robots to solve a Rubik’s cube. More on that later.

Supply and Demand

I tried to buy a new car over the weekend. We’ve been researching this for a few weeks and it’s been a big time suck. I’d test driven a 2011 Ford Explorer and liked it well enough. Good power, handling, interior room, looks. It’s an all-new and therefore unproven design, but is highly rated by everyone who does that kind of thing. So I succumbed to the temptation of a shiny new car. Problem was, the dealer didn’t really have a car to sell me, just an imaginary future car. In other words I’d have to order one. The problem with that was dude couldn’t predict how long it would take to deliver the car. He’d told me about eight or ten weeks before, but now it was fourteen weeks or more. On top of this, he didn’t really want to give us any kind of a deal, or even a good trade-in price on my old car. There was language in the agreement that if we got tired of waiting didn’t want the car we’d loose our deposit, but if they failed to delver the car in a reasonable time, we’d get our deposit back and agree not to sue them. Problem was they didn’t want to commit to a number for a reasonable amount of time, and when pressed they wouldn’t commit a number I could accept. I would have gone up to ten weeks, which is into mid-June, but no. So that was that. Too bad, too. I had a name all picked out for her: “Dora the Truck”.

So now we’re back to looking at Pilots, which is another perfectly cromulent car, although built more for comfort than for speed. Still Honda has better fuel economy, better reputation for long-term reliability, and most importantly, actual cars to sell. Other good news is the 2009 Pilot is basically the same as the 2011, and they have plenty certified pre-owned ones listed in inventory. We’ve done well buying cars off of lease returns before. It looks like we can save a good 10 grand, and maybe get back to the program of upgrading my studio gear.

Honor Band

First day of spring, and this morning we had snow, turning to cold slushy rain. It was really nice over the weekend, however, and we did lots of stuff. Last Friday it got up to seventy degrees. On my lunch hour I went for a walk down the water where the Intrepid is parked. Felt great. Jeannie was home and raked out the flowerbeds, where the first bulbs are coming up, and uncovered the fig tree.

Saturday did a bit of car shopping. Checked out the Honda Pilot and Chevy Traverse. The Pilot seemed really nice to sit in, and had a bunch of things that I like about it. But they didn’t have one to test drive, and I’ve heard it’s underpowered, so I want to drive one and see for myself. The Traverse seemed nice too, but upon reflection it’s not the car for us. For one thing, it’s really long (over 17 feet!) and I know I’ll have to part it in Manhattan one day. For another, it’s not available without that annoying onstar thing. I don’t want a car that has to phone home to the mothership. Ever. No network computers! So it’s between the Explorer and the Pilot now, pending the test drive of the Honda. Since the Pilot has been around for years, getting a used one is potentially and option too.

The main thing that happened this weekend was Lizzy had her concert for Lower Hudson Valley Honor Band on Sunday, put on by the group that runs the band program at her school, the Paul Effman School of Music. It’s kids from all different middle schools in the area playing in one huge band. Mainly 7th and 8th graders but Lizzy was one of the 6th graders. I was really impressed with how good they sounded, and also how fast they got it together. Lizzy brought home a thick packet of music (nine songs I think) about three weeks ago and I spent an half hour or hour a couple evenings running the songs down with her. I thought it was fairly advanced music for middle school kids. From there she seemed to pretty much have it together. The group rehearsed two evenings a week for two weeks and the day before the show and that was it. They totally nailed it!

Snow Crash

Last weekend we went on a family ski trip up to Vermont with Nick and some friends of his. It was mostly great. The skiing itself was awesome. The snow and the mountain were perfect and we all had a great time with the skiing. Michelle is really coming along, and Lizzy is doing good too. We stayed in a condo right on the mountain with Nick and his family, and that was a good time. Watched The Empire Strikes Back, Jeannie’s favorite movie of all time. On the other hand it was really cold the whole time, especially sitting on the lift as it approached the summit.

The big downer is we got into a bit of a road accident on the trip up. We got caught in a pileup on an off ramp. Luckily no one was hurt, but once we were done feeling relieved over that, the hassle factor set in. We had to wait an hour and half for the police to show up and get everyone’s statements. So we got up there pretty late on Friday. And we’ve been dealing with insurance and paperwork ever since. At first I thought the Jeep had only minimal damage; I just lost my license plate and maybe the fan was a bit noisy. The car in the middle, a Mini, seemed to fare the worst, with both bumpers (the flimsy plastic kind) cracked. The car in front, the cause of al of it, was another SUV and looked to be totally intact.

Close inspection later revealed a piece of framing behind my bumper was bowed. It did its job and bore the brunt of the impact. There’s other assorted minor damage, probably mostly not worth fixing on account of the car being so old. It’s safe and drives okay. I’ll take it to my local mechanic and get his opinion on the minimum necessary repairs, put the license plate back on myself and be done with it.

I guess I’ll start looking to replace the car this spring. I had hoped to keep it another year or so, since we just got a new car for Jeannie. It’s certainly good enough to get to the train station and back for a while, but longer term it’s transitioning to the beater category. Luckily time is on my side and I can research cars and wait for sales. Too bad cash for clunkers in no longer in effect!

Did I mention that the skiing part of the trip was really great? An since we’ve been back in town, it’s gotten really warm, like spring and almost half the snow from January has melted. On the way home from Vermont we saw another car crash at the exact same spot. I’m sure the police keep statistics as to how many accidents occur at the ramp. It’s be interesting to know.

Up To Eleven

Been on winter break. Time off work and lots of adventures. Rewinding a few weeks, Lizzy had a flute solo at the school Christmas concert. Frosty the Snowman. Nailed it. Also, I took the kids to the American Museum of Natural History one day when they were off from school. The museum people gave me comp passes as thank-you for my contributions to the holiday tree. It was a very cool outing. It’s been a couple of years since we really did the museum. We got to see the iMax movie about repairing the Hubble space telescope, and the planetarium show about the big bang and life, the universe and everything. The kids loved the butterfly house too. Stopped for a a look at the tree too, and convince the guard to let me adjust one of models. The exhibit that really resonated with me was about the race to the South Pole between Amundsen and Scott 100 years ago. Just amazing what a cold and remote place. It’s been a cold December (although the last couple of days things have thawed a bit) and the thought of freezing to death out there just gives me chills.

I spent the first couple days off doing random tasks like defragging the house. I’ve been trying get some shopping done. One of the big ironies of modern capitalism is that there’s pretty much an inverse correlation between how easy it to buy something and how much you need it. I needed new, comfortable winter boots, a new ski jacket and new ski pants. The boots weren’t too hard to find but I struck out on the other stuff. I eventually found that Columbia has tall sizes, and ordered from them online. It turns a triple-extra-large-tall is the best fit. Of course when something is big enough to fit in the shoulders it’s like a circus tent around the waist. It’s a good jacket, though and had drawstrings at the bottom for both the shell and the liner, so I’m happy about that. I finally did get my new mBox too. More on that later.

We had Christmas at our house this year, and Mary’s and Jeannie parents came over. This was a first. In years past we’ve done visiting on xmas eve but this year Mary’s kids were singing in the choir on xmas eve so everyone came over on xmas day. It was very nice.

On boxing day we lit out for a trip upstate to visit family. Got the Jeep all loaded up and ready to go. Only problem was it wouldn’t start. Funny cuz I had a bad vibe out it the day before when I was loading up the skis. Since we got the Prius, the Jeep has only been to the train station and back, and had been driven only once at all the last couple weeks; otherwise it just sat out in the cold. So the battery was dead. I tried to replace it but the bolt was rusted on, and besides it was starting to snow pretty heavily. So we punted on that and took Prius. Had to leave all the ski stuff home, as well as a huge pile of gifts (sorry, they’re on their way) but other than that it turns out the Prius is big enough road trip car for a family of four and handles well in the snow. We just barely got out of town in time. NYC got two feet of snow and was totally shut down for two days.

Upstate was nice. Got to see my parents, Martin and Kathleen, Barb and Al, Larry and Jackie, and Denis and Sara and their families. Caught a Sabres game on TV and a Nova about Antarctica in the 21st century. I’ve still been trying to find a nice warm pair of pants, wool or something. I’d looked online but couldn’t find any in tall sizes. I was telling my dad about this, and it turns out one time he ordered a bunch of woolen pants to wear hunting from an East German army surplus catalog. They came in packs of three in random sizes, so he ordered 2 packs, and of those three of them fit him (ah the joy of being medium). So he gave me an extra pair in tall size. Most random gift ever but much appreciated.

Got home, shoveled out, broke in the new show blower and it proved its worth. Got fixed the Jeep. Watched the ball drop with Nick and his family. Got the kids to pick up their rooms. Finished off a freelance music software project (more on that later), and have been getting going on an origami eBook (more on that later too), and continued with the studio. Which brings us up to eleven.

Up To Eleven

Been on winter break. Time off work and lots of adventures. Rewinding a few weeks, Lizzy had a flute solo at the school Christmas concert. Frosty the Snowman. Nailed it. Also, I took the kids to the American Museum of Natural History one day when they were off from school. The museum people gave me comp passes as thank-you for my contributions to the holiday tree. It was a very cool outing. It’s been a couple of years since we really did the museum. We got to see the iMax movie about repairing the Hubble space telescope, and the planetarium show about the big bang and life, the universe and everything. The kids loved the butterfly house too. Stopped for a a look at the tree too, and convince the guard to let me adjust one of models. The exhibit that really resonated with me was about the race to the South Pole between Amundsen and Scott 100 years ago. Just amazing what a cold and remote place. It’s been a cold December (although the last couple of days things have thawed a bit) and the thought of freezing to death out there just gives me chills.

I spent the first couple days off doing random tasks like defragging the house. I’ve been trying get some shopping done. One of the big ironies of modern capitalism is that there’s pretty much an inverse correlation between how easy it to buy something and how much you need it. I needed new, comfortable winter boots, a new ski jacket and new ski pants. The boots weren’t too hard to find but I struck out on the other stuff. I eventually found that Columbia has tall sizes, and ordered from them online. It turns a triple-extra-large-tall is the best fit. Of course when something is big enough to fit in the shoulders it’s like a circus tent around the waist. It’s a good jacket, though and had drawstrings at the bottom for both the shell and the liner, so I’m happy about that. I finally did get my new mBox too. More on that later.

We had Christmas at our house this year, and Mary’s and Jeannie parents came over. This was a first. In years past we’ve done visiting on xmas eve but this year Mary’s kids were singing in the choir on xmas eve so everyone came over on xmas day. It was very nice.

On boxing day we lit out for a trip upstate to visit family. Got the Jeep all loaded up and ready to go. Only problem was it wouldn’t start. Funny cuz I had a bad vibe out it the day before when I was loading up the skis. Since we got the Prius, the Jeep has only been to the train station and back, and had been driven only once at all the last couple weeks; otherwise it just sat out in the cold. So the battery was dead. I tried to replace it but the bolt was rusted on, and besides it was starting to snow pretty heavily. So we punted on that and took Prius. Had to leave all the ski stuff home, as well as a huge pile of gifts (sorry, they’re on their way) but other than that it turns out the Prius is big enough road trip car for a family of four and handles well in the snow. We just barely got out of town in time. NYC got two feet of snow and was totally shut down for two days.

Upstate was nice. Got to see my parents, Martin and Kathleen, Barb and Al, Larry and Jackie, and Denis and Sara and their families. Caught a Sabres game on TV and a Nova about Antarctica in the 21st century. I’ve still been trying to find a nice warm pair of pants, wool or something. I’d looked online but couldn’t find any in tall sizes. I was telling my dad about this, and it turns out one time he ordered a bunch of woolen pants to wear hunting from an East German army surplus catalog. They came in packs of three in random sizes, so he ordered 2 packs, and of those three of them fit him (ah the joy of being medium). So he gave me an extra pair in tall size. Most random gift ever but much appreciated.

Got home, shoveled out, broke in the new show blower and it proved its worth. Got fixed the Jeep. Watched the ball drop with Nick and his family. Got the kids to pick up their rooms. Finished off a freelance music software project (more on that later), and have been getting going on an origami eBook (more on that later too), and continued with the studio. Which brings us up to eleven.

Catching Up

I haven’t really had a chance to give a general update since the start of the school year back in early September. My deadline at work come and gone. The new rev of my product is in QA with the release slated for 11/15. It seems like I’m always in the middle of things.

It’s November now, halfway to winter break. Although the weather is starting to turn cold at night, it’s been really warm until a couple days ago. One day last week I walked up thru Central Park to the American Museum of Natural History to drop off my origami models for the holiday tree, and the temperature was in the 70’s. Now it’s in the 30’s in the mornings. Time to break out the hats and warm socks.

Jeannie and I got back to our house painting project. In the fall of 2008 into the winter we painted all three bedrooms, including the ceilings, plus touch-up in the living room, halls, kitchen and downstairs room. Last winter we didn’t do anything cuz I hurt my back. So this fall and winter we’re gonna finish the house. We did the ceilings in the upstairs hall, kitchen stairs and half the living room a couple weekends ago, and then the high part of the living room last weekend. It looks great and was not an overwhelming amount for work. We started Friday night with the taping up and edging. Saturday we did the roller work, and were done by mid-afternoon. The hardest part was the stairs because we needed the big ladder, which is hard to move around. We did the high part of the ceiling in one night. The only difficulty was that the extension handle to the roller broke midway thru, so I did a lot of trips up and down the ladder. The plan now is sometime before Christmas do the ceiling in the downstairs. Then it’s down to touching up the trim, which we’ll start after the new year.

We’ve had some time for fun in there too. Way back in September, we went to the Maker Faire when it visited NYC. Had fun playing with robots and electric hula hoops. Plus the event was at the New York Hall of Science, which I’d never been to before. Jeannie and the girls had been and love the place, and they’re right – it’s very cool. In particular there’s a really great discovery playground. It was also the first outing as a family with the new Prius. Tons of Prii in the parking lot. Don’t know if it’s just the effect of noticing when you get a new car, or maybe the Maker Faire is the kind of event that tends to attract the same kind of people that drive a Prius anyway.

We took a day trip up to a farm near New Paltz in October. Met up with Martin and family, and picked apples and pumpkins. Came home with three giant pumpkins, which have been carved into jack-o-lanterns and placed on the front stoop, where they are now serving as squirrel food. When we were done at the farm we went into town for lunch, and ended up walking around the historical district, where houses dating back to 1705 and older are still standing as a sort of park or museum. Pretty neat. The motivating excuse for the outing was to give Prius a good run on the highway. The car did not disappoint. It got 46 mpg.

Inspired by Maker Faire Jeannie finally got around to getting herself a Lego robot kit from her gambling winnings way back from our trip to Tahoe. While she was at it, she picked up a minifig of Jedi Master Yoda to hang from the rearview mirror of her car. “It’s a toy Yoda for my Toyota, see?”.

A friend lent us season one of the new Battle Star Galactica. The idea is to make it our main video entertainment for the coming winter. So far we’ve only had a chance to watch the pilot, which was excellent. I’d forgotten what a compelling actor Edward James Olmos is. I hope does some origami in this show.

Somewhere in there Jeannie and I celebrated our anniversary, Halloween (Lizzy was an aqua witch and Michelle a devil), and put on a birthday party for Lizzy. Now it’s time to make plans for camping and ski trips. Hopefully the end of the year will be a little less hectic. I know I have some vacation time that I have to use soon.

Indian Summer

It’s fall in New York, and Indian summer is upon us. The weather’s been very nice so far, generally warm in the days and cool at night, with a few stormy days. The kids are back in the school groove, and after finishing my record, I’ve been able to start planning the next music project, as well as get back into my origami book. Diagramming the frog this week.

My work situation continues to improve. We got our release finished off a few weeks ago, and it was met with enthusiasm from our customers and managers. Now we’re sort of back to normal as far as the level of pressure and the general vibe. We have a follow-on release coming up in November. Finally getting tot he point where all the well-structured, modular, reusable code I’ve been writing is starting to pay off by actually getting reused. In related news, our corporate overlords did some shuffling of chairs recently. My team lost our nice corner shared office, as it’s going to be converted into a conference room. I got my own office right next door, which is a reasonable tradeoff. View of the Marriott wall, but at least it’s a window. The other guy in the room got sent to cubicle purgatory.

We did get a Prius a few weeks ago after all, and so far we think it’s pretty neat. Good roomy size, good futuristic looks, good handling, reasonable power and of course the hybrid synergy drive is a radical, cool technology. It takes a bit of getting used to. The controls are all electronic. Instead of a gearshift it has a videogame joystick. The car is black and completely silent at low speed, so my friend Erik nicknamed it the Stealth Car. Meanwhile the kids have dubbed it Princess Priia. So far we seem to be getting about 47 mpg. We’re gonna take it on a drive out to country sometime soon for some hiking and pumpkin picking.