Labels: cars, joke, Yoshimi

Labels: basketball, cars, house, Leelu, Obama, playoffs, Suns, Volkswagen

There are a lot of things that impress me about Barack Obama, but his desire to use technology to create transparency in government is one issue that truly does set him apart.

His campaign updates his YouTube channel about a half dozen times per day, often including in-depth interviews with promoters, footage of promotional stops, and many well-edited and mixed TV interviews. Hillary updates 3-5 times a week, mostly with ads and TV excerpts. I couldn't find an official John McCain outlet. His website includes community webware (think MySpace), and I'm sure helps the people within it organize more effectively.

So when he says that he wants to expand the workings of the first bill he passed as a congressman, his "Google for Government" program, to organize and make transparent the government's workings through technology, I believe him. That transparency can be seized upon by a concerned America, because the government isn't great at policing itself. Barack knows that.

In this way, his message is different from Hillary's: "We" versus "She." She wants to fix things. It's a noble sentiment. But Barack knows that no politician in Washington can fix the nation. WE have to do it, and we have to be enabled by political communities like on his website, and OnTheIssues.

There are other good examples of technology being used as part of sensible, positive change. He went to Detroit to insist that they change their technology (despite the tepid applause). He promised to help them by subsidizing R&D costs in exchange for progress and commitment from them and the American people. The Obama health care plan wants to streamline and digitize our medical records, most of which are inexplicably still on paper.

The lack of these credentials and ideas in the propositions and efforts on the part of the current administration (who prefers the destructive status quo), as well as that of McCain (who has no interest), and Clinton (who has no excuse, really).

Labels: cars, Obama, oil, politics

Labels: Beetle, cars, Volkswagen

Labels: cars, computers, kids, obsession, photography, work

1. Using the vehicle.
   This is the first stage, and it usually takes about a year to nail down. Most people master the basics in a week (you know - go and stop). But there are more complicated things involved too: parallel parking, knowing how long it takes to stop the car at speed, backing up without hitting anyone or anything. It's best to do this part with people and during the day. Being at this level means you are allowed to be in a car, driving, but shouldn't be trusted to drive alone.
   
   
2. Being aware of your surroundings.
   This is learning to see and know what's going on around you. Otherwise, you'll hit pedestrians crossing in an intersection, crash into people you are tailgating, and run red lights.
   
   This is where you learn to know how close other cars are to you, and how far away you need to be from the next car in front. It's when you learn to spot sometimes-hidden stop signs, know which way you're facing, and how to avoid getting lost. It will also help you avoid tickets. Here in Tucson, there's about ten zillion cops on Speedway Boulevard on weekend nights. If you speed there, you're begging for a ticket. Also, being aware of your surroundings helps get through traffic. If you see a construction zone coming up, go into the lane farthest from the blocked ones.
   
   
3. Predictive driving.
   Obviously, it's impossible to tell everything about all the vehicles around you, but watching their behaviors, and knowing your environment, will prevent a lot of accidents and get you to wherever you're going much quicker.
   
   For instance, the car that's been weaving through traffic and is now right behind you? He's looking for a way around you, and may or may not involve you in a wreck to get there. Let him pass you. If you pull up to a light and have to be behind an old station wagon with an old lady at the wheel, or a middle-aged mother driving a coupe, you can bet that the coupe's going to move faster.
   
   Personally, I like playing little predictive games on the road: who's going to go fastest, when someone will turn (even when there's no signal), all that. It gets me there faster, and I've avoided a LOT of accidents this way.
   

Labels: advice, cars, cops, idiots, rant, road rage

Labels: Beetle, carputer, cars, DuoCor, MobileDemand, OQO, pc, ultracompact laptop, VAIO, Volkswagen

Labels: cars, idiots, road rage, rules

Labels: cars, chores, credit, friends, homepage, money, music, To-Do

I decided recently that I'm still a pretty big slacker. So I'm trying an experiment. I'm letting myself slack to an extent, but I'm limiting my options to "acceptable" ways of slacking. I've decided that all of these things are ways I can allow my self to slack off:

• Post a MySpace blog.
• Play guitar and work on Ignition (my new album).
• Dream up new Art class assignments.
• Consider and note new ideas for my car.
• Update my homepage.

I'm hoping that by doing this, I'll either stop slacking or at least, have a good blog, finished album, an interesting Art class, an awesome car, and a cool homepage by the time I learn not to slack.

To clean the apartment to help prepare to move; I've already fixed a toilet and am about 7/8ths of the way through re-organizing and going through all of our files (W2's, reciepts, titles, etc.).

This also has other, cooler things I can do with a week of time on my hands. I inherited a pile of about 300 CD's from Maloney's when they went with an all-Mp3 based system. A lot of them are crap, and a lot of them are scratched, but I figure this is as good as any an opportunity to add to my Mp3 collection.

I can attempt to give Rachel a functioning computer (again). I even have a legit copy of XP to use now, too, so that'll save some headache.

And to plan for the rest of the semester at school. I really jumped into the semester but had a lot of problems with organization. Now that I'm more or less caught up with that part (heh, though I still have a huge pile o' grading to do yet), I can start planning lessons a bit better, maybe through the whole year (I hope).

Currently reading : Silverlock By John Myers Myers

Labels: BASIS, blog, cars, Ignition, Maloney's, mp3, MySpace, school, taxes, teaching

Per month.
$250 Groceries
$180 Dining Out
$330 For the truck and VW
$1200 Mortgage (30-yr)
$300 House decor/repair
$250 IRA
$350 Savings*
$400 Utilities, bills
$300 Spending*
$1000 Children
$0 Debt payments

$4,560 per month
$54,720 per year.

*~1/3rd used on monthly trip, 1/3 used on annual trip.

This is more than enough for me. We'd have trips monthly to a rollercoaster or off-roading or whatever, and annually could afford a trip just about anywhere. And have a big, fat IRA account when we retire. Of course, sometimes I'd use some of the car budget for the house repair (or whatever) - or maybe go out more one month than usual and pare from the grocery budget. But this really would be all I needed, I'm sure of it. I mean ... after 2 years of this income, I'd be able to do pretty much everything I'd wanted to do to my car, and make some improvements to Rachel's truck as well. After 5 years, I'd definately finish, and we'd probably get our third (and final) car - something like a '55 Nomad to drive the kids around with.

And this all makes me really wonder about the middle class and how I always hear about them trying to live above their means. From where I am, their means are plenty. Why are they killing themselves with debt?

Anyway, this is all wishful thinking at the moment since I'm unemployed. But there is a light at the end of this tunnel. I know that very few graphic designers just start out making $50k a year, but that doesn't bother me. That's fine. Rachel is making about $10k from Bookman's, and we don't have kids. We live in a duplex and so don't need the $300 for home repairs, really, or a mortgage (rent is half what's budgeted there). Actually that whole list is a bit inflated just because this is a fantasy world, and the title of this blog is "everything I ever wanted." Between the all that, we're taking $30k out of the above budget per year - leaving me to get an entry-level job at $20k per year. If I can find one.

Am I really asking for something unreasonable? A $20k per year job for a college grad, with hopes of eventually making about $40-55 in about a decade? Or is a college degree worth that little now?

Edit: heh. Even though it's best if you're listening instead of reading. I'll be singing it on the way to DES.

Currently reading : The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2: The Magicians of Caprona / Witch Week By Diana Wynne Jones

Labels: cars, debt, idiots, jobs, money, rant, To-Do, truck, true

First, I've been spending a lot of time at work. 10 hours today, for example. This has been for a variety of reasons. First, I've been doing graphic designs for Maloney's. They are very difficult to work with, because of short notices, long feedback lead time, and other demands. Second, I've been transferring music archives and making new daytime music lists. I'm also training new DJs because I'm hoping to become a barback, because I desperately need the money.

Second, money as mentioned - my current budget has me making $10 less than I need per day, every day.

Third, I've spent a lot of time up in Phoenix with my grandparent-in-law trying to get Rachel's truck working. This is so that I don't have to come home at 3am, only to take her to work 4 hours later, and then our friend AZ a few hours after that, and then take Rachel home again. It's between 1 and 3 hours of driving every day, and that is insane. Especially the amount of gas we use doing it. Despite her having a vehicle with much worse gas mileage (17 compared to 25 mpg), it's only one trip. Not to mention the gratification of independence. Even with the extra insurance every month we'll still save money on gas.

Also a few random life events; Our friend Jessy had her second baby. I've been trying to get serious about my 4th album. I've been updating my resume and sending out for a 'real' full time graphic design job.

In so many words: I've been fucking busy.

Labels: cars, gas, money, work

But anyway. That's not really what I'm worried about, because the whole thing about cost will sort itself out eventually (I hope).

I'm worried about noise. One of the really unsettling things about seeing an electric car is when you turn it on - there's no noise. There is literally no discernible difference between when it's about to take off or it's just sitting there. This kinda freaks me out. Cars are dangerous enough when they make a ton of noise, but now we'll have stealthy 2-ton pedestrian flatteners on the loose. On the other hand, it really would be pretty ridiculous to have artificial sound-makers, wouldn't it?

So I don't know what to think about this. Flashing lights? No, that's for emergency vehicles. Sure, they have to happen for the environment's sake (and for costs' sake) but ... I remain freaked out.

PS - the new Fiona Apple and Sigur Ros albums are really good.

Currently listening : Takk... By Sigur Rós

Labels: cars, environment, kids, random, rant

Labels: cars, frightening thought, gas, joke

What we need is self-sufficiency in fuel for our cars.

More than anything else, I'm convinced that this one, seemingly simple thing is where it's at for the U.S. for security, for our economy, Hell, for our sanity or what's left of it after all this terrorism-fear military-industrial complex hysteria.

Right now, we (that is, Americans) are in a position of very little real power. I am living in a weak country. How can I say that, with such a huge military power? Simple - that's not real power. Real power is when you've got something others want. And right now, the only really enviable thing about the U.S. is our colleges and our sense of eternal optimism: that if you work hard, you can make a better life for yourself here. Mind, those are two very enviable things but most of the people that really loathe the U.S. aren't interested in either one (especially the former).

I live in a weak country because it has nothing tangible to offer the world. Our electronics have long since been surpassed by Japan. Cars are behemoth gas-guzzling status symbols. And we can't support our own oil usage by a long margin. As far as the Middle East is concerned, we're no more powerful than a junkie is to his dealer. How to solve this?

It seems to me, there are a lot of smart people in this country. At least at the University level, where we don't have to teach just people from our own public school system. If you gave DuPont and a few dozen really great Universities, say, 10 Billion dollars, and told them to make a substance with the following qualities:
- Minimum octane of 94.
- Freezing and boiling temperatures of <-15F and > 140F.
- Total logistical cost, from manufacture to delivery of <$0.80.
- Minimal harmful emissions.

I believe it could be done. Or if it couldn't, give them 100 Billion dollars. That's how much we've spent in wars in the Gulf so far (according to Wikipedia, anyway).

Then picture what happens next in the Middle East - we send a diplomat to tell them that we don't need them anymore and that if they don't play ball, we won't let them sell our alternate fuel. Suddenly, every two-bit dictator from the United Arab Emerites to Pakistan has no choice because the only thing that's kept them in power - the money from oil - is gone. We have their balls in a fist.

Thomas Friedman is with me on this one, too: he pointed out that the only reason that the oil baron terrorist countries haven't collapsed is because of oil. After all, if it weren't for that, how could they lose half their work force (women), stifle education and skilled workers through religion-oriented learning, and trade nothing but drugs in the international market? (sources: 1, 2, 3)

At that point, my hope is that we would use our new found power for good instead of revenge, but at least it would be much more effective than popping dictators and invading for a few years.

Currently listening : All These Things That I've Done By The Killers

Labels: cars, gas, oil, politics, rant