J E E - R A H L

LeMans

What a race weekend. The 24 Hours of LeMans was run this weekend, as well as the Canadian Grand Prix. Congrats to the Audi R15 TDI team and the McLaren Mercedes team for winning thier respective races.

The more I watch racing, the more I think many elements of it mimic life. Take LeMans for example. It's one of the most challenging races on earth. Teams bring thier highly tuned, high performance machines to a circuit and run it for 24 GRUELING hours. It's a relentless affair. To put this into perspective, most races are less than 2hours long. LeMans is so taxing that teams not only change tires and refuel, but rotate three different drivers and other things that teams usually don't need to worry about such as brake pads and rotors. This year, 56 cars entered the race and only 28 finished.

The part I want to focus on is the LMP1 race at LeMans today. Two major teams battled it out for the class win. Peugeot with it's 908 HDi, and Audi with the newly revised R15 TDI. The Peugeot was the favorite, and just as people expected, it had a very strong showing in the begining hours of the race. Dominating early on, they ran in first through fourth. The race seemed grim for Audi, most of the R15 TDI's were several laps down... but they came to race, and while the Peugeots set blistering lap times one after the other, the Audi's held thier pace. If things continued, there was no way for Audi to win. Before long however, things went very wrong for Peugeot. One after another, all of the 908 HDi's retired from the race, and eventually, none of them finished. The Audi's however, not only made it to the finish line, but eventually took the top three spots. What I really liked was however, when a reporter interviewed the team captain of Audi after the lead Peugeot caught on fire, he said something to the effect of "we are racing ourselves, we are running our own race, and will continue to do so".

Top Ten, ladies and gentlemen

Ok, so every time I move, I like to list the top ten things I hated the most and the top ten things I will miss the most about the place I'm leaving. So here it is for Phoenix. (in no particular order)

Things I hated:

1. The summers. It's a dry........... hell, I mean heat. riiiiiiiiiiiight.

2. Tap water. Phoenix is the first place I've lived where I couldn't stand drinking the tap water because it tasted so bad. It tastes a lot like liquid dirt.

3. Scottsdale Douchebags. That's with a capital D.

4. Traffic Cameras. My worst enemy.

5. The dust. There's dust EVERYWHERE here.

6. Restaurants. Other than a few gems, most of the restaurants here are very commercial.

7. Car registration Tax - Ok so this one caught me offguard. It's really steep here.

8. Architecture. Didn't like it. I think I'm just spoiled by Chicago.

9. No Trees. Ok, it's the desert, I get that. But seriously, comming from the east coast, I was always used to being surrounded by lush trees.

10. Lack of diversity. Phoenix isn't very diverse in it's population. It's very unusual.

Things I'll miss:

1. The People. I've been complaining that I didn't meet that many people here in Phoenix but as I look back, I realize while I didn't meet many, I chose quality. Big thanks goes out to all the wonderful people I got to know where, I'll miss you all.

2. Hot blonde chicks. Ok so to be fair, I'm really not into blondes but I gotta say, some of the hot blonde chicks here were just off the scale.

3. Spring, Winter and Fall.

4. Roads. Miles and miles of what seemed to be freshly paved, near perfect roads. I don't even remember the last time I saw a pothole.

5. Tex-Mex (Mexican) Food. Gotta say Phoenix had some really good Tex-Mex food.

6. US-60W to US-93N :)

7. Clear night sky. No clounds in sight, you can really get a good view of the stars at night.

8. Guns. Arizona has really lax gun laws. Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

9. Low cost of living. Not the best, but definitely not the most expensive place to live.

10. Palm trees. They're not native to Arizona but they thrive here so people plant them everywhere. makes you feel like you're on vacation during Spring, Winter and Fall.

It's unfortunate that I've got to break tradition and The Oracle can't make the drive out to Irvine with me. Hopefully luck will be on my side. I'm sure he's with me in spirit. Farewell to the Grand Canyon State. Cali or bust!

So just chill..... till the next episode

After 2 years, 6 months and 20 days of living in Arizona, I'm sure that my time here is comming to an end.

Chapter One
My first ever big move was when I decided to go to college in Atlanta GA. I still remember the day my parents left. As they drove off the gravity of what I was doing struck me. My brain pictured myself, then zoomed out to the Georgia Tech campus, then to the city of Atlanta, then to the state of Georgia, and all I could think about was "I don't know a single soul". Being in a college setting was easier though. Lots and lots of kids were in the same situation. Atlanta was very good to me, I somehow managed to meet tons and tons of great people.

Chapter Two
Chicago was the next big move I made. Again I was faced with moving to a place where I didn't know anyone. Chicago, being the phenominal city that it is, found a place for me. I still remember getting off the plane, seeing all the snow, and thinking to myself "What have I done". I've always felt that my time in Chicago was too short, and I could see myself moving back one day.

In the end, you think about the begining
The move to AZ. Although I had done it twice before, I somehow knew that the move to AZ wasn't going to be as easy as the first two. Again I didn't know anyone in this city, or state for that matter. I arrived here in November, Tommy and I drove all weekend. I was excited about the nice weather, but deep down inside I wasn't so sure about what Phoenix would offer me.

Meat and Potatoes
The first year I lived in Phoenix, I actually enjoyed living here. For reasons that I don't care to mention, I needed some time away from everyone. Work was busy but that's the way I like it and professionally, I was very very happy. Eventually however, I needed to find my circle. Meeting people here has been difficult. I don't know if I was too busy, but it just hasn't happened the way I imagined it would go. For about a year and half, I've felt that I've been wasting my time here. I think it's the phase of my life. People my age are starting thier families, building thier carreers and already have an established social circle. Some people might point out the lack of asians here, but really, I had no asian friends in Chicago and it didn't bother me one bit. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I haven't met ANYONE here. I just feel that it's been different.

Next time, on Dragonball-Z
What does it all mean? It means I'm moving. Agian. For the first time in my life I'm moving out of a city because it's my choice. I'm doing this one for me. Noone else. I'm still not sure whether it'll be Irvine, CA or Boston, MA. At this point nothing is definite other than the fact that I will be out of here within 2 months. Even the time is a bit up in the air. I was originally planning on moving at the end of July, but there's now a good chance that might change to the end of June.

Since this is my choice, I'm looking forward to moving this time. I'm going to take my time and make sure I find a place where I can grow both professionally, and as a person. A frightening thought is that within the next 5 years I'll most likely get married (whoa), buy a house, and start a family. I really do think both Boston and Irvine are fantastic candidates. Others I considered, but ruled out are (in no particular order), Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, NYC, and San Francisco.

So there it is. I absolutely hate moving but this has to be done. NOTHING is holding me back to this place and I see no reason why I should stay here. There are a handfull of people that I'll truly miss here, but otherwise, I think change will be only for the better.

Tommy! get your bags ready!!!!!!!!

In Review

Wow what a year. 2008 has been a gigantic year for me. I feel like I've grown and learned more about myself in the past year than I have ever before in my life. I've gotten in touch with a lot of people from my past, and for the first time since I've arrived in Phoenix, felt like I've really carved out a little life for myself. I think it's taken me a long time to settle in because I've become more and more finicky about the people I associate with.

2008 has also been a year where I spent a lot of time thinking about my closest friends. Again and again I've noticed how they infuence my life and how they all play an integral part in who I am. I've always felt that I have been lucky to be surrounded by great people. I can only hope that my friends feel the same about me.

Well, unlike most people, I will miss 2008. I think it was a great year. I AM however, incredibly optimistic about 2009. More to come in my annual New Years resolution post.

Feathers

"I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend." - Red | The Shawshank Redemption

The sheer gravity of these words are simply amazing. I can honestly say that on multiple occasions, I've been on both sides of this quote. Sometimes, I was the bird, and others, I was Red. Either way, time marches on, and both the bird and those that are seemingly left behind live another day.

Wants and Needs

So thoughout life, we encounter wants and needs. Sometimes we mistake wants for needs. I've been thinking about wants and needs a lot lately. What brings this up? Well, a couple of days ago, I was talking with someone and they specifically pointed out how some things were "wants" and some things were "needs". I really found this interesting. Although we might use these words everyday, do we really undersand the gravity of a NEED? So in my little pea brain, I started thinking to myself, what really is a NEED? Shoes. Are shoes a need? I have no idea why they came to mind but they did. I don't even know where the hell I'm trying to go with this entry really. I don't know, it just struck me as unusual to identify things as needs.

NYC

This past weekend I decided to take a little trip up to NYC. For those of you that don't know, I've had a lot of bad luck with New Yorkers and so I always hate on the place. I actually know a lot of people that now live there and a lot of them have tried over the years to convince me to come visit...... to no avail.

How was my trip? It was fantastic! There's a LOT more to this post but I got distracted. I'll write more tomorrow.

Excited

Ok, so lately, I've been a little, well, bored. So, I'm going to spice up my life a little bit. How you ask? I'm going to sign up for a investment simulator and see how well I do. Although I have a lot of ideas, I'm still VERY rough around the edges so here's my plan.

1. I'm going to spend then next month to month and half studying. In my spare time I'm going to go over the terminology and methodology of investing and trading.

2. Start the simulator. There are a couple websites out there that offer free investment simulators.

3. Strategy. So, here's where the real fun begins. I will use the simulator and try to invest as if it's real money. Now, the key to all of this is, I want to be able to justify every trade with reasons. They may not be good reasons, but I want them to be educated and real. So, I don't want to buy a stock just because I think it will do well. I want to be able to say, I made this trade, because sutch and sutch number justified my purchase.

4. I'm going to track my gains on a per-weekly basis after I start. IF I post gains for 4 consecutive weeks, I will very strongly consider jumping in with real money.

MBWorld sniffs out a scammer

[Original Thread at MBWorld] [reddit] [digg] [ireport]

Latest update: 05/29/2008 - 4:55PM EDT

History:

05/16/2008 - A newly registered member "benzgrandcru" posts a new thread about selling a set of E63 AMG wheels and tires. Two MBWorld forum members, Timeless and teolax show interest, and PM the seller.

5/22/2008 - Timeless posts back saying that although he's given payment via Google checkout, the seller seems less than honest and that his wheels have been "lost in shipping"

benzgrandcru immediately begins to accuse Timeless of defaming him and that DHL had lost his wheels.

teolax comes forward saying that he's been scammed as well. He's also paid through Google checkout and is told that his set of wheels were lost by DHL.

amdeutsch, a moderator, spots some unusual post behavior by benzgrandcru.

YoBalls83 recognizes the picture from the original post by benzgrandcru as a picture he took himself to sell his wheels and tires.

05/23/2008 - nlpamg (Phil), another moderator, recognizes the IP address benzgrandcru to be that of C230_617. C230_617 has had a long history at MBWorld (as early as 2006), being banned on many, many occasions, each time with new aliases, new IP addresses and new e-mail addresses.

With Phil's involvement, the hunt begins.

IP addresses are recorded and searched. At the same time, benzgrandgru is called out publicly by respected members of MBWorld. He is still adamant that DHL is to blame, and that Timeless and teolax should contact DHL for thier refunds.

Attempts are made to throw off the MBWorld crew. Phil loses his mind and posts the motherload of IP's and aliases C230_617 has used over the years. Most of these IP's trace back to Boston MA, Bridgewater State College (Boston MA) and the Massachusetts Higher Education Computer Network. Other forum members start to gather all kinds of information about past cars, threads, and any detail that can be harvested.

Details from the pictures are dissected one by one. At this point, we have pictures of his C230 Coupe and Jaguar S-Type R. Some of the pictures are taken near a then unidentified BestBuy. His myspace page is found but it's quickly deleted. The BestBuy is also identified by 55fanatic (Pete), a long time MBWorld member who lives in Boston MA to be in Brockton, MA. Friday night was interesting as pictures are deleted and some damage control is attempted by C230_617. Unfortunately, MBWorld members stay one step ahead here and here.

Pete begins to get the word out and also uses his local knowledge to further the hunt. Phil does more diging and finds some interesting posts at the audiforums and jaguarforums. Other scams by this same person are found. Suspicious e-bay auctions are also linked.

Previously, all license plates were covered over in all the pictures posted by C230_617. boohooramblers uncovers these hidden vehicle tags here, here and here. The shit has now hit the fan.

More victims are found.

As the warmongers home in, C230_617 feels the heat and offers Timeless a full refund and asks that we leave him alone.

Members from other forums start to join in and offer thier help.

05/27/2008 - Memorial day weekend is over. More members from other forums show up to join the party. Another victim comes forward.

New York address investigated. British scuba divers join in the hunt. Pictures of C230_617 are found on NikeTalk.com

Late in the afternoon, a breakthrough. The previously uncovered license plate numbers are tracked back to his name and address.

BILLY J. SMITH
83 ASH PARK DR.
Stoughton, Ma. 02072

and

1338 Blue Hill Ave
Mattapan, Ma. 02126

From this point we go nuts. We even find the first 5 of his SS#. We also find out that most likely, we are dealing Billy Smith (22yrs old) who has a father with the same name (57yrs old). 1338 Blue Hill ave is eliminated, it's a run-down commercial area.

Pictures of his house are taken! More IP's uncovered.

05/28/2008 - Timeless recieves his money back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, more and more possible victims are comming forward.

** Phil has a conversation on NikeTalk with Jonathan Turner (Creamecheese), an acquaintance of Billy. Admits helping him try to sell the car parts.

05/29/2008 - Our investigation is moving toward Johnathan Turner. (myspace) Meanwhile, a member from E90Post recieves his refund! More information is dug up on myspace - here and here. Information is also found on the Blue Hill Ave address. Bill Smith graduates from Bridgewater State College and an e-mail was sent to the college. More and more information is found for Jonathan Turner here, here. He's also found to work at the Apple store in Cambridgeside Galleria, and we also find his facebook and figure out he has an iPhone and likes to keep his room messy. More potentially fraudulent acutions are found. Even more here.

** Second update

There was an incident on the thread where someone attempted to use scare tactics and had unusual e-mail addresses. Unless more is uncovered regarding this, I will not post it here.

More myspace links found for Billy. Video's are found. DHL tracking numbers are submitted to the fraud department.

==============================

Profile:

Name: SMITH, BILL J
SSN: 416-72-XXXX
Date of Birth: 09/1985

Most likely, Billy here lives at:
83 ASH PARK DR
STOUGHTON, MA 02072-3525

Billy is a 22yr old that at one time attended, or still attends Bridgewater State College. He most likely works or has some association to the BestBuy located in Brockton MA. Billy is known to have had the following cars:

Black CLK320 Convertible
Black C230 Coupe
Black Jaguar S-Type-R

Billy has a father with the same name as him (Bill J. Smith).

Pictures of Bill

==============================

Participating forums/sites - THANKS GUYS!

Acura-Legend
AMGpower
Audiforums
Audizine
AZmazdaclub.com
Benzworld
Bimmerfest
Bimmerforums
Brewcitymuscle
brewcitymuscle.com
c30world.com
ChargerForumz.com
Cherokeesrt8
clevelandracing
clubintegra.com
Clublexus
consolegaming.eu
CrownVic.net
Cumminsforum.com
DTMpower
E46Fanatics
E90post
esportsea.com
Exotixboard
G35driver
G35frenzy
Gen7accord.net
Hayabusa.org
Honda-Acura.net
Importatlanta
Jaguarforums
Jeepcommander
Jeepforum
lambopower.com
LamboPower
LXForums.com
Mischief
Mischief.TV
mr2oc.com
My350z
MyMB
myMBonline.com
Niketalk
NJTuners.com
Pirate4x4
PreludePower.com
S2KI
srtforums.com
s40concepts.net
swedespeed.com
TBSSowners.com
Thecarlounge
Toronto-subaru-club
totaltorque.net
totaltorque.net
TrailblazerSS.com
trailvoy.com
tyresmoke.net
UKScubadiving
Volvoforums
VWVortex
X5world

IP's

74.63.75.130
67.159.46.12
74.63.75.131
134.241.104.20
134.241.46.147
134.241.46.147
134.241.46.147
134.241.46.154
134.241.46.177
134.241.46.187
134.241.46.213
134.241.46.73
134.241.46.89
152.163.100.130
152.163.100.130
152.163.97.186
192.207.57.119
192.207.57.119
192.207.58.3
192.207.58.7
192.207.58.7
205.188.116.130
205.188.116.134
207.206.228.12
207.206.229.186
207.206.235.38
207.206.239.103
207.206.239.225
64.12.116.74
67.180.42.171
68.163.138.216
68.163.172.65
68.163.172.65
68.163.188.66
68.163.205.51
68.163.205.51
68.163.208.196
68.163.224.206
68.163.224.206
68.163.224.206
68.163.234.30
68.163.234.30
68.163.234.30
68.163.58.232
68.163.58.232
68.236.11.236
68.236.29.130

Usernames/Aliases

c230_617
benzgrandcru
grandcrubenz
Dr. Max
greg@oem
JeffMaxBenz
Max_Benz
mybenzismine
benzgame
cklass_balla
from190e_cs
fast_benz
benz401
benzpro230
benzgenius
w203_amg
benz_og
benz2viper
jokasbenz
capshift21
justbuybenz
wonderbenz
smoothoperator
fastest_balla
wonder_amg
05Css
bmw2benz
sknud_nike
cpe_fresh
thom_doe
socleanice
benz_ster
c230_617
c230_617
fast_amg
c230_back_617
fastbenzamgs
newbenzamg
fresh_benz
skywalker_benz
c230_617returns
benzsohot
benztohot
whywasIbanned
c230_617imback
freec230_617
newc230_617
Looki4Benzpart2
Lookin4Benzpart
rockintunes23
nicedeboy
sfbayking415
benzorAjag?
c32amgbenz
stillwhipinbenz
benzsoclean
nolongerownbenz
w203benzfresh
joshuambenzc
blk_coupe
lorinserbrabus
mbenzeclass
brabusbenzcrew
E60Boosted
Mr.530i

Other forums visited by C230_617

www.benzworld.org
Sneakerfreaker.com* snapplejack18
Niketalk.com* Creamecheese
Nikeskateboarding.org* cheesecake
Futureproducers.com* snapplejack18
Thephotoforum.com* cheesecake
Photobucket.com* creamecheese
Macrumors.com* snapplejack18
AIM* snappleseedmilk
Youtube.com* snapplejack18
www.audiforums.com
www.jaguarforums.com
www.e46fanatics.com
www.audizine.com
www.m5board.com

Victims

Timeless
teolax
deaguero
clkal (unconfirmed)
03_| (unconfirmed)
HeirKranz
k522751 (ebay)
01300477 (ebay)
albanianbenz (unconfirmed)
robbyt18 (Bobby_Light from E90post)
BMWM3
vtecgreen (audizine)
bmwgary

DHL tracking numbers:

Timeless
27356089854
27356088955

teolax
27379265056
27379263354

robbyt18 (Bobby_Light from E90post)
27254742550
27254754155
27254758451
27254770152

Bogus Companies/Contact information

OEM Headlights N Parts
200 Talbot Ave
Boston MA 02124
UNITED STATES
(857) 753-8478

OEM Headlights N Parts
762 3rd Avenue
New York NY 10017
UNITED STATES

EVIS PANAOU
4 FUCHIA LANE.
HICKSVILLE, NY 11801
(516) 721 3819

James Johnson (Jay)
phone # 631-645-4407
Posted ads from Virginia & NY

OEM Headlights N Parts
200 Talbot Ave
Boston, MA 02124
United States
oemheadlightsnparts@yahoo.com

1338 Blue Hill Ave
Mattapan, MA 02126-1843
(617) 298-6080

45 RICHMOND ST
BROCKTON, MA 02301-2746

Cameras used (yes, we really have this info)

Sony DSC-W80
Canon Powershot s30
Samsung S630

Yay!

Big day tomorrow. BIG DAY tomorrow. Lets hope it all goes to plan.

Kids!

It was a pretty lazy Saturday. Sat around, watched TV, talked to some buddies on the phone. Generally did nothing productive. I love Saturdays!

So I finally decide to leave the house and roam around a bit. Went and got some Boba Tea. I'm hooked on the stuff. On my way back, instead of going home, I decide to go up to Scottsdale and look around the mall. On my way up there I'm talking to my dad on my cell phone. I'm at this red light and I look over to see one of those tour busses. I continue to talk to my dad, he's telling me about something, blah blah. I look over again at the tour bus, this time I look harder though the DARK tinted glass. I peer in to see a BUNCH of little kids. There's a little girl smiling and laughing at me right next to the window and she's waving. HHAHHAHA. I remember those days! Next thing you know they're trying to get me to honk my horn. I couldn't let them down. Honked my horn like a crazy man. They all went NUTS!!!!!!!! Brought a big smile to my face.

Boba Tea

I have rediscovered BOBA TEA!!!!!!!!!! They always ask, "do you want boba". hhehehe. Anyway, everytime I go, I always think of this comedy skit. hehehe.

Sister!!!!!!!!!!!!

My little sister is comming to visit me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!! This is going to be so much fun!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

PS. This person is not actually my sister, nor is she little.

Nice!

Ok, so I get a call last Monday morning and they tell me I have to be out in Dallas by the end of the day!!! So, I book my trip and get out to Dallas. The trip went pretty well, although I'm already getting sick of travelling and especially, sleeping in hotel rooms.

Anyway, one of my credit cards allow me to get into some of the airport lounges that the airlines have. There wasn't one in Phoenix but there is one here in Dallas. I've never been to one before so I decided to try it out. Got up super early, packed, liesurely turned the rental car back in and headed toward my terminal. Lines were long but I used my ninja travel skills to get through ticketing and security check in 20 mins. Awsome. I finally make it to one of the American Airlines Admiral's clubs. Wow. I had some morning meetings so they have these cubicles setup. Plugged my laptop in, hopped on the wireless and I was answering e-mails and taking coference calls! I gotta admit it was pretty nice.

Now that I'm done with all that, they have these sofas and nice leather seats setup with granite tables. Real ultra-modern type of stuff. I think I'm going to go head over to the Bar Lounge area and try to find something to eat. I'm sure it'll be prohibitively overpriced but what the hell, you only live once right?

Idiot

I guess I like to write about the stupid things I do. So here's how I got this wonderful Monday morning started.

As some of you know, I'm out in LA on a business trip. For more reasons than I care to go over, I just decided to drive out here. So this morning, I go out to my car, with my laptop bag. Opened the passenger side door, threw my bag in, and started my car. I close the passenger side door and walk over to the driver's side door and pull on the handle. Nothing. I look down and the door is locked. First thought is, that's ok, I'll just walk over to the passenger side to unlock the car. Keep in mind that the car is running the whole time. So I look over to the passenger side door and sure enough, it's locked. I walk over there, JUST IN CASE, to check the handle. Nope, no joy. So what happened? As far as I can tell, in the process of putting my bag in my car, I must have locked it. Had to call MB Roadside assistance. Arg.

Laptop

I think it's getting time to get a new laptop. I'm currently sporting a Sony VAIO Z1 from early 2004 It's served me well. Not sure yet though, we'll see.

The Rat

How time flies. It's already 2008. The year of the Pig has ended and the year of the Rat is just begining.

If I had to pick one word to describe 2007, it would have to be "rebuilding". Often times, life isn't like a frieght train chugging along at a steady pace, rather, it's a constant fluctuation of growth spurts and times of rest. The past year has given me time to rest a little bit, and as mentioned in an earlier post, reflect a great deal. Although my move to Phoenix was in late 2006, it was the months that followed that really tested me as a person and if I would stay. I couldn't have made it without my friends, old AND new.

Friendship is another theme that has been sutch a highlight in the past year. Not only because I have met new people, but I've been able to reconnect with old friends, and strengthen those bonds. Its amazing how after all the years, I was able to reach out to people in Chicago, Atlanta, and Richmond VA.

So how did I do for my 2007 resolutions? Absolutely Terrible. Looks like I only hit 3 of 6. I'm slacking.

My predictions for 2008? I think 2008 will be another year of change. A lot of things in 2007 naturally sets up 2008 for a lot of possibilities. I think that it will be a big year for a lot of us. Here are my resolutions in no particular order.

- Date - hehe. I've taken a sabbatical but now I'm back. She's out there somewhere. I know I said this last year but honestly, I haven't been putting myself out there. You can't catch fish if you don't cast your reel.

- Volunteer - Three years in a row I've had this and three years in a row I've left myself down. I guess I don't "officially" volunteer but I think I've helped people in some ways. I definitely want to get to this one this year.

- Go home - I must go home in 2008. At least for 1 week.

- Be more active - This in no way means I'll start working out.

- Save Money - I did WELL with this one last year. As planned, I paid down all the expenses associated with my move to Phoenix. I now have professional help with this and I'm very excited at the possibilities.

- Be more assertive - Seriously.

- Re-evaluate my life - All of it. Clean slate. A new begining. I don't know where this one will lead but I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.

So there you have it. 7 resolutions for the new year.

PS - Check this out! After 2 years, someone read one of my entries and managed to avoid buying into a huge pyramid scheme. My somewhat worthless site has helped someone!!!

PPS - Nakji says I have to visit Atlanta before she leaves, so I guess that's on the plate too.

Funny

EASILY the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

In Review

My, my, another year has gone by.......

Ok, so it's not officially over but we're pretty much there. 2007 has been somewhat of an oddball for me. The year was really more like the aftermath of a car accident. It's the part they don't show you on the news where people are loaded up to ambulances and the cleaning crews haul off the wreckage. Not to say that it wasn't fun.

I ushered in the new year in Vegas sitting at a Blackjack table in the Rio sitting with 4 chicks from California. I guess it started off on a good note. Otherwise, it's really been more of a rebuilding year. Spent a lot of time reflecting on 2006 and how my life changed so drastically. One thing that does stand out about this year is that I think I've learned more about myself and how I am, than at any other time in my life.

It's the first time in a very long time that I haven't had a proper ladyfriend. It wasn't so bad. I've always said that you need to be happy being single to really be happy in a relationship.

Now that's all over, I've decided I want 2008 to be a year of change. No more defense, I want the ball back and it's time to put some points on the board.

Presents

It's the thought that counts. That's what we're told is the important part about gifts. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. I know I'm hard to shop for. I'm the guy that has everything. My parents have all but given up and give me cash every year. One of the best gifts I've ever recieved however, is something very simple. It was a letter opener. It dosen't seem like a big deal but for some reason, I love the damn thing. I still use it to this day and if I can't find it, I just don't open things. God help me if I ever lose it.

BTW - here's something that I bought myself this year and I CAN'T WAIT till I get it!!!!!!!

Time

Wow. Time flies. It's been just over a year since I packed all my stuff up in Chicago and moved 2,000 miles away to Phoenix. Seems like it was just yesterday. I won't go through all the things that have happened over the year since then because I usually do that every new year. So you'll just have to wait another month and a half for that. Ha ha.

I am happy to say that I've met some wonderfull people here in Phoenix. It's been a little more difficult, but I feel like things are starting to look up. Would I move back to Chicago? In a heart beat.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and ate lots.

Old

I feel old. Here's why. I'm at this party last night. Started off pretty chill, kinda quiet, no big deal. People start to show up and my poor little bottle of Vodka that I brought just isn't going to go the distance. A bunch of girls showed up too (always a good thing) and I started chatting with one. At this point, I've already had my share of drinks. With the Vodka getting killed and the beer looking low, I make a decision, grab one of the cuties and ask her if she'll drive me to get more booze. This is where things get good. She goes "sure, but I can't go inside with you". Huh? I didn't get it. So I say "What? are you allergic to buying alcohol?" Then, she drops the bomb. She goes "no, I'm just not old enough yet". Say whaat? I couldn't resist. I had to ask. "So how old ARE you?" Now normally you'd never ask a woman this question, but in this case, I know she's younger than 21, so I know she's not going to be offended AND, I didn't want to land in jail. HAHAHHA. Without batting an eyelash, she layed the magic number on me "18". E I G H T E E N. In a flash, here are the thoughts that go through my mind, in order.

- E I G H T E E N!!!!!
- YES! she's legal
- barely legal
- um, i'm 9 years older than her
- WOW, i'm old.

hehe. After our little conversation we go to get some more drinks. To have some fun I let her drive my car. She flipped out. HHAHAHAH. Sofia is worth every penny. Chicks still dig the car

Parents

Time for an update. So, my parents came out to Phoenix and visited for a while. I got them a rental car and they drove it everywhere around the south west taking in the sights and visiting placed they'd never been. I hope they had a good time. I couldn't help though, worrying about them when they were driving around. It's not like they don't drive when they're in Virginia. I don't know what it is but I was just concerned. Luckily, nothing happened, and they made the whole trip safely. This whoe thing got me wondering through, about how our parents must feel when we take our first steps. Sometimes it tough to let go and even though we trust them, we feel obligated to protect the ones we care for. Now, if it was bad for me, I can't imagine what it's like to see my own kid learn how to drive, go away for college, or go out and try to tackle the world by themselves.

PS - yes Pegs, the age has been updated

Race Ya!

As most of you know, I enjoy driving fast, sports cars, race cars, and racing in general, specifically F1. BUT. I've never really gone to race anything other than being really good at Gran Turismo. lol. Anyway, time to put my money where my mouth is. Apparently, there's a huge indoor kart race facility here in Phoenix so I decided to go check it out with some people I know. We ran two sessions, each about 20 laps. Here's how I did.

e1000

49.22
58.1
30.66
32.69
29.09
28.02
29.67
30.22
28.16
28.67
29.66
29.72
29.35
27.51
53.19
30.72
28.06
37.12

best lap: 27.51
average: 33.88

Well, my first session was ok. Came in at the middle of the pack. My sheer pace wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. My average was terrible. To give you an idea, the best in the session ran a best lap of 26.21 with an average of 29.58

Second Session:

e1000

46.73
29.55
27.21
27.14
27.53
27.36
26.69
27.17
26.85
27.32
27.64
29.39
26.63
26.96
27.1
27.62
28.19
31.96
27.61
27.07
27.55

best lap: 26.63
average: 28.63

I did MUCH better this time. My best lap was improved but the biggest thing I'm happy about is how consistent I was. Remember, there's always traffic to deal with so I was able to keep up my speed with other mofo's in my way. HAHAH. My biggest competitor in this session had a best lap of 25.91 and an average lap of 30.67. ** I actually had the best average lap time of the session, so if this WAS a race, I woulda won!

Weekendupdate

Can't sleep. I'm not sure why..... MAYBE, just maybe, it's because I slept for about 13hrs last night.

Anyway. So what happened this past week? Not a whole lot. Still working a lot, although I've toned it back a bit. Two friends (that are now married) moved out to the Phoenix area from Atlanta. It was really good to see them again. It's amazing how they haven't changed a bit.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how and why I remember certain things but not others. I am very good at remembering faces, but I'm absolutely HORRIBLE at remembering names. It's so bad that I can meet someone and just after they tell me thier name, I will have already forgotton it. Guy, girl, tall, short, my memory is an equal opportunity oppressor. Oh well. I did pickup a couple tricks though. I have a habit of remembering what people eat. Funny eh? I dunno. Something's wrong with my brain.

The father of a good friend of mine recently had a layover in Phoenix Sky Harbor airport so I met him and had a drink. Interestingly, we talked about a lot of things, but we also touched on how little things can affect our lives. A sentence, a phrase, a word, even an inflection, can sometimes make or break a person's day. It can mean the difference between enthusiasm and depression.

I need sleep.... hahah

Lottery

A co-worker and I got to talking about the lottery today. He goes into all the things he'd do with the money and everything like that. Great. He finally asks me what I would do. I proceed to tell him that if I'd win the lottery today, I'd give it all to charity. Like always, he asks me why. So I told him that I felt like winning the lottery would be like having the cheat code in life. Now I understand that money isn't everything, but it would make a lot of things easier. I proceeded to give him an analogy. I look at him and say "even rocks can skip across water." This is the best part. He looks back and goes "Yeah, it sinks at the end because it's retiring!"

hahahaha. very nice.

My Numerology

Not that I believe any of the stuff but it's interesting to think back and see how dominant the number 7 has been in my life. For example my past addresses have been: 1449, 107, 1174, 307 and now 107 again. This is without missing any addresses in the middle. Just thought it was weird.

Unlikely inspiration

Every once in a while I get this odd need to go over my monthly expenses and trim some fat. I then evaluate in my head all the things that take little bits and pieces of my paycheck and scruitinize the needs of each, and how I can reduce them. This month, it was my cell phone bill. I logged into my account and I noticed I was paying for WAYYYYY too many minutes. I mean, I was using less than half of what I was paying for. So, I decided to give my carrier a little call and make some changes to my plan. Now, here's the good part. I don't know if it's because I work with call centers, but I'm always curious about who I get when I call into a customer service line. Another thing I usually do if I have time is I make the call a bit more personal. They usually ask how you're doing, but I don't think many customers ask back. Anyway, I call in and get this nice young lady and she's helping me out with my plan. We go over it and I ask for some changes to be made. She makes the changes and the computer takes a bit to process it all. While we're waiting, we start chatting a bit. She tells me she's got a little girl, about to turn 3, and she's trying to go back to school to get a better job. Heh, this conversation is RIGHT up my alley. I tell her a little about my past and how I got kicked out of school, and how it didn't really matter. I told her that if she persued something that she enjoyed, that she could do well, with or without school. I guess she found it encouraging. The thing is, she may not have noticed, but somehow her story was more inspiring to me. I think it's great that people have dreams, and it sounded like her little daughter was motivation for those dreams. Well, whoever you are out there, I know you're going to do well. Keep your chin up, work hard, and make sure that little girl grows up to be anything she wants to be.

Sneaky

I have some sneaky friends. I can't wait!

and I'm sure I'll be

Quote

"....believe me, I was prepared for everything...... except you......"

Nicknames

So, in each place I've lived, I've somehow managed to gain a couple of nicknames. In high school, kids eventually settled on "Chun". Kinda liked that one, simple and to the point. Don't know who started that. Apparently, I gained some weight during my freshman year in Atlanta so for a little while I was called "Fat Chun". My buddies in Chicago were a little more creative and had a couple nicknames for me. These included "EC", "E", and my personal favorite "Chunky Chun" (this was not due to weight, but a rather interesting story). Jammerson also had a habit of calling me the "King of excess" as well, although I pleaad innocence as to where that came from.

Then I moved to Arizona.... My very first nickname here is..... "Sweet lips"........

Mission Statement

Why is it that I always get bouts of inspiration late at night, and then I can't sleep? I don't know why but it always happens the same way, I go to bed and then start thinking about stuff. I get these delusions of grandeur in my head and get all pumped up. Then I can't sleep. LOL. Lets just hope I don't ever make it to Kinko's one night and send out a memo to the whole company, Jerry McGuire style.

Phone

Time for a new phone. Everyone has a RAZR now. My PARENTS have RAZR's. It's time for me to get something new.

So here's what I want. I want something to look good, I want something thin and small. Camera quality is not important to me, neither is playing music. I want it to be able to make calls and text. That's the minimum requirements. The harder part is though, it's goota look pretty. Here are the contestants.

Motorola KRZR K1 - Evolution of the Motorola series. Not revolutionary however. It's definitely small and thin. Has a better camera than the RAZR but I don't really care about that. T-Mobile also offers the silver one right now so I could possibly get it for a decent price.

Nokia 8801 - What can I say. I'm attracted by shiny metal things. This is what I would want in a phone. I should have jumped at getting one when T-Mobile was carrying them for a good price. They're a bit steep on ebay now and the European ones are even more expensve. Heard battery life wasn't that great either.

Sony Ericsson W880i - For some reason, I've always liked Sony Ericsson phones. Some people hate them. Anyway, the W880i is the newest handset out from them. Feature rich and very slim.

There are others but those are the frontrunners for now. I don't want a smart/pda phone at all. Two phones I will NOT consider are the PEBL and Blackberry Pearl. My buddy Jammerson just bought a RIZR so that's out as well. Want to stay within 1K for price so all the Vertu phones are out of reach. We'll see......

Sanity

A million people...
in a million places...
doing a million things...

in one world...
as one person...
with one mind...

Ides of March

Today is a dark day for a lot of us.... We must look to the future and strive to make the most of adversity. It will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better.

Soul to Squeeze

- Red Hot Chili Peppers

purgatory

Lost in Purgatory......

Return

I honestly don't know how I'm going to return writing here again. So much has happened since my last post. If anyone still checks this site, I appreciate the audience. If I do decide to stop posting to it, I'll take it down permanently so you guys will know. For now, I'm going back in my hole.

Life

Old Fortune

As crazy as this sounds, this is now the understatement of the century!! HAHAHAHHHAHAHA

Grasshopper

"The best things in life come to those who wait …"

Insane

I think I'm going insane. For some reason, I have that song "Sweet Caroline" in my head and it won't stop playing. It's not even the whole song, it's just that part that goes "Sweeeeet Caroline.... bum bum bum"...... I don't even have any Neil Diamond in my iPod (I don't think). I don't know what's wrong with me.

Sweet!

The plans are booked! My little cousin is comming out to visit me! I'm pretty excited, not only becuase she's comming out here and we'll have a lot of fun, but I haven't seen her since freshman year of college. Kinda scary if you think about it.

Fortune

Fortune cookie of the day: "Among the lucky, you are the chosen one."

Damn! - that's a lot to live up to! I agree though, I'm one lucky SOB.

Home

Damn it feels good to be home..... and a gangsta

Sofia

Tonight... I dream of Sofia.....

Funny story - So the other day I'm driving back to the hotel after going to the mall. Houston has frontage roads on most of the highways so onramps are often a lane of the frontage road that shoots off onto the highway itself. Anyway, I as in the right lane and needed to get over in into the left lane to get on the highway. I look over an there's a white Jeep liberty. I've got some road left, but not much. I instantly decide to go for it. I mash the accelerator to the floor. At this point I look over again and GAH! the Jeep is still right next to me. My brain couldn't quite understand what was going on. Then it hit me. This slow POS can't even pass a Jeep liberty. At that moment, I missed Sofia.......

nouveaux riche

I said it.... I'm nouveaux riche. As 50 Cent would say "They call me new money, say I have no class, I'm from the bottom, I came up too fast
". I don't know why but I realized this while driving through Houston today. I don't know, maybe I'm just being silly.

Fortune

Fortune of the day: "Consolidate your interest while the lights are active."

I swear I'm not making this one up. The fortune cookie man has been smoking some good stuff lately....

Joke?

This has got to be some kind of joke...

Fortune of the day: "There's a good chance of a romantic encounter soon."

Phoenix

Let me start off by giving a big thanks to Tommy for driving with me and helping me out. Couldn't have done it without you.

Anyway, there's an entry down below about friday night so I'll skip that part. We woke up bright and early Saturday and began our trip. I don't think I fully realized just how far Arizona was from Chicago. We ended up making great time on Saturday and got about 1,100 miles in one day. Pretty incredible. I think both of us were so sick of the drive we just wanted it over with.

Funniest part of the trip was when we were driving past some cows. About 20 of them were huddled around in a big circle. One single cow was a couple feet away looking at them. We spent the next 20 minutes thinking up idiotic captions that could go along with the scene. Too bad we didn't snap a picture.

Glad to say that Sofia handled the trip flawlessly. At one point I let her stretch her leggs when an Altima wanted to play. I shut it down at just over 120 when I was just crawling up his trunklid. Hhahah.

Second funniest part of the trip. Just before we got to Arizona, Tommy mentioned that all he wanted to see was a cactus. So, we get to Arizona and Tommy was like "maybe I won't see one" and seemed kind of down. So, we eventually get to the mountains and he finally sees one. Not the big type, the small ones that are kinda roudish on the side of the road. I didn't even see it. So then I got into the act and was like "I want to see one of those big tall ones". To which he replied "Yeah me too but I don't think we'll see one, I'll be happy that I saw the small one." Boy were we in for a suprise. It wasn't 10 minutes later that we turned a corner, looked up and the hills were covered with those tall cacti. Lol, after a while Tommy looked over and goes "it's not even special anymore" HAHHAHAH

The new job is going pretty well. It always takes a little time to adjust. I've met some good people so I think I'll be ok. It was a bit of a leap of faith comming down here but I think my comfort level has gotten a lot better now that I'm here and seeing what my life will be like.

Lol

First day of school......

Update on the trip to come later today.....

Hell

To hell and back.........

It finally happened. The unthinkable. Actually, the chances of it happening are pretty good, but as a geek, I refuse to take my own advice and backup the information on my laptop. What's on it that I might not want to lose, you ask? Just all the important documents, files, and reeeealy important software, all things that I would hate to lose. Nope, none of it's backed up. And since it's a laptop, it's wayy more likely to be dropped and all of that information lost.... Anyway, the other day, the hard dive decided to let itself go. Yeah, my nightmare scenario. It took 18hrs and $175 in parts, but she's back. Not a shred of data lost! I've been out of the game (fixing computers) for a while, but I'm glad to know I've still got it!

Quote

"I'm calling the organization of the United Brotherhood of It's None of Your Damn Business" - Andrew Shepherd

insanity

I don't know why, or how, but the Baby Bumblebee song is in my head.......

Promise

promise: a declaration that something will or will not be done, given, etc., by one

We've all made them, we've all broken them. When you make a promise, how do you know you'll be able to keep it? Things change, time goes by and the world marches on.

On one hand, you have your word, the unwaivering intention to stick to what you've given another. On the other hand, you have the unpredictability of the future. I guess I've always felt like I needed to keep, or at least tried very hard to keep the promises I've made. For the most part, this has worked out very well for me. Ultimately, noone knows what the future holds.

Ya Know...

So, I've been catching myself saying "ya know" a LOT lately. I can't stop. I'm fine when typing so you guys don't get to read it here. Don't know when it started but I wish I could stop.... hahahah

Work

You ever been at work and the only thing you can think about all day is the seemingly unlimited amount of cool things you could be otherwise doing? I'm having one of those days. Yes, I know, writing in my blog means I'm not working. Hey, people take cigarette breaks, I can take 5 minutes to write in my damn blog. Oh well........ back to work!

Dreams

Ok, so, I've been having the wierdest dreams lately. I never have nightmares but last night I actually had one and woke up in the middle of the night because of it. A couple nights before, I had a dream for the second time. It's a truly odd dream and I'd write it out here but it's also REALLY long and for some reason, I can remember most of the details from it. Do you believe that deams have meaning? Some people believe dreams are a way for the brain to oraganize thoughts. If that's the case, I'm one messed up person.

Chilly

It's only the end of September and it's already starting to get chilly here in Chicago. Maybe it's just a cold front passing through.... riiiiiiight.

Mile High Club

Well I guess you can't stop the mile high club. Apparently, you can still take KY onboard an airplane in a carry on. I'm glad these TSA people have thier priorities straight!

Conspiracy?

Things that make you go hhhhhmmmmm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1822764959599063248

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUht6cLkMc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-guQaYgrWqI

Circus

WTH is wrong with me. I feel like I'm everywhere these days. How bad is it? Go back and read the post from Sunday. Another day, another oddity. For the first time this year I went to workout. I seriously don't know what's wrong with me. I don't even remember the last time I did that. Lets see just how long it lasts tho. Guess I'll be sleeping GOOD tonight!!!!!!!

In memory

I think I did a pretty good job a couple years back on a tribute entry for today. It's raining here in Chicago and it almost feels appropriate for today.

Odd

Whoa....... What's going on? I went to church, a bookstore, the grocery store, and cooked my own dinner today. I think hell has frozen over solid.

weekendupdate

Had a REALLY boring weekend. One of my buddies were out in Mexico and the other visited his family. Oh well. Got plenty of sleep though. Scary to say but I'm actually looking forward to work tomorrow.

Got lots on my mind but I haven't decided if I should write about it or not. Maybe not. At least not now. Sorry for the teaser.

weekendupdate

Had a pretty good weekend. Didn't go out or anything but played golf twice. It was a little warm but hey, can't complain right?

Funny, I had a bunch of stuff to write about just before I logged on.... oh well....

Saturday

Saturday morning and I'm up at 6:30am..... I'm sutch a loser. What to do.... Sofia needs a bath so I'll probably do that this morning. Other than that, not much planned for this saturday. Probably going to head into the city to have some drinks tonight though. Maybe I'll go test drive a couple cars today. No no no, I'm not getting rid of Sofia. My dad and I have this crazy idea of picking up a Yaris so I can drive it in the winter and they can drive it in the summer. Should be interesting.

oof

whoa - long time no update.

BLOG NEGLECT.

had a bit of an outage too. looks like it's all fixed now.

man..... i live sutch a boring life.

Drivin

I'll be driving till about 3AM ET today so hit me up if anyone gets bored. Gonna be a long cruise.

insomnia

Can't sleep tonight. Heh. It seems like I always turn to writing in my blog when I can't sleep. Anyway, here's an update.

I have a huge list of buddies on my AIM list, but usually only talk to a few of them. Tonight I decided to check in with one of my old high school buddies. We started talking about the "good old days". So after a while I decided to go and get my yearbooks. Wow what an eye opener. I guess looking through it also brought back a flood of memories from when I was growing up and some of the experiences that I had back then. I think everyone hates high school when you're there. I can't believe I escaped from that tiny place in VA.

Something else I thought about was how back then, everyone wanted to "fit in". It's funny because some time after high school, maybe somewhere in college, people all suddenly decide they want to be different. Maybe they just want to be back in high school..... maybe not.

Lap

another day, another lap.........

Minimum Wage

Yes, here I am, friday night AT HOME........... watching Oprah.....

quit laughing.

Anyway, the show is about minimum wage. While I completely agree no person should live in poverty, I am simply not smart enough to tackle the problems that face people in this situation. Minimum wage is $5.15/hr, which translates to $9,888/yr. Pretty amazing. Even at $10/hr, we're still taking about $19,200/yr. At this rate, daly finances are so razor thin even taking public transportation to and from work can become a burden. What's worse is at that kind of situation, even the smallest problem can put you in a financial hole that's almost impossible to crawl out of. Even more shocking are some of the people that are paid at or very close to these figures. Teachers aides, EMT's, nurses.... All kinds of people that we trust to help us in times of need or even care for our children.

I only wish I possesed the intelligence to fix problems like this......

weekendupdate

Was a pretty nice weekend.

Finally had a chance to catch up some sleep this weekend. Saturday was pretty chill, did some shopping for stuff around the house. Felt terrible after dinner. It always happens at least once a month that I come down with this splitting headache. Got 12 hrs of sleep that night and felt a lot better Sunday morning.

Woke up Sunday and headed into Chicago for some brunch with the guys. Had some biscuit&gravy, and a omelet. Best part is the place we go to serves SWEET TEA. Couldn't go to sleep Sunday night, probably because I got so much sleep the night before.

DRM

DRM sucks..... Here's another reason why.

Sweet

"It's the car, chicks dig the car" - Batman

Tonight after work, I decided to go to a Japanese supermarket to look around and possibly pick some food up. I go in and there's not much to get, except some frozen gyoza's. Pickup two bags. I get to my car and there's this red Toyota Solara facing my car in the next row over. The car had two Japanese chicks standing by it with the doors open looking like they were waiting for something. I mind my own business, take a glance and they're decently attractive. I get in my car, crank Sofia up and put on my seat belt. I look up to put it in reverse when I see both girls walking up to my car. I think to myself "heh". They come up to my window and I roll it down. As soon as it cracks open I hear a FLOOD of Japanese. WHOA, chill out, slow down. I politely tell them I don't speak Japanese. They giggle at me. My mind is now racing of all the things that they could have been saying. Of course my version was straight out of a beer commercial. In my mind they were already cawing the clothes off of each other. So one of them figures it out and explains they are looking for Ikea. Damn! I give them directions, going slow, spelling out road names but they don't seem to get it. They keep on giggling and repeat everything I say. At the end, I ask them to go back over it and they were COMPLETELY off. So, since I was going that direction, I tell them they can follow me and I'd lead them there. Like any good gentlman, I took them straight there.

I can't help but ask myself, was it the car? Probably not.

Bahrain GP

For those of you not interested in F1, disregard.

Recorded the race on my DVR and watched it Sunday morning. Ferrari/Bridgestone is definitely back. This also means Michael Schumacher will be battling for the title again this year. I don't think we will be as dominant as he was in 2004.

Fernando Alonso wins again. Fonzi drove a pretty good race and although I'm not his biggest fan, I hafta say ending a race while Michael Schumacher is filling your rear-views isn't easy. I've seen other drivers just crumble under the pressure.

Honda. Honda now has thier fully owned "works" team this year. I think Jenson Button drove a decent race. I think he needs to go to the drag strip and learn how to launch that car however. Hona REALLY needs someone who can step up and formulate better race strategy. They have arguably the best engine and best mechanincal suspensions, and one of the best gearboxes on the grid. They lack in aero but hopefully the new wind tunnel will help during the season. I often see how they could really get another spot or two if they could just do better on race strategy. Sutch a pitty. Rubens had a bad day with a gearbox failure and we've yet to see his full potential behind the Honda. Either way I like him better than Sato.

McLaren Mercedes. I can't believe Kimi was able to run a 1 pit race and finish 3rd after starting dead last at 22nd. It's not so much that he gained all those positions, but the fact that the McLaren was competitive even when full of fuel. I personally feel McLaren is the team to beat this year if they can keep the car reliable for Kimi. JPM had a clean race too but it seemed like he lacked some pace. I hope JPM somehoe makes it to Honda next year. Fat chance.

Toyota. Bhahhahahaha. They sucked. My prediction is that they will continue to suck this year. Hopefully they'll exit F1.

Williams. I think the Williams/Cosworth did very well in Bahrain, better than anyone could expect.

BMW. I think BMW will have a tough season. I also think claims from Williams last year that the BMW powerplant was unreliable and down on powere is now confirmed.

Super Aguri F1. New team. "Powered by Honda". This goes to show what happens when you put a really good engine in a really bad chasis. The car was just unbelievably slow. Ide (new Japanese driver) lacked a lot of experience and I don't believe he should even be on the grid. I hope to see big improvements from this team however.

Pathetic

So, a couple days ago I'm driving home. As always, I'm talking to my dad on the way home. We're chatting and he tells me that my mom and dad played golf earlier that day. He then tells me that for lunch, she made home made mahn-doo and that's what they ate at the golf course. Then he says that they thought of me while they were eating and wish they could send me some. So, I'm driving home listening to this. I hang up with him before I get home. I smack did a U-turn and went to a nearby korean food store. Picked up some mahn-do. Came home and cooked them up but they just didn't taste the same...

Gullible?

Do I look that gullible?? (another decent read)

Ok ok ok ok ok. So, Jay and I were at BestBuy. He was going to buy something so I decided to go with him. While we were there, we decided to checkout the plasmas on display. So we're minding our own business and we're talking about some of the panels. A regular looking Indian (? maybe Persian) guy starts asking me about the panels. So, as always, I make some suggestions and help the guy out. While we chat, he says he owns an international business and that he's always looking for smart people. He hands me a business card and asks me for my information. (can you see where this is going?) I pickup a business card and I actually give him my info as well. Here is what his business card says:

Anat and Mamta Shah
Business Consultants

Camps International
(Private Franchising)

It has some more information but it's so extensive even I don't feel like it's safe to post it here.

OK - on with the story. I don't think much about it (pretty happy with my current job) so I throw the card on my table and don't think much about it.

Today I get a call from Mr. Shah. He says that he is holding a convention at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg and he would like me to attend. I ask him for more information and he's pretty vague. I ask him to give me a website address and he says that it's password protected and I wouldn't understand unless I attended the conference. Now I'm a bit annoyed (he called while I was enjoying some chinese food) and skeptical. I google his card, his whole card, everything on the card. This is what I come up with.....

Do a search for "Anat & Mamta Shah". Yes folks. It's Amway/Quixtar/BWW again!!!

Temper

Sofia threw her first temper tantrum today. I knew this day would happen, it was only a matter of time. Roads were wet today as we were expecting rain but got a lot of sprinkles instead. Anyway, we were taking a left in the outside lane. About 3/4 of the way through the turn I decided to blip the throttle. No kidding folks, I barely touched the accelerator and the backend threw out into the shoulder. All the cars around me frieked out and avoided me like the plague. Tires caught back and I straightened up and took off. Scary!

Pics

Took some pics last night...

Here are the details:

C350 Sport Sedan (2006)
Iridium Silver Metallic
Black Leather
7G-Tronic
Sunroof package
Lighting package
6-Disk Changer
Heated Front Seats
Slit-Folding Rear Seats

The two options I wanted but this car didn't have is the Harmon Kardon speakers and the rear side airbags. I don't really care about the speakers, would have liked the airbags but neither was a deal breaker for me. The car has standard rear curtain airbags so it's plenty safe.

What do I think about the car so far? It's perfect. It's luxurious, it's sporty, it's fast, has great looks and I got my first head turn from a hottie last night. The 3.5L V6 is just incredible. Smooth power delivery and is ready to go at any speed. Coupled with the new 7 speed automatic (7G-Tronic), this car will accelerate to 60 in 5.5 seconds, faster than a G35, 350Z, Acura TL, and most importantly, all the stock BMW 330's out there.

Ok - Who wants to go cruisin????

Wednesday

Wednesday is the BIG day. Three years of waiting.

Sleep

Gonna be reeeeal tough going to sleep tonight....

Klasse

1 resolution down, 6 to go.

Stay tuned....pics to come.

In Review

2005.. What a year. I wrote an entry in 2004 that predicted it would be a year of change. It ended up to be a gross understatement so for 2005, I avoided any type of predictions. I remember setting goals for myself in early 2005, but didn't publish them here. 2005 has definitely been a year of both change, and extraordinary growth. Although I started my current Job in December 2004, I didn't arrive at the location I would be in until March. I sold my home, moved to a new city, and had to make the tough decision of leaving all my friends behind in Atlanta. I grew in ways I never thought I could. I've met a lot of great people in Chicago and even managed to hold down a single job for more than a year.

What's in store for 2006? There's no way to be certain, but Here are some resolutions for the year to come:

- Lose weight - Yeah, I know I know. So typical. On a different note, I went the extra mile and signed up at a fitness center to really get serious on this one. I've had this as a resolution for 3 years now and although I have made some progress (20lbs), I'd like to take it further.

- New Car - Ok, I said it. Although I've always wanted one, I've never really put my foot down. I don't care if I go broke doing it, I will be getting a new car this year, Period.

- Save Money - With all the changes that happened in 2005, I'm proud that I was about to come through the whole ordeal without taking on any debt. I think for 2006, I need to focus on saving more, looking to the future, and planning ahead. Yes, this one contradicts the previous statement, but I think both are possible if I play my cards right.

- Meet new people - I'm busy. Very busy. I still feel like now that I'm pretty settled in, I should go out and meet more people.

- Volunteer - More than ever, I'm interested in doing some volunteer work for the community, ideally at a hospital on the weekends. As many of you know, my dad has been in and out of the hospital many times and I think it would be a great way to give back if I could help out in some way.

- the "M" word - Hhhhhmmm, now I don't mean this year, but I do see the need to start thinking about this. I'm still not sure if I have the maturity or the right mindset for it yet however.

- Visit Korea - I think I need to go back and visit. May be related to the previous resolution. The toughest part of this will be asking for time off, I hate missing work.

Ok, that's 7. I think it's pretty important that I at least make an effort on all of them for 2006. What an ambitious prick. Guess I was just born that way.

Happy New Years Everyone!!!!!

BTW - Who let the dogs out??

Dateline

I'm flipping through the channels and I happen to catch Dateline NBC. It was a re-run but shocking nonetheless. The program was about child predators. Dateline had setup a house to lure in potential child predators. People acting as 12-14yr old girls and boys chatted on the internet to get people to visit the undercover house. Unbelievably, 19!! men show up in the span of three days. Hidden cameras rolling, they catch all kinds of people, from doctors, to Rabi's, teachers, to just flat out losers. One of the guys even strips down naked before he enters the house!

Unbelievable....

Powered By...

It's cold outside. I'm working more than ever. Feeling tired...

I need something that will get me through the end of the year. There's only one solution..

KIMCHEEEEEE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Superman had his yellow sun, Batman had his utility belt, Koreans however, from time to time, must power up from the goodness that can only be had by eating kimchi. Anything this potent must be handled carefully, with juice that can permanently stain any surface. Even when put in an environment as cold as a household refrigerator, it has the ability to seek out all other foods and overpower them with it's essence.

Cool

Has anyone actually seen or played with one of these?

heh

MUST READ!

OK OK OK OK OK. Hold just one fast minute. I gots me a couple questions...

1. What happens when (not IF) you show up and it's some fugly chick? Full on hideous, smells kinda funky, with bad nails and terrible hair. Do you just not fix the problem and leave, thereby destroying the self confidence of said person? What's worse than getting turned down by some geek? Would it be nicer to fix the problem and leave without payment?

2. What if it's some HOTTIE. Would it be ethical to leave that paritcular computer in a state that it will break again (and I can ENSURE it happens), heh, then again, would it be ethical NOT to leave it in a state so that it wil break again!?!?.

3. What if the person has a boyfriend? What if the boyfriend dosen't care? I think that would kinda wierd me out. I mean, it's not like renting a car.

4. The dude in the article leaves payment up to the client. I dunno if I could really deal with that. I mean, what if there's some huge complicated problem and it takes more than 10 minutes of my genius to fix the problem? Nevermind, it won't happen. I take it back.

5. Obviously minors are out. I'm no R. Kelly.

6. What if it's a MILF? I guess I just answered my own question.

7. Do I need to give a reciept? Lol.

8. Guess I need a new compartment in my laptop bag.

9. Now just who's doing who a favor on both fronts?

10. What If THEY keep breaking thier computers? See questions 1 and 2.....

Not that I would do this, but IF I did, I'd probably somehow end up in the news or something. Yeah, I'm chicken. Booooooooooo

Shopping

As the holidays approach, we'll all be shopping to a much greater extent than usual. Here's a tip that can get you out the store just a little faster than everyone else (if it applies).

You know certain stores such as Best Buy (I haven't bought anything significant from Best Buy in years), have people at each exit checking reciepts. This practice, although not illegal, is VOLUNTARY. So, the next time you shop there, checkout and walk out the door, if they ask you for a reciept, don't agree to the search and leave. If they stop you, call the police as it is illegal detainment, and you can sue the living daylights out of them. Now, the only time this dosen't apply is at club stores (Sam's Club, Costco). The reason is that you must sign up to even get into these places, therefore there is a pre-existing agreement to have your items searched (I think).

50 Cent

I'm the drop out who made more more money than these teachers...

- 50 Cent

But then again, I didn't drop out, I was kicked out. Hahahahhahaa. If I can't, do it, homey it can't be done!

Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Alright, here is the list of things that I'm thankfull for this year:

1 - The health of both my parents and myslef - all three of us made it another year.

2 - All my friends, from Atlanta to Virginia, Orange County to Chicago, they all rock.

3 - Everyone that makes it possible for us to enjoy the best country to live in.

4 - It's 14 degrees outside, I'm thankfull that I'm INSIDE.

Special thanks goes out this year to Jay and his family. Just got back from eating and I gotta say, those people know how to throw down!

Greed

Ok - back on track with my 7 deadly sins theme...

Greed. I think we all struggle with this one. I'm definitely guilty of this one. Gotta have it, and while you're at it, "give me two purrrs". It's interesting how this one works. We're all raised and encouraged to be successfull. Often times people relate success with possessions. So how hard are you willing to push? How much is enough?

Sony/BMG

Unless you've been under a rock, I assume all of you out there know about the copy protection fiasco with certain Sony/BMG CD's. Now it looks like Texas is gonna sue. What do I say? Go get'em tiger! For all I care they should expand the suit to the RIAA as well. The music industry is overdue for a swift kick in the balls.

Adriana

Go and give Avogadro his smack down tomorrow!!!!!!

awake

Damn... Why am I still up? I'm sleepy as hell but I can't seem to pull myself over to my bed. Maybe I'll just sleep on the couch again. I don't know if it's work, but I have a tendancy lately to become the biggest bum on the weekends.

McRib

Holy crap the McRib is back!!! Yeah you know you like them too.

HOT

Yummy!

Gluttony

Lol. "Would you like to supersize that sir?"

Hahahhaha. Honesly, I think this one is a bit absurd. Come on, eating too much? I guess it could also mean overindulgance and a lack of self-control. If you see it that way, aren't all of them? Oh well. I don't have much to say about this one. Don't get fat.

Sloth

I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

Haha - Sloth - one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Sloth is a dear one to me as I struggle with lazziness all the time. My dad always gets mad at me for being lazy, and then follows it up with how much lazier he used to be when he was my age. What a loon. I've noticed that lazziness often has a nasty habit of snowballing, or having more dire long term consequences. For example, I decide to put off paying a credit card bill. Life gets busy and next thing you know, I've taken a hit on my credit. I then decide I want to finally purchase a new place. My credit is now beaten up, I don't get the best rate and finally, miss out on things in my life I might have otherwise been able to afford. Not likely, but possible.

Seven

Vanity, is definitely my favorite sin, so basic, self love, the all-natural opiate.

Ah yes, the very words of the devil as spoken in Devil's Advocate.

So, in the upcomming days, I think I'm going to write about the seven deadly sins. I was watching the movie and it made me think about them. Very interesting movie. Anyway, I don't know what odd angle I'm going to take with them, but I guess we'll see.

Yin-Yang

Failure - the unwelcome, gloryless half brother of success. With both comes change. Maybe it's the weather but I've been thinking a great deal about change, failure, and sucess.

Interestingly, I feel like one of the greatest successes of my life and possibly my largest failure involve a common theme. I can still remember the day I drove home from school to find a very thin envelope in my mailbox. I don't know why but I didn't really drag on the experience. Everyone talks about how a thick envelope means that you've been accepted and a thin one means you were rejected but I think registrars like to play with kids minds. I ripped opened the envelope to read the one word that would change my life "Congratulations".

Ironically, less than a year later it ended much the same way it began. I walked up the hill past Bobby Dodd stadium on my way to the student center. There I opened my tiny school mailbox with another letter, waiting for the inevitable. Unfortunately, this time I already knew what it would say before I even opened the envelope. Oddly enough, there wasn't a lot of emotion. Maybe disbelief. The harshest reality check came when I took that letter to my advisor in the Computer Science building. There was no sympathy, no BS.

In hindsight, I firmly belive however, the latter has helped me live my life far far more than the former.

I always seem to write these cheesy sentimental entries when I have a lot of things on my mind.

Question: What is success?

Ugh - I need to get over it.

Bling

Move over Puff daddy,

50, take a rest dogg.

You just aren't a TRUE PIMP until you have your very own phone!

Motorola and I worked hard to deliver on something I could put my name on. You can have all the rides, cribs, and rimms you want, but I'm the first to have his very own phone model.

We're thinking of making a special Playa-BLING model with a diamond studded earpiece and a platinum keypad. Yeah dogg. THAT'S WHAT'S UP!!!

Katrina

This is a NATIONAL disgrace.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana that are without basic necessities like dinking water, food, and basic sanitation.

I always felt proud that in the wake of a catastrophic event such as the disasters that happened on Sept 11, people of vastly different cultures, and backgrounds could come together to help each other and move forward. I sit here completely shocked as I see images of 25,000 people crammed into a convention center. From what I can see, the biggest difference here is leadership. Back in NY, I remember mayor Rudolph Guilliani making press releases, not from a comfortable office but from the front lines of the tragedy. In stark contrast, there is an utter lack of organization and leadership in the wake of this disaster. Authorities had infinitely more time to prepare for this than they did for 9-11. There is no excuss for this.

I just watched an interview done by Dan Rather with Michael D. Brown, the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response. I couldn't believe as he openly admitted that the convention center was unpoliced with 25,000 people starving, without water, and medical aid.

I can only hope that the 90 Million donated by fellow Americans will be used wisely in the upcomming days. The images we see are simply shocking and unacceptable.

Quote

Can you summon your talent at will, can you deliver on a deadline, can you sleep at night?

Optimized?

So I finally had two days to relax. I was watching TV and started watching 60 Minutes. They had a segment on the Moken tribe. The most interesting part was when they were talking about the tribe and it's language. They said that the Moken don't have words for things like want, time, when, and finally worry. It's amazing if you think about it. A lot of our society revolves around these very same words. Sometimes I think society has gotten far too "optimized". It's true that modern people have luxuries and convinences that people long ago couldn't have imagined of, but is that really a good thing? Intersting thing about the Moken. Although they were very close to the 2004 Tsunami that hit southeast Asia, there were no casualties among the Moken. An anchient story passed on from generation to generation warned the Moken about the signs of a pending Tsunami...

Movie

Just watched Bourne Supremacy. I wonder, does this mean he's now "Bourne again?"

Heh.

An oldie but a goodie. It seems like God is trying to convey a message...

Settled

So I was talking to a friend today and was thinking about how I was getting settled here in Chicago. It seems like it was just yesterday that I recieved the call from my new boss and going over the possible career change. It's been a fantastically crazy 7 months. In that time I've managed to sell my house, start yet another job, spend 2 months in California, spend 93 straight days in a hotel, find a new place to live, all while managing to meet some great people along the way.

Work is going fantasically well. From day to day I feel motivated and excited at the challenges I'm given. The hours can be long sometimes but I'm young and don't mind it so much. I never had a problem with working a lot, as long as I felt like I was rewarded and appreciated.

Although I've met quite a few friends up here, I don't seem to have really broken into the asian crowd. It's not that I'm racist, but I've always had at least some asian friends.

I can't say that I don't miss Georgia a little.

I've been slacking on my blog entries lately....Maybe I'm having too much fun...

Hate

As my bro Tommy would say "Don't hate, congradulate"

Anyway, people have been asking so here is my full HT setup. Snapped the pic while watching "Las Vegas" so the last one is a bit racey. Hahahha.

BTW - Las Vegas in 1080i HD is UNBELIVEABLE.

Arrived!

IT HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!

Life

So, there's something that happened last week and through this week that has me thinking a lot about the value of Life.

Last week, a co-worker found out that his 8yr old son has developed a tumor near his brain stem. Apparently, it's so close that docotors are unwilling to operate on it. The pressure from the tumor is impeding his ability to do certain things like walk and talk. We all felt moved by the situation so we all pitched in an bought him a gift. His dad brought him in today and we all had a chance to meet him. Great kid. Fantastic kid. He came in smiling and laughing.

Thinking about this really puts me in perspective. We live life fretting over small matters sometimes. I hope with ever fiber of my beeing that Joey makes it through this. He's a great kid and he deserves to live a long and healthy life....

Comeback

Don't call it a comeback!!

"You know ain't nothing changed but my limp"

I will be flying down to Atlanta this friday to close a very significant part of my life. My house finally sold and I want to personally be there to see it off.

On a positive note, I'm excited to hang out with all of my old friends again. Haven't seen them in a while so I have big plans for the weekend. Monday morning at the office is going to be rough!

OZ GP

As in the Australian Grand Prix.

I didn't get to watch the race but from what I've read, heard, and seen, it was a somewhat boring but interesting race.

Renault definitely has a winner on thier hands. Finishing first and third, they are poised to be VERY good this season, quite possibly unseating Ferrari. I was curious about Fernando Alonso's driving style but I guess it was ok and he didn't suffer any tire degradation problems.

Ferrari also looked good. Securing second, by way of Rubens Barichello, I personally feel they did a great job as well. They are still running the interim car so there is still some unanswered questions about how fast the actual F2005 will be, but I have a feeling it will always be in contention to win. Interestingly, the new tire rules suite Rubens's driving style better than that of Schumacher. Schumacher retired early, so we don't know what would have happened had he stayed in the race. I think he has a great chance of winning in Malaysia.

BAR-Honda was a bit of a dissapointment. Takuma Sato wrecked his car during qualifying and had to start from the back. Never seemed like he was comfortable with the car and get any kind of competitive pace going from the lap charts. What what I can tell however, Jenson Button did manage to pull some quick lap times at the end. Call me a Honda fanboy but I still think Honda will be one of the frontrunners this year. I'm still debating whether it was right of them to pull thier cars at the end. A non-points finish is essentially the same as a DNF, but I was suprised to see Honda pull the cars. I'll admit, my first reaction was one of shock.

Red Bull has WINGS!!!! What a pleasant suprise! Red-Bull has battled back from an uncertain driver linup, funding problems, poor engineering, and completely new owners. All this and then managed to get fourth place in the first race of the season. I hope they stay competitive for the rest of the season. (there is a secret reason behind this other than rooting for the underdog!) BTW - to think David Coulthard almost didn't have a race seat this year. Very funny. He is getting old though.

McLaren-Mercedes looked in good form but didn't have any meaningfull results. I still firmly believe they will be one of the better teams this year. Lets hope Kimi and Juan-Pablo make the most of the new car. Very drastic and pleasant turn around from last year.

I also thought Williams did decently. I think almost everyone had written them off after the pre-season numbers and driver fiasco with Jenson Button. Williams does have a habit of starting out with lemons and making lemonade so hopefully they can work thier magic this year as well. Look for strong improvements from them as the year progresses.

Toyota - can you say $400 Million wasted? I really really don't like Toyota at all. It's not the team, it's not the car, it's the racing attitude of that company that just drives me nuts. Rumor has it that if they don't get a podium this year, the F1 program will be scrapped. I hate to lose competition, but I sincerely hope Toyota pulls out of F1.

Jaques Villenuve - the man deserves a paragraph all his own. With the new F1 rules it has become increasing hard to overtake. With this said, it seems like this one man alone changed the outcome of some of the racers. I think he should go back and re-retire. Yeah yeah yeah, his dad was a great F1 driver and he was pretty good back in the day too, but this man has no reason to be in an F1 car, racing in an F1 race. Call me bitter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Life update:

My Pod arrived today. I'm simply amazed at how much easier this move was by using it. Everything arrived as I had packed it, with very little shuffling and moving. I would definitely use the service again and highly suggest it.

Thanks goes out to Mr. Tommy Yi for driving up to Chicago with me. It was a long drive but it would have sucked going alone.

Best part: Going 100 to catch a minivan that was hauling and then slowing down. Talking about how fast we've drivin in our cars right after. I look up and there is this manacing black Crown Vic with lights flashing comming up behind me at an alarming pace. I think to myslef - DAMN! another ticket. Put on my blinker, move over and Smokey just goes right past me, pulls the mini van over! SWEET!

Worst part - 100000 miles of Illinois....

Second best part - Twists and Turns through Tenessee mountains. I carved them up like Thanksgiving turkey and didn't leave anything on the bone!

I take back all the bad things I've said about my car. Over the past 4 months I've driven a Mustang, Grand-Am, Taurus, Malibu (new), Trailblazer, and a Malibu (older) and I gotta say my car kicks ass.

PS - Yes, it is Russel Fiveash that pointed out the Microsoft Anti-Spyware tool was in beta. Thanks Russ!

One week

One week. One week until the 2005 Formula 1 season starts!!! The Australian GP in Melbourne. I'm very excited what the new season will bring.

On a similar note, Gran Turismo 4 is about to be released here in the US. Very exciting. Hopefully I'll have a TV by then. Can't wait, can't wait.

Funny

This is what I do in my hotel room!

Quote

...it's sass right, you're sassing me...

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to go to Vegas for Christmas... I hope I make it, and make it back!

sacrifice

So was it worth it?

This is the question that has been haunting me for the last two weeks. I feel like sometimes that I've given up my life, what I've ever known, for a job, for money. I guess it's the lonliness kicking in. My two weeks here hasn't been bad, I've been emmersing myself with work as it keeps my mind from boring. Most of the time I'm cheery, upbeat, and excited at the new possibilities and challenges in front of me. Sometimes however, when I get back from work, sit in my hotel room, and watch TV, I really miss the group of friends I had. Maybe I'm just lazy. I know I'll cope, I know I'll be able to make it, but it still seems overwhelming at times.

I'm one of those people that goes through three distinct phases when taking on HUGE challenges. The first phase involves considering the task at hand. Often times, I'll resist, thinking about how large it is, how hard it will be, and how much time it will take. I get discouraged and unmotivated. Phast two is the exact opposite of phase one. After lamenting about things, I put them aside, lock them up and just get started. I plug away until I either fail or I finish. The last phase is when I finish, I usually look back in retrospect, happy if I was sucessfull and intrigued when I fail. I always look back and try to learn from my experiences.

I feel like right now I'm in the middle of phase 2.

"God give me style and give me grace, got put a smile upon my face". - Coldplay

DAMN!

.....whoa.........

The OC

Just landed in the OC

Had a difficult flight out, not any fault of the airline, it was just that I felt terrible and being in an airplane didn't help.

Somehow, I feel like this is the first day of a new begining. Hopefully I'll do well. Anyway, tired and in a hotel room. Must.... sleep....

Atlanta

Be carefull what you ask for...

For seven years now I've been proud to call Atlanta my home. I remember when I first came down here, my parents helped me move into my dorm and then left to drive back to VA. I remember thinking of the gravity of my situation. Standing there in the middle of four dorms, I looked around and thought to myself "I don't know a SINGLE person for 500 miles!" My next thought to myself was that I didn't have a choice and either I make the best of it or I'll be miserable.

Freshman year was interesting. School didn't work out so well. I still think that going to Georgia Tech and then being kicked out was one of the best things to have ever happened to me. Luckily in that time, I somehow met a great group of people.

I really thought when I was kicked out I had seen the last of Atlanta. I had only been here a year so it wasn't so bad thinking of leaving. My parents and I both agreed however that rather than being in Virginia, Atlanta posed much better possibilites for my future. Somehow, I came back, refused to leave, and made something of it. I found a great job and bought the house of my dreams.

It looks like now it's finally my time to leave Atlanta. It will be very hard seeing everything I've worked for go away. All the friends, and relationships that I've strugged to make. Although it's not like I can't come back and visit, it saddens me to think that I can't just hang out with the people that I've come to appreciate so much. As independant as I seem, I know that was able to succeed because I've had the opportunity to be surrouned by great people.

I wish everyone the best. I just hope some of you bastards will come visit me!

Finally, a great friend sent me this song....

Piece Of My Heart

Watching your taillights fading out of my sight
Feeling like the sun just lost a little bit of its light
But you've left your memories to linger, new memories to start
'Til the summer brings you back, you know you got a piece of my heart

- Piece of My Heart [Keri Noble]

wow

wow

Eclipse

Cool.....

phone

First phone for 2004. It's actually a smart phone... oh well. I'll be on it all the time so now you can reach me through it's IM and e-mail. Hit me up.

tiger

When I was little, my dad always told me I should grow up to be like a Tiger. Like many things, I didn't really know what he meant at the time. Tigers are cool animals and everything, but it just didn't make sense. Unfortunately, I was born in the year of the monkey. hahha. So can a monkey go against his destiny and become a tiger?

I'm not sure...

Tigers are known to symbolize both good and evil. They are almost always a symbol of power, and solitude. Good and evil, power and solitude. Hrm, something to think about. It's a lot to live up to. Something to think about...

headache

So I've been having these really killer headaches. The ones where you turn off all the lights, crawl into bed, curl up in a ball and pray to god you can go to sleep so the pain will go away. I usually get migraines about 3~4 times a year but I've experienced them twice in as many weeks. Turns out this (8th paragraph) could be the problem. With Frances and Ivan rolling through town, I'm now convinced they are what caused my pain. Sucks for me.

weekendupdate

Had a rough weekend.. Don't want to go into much detail here. Good buddy of mine recently bought a new house and we had a cookout to break the place in. Congrats go out to Mark and his new place. Had a chance to spend a little bit of time up there and also meet an old friend. I'm on the late shift at work for the next 2 weeks. If anyone wants to sit and have some drinks with me, let me know, I could definitely use the company.

Gmail

Let me know if any of you guys want a GMail invite. I've got a couple.

car

Ok, as some of you may already know, I'm contemplating buying a new car. Only one real question remains, 6speed or auto? Tell me your input and lemmie know what you guys think.

SUV

For some reason.... I agree COMPLETELY! Yeah yeah yeah, SUV's are a fact of life, but in leiu of the tax benefits, these things must be controlled. I'm sure I'll get some input on this one.

word

Who makes this crap up?

cat

I'm seriously considering this with our cat...

women

Very interesting article...

There are a lot of things in the article that I have had strong opinions of even before I read it. More on this topic later...

RIC

Once again, free 802.11b at Richmond airport kicks ass...

airports

Ok, so I'm spending a couple days up in VA to spend some time with my parents. In doing so, I decided I would fly up here because not only do I hate the 8hr drive and high gas prices, I'm lazy.

So anyway, my plane was delayed for a little so I decided I would observe people. I've always found it interesting to watch people as they do things, to anyalyze thier actions, and to ponder about them. Here are some things about airports that drive me absolutely mad...

Large men with tiny wheeled briefcases - Ok, I don't know who the hell started this trend but it must stop. I can understand the women out there in all their daintyness with tiny cute little bags with wheels. I can, I can accept that. But it drives me nuts when I see a rather large man, with essentially a briefcase, somtimes no larger than the laptop in it, with wheels on it, and about 50 extensions on the handle to make it long enough to pull. Are we THAT lazy. Come on people, pick the damn thing up, it's really not that heavy.

People that are at the airport with cowboy hats on - So I'm not a big hat person to begin with. Baseball caps, barrets, skull caps (beanies) i can understand, from a functional point of view, to also a somewhat stylistic view as well. In either case, these do not hinder on fellow travelers. I swear I saw someone at the airport with cowboy hat on today. Someone should tell these people that there will be absolutely no purpose for it and they should have left it at home. Better yet, make them leave it at security check with all the deadly toenail clippers the government is so worried people with hijack airplanes with.

Rediculous security checks - Continuing on, when have toenail clippers become deadly? If someone came at me with a toenail clipper, I'd probably die laughing before i was hurt by the damn thing. It's a damn toenail clipper. Safety razors are another item - you really can't do much damage with a safety razer. First, the blades are mounted in a housing such that it can't to too much harm. Second, even if you did pry the blades off, they're too skinny and small to really do much damage. The last thing that really peeves me about security checks is when the security guards don't pay attention. I know, they hafta do it all day. But seriously, is it right to take away some simple personal effects when the security guard checking you is trying to hit on another secuirty guard, in essence making neither do thier jobs correctly?!?

People that insist that a 100lb duffel bag is a carry on - These people need to be shot on the spot. They have a duffel bag the size of my mattress and spend 30 minutes trying to shove it in a overhead bin. Not only do they not notice that there's no way in hell it's going to fit, but they are somehow convinced that rotating it will magically make it work. There should be two seats reserved at the back of each plane, half the size of normal crap seats, right next to the toilet and jet engines for these people.

400lb people - If you need 2 seatbelts, you need 2 seats, you need 2 tickets. Nuff said. I'm sorry, it's just how I feel.

Reclining seats - Correct me if I'm wrong, but reclining seats in airplanes are there just to start trouble. Lets see here, once you recline your seat back, it takes all the space from the person behind you, pissing them off. These people often find it necessary to scarf up the complementary peanuts and recline when there happens to be a drink on the fold down tray, attached to the damn seatback. This wouldn't really bother me if they were functional, but honestly, they recline all of 2 inches. To top it all off, the flight attendants find it necessary to power trip over this as well, and will instruct you that you must have your damn seatback in the upright position for take-off and landing - who makes this stuff up? Dont' forget the 5yr old that thinks breaking the reclining seat is his mission for the flight.

Seatbelt tutorial - it's 2004, if you haven't seen a seatbelt and don't know how to use one, you shouldn't be on a plane.

Electronics/Cell phone ban - There has NEVER been a study that definitvely proves that any kind of personal electronics or cell phones interfere with aircraft equipment. Actually, every electronic product that you buy must be tested not to interfere with anything else. Once again, I'd really like to meet the genius that came up with this brilliant idea.

faces

The many faces of my cousin...

aftermath remix

As one dinner wasn't enough, my friends decied to have a second party for my 24th birthday. Maybe I'm just that special, maybe they just like partying! In any case, I really appreciate everyone that made it out and above all, the thought and friendship of all of my friends.

Thanks everyone!

aftermath

Yes yes yes, so now I'm 24.... How does it feel... OLD.

Anyway, my good friend Eric863 was nice enough to buy me a superb dinnner last night... All in all, a very mellow yet very nice birthday.

BTW - I will be moving hosts (servers) soon, hopefully, noone will notice the difference, but just a heads-up.

:)

I'm a grown ass man dawg....

wired news

Very interesting, very interesting indeed...

Manhattan Gets Pac-Man Fever

Blood Feud Kills Off Fat Cells

desktop

It's ALIVE!!!!!!!!!! - Some of you may have noticed that ever since I've started to work, I've been using laptops more and more. Well the only problem with it is that my desktop has become more and more neglected over time. Once a screaming fast computer, in many metrics it can be easily out-done by my new notebook... Well, I've decided to give it some lovin tonight. For the first time in months, I'm using my desktop computer. She's an old beast but she's my creation. I've got to say that this installation of Windows XP has lasted the longest at almost 3 years now! Well, I leave with this little ditty -

format and reformat were on a boat,
format fell out,
who was left?

REFORMAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Imola

So Ferrari won again at the San Marino GP. I must say however BAR Honda and Jenson Button really put together a great run, beating third place Juan Pablo Montoya by a large margin. Just a couple races ago, it would have been unimaginable to say that BAR Honda would place second above BMW/Williams. McLaren Mercedes had another dissapointing day. I had a suspicion that even with Jenson on pole, Ferrari wouldn't let Honda win on thier home track...

honda!!

I REALLY hope HONDA makes a strong comeback to F1...

blog

My good friend Eric Yu has started his very own blog. Check it out.

second day

So it was my second day at Objectware. Yes Yes, I started a new job. I really hit the ground running with this place as my skillset fits very well with the job at hand. Gotta say after just two days, I feel a newfound zeal toward work and my career.

lol

I'll tell you in another life when we're both cats. - Sofia

dream

Ok, had a wierd dream last night.

It starts out with some people sitting at a table. A woman I recognize (but I don't remember who it was) was at the end of the table, I was sitting next to her and another friend was to my right. Although I was thinking for myslef, I was seeing the situation from a third person perspective (so I could see myself sitting there). I don't remember who was at the other side of the table. So anyway, we're talking and the woman at the end of the table tells me I have something in my eye. I tell her that I knew something was in my eye. She slowly moves toward me and I tell her that I'll get it myself. So i reach up to my left eye and pull out a STAPLE!. It was about an inch long and the staple had been flattened so that it was straight. There was no blood on it and it apparently didn't hurt too much. After seeing the staple, I started getting worried in my dream that I may have damaged my eye. That was the end of the dream.... Wierd....

February

Apparently, February isn't a very good bloggin month for me. I've made a total of 4 entries this month. Gotta say that's neglect. Anyway, I assure everyone that there is some juicy things to come, it's just that I don't feel like I can reveal it in a public forum just yet. Stay tuned...

wierd

What happens when dorks get wierd ideas and start to have too much time on thier hands? - THIS!

marriage

Recently there has been a lot of media attention regarding gay marriage. Although I am straight, I don't understand why gays can't get married. If anyone can please tell my why gay people shouldn't be able to get married I'd like to hear about it.

Dad

Feeling a bit odd tonight...

Listening to U2 - With or without you....

I was going through my list of fellow blog sites and this entry hit me like a brick. My heart and thoughts go out to Christina as she mourns the anniversary of her fathers passing...

I started to write a comment on her site but it quickly got very personal. In the end, I e-mailed her. I thought that I had written here about my dad earlier, but after searching the site, I never really did. I think it's about time...

First, a little history. My parents came to the United States with the idea of "The land of opportunity." They were brought here by Perdue, a large poultry company. Thier specialty was the separation of male and female chickens. This is necessary simply for the fact that male chickens don't lay eggs, and hence aren't needed. I was about 3 years old then. Life wasn't easy. My parents spoke very little english and knew little of American customs. A strange land filled with strange people. Perdue turned out to be a bad work environment for them and they had to leave. My friends complain about not beeing able to find jobs in this tough economy, try doing it when you can barely speak, can't read and can't write. At one point in our families history, we were left with only $1. My dad was so frustrated he bought a pack of cigarettes and threw away the change.

For the next couple years, we traveled around between places and jobs. We finally settled in a little city called Colonial Heights, about 20 miles south of Richmond, VA. They were still doing the same job, this time for a different company. The work was hard. They woke up at 3am, drove an hour to work, worked 11~13 hours, and drove back every week day. Eventually, they had saved enough to start thier own business. With thier hard earned money, they bought a coin laundromat. Working as they did before, they maintained thier new business, often sacrificing thier wellbeeing to save every penny. A couple of years later they bought another one, still working. Once in high school I though back on what they had done back then and asked why they didn't just go back to Korea. Thier answer now resonates in my head - "So you (me) could have a better life and not go through what we had to." They knew this was the land of opportunity, they knew here is where all the best schools are. I didn't understand that then, but I understand now.

Like a lot of people, the 1990's were good to us. Thier monumental hard work was begining to pay off. My parents eventually quit working with chickens, sold both laundromats, and bought a small, 37 room motel. It was in bad shape when we acquired it, maintaining about 3% occupancy throughout the year. With no hospitality experience, it was a gamble. Again, through raw determination, they breathed life into the business. Not only did we manage to sell every room every night of the year for 4 of 5 years we owned it, we kept overhead low by doing much of the maintenance ourselves. I remember comming home from school, driving to the motel and fixing toilets. Sometime before we bought the motel, my dad was diagnosed with diabetes. It wasn't very serious at the time, he took medicine for it, life moved on.

I soon graduated high school and decided to attend Georgia Tech for college. I'll never forget the day I recieved the acceptance letter. As I opened the mailbox after school, I saw a thin envelope with a Georgia Tech logo on it. I was terrified to open it. I opened the envelope and as soon as I saw the word "Congradulations" I got back in my car and tore off to tell my parents (at the motel) the good news. It was the second happiest day of my life, but in some ways, the most bitersweet for my parents. On hearing the news, my dad didn't say anything. I didn't understand that then.

Throughout my childhood, I have been very close with my dad. As a kid, he was bigger than life. I remember when I was 9 years old, we were at the driving range and I was watching him hit golf balls. He'd hit them so far I couldn't see them anymore. My dad was superman. I remember sneaking out with him to go look at cars without my mom knowing. Even through high school, he was there to give the kids on the golf team (including me) rides to our away matches. Looking back, my parents understood that my acceptance into Georgia Tech was what they worked so hard for, but at the same time, they had to send thier only son 500 miles away.

Life was rocky for my parents after I left for college. I was a very big part of thier lives, especially my dad. My mom later told me he didn't eat for a couple days after they had dropped me off.

My dad's diabetes had steadily gotten worse over the years. When I left for college, he was still taking pills, but at very high dosages. He eventually deteriorated to the point where he had to take insulin shots. The real scare came a year ago. It was friday afternoon and my mom called me on my cell phone. I answered thinking I'd have her call back in a little while. She told me to buy plane tickets to come to Virginia. When I asked why, she said my dad was in the hospital and needed bypass surgery. I didn't know what to say. Apparently, my dad wasn't in the best of shape. His diabetes wasn't in control and had damaged many parts of his body. I drove up that night to see him while a large storm was looming in Virginia. Due to the diabetes, he had lost hearing in one year, lost eyesight in one eye, and his heart and kidneys were failing. His heart was so critical that they wounldn't let him leave the hospital. His kidneys were at 25%, acceptable, but bad. He promptly underwent a successful double bypass open heart surgery.

After the surgery, I thought everything was going to be ok. They fixed the problem. Unfortunately, life had one more curve-ball waiting. My dad's kidneys are now almost completely non-functioning. Three times a week, he must be hooked up to a machine for four hours to clean his blood. Describing it as unpleasant is an understatement.

My dad is now as frail as ever. Due to the surgery and diabetes, he has lost a tremendous amount of weight. He's so weak that he isn't able to play golf, a game he's loved so much. When I look at my dad, I don't see him as he is, I see the man that made me what I am today. Both of my parents sacrified everything, even thier own health. Every day, I think that if I can work as hard, try as much, how successfull I can become. To this day, they are the only benchmark to which I live. To me, my dad is still superman.

Seeing my dad, I really believe that we must always remember the good times, cherish the present, and look optimistically to the future....

Transporter

Just watched "Transporter" again. There's only one reason to watch this movie....

parasites...

I've been recently noticing the trend of comptuers beeing infected with adware and spyware to the point that they become very unsafe to use or unable to use. I see this problem as a growing trend, and it concerns me deeply both from a performance standpoint, as well as security/privacy. I was wondering if you guys would like me to do a write-up on how to diagnose and remove spyware and adware from your system. It would be rather long so I don't wanna waste my time, but if you guys think it's important, let me know and I'll put up some more info.

hasian

So I was watching 100 hottest hotties on VH1 today and I heard a new word that REALLY intrigued me. The term "HASIAN = hot + asian" was used to describe Lucy Liu.... I'd hafta agree that she's definitely a hasian. The word got me thinking tho.... I definitely know some hasians!

bored?

Apparently, somone was really bored...

Richmond

Leaving Richmond (and my parents) is bittersweet... On one hand it's hard to leave seeing my dad in the condition he's in. On the other, I'm excited to get back to Atlanta... I don't know how this situation will unfold in the next few days/weeks, but I'm optimistic that all will be well for my dad.

PS. RIC has free WiFi access!!!!!

holidays

So my roomate told me today that I'm hard to shop for. I completely understand his argument because my dad's the same way. While my mom is hard to shop for because she really dosen't want a lot of things, my dad and I have the habit of buying whatever we want. So I've been thinking, maybe I should try to be more frugal in the upcomming year. It's always tough to save money though. We live in a society bread to believe that debt is acceptable and overall, we are a very materialistic society.

thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!

Things I'm thankfull for:

- My parents: Ever supportive, always my advocate. Although we don't always see eye to eye, deep down, I know they're there for me.

- My friends: What would life be without friends?

- Health and well-beeing - I've made it another year without too much trouble, although I shall avoid mangos in the future.

- To all the things that keep me safe - From the soldiers around the world to the roof over my head. You can't ever take these things for granted.

Nothing else really matters.

man vs. machine

They say "to error is human" but today that very statement is beeing tested in New York City. I'm not a big Chess fan, but the game does pose some interesting thoughts. As I write this, a human (albeit an exceptional one), Garry Kasparov, is facing a computer.

First, lets get a little more in-depth about the two.

Garry Kasparov - Born 1963, in what was the former USSR. A prodigy of the game, he earned the International Grandmaster title at the age of 17. Needless to say, he went on to win many more and has held the World Champion title for 19 years.

X3D Fritz - Produced by X3D Technologies. Not only is it a faultless, calculating menace, this version has been specially tuned to beat it's human rival. The hardware behind the beast is a stunning Quad Intel Xeon system.

Garry Kasparov is no newcommer to playing computers. In 1996, IBM developed a specialized computer, Deep Blue, just for the task of beating the great champion. The first match ended with Garry winning over the machine. The next year, IBM challenged again, this time with better hardware and tweaked software. The second match resulted in a win for the IBM team. Deep Blue however, is not your garden variety computer. It is an IBM developed, massively parallel system, that at the time of the second match could calculate 200 million positions per second. Kasparov's third exposure to a computer challenged came again from IBM. This time it was called Deep Junior. Unlike it's 1.4 Ton predecesor, Deep Junior was developed to be less powerfull, but able to travel to it's opponents. In perspective, Deep Jr is able to process 10 million positions per second with it's 512 accelerator chips. The meeting between Kasparov and Deep Jr ended in a draw.

So today Garry is facing Fritz. Beeing the nerd that I am, to see the sheer computing capacity needed to even play Kasparov amazes me. We aren't talking about garden variety computers here. So it will be interesting to see who wins this match....

Halloween!

I still don't have any candy. I didn't get that many trick or treat-ers last year so I'm not expecting a large turnout this year - on the other hand, it was a quite bit colder last year....

TL party

Got invited to the TL launch party at the local Acura dealership. Gotta say that they have a very impressive vehicle on thier hands. Got there around 7:00pm to checkout the car and free hour'dourves. The car itself was nothing short of stunning. It's about the size of a Lexus GS series, a bit shorter than the previous TL, but also a bit taller.

From the outside, it has a very athletic stance, sporting wide tires, 17" wheels, and flared fenders. Body lines are clean and mimic european styling, a-la Audi or BMW. From the front, the five point grill is unmistakably acura, the headlights akin to the recently released TSX. The rear of the car sports new LED brake lights and dual exhausts to reinfoce a very sporty, yet serious look.

Moving on to the interior, Acura has really done a great job. The instrument cluster is brightly backlit in blue and orange/red tones. There is a information panel that sits at the bottom of the right-most cluster that is a nice touch. The steering wheel is very nicely done, however it seemed a bit cluttered with so many buttons on it (cruise control, radio, bluetooth phone). The car comes standard with both XM and bluetooth, very interesting indeed. XM as you may know, is a stellite based radio system (3 month subscription included). Didn't get to listen to it but if you're wondering, that's what the nub on the back of the roof of the car is there for. Bluetooth is a wireless standard, and in this case, is used for connectivity to compatible mobile phones. If you happen to have a bluetooth enabled phone, you will be able to seamlessly use your phone service through the speakers and microphone in the car. So, call comes in, the radio shuts off and you start talking and the conversation comes through the car speakers. Moving on, the dash, leather, aluminum trim are all very well done.

Now for the bad part. The TL is still front wheel drive... A car of this size and power rating should definitely be rear wheel drive. Sorry folks, all wheel drive is simply overrated. Honda/Acura also has a nasty habit of not incorporating enough antidive geometry in their suspension in my opinion. Even the previous TL Type-S was very soft and had a lot of body roll, even for a car that size and wieght. If you don't believe me, drive a TL and a BMW 5 series and you'll know what I mean. I also think Acura should have made the whole rear light custer LED. If you're going to make LED brake lights, why not do it all and have LED blinkers too? One last nit-pick is the side marker light (right below the side mirrors). These should definitely not be there and moved up to the front of the mirror like in the TSX. Some Acura brochures actually state that the TL was supposed to be configured this way. What's worse is (although I didn't see it myself) that they don't blink.

All in all, I think they did a great job. For just a few thousand more than a new Accord V6, the Acura TL is a great semi-luxury sports sedan. For us pretentious Asians, I'm sure it will be very popular in the years to come.

flip mode?

Ok, I know I've been posting a lot about cell phones, but I think this is a question that needs to be looked at in more depth. I want to know your thoughts on flip phones vs. candybar style phones. I think each has it's drawbacks, namely, flip phones are inherintly (if marginally) thicker, but candybar phones must be keylocked when not in use. Over the years, I've had both types and I must say that I'm leaning more towards candybar style phones...

whoo hoo!

whoo hoo!!! - My new phone came in today. Little earlier than expected, but that's always a good thing. From my initial impressions, it's a pretty good phone. Seems like they've taken the T68i, added a camera, refined it, and made little improvements here and there. The camera is surprisingly decent. The phone itself feels very well built and there are no odd seams or creeks. The new display is very nice, vivid colors and overall very bright. One drawback is that the particular type of screen that it uses isn't very good in direct sunlight. Overall, very good phone....

N. Korea

Is it just me or does Kim Jong Il look like a chinky Cartman?...

On a more serious note, I recently read a Slate article about the nuclear situation in Korea. It better analyses if the crazy bastard dictator is actually bluffing or not. Personally I think he's "all show, no go". I'm not saying that N. Korea couldn't make nuclear weapons, but that even an unpredictable dictator knows not to push his luck in front of the big boys. Then again, he could be the little kid that gets beat up all the time and then decides to come to school with a gun. Who knows. I sincerely hope that the situation can be diffused without bloodshed...

ebay

I hate that new ebay commercial. The one where the guy looks up and asks his wife "how do i use ebay" and she then busts out with song and dance. Pitiful. Whoever came up with the hideous song needs to be shot. Moving on, the real reson for this post is this auction.... what have we come to...

hiatus

Sorry for the extended time between entries everybody. Last week I had the chance to go on a business trip up to Washington DC. Overall everything went pretty well. I hafta say that large corporations take care of thier employees... I will be returning to my regular schedule of entries.

coldplay

dunno why but I've never really noticed how good Coldplay was. They sound sorta like Dave with a british accent...maybe not.

ipod revisited

Yeah, so I'm still dwelling on this. Ginger just sent me a link with an interesting comic strip*. I feel like both characters...

* harsh language

ipod

I want an iPod... They have just released thier third generation devices. 40GB hard drive that is both Firewire and USB2.0 compatible. 8 hour battery life on one charge. Price of admission is a bit high though.

outside

If you haven't been outside today, go. RUN don't walk. It's seriously beutiful outside. Perfect temperature, slight breeze, sunny. Now... how do I get out of the office a little earlier today...

9.11.2001

Yeah it's tacky but I'm gonna do it. Two years ago today, a group of men displayed thier hatred for our way of life by taking control of four airliners and destroying the World Trade Center towers and damaging the Pentagon. I remember that morning vividly. For some unknown reason I had waken up early that morning around 7:30am. I was watching Good Morning America when the first plane hit. At first they said that "an airplane has just hit the World Trade Center." In my mind, I thought some idiot in a Cessna was drunk and ran into the tower. Then the first images of the destruction came on the screen and I was shocked. We all know what proceeded to happen.

Honestly speaking, we do live a way of life that the rest of the world envies. By all measures, the United States is undisputedly the best place to live. It is a shame that people would resort to terrorism to express themselves, but we must also remember that there are countries in this world that have people living under the fear of thier leader, goverment, disease, or starvation. I think today, we must remember the people that died two years ago, but we must also remember why it happened and what compelled those people to take such horiffic actions.

cool lyrics

"It's a Bently to you, to me it's a blue car" - P. Diddy [Diddy]

I've had this in mind for a while now. Caught it the first time I heard the song. At first, it's not much. If you really think about it though, it's cool...

more news

Diamonds are a girls best friend.... Interesting news day today. It seems that the DeBeers cartel may be in for a rude awakening. Oh and ladies, read this one, it may interest you.

speeding

I got a need, a need, for speed. Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a rather heavy foot. I've been pulled over 3 times driving in excess of 95mph in a 55mph zone so I have the proof too. Anyway, I recently read this article and must say I agree to some of the conclusions. I find myself paying more attention when going faster (ok, 100mph my not be safe) and frequently gazing off or daydreaming when stuck "in the heard".

tires

Alright boys and girls, pull up a chair, grab your pens and notepads - here's how I made buying a set of tires REALLY difficult.

It all started when I recently was involved in an accident. My tire was damaged and replaced by the insurance company, but in doing so, I now have one new tire and 3 worn tires. This may be ok in some situations, but the 3 original tires are ready to be replaced and hence the difference between the worn tires and new tire is too great and produces a wierd ride.

Time to get new tires. A normal person would probably say "oh, I have one new tire, I should get three more to match it" and all would be dandy. Unfortunately, I'm not one to leave things at face value and decided to fiddle. Ever since I started driving my Accord, I've really noticed how poor the tires are at gripping the road. To me, the suspension feels very capable (although the car is very heavy). The stock tires are Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus. Although it is a very expensive tire (retail price around $180/tire), it has poor handling characteristics and even worse wet performance (keep in mind the weather this year - DOH!). So, I decided not to get 3 more Michelins and look for something different. I finally decided on 2 different tires, and 3 different tire sizes. The two tires in question are both made by Yokohama, specifically, the AVS db S2's and the AVS ES100's. The AVS db S2's are considered Ultra High Performance, yet rated All Season, meaning I COULD drive in the snow if it came to it and still limp home. This tire had 2 sizes that fit my car and wheel combination, 205/65-VR15 and 225/60-VR15's. The AVS ES100's are a Summer Only, Ultra High Performance tire. This is they type of tire you would see on a serious sports car. This tire came in 215/60-VR15's that fit my car as well. Apart from the sizes (we'll get to that later), the two tires have some distinct differences. The AVS db S2's are definitely more for performance sedans. They are All Season and are rated not to wear as quickly as the ES100's. The ES100's on the other hand are constructed and designed to stick to the road. Both are great in the rain and surprisingly, both generate minimal road nose, although the AVS db S2's are better in this respect. Winner: AVS db S2's. Going on features alone, it's the tire to get. Decent wear, low noise, good performance, and I could still limp through the snow if I happen to be caught in some. Now for sizes. first let me explain how tire sizes work. Lets start with the stock tire size - 205/65-VR15. the 205 denotes tire width measured in mm. Apparently, tire manufacturers have a lot of leeway on this measurement and therefore a 205 is not necessarily a 205. Moving on. The next number, 65 is what's called the aspect ratio. It denotes the hight of the tire, but the nubmer itself is a percentage. The actual hight is that percentage multiplied by the width of the tire. So just because you have a low aspect ratio dosent mean you have skinny little tires. The last blurb is VR15. V is a speed rating. R means radial design (most modern tires are radials). 15 is the size of my wheel. So back to the three sizes:

205/65-VR15 in the AVS db S2's (also OEM size)
215/60-VR15 AVS ES100's
225/65-VR15 AVS db S2's

The price of the tires were about the same so that wasn't an issue. So, do I go wider or not, and if I do, how wide. Off the bat, I wanted the 225 db S2's. It had all the advantages, and was the widest biggest tire I could get. Much to my disappointment, it's out of stock.... EVERYWHERE. At first I was gonna wait for them to get back in stock, but after some thought I changed my mind. I figured, these tires would probably have abilities greater than my car and therefore a wider tire just wouldn't benefit me much. The ES100's were out due to treadwear. In the end, I ordered the AVS db S2's in the stock size. Oh well, maybe in another 30,000 miles I'll go wider.

Car

Got my car back yesterday afternoon from the bodyshop. Had the work done at Honda Carland in Alpharetta. Overall, I'd say they did a pretty good job. I can't say for certain if the new bumper cover is OEM or aftermarket. The fitment is pretty good, although if you look very closely, you can tell it's not the original bumper that was on the car. The paint job on the new cover on the other hand is excellent. Silver is an easy color to match, and my car's paint was in good condition, so getting the color right was easy, but they really did a great job of painting the bumper. They had to replace the wheel and tire, and had to do a 4 wheel alignment. The alignment is ok but the steering wheel isn't centered very well. I'll live. I still think i'm really lucky that none of the metal surfaces of the car were damaged.