Driving Randomness

Thanksgiving just happened. That's a crazy story, but it's not the only interesting story.

Did you ever wonder about parking lots full of Christmas trees? Yeah, neither did I, but I still found out how they get there anyway. It's interesting driving down the street and seeing a caravan of Christmas tree delivery trucks. Unfortunately, the picture is blurry.

Another bit of driving fun always happens when we drive to Philadelphia. Every time, on the side of the road, we see a sign for a Decoy Museum. Now, as you can probably imagine, I have to wonder whether it's a real museum, or... wait for it... just a decoy. I'm tempted to go sometime. I MUST know what's there.

Nah, I don't want to talk about Thanksgiving. Driving stories suffice for now.

OS X Tips - Tagging Contacts in Address Book

I get pretty irritated with adding and removing people from groups in my Address Book all the time. I recently found a way to remedy this situation. Now, maybe this has always been the way users were supposed to use smart lists, but it was new to me.

I like to keep lists of people for emailing for different purposes. For instance, a 'rock climbing' group, and 'bad movie' group, a 'snowboarding' group, and so on. So, what I've done is created smart groups for each of these, and then, in the notes section for each contact, I've added the tags that will trigger addition to the smart group. No more manual management when something changes! Voila!

OK, well, at least I'm excited about it...

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Maryland Drivers,

It's just rain. Get over it and put your feet back on the gas pedals.

Sincerely,

Greg

Two Days of Ridiculousness

The last couple days have been something on the insane side...

Over the weekend, we had lots of guests. On the fourth day of rain, I saw that the basement sliding glass door frame was wet again. So, the Girl and I got an estimate today to replace our sliding glass doors, since (I have previously confirmed) they are the source of the problem. I hate spending money.

This follows yesterday, which was to be the day I returned to climbing, but instead became the day I (shock) spent money. I had been considering joining Earth Treks ROAD class, which is a general cross-training climber's program. It's only drawback is that it costs money, but hey, that's kind of necessary for getting in shape, I suppose. I hope I can do it. I'm mildly concerned. If I don't die, I should be pretty ripped in eight weeks. I like ripped. It's been awhile.

2010 Mazdaspeed 3 vs. 2009 Subaru WRX: Head-to-Head Comparison

Since this doesn't really exist online, I figured I'd make it so that I had something at which I could look when considering what I might buy at some point.

	2010 Mazdaspeed 3	2009 Subaru WRX
MSRP	$23,945	$24,995
Engine
Engine Type	2.3L DOHC DISI turbo 4-cylinder with VVT	2.5-liter DOHC intercooled, turbocharged aluminum-alloy 16-valve 4-cylinder horizontally opposed SuBaRu BOXER® engine.
Power	263 hp @ 5500 rpm	265 hp @ 6,000 rpm
Torque	280 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm	244 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm
Compression Ratio	9.5:1	8.4:1
Max Boost	15.5 PSI	14.2 PSI
Drivetrain
Drivetrain type	Front-wheel drive (FWD)	All-wheel drive (AWD)
Transmission	6-speed close-ratio Manual Transmission	Fully synchronized 5-speed manual with Incline Start assist
Turning Diameter	36.1 ft	35.4 ft
Fuel
City FE	18	18
Hwy FE	25	25
Combined FE	22.5	22.5
Required Octane	91 Premium	91 Premium
Other
Curb Weight	3221 lbs	3174 lbs
0-60	6.1 sec (C&D says 5.6 sec)	5.0 sec (C&D says 4.8 sec)
Quarter Mile	14.4 sec. @ 99.5 mph	13.7 sec. @ 98.7 mph
Breaking Distance	113 ft.	107 ft.
HP/Weight Ratio	0.08165	0.08349
Tire Size	P225/40R18 Y-speed rated	225/45 R17 summer-performance

I also read some of the reviews on each of these cars to see what professional drivers think of them.

On the Mazdaspeed 3, Edmund's noted that it's not as quick from 0-60 as the previous generation. The reason, apparently, is that Mazda tried to do something to dampen the torque steer inherent in the Mazdaspeed 3. As a result, it doesn't shift as quickly. They also say that won't rotate off-throttle. It is very stable in turns, and handles very well.

On the Subaru WRX, Edmund's says that turning is a little "doughy," but that you can rotate off-throttle and get good grip when exiting a turn. It seems from the comments that, despite not being the most precise handling, Edmund's likes it.

It's worth noting, however, that Motor Trend got wildly different numbers in some cases. They had the Mazdaspeed 3 at 5.6 seconds 0-60 mph, and the WRX at 4.8 seconds 0-60 mph.

In any case, it looks like the Mazdaspeed 3 has stiffer, more responsive suspension and costs less, whereas the WRX is faster in general, with more "give" in the drivetrain.

Configuring them to be as identical as possible, the WRX would cost $27,041 to have the same base feature set as the Mazdaspeed 3, and would not include a navigation system or a premium sound system. The Mazdaspeed 3 with the tech package includes those features, and costs $26,040, but lacks all-wheel drive. Objectively speaking, that's the difference. I haven't driven either, though, so I don't know which I would like better subjectively. The Mazdaspeed 3 has a better feature set. For $1,001 more, the WRX has all-wheel drive and is generally faster.

Top X Movies By Category

I have just been looking through movies, and I decided I'd try to finally capture a list or (or two or ten) of my favorites, potentially by genre. That's hard, though, since a lot of them span genres, so some mixing and matching may be involved...

Western

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  
• Once Upon a Time in the West
  
• The Wild Bunch
  
• The Magnificent Seven
  
• My Name is Nobody
  
• Unforgiven
  

Sci-Fi

• Aliens
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (the old one)
  
• Predator
  
• Blade Runner
  

Horror

• Jaws
  
• The Birds
  
• The Thing
  

Drama/Suspense

• Casablanca
  
• The Shawshank Redemption
  
• Rear Window
  
• Reservoir Dogs
  
• Apollo 13
  
• The Professional
  

Comedy

• State and Main
  
• Dogma
  
• Hatari
  
• Snatch
  
• The Princess Bride
  
• Army of Darkness
  
• Space Cowboys
  

Kung Fu (it deserves its own category)

• Enter the Dragon
  
• The Seven Samurai
  
• Yojimbo
  

Action/Adventure

• V for Vendetta
  
• Die Hard
  

Mystery

• The Usual Suspects
  
• Bullitt
  
• North By Northwest
  
• Vertigo
  

War

• The Great Escape
  
• Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Where Eagles Dare
  
• Memphis Belle
  
• In Harm's Way
  

These lists I came up with in the span of about 20 minutes. The pressure of thinking of them has probably caused me to forget a few. So, when I come across some that should have had on here, I'll just come back and change the lists :-)

And, I didn't do top X because some have more than others, clearly.

Why I'm Generally Upset With the World

I probably don't really even need to write anything about this. Here...

• Exploiting Strippers (my brother was exploited in a similar way by his previous employer)
  
• Douchebag just doesn't get what's happening in the world
  
• Both Abercrombie and Fitch are assholes!
  
• An example of the general reason I hate most insurance companies
  
• Another reason to despise most insurance companies
  
• Apple still employs ass-headed business practices and generally acts dickish
  
• Another company (Bally's) trying to exploit the masses
  
• CarFax vehemently advertises, but reporting to them is voluntary
  
• Exploitation of cash-for-clunkers
  
• More insurance crap
  
• This feels a lot like exploiting consumers after gas prices started dropping again
  

I see this kind of stuff all the time. It's painful, and it's unavoidable, and I'm sick of it

I Hate Headline Baiting

Yesterday, I saw this article (don't read too much of it if you click it) and I was curious. Part of me wanted to be tentatively excited. I should have known...

I hate cell phone companies and their business practices with the fury of a thousand suns. I have always had problems finding cell phones. The phones I was interested in were always tied to different carriers. I wouldn't have my current phone if not for cell phones being locked to providers, since I hate Apple's business practices too. I wanted to try out an Android phone, but AT&T doesn't have any, and unlocked phones cost WAY too much.

So, I read this article. My cynicism temporarily disappeared, which unfortunately allowed me to elevate my hopes, which were dashed again. The article pretty much spent however many words on asking a question; will a net neutrality bill result in cell phone exclusivity being illegal? Now that I have my cynicism back, my guess is no.

One Change A Week

If you haven't noticed, life has been kind of rough this year. Let's not dwell on that right now. It's just that life being rough required me to do something. So I actually thought of something to do. Inspired by Jonathan Coulton's Thing A Week, and considering my complete and utter despisal of change, I decided to try to force myself to do something about it.

Enter One Change A Week. I'm forcing myself to get one thing done every week; not just anything, but something out of the ordinary. For instance, thus far, I've begun the Hundred Pushup Challenge, decided to build a Halloween custume, started reading half an hour a day, investigate the library, and much more. I'm hoping to use this to begin to learn a language and re-learn another.

I'm hoping it can spark me into doing more. I'm also hoping it can help spark me to get in shape again. In the meantime, I'm sticking to it.

The point of this endeavor is not to take on the world or overdo it in general. The point is to get used to doing something that's new and different, and not too big that it can't get done in a week (except for starting an exercise routine). Sometimes I get kind of tired of feeling like a bum. Rather than sitting on my butt and feeling antsy all the time, I'll use that down time in fun and constructive ways! Feel free to join me.

Return of the Blog!

Yeah, it's been awhile. Sometimes it's just hard to stay motivated. I'm hoping to do so again. A lot has happened of late, which could partially explain why I've been away, but I'll leave that for another time and stick to the mundane and strange at the moment.

A lot of car news happened on Slashdot. I am something of a self-contained conundrum because I love my car but I hate driving. Well, more accurately, I hate traffic. That's unimportant, though. What is important is the good and the bad.

The good? Massachusetts, which will now be known as the state of awesomeness, wants auto manufactures to pony up the goods. Apparently, some auto manufacturers close off some information necessary to your mom and pop repair shops, which prevents them from being able to repair your car, creating a repair monopoly for the dealer. I say screw that! Dealer prices are way too high as it is, and I'm personally sick of being taken for too much. For instance, my dealer wanted $112 to replace a headlight and the parking light, which I then did for less than $10.

The bad? In Oregon, which will now be known as the state of Mr. douchebag, US Representative Earl Blumenauer wants to mandate that drivers install GPS units in their cars, which will subsequently communicate with roadside RFID units, so that he can tax residents for the miles they drive. Can you see any problems with this? If not, check your vision!

And finally, the strange! Samurai sword home defense! Enjoy!