roi

1 foot of emissions hose replaced: $2

2-3 gallons of gas saved: $6 - $9

Somehow I managed to drive from Cleveland to DC on just 12 gallons of gas, an impressive 32.35 mpg. What's up with that?

ooh... how safe

To Graduate and Professional Students:

I am writing to let you know of an attempted robbery and shooting last night involving four graduate and professional students in the yard of a house located at Mansfield and Tilton Streets. The students were approached by a man wearing a mask with a handgun who demanded money. In the ensuing struggle, the gun was fired and one of the students was injured. He is recuperating in the hospital. Yale and New Haven police have arrested the man, and he is now in the custody of the New Haven police.

While this incident is not part of a pattern of crime, it is most serious, and I urge those of you in New Haven this summer to exercise caution. Call us immediately if you feel unsafe or see anything or anyone that is suspicious, by dialing 911 or 203-432-4400. You may wish to program these numbers in your cell phones.

Sincerely,
Chief James Perrotti

burn cream, part deux

So, days after I managed to burn myself while cooking some pierogies, my finger seems fine. There's a slight mark, but other than that the burn cream worked like a charm.

How well did it work? Well enough for me to burn myself again! This time instead of a small burn, I decided to splatter some hot cooking oil on my hand. About 20 times bigger than the last one!

Really, it was accidental. I clearly lack the experience of those who work at Long John Silvers, as I burned myself while frying up some talipia fillets. I'll um... be more careful next time.

driving news

First of all, I made an estimate of the amount of time I drove during my last trip to Canada. Over 8 days, I drove approximately 40 hours. Nice.

Secondly, I got a letter today from the Ohio BMV telling me that I got a ticket from NJ and that it was going onto my record. Too bad I don't have a license in Ohio anymore!

airports

Most used airports (by me):
40 - CLE Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (meaning we have seasonal service to London)
14 - HKG - Hong Kong (Lantau Island, awesome airport)
7 - SEA - Seattle/Tacoma
7 - CAK - Akron/Canton (rocks)
6 - ORD - Chicago - O'Hare (kinda sucks)
6 - BOS - Boston
5 - MSP - Minneapolis/St. Paul
4 - NRT - Tokyo, Japan - Narita (sucks)
4 - PIT - Pittsburgh
4 - LAX - Los Angeles
4 - HNL - Honolulu (nice outdoor garden)
4 - LAS - Las Vegas (most expensive food anywhere)
4 - CHC - Christchurch
3 - PHL - Philadelphia
2 - HKG_old - Hong Kong (old airport in Kowloon)
2 - SAN - San Diego
2 - PEK - Beijing, China
2 - LHR - London, UK - Heathrow
2 - KWL - Guilin, China
2 - TXN - Tunxi, China
2 - TPA - Tampa
2 - DTW - Detroit
2 - MCO - Orlanda
2 - KMG - Kunming, China
2 - IAH - Houston - George Bush
2 - EWR - Newark (sucks)
2 - LGW - London, UK - Gatwick
2 - YUL - Montreal, Canada
2 - KIX - Osaka, Japan (nice, but far far away)
2 - ATL - Hotlanta (they have a Popeye's)
2 - RDU - Raleigh/Durham (they have a Popeye's)
2 - AKL - Auckland, New Zealand
2 - SYD - Sydney, Australia
1 - JFK - New York - JFK
1 - ANC - Anchorage
1 - IAD - Washington - Dulles
1 - AMS - Amsterdam, Netherlands (nice)
1 - FCO - Florence, Italy
1 - DLU - Dali, China
1 - LJG - Li Jiang, China
1 - MDW - Chicago - Midway
1 - WLG - Wellington, New Zealand

burn cream

So I finally got to test out this fancy burn cream that I bought in China. Yes, the one where there was the demonstration with the guy who grabbed a red hot chain and then applied the burn cream to demonstrate the effectiveness.

No, I wasn't playing with red hot chains, but I did decide to fry some stuff in a pan without using the proper utensils. Long story short, my pinkie came in contact with the pan. I applied the burn cream and it's not swelling or anything, although it did leave a small mark. I do understand what the employees said about how it still hurts though.

So I've got gimpy hands for the next few days. Yeah, I also jammed my index finger last night playing ultimate. Those of you I work with probably noticed the nice tape job I had on it. Precautionary. Those of you who I play ultimate with probably know about how I practice throws with my left hand just in case. Well, I hurt my left hand, not my right... and I'm OK with that. (-:

Plus I can still type. (-:

educational link of the day

Link

censorship

This is awesome. I'm going to rent some censored DVDs!

And isn't it funny that their most popular rental is "Wedding Crashers"? Especially considering that they take out all nudity, profanity, violence, and sexual content? What's left???

They also have a *great* definition of profanity:

Profanity
This includes the B-words, H-word when not referring to the place, D-word, S-
word, F-word, etc. It also includes references to deity (G-word and JC-words 
etc.), only when these words are used in a non-religious context. 

adventures - part 1 (of probably 1)

To set the stage, I'm flying out west tomorrow to go to Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies. The flight is insanely early in the morning (6:45-ish). We want to save as much time as we can, so we're doing the online check-in.

Plus #1: United was kind enough to send me an e-mail to remind me to check-in this morning, so I went to their site to do it.

Issue #1: While the e-mail had a handy link to the check-in pages, the page needed my frequent flyer number, which, like everyone else, I don't have.

Plus #2: Knowing that United does let me log in using my e-mail address from the homepage, I went there to log in. E-mail address, password, done.

Issue #3: After clicking the button to submit my e-mail and password, I noticed a dropdown telling me where I wanted to be dropped off after I log in. I knew I wanted to check in, but I left the dropdown at my summary page. Partially because that's generally where I would like to be taken, and partially because I figured I can get to the check-in page from there. Apparently, I didn't have the patience for it. I checked "My Itineraries" to see if I could check in from there, and I couldn't. I was really hoping for something on my summary screen that would let me check in. Eventually, I ended up returning to the homepage to find the check-in feature since I knew that it was there.

Issue #4: Back on the homepage, the site asked me for my frequent flyer number and password again. Remember, I already logged in. Why should I need to do this again?

Plus #3: Thankfully, since I asked the site to remember me, it already had my frequent flyer number pre-filled. Whew!

Issue #5: When choosing seats, it tried to trick me into upgrading seats. I've seen this before and I know their tricks, but it's still damn annoying.

Plus #4: For the seat selection, it told me where the wing was. I like that... a lot.

Issue #5: Printing glitch #1: Checking in for 2 flights for 4 people means 8 boarding passes. I didn't want the boarding passes to be split across pages, so I tried printing one person at a time. So I selected the boarding passes for the first passenger and asked Firefox 1.5.0.4 to print the selection.
...blank page
...blank page
...blank page
...blank page
...blank page

This clearly wasn't right. I raced over to my printer status to see if it would ever end. When the thing finally opened, I saw that it was trying to print over 5,000 pages... and it kept growing too. I canceled as fast as I could, but not before it killed 25-50 pages.

Issue #6: Printing glitch #2: OK. So printing the selection was no good. Next attempt I just tried to print like a normal person. Print the whole thing and see what happens. Instead of getting my boarding passes, I got a printout with an error message on it. At least it was one page...

Third time's the charm: So I finally decided to click on the United provided print button. After saying I was OK with printing 8 documents, I got my 8 boarding passes. Easy!

what's wrong with this picture?

Patriotic Cow

No cheating (I have a comment at the end of there).

random post of the day

Proof that George W Bush wasn't always a total idiot, plus an explanation of why he is today?

Originally I was going to go into something about the unique problems of really tall people, but I'll save that for a later day.

cents per mile

Looking back over the years (since May of 2001, to be exact), I've spent $18,752.42 on driving. In return, I've got a car worth about $3,000, plus 57167.3 miles on my odometer. What does this mean? It means that my car over time costs 27.6 cents per mile.

I remember the last time I did this calculation I was under 25 cents a mile. Why did it go up? A few reasons:

1. I calculated it differently this time
   Last time I excluded things like parking, tolls, and traffic tickets. This time I didn't bother with sorting through that. I'm guessing that would add another $500 or 1 cent/mile. Whew! Feel even better now!
   
   
2. Gas costs more
   Last time I calculated this, gas was something like $1.20 a gallon. It's over twice that now. You'd think this would make my costs skyrocket. Thankfully there's things like cheaper insurance and more highway miles that offset this. Imagine if gas was still that cheap!

Bottom line? My car is still reliable enough that I'm not spending too much on repairs. Granted, I can't really see when that would be the case, considering that labor is essentially free. It'll be time to stop when the cost to fix the car exceeds the replacement cost of the car. In other words, when the engine completely dies or something else terrible happens to the car. Eeek!

Now... for all you people who make car payments, here's a rough comparison. Let's get your run of the mill cheap-ass car with a car payment of $199 a month. Assuming that you drive 12,000 miles a year (typical), that would be 1,000 miles per month. Match that with the $199 monthly payment and you already have 20 cents per mile. Working backwards, if you want this car to be as cost efficient as mine, you'd only have 6.7 cents per mile for things like gas, tires, repairs, insurance, and depreciation. Sheesh! Even if it was just gas, good luck on finding a car that costs 6.7 cents per mile for gas. With gas costing $2.87 per gallon as it does today, you'd need a car that gets 43 mpg. Good luck with that one!

Now with the jerk example. Let's say I have a gas guzzling car that gets 15 mpg (think any big truck). With gas at $2.87 a gallon, gasoline alone would cost 19 cents a mile. Sweet!

first post in a while

So um.... I've been busy. Since the last time, I've went to a few baseball games, gone to Toronto, gone to Connecticut, gone to Las Vegas, and now I'm going back to CT. Something to do with my scheme of getting a new driver license to avoid having a ticket show up on my record. (-: Might as well give it a shot, right?

dumb link

What the hell???

house stuff

Similar to the other list for cars, but this time for house stuff... This is probably not a comprehensive list since I don't keep track of it like I do with stuff I do for my car. Here goes...

• Telephone wiring and jacks
• Replacing outlets, light switches, etc.
• Laying tile (including backer boards)
• Completely tearing apart a kitchen - cabinets, flooring
• Putting in kitchen cabinets
• Snaking drains
• Installing faucets
• Installing a tub/shower
• Removing a cast iron tub
• Adding another bar in a closet to hang clothes
• Constructed frames for putting up paneling
• Putting up drywall
• Changing light bulbs
• Sealing driveways
• Patching holes in driveways
• Changing the wheels on the garage door
• Installing thresholds for exterior doors
• Put up a fence for a compost
• Carpet removal
• Building shelves
• Installing a new sink
• Changing locks
• Removal and installation of interior doors
• Removal and installation of an exterior door
• Installing a gas range
• Installing a dishwasher
• Making a door disappear
• Painting
• Putting in trim
• Planting trees
• Pruning trees
• Cutting down trees
• Running cable
• Change fuses
  

car stuff

So what have I done with cars?

Replaced:

• Alternator
• Alternator belt
• Serpentine belt
• Front and rear disc brake pads
• Brake calipers
• Brake caliper braket
• Master cylinder
• McPherson struts
• Rotors
• Sway bar
• Sway bar bushings
• Front and rear upper suspension arms/ball joint
• Anti-lock brake sensors
• Radiator
• Oxygen sensors
• Car batteries
• Assorted lights (headlights, rear lights, turn lights, gear selector light)
• Fuel filter
• Air filter
• Oil and filter
• Radiator coolant
• Radiator cap
• Spark plugs
• Tie rod ends
• Drive shafts
• Wipers
• Side mirror
• PCV valve
• Ignition coil
• Distributor cap
• Distributor rotor
• Ignition module
• Radiator hoses
• Transmission fluid
• Brake fluid
• Gasoline... yes, I pump my own gas (screw NJ!)
  

Repaired, adjusted, or reconditioned:

• Brake caliper boots and bolts
• Distributor rotor
• Idle speed
• Exhaust
• Electrical connections
• Your mom

What I don't do:

• Timing belt (needs an engine hoist!)
  
• Water pump (needs an engine hoist!)

oil oil oil!

We rock. In case you didn't know, our domestic oil production is only 66% of what it was in the early 1990's. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

Another interesting fact. We're the third biggest oil producer in the world, yet we're still largely dependent on foreign oil. Granted, we have a huge population, and we're definitely not as screwed as China from an energy standpoint. Not troubling, until you consider the scenario of major powers fighting (literally) over energy. Good times. (sarcasm).

So who should we attack next? Probably Brazil or Norway. They seem to be increasing production. Oh... and annex Alberta from Canada since oil sands are now profitable.

Lesson learned (or not learned)? Attacking countries and making them politically unstable doesn't help oil production. Iraq is running at only better than 50% capacity compared to the days of Saddam Hussein. Next time do a coup instead of a frontal assault.

Random related links:
Link 1: Oil output forecasts
Link 2: Report and outlook

realization

So I got 20 free songs on iTunes from getting plane tickets on continental.com. Yay me. So that led to to the iTunes store... to Green Day... to see if I should repurchase Dookie, my third CD ever.

And on the Dookie page, there were the customer reviews. One of which asked Green Day fans if they could name any songs that are not on American Idiot. Good question, eh? I can do it easily (Basketcase, Longview, Minority), but that's because I was in high school when Dookie came out. Am I really that old? (no, because I still hang out with college kids at times)

But this got me thinking back to the Green Day concert that I went to. We were some of the oldest people there. Most of the audience was probably in high school or college (more likely high school). So if they're 16-18 now, that means that they were 5-7 years old when Dookie was released. A good chunk of them probably never heard Dookie. And if they did, they listened to it the same way I would listen to an early Aerosmith album -- a piece of the past. Strange when you think about it that way.

find the skank!

It's like "Where's Waldo?," but very very different...

Link

a touch of class

Those of you who know me know that I'm a classy guy. (-; Here's a rundown of places I'll be staying for my next two trips.

• The Comfort Inn in Belleville, Ontario
• The Econo Lodge in Montreal, Quebec
• The Rondo Motel in Golden, British Columbia

Yes, clearly the international traveler. But hey, I've never been to Alberta before. It's my chance to hit all the provinces? Probably a silly goal since I'll never go to the Northwest Territories, but not a bad start for a Yankee.