2010-03-18:



Initial reports put me at… 35 MPG??? I went 245 miles and took ~7 gallons of gas, so. (My tank is 16 gallons and it was at just below half, which is about right if on empty it still has 2 gallons left, which is what the book says) Guess we'll see how it continues once I start averaging things. I DO mostly expressway driving, but that's a bit better then I expected. 

One thing I don't like about the new car is the lack of a .x milage indicator. To me, it is quite important to know that I need to go 1.8 miles ahead and turn left because to do otherwise causes me to either a) creep ahead so slowly as to annoy the people behind me b) travel at normal speed but try to make a turn by stopping suddenly, annoying the people behind me or c) travel at normal speed but then not be able to stop suddenly enough and wind up having to turn around. 

So when I had a .x indicator I could easily say that, yes, at mile XX I will need to turn. But without it, I am left wondering if I am at millage X.1 or X.8 making it impossible to determine exactly when I'm supposed to turn next. I suppose I could just keep my GPS on, but I would rather watch the road and the other vehicles that could cause me bodily harm should they decide to smash into me. 

So it's a problem. Not a huge one, I guess, but still. If that's my biggest complaint it must be doing all right, which it is.

Having to press a button to open the trunk is… weird. 

Cruse is nice. With that on, I can actually ride with my foot on the brake, rather then the gas. Sure, you can change pretty fast, but not needing to might one day be the difference between accident and *whew*.

Anyway, aside from the relatively uninteresting, mostly half hour appointments I did today, was the guy half an hour away down 104 I did last. I walked in and it was Star Wars Paradise in there. I mean, floor to ceiling, a huge replica of the ship from episode 1 attacked to the ceiling, figures all over the walls, replica heads, other toys... I was, like, you know fellows, there ARE other series out there. One might even say better series... if one was cynical, which I'm not. He even paid me with a check that has Anikin on it. Now, I've got a bunch of toys around here, I freely admit that. But at least I also have shelves full of unicorn statues, Pac Man Stuff, stuffed animals, Swords, Japanese items, etc. I'm diversified, one might say. (Wait, I'm not helping my case, am I? hummmm) You saw my room, I was able to move stuff around and it looked different. Can't do that when all your stuff is from one series. (Yeah, you know I'm just jealous.) :-)

 Took his other system home, he was saying it hadn't worked in awhile. I turned on S.M.A.R.T. monitoring because that's always turned off for some bizarre reason and it immediately went into the "replace HD very, very, very soon it's going to fail Danger Will Robinson" (did I just date myself?) sort of story and I said, "well, there's your problem right there!" There is a second drive in the machine though, so it is currently installing XP to that drive as I type. 

Sean called my cell phone, my first use, so I guess it works, wants to perhaps play borderlands if he finishes the Chibis for tomorrow's game. They're the little magnets that represent us. He needs to make Metatron ones, more angles, a bunch more Kamaitachi, (as Ewen will summon them), whatever. We are so dead. The Saturday fantasy game is on, so I'll be away saturday too.

 That'll take him awhile, I doubt we'll play, but the thought was nice. 

Got only a couple of calls today, and only have one scheduled for tomorrow at 9:30. But as I didn't actually reach the people that called me, I'll try them back when I get home and maybe do more work that way. We'll see.