Whether or not there is a strong correlation between the recession and higher number of hit and runs, the moral of the story was you need information regarding the other driver otherwise your insurance company won’t reimburse you. The story suggested the following:

#1: Don’t give chase after the a-hole that hits you. CHP highly suggests that you don’t go after the other driver beacause you’re likely to get into another accident. This happened to someone I know. 

#2: Try to snap a picture of the a-hole, although techincally you shouldn’t be doing this since you’re not allowed to drive with a mobile phone in your hand. It probably is just as dangerous as #1 too.

Whatever you do, be careful out there and avoid driving through the Monterey Park and HH/RH areas.

• 96500
• Cleaned the throttle body. PITA but the car seems to idle and accelerate better
• Changed oil. Remember to pour in Gumout at the next oil change
• Change battery. Buy Optima online or research alternative.
• Possible change out front suspension for coilovers. Shocks are banged up, prob more important to change rears out too
• Look into tire options ASAP

I thought about restoring an old porsche as a new hobby. Then I looked into what it would take and concluded that I’d probably be broke by the time is car is running.

The weekend was too short…. way to short… I didn’t even do the makeup hours I planned on doing. Sigh… need a vacation already.

http://www.ridermagazine.com/output.cfm?id=1743967

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or stuck in a cube coding, then you know that Barack Obama is our new president (or president-elect to be precise). Isn’t that insane? It depends. Indeed, both parties have gone crazy with one side feeling extreme joy and elation and the other with extreme anger and disappointment. If you’re a Republican, the world has gone crazy because the “most liberal Senator in the Senate” is now our soon to be President. Higher taxes! Universal healthcare! Social Programs! Dear god, everything is going to hell! If you’re a Democrat, the world has also gone crazy with joy. No Bush (ha ha)! Tax cuts for 95% of us! An end to the war!

As for me, I’m glad the election is finally over because there is work to be done. A lot of it. I don’t agree with most of Obama’s big plans for “change”, but I hope that he does follow through with some of the things he spoke of during the campaign that I do agree with, ie going through Government spending “line by line” and cutting out programs that don’t work. Hopefully when Obama sees the real books and how shitty our economic situation is, he’ll sober up to the grim reality that he can’t institute more programs that will increase our spending and debt.

Vroom Vroom

It feels like I’m supposed to throw a party or do something to commemerate the Pig when it hits 100k miles. The mark is coming up fast and I’ve been thinking for a while that once it reaches the 100k milestone, I’d retire the Pig and use it only for hauling and offroading duties and get another car. But taking a look at how my 401k has been sucking dirt the past couple of months, it would be best to save what money I still have left instead of buying another car. Even a Toyota Yaris, which is the basest of base cars in the Toyota inventory, is expensive at $13k (you have to hand roll your windows down).

That being said, I’m thinking about getting a motorcycle or even a scooter. How cool would I look puttering down PCH on a Vespa? Real cool, that’s how cool.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself, just like how I’m choosing a bschool before taking the GMAT. The first thing I really should be doing if I’m serious about riding a bike is to take a motorcycle safety course. Riders, if that’s the correct term for motorcyclists, are overwhelmingly supportive of new riders in taking the safety course. Even 20 year veterans say that after taking a refresher course, they learned a lot of things they otherwise would have never known. Here’s a link to the safety course: https://training.msf-usa.org/RES/street/enroll/streetintro.aspx

Some bikes to consider: Kawasaki KLX 250S, SF, Ninja 250, Honda Nighthawk (250), Honda CRF235 (double check name)

Scooters: Kymco People 250

Resolution: to make cruising on a scooter a reality, I should sign up for the class.

Tapioca

I faintly remember an episode, or strip, of Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin talks about his brain turning into Tapioca. If my memory seres me right, then Calvin’s analogy describes my brain’s state to a T for the past month or so.

Usually my routine when I get into work in the morning is to eat breakfast, check emails, check stocks, poop, chat, check stocks again, and then start working on my task. Now my routine when I get in is check email, fix bugs, write abouts bugs, fix more bugs, create bugs, get confused, and then poop. Some where in between all that, I try to squeeze in checking in with TL and stocks.

One positive thing to come out of being truly busy, versus fake busy, is that I’ve been shielded from most of the chaos that has befallen the stock market. I still read about how crappy it is at the end of the day, but I no longer ride the roller coaster or am I tempted to jump in.

Unfortunately by the time I’m off work, I feel like doing nothing more than eating and sleeping. Surely those of you who put in those long hours at work know what I’m talking about. What’s doubly unfortunate is that I’m doubly crabby now a days, resulting in uneeded squabbling with TL. Hell, even Mochi isn’t spared from my wrath. If only she knew how to fetch a beer for daddy.

I’ve also become extra lazy about posting stuff. In fact, even my internet usage has been limited to youtubing because I’ve become too lazy to read blogs, not the least to write on my own. Resolution: just write a blurb, its not like you’re trying to win a pulitzer.

GMAT

Once again, I’m back on the bschool train. After my two month layoff, I took another practice test and scored a dismal 72% percentile. I guess that isn’t too bad considering that a lot of the material has leaked out of my brain. The score (610) is in fact 10 points better than my previous score. Ha ha! I guess that means all that studying wasn’t worth a dam.

Related tangent: Something similar like this happened when I use to lift weights. I was on a fairly tight diet of clean protien, carbs, and fat for a couple of months, then got real lazy, went on a couple of trips where I binged on food and booze. Afterwards, I thought I’d surely pack on some weight. Turns out I actually got leaner, albeit weaker since I wasn’t lifting. Odd. Must be the hgh.

Anyways, I decided enough was enough. I have to get back to this bschool dream chasing. Since it’s painfully obvious that I wasn’t disciplined enough to study on my own, I forked over the money to attend GMAT classes. It is a blow to the ego that I can’t study on my own and an even bigger blow to the wallet, but I’ve rationalized that the money could have been spent in more frivolous ways than a preparatory class that is beneficial. Tonight was the first class and so far, the money has been worth every penny that’s covered with my blood, sweat, and tears. Note to self: post about the first class tomorrow.

Gas Price Watch

Hints:

• You can’t drive it on the street unless you’re James Bond (sp)
• Just a guess, but it probably has worse gas mileage than a Prius
• It doesn’t have tires

Answer tomorrow.