I've moved...

I've moved entirely to Facebook....if you know me, find me there!

Bing

I have to say, Bing.com is pretty slick. Although it somehow reminds me of Matthew Perry, Bing takes a great concept and implements it well. Under the banner of a "decision engine", it organizes results based on purpose. For example, if you search "Xbox" it gives you the categories Buy, Fix, Games, Support, etc, and organizes the results into these groups. No one is going to catch Google's algorithm, but Bing instead looks to pull the rug out from under the established norms for search, much like Apple did with the iPhone I am using to write this post...

Coolest iPhone accessory to date

This is only cool because it appeals to my practical side. I picked this up today at a local store after seeing it on the checkout isle. It's a Griffin "Window Seat" iPhone cradle that mounts to the windshield/dash of your car. It's made for the iPhone, so it has a perfectly molded holder, not like the universal mounts. Right now I have my iPhone mounted to the left of my steering wheel, and with GPS running it looks and works unbelievably well. Next is to wire an input to my radio via mini-jack and I've got tunes at my finger tips - no more scrolling thru the sluggish radio controls. AND with iPhone 3.0, turn by turn GPS should be here soon...

The Transition

With the DTV transition this last weekend, I had to spend some quality time with the Tivo finding the new old channels, then the old new channels, and then back again. It was confusing. It was like the broadcasters said "We know we're confusing people without DTV boxes, but we also need to confuse people who are ready for the DTV transition. Let's swap all the channels with new ones, then swap back! Yeah!". This all lead me to a great question - has anyone ever named their kid "Tivo" ? If not, I have dibs.....

The thrill is gone

You may be all flowers and mother earth with the planned fuel efficiency standards (35.5 mpg), but I am freaking out. I love cars and hate to see them die off. This whole plan stinks, and here's why...

1) Every fun and spacious vehicle will disappear from the road, and will be replaced in the interim with cars made from subpar materials and 0-60 times in the double digits. Remember the 70's? I wasn't even alive but still cringe when I see cars from that decade. Check out Jeremy Clarkson's review of the new Honda Insight, you'll see what I mean.

2) If people wanted more fuel efficient vehicles, and to be more prepared for oil price spiking, they would buy those cars. Fact is, we hate those cars (check sales in relation to gas prices). Stop telling us what we should want. Same goes for how we should be charitable - I should decide where my financial support goes, not the Gov, but that's another topic for another time.

3) "After 3 yrs the initial investment pays off". Big caveat here - what about depreciation? Do the math, new cars are always a big loss. Also consider that many people dump their cars after 3 yrs (typical warranty period). I did the math on my truck. Gas would have to be $6.55 before it makes sense to take on a new car payment.

4) I'll leave you with this prediction - as all these mandated vehicles come out, those who choose to remain in their old vehicles instead of buying new ones will be targeted with taxes to push us to new cars. Call it an emissions fee, a gas guzzler tax, a vehicle weight limit fine, a killing polar bears levy, whatever. The Gov owns a stake in global car companies, and now has the power to force us into their cars.

All Aboard

Thanks to some muscle from Ty, the boat is now ready for the water. Check out the pic...

Time drain

I have been down right weak in posting on the blog the past couple weeks. That's partly due to having fun with William, but now also do to my new boat, or as I shall now refer to it as the USS Time Drain.

Boats are no joke. This is one is even really simple. No electronics, simple clamp on motors, small trailer, etc. But the list of things to do before I can get her on the water is staggering. I've now spent an additional 30% of the purchase price on repairs, accessories, spare tires, and it goes on. Even longer than the purchase list is the to-do list which is now at 16 items long in my handy Google widget. Today I looked through a Cabela's catalogue and thought of 4 more things.

The next big items:
Sand/Pressure Wash/Re-Paint Boat
Replace rusty trailer brackets and change wheels/tires
Install seats, install motors, install my money at the local Academy

I'll post an "after" pic in a few weeks. My goal is to have her water-ready by June.

Free has a price

You probably thought this was a political commentary on the 2009 stimulus plan. Sorry to disappoint...

After cleaning out after our garage sale last month, I had a few items that I could not donate but also could not throw in the trash, the biggest of which were several glass table tops each weighing over 50lbs. So, I decided to post them in the "free stuff" section of Craigslist. I put a description, and was clear I would delete the post once the stuff was gone. In just under 5hrs all of it was gone and I felt I had contributed something great to society. Unfortunately, there is a darker side to the "free stuff" as illustrated by FoxNews...

Low Water-mark for Muscle Cars

We're hitting some never seen prices on some muscle cars out there:

2005 GTO (400HP) - $15,899

2007 GT500 (500HP) - $36,980

Dad's in charge

Who said Dad's can't dress their babies?