Tag Archives: cars

I Left My Tire in San Francisco

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So, we didn’t make it to WonderCon today. We got out later than planned, and ended up hitting rush hour traffic in San Jose, which cleared up after a while, but dropped back to parking lot status as we approached Downtown San Francisco. By then it was raining pretty steadily as well.

Then I made the mistake of relying on Google Maps for directions to the hotel. One way streets, poorly labeled streets, streets where cars have to share with cable cars, trolleys and pedestrians… We missed our turn at one point & had to go around a few blocks to get back on track, then got stuck on Market Street where we could only move one carlength at a time.

Somewhere in all this, I drove over a bump. I didn’t think anything of it, since the car wasn’t moving fast enough to notice any change in how it handled. The low tire pressure light came on, but I see that in cold weather sometimes. It was only after we’d reached the hotel (on the left side of a one-way street) — and been handed a flyer with directions to the parking entrance — that someone in another car told us that the front right tire was flat.

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Hazard Lights

Does it really accomplish anything to turn on your hazard lights when you stop your car in a no-parking zone for loading and unloading? It seems like it would have all the legal force of crossing your fingers on the witness stand.

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Why?

  • Got a tech support question consisting of a single word: “Why?” #
  • What genius decided dark green on black was a good way to mark up parking spaces? # To make matters worse, some of the spaces actually are 20-minute spaces…only they’re labeled on the ground, in the same color green paint. I was almost into the space before I noticed.
  • Judging by the commercial, Ford’s hybrids are hippier than the Prius. # And I say this as the happy owner of a Prius. Seriously…the size of a tree indicates energy efficiency? The Prius has a bar graph.

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Audio, Social Worker Spam, & Prius Hatch

  • Fedora 12 claims PulseAudio improvements. Here’s hoping sound will actually work after suspend+resume again. #
  • Also: iPod train wreck of the morning was the Cardcaptor Sakura theme followed by Garbage’s Supervixen. #
  • What’s with all the “Be a social worker!” spam lately? It’s a change from the usual porn, pills, watches & software, but out of left field. #
  • Future reference: Though there’s no lever to pop the hatch on the Prius, unlocking the doors allows someone else to open it from outside #

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Eating in the Car & Trending Topics

  • Why do people get take-out fast food, then sit and eat it in their car in the parking lot, idling with the AC on? #
  • Problem: Twitter trending topics are quickly flooded with in-jokes & spam. There’s no context if you don’t already know what they’re about #

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Bad Timing

I keep putting off washing my car, then finally getting to it right before a freak storm…or the arrival of a giant cloud of ash. # *grumble*

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Rethinking the Electric Car

We’ve started watching the first season of Leverage on Netflix instant. Last night we watched the second episode. At one point the “good guy” character explains that yes, he really did give away most of the money he got from the last job, after buying a couple of things. Like a new car. Electric. Just being responsible. He then gets into his car, the camera pulls away, and you see that it’s a Tesla Roadster — an all-electric, high performance (and very expensive at $128,000+) sportscar.

I made some remark about how the Tesla was intended to make people rethink the electric car.

Katie’s response: “Every time a Prius gets pulled over for speeding, people rethink the electric car.”

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Irony Double Dose

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Christmas Shopping

  • Need to sleep. Found myself typing “Satan Claus” by mistake. #
  • Symptom of car culture: I almost feel like I have to justify crossing the street on foot to go to another store instead of moving the car. #
  • Sun Halo. All you have to do is look up once in a while. #

Halo and Light Posts Empty Shelves For Sale. No Linens, No Things.

  • Linens & Things: Nothing left to sell but the shelves… #
  • Almost. Walked around a corner and they do have SOME stuff left #
  • Virgin Megastore is closing too, but they’ve still got lots of stuff. Incl 5000 copies of Serial Mom. #
  • Replica toys: I get the nostalgia factor, but at the same time it’s a weird idea. #
  • Going out of business sales seen today: 4. Mervyns, Linens&Things,Virgin,Steve&Barry’s. #
  • And the more stores I look at, the more “What You Own” competes in my head for the ubiquitous Christmas music. #
  • Amazon’s wishlist needs a generic option. Like “I want an 8GB Micro-SD card” rather than “I want THIS Micro-SD card specifically!” #

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Eternal Song & Roam If Your Phone Wants To

  • Ah, security updates! On a Friday! Such fun! *grumble* #
  • Watched Wednesday’s Pushing Daisies last night. “Eternal Flame” is STILL stuck in my head. #
  • G1 auto-roaming explained: his phone connected to T-Mobile UK and thought it wasn’t roaming, so it kept data active. #
  • Appears to be an epidemic of low tire pressure here. Waited in line for air plus another car behind me. #

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