Monday, February 27, 2006

Art Rules


Here's a page that rambles on a lot about arty stuff.
It's actually a pretty decent quick reference for rules that artists either take for granted or forget all together while in the heat of the moment.
Good stuff in any event.
And the guy can DRAW. Check it out.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Toyota Prius


I love our Prius. It's the best toy ever.
This was taken on 8/20/2005. Gas mileage = 59.4

The green bars show a graph of gas mileage over the last 30 minutes. (This trip ranging from high 60s to high 90s) Those little white/green blobs are supposed to be car-shapes. One symbol represents 50kilowats recharged back to the battery.



There are a few interesting things that happen when you get a Prius.

1) You start to plan your route according to the speed limit.
When you buy a Prius (or at least when we did) you want to save money by buying less gas. The Prius needs a little time to warm up (a couple miles) and then it's ready to turn off the engine and use battery power. That is, IF you're driving the right speed. Once you go over 35, the gas engine will kick in anyways. You find yourself searching out traffic routes that will give you the most 25 - 35 mph speed areas.

2) You start to drive a little slower in general.
After the engine is warmed up and you're getting miles off the battery, you may have to stop at a light. Well, if you aren't lead-footed, you can start from a stop and get up to your desired speed solely on battery power... it just takes a while. This isn't a problem if no one is behind you. People out here in California don't get mad, they just go around; but if I were elsewhere, I think I'd hear an awful lot of horn.

3) You watch the onboard touch-screen mileage counter.
Sometimes so religiously that you get into close calls. The screen tells you in near-real time what your gas mileage is on the right side and then what the last 5 minutes' average gas mileage was on the left. The whole left side is devoted to the last 30 minutes of driving time, so you can see how the trip did gas mileage-wise and how many kilowats you recharged the battery! NO, we DON'T have to plug it in. (Oh, when I take THIS route, I get better gas mileage near the end, but THAT route is better in the beginning...)

4) You notice all other Priuses on the road.
Maybe people do this anyways with ANY car. I know I do it with the bus too. I just figured it was more noticeable with both a VW bus and a Prius because they both are uncommon vehicles. I mean, I notice a Lamborghini & Ferrari when I see them even though I don't drive one because of the scarcity. One thing I have noticed is that most of the Prius drivers are over 50 yrs of age. I asked the dealer when I took it in if I was crazy and he confirmed my suspicions. Nearly 75% of Prius drivers are over 50. That number is on the decline since they redesigned the Prius. What gives, though! Is it only old people who want to save money?

5) Sometimes, once in a while, you kick it out to show those dorks they're wrong.
Once in a while you'll be sitting at a light, or notice someone trying to pass you, or feel someone just getting antsy and thinking: "There's another Prius." What they don't know is that the battery power has no mechanical hindrances like a gas engine. Step on pedal = car goes. Immediately. No waiting for gas to flow - ignite - push piston - turn cam - drive axel. Nope, just go go go. So, once in a while, I'll just kick it out and beat them off the line, or speed up and pass THEM. Sure, they always catch me later, but they have to try and by then, the point has been made. This lil' car has some spunk!

6) Priuses don't get the touted mileage on the sticker.
It says 60/51 on the sticker but it's really more like 55/45. Oh well. Am I going to complain? Hell no. Does your car get the mileage it showed on the sticker? Dream on. None of them do because they test them in optimal conditions so they can claim the best mileage so they can meet their quotas. People who complain about the Prius not getting the 60/51 aren't looking at the whole picture. They're just whining to try and make themselves not feel so bloody stupid for not buying one when they had the chance.

We got stuck in a traffic jam on the down-side of a mountain pass today on the way home from our day trip to Santa Cruz. It took 30 minutes to get down, but we weren't using the engine at all so the entire left side shows our mileage as 100mpg across the board! The mountain pass was only a few miles, so it didn't really count much toward our total average.

This was taken on 2/23/2006. Gas Mileage = 50.9

Go to the Toyota site and enter the hybrid section. You can see how much you might save based on how many miles you drive and the mpg of your current car.

Maybe it's just me, but driving just got a lot more interesting after buying this car.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Random Stuff


Not much has been happening this week. Just working. No news on the van. When things get boring just search the web for entertainment. It can't be worse than reality TV. No, I bet it can...

I've been hanging on to these sites for a while since their not really worth posting by themselves, they may be worth posting as a group. Enjoy.

1) Bunny synopses of movies.
Only 30 seconds long. You definitely can spare the time!

2) Godzilla goes down.
He's wreaking havoc on the city, but he's not the only giant sized critter around!

3) How to fold a shirt.
Because the way you do it now is wrong! (and not nearly as cool)

4) WoW as birth control.
There must be a name for this kind of phenomenon.

5) The Perry Bible Fellowship.
This guy is sick and twisted. Some of these comic strips are hilarious and some are just wrong. May not be appropriate for work.

6) NIGHT of FIRE!
This is a tongue-in-cheek Japanese music video. I can't make out much of what they're saying - but I don't really need to.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Not Much but FOOD

There wasn't much going on this week. So I didn't post.
Just working every day, eating good food by AJ & watching Olympics.
This weekend was uneventful, really. We ran errands and stuff. I got KOTOR for the XBox, but it crashes after level 1 when it tries to auto-save. Now I have to take it back and see if they'll let me exchange it for Psychonauts. No news on the van last week - maybe this week.

Let me show you some food we made recently - I started taking pictures for fun. Mostly because I think we'll make our own cookbook eventually, but I also want to use these for when AJ asks me what I want for dinner this week, I can point at pictures instead of trying to describe things verbally. Go with what you're good at, right? Verbal communication is not my forte. LOL

Pesto Pizza!

Tofu Spring Rolls!

More food pics to come if this week has anything worth sharing. I bet it will! We got TURNIPS at the market in honor of Animal Crossing. We won't sell them to Tom Nook - We're eating them, dammit!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

WonderCon 2006

This is the oldest living San Franciscan playing a playstation at the Metreon. There is some kind of magic happening right here, man. Magic.

02/11/06 - Saturday
Edward drove up and we went to the WonderCon 2006. We had a great time and I bought some sweet art. I also got said art AND some other stuff signed.

The floor was huge. There were many booths and the geeks were thick. We entered cautiously and zig-zagged our way from one end to the other. I was shocked to see Arthur Adams there since I didn't see him on the list. I would have brought a few pieces from my stash for him to sign if I had known! I bought a huge print from him. Giant gorilla fighting T-rex. HOT! I brought something for Mike Mignola to sign (Seed of Destruction #1), and I bought one of his Hellboy prints. Very tasty. I also eventually found Frank Cho and had him sign that print Eric DeSantis gave me. I also bought one of his books. He's great, but seemed a little full of himself. NOT like Mike and Art. They were really really cool.

We went upstairs and saw Sergio Aragones talking about his life and drawing great pieces on the fly. He is truly amazing.

I went next door to see the end of the Pixar talk. I saw the cars trailer and their short: "One Man Band". They'll probably show it at the beginning of Cars in the theater. It's superb!

After Pixar, they showed the Silent Hill trailer and then some extra footage was introduced by the main actress. The extra footage was awesome - but super creepy. I don't know if I want to see that film or not.

Then Brian Singer came up to talk about the new Superman Returns movie. He showed a trailer and then introduced the main actor who plays Superman. I left after a few dumbass questions and dumber answers.

After the show, Edward and I walked over to Market street and checked out the parade. That's where it was starting, so most of the people & floats were just hanging around waiting to start up. It was cool to see everyone dressed up. Kids are funny. They are so excitable.

I have pictures of the show and a few of the parade. Enjoy the geek-fest!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Windy Hill Hike (02/04/06)


Okie Dokie HERE is the page with pics from the hike we did on Saturday.

Highlights were:
1st coyote sighting
1st banana slug sighting
baby salamanders
nice workout on calf muscles! (still feeling that...)

Monday, February 06, 2006

Weekend 02 04/05 06

Well the weekend came and went. We went on a hike on Saturday (I'll post pics ...sometime) and went to a friend's for the superbowl. WTF is with all that hype? The game stank and there were only 2, maybe 3 good adverts. Everyone is saving up for the Olympics I bet!

BAH!
Sports!