New Kid on the Block

Rocco's Repartee

Who does this guy think he is? Only posting for a month, and he's already got a plethora of high-quality, thought-provoking posts?

Seriously, read it, you'll like it.

Welcome, Rocco.

Hangin' Tough,
Ryan

Finally

I finally broke 50 mpg in my Jetta. It took almost a year of doing things to try to improve my fuel economy. I used to average about 42 mpg, now I average about 48. My all-time high for one tank is now 52.33 mpg. Here are the things I have done to improve my economy:

1. Slow Down! (I try to drive 55 mph everywhere I go.)
2. Use premium fuel. This is NOT important on a gas engine unless your engine is designed for it. It is VERY important in a diesel.
3. Switched to a lightweight, low-friction engine oil. (Elf Evolution CRV 0w30)
4. Advanced my injection timing.
5. Monitor tire pressure, and run max psi (51 psi)
6. Use low rolling resistance tires. (I run Michellin Energy MXV4)
7. Don't use air conditioning in the summer.

So there you have it. If EVERYONE could do things to improve their fuel economy this much, we could stop importing oil from the Middle East. (of course, we really CAN'T do that, but we COULD import less)

Just something to think about.

Frugally,
Ryan

Blogerati

I heard(saw) the term "Blogerati" this morning. How come I'm not hip to this new elitist categorization. Hmmm. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my sorry carcas hasn't posted to my blog in a long, long time. Man, I suck.

R

Slight Difference

SWEET! The composer works in Firefox for me now. I don't have to write in HTML

Now, what I was really here to say:

Flowers that grow perennially are MUCH different than flowers that grow perianally. So, always make sure before you stop and smell the roses.

Also, since some asshat posted spam to my comments section, I have turned on "word verification" which should, in most cases, distinguish legitmate comments from machine implemented ones.

Later,
Ryan

Snooze Playlists

Every morning, I snooze my alarm about 6 times. During those 6 brief interludes of local FM madness, I hear snippets of songs drifting through my semi-conciousness. The rest of the day, I hear songs in my head that I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio that morning. This is complicated by the fact that our local radio station plays lots of '80's tunes that I also listened to when I was a kid. It is FURTHER complicated by the fact that I'm pretty sure that the radio station plays the songs on a multi-day rotation... meaning that every 9 days or so I'm hearing the same songs at the same time. "Tainted Love" and "Don't you Forget About Me" are floating around in there with the likes of "Karma Chameleon." It really messes up my mental Jukebox.

Wake me up before you go-go,

Ryan

The Quintessence of Why I Read Neal Stephenson.

Here is an excerpt from a book called "The System of the World" by Neal Stephenson. It captures just about everything that I like about him. "The System of the World" is the third volume in a series called "The Baroque Cycle" Highly Recommended.

From page 457: "In an apt demonstration of the principle of Relativity, as propounded by Galileo, the bawdy platter , and the steaming morsels thereon, remained in the same position vis-a-vis Daniel, and hence were, in principle, just as edible, as if he had been seated before, and the pies had been resting upon, a table that was stationary with respect to the fixed stars. This was true despite the fact that the carriage containing Daniel, Isaac Newton, and the pies was banging around London. Daniel guessed that they were swinging round the northern limb of St. Paul's Churchyard, but he had no real way of telling; he had closed the window-shutters, for the reason that their journey to Bedlam would take them directly across the maw of Grub Street, and he did not want to read about today's adventure in all tomorrow's papers.

Isaac, though better equipped than Daniel or any other man alive to understand Relativity, shewed no interest in his pie -- as if being in a state of movement with respect to the planet Earth rendered it Not a Pie. But as far as Daniel was concerened, a pie in a moving frame of reference was no less a pie than one that was sitting still: position and velocity, to him, might be perfectly interesting physical properties, but they had no bearing on, no relationship to those properties that were essential to pie-ness. All that mattered to Daniel were relationships between his, Daniel's, physical state and that of the pie. If Daniel and Pie were close together both in position and velocity, then pie-eating became a practical, and tempting, possibility. If Pie were far asunder from Daniel or moving at a large relative velocity -- e.g., being hurled at his face -- then its pieness was somehow impaired, at least from the Daniel frame of reference. For the time being, however, these were purely Scholastic hypotheticals. Pie was on his lap and very much a pie, no matter what Isaac might think of it."

excerpted from "The System of the World" - Neal Stephenson

Bonus points were scored here for:

1. Using the words vis-a-vis and asunder.
2. Being two complete paragraphs of digression.
3. Relativity was NEVER so funny. Ever.

Pick up one of his books and start reading. You won't be disappointed.

Ryan

Steaming Pile

Have you seen the new GTO? I mean in person, not in the pages of a magazine, or on TV. This thing is a heap. When you hear or see the badge "GTO" it conjures an image in your mind.

It is not a comfortable experience to have that vision forcibly ripped from your neurons by the icy grip of reality.

Vis-a-vis the styling: It is the very best that 1998 has to offer. Too bad this is 2005.

There are people all over america right now saying: "Wow! look at that Cavalier go!"

I predict the death of GM in 10 years or less.

Ryan

Diesel Madness

This car is now owned by a good friend of mine. He used to be a hybrid guy. I kept working on him and working on him, and now he seems to be converted. This may not be a good test with a proper control group, however, due to the lack of available hybrids for $300(US)

Anyway, he's toying with the idea of a blog to track progress of the car, and if he does, y'all will be the first to know.

Also, once I get my diesel paid off later this year, I will start looking for my very own old mercedes. Got to keep up with the Joneses, and all.

Ignited by Compression,
Ryan

Serious Stuff

OK. For all of you that have been clamoring for a new post: Here it is. I'm usually a pretty light-hearted guy, but sometimes I like to deal with serious issues. The serious issue that I'm going to deal with today is:

Hormel Black Label Bacon.

If you are not eating this bacon, you might as well be shoving dirt into your undeserving cakehole. This stuff is awesome. It is the pinnacle of the Bacon Experience.

Once fried to a crispy finish, it is the ultimate breakfast food. Add a couple of over-easy eggs and some well-buttered toast, you've got a feast to start your day.

Those of you on the Atkins or South Beach diet should be eating at least one package of this bacon, per day. It is a stepping-stone on the road to slimness.

Also, you should be able to stick a wick in any available artery and light your way to freedom, should you ever be lost in an underground cavern.

Enjoy,
Ryan

Evolution

I was just cooking dinner, and I found an egg that was really long and narrow. So, there's at least one chicken out there being a positive force for change.... one egg at a time.

check ya later!

Ryan