don't know how to play my part

Tried to go check out a Firebird today, but the guy flaked out and I wasn't able to meet up with him. Along the way I got cut off big time by a guy in a big stupid truck, but I was able to cut back in front of him without further escalation. There was also a guy in a Jeep driving along wearing two hats at the same time. Which means he thought to himself, No. One hat is insufficient for this situation.

rss

It looks like Craigslist changed something about how they organize cars and it screwed up my RSS feeds, so now I have to go update all 9 of them.

On Friday I decided to clean up the Wikipedia entry for the Genesis Coupe. I didn't think it was that bad but I edited every section, then reorganized the whole thing, and the more I look the more there is to edit. It was just kind of thrown together.

synergy or two

I decided to break out my geek skills on the Genesis Coupe website music. Using a Shockwave decompiler I was able to isolate the tracks, and I reintegrated them with ACID 5.0. Now I don't have to worry about what they are or losing them when the website gets updated. Still no news on when the car goes into production.

Continuing with the geek theme, I worked out that my policy of leaving fans on 24/7 means they represent about a quarter of all the power I use. I picked up some digital timers and now they will shut off while I'm at work and snap back on an hour before I get off work. Assuming people don't pull any more surprise 5:00 meetings. Like today.

is it better to be safe than sorry

The Malibu just had its first fill-up since getting the spark plugs changed, and it looks like that may have done a bit of good. It certainly wasn't any conscious effort to be more economical, because I got pulled over yesterday for speeding after I finally got off work - hosed again, the other quality person bailed around 4:30 without even asking if I could be the one who had to stay late.

style to spare

I just figured out what that song stuck in my head was! And no wonder it couldn't be found in my iTunes collection - it's from the website for the Genesis Coupe.

new grille

nothing to do but believe

I have a song stuck in my head. Just five notes of it, but it's driving me crazy. It seems like it's from a soundtrack. I thought it was Auto Rock by Mogwai but it isn't.

I'm taking a pass again on the '86 Firebird due to the dodgy brakes - me having to deal with it is one thing, but I don't want to put my friend (who will have to drive it first) in a bad position. Also that one is red. I don't want red. I found an '83 Camaro Z/28 but it doesn't have t-tops.

Of the two trainings I was scheduled for this morning, I opted for the one offsite, which apparently caused a great deal of trouble at work as everyone had forgotten about the other training. Process guy postulated that I may have crashed my car and then helpfully pitched in by eating my lunch for me. I had no opportunity for that though - traffic was slow and spread out enough to prevent any exuberance.

2008 Challenger

words don't matter they don't suit my kind

Not much getting done at work this week, as I have more training. In fact this morning I have two overlapping trainings, so I have to pick one. I'm going to finish my implant training so I understand something about tachycardia. The other training is how to use the reporting software and I already had more experience than most of the others so I ended up skipping ahead and now I've already got a chapter further than the others, so I really don't think I need to be there this morning.

Saw a 2008 Challenger over the weekend!

Apparently the Brembo brakes on the Genesis Coupe will be so big they can only be fitted under 19" wheels. I'm not a fan of huge rims so I may stick with the 18" - the standard brakes shouldn't exactly be slackers. In addition the 19" wheels will only come with summer performance tires, so the Brembo car should stop better when it's dry but probably won't work as well in the wet.

I am still fighting with myself over the '86 Firebird, but I will force myself to go look at it and decide based on what's really there. Is it fear of commitment or brake failure?

under a sky of dust

The Camaro SS's Nurburgring time has been posted, and it is a whole 2 seconds faster than a Cobalt SS...that comes out to 0.4% faster. This is partly down to the Camaro having poor aerodynamics and partly to the Cobalt apparently being incredibly well sorted. I think I am officially switching my sights to the Genesis Coupe.

The '86 Firebird with the dodgy brakes is back on Craigslist. Giving it a second thought, my only issue with it is the color. It's got a V8, t-tops, and a new clutch, all good things.

I also ordered a '98 Malibu grille off of eBay out of curiousity to see if it would go in my 2000...after some fiddling with the pins, I got it to work. The only problem is the emblem in the picture on the auction is different from what I actually got, so I'll have to see if I can get the guy to send me the right one. I like the first Malibu grille better. I don't like it when the manufacturer changes things to make a car look fresh - same goes for the '91 Firebird or '98 Camaro.