Quote for the Day
From today at the mall with Wendy:
"This shirt looks like a sleazy mobster would wear it.""Um, we ARE on Lowngh Eyelund."
"Oh, right."
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March 29, 2004
More on New Cars
Today I test drove a Mini Cooper S. DUDE! (Ok, I'll stop channeling Morgan) It was so sweet. It's super-zippy, handles like a go-cart, and is plenty roomy for a tall person like me. I love it, and I want one - I think.
I also test drove a Volvo S60 which had the most comfortable seat in which I've ever rested my bum. All I can say is that it was decent. The test drove was lame, we drove basically around the block and the sales guy was a moron.
Plus, I started doing math and seeing how much all this is going to cost me and apparently I've been deceiving myself. Perhaps I'll lease, but that's not a great plan financially. Perhaps I'll get a Honda Civic, but that's not a great idea emotionally. I wish that the car I drive didn't matter to me, but for some reason it does. I want a nice sporty luxury car. I need a way to get to work and to the store and various trips around the area, but I haven't taken a long car trip in a long time.
Mini Cooper S. Audi A4. Volvo S60. Honda Accord. Toyota Corolla.
Someone please tell me why this matters*!*!*!*!*!
March 26, 2004
Roth IRAs
A while ago on some other blogs the topic of investments and ROTH IRAs came up. Clearly I'm too lazy to go back and search for the relevant discussion, but there was some general agreement that it's good to invest in a ROTH to the full amount. There was a small amount of debate over dollar cost averaging into the account, or just dumping in $3000 at the beginning of the year (assuming you have the luxury of donig that). Today I spotted this article on CNN Money today which offers some further insight. Basically, we were all right, just for different reasons. Apparently, we're some smart people.
"I am so smart. S-M-R-T, I mean S-M-A-R-T!" --Homer Simpson
March 24, 2004
Swear Words
Everybody already knows this, but the quiz verifies it.
What swear word are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
I wanted to be the word "fuck" since I use it so much, but oh well.
Sushi
You are Salmon Roe Nigiri Sushi!
You are the type of pretty sushi seen most in sushi
bars. You are colorful and tasty.
- - What Type of Nigiri Sushi are You? - -
brought to you by Quizilla
Greek God
Hades
?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla
March 23, 2004
Ski Photos
I'm back from my ski week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I've posted a plethora of photos. We had a wicked good time, despite the fact that the snow was very very slushy. It was around 50 degrees all week and partly sunny. The last two days I skiied without a hat or gloves. Not cool when you fall, but wonderful when you're just skiing.
We had some awesome meals, prepared by BC, Frosty, and Donor. Lasagne, Chili, and Pizza respectively. We also played a lot of drinking games, and watched a lot of basketball.
The only unfortunate aspect of the trip was that Lisa was supposed to join us on Wednesday night, but she contracted chicken pox from one of her patients at the clinic and was not allowed to fly. Luckily they refunded all her money, and she has agreed to make an appearance at homecoming.
March 16, 2004
Skiing
Oh my God! We're gonna die!
March 14, 2004
Skiing!
Holy shit! It's 1:45 and I'm still up. I have to be up at 4:30 to get to the airport. Two hours of sleep is plenty. I can't wait.
Too bad I'll be missing the 243rd St. Patrick's Day Parade on Wednesday at 11 AM EST. It was a lot of fun last year. Last year, BC and I saw ran into this guy, and he wasn't even in the parade.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
March 13, 2004
Vacillations of an Automotive Nature
To follow up my previous post, I'd like to talk about new cars. Not necessarily brand new cars, but newer than 2000 model year. I'm of two minds on the subject. When it all boils down, a car is merely a tool to get me from point A to point B. In my case, this is over a poorly maintained road that is ironically called "Highway 25A", while it is neither high, nor a good way, or arguably 25 of anything. I need a reliable car to get me from work to home every day, about 15 minutes each way. Also, trips to the store and roadtrips in the area would need to be reasonably comfortable.
What's the smart choice? A Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla (also, the Ford Focus is decent). Both are small cars with good gas mileage, are very reliable and have low maintenance. But they aren't really that exciting or fun to drive. They do make a lot of economic sense.
So, what do I want? What do I really really want? Well Spice Girls, I want a Mini Cooper S with all the bells and whistles. At least I think they are really awesome and would be fun to drive, although I have yet to ever get inside one, much less take a test drive. That may soon change.
I've also spent a fair amount of time lusting after the Audi A4 3.0L. For whatever reason, I just feel like it's "me". I did test drive one of these, and loved it. Ask Wendy. It's a tad pricy for me at this poing in my life, so I'd be looking at a previously owned or leased model.
Other interests, in decreasing order of preference: The Volkswagen Passat, Acura TSX, BMW 3 series, Nissan Altima.
Should I go for the economical but boring choice, or spend the extra money on a fun car? Also, I'm open to suggestions if I'm overlooking some other wonderful automobile.
March 12, 2004
Trannies and Parking Brakes
This week, while dealing with preparing to presnet lab meeting, I had to deal with automotive issues. I had the oil changed and supposedly the fluids were topped up and all that jazz. Well, it starts grumbling and idling slow and then on Monday the transmission sounds like I'm driving without a clutch. My V6 automatic is running at 4000+ RPMs and is going 20 MPH. So my dad, the car guru, suggests that I check the transmission fluid level. Bingo! Empty. I head out to get more, and try to fill it up in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I actually had a hard time finding where to fill it, so I actually looked it up in the owners manual. Who knew you had to pour it down the tiny dipstick tube?! In following the "directions" I engage the parking break, which doesn't engage quite right, but I don't think much of it. I pour in some transmission fluid and hope all will be well, jump back in the car and hope for the best.
Then I try to release the parking brake, and nothing happens. So I do what any self-respecting 14 year old girl does with car problems. I call my daddy - again. His advice, "Hit it with a wrench and spray it with WD-40". Seriously, I already thought of that. I lay there, in the cold, salty parking lot of Wal-Mart beating on my parking brake mechanism with a pair of pliers. I am now my car's bitch.
This is the point where I decide it's time to get a new car. My car is a 1989 Grand Prix. It's been good to me, but I just can't deal with it anymore.
I end up driving to the mechanic with the parking brake partially engaged. I'm sure it liked that. Someone from work graciously came and picked me up. Apparently the whole mechanism is horked, but they managed to release the brake and I'll need a new parking brake cable which will they charge me $160 to install. Or I can just opt to never use my parking brake (lest I fancy leaving my car parked permanantly).
March 08, 2004
Even More Quizzes
I've got to prepare a presentation for lab meeting on Friday morning, so I'll just do these quizzes to procrastinate.
Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.
Which Survivor of the Impending Nuclear Apocalypse Are You?
A Rum and Monkey joint.
Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?
I don't even know what that last one is. And now back to searching through archived images.
Inner European
Another Quiz. Thanks Sara and Katie.
You are a Russian.
I'm not surprised by the results.
March 06, 2004
Stolen Lines
This is the best line I could lift from an undisclosed website for the day:
"Stop skipping and start swaggering when you walk. Life is not a musical darlin', it's a porno and don't you forget it."
March 02, 2004
Country Quiz
Ok. Another one that I've seen in a number of places, it's quick, easy, and fun. Which country best represents you?
You're Mozambique!
You're tired of fighting with yourself. For years, you fought battles
with yourself over every little thing you could, but now it's finally time to move on. Just forgetting about it looks like the best way to move on, though you really like graphic representations of machine guns for some reason. Rebuilding yourself is going to be a challenge, but with the inner peace you feel now, it's looking like a possibility. Just take the machine gun off
your flag.
Take the Country Quiz
LotR quiz
This is really quite stupid, but the quiz actually made me laugh, so here's my Ringwraith Quiz.
Which Ringwraith are You?
By Lisa
March 01, 2004
Dining in New York
I had a wonderful, wonderful pre-weekend. Josh and his brother Jared were in the area for a Bar Mitzvah, and decided to come a couple of days early to sample some of New York's fantastic restaurants. It started out with gigantic portions, included a lot of foreign tastes, and ended like so many things in New York - at the Bus Station.
We stayed at the Amsterdam Court Hotel on 50th Street, which was a decent hotel, not very expensive, but the rooms were small. The showers were impossible to adjust. To steal a measurement term from Eddie Izzard, "you have to adjust the shower knobs to only one nano-millimeter to get the correct water temp" or it's freezing-cold or scalding-hot. But we all lived.
We headed uptown and stopped at Zabar's Grocery where Jared lusted after many copper kettles. The first meal we had was at Carmine's Restaurant. They have very greasy, filling food in large portions, served family style. We ordered the ravioli and double split lamb chop with a nice chianti. Good food, hearty, and very very satisfying. Afterwards we ended wandering around Time Square, where we bought a cannoli for $4. This was not the most ridiculously priced item that would be purchased during the weekend. Then we chilled at the hotel for a while, and ended up just having a few drinks in the bar and talking. I really miss sitting around and having long discussions about lives and politics and, well, the universe basically. It's very satisfying. Unfortunately the conversation just doesn't flow quite as well with people who have English as a second language, and I end up speaking to those people more ofthen than old friends.
The next morning Jared decided it would be a good idea to wake up at 4:30 AM to go downtown to the Fulton Street Fish Market, where all the wholesalers buy the fresh fish for the day. Apparently it was cool, and he's promised to send me some photos - but I was sleeping like any normal person.
Josh and I had more pressing matters anyway - a 10:00 appointment with an Uzbekistani barber at his barbershop, Paul MolŽ. Actually, Josh's barber was Italian. Mine was Lev, the owner, an Uzbekistani immigrant with a thick accent and incredible skills with a straight razor. This was an experience that I hightly recommend to anyone with an interest. At first, when I said I wanted a shave and a haircut he said, "No, you look good with the beard, you keep the beard." I finally had to convince him that I'd made up my mind, and I wanted him to shave me. He starts with a hot towell on your face, followed by some sort of oil which he rubbed into my beard for about two minutes, followed by more hot towells, followed by actual hot shaving foam. Then the shaving begins. First with the grain, then against. I was seriously smooth after the whole process, and extremely cold when we went outside.
We met Jared at Grand Central Station, and decided to have pizza for lunch. Not very exciting. Then we went to an independent movie called The Dreamers. It was good, and a little weird. After that we went to stand in line to see a taping of the Daily Show. We got to see Samuel L. Jackson, but overall the taping wasn't as good as the last one I saw. In fact, it ran long and we had to kind of rush to get back to the hotel and change clothes before we went to dinner.
Jared made reservations at Aquavit, which is a really really great restaurant in midtown. You can see pictures of everything about the place in my photo album. I'll have a list of everything I ate, because Jared requested a copy of the menu. I think I consumed at least 10 species of animal, and about 7 types of alcohol. If you've got $200 burning a hole in your pocket, it's a great place to eat. I can't justify eating there more than once a lifetime - unless someone else is paying.
After dinner we stopped at a deli and grabbed a variety of beer to sample back at the hotel. Josh and I sat in the "Cappuchino Bar" area of the lobby and drank our beer and talked again, for 3 hours. We drank a lot of random stuff, including Arrogant Bastard Ale. More great beer and great conversation, and a lot of looking forward to skiing in two weeks.
The next day we got up and went down to SoHo to wander around before lunch at Nobu. It was another really nice restaurant, and I love Japaneese food, so it was a great lunch. Then it was time to figure out how to get the boys to New Jersey. The lady in the customer service booth at the New Jersey Transit station told us that the only way to Teaneck was on a bus, and it was scheduled to leave on the 3:15 bus out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, one stop up the subway. I left Josh and Jared at 3:11 as they went through the turnstiles. I later found out that they made it to the hotel in Teaneck, and there was a surly bus driver involved that ended up dropping them off directly at their hotel, but only after stopping for a deli sandwhich first. Love that east coast mentality.
Also, I'm soliciting opinions on the new look which is only temporary, I promise. Please ignore the bow tie.