Freecycle

If you have something you don't need anymore, but it's something that someone else can use, don't throw it out. The landfills are full enough. There's a website called freecycle.org that helps people find others that are looking for used items or that have used items to give away.

I just gave away an old laptop that I no longer need. Someone put out a request for one, and I was able to help out. It's an old one that I bought back in 1999 (ancient by today's standards) It's a 300-Mhz Pentium II with 320 megs of ram. That thing cost me $3,000.00 when I bought it, and I took out a twelve-month loan to pay it off. Noe I'm giving it away because I doubt I could more than a few bucks for it today. That's OK, the couple I gave it to looked like they were just starting out their lives together, and they could use the savings.

http://www.freecycle.org/ - join today!

So much for updating this every day.

Anyway, I bought a car. Got a Miata, as planned. It's exactly what I wanted - Sport trim with Automatic Transmission. I popped for the added ground effects package and rear lip spoiler. They don't do anything for the car except make it look cool, but that's what I want.

Oh, and now it's only called an MX-5. Mazda is trying to drop the "Miata" name, but the Miata die-hards won't let it go. But you can look at the car from end to end and you won't see a "Miata" logo anywhere on it.

Anyway, I'm tired, so to make a long story short, I put out an Internet request for a price quote and the dealer called me a few hours later with an offer of $500.00 below invoice ($22,170). I thought that was an amazing steal, but it turns out it was just a good price - but a good price all the same. I talked to him, we went for a test ride, and we inked the deal. I felt it was a fair price, so there was no haggling. They gave me $9,250.00 for my old car, which was $150 below blue book, but it had a few defects, so I accepted it. Altogether it was a smooth transaction. They came on a little strong with offering their own financing, but I stuck with my Credit Union. My payments are $70.00 a week, but I'm going to triple up on payments and hopefully have it paid off in a year.

Doing what I do

Spent the last few days tuning up computers. A woman at work said hers has been running very slow lately ansked me to clean it up for her. LOADED with spyware and probably also a virus or two, because Windows Update was disabled. Even after running all my first aid software, it was still borked, so I got her OK to just go ahead and reformat it.

Her husband's computer is in even worse shape, but he said he can't even tell the difference, so she said just make sure there's no viruses or spyware on it. A malware scan showed 350 infected files. This could be a long night.

Miata vs. Miata

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Miata vs. Miata

I've spent the last week or so weighing the options on a new Miata. Mine is seven years old and I want to sell it before things start breaking down. Up until today I had been doing all my research online, seeing what costs what, and which is worth the price. This morning I printed up a list of questions and went to a dealer just to get more info. He didn't know much more than I had already learned from looking online, and they didn't have any cars loaded with the options that I wanted to see in person.

Still, I took one for a ride. Rides nice, smoother than mine, and it has more pickup. I thought the radio sounded terrible, but that's probably because it had 6 speakers. That's supposed to be an upgrade from the standard four-speaker system, but the extra two speakers are tweeters mounted near the tops of the doors, and since they're closer to your ears you hear mostly high-end frequencies. The 8" speakers were at the bottoms of the doors. There are also two mid-range between the seats which were probably about 4" each, so they didn't help any. Even after tweaking the tone controls there still wasn't enough bass without it getting muddy.

The other big - BIG negative was the interior. Pretty ugly compared to mine. The dash has a big black plexiglass strip running along the front of it, and the doors and top of the dash were vinyl, but not even a faux leather looking vinyl like mine, just a flat, grainy plastic. VERY cheap looking.

Now that I've seen and driven a 2008, I can accurately compare it to mine. I listed all the pros and cons that are included with the trim model I'll be getting:

What's better on mine:
Interior Appearance
Retractable Antenna (the one on the 2008 is not retractable, but I can probably replace that)

What's better on the 2008 model:
Stronger Engine
Rear Speakers (mine doesn't have them)
Dual 1-touch Window (mine only does the driver side)
More Interior Room
Better windblocking with the top down
Smoother Ride
Cruise Control (mine doesn't have)
Ignition Keyhole Light (mine doesn't have)
Tilt Wheel (mine doesn't have)
MP3 Player (mine doesn't have)
Side-Impact Airbags (mine only has them in front)
Tire Pressure meter (mine doesn't have)
Engine Theft Immobilizer (mine doesn't have)
Side-Window de-mister (mine doesn't have)
Wheel-mounted audio & speed controls (mine doesn't have)

I plan to buy one near the end of the month. Pics will be posted if that happens.

I'm really getting sick of media spin

It's been obvious for years (to me, at least) that news reporters and their networks don't report news, they create it. They take a non-event and sensationalize it until it becomes news. Last week a whale was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa. That alone is news because whales don't usually come that close to shore. The first news teaser said just that: a whale had been spotted near the coast of Tampa... details at 11:00. I guess that wasn't enough of an attention-getter because every teaser after that stated that a "sea creature" was spotted near Tampa Bay, without mentioning what the "creature" actually was..

Unfortunately, in America bad PR can kill a company (or a person's image), so everyone is on the bandwagon. Which is why Dunkin' Donuts was pressured into pulling an featuring Rachel Ray.

But what's wrong with the ad? Well, according to conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, the scarf Rachel is wearing looks like a traditional Arab headdress (called a kaffiyeh). Since Yasser Arafat and other terrorists wear kaffiyehs, Dunkin' Donuts must support terrorism.

This is stupid on so many levels. First off, she wearing a SCARF, not a kaffiyeh. secondly, it's wrapped around her neck, not her head.

Just because the kaffiyeh is worn by some terrorists doesn't mean that only terrorists wear them. By Malkin's logic, everyone wearing a black and white scarf supports terrorism.

You know how much it costs to produce a commercial? Neither do I, but I'm sure it's a lot, even before paying for the star power of Rachel Ray (I seriously doubt she gave back the money she was paid to do the commercial). So Dunkin' Donuts just took a financial soaking because Ms. Malkin wants more face-time on Fox News.

And if DD hadn't pulled the ad? A PR nightmare, all because people are too stupid to think for themselves.

I guess I won't be wearing a tie to work anymore... Hitler wore one too.

A day of rest.

I am intentionally not doing anything physical today. The carport/tool shed combo is as good as finished, and just in time - I'm starting to catch a cold, and I would rather rest for a day or two than be sick for a week or two.

Yesterday I went to the beach to watch the sunset. People always think it's weird when I tell them that I do that alone, but I just like the atmosphere. I like the sound of the breaking water, the smell of the cool salty air. Whenever I look at the endless expanse of water I always think of the line from "Dust in the Wind," "nothing lasts forever but the Earth and sky." It's true. The sand, the water, sky, the clouds, the sun. It all looks exactly the way it has for thousands of years... and I think that's pretty cool.

Good News

I called the vet for the results of Levi's bloodwork, and everything is normal. I was really expecting another case of kidney failure or cancer. Everything's fine, he just has a high metabolism.