To the person

who smashed through the passenger-side window of my car on Townsend St. in SF last night, I want to lay out a few things for you:

You must have mistaken my gym bag for something really expensive. Sorry to have misled you, but it was really just a gym bag. I wasn't trying to be crafty and hide my life savings in cash in there or anything like that. With that said, I truly hope you enjoy my unwashed gym clothes, sweaty weight lifting gloves, and dirty towel.

I also had one of my favorite track jackets in there. Although it will be missed, I hope that you're a narrow-minded American who hates Canada and all things related, since the jacket had a prominent Canadian flag on it. (No, I'm not pro-Canada, but it was a good conversation starter at parties. What can I say..)

You also got a pair of my jeans. I just washed them, so I hope they fit well. You can pick up where I left off in the process of trying to break them in. Sitting on the sidewalk and running from cops are a few things that you can do to expedite the process.

Congratulations on snagging my iPod Shuffle, though. That's probably the only thing you could pawn off for some real cash. Either that, or you could listen to the same 13 tracks from my "Gym" playlist until the battery runs out, since your sorry thieving ass probably doesn't own a computer that you could hook it up to. At any rate, I'm sure that if you "shuffle" the songs, they won't seem too repetitive. I hope you like the song "Eye of the Tiger."

Oh, and thanks for not stealing anything else of real worth in my car, like the navigation system, the radar detector, my sunglasses, digital camera, or the wad of cash in my glove-box. I know that some of your buddies find pleasure in breaking into cars to steal random and insignificant things like $3 quickie-mart sunglasses, burned CDs, and pennies from the ashtray, so who knows. Maybe you just really love going to the gym. Either way, I appreciate it.

It was also really cool of you to try to minimize the dispersion of glass shards in my car. I noticed that although glass was pretty much everywhere, you really made a conscious effort to keep the driver's seat clear of it so that if I had to drive to the police station at 4:30AM to file a report, injury to my ass, back, and neck would be kept to a minimum.

I think that's it...

Oh, and fuck you.

Heat

Yea, funny 'cause it's true.



It hit 101 degrees in south bay this weekend. :(

Bring on another week!

"EOW"

Yes, that stands for "end of week." One of many corporate acronyms, ie. "I'll have those internationalization spec sheets to you by EOW." Ever feel like this at work?:

My friend thinks that this guy's frustration stems from the fact that he's probably programming and getting syntax errors left and right; add to that, his inability to type with more than two fingers and you get one disgruntled engineer. I think he's just out of his freaking mind. You decide.

Anyways, Dashboard Widgets; I've come to love them. On OS X Tiger and even on XP. Some of them essentially do nothing and just look cool, while others have become indispensable. Give them a shot; they're cross-platform compatible.


Screenshot. 

Another thing I've come to appreciate: urbandictionary.com. Not only is it useful for looking up slang terms, but its also funny as hell. For example, I looked up the term "milkshake" because I've always wondered what the context of it's use was in that annoying-ass song by Kelis. Someone submitted the following:
. . .
Milkshake, (noun)

1. whipped iced dairy drink usually coming as chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry.
2. a girls body

1. Wow that milkshake from McDonald's was good.
2. (Kelis' song 'Milkshake')

"My whipped ice dairy drink brings the attention of many males to my place of residence and/or employment, and they declare that it's quality far surpasses that of yours. Absolutely, it far surpasses yours. I could convey to you the recipe, but I would have to demand monetary compensation."
. . .

If you know the song, you'll find the last paragraph to be a funny, articulate version of the chorus.

Ah, where would we be without the internet?

Contemplation

I was too tired (make that lazy) to cook last weekend, so I drove down Castro St. and hit up KFC on El Camino (healthy, I know). I parked my car and as I approached the door, there were two bums sitting on the curb. One of them looked at me and gave me a head nod. As I walked by, I asked him how he was doing. He replied by saying "you're doin' better than I am." It kind of caught me off guard, but I just continued walking. As I was ordering my meal, I thought about what the guy outside had said to me. It made me think. How easy was it for me to stroll in here, order food, pay for it, and leave? How hard would it be for the guy outside to do the same? Why was that the case?

As I was walking out, one of the guys was quick to start explaining to me that him and his buddy were just trying to get a BBQ chicken sandwich (I found it funny that he didn't just say that him and his buddy were trying to get some food. Instead he laid it out for me; this man wanted a BBQ chicken sandwich. No more, no less). I gave them a few dollars and went on my way.

That day, I was reminded of how lucky I am. If you're reading this, odds are, you're lucky too. Think about it.

Random: This has been going around. Pretty funny. Check out our version.)

Comcast sucks.

Here's why:

I've had to schedule four appointments for a tech to come replace my cable modem, because they flaked the first three times with no call or notice.

The fourth appointment was "scheduled," but when I called the day before to confirm, it didn't exist. Good thing I called.

Everytime I call 1-800-COMCAST, I find myself having to explain my problem to three different people before actually getting help. To some of the execs at Comcast, you may want to implement a little something called CRM. You probably covered it in one of the MBA classes you slept through.

After finally getting my fourth appointment scheduled, I noticed that my HD channels were also cutting in and out. I called again, hoping to have both problems addressed at the same time when the tech came. No such luck. They told me that they'd have to schedule yet another appointment for that, as it seems the techs are not cross-product trained. I asked if they could assign a "multi-talented" tech to this job. Should be interesting. Maybe he'll flake too!

And on a completely random note,

has anyone tried this drink? Good stuff. Picked some up at HanKook market last weekend. It has little chewy pieces of Aloe in it. Give it a shot.

Monday down...

Have you seen this?

Well, check this out. A very cool ad by VW. (.mov, 5.6MB)

Whew. Monday down, four more to go. I finally bought my ticket to go to Boston; I'll be flying out on 8/10 and returning on 8/16 (any volunteers for airport duty? Bueller?). My sister is getting married(!), which is the primary reason for my visit, but it'll be nice to see my family, friends, and dog while I'm there too.

My cable modem mysteriously died on me over the weekend (damn you, Comcast), so I've been gratuitously leaching a neighbor's unencrypted wireless signal for the past three days. Network SSID="NETGEAR"; you're a fool for leaving your network completely open and vulnerable, but I absolutely love you for it.
Mine is scheduled for repair tomorrow.

A little E46 love, courtesy of Junghyun.

X3 loaner

I took my 3 in for a regularly scheduled maintenance visit on Thursday. The dealer was really booked and asked if I could leave the car overnight, so I agreed under the condition that I get a loaner car until they finished. They obliged and gave me with an '04 X3 with the 2.5L engine, steptronic transmission, the Premium package, and 5,100 miles on it. Since I'm a car nut, here's a short review on the car:

Initial impressions:
When I first saw the X3 in an ad, I wasn't impressed. Any car that has that much plastic molding on it can't really be all that stylish. But like many of the newer BMWs, it does look better in person. And there's a factory kit you can put on it to replace the plastic molding with body colored molding, which makes a huge difference. The interior is ergonomically functional, but lacked the panache of other BMWs. However, I really liked the oversized moon-roof, which opened all the way back towards the rear seats.

The ride:
I was impressed with the ride. I drove one of these way back in high school, and it definitely drove like an SUV; lots of body lean and sway. The X3 handled like a car, despite the extra weight and higher ground clearance. The suspension glided smoothly over all road imperfections, and I even tested the Hill Descent Control option, which worked as intended.

Overall impressions:
This is a fun little SAV (Sports-Activity vehicle, as BMW calls it) with partial off-roading capabilities and most of the creature comforts you would need and expect in the X3's price range ($30,000-36,000). I would probably spring for the 3.0 liter engine with this car, as the 2.5 liter seems better mated with lighter BMWs such as the 3 series. After all is said and done, this would be a nice second car to have for weekend excursions up to Lake Tahoe.