What a great country

Even when the federal government oversteps it's bounds and passes law after law that we either disagree with or dislike, we still can rely on the states!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101213/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul_virginia
Sometimes I think it would be nice to live someplace that is warm all year round. Sometimes I would be happy to move where I would never see snow again, or where there is less traffic, or where I can pursue my love of ATV riding with abandon. But then VA goes and elects the best Governor and Attorney general combo that we have ever had! Granted I was a huge fan of Gilmore when he wanted to repeal the car tax but that was just money. Now VA is standing up for freedom state wide.
Great- now traffic will get even worse since people who live in states that have no backbone will come here!
I also heard over the weekend that we are close to having 37 states get together to impose an amendment to require a balanced budget! Lets cross our fingers that the states have lost patience and will fix the out of control federal government!

YEAH STATES!

Top Gear America

So I have posted on previous occasions about my favorite show- Top Gear. Well the US has done what it always does. It stole this wonderful idea from the UK and has decided to produce it here with a US slant.
Here is some advice to the American version of Top Gear:
1) We have seen two episodes now- please stop explaining what is happening and who people are. Either we already know or we can figure it out based on context (those new to the show). I see way too many shows treat the US as if they are morons. This is not the case.
2) Stop trying to copy what the UK Top Gear does- create your own style especially for music with films, cinematography and most importantly interaction. You know what I mean! You are mimicking what Top Gear UK is in style, even in content- but it does not work with the personalities on the show. So find a style that best works with the personalities.
3) It would seem we have selected the hosts already not sure they are a good fit (We really should have seen some writers from C&D or Motortrend- such great wit and humor there). You are not interacting well together. It is contrived- let strife and disagreement happen naturally- stop trying to create it. As far as the audience can tell you just met and are new hosts together on the show- so why do you act as if you have these disagreements or mock fights?
4) I like your car choices for stories- more of this please
5) Make fun of the Stig- but please make them good jokes- and figure out a way to do it different from how the UK version does it.

Most important- all watchers of Top Gear wish they could be on the show- the reason why the UK version does so well is because the hosts translate the visceral experience to words that translate well to fans. You are not doing this- I feel no connection to you- or the car you describe. The only thing that came close thus far was the Evo down hill race- I felt like I saw real personality there. Switching from the contrived "Son of a (Blank)" when keys were tossed on the ground (lame) to later on- a real "SON OF A BITCH"

I will keep watching because it can only get better. Not to mention there is a ton of potential there!

Long Time no talk!?

Sorry for the time lapse. I was busy with so many other things in life that I had stopped posting. I was moved today to write again simply based on the new proposal to cut the MASSIVE deficit.
I guess cutting Social security, raising the age, taxing gas MORE and all the other great ideas have nothing to do with the TYPICAL left wing BS that takes place. EVERYONE on the right side saw this coming.
So lets review:
1) Obama takes office and starts spending- spending faster and more than any other president- only seconded by Bush.
2) He promises no tax increases on the lower or middle class
3) He spends so much that he does not know how to reduce the deficit so he decides to start cutting programs and things that people rely on.

WHAT THE HELL? Why would they not do some of the following:
CUT SPENDING
PULL OUT OF IRAQ FOR REAL- not to mention Afghanistan
Get rid of any and all ear marks.
Repeal the health care bill- it is obvious we cannot afford it now that we have to take money away from fixed income old people!

Instead of cutting programs or cutting anything associated with GOVERNMENT SPENDING (which is the root of the problem) we get a list of shit we either already pay for or already are taxed on that they want to INCREASE OR DECREASE depending on how best it can get them MORE DAMN MONEY.
YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF OUR DAMN MONEY!!!! Stop trying to get more and make due with what you have!

To be a dad

To be a dad is not being afraid to pick up your vomit soaked son in the middle of the night and rush him to the bathroom so he can hug the toilet and throw up more.
To be a dad is to get hit in the face with a pillow when you least expect it, just so your 3 year old will laugh.
To be a dad is to go that extra mile and get your 3 year old the band aid with Ernie on it, even when he has no boo boo.
To be a dad is to teach your son that the mouse trap can hurt- and NOT to touch it- then to show your son that same mouse trap day after day as if it is new just because he asks.
To be a dad is to show your son your pistol and to explain that is is never to be touched, EVER.
To be a dad is to run beside your son when he tears off down the street in his power wheel- preventing him from turning into traffic.
To be a dad is the best thing ever. To be a dad fills that gap in your life that you did not know existed.
To be a dad makes me happy.

oops

Well it would appear that sprinkler systems and large metal stakes to hold down a moonbounce do not get along. I am waiting for the damage as the poor guy walks around, digs around, futzes around with my sprinkler system to fix the damage that was caused by a mixture of things. Some my fault- others I am not so sure. Let see what the damage is (to my wallet).
I am sure I posted before about my hatred of grass- if not- news flash- GRASS IS STUPID.
We surround our houses with grass for what? So we have something to .....(just interrupted with the bill- $80- not horrible but a lot to pay for a stupid stake). Anyway- I forgot my rant.
Damn grass.
Have a nice weekend.

Good video

Since this came out of VA and it is so important to normal people I thought anyone should read this. It disagrees with what I always thought so since I learned something- maybe you will too!

Why no humor?

So it seems to me this entire blog thing is only any good if it is funny. No one wants to read crap that I bitch about. So I guess I am going to change direction and really only put amusing things up here so maybe people will read it.
What is up with wacked our phrases that I have to enter on websites so they can make sure I am not an automated response. Is it so bad on the internet that we have to challenge the brains of the humans we created it for? I just responded to my wife's block and I had to type in Itidm. WTF is Itidm? Well I will never know because it was WRONG! I had to then type in Pydtmf. I really have no idea what that is either but I did it right and I was given the privilege to post on her blog.
How is it it can be that hard for me to post but I get 150 spam emails a day?
I think Windows is a nice OS. Granted - it has issues but when it comes to functionality and ease of use I have to give the gold star to windows.
Linux and Unix are fine for stability- and even function- but NOT ease of use.
Mac- too closed for me- open up and sell just your OS Apple and I will give it a shot.
Why is it I have .3 acres and when my son rides his power wheel he will find the two piles of dog shit that exist on that .3 acres? Then why is it that dog shit sticks like glue to power wheel tires?
As I blog I am listening to a con call, responding to email, fixing files I broke and the TV is playing in the other room. Am I multi-tasking or am I just ADD?
I go with ADD based on the way this is flowing.
Is it offensive to gay people if I call something so obviously gay, gay in front of a gay? I think I met my gay word quota on that sentence.
Why can I not spell? I went through 12 years of school and then 5 years of college and I can spell no better than a 4th grader. Probably worse. I think I drank away that portion of my brain.
How mean is too mean to an asshole?
Oh well. That is enough for now. I promise to try and be funny in text. I have my challenges!

Ahhh Grilling

So I was talking to a friend and it turns out he is interested in learning how to grill. Grilling and barbecue are two different things. He asked if I had any or knew of any books to help him. I of course do have some I could loan him- and of course I will if he wants them. My issue is that I love grilling so much that I would prefer to show him what I have learned. For me it would be fun to either provide assistance in learning or to run a class from my house. From picking out the equipment needed all the way up to pork, beef, chicken, vegetables, starch and the use of aluminum foil. So all those that are close in proximity to me I would be happy to help either teach you at my house or come to your house and run several live demos. Of course the best way to learn is by doing. So if I am teaching you that means I do nothing by advise and step in if you ask me to.
I have spent the last 15 or so years perfecting my grilling techniques. I have my own preferences and bias but overall my results speak for themselves. I would be happy to pass those results on to you.
Benefits from grilling are:
1) Awesome tasting food
2) lower fat food in some instances (cook with less oil or fat for lubrication)
3) less clean up if you do things the true outdoors way
4) enjoyment of nature while cooking
5) easier to prepare larger quantities of food in less amounts of time
This is just to name a few. So- for those interested- lets set up some time and a course schedule and get started!

In the Minority- get used to it!

So it would seem that my way of thinking is truly and completely in the minority. I guess I am OK with it. For a long time it seemed as if America was truly conservative. It now seems that the country has changed direction. I have felt this way before. In college. I remember the Clinton years- where he acted like a true scumbag. Being a government major I was in classes where things had to be discussed. I remember being the ONLY person in the class to cry foul and disgust at the way Clinton acted. I remember people saying how he was just being persecuted by right wingers. I felt like I was trying to argue with idiots or crazy people. I now know that I was- and what a mistake it was. The simple fact is this. A majority of the population voted in a crazy left wing agenda. That must mean that he majority wants that sort of agenda. We cannot assume that since right wingers were in office for so long and did so much that the American public was right then and wrong now. Right and wrong are subjective in this case by the way. In short- the American public has no idea what it wants. We vote based on knee jerk emotion. Whoever can manipulate those emotions, wins. I doubt a large portion of the population agrees with what Obama is doing 100%. I think far less actually like the job he is doing. I guess I am blathering on that- true conservative thought has gone the way of the dinosaur. I now understand what it feels like to not have a voice. So I will no longer try and convince idealists that I am right (or that I think I am right). I will sit back and watch idealism try and fix the world. Realism can take a back seat for a while- lets see what trying to change the world gets us. So far it is 10% unemployment- and rising.
Strange how idealism gets us higher unemployment and not lower. I would really think that it would be the other way around- IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A JOB- HERE HAVE ONE. I guess that only works for people who want to work.
I wonder- if the world ever got "fixed" would we still have arguments about the right way to fix it? If there was no unemployment, people made good money and the stock market worked fine. If you could get a loan and there was no war. Could we be smart enough to look back and understand who made it utopia for us? I doubt it. We would find something else to argue about- because we are people and we like to argue. We would argue that there is too much good weather- we need more crappy weather. We would argue that our electric cars just do not have enough umpf to get up to 150mph on a race track. We would argue that with no war we have no innovation and with no innovation comes stagnation. We would argue that no one has time to relax because we are all too busy working. We would argue that we have gotten soft and are ripe for other countries in the world to take us over- until we got taken over. Then there would be no more arguing. Utopia cannot exist unless the entire world feels the same. Utopia could not even exist in the beginning with God involved- we spit in his face too. So does it make sense to try and get there? Why not- we have such short memories that we will forget we have utopia 5 minutes after we have it anyway.....

Socks- thats right- socks.

So what the hell is up with socks. I am a dude and I have sweaty feet. I am sorry to be blunt but by the end of the day my feet are swimming in man foot sweat. I am not happy about it- but at the very least they do not smell. It is simple hot foot syndrome. So last year I found a great shoe- Asics- gel shoes. They look like hell but they feel great. They also breath really well. So I can actually feel air moving through the shoe cooling my sweaty feet. So now what I have found is that my socks are the real problem. I cannot find simple low rise white athletic socks that will keep my feet cool. I bought expensive socks with my latest pair of shoes- nike socks. Well this was a massive mistake. The only thing worse than cheap white socks that make my feet sweat, are expensive white socks that make my feet sweat AND SMELL. Last night I was trying these Nike socks for the 4th time- after first wash. I took my socks off at the end of the day and I could not stand the smell of my own feet- if I could run away from them I would have. How the hell can I run away from my own feet?
So I have wasted good money on crappy nike wic comfort athletic socks. WORTHLESS.
Can someone please direct me to a pair of simple cotton socks that are thin enough to let my feet breath? Nothing too hard?
Maybe I just shop in the wrong places.....

Oil Rig

So I have been watching the news lately and have found that down in the gulf of Mexico- 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana an Oil Rig exploded and fell into the ocean. For the first few days I was stunned. Wow- how could an oil rig just explode like that. After that I was worried- wow 11 people cannot be found, I hope they are alright. After that I was sad- crap oil is leaking everywhere and 11 people are dead. Now I am pissed. The more I think about it the more I think that somehow this was a planned event. I have no clue who could have planned it at all. Maybe left wing environmentalists. I have heard the arguments against that theory- Gee they would not want to hurt the environment, how could they execute that, or the best- that is just crazy talk.
Is it? Some time back I read the book "State of Fear" and although it was fiction it was very well researched. It was about fear mongering and how you can control a population with different levels of fear. It also included lots of stories of environmentalist nut jobs who will do anything to further there cause.
These people are willing to do anything to move forward the agenda of saving (insert anything).
I think it is possible.
I also think it is much less likely that the government took an active role in such a thing- but they may have just let it happen.
What would be the purpose?
1) People feel the same way I did- wow that sucks bad- oil rigs = explosions and death
2) People where I live- in VA may start thinking- crap- I do not want this on my coast
3) People mobilize in a direction that they would not have otherwise chosen- such as resisting additional drilling based on recent events- such as an OIL RIG EXPLODING AND SINKING
4) The republican right wing gets upset that the administration puts a halt to drilling until we "find out" what happened. This vilifies the right wing in the perfect amount of time before an election.
5) People raise up arms to the sky and ask WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DRILL AFTER SUCH A DISASTER- so republicans have to let it drop
Results?
No more oil drilling, environmental measures pass without the concession the left made to allow drilling and we move on down the road yet again. 11 people sacrificed and for what? Bird brained ideas that oil drilling will hurt the environment. I tried to google search for previous oil rigs exploding and sinking but I could find none. I tried to remember any ever happening and could find nothing in my memory either.
You have to ask yourself- why all the sudden would an Oil Rig that is off the coast of the USA suddenly explode with no reason? If an airliner exploded above the US for no reason what would people think? Jet fuel is much more explosive than Oil- and the fumes are more explosive than the natural gas- so what would people think? They would think- TERRORISM! But the news I have been watching said nothing of the sort.
In fact maybe it was not left wings- maybe it was arab terrorists who decided they did not want the US to be independent from foreign oil- maybe they thought they would scare us.
Either way the results are not good for this country. More fear and more uncertainty.
I can tell you what will come out-
There was some sort of leak- faulty equipment maybe. Something sparked off the leak and the whole place went up. It was so sudden that 11 people died (did they die? The press is only talking about oil spills now and I am just assuming since that was the last I heard).
Probably some sort of report will come out saying that there were previous safety violations and that the platform was warned several times.
Then of course there will be character assassination of the people who ran the rig.
It will be explained away and people who think as I do that this was a purposeful action by a well organized group of some kind will just be addressed as nut jobs.
This is not a safe world we live in. We are surrounded by people who will do ANYTHING to further an agenda (if it is right or wrong) and we as the American people should not accept what is being spoon fed to us.
There is a saying in my business called FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt). Counter opposing sales people will use FUD as a means to manipulate customers. This method is common and underhanded. Sometimes it is the only way to move forward an otherwise weak agenda. Create FUD.
This oil rig disaster and the resulting media coverage is FUD- see it for what it is.

Top Gear

So last night I sat down to watch my favorite show Top Gear. This show is on BBCA and I have been watching it for several years now. It is a British show and unlike any car shows we have here in the US. It is aimed at entertainment rather than information. However you always happen to learn something along the way. The basis is essentially three British car guys. All with different ways of looking at cars. They clash frequently which is where the fun is. They seem to really like each other the way normal guys like each other. With ribbing and jokes as well as frequent adventures into the inane. So last night they had a special show. It was set in South America- Bolivia specifically. The three guys were tasked with buying used 4-wheel drive vehicles online from the UK to be delivered on a river shore in Bolivia (site unseen). They were then to drive all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The hilarity and amusement ensued and I was totally entertained for almost 2 hours. The crazy thing is that my wife came out of the shower and sat down and started watching with me. Granted- she thought it was a normal 1 hour show (so did I) but we both sat and watched together. She even occasionally laughed (like when one threatened to kill another with a machete). This was probably the best episode of Top Gear I have ever seen. And they are all good. So I have to say- if you are going to watch this show- watch last nights episode. If you are in the UK I am sure it was on last year or some time previous.
You do not have to love cars- just entertainment.

Imagine that- Health Care not for all

So with 100% left wing support, a bill written somewhere (but not in congress) fails to cover those who have real problems- but are TRYING to support themselves. Of course a group of the public that is trying to help themselves get SCREWED by a loophole in this new heath care bill. People who are already in high risk pools paying a fortune will be STUCK There- thanks congress.
WAKE UP PEOPLE. This left wing congress only THINKS it is helping people. In reality they are trying to give a hand up to people who do not want it and pushing down that actually need a hand.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_overhaul_high_risk

Review of Proof

So last week I went into DC on Monday to see Bon Jovi at the Verizon center. This was the first time I had seen Bon Jovi in concert and I have been a fan for many years. The goal was to go to a nice meal before the show. I was with Heather and my wife Amy. Heather and Amy agreed on Proof and I thought it sounded OK.
To put it bluntly this restaurant kicked ass.
Aside from the menu being a little confusing I was blown away by the quality of the food.
We ordered nothing from the first page of the menu- which was mostly cured meat. We ordered gnocchi from the 1st and shared. It was melt in your mouth, buttery, potato goodness. Also some fresh herbs thrown in really livened it up, I was entranced every time I took a bite. What a fantastic way to start. I should say we did order a selection of cheeses before the first course, however I was not overall impressed with those. Since I chose them it is my own fault.
For my primary course I ordered the scallops. They were perfectly seared and each bite brought on a flood of taste and texture. There was no grit at all. This sounds like a given, but I cannot count the amount of times I have ordered scallops in a high end restaurant and gotten grit. The portion size was also perfect and the side dish of warm bread pudding (savory not sweet) was a perfect addition. Everything tasted fresh, clean and wonderful.
For dessert I ordered chocolate bread pudding. It was good- but the other components of the meal stood out as perfect.
A nod to the bar as well. I ordered a Manhattan with Makers Mark- olive- not cherry. It was perfect. I also ordered a Grey goose martini- dry and well shaken. Also perfect.
The experience was not pretentious (something I am always concerned about eating downtown) but welcoming and relaxed. Inside a brief walking distance from the Verizon center it was well placed. I was confused as to why they had open reservations just a few days before the concert and other restaurants in the area were booked. This place will be on my list from now on.
If you have a chance- GO.
http://www.proofdc.com/
The meal was better than the concert. Bon Jovi sounded fine- but I have yet to listen to the new album and he played a lot of songs from it. Overall I would classify it as too mellow. I wanted higher energy stuff. At least he still has his voice and good stage presence.
I could have done without the giant pictures of Obama and Oprah in the opening song (on the LCD screens).

I wonder if my wife reads this.....

So I was happy living my life when I got an email this morning from Motor Trend. 2011 Mustang GT first test. Since I have already heard a lot about it I thought I would take a look.
The reason for the title is because I WANT A 2011 mustang GT. What a bad ass car. Having owned two mustang 5.0s in the past it is easy to see why my interest is peaked. My issue was that I outgrew the car. I had a 1987 5.0 LX hatch. It was hot, fast and got me in a lot of trouble. So much trouble I had to sell the car or risk never driving again (the only car I ever outran a cop in). No one was ever hurt- but I sure paid a lot of money to the state, county and State Farm.....
Second was years later- a 1995 GT. I loved it- but sadly as I got older and had to drive more the cramped interior was something I could not deal with . It was also a harsh ride and my wife tended to hate it (she was not my wife at the time). So I have watched the Mustang and I have waited. I have waited to see it grow up as I have.
It seems that day has finally come. Ford in general seems to understand what the American public wants. They are producing more and more cars, SUV, crossover, and pickups that seem to hit the mark dead on. So much so that when I was searching for a car for my wife I decided to give them a shot. I ended up not buying one directly- but a re-badge- re done ford. A Mazda.
So far we love it.
So back to the Mustang. I was waiting for it to grow up. I was waiting for more leg room. That came years ago and has been increasing. As I was writing this I sadly determined the next statement
My current car has 43.9 inches of front leg room (BTW I am 6'3" so legroom is important)
My 1995 mustang had 42.5.
The new 2011 Mustang has 42.4 How did that happen Ford???? I could swear that Legroom increased at least an inch with the re-design a few years ago. But the numbers do not lie.
Oh well. Just to make sure I was not crazy I went and checked- the 2005 has 42.7 inches. Not a massive difference but something strange is going on with Legroom.
In any case here are the things that caught my interest:
Performance- this thing blows the doors off the Camero with better gas mileage and better drive ability! Not to mention it still has a Solid Rear Axle. How Ford achieves the handling of a .92g through the course with a solid rear axle? I have no clue....
Next is the engine. They squeeze so much power out of a normally aspirated 5.0 (real- not 4.9 this time) engine. Bravo. That takes real engineering!
In addition- and this sounds lame but for any Married dude out there- he can attest. It now has dual climate control as an option. I am not sure this has existed before- but it does for sure now and I am amazed! In my 95 the heated seats helped- but ever since then having dual zone has been a must- it makes for less arguments and happiness!
The Synch system is now an option- and Nav has been but remains to be.
So lets do the math- the Mustang now has most of the features that I look for. I am sure other features are missing that my 2007 came with like
Memory seats
rain sensing wipers
Bi-Xenon headlights
Cooled seats (although Ford does offer this on Lincoln)
So of course- there is no way I could get rid of my Lexus for this car- especially since it is bought and paid for. BUT.... if I could save my money and have a second car, a toy. Maybe in a few years when my son is out of day care and costs decrease. Maybe by then I could save enough to have this new awesome Ford. By then there will be some used GT premiums out there that I could pick up for a steal....
I wonder if I would be cramped..... Oh well. No test drive for me- too dangerous.
For those that want to read the article

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_1003_2011_ford_mustang_gt_premium_test/index.html

Oil Drilling

So it seems our good president has agreed to Oil Drilling off the coast of VA. FANTASTIC. I am very happy that we will be drilling for Oil in areas that we have not before. It is long over due. Now the questions arise. WHY Mr. Obama would you suddenly change tac and move in the right direction? For a simple reason of course. His agenda needs to be fulfilled. He must get a climate/energy bill passed now. The only way to do that is to make concessions and allow us to actually have more energy.
So lets do the Math- WAR BAD- PULL TROOPS. On my last check we still have troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Not that I thought he would- but we can hope.
DRILLING BAD- so lets go ahead and drill.

I wonder if he says- that is a great idea- I am glad I thought of it......

And Health Care Already Suffers

Great job US Government. As predicted big business is taking out the pain on the American worker. The American people knew this would happen and now- just a week later we see it in action. You raise the costs to American big business, they pass it along by reducing benefits. All so the poor can get coverage. STOP TAKING FROM THE PRODUCTIVE TO HELP THE NON PRODUCTIVE!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100326/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_at_t_health_care

Update to Logitech Remote

After my annoyance was peaked with Logitech I resigned myself to go ahead and go through the install.
It took a lot of setup time. More due to fine tuning than anything else BUT..... Both rooms are now up and running without flaws (mostly anyway). I have to say- as annoying as it was to get up and running- at least it works. In my research I did find other high end remotes out there that probably would have been a good choice as well.
Here is something that I did NOT think would work but it did.
Old Harmony 890 remote in my Media Room. Media closet houses all components- including my Sat receiver and PS3. The media closet is behind the seating area so there is no line of site at all to the closet- and it is fully enclosed so it works well.
I hooked up the RF extender- this is a little device that converts RF signals out of the remote and converts to IR for the components. I used to have an RF extender that had a little stick on RF light for every component. It was a spider web of wires (and about as thin) and it was ugly. The Logitech blasts IR light out to the whole closet at once and it actually works! No more spider web. Second- the PS3 adapter requires direct line of sight! That's right- an adapter for BLUETOOTH WIRELESS requires IR to work. The good news is that it works fine with the RF extender. So commands from my 890 go to the RF extender-to the PS3 adapter-to the PS3 and they seem to work. Aside from some fast scrolling left to right when I did not want it- everything else seems fine.
The new Harmony one remote is nice for the family room. The fine tuning was again around the Mitsubishi TV- the HDMI port switching causes so many problems. But the remote had a function to work around this and with some minor testing it seems to work fine.

Now that I have a nice remote in my media room I think the next upgrade will be Z-wave lighting. The only thing that has ever bothered me about my media room has been the light switch location. The 890 remote has the ability to control Z-wave lights so I will add in 3 Z-wave switches (on the outside of the media room) and hopefully when I turn on everything and hit play the lights will instantly dim. Then when I press pause or stop the lights will come back up. At $50 a pop for the switches those will have to wait.....

Love Affair with Logitech is at an END

So many of you know I have an obsession with Home theater and technology. I have found in the past that Logitech makes a pretty awesome remote. I have used a Logitech in my family room for years now with good results. I decided I would upgrade my antiquated media room remote for a new logitech with Birthday money. So begins the saga.
Here are the problems I have encountered:
1) I had to choose a Logitech remote that could work with an RF extender- I thought this was taken care of because I had an unused RF extender that I got with my 890 remote. I was not using it because I had direct line of site to all my components in my family room. So I thought- great- I will check to see if it works. I checked the Logitech website and I guess I did not check deep enough. I THOUGHT it was supported. Turns out- it was not supported and would not be supported. They sell the same remote with the extender and they sell the extender seperate- but I am not sure why. This is the first annoyance.
Solution- use the new Harmony One remote I bought in the family room and move my 890 downstairs- as long as the PS3 adapter I bought will work with the 890- it is said to but I have not tried it yet due to OTHER problems.
2) So I go to upgrade my 890 remote in the family room and when I bring up the software it says- sure you can upgrade- just add the new remote- but there is NO WHERE TO ADD A NEW REMOTE- only remove the old one. So I call tech support.
Here I learn the following:
A) You have to have a NEW ACCOUNT FOR EVERY NEW REMOTE YOU BUY- the accounts will not touch and you cannot move settings from one to the other
B) There is no direct upgrade path from the 890 remote to anything else- which means I have to start from scratch!
C) There is no way to pass along my complaints to development or management- the Indian (dot not Dancing with Wolves) is all I get.
So I decide instead of going through a return process I will just deal with starting from scratch and make sure the world knows- LOGITECH IS FINE FOR 1 REMOTE- JUST DO NOT BUY ANOTHER AND DO NOT UPGRADE!
Man am I pissed at companies that treat customers this way. It all boils down to development costs- Logitech has left all customers out in the cold with an 890 remote (I asked- is there ANYTHING I can BUY to just have a smooth upgrade- response- NO).
Not to mention creating a brand new account in the SAME DAMN SOFTWARE just to control a different remote. This is poor development, poor planning and most of all- it just annoys me.
DO BETTER LOGITECH!

There goes the Nation....

So just as I predicted our Nation is on a crazy ride to socialist hell. I predicted before the Obanation was elected that our Country would choose him, move WAY far to the left, regret it and then hopefully over correct and move WAY back over to the right. So far I am 2/3 of the way there. In November and then the next Presidential election I will be 100% right.
How can it be that even the left wing liberal media is even reporting this new health care legislation accurately. They are saying flat out- massive tax increase, if you earn a lot of money you will pay for this and so on....
This country did not want THIS legislation. As usual the government does not hear the WHOLE story. We wanted reform. We want the $200 aspirin problem fixed. We did NOT want this bill passed. This was not the way to fix it. I am sick of the government attitude of doing something has to be better than doing nothing. That is not TRUE. LISTEN TO US. We have seen what you can do. We all think you have done enough work for the next 4 years. Just stop now and rest.

Fantastic Birthday

Well yesterday I had my birthday. I am in my mid-30's and I am not very happy about it. Not for the usual reasons, loss of youth, yearning for the past, my own mortality, starting to look like shit.... Nope. I just am tired of getting older. I would prefer to just not get any older. Not for any of the reasons I listed- but just because segmenting my life into years seems strange. Phases seem to make much more sense.
Kid phase
Tween phase
teen phase
young adult
adult
old adult
dead.
I think that is enough- celebrate the passing of each with the events that make them so. I passed from young adult to adult as soon as I had a kid.
I plan to move to old adult once my kid has left the house. I do not plan on dieing but I expect it will happen anyway. These events should be marked with large parties and some mourning for the past. But to see life slip away year after year is almost like self torture. My life now changes based on my son's advancement. As for me there are minor changes in life but nothing major beyond what happens with my family.
So as you can see- if life stays pretty much the same except for the major events that mark it why do we have birthdays?
GIFTS. I really think people like getting gifts. I know I do so I guess that makes birthdays OK. Also getting treated like I am special is very nice. It makes me feel good. Funny thing is that I feel special every day when I am around my family. So yeah, gifts.
My wife spoiled me as usual (so did my sis and my parents). I do enjoy the special treatment.

So I guess in conclusion I enjoy the special treatment but I do feel special all the time. Random gifts would be cooler than a set time for them.
History is marked with wars, our lives should be marked with major events. Birthdays do nothing but make us remember that we are mortal, after all.

Light at the end

I do believe we are near the end of the tunnel when it comes to snow. Of course I will post this and 2 days later get hit with a massive snow storm- but I think that is covered by the lion clause.
As far as I can tell the bad weather (bad meaning feet of snow falling) has come to an end. This is pleasant news since I have just purchased a new (to me) ATV. After much research and worry I decided on a 2008 Suzuki King Quad. More on that in a minute.
For those who understand little about the ATV market I will explain. First it is fun as hell playing with powersports. Little regard for public laws such as speed limits, right turn lanes, stop lights and so forth. Of course safety is a concern so I wear gear to protect myself- but beyond those rules there is an overwhelming sense of freedom. Imagine riding a beast of a machine through the woods over boulders, trees, mud, and whatever else you happen upon. Imagine hanging out with your friends who like to do the same thing. Imagine stretching your mind to figure out the best way up a rock covered mountain. All these things are what equal fun to me.
I know, it is not for everyone- but it is for me. Now- Why did I not buy American? I hate to say it but this country has moved from an engineering country to a services country. We started simply with manufacturing in the early 1900's and have moved totally away from it. This means that products in this country are a little sub par. We can talk about the high end computing part of the world later- (which is NOT the same as most other things) but for now cars as well as ATV's come better from Japan.
I know- what about Toyota recalls? I own a Toyolexus and I do not care. My floor mat was included in the recall. it has not moved- it will not move and it is fine. Idiots are the reason for a majority of the recalls. Since I am not one I will continue on.
I checked all major brands of ATV- this is what I was looking for...
Power- more power than my old one had since I always seemed a little short in trying to keep up.
IRS (independent rear suspension) this is important in keeping planted- since my old ATV fell off a cliff this was important to me.
Diff lock- for those that do not know diff lock means TRUE 4 wheel drive- not 3 wheel like what my Honda had.
Comfort- my older Honda hurt my ass.
reliability- I do not want to work on an ATV every other week so I can ride it once a month.
Other nice features that come along for the ride are a digital dash readout, nice wheels, tires and a winch (not a wench).

The best choice for reliability came down to a couple Jap models. The way I cam to this conclusion was RESEARCH. Instead of taking name brand into account I researched ALL ATV brands. I included location of dealerships to me into the mix so the only brand not included was Arctic Cat- there are just no close dealerships and no way to get parts if something does happen to break.
So- CanAm- junk- so many issues I cannot list them all here- research the chat boars and find many things that suck- also no true locker for the front diff and the cost is unusually high for a machine without a true diff lock.
Honda- lacking most features above- the lowest power of all Big Bore machines (BTW- I wanted a big bore for the power)- also reliability issues in the tranny on earlier models
Kawasaki- Japanese but still poor construction- bad Radiator placement means overheating all the time
Poloaris- horrible diff design, horrible electronics design (meaning open electronics to the weather), bad record for overheating as well
Suzuki - earlier models had battery drain issues for bad wiring- but later models fixed this- more to come
Yamaha- Gas boiling, vapor lock or whatever you want to call it is a massive problem. No one can agree if it is truly gas boiling or vapor lock. Either way it is a reliability concern and ultimately
No name brand = not enough info to buy- also limited options and parts availability

I chose the Suzuki- but was only shopping for a 2008 or newer based on the battery drain issue. I hope it holds up and gives me the reliability that it promises. It has everything else I want and seems nice.

So I started down this path because it seems the weather for next weekend (SAT) looks like 50 and sunny. This means I may get to ride my new ATV for the first time! WOOHOO. Cannot wait.

Comments

Great comments- keep them up! I do go back and add responses in the comments section- as I go back and read. I like 'em!
As far as the old lady, Mark, I did let it go- I was more angry at the security guard for being a retard.
You are totally right- the DMV was that way before and as a teenager I did suffer from form problems and waste lots of time. In fact I thought this system was good until the line for info stretched all the way across the DMV. Guess what- idiots gather there and choke it up too- strange thing is that idiots can gather anywhere at any time and hinder progress. Heck- check out congress- it seems to attract the largest number of idiots who get nothing done and hinder progress.

Vast Left Wing conspiracy at the Grocery store

So I have uncovered a conspiracy designed to annoy and frustrate us good citizens. It appears that the left wing has researched and discovered products widely used by my family. They in turn destroy the supply channel for these products thus making me waste my valuable time going from store to store trying to find them.
Products affected are:
Aveno Shave Gel
Oatmeal Breakfast cookies (chocolate chip- however ALL flavors have been effected)

It is a strange occurrence but I have gone to multiple stores (of different types) and they are out of the exact same products. At the exact same time. So either it is just as I said above or some crazy distribution channel problem at the manufacturer. The cookies and the gel are two different manufacturers so I am guessing it is a distributor problem. Alas I am not an expert in grocery store supply chain so I must simply guess that this is a vast conspiracy against me and my family. I will keep the world updated on the war in the grocery store (hey that rhymes).

At the DMV

First- how annoying that I cannot write a post on my blackberry. Maybe my next smart phone will be smart enough to write a blog post- but not my current one.
In any case- an egregious disrespect of the customers at the DMV took place. This may upset some- it may outrage others. My opinion is that everyone, EVERYONE should wait in line the same way. No special privileges should be given. Why? Because it is not FAIR. We all pay the same and it is a government service- so no special privilege should be given. Today I waited 30 minutes in the INFO line. That's right- before I ever got a NUMBER I had to wait for all the illegal aliens, teens that had suspended licenses (I know because I could hear the questions being asked) and general population like myself. 30 minutes to say- please give me a number so I can get a new title. Finally I get my number and sit down. a minute later a poor old woman with a walker makes her way across the floor with the security guard in tow. She had just gotten there and asked for help. He took her to the front of the still very extensive line and made her "next". As he walked by me I heard him say to her- no you do not have to wait- I will take you right up here. She asked- In front of all those people? He said "yes". I was glad I already had my number because if I did not I would have been asshole of the the year when I complained about this practice. Here is the problem. The DMV should know and understand the customer base. They should KNOW and understand that lines will form. They should know and understand that people that come in may not be able to STAND for 30 minutes in a slow moving line. They should compensate somehow so all people are treated the same. Back in the old days you just took a number and sat down. Now you have to wait in line to take a number. WTF? So I guess we will need to take a number to take a number because there were MORE than enough seats for people to sit in. That nice old lady could have waited just like everyone else.
It seems wrong, but in reality it was wrong for her to cut in line and it was wrong for the security guard to make her.
Thoughts? Who else would sign up to be a massive a-hole? Who would stay silent? Who would welcome her to the front of the line so they could wait even longer to get a number?
Sound off.

For my B-day

So I was putting together my Birthday list today and realized there is not that much that I want. At least not that much that is cheap that I want. This makes it hard for other people to purchase gifts for me. I do apologize. I do not think there was one thing on my list for under $100. I guess there comes a time in life when your wants exceed your friends and family ability to buy.
What people do not understand is that I am totally OK with no gifts at all. A simple happy B-day makes me happy. I plan to get all the little gadgets and cool things in my own time.
So Here is the short list- A new receiver for the family room that can handle HDMI switching- why? Because I have devices that are not compatible on the HDMI spec- some turn on and off when they are switched past HDMI- others do not- this makes it impossible to program my harmony remote with any ease. So to have an HDMI switch up to the TV would make things so much easier. The TV is the real problem.....
I also want a new harmony remote to replace my old Osiris remove in my media room- of course I have to have the PS3 attachement so I can again have single use remote capability down there.
I want new timberland shoes (not boots). They are waterproof and they feel great. My old ones are getting too old.
I want a Storm 2. This is a tough decision but I made it with a lot of trials and typing on the touch screen. It is nice enough so that I can type an email in 90% of the time it takes on my curve and I expect I will be even faster as I get used to it. What I really like is the fast scroll capability of a large touch screen. I also like the additional real estate on the screen for looking at attached documents- like spreadsheets.
I really wants some nice screw drivers. I am sick of having lame screw drivers. Hey- maybe this will be cheaper than $100?
Of course I want a new ATV as well- but that is NOT on my B-day list. I have to go out and buy that myself. But first I have to find what I want.
I want a big bore- which means 600+CC. I want a newer model- recent. With low miles and low hours. I do NOT want Polaris, Arctic cat or Kawasaki. All have reliability concerns to me. I do not think I want a Honda either- they are under powered and do not offer a front Diff lock- GET WITH IT HONDA
I want either a Suzuki King Quad, a Yamaha Grizzly, Can-Am Outlander (yeah right- crazy expensive). The problem is that all ATV models have issues. With the Suzuki it is a battery drain/hard start issue- but with the 750 (out in 2008) that solved those issues- so 2008 or newer. With the Yamaha it is a boiling gas/pressure issue. Apparently a check valve solves this- so either I do not that myself or find one that has already been fixed. Right now I cannot seem to find one inside of driving distance that fits my criteria. The search continues.

Negative?

So my wife has been kind enough to point out how negative I am. Strange since I always thought I was positive. I was positive that I was positive. Oh well. It would seem that I do focus on negative things. It bothers me to know how negative I can be. Is there anyway to change that negative feeling that creeps up inside every time I see something annoying? I have friends that appear to me to be more negative than myself. At least I notice the negativity and focus on it. Maybe that is the key, I only see negative behavior and negative actions because that is what I look for. Is this hard wired? Where does it come from. It is strange because I am truly happy. I would not change a thing about my life- it is wonderful. I am truly blessed and I know I am blessed. But in my day to day life I want to kill people who cannot drive, I want to smack idiots who do not know how to use the self checkout at the store, I want to shake people I overhear talking about things they have not the slightest idea about. Is this negative or is it just me?

Our Government

So for those of you who do not know. I graduated college with a government and international politics degree. I went after this degree after realizing that I could not pass calculus in my business degree. I also had issues with accounting, primarily because I did not pay much attention. Either way I went to government as a degree because it has always interested me. Because of my parents I grew up with conservative values. Due to this slant I have been a registered Republican since I was 18. My issue is that the more I learn, the more I dislike our government. Not what it is supposed to be, but what it actually is. Our government is a sham. We have fallen for a power struggle by a small group of rich people that run our country. I doubt very much a total underlying agenda to manipulate. I really think that in this two party system we have created for ourselves that we have allowed a VERY small group of people to have most of the power. The reason I dislike this is because a majority of people in office are wealthy. This does not make any sense since the mean income in American income is right around $50k according to Wiki. So my issue is that a congressman makes around $165k plus benefits. Granted they do have to work in a very expensive city but adjusting for this fact should put the income MUCH lower. I think the only way to fix our government is to elect people who work in every day jobs. People have to be educated to a certain extent, but I think the pay check should be lowered to the mean- $50k. The president should also not make as much as he does. The reason is due to public service. Our government officials are serving us- and yet we pay them a crap load and give THEM all the power. It should not be this way. The people should keep the power. It is hard to do this with an electoral college but we can do it with local elections, we can do it with national elections for local districts. We just cannot do it for the president. So here is what I propose. Do not vote for any candidate that is in a "party". Vote for an independent. It is easy these days to find all about people on the Internet. It is crazy cheap to start a blog. So I propose that we vote for those who do not belong to our corrupt system of politics. We vote for those who share our core values. Not for those who SAY they share our values and then go to Washington only to become corrupt the very same day. I ask this question. If an uprising where to ocure and no one was to vote for any of the candidates proposed by the parties- what would happen? Could we not dissolve the political parties and start over?
Cleaning house has to start at the foundation. Our method for elections is wrong. We keep ending up with the same problem. The people are never served.
Help me fix it.

Can I say more snow again?

OK- so I said it all last time and I cannot repeat myself. Yes- we are getting MORE snow.
I just did something really stupid and this time I did not suffer for it. I was trying to knock down some wicked long ice sickles from my house. I decided a nice long aluminum rod (off subject but I think it is cool how the brits say aluminium) anyway- I achieved my goal for a few- then went for more. I decided I would throw the rod because the larger ice pops were too far away. Well I was stupid because there was a giant bay window right behind this ice sickle. How stupid can you get!? Well I was lucky- I missed the ice and lost the rod in a snow bank- but DAMN lucky I did not break a window right before the impending storm....
In other news VDOT sucks
In yet other news Verizon wireless seems to listen to complaints and does not do anything about bad policy but apologize. I guess that is better than nothing.....
I am now jealous of the other BLOG I read- Bobbo's blog. It looks much nicer than mine- sadly I do not care enough to change mine.

Review

So I figured that with the qty of times my family and I eat out that I should start reviewing the restaurants here on my BLOG. For not other reason that I have experienced a lot of food and restaurants and I always like a sounding board.
As a preface Northern VA is the land of chain restaurants so a lot of the restaurants I re view will be chains. This sort of defeats the purpose on the food front but not on the most important front- service.
Last night we all went out to eat to the local Ruby Tuesdays. There is nothing more "chain" than Ruby Tuesdays but due to recent experience we decided going back again was worth a shot. The food is always just OK. And in fact we did not order much- just soup and salad- BUT. The manager of this particular Ruby Tuesdays is the best manager I have ever seen. She is keenly aware of all customers needs and gets involved. There was a period of time when our waiter was not by to check on us and my water glass was empty. The manager came by to ask if I was waiting on a refill- I told her no, the waiter had not been buy. In about 30 seconds she had someone bring me more water. She then proceeded to come by later when we were looking for the check and tell us our meal was on the house. I told her no way- I would not accept it because overall the service was fine and the meal was fine. We paid and told her we very much appreciated the attention.
The points are:
1) She knew who we were from only being in there twice before
2) She made sure we (and all the other customers) were taken care of
3) She made our meal pleasant with conversation and being involved.

These actions turn a normal run of the mill chain into a friendly local establishment. More restaurants could learn from her and of course we will return.
The sad fact is that generally these fantastic managers end up moving on up and we never seen them again. I hope she gets a promotion but I also hope others can learn from her lead.
CHEERS!

More Damn SNOW!

OK- so I have lived in the DC area for most of my life. Moving here when I was around 5 years old. I find the weather to be nice. We get all 4 seasons and each has it's own wonderful aspects (well except winter I guess). The summers are hot and steamy- hot enough at night to drive with windows down and to wear shorts. I love the summers. Granted the 90+ degree days with high humidity can be tough- but overall the summers are nice. Springs are usually a bit cold but lately they have been crisp, clear and with great sunny weather. Perfect for jeans and a T-shirt. Fall is a favorite- the trees change and the weather stays nice and reasonable for a long time- from Sept through the beginning of Dec. Now lets talk about the winter. Normally we get a little snow- I say little because it never amounts to much- maybe 2-3 inches 2-3 times a season. Maybe some ice. Mostly rain and a bunch of bad forecasts. Something has happened this winter. We have already had 1 bad snow fall and a few minor snow falls and winter is only half over. Now they are saying this weekend we will get hammered by another 2 feet of snow. This will be close to 5 feet total this season. As far as I can remember this is the worst winter we have had in this area. I can remember several significant snow falls over the years- usually every 5 to 6 years, however this is the first time I remember so much snow in the same season. It is killing me. I hate it. Thank god I decided to break down and buy a snow blower before the first huge snow. That was the best $400 I have ever spent. So I have to give credit where credit is due. I have complained for years that the weathermen in the DC area suck. Well, they generally do. In this case they have predicted EVERY last snow fall and the amounts almost perfectly. Good for them. So they should be proud and happy that they know before the rest of us (actually know).
So I guess I am sick of snow, sick of cold and sick of Winter. Because of this I will be burning extra fossil fuels, doing my part to bring on global warming. The reason? Because if it is actually possible for humans to impact the environment SO easily and we are the cause of global warming, then I wish it to happen faster. I really see no problem with it. What happens? My environment gets a few degrees warmer, the sea level rises a bit (which means I am close to the sea), and I get less damn snow. More rain is OK- but less damn snow is what I want. I honestly think if all of us tried to impact the environment to warm faster that we would be in better shape from the mid-Atlantic states on up.
What I do not get is that most liberals believe in evolution almost entirely. If this was the case then why have we not adapted better to lets say:
1) The cold- we LOST all our hair rather than growing more. We have lived in places like Alaska and Siberia for thousands of years with no base level change to a simple thing like hair.
2) The sun. For as long as humans have lived on earth we have had the Sun. It provides life as well as warmth. And yet if we look at it we go blind. You would think our eyes would have adapted to such a powerful thing. Cave dwelling animals give up eyes after only 3 or 4 generations- but those of us in the sunlight have not done anything to adapt to the strong ass sun blinding us if we simply look up for any period of time. Not to mention more melanoma rather than less. I know, I know. The melanoma is because we have destroyed our environment letting the sun in through the Ozone Layer. BS.

The simple fact of the matter is that God put us here and our adaptation is not fast enough to change to the environment that is perfect for us to thrive. It seems rather strange to me.
So on that note- Burn more fuel- change our environment to much warmer if you can and maybe we can stop all the damn snow. It is good for NOTHING (unless you like skiing).

True Justice

I have to give it to Darwin on this one.....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100203/od_nm/us_slovenia_dogs_odd

Taxes, Taxes and More taxes

So for those of you who do not follow my daily craziness I wrecked my ATV a few months back. I had a good friend who helped me sell it - but for only a fraction of what I would need to replace it. So I had been waiting for a bonus check to come in so I could afford to replace it- bingo the check came in last week and wouldn't you know it- taxes killed just enough to leave none left over for ATV luxuries. The interesting thing is that I finished up our Tax return this morning and found that hey- there may be enough to replace the ATV fund that was missing from the taxes taken out of the bonus check. I guess you can call me even Steven. Either way I am totally excited about getting a replacement ATV that has better technology (and is hopefully safer for it) in the near future. Maybe even Friday! My issue is WEATHER. So what the hell- I live in the DC area and we are going to get hammered by ANOTHER snow storm. I did not sign up for all this snow. We need to send it back to the great white north.....

Responsiveness and other things

Responsiveness - it would seem that responsiveness runs in my family. A simple post, email and comment have gotten my Dad's attention and he now follows my blog. No response to any of the three except action. I like it.
I tend to respect Responsiveness because those who respond are generally those who care. I have built my career on being responsive. So what if you do not know the answer- respond and let people know that you will get it. Or just say that you are working on it- whatever- JUST RESPOND.
With that being said I think I will continue with cars.
We purchased the Mazda CX9 (2010) to replace our Jeep. If you do not know what Jeep I am speaking of then start reading posts in order dammit.
I narrowed down the vehicles based on my wife's criteria and my own. The Criteria is as follows:
1) It had to have equal to or greater cargo space than the Jeep.
2) It had to have reasonable get up and go- with the knowledge that with better gas mileage we most likely will not get equal performance to the Jeep
3) It had to have all the feel good features that make a vehicle nice to ride in- things like dual or Tri-zone climate control, memory seats, keyless entry and exit, keyless starting, power liftgate and so on
4) it had to look decent
5) The service center had to be somewhat close.
6) It had to have some towing capacity for my ATV habit.
So after reviewing most options out there I came to the conclusion that the CX9 was the best possible choice. The interesting thing is that towing capacity ruled out certain vehicles I really liked and the interior options ruled out most of the rest. All Toyota products were ruled out because they do not have Memory seats- crazy! You have to buy a Lexus. Nissan was out because they did not offer the get up and go and handling aspects- or the interior space, GM was out because all the options they offer were HUGE to drive and crazy expensive. Oh yeah- did I mention that cost was a driving force too?
Ford had a good option in the new flex but the cost again was much higher for all the options and features (of course the boosted 6cyl was the engine choice). I would have chosen the ford if I could have gotten the boosted engine and all the same options the Mazda had for just a few thousand more- but I could not. It came out to about $7-8k more!.
The Mazda out the door price LOADED was $36k.
We have had it now for about a month and I have to say it is such a nice vehicle. It has some quirks that you would not otherwise know unless you bought it. Like for instance the memory seats are JUST for the seats- not for the mirrors- which is different than most.
It handles so well- and the pickup is just fine. It is REALLY comfortable and the stereo is not bad for BOSE.
My first Mazda is so far well liked. But I liked the Jeep in the first month too- after that it went downhill fast.....

My Own Father and other things

So I just realized that my own father reads Bobs Blog and not mine! What does this say about the status of my relationship with my father? I guess either I am not that interesting or, much more likely, he just lost the email I sent that had my Blog address. Or he forgot, or whatever. Either way it bothers me. In other news I am super excited because we turn in our worthless Jeep Grand Cherokee this week and wash our hands of it for ever. It was a 39 month lease and we are way under on the miles we bought so hopefully we will be one of the rare cases where we get money back rather than cutting a huge check.
Reasons why I hate our 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi:
1) Gas mileage- it never achieved better than 13.8 on average. This is the worst gas mileage of ANY 8 cyl engine I have even driven. It is supposed to have cyl cut off for highway mileage but I never saw ANY difference on ANY highway trip EVER. The funny thing was I could tow a couple thousand pounds and it would STILL be 13-14mpg. WTF?
2) The design of the rear seat. It made it highly difficult for a normal baby seat (front facing) to be installed properly! Why? because the headrest was affixed permanently to the seat and was designed to fold down automatically when you fold the seat down. IT WAS NOT REMOVABLE. In addition the seat could not be tilted back. So what did I have to do to get a baby seat to fit? I had to stick a screw driver up into the foam of the rear headrest, find a hidden release- remove the headrest and then turn it around and put it back on to cover the large metal SPIKES sticking out of the seat. I like to cover large metal spikes that are right over my baby's head and designed to fold in on him. So even in doing this it was difficult to get the seat to sit properly. I had to FORCE the seat BACK against the jeep seat to get it at the proper angle.
3) A wind leak in the windshield that was never fixed by the dealer- not until the windshield broke and was replaced did the wind leak go away- this means the windshield FROM THE FACTORY was bad and the dealership was too stupid to replace it
4) the Nav system- what a PIECE OF CRAP
5) The seats were hard and thin
6) The shocks that hold up the hood FAILED and will no longer hold the hood up- I have to use a piece of wood
7) the battery died- and the brand new expensive battery I installed not more than 6 months ago seems like it is dieing- this means there is either an electrical draw, the starter is sucking WAY too many amps or the alternator is not charging properly- either way for a 3 year old vehicle this is just crazy
8) Not enough room to ride shotgun in front of my kid
9) It handles like a truck and yet it is a unibody construction- It also is not that great off road to warrant such horrible suspension (yes it is trail rated)
10) Combine all these things from up above and I get the last reason- RESALE value- I could not get out of the lease earlier because the Jeep is worth nothing- probably because the rest of the world knows all these things I mention above and does not want to own it either.
What a nightmare- I am so glad that this vehicle was leased and not purchased. I am also glad that it is going away for ever.

We replaced the Jeep with a Mazda CX-9. I will publish soon about why this is such a nice vehicle and the buying process.

Finding Time to "blog"

So I have found it hard to keep up with blogging. Although I enjoy putting my thoughts here for anyone to read I have found little time to actually do it. The reason has been:
1) Business travel
2) my son who takes a lot of my free time when I have energy
3) Other hobbies which include reading, watching TV as well as gaming and movie watching.

Because of all of the above I have found little time to put anything up in the past week or so. Also I have gigantic hands so typing a blog message on my BlackBerry would be a waste of time. I am not sure how people keep up with things like this. I think I just created another job for myself....

Barbecue and Grilling

Although I did not mention it in my first post a strong passion of mine is grilling and now barbecue. There is a distinct difference between the two. I have been grilling since just after high school so about 16 years now. I feel I am a high level griller. I have practiced and I think I know the right methods. First and foremost this post is inspired by my trip to the store. I just got back and I stopped myself from saying something to the guy who was ahead of me in line. He had match light charcoal AND lighter fluid- he also bought cigarettes but I will save my rant on that for another day.
Anyway- guys (or girls)- first- when you are grilling buy either regular lump charcoal (WITH NO LIGHTER FLUID ADDED) or the lump wood charcoal. Do not buy match light. It is for people who like the taste of lighter fluid. And to buy both at the same time indicates that you want to start a very large fire. I can only hope that this dude was interested in just creating a fire and not cooking anything. I can hope this because he bought no meat at all.
In any case- I am sure some are asking- WELL HOW DO I START THE FIRE? Here is how:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100657893&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100657893&ci_src=14110944&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D28X-_-100657893&locStoreNum=4647&marketID=43

There are 10 gazillion of these on the market now and you should really try it. YES it takes a little longer (20 minutes) but it is worth it. Even if you are cooking for 1 or 2 it is worth it. It means all you need is a few sheets of news paper and the charcoal mentioned above. No fluid and no helper charcoal. This will improve the taste of the meat a WHOLE bunch. Also- do some research on cooking times. I cannot count the number of times I have eaten WAY overdone hamburgers, steak, chicken or whatever that was done on the grill by someone who had no clue what they were doing. The only thing that really bothers me is steak- the others I can take or leave but PLEASE do not ruin a good steak. for a decent cut of meat it will only need about 4 minutes on each side on a REALLY hot fire. This is for med to med rare. If you want it cooked more than that then so be it ( it makes it more dry and not as tasty) then cook longer. This is over a HOT fire- that is coals that you cannot get your hand near.
ALSO- REST the damn meat. Rest means you take it off the fire and wrap it on a plate with some tin foil. Let it rest for half the cooking time at least. This lets the juice redistribute. It do you do not rest you will ruin your steak.
Seasoning is so important. It is tough for a lot of people to OVER SEASON. Most people under season food. Make sure that you pick the right season and that you apply it liberally. Taste the season and see if you like it. If you doubt your own pallet then ask someone else to taste it.
I have various combos of season for steak depending on cut and mood.
Here are some:
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Either kosher salt or season salt ( I am a little sick of season salt but I liked it for a long time)
fresh cracked black pepper. BOTH sides of the meat if it is any thicker than 1". if it is thin then just do one side.

I have others- do not be afraid to try new things.

Now- barbecue- this is a whole other post and I will handle later. I doubt that dude at the store was buying charcoal for barbecue so I will wait to post on that until I am inspired.

Why not Blog?

So I was just asked by someone.... Do you Blog? I responded that I did not because since no one listens to me in real life why should I post about it online? Then I read the blog that was being advertised and I liked reading it. So since I felt compelled to comment on someone Else's blog I figured I would write my own. It is not true- lots of people do listen to me in real life. Maybe if I write a blog people can treat my advise like most people- take it or leave it on the Internet. That way I can stop dishing it out to every person I meet like bad cafeteria coleslaw. I am not sure why I am compelled to share my thoughts or advise with people. I guess there is some deep compulsion down inside that leads me to share. I am considered an expert in my line of work and I provide that advise to customers and potential customers on a regular basis. That is the only area that I am actually a certified expert. In my personal life I just try and learn as much as I can in as many areas as I can. I guess I will stop sharing that information on a random ad hoc basis and I will post thoughts here. Take them or leave them. I guess I should bookmark this page so I remember to post.
Areas that I feel I have a lot of experience and can help people are:
IT (either enterprise or home based)
Multimedia- depending on my personal interests- somethings do not interest me so I would decline to talk about them here- such as smart homes.
Automobiles- interesting subject for me. I tie it into my above interest in IT- I like what is new and great in cars- not what is old and low tech. That means that no- I am not going to talk about a numbers matching corvette- but I may want to talk about the brand new ZR1- get it?
Parenting a single male child up to the age of 2.5 (anything after this is still a mystery until I live it) and all related accessories and devices to make life easier or better in this task
Traveling
Life decisions/Money management
Various other topics that I have currently forgotten but will most likely remember if I keep doing this.
Reality TV
Non-reality TV
Movies