there was some band playing on castro and bunch of pt cruisers on display

pt extreme, most decked out

pink pt, even the engine cover is pink. the jewel is very cute

pt glory, not sure how it drives over speed bumps...

made this today, would be very difficult without some of the new features in google spreadsheet, i don't think it's possible using excel without macros.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p3XzxVTgLqkonaq8Op6VGLQ
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p3XzxVTgLqkonaq8Op6VGLQ

couple things i noticed:

• cheapest car: Chevrolet Aveo
• most expensive car: Bugatti, completely in it's own range
• cheapest porche 45k, jaguar 35k, benz 30k, bmw 28k
• lotus is actually affordable compare to some, very pretty but also very crushable
• all the expensive cars are made in Europe, except some high end Lexus and Cadillac that goes up to around 100k
• most japanese makers are still independent, rest seem to be owned by just handful big companies
• i dont like the look of porche, jaguar any more. don't like benz period

jim ran over a squirrel a week ago on the way to work. the squirrel popped out of the bushes as we drove by and dashed under our car. we heard a thump and splat... jim has refused to drive back that way since.

i have been very lazy about oil change since my last experience with midas, but it's been way more than 3months and 5k miles. this weekend i decided to try one that was advertising in a local ads booklet thing, it said privately owned, 9 minutes, plus i can sit and watch. figure if i can watch them, then they have to actually do the work. so i went and gave them a try, i liked it, nice people, really fast, they have monitors so you can watch them do it, i decided to sit in my car while they work. they did everything they were suppose to, oil change, filter, added munch of other fluids, pumped air, best thing they didn't try to sell me anything. 9 minute oil change, in palo alto on el camino real, try them if you are in the area.

i bought new wind shield wipers few weeks ago, they are still in the trunk... hoping it won't rain any more so i don't have to figure out how to put them in.

still need to find a replacement primary dentist... any recommendations? that participates in DMO = = should have gone with PPO. still need to do an annual physical, bleh.

had to do 4 taxes this year, federal, PA, PGH and CA. did PA and PGH by hand, easy enough. did federal and CA with turbotax, good thing too, CA print out looked as complicated as federal's. im getting some refunds, yay extra cash.

jim and i are back to watching lost, up to season 3 now, catching up. but i had to make a rule that we don't watch it pass 11, gives me nightmares, i don't like psychotic people you see, hurts my brain. we also reactivated our netflix account and marching thru our movie queue using our new tv. dvd still looks very nice even though they are not high def.

we added "jon & kate plus 8" into our pvr recording queue. its entertaining, lite watching, i guess we are enjoying it at their expense? i would have been satisfied with two, i don't think i want more than two. >.>

i will be in Pittsburgh later this week for spring carnival, getting to see many of my friends, eat srees :)

back to watching tv and lounging and ignoring the chores while jim is away.

Went to a small autoshow in san jose this past weekend, got to sit in a lot of the cars heh. The main goal was to find out which cars jim can actually fit in. The results were pretty surprising, large car does not necessarily mean more vertical room. Prius, even though has that hunched back, was not a good fit. Hummer was not big enough, and has really bad visibility. Most SUV were just ok, about same amount of vertical room as sedan. Unfortunately there were too many with electrical sit adjusters, so we couldn't adjust them. The Bug actually was the tallest. But the best news was jim does fit in a WRX, which is his favorite car.

I been putting it off for longest time, but last weekend i finally went to midas in palo alto for an oil change. I went for their premium package, which includes their version of 20 points check, topping off liquid, rotate and inflate tires. This was kind of a test, see if i like them, because i was also going to get my wheel alignment done. Anyway, they gave me a long list of things they recommend to be fixed along with estimates, comes to over $700, but did not include wheel alignment. There was no clear indications on their check list that they topped off the liquids. I noticed they popped the hood at least, because they didn't put the hood stick in the right place, where I would put them. I also noticed that they didn't rotate my tires, my front and back tires are different brand and front is a lot more dirty than the back, so it was obvious. I didn't confront the guy there, because I wanted to double check my papers from when I got the tires for the brand name. Yesterday I decided to file a complaint on the website about this, and today they called me, offering refund and schedule another appt to rotate my tires.

been in CA for almost 4 weeks now, the apartment is pretty much all setup, except for jim's bed which will come very soon. going to try get to DMV this week without an appt, apparently you need to take the written test even with an out of state license, still studying for it. earlier this week, after we got my bed assembled, i tried to re-tune my guzheng, got a little impatient because i was getting blister in my band and ended up breaking the 12th string, which i do not have spare for =/

it's almost 2 months since i left RI, time flies. updated address on monster so no more calls from pittsburgh or middle of no where. been getting emails and calls from recruiters, hopefully will find something soon.

got my car back from DAS on monday, not too dirty, nothing missing, doesnt look like there is any more dent or scratches than before. wish it had left the pgh terminal a little sooner, but it did make it here by the estimated date they gave me originally.

drove jim to stanford mall today hoping to acquire a bed, unfortunately the macy there was too small to sell mattress. we got to test the gps a little on the way there and back, over all i'm pretty happy with it. took a while for jim to make it select the right macy, it insisted picking a different one and asking me to do a u turn, but it eventually obeyed. afterwards we went to office depot, turns out it's really close to where we live, after making a left turn, immediately go to right most lane and make a right, then to go thru a really weird intersection with split road and a blinking yellow light. we manage to score a decent shredder that was on sale, our cashier totally sounded like she was ready to go home for the day.

we tried to assemble my bed yesterday, but realized we are missing a piece. i guess there was a reason they had 2 self checkout area marked for it. so now i get to sleep in a full size crib. called the store, they said we can come back to pick up the missing piece. we did manage to assemble our dinning table, looks nice, might prop it up a little though.

ps jim finally has a real blog now, you can ask him for the url.

joowah, sayo and i went to see formula d on saturday, it's a drifting competition. sayo didn't drive his car this time, they both rode their bikes, so only way i could tag along was to ride behind joowah on his bike. he never had anyone ride behind him, i never rode on a bike. we went on a practice run around town on thursday, not very fast, no tight turns, after maybe half hr, my neck and thigh were sore, but that was nothing compare to saturday. the competition is on a driving course an hr and half away. i don't know how fast we went, don't really want to know, we were passing other cars left and right, going between them. when we were going against the wind, it felt like my head will get blown away if i didn't hold it down enough. i could feel every little bump on the road, every time we hit something, i would go airborne. couple times we had to get on and off the freeway via circular ramp, leaning thru that was the scariest part, leaning so much, it felt like i was gonna fall out any second and go flying into the ground. it's like a roller coaster ride, except it's an hr long and you are not secured down at all.

the show was good, with a lot of carnage, just wish it was more like mountain racing with drifting. at first few cars hit cones and got points deducted, then i think 2 cars hit the wall, thankfully no one got injured and they put tires on the edge. there was some race car practicing near by, one of them bumped in to another one, then bounced right into a wall, and half side of it got squished completely. one of my favorite, tanner foust, got a perfect 100 in a qualifing run, but he messed up a little at the beginning of second round. right before that had happened, the announcer joked that driver should wave their hand, and so he did, made a big donut to pick up speed and continued with his drift, so it looked almost planned. my other favorite, chris forsberg, won the even. they both drove nisson, which isn't a popular drift car it seems, chris' was a convertible, which is even more unusual. oh they also had trick bike demo, it was very good as well.

From Pittsburgh Vi...

after years of being in pittsburgh and living right next to shenley park, jim and i finally went to see the annual vintage grand prix yesterday. it was interesting, i didn't realize it was vintage race cars, thought just vintage normal cars racing. though there were some normal cars in the race, i spotted the original mini cooper and a small pick up truck. the show cars were nice too, some newer race cars, modded cars, and super expensive cars. towards the end of the event, i spotted a tiny red car [maybe i should say red rolling egg?] going across the lawn, so i chased it down. see pic above and few more shots in the album, it was an bmw 300.

jim's flight from atlanta was delayed last nite, it was too late for 28x, so he made me go pick him up from the airport. i checked the direction and traffic before hand, there is a lot of road construction going on right now, didn't really want to get lost or detoured late at nite. because of construction, there was a stop sign before merging on to 376 W, it wasn't as bad as the ramp to 376E though. i was very nervous the whole time, my hands was holding on the steering wheel very tightly, only letting go for a few second when it felt like gonna get cramped. i had the direction mostly memorized, but was still worried about getting on to the wrong road or being in the wrong lane, it was a relieve every time i saw a sign pointing to the airport. since it was late at nite, there wasn't whole lot of traffic. few people did passed me on the way, but i did manage to pass 2 trucks on the way there and back. it took jim almost an hour to get his luggage, i had to make 6 circles around the airport before picking him up. first time i got shooed off by the cop, got lost trying to get back in, and ended up on the commercial arrival side, so got shooed off there again, but finally figure it out after that. on the way back, jim kept reminding me to go faster, since i was falling below the speed limit. anyway, i finally manage to drive on the highway again! it wasn't too bad... sorry to people i had turned down before, who asked me to pick them up from the airport :(

got my car back, apparently the little tiny thing on top of radiator was low on coolant, i had only checked the reservoir, which was very full, didn't no i was suppose to fill the small thing too. the guys were very nice, didn't charge me anything. scott recommended them to me, he used them for many years while he was here, i would have used them more if they did collisions and inspections. anyway, i highly recommend them:

Bruno's Garage
518 Mellon St
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
412-361-1750

only down side is that the area they are in is not the best neighborhood and it's a small garage behind bunch old houses so not very visible. the 71A goes by them, one block from the bus stop.

we found my car overheating during a pouring rain on friday, going to take it to the shop today, hopefully its just a broken thermal stat. i had just replaced the side mirror last weekend too, sigh ... think i should just drive a broken car, seem to have less problem that way.
then last nite, we discovered that my fridge stopped workin. threw out half of the stuff so far, i had a box of ice cream that i havent even open yet ; ; apt's handy man said he will order a new one today, hope it will come soon. until then, i guess its gonna be eating out and cooking with fresh grocery.
handy man still gotta redo the wall around bathtub, apparently it been leaking down to the next floor. i dont think it's the wall though, o well.

saw this link on dl.tv http://www.fueleconomy.gov they have new EPA MPG ratings.
according to the site, my 2000 accord is either 20 city / 28 hwy, or 19 city /26 hwy, i forgot what kind of engine it is. and according to my fuel logbook on http://www.pittsburghgasprices.com, 2006 average was 13.85 mpg, i used mostly giant eagle, 4/5 refills, with average price of $1.697 / g. this year i decided to switch to BP, im now at 14.65 mpg after 3 refills, with average price of $2.566 / g. so basically my driving pattern sucks, i don't use it for anything other then going to work or grocery shopping, so never more than 10-20miles a day.

there is the street view thing that everyone is talking about, looks like only available in certain city atm, but pretty cool. today i noticed the little check box in the direction area for "Avoid highways"!!! awsome haha, for example going from CMU to somewhere in Monrovile. Jim says "they should have parental control to remove it for ppl like you!" =p

got into another accident on the way to work yesterday morning. i was so happy that my code finally worked after working on it for 3 weeks, even on weekends. perhaps too happy... while changing lane, got hit by an suv. while it was perfectly fine, maybe tiny paint scratch. for me, my left passenger door is pretty dent, still working, but dent. and the left side mirror fell off, still gotta see if i can reattach it. you know maybe i should have taken my dad's advise and gotten a suv instead of sedan, or maybe i should go back to nyc after all, so i dont have to drive at all (even if you want to).

after the flat tires ordeal last week, this morning i found my car boxed in when i'm already late for work. thankfully i guess, the dude left me just enough room to get out. did bump his back wheel once, didnt see any scratch. in the picture, im yellow, the red guy blocked me in with a large suv. there's a wall in the front of me, and a fence on the right. the black one on the left is an old beat up car that been parked there forever.

3 first in one day!

about 60-70miles and counting, im racking it up! lol

i drove to campus alittle early yesterday, saw a police car right where i wanted to park (where usually no one checks after 3/3:30. so i had to turn the other direction and head out of campus. at last second, decided to get gas. took awhile and had to get someone else to take the cap off = =

then later had to drive to green forest, i was planning on driving round about to avoid 376, but turns out it was unavoidable. ended up taking the highway and entering from sq hill ramp while it was heavy rush hour traffic ^^; im sure it was another memoriable experiance for jim and dave

on the way back to campus, going down sq hill, i took my first pittsburgh left. wasnt intentional at all... actually i was suppose to take a left turn but forgot to turn on the signal til last second. luckly the guy on the otherside waited for me.

later will be driving to southside for sushi nite, second time going there, but instead of 4AM it will be 4PM, hopfully not too heavy traffic on saturday. and parking will be fun =/

btw, if anyone shops at young's grocery on forward ave near murray. they seem to have changed owners and now they open on sunday 2-5pm yay for me ^^

monday blog

drove jim and miky to tom's diner in southside last nite, how many EXP is that? i knew jim will make make me drive over there in no time ^^; doubt he would be as pushy about me advancing to next level though, which is waterfront and monroville mall.

sushi gamenite this satuday! woot! been so well entertained these past 2 weeks, havent really got much time to play ffxi @@! well my char in conqueronline is advancing ok though heh.

stolen from Quatoes
http://kevan.org/johari?name=blueswan
http://kevan.org/nohari?name=blueswan

pic of my car, taken in the dark so not very good. maybe better pic when i decorate it alittle, now it just look like every other car on the block. only way i can recognize it is i have a club, and most pittsburgher dont ^^;
drove to campus last weekend, drove to friend's house in shadyside this weekend. had to clean bird poop off my car = = no more parking under trees.

new owner of a 2000 honda accord SE *^^*

its light gold color, sorry to disappoint anyone that might have been expecting blue heh. got 67k miles on it, few tiny scratchs on the door, but everything else is in good condition. pic when i get back in pgh.
second day of driving, drove for almost 4 hours today but still sucks at it.