It's true that as one gets older and has more disposable income vs. free time, one sometimes has to re-evaluate what it's worth trying to do on one's own as opposed to just paying someone else to do it. On the other hand, there's still something quite satisfying about spending $16 and a few hours to fix something that I'm pretty sure would've cost ( Read more... )

The Hillsborough exit of I-40 at 5pm seems like a pretty odd place for a police checkpoint. At first I thought they were looking for a fugitive or something, but they were checking everyone's license and plates. My next thought was stolen vehicle sweep, but they weren't entering anything into a computer. Just trolling for expired licenses and ( Read more... )

My mom just retired her Toyota Corolla. It was bought in 1984. That's twenty-three years of nearly daily use. I was riding in that car when I was eight. The mind boggles ( Read more... )

I was technically in a road accident yesterday, but fortunately one of little consequence. Got rear-ended by a motorcycle at ~3 MPH. Broke the plastic thing around my license plate ($10 maybe?) and did maybe a hundred or more dollars of damage to his bike, so I just got his contact info for the unlikely case that something else comes up. Meh ( Read more... )

So, my trip to Orlando went just peachy, except for the part at the end where I left my credit card in Orlando International Airport. Oops. Fortunately, after pondering for a while I deduced which business it must have been left at, found their contact info, and they indeed had it and are sending it to me. And yes, I'm checking my recent ( Read more... )

Just saw an article in Wired about a new batch of hybrid versions of older car models. They rated them, all have their pluses and minuses, but what amazed me was the measured real-world mileage: it ranged from 25-35MPG ( Read more... )

So, drove up to Maryland to see pretty much all of akiko's family over the weekend. It was fun, and contained fairly minimal drama, yay. And we ate completely ludicrous amounts of good food. (Two hearty family dinners, plus we went to Teaism and Raku, a nifty Asian diner place, in DC.) Meanwhile on the way back, something vaguely interesting ( ( Read more... )

A winner is me. Through extremely liberal application of Silicone Rubber Sealant (and improvised use of a large trash can as a vise), my car has passed inspection. Also, I'm using this post as an excuse to drop several links:

I <3 insane geeks (aka I <3 bored fine arts students) (link via tsubasa)
OMG IRL Katamari (aka I <3 bored practical arts ( Read more... )

This may not be news to people who spend more time wandering around the Carrboro-ward end of Franklin Street than I, but I have discovered a courtyard of delights that I had not previously known of. It can be found by going all the way down to the big tire store, then left across and about 500 feet down a side street, then left again through an ( Read more... )

So, I finally took my VW in for some long-overdue dealer maintenance. Nearly four hours and nearly $850 later... I sure hope it's in improved condition. Ow ( Read more... )