ByteMaster0's blog

So, after processing all the money from various forms of insurance, and taking care of all the warranty repair and some out-of-warranty repairs on the Jetta, the situation looks like this:

• GEICO claim award for the old Civic: $15,450 - 500 deductible = +$14950


• 2006 Jetta purchased: -$12,977.00 (includes taxes)


• Repair work out of pocket: -$67 for door adjustment + -$50 for cabin HEPA filter + -$85 for new owner's manual + -$550 for new front disc rotors and pads, plus wiper blades and 50kmile service


• Extended service contract for the Jetta: -$1800 (taxes included)


• Extras: -$150 auxiliary input adapter, satellite pass-through and installation


• HondaCare extended service contract cancellation: +$250


• Travelers homeowners insurance claim for loss of Tablet PC: $1650 - $1000 deductible = +$650

Total: $170 left over, and I get an awesome car out of it! Unfortunately, the tablet is still completely dead, but ISIS was gracious enough to purchase a new laptop for me to use - with which I am currently making this entry.

So, having complete insurance coverage is absolutely necessary. The premium has dropped temporarily, because the Jetta is a bit cheaper to insure. However, I am expecting it to increase significantly once the claim is closed.

Though the out-of-pocket expenses may look rough, despite these costs, I STILL saved over $3900 by going this route instead of buying retail/at the dealer.

More later.

"Storm" or "The Silver Shadow" (take your pick) has been in the shop on and off for a number of repairs - things that I fully expected, and almost everything is covered under the warranty. In particular, today the driver's side door was re-adjusted. Apparently the car may have suffered a small parking-lot-type accident. Nothing major enough to report to insurance, but when it was repaired, the door wasn't done right. When closing, it would bump up onto the latch pin. Since I didn't want to start going through latch assemblies like crazy, and since a properly-closing door is somewhat important, I decided to have it worked on. The dealer from where I got the car agreed to split the cost with me. It turned out to be relatively inexpensive anyway. The plastic shield on the underside of the car was also reattached since it was a bit loose.

Other than that, a few other fixes covered by VW: New XM unit, new rear-door woofers (both blown), new fuses for the 12V electrical accessory systems, and a few other things.

Things left to be taken care of: Creaky front driver's side strut when cold (VW didn't find this problem when I brought it to them, so I put my phone on the floor and recorded it while going over a speed bump at Kroger's - it's unmistakably loud. ); smallish metallic buzz in the dash, though it seems to have disappeared on its own. Scraping disc rotor on front passenger side - possibly warped, or maybe a small rust-spot. Missing adjusters for the passenger and driver's side air vents. Possible issue with one of the small little 194-type "ambient lights" in the passenger-side headlamp unit. Other than provide mood lighting or a soft glow, I'm not sure what the point of that light is.

However, despite these issues, the car is an absolute joy to drive. It's responsive, cruises like only a German car can, and is really quiet at 80MPH highway speeds. I'm really glad I got it. I also purchased an extended service contract just in case. I'm getting about 29, maybe 30MPG combined fuel economy. That covers both city and highway driving. With the Civic, I was getting about 32-33 combined before I started implementing my draconian gas-saving techniques, which boosted it to about 36. All in all, I'd say it's not really that big of a cut. At those MPG numbers, the gallon-per-mile cost isn't that high anyway. For a car that's 500 lbs heavier, with a full 0.7L extra engine capacity, extra torque-iness and an extra cylinder, I'd say it's doing very well. More later.

I am elated, ecstatic, thankful, and reflective on this great moment in our country's history. I couldn't help but weep for joy when I saw him take the stage and show us the firm, strong, steady leader that this country deserves. I firmly believe that while we now have an immense challenge ahead of us, that we have made the right decision as a country to elect this incredible figure to lead us. While I'm a little surprised that so many people still didn't quite understand why Obama was the only logical choice, I believe that a greater collective intelligence has finally surfaced.

H. L. Mencken once said "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." Perhaps, after 8 years of this nation essentially corroborating that statement, we may yet prove him wrong. Good job America - your best times are ahead of you once more, and I couldn't be happier to be a part of this upcoming era of growth and change for the better.

This past weekend I flew to San Francisco to visit Amanda. There won't be any pictures, since this was a trip to remember, not photograph. After a wonderful time on the beach (it was cold, gray and windy, but still a memorable time), a day at her work, and some time spent in a few fun restaurants and other places, we decided to drive up to Sonoma for a day. I had rented a nice big red Ford Mustang coupe (sorry, it was the V6, not the nice big 300+ HP V8), so we took full advantage of that fact and drove up for the day. There are many vineyards as can be expected. This proved to be the only sunny day during my visit - it was absolutely pouring almost all the rest of the time I was there. Sonoma is gorgeous - we went olive oil tasting, and visited some major labels like Sebastiani, Ravenswood, and Nicholson's Ranch. We stayed at the Swiss Hotel, which is right on the Sonoma Square.

I really wish I had more time there - but my projects and her work schedule made it difficult to plan otherwise. Hopefully I'll be back there soon, but until then, unforgettable memories will hold me over.

After surviving this major accident, and with a renewed sense of appreciation for life, I awoke this morning with almost no pain. Aside of a slight stiffness of the neck, I have almost no signs of the event. Last night I spent some time researching a few thousand cars that would meet safety, quality and budget standards that I had in mind. After poring over those cars, I decided to investigate a 2006 Jetta 2.5 that was advertised by a public wholesaler.

I setup the appointment, and after a longish test drive, some quick and vital help from my father, and the fact that the cost of the car ended up being exactly what the insurance would give me for the Civic, I have a new car. It is the top-of-the-line version of the Jetta 2.5, and features the Electronic Stability Program that is so vital to avoiding understeer or oversteer situations. The NHTSA has estimated that if all vehicles in the US had some form of stability control, it would save over 100,000 lives each year. It's not expensive to add to a car, so it baffles me why it's not standard on every single car.

Today I gained more insight onto what caused me to lose traction - aside of an extremely poor decision. It turns out that I maintained full traction through the sharpest part of the turn - only losing control as it smoothed out. Why? Because the road was asphalt, and then turned to concrete on the on-ramp. Since the concrete has significantly less grip than the asphalt, the tires were unable to hold on. This sped up the rate at which the car began to rotate and lose control. By the time I was able to react, the car was too tail-heavy to correct. The rest you all know. Despite all this, it is squarely my fault - it was completely avoidable. I'm so grateful to have my life and health, and on top of that to have found a wonderful replacement car. It's the same model I had considered just prior to buying the '06 Civic.

Thanks again to all of you for your kind words, e-mails, messages, posts, and phonecalls - they've really, really helped me through this.

Thank you, all of you who have called in to help me through this situation. While the accident ended many hours ago, it takes a good while for the fog to clear from my mind. I'm still really shocked, and continue to re-live the crash over and over and over; though apparently it's not affecting my driving much. Tomorrow I will be looking for options for a replacement car. I think I have found one based on online searches, classifieds, etc., but we'll see what I can do with whatever GEICO wants to give me. I'm still feeling quite well, hardly any muscle soreness or stiffness. I'll update later, but thanks again to all of you that called and let me know you're there. It means a great deal to me.

Sigh.

I'm okay.

UPDATE: So, here's what happened. In a relatively stupid move, I decided to pass a truck before making it to an on-ramp to I-40 eastbound. Well, I passed successfully, and made the on-ramp, but the yaw momentum was so strong that my rear tires broke traction. No problem, I thought, as I tried to correct. But steering was completely non-responsive. I mashed the brakes, and could do nothing but watch in horror as I rapidly approached a steep enbankment. BAM! The airbag deployed. Fortunately, I was well buckled in, so I didn't even hit the airbag.

But it wasn't over yet, I was launched into a flip and heard a loud crunch as the car landed on its roof, still moving, taking out the rear windshield in the process. As I came to a standstill, I felt that I was okay, turned off the engine which was still running, and saw that everything was covered in mud from the ditch. I unbelted, and opened the door, which surprisingly opened just fine.

After an insurance ordeal, a ticket from a police officer, and some recovery, there was at least some levity; the ONLY piece of the rear windshield that was still intact was being held together by my Obama bumper sticker. In any case, this car saved my life - and so did the seatbelt. I walked away from something that could have been a whole lot worse. I feel stupid and ashamed, and now know the cost of a superman complex. I ruined a perfectly good car to shave off a few seconds of travel. And it could have been my last.

Fortunately, I'm here to write you again, and maybe if I can afford a new car with the scraps that GEICO will give me, I'll be back on the road again - with a renewed sense of appreciation for life, and understanding of how easy it can be lost to impatience.

The HTC Touch Pro, exclusive to the Sprint network in the US for now, was finally available for purchase at a few Best Buy locations yesterday. Needless to say, I picked one up in a hurry - within an hour of it arriving at the store, more or less. Nashville happened to get a shipment to its Franklin/Cools Springs location, which was fortunate; the phone isn't scheduled for full release until November 2nd.

I had been using the HTC Mogul for a little over a year. While a noble effort, the phone was at best half-baked. While it did the job for most users, its cripplingly-low amount of system RAM, unavailable video drivers and lower screen resolution didn't quite cut it for me, despite 5 ROM versions provided to us from Sprint/HTC. (That's unprecedented. Try getting ONE ROM update in a year from any other provider.) It did its job, but it's time for the Touch Pro. This is the first HTC device that I've owned that I can say is not half-baked. It's a production-quality phone, with software and hardware to back it up. From the generous 288MB of RAM, to the VGA-resolution screen, and it's finger-friendly Touch Flo 3D interface, it shows that HTC has finally been listening to the criticism. I can identify several key features that are the direct result of us complaining about the Mogul. Well done, HTC!

I think this article in the NYT captures the heart of what this election is about. Take a read and see what you think. And yes, it's from the New York Times, but honestly, despite being a "liberal" publication, they have so much more integrity and credibility than any right-leaning publication or media outlet, combined.

Alright. I've heard a lot recently about the "evil socialism" lurking around the corner. Republicans out there, I'm gonna take you on about this one. I've let a lot slide, and I've kept my silence on most of this. Let's talk about socialism. What is it that republicans want? That's right, small government. Capitalistic society, big business and states' rights. Something along those lines, anyway. So, by those lines, let's take a look at what our system of governance would look like if we removed all this "evil socialism."

Republicans, I'm going to take away your police and fire stations, paramedics, and interstate highways. Wha? Yes. Those are socially-funded programs. They work for your benefit because of taxpayer dollars. Go hire your own protective services and fire control. Oh, and go make some roads. Pave 'em well, because most of the trucks that your demographic buys tend not to run that well unless the pavement's smooth. Yeah, you're going to need to fix them every winter. So start shelling out, or pick up a shovel. Go on, I'm waiting. What's that? Too expensive? Big business charging you too much to protect and serve you? We're not done yet. School systems. So many southern republicans are opposed to the department of education. Fine. Go ahead and teach your children at home. Teach them "intelligent design" and that global warming is a myth. We'll see how your kids are the laughing stock of the world in 15 years when they try to enter a globalized market. Oh wait. WE ALREADY ARE A LAUGHING STOCK. Forgot about that one.

Let's keep taking away social programs. Medicare, social security, MILITARY! You republicans want to invade Iraq and other middle-eastern countries in search for oil? Well, tough luck, because you don't have a federal military anymore. Not that I personally wouldn't mind taking our military out of the middle east, but we're going on principle here. So, please, by all means, go hire Blackwater to do your military contract work for you; or go do it yourself. What? Blackwater is too expensive? Well too bad. Hard to be patriotic when you don't have a force to defend your country anymore, isn't it.

But wait a minute, you cry, that's not fair. Well, neither is the republican ideological raping of the term socialism. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating getting rid of capitalism. It's the one thing in our country that allows us to grow not only economically, but that also gives us more opportunities as a country than any other place on earth. But we need certain key socialistic aspects. It's what makes our form of government unique. I hear so many people bitch about taxes, and about raising taxes on businesses. Well, you've had your shot, and you've done a marvelous job of showing us the result of giving money to inherently self-serving organizations that only squander that money for their own purposes. It doesn't make jobs. It makes a small percentage of the population unbelievably rich. The point is, we can't possibly afford the individual costs of the services that we ALL take for granted, every day. Yes, there is bureaucracy and rampant wasteful spending. But you can't deny that a police station or a fire station operates with an inherent efficiency. If we didn't have representatives negotiating taxes for us and demanding efficiency (admittedly, they could do some more demanding...), could we even afford one of those basic SOCIAL services? Think about it.

Yes, I'm ANGRY at republicans that vilify vital components of our culture and society. The right is supposedly religious, correct? What then, pray, would Jesus say about taking care of your fellow man? Would He say "work hard and then keep it?" Or would it be something along the lines of helping those that don't have the same fortune as you? This is perhaps the most hypocritical element of the religious right-wing philosophy. It wants no government intervention, everything for themselves, and then expects "charity" to fill in the rest. Yeah. Really good f*cking job that's doing. Wake up and practice what you preach. Or what is preached to you. However you want to look at it. Look at the Bible from time to time - so many people claim to read it, but I suppose reading and understanding are two completely different things. The Beatitudes, for goodness' sake. Feel a little conflicted now? Nobody should die because a healthcare system leaves them in the dust. But under the "minimal government" philosophy, that happens. PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE OF GREED. Yes, all of us are greedy. But we can make a difference. I personally would have no objection to paying higher taxes if it meant that it will save the lives of people that can barely survive; even if it means that I've never met them before.

Last point I'll make. Sarah Palin? REALLY? That's the best the right can come up with? It shows such a fundamental lack of judgment that I'm half expecting someone to yell "JUST KIDDING!" right before election day; or at least come up with a good fart joke. I am aghast that someone should be nominated that can't name one significant landmark US Supreme Court decision; someone that is supposed to be able to make DECISIONS based on their knowledge of these things. Other than good looks and a demeanor that some people inexplicably fall for, what the hell is this?! How could you possibly wish this on your kids?! I have no issues with a woman VP candidate, but at least pick one that knows what the fudge government is about! Have any of the republicans actually listened to the words she says when she's not reading a script or speech written by a Bush spinmeister? For goodness' sake, I'm scared sh!tless!

Alright. I've spoken a bit of my mind. The usual disclaimer, please don't take my writing personally, especially if you're a republican. I know it's hard with a passionate argument like that. But I am unable to comprehend what on earth that party is thinking. It's obviously NOT in the interest of the men and women, of all walks of life, that live in this great country of ours. But lastly, don't slam socialism. The Democratic philosophy clearly shows us that capitalism NEEDS elements of socialism. It's part of what makes our country a great nation. Disagree with me? Leave it in the comments.

I recently purchased the new Canon EOS 50D along with the 28-135mm image-stabilized zoom lens. It represents a major evolutionary update over the older 30D that I was shooting with. From a sensor that self-cleans and has a significantly improved light sensitivity, to a faster shooting speed and custom macro functions, a higher-resolution sensor, and greater customizability and flexibility, it provides much needed changes to the older camera. You'll be seeing plenty of pictures come from that cam as they're taken. More later.

Early voting started today in Tennessee. I went today at around noon - to a relatively full polling place.

The lines were out the door. Despite this, the process didn't take more than 15-20 minutes. So, all you Nashville readers, there's no excuse not to vote. You have 17 days to get it done!

For those of you interested, and curious as to where you can vote early, please check out the Tennessee Early Voting Schedule online. Most places are open from 8AM to 8PM, though it may not be the same place as you voted in the primary (if you did.)

Be sure to bring your driver's license and another signature, such as that on a credit card. Otherwise, just bring your voter registration form, though I'd bring your license as well. Keep in mind that you CANNOT wear any politically-oriented or campaign-related clothing within 100' of the polling place. Now go and do your civic duty!

This weekend I went to see my good friend of many years, Kristen, at her place of residence in Independence, MO. We hadn't seen eachother in about 1.5 years or so, so it was really good to finally see her again. And her cat, Akhila, who has grown tremendously since I saw her last.
Independence is located near Kansas City, MO, which is the home of the Boulevard brewing company. We had a brief tour of the facilities, including part of their soon-to-be-online state-of-the-art brewing plant. Following the tour, there was a sampling session - most of the beers were pretty good, with a porter that absolutely kicks your ass. It's really strong.
We walked to Union Station, where there is a small model train exhibit, as well as a hotel/shopping complex with quite a few stores and restaurants.

Turns out Independence isn't a bad place to bike around - plenty of sidewalks, so a bike ride to Best Buy or similar stores isn't out of the question - it's about 8-10 miles round trip.

In any case, I'm glad I went, it was well worth the 8-hour drive each way.

Following the trip to Europe, after seeing the problems caused by my laptop's drive failure, I decided to run an extra check on my desktop machine. Normally, these operations, called verify operations, are scheduled automatically and performed weekly. For some reason, this scheduling system stopped working and so no checks were being performed.

The result of this verify concluded that one of my shiny new 1TB disks was exhibiting some sector failures - not many, but enough to make me upset. Fortunately, my disk array (RAID) is fault-tolerant, meaning that I can lose a disk and still keep running. My setup uses RAID 5, which uses a technique called distributed parity to allow this to happen. Moreover, if I have 4 drives, I get 3 times the capacity (n-1) and roughly 3 times the speed (~n-1) of a single drive. In any case, these bad spots were found on the one drive, locked so they couldn't be used again, and data (again stored redundantly elsewhere) moved away to a safer spot. The enterprise-level controller card that I have can do all this behind the scenes, gently reminding me by text message that something is out of the ordinary.

However, a later scan revealed yet another bad sector. So, I can continue to find bad spots (again relying on redundancy in my array to avoid data loss), but I figured I'd test Samsung's warranty program. After just one call to their warranty department, and almost no questions whatsoever, a new drive was sent out the same day. They even sent me a brand-new one. Most companies have a policy of sending you refurbished drives, and this is even Samsung's official policy.

In any case, after popping in the new drive and powering on, the array is fully rebuilt after a few hours, as if nothing had ever happened.

For the more technically-minded of you, the drives are four 1TB 7200RPM Samsung HD103UJs with 32MB of cache, SATA II. The controller is a PCI-E 4x 3Ware 9650SE with 256MB of onboard cache.

Yesterday I purchased Crysis Warhead, a "simulquel" if you will to the original Crysis, as they both occur in similar chronological periods, playing as different characters. Some of you know that my current computer is the result of Crysis - which melted the graphics board on my older computer that I had pushed a little too far... (oops). So I made sure that the subsequent machine, the one I'm presently running, is more than well equipped to handle the game, since it would consequently do quite well for all other purposes.

Crysis Warhead is a bit different - billed as a game with fewer hardware requirements, it supposedly runs on lower-end hardware. This is evidenced on the startup screen, where it says "Plays great on Core 2 Duo", whereas the original says "Best on Core 2 Extreme", which is a quad-core processor. On my overclocked (both video and CPU) rig, it plays quite nicely. However, there is a caveat - drivers need to be optimized, or the game will bog down as the resolution and intensity goes up. Graphics are a bit updated and feature newer and better effects, despite using the Crysis rendering engine from the original game, which represented a sea change in gaming graphics when it first debuted.

Gameplay is straightforward, though a bit less challenging than in the original Crysis. The sheer number of mission objectives is replaced by more intensive battles, more determined enemies, and a few more obstacles to your finishing. In this respect, I prefer the original Crysis - it had a slightly more tactical approach to it. Also, the game seems much shorter. I finished it in a few short hours, versus a few days with the original game. Multiplayer gameplay is not included, as is with the original. For this, you must download Crysis Wars, and pay a monthly fee, from what I can see. Perhaps the best feature of the Crysis series of games is the "sandbox" style of gameplay. Objectives are met the way you want them. You can approach and solve problems almost any way you want. There is an obvious structure to the game - certain objectives must be met in order, but the way you go about them, both strategically and topographically, is variable and completely up to you.

All in all, another good game from Crytek - short, but action-packed. Now, it's time to play it again a few times with a few different approaches.