New car features.

by | Aug 24, 2002 | Personal

I some how completely forgot to mention which model it is. The Matrix comes in 3 models: base, XR and XRS. The only difference between the XR and the XRS is some “sporty” rice-rocket-ish molding along the side pannels. I’m serious. Same engine, same everything. So, not wanting to go with simply the baseline, we opted for the XR. Now, the regular Matrix is cool, but the Matrix XR adds some cool features. We also added some additional features because they were available and it seemed like a good idea. The additional feature we get with the XR are:

– Remote keyless entry system
– Rear window wiper (yes, this doesn’t come standard. odd.)
– Power windows
– Power door locks
– 3-spoke “sport” leather wrapped steering wheel
– One 115-volt and two 12-volt auxiliary power outlets (yes, that’s in addition to the normal one or two “cigarette lighter” outlets. The 115v outlet is a huge deal. Think about the war-driving capabilities. hehe)
– variable intermittent windshield wipers (instead of the on/off variety)
– Driver’s seat vertical height adjuster
– Passenger’s seat vertical height adjuster
– Interior mirror-mounted maplights
– Moon/Sun roof

The features we added:
– Premium 3-in-1 AM/FM ETR/Cassette/CD with 6 speakers
– Integrated fog lamps
– Cruise control
– 4-wheel Anti-lock Brake System (ABS)

All that random crap, plus the standard stuff (airbags, cup holders, etc) makes this an attractive little package. We stuck with Toyota because we’ve purchased so many cars from them before that they were willing to give us insain deals. This will in fact be our 8th (!) Toyota. Our other Toyota option was a Carolla LE which was very attractive as well but simply doesn’t offer as much cargo room. I liked it a lot as soon as the test drive began but it took a test drive of their own to convince the parents. As soon as they drove it they loved it too. It’s really really easy to drive. It feels just like the Carolla and Camrys we’ve had in the past. There was practically no learning curve, no “where the hell is this button” problems. It’s a Toyota and they have a habit of using nearly the same designs all across the board. Anyway, I was looking at the Toyota site and found something I think Chris would find amusing. Buddy, if this isn’t convincing… I don’t know what it.

I haven’t decided on any names yet, any one have any suggestions? And yes… it is a requirement that boys name their cars. Well, at least with Chris and I anyways. Tehehe. Just ask Chris about Winona.

So, after all the fun and excitement of picking up a new car, what’s left but to play video games? I assume the game night is still on. Odds are that it’ll just be Chip and I but we usually have more fun that way anyways. I’ll have to give him a call later.

That is all.

Working with wood

by | Aug 22, 2002 | Work

Well, today started very very early, at least for me. Around 6:30 I woke up and headed to the Oval with my Dad to have breakfast. After breakfast the old man wanted to get his haircut next door at Dick’s. Dick’s is a barber shop in the most traditional sense. It’s great. Dick is a nice old Italian fellow whos been cutting hair in the same place since he was 20. There’s only one type of haircut offered at Dicks. I’m not sure it even has a name but it’s done when he’s done. I don’t think he even asks what you’d like anymore. “Sit down, I’ll give ya a trim” is a well heard phrase in NewEngland-ese. Fellow northerners know what language I’m talking about.

After that we headed over to Hollis to get to work on the front porch of the house owned by the same lady that we built the deck for. Todays task was basically to rip up old floor boards and replace them with shiny new ones.

I think I also have to mention that this place is WAY out in the woods. So far infact that every ten minutes we were interupted by random woodland creatures. Today in total I saw: 2 pairs of cardinals, 1 woodpecker, 7-10 yellow finches, 1 grouce (small bird that looks like a pheasent), 2 snakes and multitudes of spiders that died instantly thanks to my trust crowbar.

“gordon! what are you doing?!?” – sorry, lame Halflife joke involving crowbars.

So, after working on the porch for a while, we finished up around 3. I’m now home to take a quick shower because at 5:30 my father and I are meeting my mother at the Toyota dealership in Nashua.

Acually, there could be a whole seperate post about this but I’ll be brief… My car sucks. A lot. We’re getting a new one. We haven’t decided what yet. The possibilities include:

Toyota Carolla, Camry and Matrix
Subaru WRX, Impreza and Impreza RS
Pontiac Vibe
Honda Accord
and a few others.

There are of course all the “body options” to conside. A “sport” model versus a normal one. Almost all those cars above have some sort of “sport” options. Especially the Subarus. Anyway, that’s what I’m up to tonight.

After that I’ll probably come home, have some dinner and watch some X-Games on ESPN. Either that or fire up some more BattleField 1942. I can’t say enough about this game. If you haven’t gotten the demo… go get it now. There is no excuse. GET IT! Chip, we’ve got to give this a try on Saturday.

Battlefield 1942

by | Aug 21, 2002 | Games

I’m an idiot. I passed up the Beta test on Battlefield 1942 a few months ago and now I’m completely in awe of this game. I downloaded the demo yesterday and have been playing it ever since. This game is Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, and a MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) all rolled into one. The premise is simple but the execution is anything but. In the multiplayer game you start out by choosing one of five classes (scout, medic, engineer etc) and choosing a spawn point (the place you start the game from). From there you have a multitude of options. For example, you could run to the front lines and help your buddies battle the bad guys, or you could man a tank and blast an enemy convoy, or hop into a plane and strafe the battlefields or give air support to the ground troops. The possibilties are endless and that’s the point. By giving everyone the chance to do everything, you expand the replay and “fun” factors of the game a hundred fold. I personally love driving the jeeps around full throttle, aiming them at oncoming emeny troops and jumping out at the last minute. It gets’em everytime, especially when they’re starting to advance on your position and you don’t have to many options left. Hehehe. Anyway, this game is a serious contender for “free time killer of the year”, at least for me. I’ll wait until Unreal Tournament 2003 is released to make a final call on that one, but it’s certainly up there on my “games to buy as soon as it’s released” list.

Weird

by | Aug 21, 2002 | Imported Entry

The weirdest computer shit keeps happening. For example, tonight while I’m playing Battlefield 1942, a random windows error box pops up saying something along the lines of “Want hot sexy babes? Press YES.” Now, I find this a tad alarming. My first thought was “virus” which was quickly followed by “backdoor.” For those that don’t know a “backdoor virus” is one in which serious damage is often not done, but the perpetrator gains control of the infected system and can then do nasty things. So, I’m puzzled for a minute or two in which time I run Norton AntiVirus. It comes up clean. I don’t entirely trust my system at this point and have to mention that I really never have in the past. I don’t like the way XP deals with certain things, especially registry entries. Last month I tried uninstalling Style XP but to my surprise when I tried reinstalling it it surprisingly found “a previously installed version.” Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but when I uninstall something, and then run RegClean, and then AntiVirus… IT SHOULD BE GONE! But no… hidden deep within the system files, a copy remains. So, if I wasn’t able to rid my computer of a legit program, what chance do I have of getting rid of one that’s obviously trying to hide? At this point I started thinking about things I’ve downloaded in the past few days. All of them seem on the up and up: a Microsoft pacth for GTA 3, new Nvidia drivers and the Battlefield 1942 demo. That’s it. I somehow doubt one of them is to blame. Which means that it must have been here for a little while. I scan and scan for virii and come up empty. At this point I start thinking that maybe Norton AntiVirus is infected or being told not to look in certain places… so I download McAffee AV (the free trial version) but that yields nothing. So, I either have a random backdoor virus, one of the guys is playing a trick with BackOrifice or I’m going insain and seeing things. If I find out it’s one of the guys, I will physically harm you. I kid you not. But, I don’t think they’d do that so I’m assuming that’s not case. At this point I’m debating whether to wipe the harddrive and start over clean. I’d just need to back up email and documents. It’s unfortunate that is has to come to that since I’ve gotten the system working and acting just the way I like it. We’ll see what happens.