drscott | Progress Report

I think I speak for all of us in the Bay Area when I beseech the jet stream gods to quit sending us all this Pacific moisture. It belongs in BC and Seattle, not here. The coldest and most rainy March in recent history was not only a big downer, we used too much natural gas to qualify for the 10% conservation/20% rebate offered by PG&E, and I would imagine most people failed because of this weather pattern. OTOH, the warm winter back East held gas prices down to reasonable levels, so we didn't spend more than $800 total for this winter when it had been expected to be much higher.

Just got a call from Josh, the Hammer Auto guy. The Prius will be here by the end of the week, they take personal checks, and he's tired of rain, too. Selling my '94 Geo Prizm is next on the agenda -- Mike's son Dan might want it, otherwise Hammer says they have some possible buyers. A '94 Corolla, essentially, with only 78K miles is pretty rare.

The replacement Mac Mini is at DHL's terminal in Santa Clara. I scored a free HP inkjet we don't need as well as a $25 rebate.

Used my Bluetooth headset yesterday to make calls from the car. I've had this thing for years and rarely used it; I don't like talking while driving, since I'm very distractible and even a little inattention is too dangerous to tolerate. But I don't have much time lately and it lets me keep in touch when I otherwise wouldn't have time. Paul has been doing this for years to keep up with his mom and many friends (and his car is still dent-free.) The headset works really well, and it's cool to press a small button in your ear, say "Call [name]", and get connected without punching any buttons.

Social plans: dinner with

pklexton Saturday up in Belmont, John and Mark Sunday, then I leave for DC and KC Tuesday. Locals are invited to try to entice

excessor out for social activities while I'm gone, since he'll be all alone [awww...!] for two weeks.

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On the way to work today coming down 101 it seemed like there was 2 inches of water in roadway. Not a very safe feeling. Before leaving for the dentist early this morning, Rick mentioned he thinks our house is moving down the hill, but I think (hope?) he is just teasing me, since he knows I obsess about that sort of thing. Still, I spent about five minutes looking for evidence before leaving this morning (didn't see any).

We'll have to get out the marine charts to plan your trip up the ship channel on Saturday.

I have an inflatable mattress we could paddle up your way.

Mean Rick, to tease you that way. But I'm smiling. :-)

Interesting that you're working through Hammer Auto for the new Prius. I used them in 2002 to purchase my Infiniti (upon recommendation of some friends) and believe they got me a much better deal than I could have ever negotiated myself. I hope you're as successful with them.

In this case there isn't any leeway to negotiate price (the price is still lower than costs to Toyota and there are long waits to get one) -- the advantage was jumping the queue by (I assume) getting one from a dealer in some town where nobody wants them, like Fresno. The local dealers were quoting 4-5 month waits (and a $500 deposit just to get on the queue.)

I used Hammer in '97 for my Lexus and was very happy with their service.

Hey, you seem to know things Apple.

I have a new pair of Apple speakers that were made for a cube, so they have a funny wire thing, that I guess is for the electricity. Do you know if I can buy some kind of adapter/power supply to use these on a mini?

Congrats on the Prius!

Actually I've been out of the MacVerse for many years, so I have no idea! As a last resort, you can splice in your own plugs, assuming you know what power/signal the speakers need.

I'm more the helpless, youngest-child type.
Thats not true, just with these things.

I'll just leave them unplugged on the desk until my hubby rolls his eyes
at me, and fixes the problem.

Thanks though. I appreciate your time. :)

It belongs in BC and Seattle, not here.

No it doesn't. We're already way over normal for rainfall and snow pack up here, thank you very much, and historically the weather patterns shifts to sending more of those systems to California this time of year.

It's not that they don't belong there, it's just that they're all carrying a whole lot more moisture than usual this year.

:P

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday if you'll take it off our hands today!

Well, you're right, we don't mind off-and-on rain here (which is more typical for Spring), it's the day-after-day gray and rain that sucks. One of the reasons I moved away from Vancouver....

My new MINI is taking 7 months to get here. I could get it faster if I went with a dealer that marks up 10% over MSRP, but I'm not in that big a hurry. East Bay MINI will sell for MSRP, which is as good as it gets with MINIs. The nice part is that when you have to wait that long anyway, you get to order one tricked out EXACTLY as you want it. I had to get an automatic for my knee, otherwise I would have just kept my current one.

I am still pretty happy with my new RAZr phone with the bluetooth headset. It was very handy when I was on crutches, the phone was always with me without needing hands. My only real gripe is... if the thing can recite your name as you are dialing, why can it not recite the name when the call comes in? Seems it would be just as easy for it to say "office calling" rather than just ring in your ear. I'm not one that likes to answer the phone for every call, and it kind of makes the caller id useless.

The inability to speak your caller ID sounds like a software misdesign -- no reason it couldn't do that and ask if you want to take the call.

As for cars, people often pay a premium to rapacious dealers to get a hot model. I prefer to pay a broker a much smaller sum and not reward the local monopolist.

allanh commented that fleet buyers are abother way around this, but if the car is really in demand and not usually a fleet kind of car (conditions which fit your Mini) that doesn't work.

Not that it's a reason to change, but if you buy your hybrid from a San Jose dealer, you'll get free parking in SJ city lots! We got ours from Piercey for various reasons, and only found out about the free parking thing last month (after having owned the car for more than a year).

Don't underestimate the distraction factor even with the bluetooth headset. I've heard that simply talking to a passenger in the car raises accident rates. Personally, I find using my headset to be just about as distracting as holding the phone to my ear, and I rarely answer the phone when in the car.

It makes sense for San Jose to offer this inducement, since the sales tax on a Prius is more than $2K and the city where the dealer is located gets much of that (which is senseless but typical of California's ****ed-up tax system.) I don't go to downtown SJ often enough to care, and the dealers in SJ are typical in that their backlogs are large, so waiting to work with one of them would endanger getting the commute lane sticker, which is much more important to us. The sticker program has already gone over allocation, starting a 6-month clock to ending their issuance, so waiting 4 months is too risky. Meanwhile, if you are in the AMT zone for Federal taxes, the ballyhooed tax credit for hybrids is useless to you, and if you owe less than $3K in taxes, it also becomes less useful.

And isn't is bizarre that all this governmental inducement and oddball incentivization is considered better than a hefty tax on gas...

Much later note: it turns out Hammer got the car from Stevens Creek Toyota, so we'll get the freebie parking, too, assuming I get around to it.... If I had asked Stevens Creek for one, they would have told me two months, so... whatever!

you have kind of disappeared. everything ok?

Just arrived in KC yesterday, installed cable modem at my mom's this morning, so here I am.

Doesn't look good for optional trips to town because I have a list of chores as long as my arm and demanding relations who want to see me, so I have to neglect you. Sorry. How are you doing minus Saint?

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