Tyler Hunt

Today my car turned 100k. Happy Mileage.

The 30 mph speed limit on Tanner Road had me thinking about ways of getting people to actually obey such a low limit. While they frequently disperse speeding tickets on that road, it still doesn’t stop people from going 10-15 mph over that limit. So, the idea of positive reinforcement ticketing came to mind. Instead of pulling over those who are exceeding the limit, those who are obeying the limit are pulled over, only instead of a ticket to be paid, they’re given a ticket that pays them. This scenario may go something like this:

“Do you have any idea how fast you were going back there?” “I thought I was going the speed limit, sir.” “That’s right! Here’s $25. Have a nice day.”

The likelihood of this actually happening is slim to none, due to the sheer cost of such a program. However, if reality shows are any indication, Americans are more than willing to do anything for money, so it would be an interesting experiment to see if they would actually slow down for a chance at some cash.

After a gruelingly day of playing Gamecube and eating out, I got home in a weird mood and decided to take a walk. This is rarely something I ever do, and it almost kind of happend by accident. It was like I got out of my car, became disoriented, and started heading off in the opposite direction as my house. Anyways, it was a good walk, and I found I was able to get a lot of good thinking done, which happens less than I’d like it too. With as much free time as I find myself having, I never make the effort to spend a few minutes to clear my thoughts and refocus. This is something I should really do more though, as I enjoyed being able to think clearly without the distractions of road of the Internet, and the exercise would be good for me as well.

After getting a higher than anticipated estimate for fixing my car, I’ve been considering other options that may present a cheaper alternative. The one that I’ve settled on for now is to acquire and install the required replacement parts myself and then take the car somewhere just to have the painting done. This should be significantly cheaper, although finding the parts could prove to be a difficult task.

Playing Need for Speed: Underground has left me with a desire to be like the ricers in the game. So I spent some time this afternoon looking at aftermarket body kits. I’ve thought about getting a kit before, but never pursued it, mainly because it would be costly, but also because I had never seen a kit that I really liked. This hasn’t changed. I just don’t think it’s possible to improve on such a nice OEM front end. So I’ll be sticking with the stock look. It may be fun to drive a riced-up ride in the game, but in real life I’ll keep my car looking just like it did coming off the assembly line.

Kirby made the mistake of introducing me to Need for Speed: Underground this past weekend. (He made the mistake himself of picking it up during finals, which would have been devastating to my study days.) The game is really fun, and really addictive, but oddly enough not for the primary element of the game. You would think that a racing game would be enjoyable for the racing (don’t get me wrong, this game certainly is), but the best part about Underground is the modding you get to do to your ride. Everything is changeable, including performace upgrades like exhaust, drivetrain, brakes, turbo, and nitrous and visual mods such as body kits, rims, vinyl, paint, and decals. As you progress through the game, more of these mods become available, and installing them boosts your reputation on the street.

Aside from the being a complete time trap, this game may have actually had a positive side effect. I washed and cleaned my car today, inside and out, and got an oil change. Neither of these had been done since before the fall semester started. This goes to show that there may be more benefits to gaming than just improving visual recognition.

So I’ve been putting off the inevitable for much longer than I ever thought that I would, but I finally took my car in for an estimate today. The damage never looked that bad, and I did some initial estimation myself on the prices for replacement parts, but I never imagined it would be as high as it was. For now I’m going to investigate my options and see if there’s a cheaper solution to this problem. And I was so looking forward to having it fixed before Christmas.

Well I got a paycheck today, finally. F, being the good man that he is, has held true to his word and got a paycheck to me within a week of asking for it. I still haven’t heard anything back yet from the old company, that still owes me 8 weeks worth of time. I’m supposed to call tomorrow to find out when I can expect to get paid.

Unfortunately, while I was at F’s today, his wife backed into my car. Normally, this would have been a bad thing, but considering the current state of my front end, I’m not too worried about the little bit of damage she did. After damaging that bumper twice again this week, I’m really glad that I’ve waited this long to get it fixed.

I finally took some action and had some work done on my car today. It has been long overdue a brake job, but luckily it only ended up need the front rotors and pads replaced. I could have possibly saved some money doing the work myself, but in reality that just wasn’t going to happen any time soon. I feel surprisingly good about having it done though, because I keep telling myself that I need to get it fixed (brakes, oil change, accident damage) before I can do the fun stuff (tint, subwoofer). So I’m one step closer now to that goal, but unfortunately the next step will hit the wallet a little more.

I can remember going to the airport as a kid and parking off to the side of the road, right at the end of the runway, where airplanes would make their approach. It was an amazing feeling having a huge plane come so close—the feeling that you might be swiped by the landing gear, and the deafening roar of the jets drowning out the sound of the nearby highway. Well tonight, an attempt was made to relive those memories, but alas, it was a short-lived attempt. After checking if we had car trouble, a non-uniformed individual alerted us to the potential for arrest, and claimed that pilots had already called us in. While I don’t see much harm in sitting invisibly on the roadside as a landing spectator, someone apparently sees a risk in this miscreant behavior. I bet this has to do with those stupid terrorists that had go and ruin the fun of flying for us all.

The trip up went well, although I ended up on I-85 going through Atlanta, delaying my trip by at least a good half-hour. This was probably because I was taking pictures while driving instead of paying attention to things like road signs. Which brings up something else. Georgia has this habit of placing “Speed Checked by Detection Devices” signs at frequent intervals along the interstate. It is my opinion that they place these signs in the stretches where cops do not actually patrol the highway. I never once saw any police activity in these areas, but saw plenty outside of them, especially in the increased fine construction zones, a.k.a. speed traps. I know this because there was never any construction going occurring, just cops waiting covertly behind barriers and on bridges.

My instincts served me well on more than one occasion. I was particularly wary near rest stops and weigh stations, which turned out to be among the favorite hiding spots for the state patrol. Also, overpasses have scared me ever since I was clocked from above and ticketed from below on the way back from my last trip up here. This fear saved me at least once, again in Georgia, only a little ways past the Florida state line. So I made it, ticketless and tired. Don’t ever let anyone tell you a nine hour trip by yourself isn’t long. It was worth it, though. These next few days should be fun.

Ever since I installed that cold air intake in my car, I’ve had to be careful not to drive through deep water whenever it rains. I thought it would never happen, but I hydrolocked my car tonight. There was a torrential downpour as I was on my way to H2O, and I somehow managed to suck up some of that accumulated moisture into my engine. It could have caused some serious damage; I guess I got lucky. With a little help from my dad, we got the car running again without too much effort. I’ll have to go and get an oil change tomorrow to make sure there isn’t any water left in the oil, but hopefully my good ol’ Acura will keep on running like the champ that it is.

While most bicycle companies are spending their R&D money on researching new alloys to make their bikes stronger and lighter, Flavio Deslandes spends his time finding the best way to make his out of bamboo. Bambucicletas, as he calls them, have all of the main structural parts of the bike made from stalks of the tubular grass. Apparently bamboo is considered by some to be a viable alternative to the resource intensive aluminum typically used in bicycle construction. While his design is clever, I don’t see these taking off any time soon. Especially considering that each piece of bamboo has to be “selected and fitted into the frame according to size and quality.”