Life is a State of Mind

Toyota to add Solar Panels, how cool is that. I notice my mileage slips a little whenever the heater or air conditioning has to be run, so this will offset at least the air conditioner loss and keep the mileage high.

In other news, my Prius broke a new personal record this morning, it reached 506 miles on the tank of gas when the alarm sounded telling me to go get some more gas. Previous record was 499 on a single tank. I also plugged all the fuel records from my car into a spreadsheet and came up with 48.35 miles per gallon average over the two years I’ve had the car (35,790 miles/740.153 gallons).

I typically put ~9 gallons in the tank every time I fill up; and that is the cheapest gas at the pump. It was a bit of a shock filling up Erci’s Porsche with high octane gas this weekend, and putting in over 17 gallons (ouch).

Just rubbing it in a little, for the past 137 miles (since I last filled up) I have averaged 55.5 miles per gallon in the 2006 Prius. It helps enormously that the weather has been calm enough to run with no heater and no air conditioning.

I’ve been cleaning the basement computer lab, and have some stuff to give away.
I’ll use free cycle if none of you claim items on the list below…

Three Practical Peripherals 288 V.34 Minitower II Data/Fax MODEM with power supplies.

One Supra 14,400bis SupraFAX MODEM with power supply.

One Practical Peripherals PM1200SA Mini MODEM with power supply.

One US Robotics Beta Model 1786 (1995 era) MODEM with power supply (I think this is an HST, but I am not sure).

I have serial cables of many types and if you want a serial (RS-232 or RS-422) cable to go with any MODEM above we can match them up.

I have a box full of 2, 4, 6, and even 8 conductor phone cables in a variety of lengths from 3″ to (I think) 200′ in length. All colors…. please take some phone cords off my hands…

Three SCSI connected Iomega ZIP 100 Drives, each with power supply and male to male D25 SCSI cable.

Three stereo headsets with standard walkman/mp3 player jacks… these all came with portable cassette/cd/mp3 and are not any special name brand or anything, they are all over the ear, small headsets with a top head-band.

Good Year Eagle Ultra Grip Tires

I have four essentially brand new (~1800 miles on them) Good Year Eagle Ultra Grip tires available.

These are sold as an all season radial, one of the very few that manages to earn Canada’s prestigious “Snowflake on the Mountain” rating for Winter traction. I used them as Winter tires only on my old Saab 9-5 Wagon and switched out to a quieter all-season each Spring. These things have amazing grip on snow, ice, and in slushy or wet conditions. When it is dry, they are a little noiser than most all-season radials.

They were about $800 for the set brand new, they are up for grabs if you can provide them a good home.
Size: 215/55 R16 93H - if you have that size wheels, and you get snow or ice, you’ll love these tires!

I also have one Michelin MXM 225/45 R 17 (91W) tire (essentially new) mounted on a 17″ alloy rim (5/110 lug pattern). This was intended to be a mounted full size spare for my old Saab - which I no longer have. I’d rather have the space back in my garage. Again, free to a good home.

Update: I pulled the stuff that has already been claimed out of the list. I am amazed at how fast stuff was claimed… Thank you all for grabbing stuff so quickly. There will be another round, and even some stuff that has enough value that I’ll be asking for trade and or charity donations in exchange…

Since so many great people were canned in AOL’s irrational corporate action on Tuesday, we’ve been in a bit of shock at work, and remaining management is scrambling to figure out how to do the job with far less man-power (unlike previous layoffs, this one was random and hit many of the prime workers). I took two days off to be with Erci (she was layed off) and collect my wits. Frankly, I am not sure I want to work there anymore, as it is no longer the company I started working for in 1995.

We made lemonaide out of lemons and headed for Schuyler, VA to visit Bob and Liz, tour their new house, and the one under construction. Very nice digs they will have when it is finished. They took us into lovely downtown Charlottesville where we walked around, and had an excellent dinner at Zocalo. They have a “lemonaide” made with Maker’s Mark, blackberries, chilli, and lemonaide that is a fiesta on the tongue. Yum!

The leaves are beginning to turn and the drive up and back along U.S. Highway 29 was beautiful. I got my tires replaced on the Prius (how can tires go bad in only 23,000 miles?!?) and I had some dance lessons while Erci continued some out-processing/training/career counseling she gets as part of the layoff package

Sutragirl has written about last night’s trip back from Spamalot in DC already, so that’s where you should go if you want to hear more about the flooding on Constitution Avenue. People made it home safely, though Ruth and her girls had a long, segmented trip after their van got stuck in the flood.

We have several friends who are dealing with flooding or close to flooding basements. So far we only have a small roof leak into our bedroom closet (moral: get gutters cleaned regularly). Roads are closed in several low spots where water is flowing over the road. Be careful out there folks.

The ground is so saturated that the next 30 hours of rain are all going to be flooding and problematic. Hopefully it never arrives.

I’ve been driving the new Prius a lot and in general I love the thing, but I have a first complaint and suggestion.

This thing needs a relatively quiet, alternate horn in addition to the normal load one it has for emergencies.

Several times now I have nearly run over pedestrians when driving around parking lots looking for a space. What happens is that said pedestrian will be walking along in a straight line, and I will come up the path behind them slowly and the Prius has invariably shut off the gas engine because it does not need it any more. What I keep failing to realize is that said pedestrian cannot hear any engine noise and does not realize I am there at all! Often the pedestrian, without looking, suddenly darts out across the traffic lane which they assume is empty, and I need to brake suddenly to avoid a squishing.

It’s not really their fault, cars have made noise their entire lives; the sudden appearance of a near silent one takes getting used to. It’s not my fault, I am going very slow in parking lots (as evidenced by the complete shutdown of the gas motor).

I used to have similar situations while riding my bicycle in parking lots, but on the bike I can simply talk out loud or give mild warnings like “coming up on your left” which alert the walker of a risk without causing them to panic (like a sudden loud horn toot). In a my car, this is less instinctive; it does not occur to me quickly to talk out loud… and I don’t want to annoy anyone with the loud horn.

Prius needs a small rattle on the grill, or a quieter horn alternate…

I suppose this will fix itself when the heat of summer kicks in and running the A/C forces the motor to stay on and make the car just a little noisier.

BTW - so far, 50.7mpg is my average and they tell me it goes up slightly once the car is broken in. Filling the tank the first time was a shock. From empty to full was only 9.549 gallons of ordinary gas, and I have not put only $28.26 into a gas tank since it was less than $1.00/gallon and I was filling a 1971 Buick Electra 225 (24.5 gallon tank)!

Well, fate popped in and the Toyota dealer I pass every morning on the way to work called me back after this morning’s visit. They had a 2006 Prius, White with Tan interior, option package #6 available today!

I considered it a sign, and grapped that machine. I drove the Prius off the lot after accepting $7000 for my old Saab. Not what I wanted for the Saab, nor what it should be worth after only ~5 years, but I see the writing on the wall. It was becoming very unreliable and very expensive in repairs. The portents were reinforced; as I was pulling my junk from the Saab and putting it in the Prius, the Saab stalled again and was unable to start without a jump. At least the folks at the Toyota dealership know what they are getting.

Anyone need 4 winter tires (16×7.5) 5-110 lug pattern? I also have one mounted and new wheel and tire (225/45-17 with the same 5-110 lug pattern, wheel is fancy alloy, and tire is a Sumitomo HTR+ 90W I think).

I’ll add a picture of the Prius when I get one. I am thinking of custom stickers to make it look outrageous - perhaps tiger stripes or zebra stripes… perhaps giant sunflowers? Tropical fish? Suggestions?

Well, it is time to face the fact that my 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon has become a lemon as it has aged. The truth is I love the ergonomics of the car and especially the ventilated seats so much that I have poured far more money than is sensible into keeping this thing running, but system after system keeps failing. I cannot help wondering if the 1999 Saab 9-5 2.3T (Sedan) I used to own has failed any better through the ravages of time/age. I’d like to think it was a better car.

My car has stalled and been unable to restart, or failed to start without serious efforts too many times now, so I find myself in the car market again prematurely. My next car will be the cleanest, greenest machine I can find, and as a bare minimum will be AT-PZEV rated in California. That limits the choices down to a small number (about 24 last I checked) of mainstream models. The Toyota Prius is at the top of the list because of it’s extraordinary light impact on the environment, and because I know my lovely HP Velotechnik Street Machine GT recumbent bicycle will fit in the back (something most of the allegedly bigger “SUV” light trucks cannot claim).

I am not sure how I will survive the heat of the Washington D.C. area without those ventilated seats, but I will figure out something (do the wooden beads work? what about installing my own fans?).

Well, Erci went and beat me to it. We picked up her Barcelona Red 2006 Toyota Prius this evening. It is very, very nice. I want one too. I balked at the non-negotiable prices earlier this fall, and I am glad I waited because the 2006 models will play MP3 encoded CDs and alarm when a tire pressure is low, but I am now thinking I want to replace my Saab 9-5 Wagon. AT-PZEV rating and 50+ MPG are calling me.

Erci went ahead and ordered a Prius, she has details at In my Field of Paper Flowers. She chose red, which we expect to be a bit darker than the one in this picture: