MAGGI PICAYUNE

The whole day got a away from me so I apologize for not getting this posted sooner. Plus I will have to test the new WP 2.9.1 to see if it does scheduling of stories before I revert back to the default theme (Kubrick) or try a new one I slated for February (it’s even cooler than the one you see currently).

First up will be Deb’s. Not the one I know around the Austin, this would be the one I knew at Marquette and was housemates with during the crazy Summer of 1988. Her birthday was really yesterday but she still deserves a mention because she’s a really smart cookie, she has a PhD! I like to call her Dr. Deb. Not in jest, out of respect since she earned the title with all the school, research and writing under her (metaphorical) belt. I wonder if her husband’s parents (Neal) were excited that their son was marrying a doctor? I know mine would’ve been impressed. Now Deb may not be a medical doctor yet she has studied in the disciplines of Chemistry and Biology (or BioChem) which does contribute to progress in medicine. Hard stuff. Hopefully Deb got to be queen for a day with Neal and their kids catering to her every whim: dinner, movie, etc.

Next is a recent co-worker who joined the Enterprise team at Apple. Much like Dr. Deb, Kelly’s special day was yesterday, however, he very deservedly earned his electrons in Picayune. I don’t want to think about how hard my life would be without Kelly’s amazing expertise in Wikis, Blogs and general Web things in the Server OS. On the surface those things look easy, c’mon, it’s just a Blog or hey the Wikipedia people can do it. Not completely. The previous logic more along the lines of mistaking driving a car for being super knowledgeable on repairing said car. Kelly has also contributed to assisting me on tweaking the core Picayune which uses Word Press and is in the process of demonstrating how I can easily fix the name of another (semi-hidden) Wiki I’m hosting about music: I was experimenting, chose a title and now I want to convert it totally over to what Mark M (the winning choice) picked out. Kelly’s knowledge is beyond computers. He can easily clobber me about superheroes or Star Trek so I guarantee that he will be dragged to the annual trivia contest at Rogues Gallery by me. Who am I to deny Kelly a cool prize. If they allow teams, I have dibs!

Lastly is Melia whose birthday IS today. Melia is a mutual friend of Somara and me. Years ago, I had the (wonderful) opportunity to make her drinks and take her food orders during my final weeks at Kenny’s. Most days, Melia came in with her husband Tarl, daughter Ryanne and son Corrin (he was a baby then). Our relationship has been more than patronage, we got Melia and her gang to become part of the Sunday Morning Ritual at Einstein’s Bagels with Charles and the Simmons Family. A very warm, humorous and patient lady, especially in light of my poor math skills regarding how far an average person could run in 18.5 minutes (kilometers! not miles!); she often participates in charity running/jogging events. Then there’s her very forgiving nature for a dumb faux pas I made regarding her drink one morning. In my defense, I assumed something based upon the order along with patterns of other customers, nothing further. Now knowing her two children, they are up to something to surprise their mother with a big assistance from Tarl.

As expected, if you know any of them, drop them a (belated) happy birthday!

Easiest birthday to remember, good ol’ 1-2-3 or 1/23. Should we live to 2045 it will be even cooler. Women do outlive men on average so the odds favor her and not me to be around to write about it. If I do, I wonder if the Internet and Web pages will be around. Obviously they’ll be in different forms, maybe injected directly into our brains or through HUDs via our glasses or contacts.

Moving into less morbid territory, I want to wish my faraway friend a great birthday wish. She mentioned some kind of plans to give a presentation regarding her ancestry and ethnicity. Long, long ago (20 years), when I lived in North Dakota, I learned about how the state was settled by the various European people. The eastern side which is closer to Minnesota tends to have more people of Norwegian descent, if the rumors were to be believed. I wouldn’t know for sure because I lived in the western side that was more German. However, according to Cindy’s research, these weren’t the Germans most American conjure up in their collective memories or imaginations: Bavarians, Prussians, etc. Even my ancestors were from the “mainstream” Germany but left due to Kulturkampf (I have no idea which province, Grandpa told the story differently every time). The Germans of North Dakota (Cindy’s family) came from what would be modern-day Russia. I’d say they were pretty far from home, what with Poland and Ukraine being in between the two nations. Given a choice, these Germans packed up, travelled across the Atlantic (probably), trekked across the US to settle in North Dakota because the climate and geography resembled where they came from. That or the other people living in America didn’t let them see the brochures about the warmer parts of the US.

This explained a ton of things when I left North Dakota to attend Marquette in Milwaukee, another infamous city dominated by German immigrants. The Milwaukeans never heard of fleischkuekle and when I described it, they’d wince a bit followed with the statement of, “Whatever that is, it isn’t German!”

Cindy is free to post corrections regarding all this, my memory is a bit hazy since I gave my informational speech on famous NoDaks in Speech 12 at Marquette; I did get an A on it.

Not a bad anecdote. I thought I was going to be stumped after covering all the more interesting bases last year (celebrity birthdays she shares, etc.).

This is NOT our car, this is only a photo to give the general idea what our new one will look like minus the "gutters."

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of us meeting in person at the Chili’s on US 183 and I-35 (now gone, moved a bit south on I-35). To everybody else, it was a day off through the Federal holiday of MLK Day Observed or by calling in sick on Blue Monday, allegedly the one with the highest rate of absenteeism in the West.

We put it off a day since Somara traded her Monday off to get this Tuesday free. I lucked out as well. Even if I didn’t, Somara was still going to the nearby Honda dealership to test drive the 2010 Fit. I’m sure I will be bombarded with the usual litany from a certain person about not buying the new VW Golf TDI, a car that’s only good for the environment if I drove 50 miles/day; our commute is less than seven one way, we’re very fortunate compared to many co-workers.

So why this car? Originally, I was more set on the Toyota Yaris for a while and I remain set against a VW for the long term. The Yaris proved to be too small for our special purposes (aka transporting wedding cakes) while the Fit has around the same mileage capability. Consumer Reports liked the Fit Sport model more and gave it some of the best safety ratings. People sending text messages on their phones while driving may be illegal now but I’m not holding my breath with all these morons in their mobile living rooms on the streets. There have been numerous quality issues popping up for Toyota too, namely the floormat issue they’ve finally settled about. Sadly, American cars weren’t in the running for our money. Making them the dominant brands for rentals was the dumbest thing I think they’ve ever done; they always demonstrate to me again and again of what I would never buy as they fail to impress me during my short uses of them. Besides, the currents ones at dealerships are all fire-sale models they’re unloading on everybody until they re-tool and maybe start making cars people really need with the assumption that gas will remain (relatively) expensive.

In short, the Fit is the best compromise overall. The mileage isn’t as fantastic as a Prius or electric car; it’s very hard to recover their costs through fuel savings unless gas jumps to $4/gallon again, I have doubts on the other stuff through my cousin Dana and friend Mark M’s ownership of theirs. Diesel again is impressive on paper yet reality shoots them down too; all the savings with them evaporate on repairs (maybe I’ll revisit them when there’s diesel-base hybrid) and the goal is to drive less, not more. The Smart car isn’t practical in Texas thanks to all the Hummers, pickups and SUVs; if we lived in a congested metropolitan area, I’d like it. The most depressing fact is that all new cars’ manufacture are equal to driving 23,000 miles when it comes to tearing up the planet. Definitely makes me reconsider the whole thing…until one of us is stranded on Wells Branch, holding up the morning rush hour traffic, late for work. Grief (really peace of mind) is certainly one commodity I’ve been spending too much on with my car. However, Somara’s truck is being traded in first. It is older and lacks any amenities: heat, air conditioning, radio (more of a liability in Austin) and I can’t drive it anymore. In exchange, the Fit will be Somara’s car whenever we have to drive separately.

The test drive went well too. Somara did all the driving. I let our sales guy (Sam, very nice and recommended by a friend) know it will be her car, I’ll take her word and in my mind it will feel like a rental, I can adapt quickly being a hatchback driver for 13 years. We took it up I-35 a bit, turned around near the Outlet Mall, did some tight turns at Chuy’s parking lot (simulate Apple’s parking lot Somara said) and then back to the dealership. I would agree with her, the Fit feels heavier in the front since the gas tank (around 10 gallons/38 liters) is closer to the engine instead of being placed in the traditional rear section of the frame. Being sold on it, we went ahead with our options. This is the first car we’ve ever bought together and the first new one for either of us in at least 13 years, we decided to treat ourselves to a couple features:

• USB set up for our iPods. Austin radio blows, the less I have to hear it outside of KUT’s better shows and Chillville on 101x, the better.
• These gutter things on the car’s frame. They have a technical term and for some reason they’re not legal in every state but they’re really practical. The window can be rolled down without it dripping in because the “gutter” protrudes out a fraction of an inch. Maybe they’re awnings.
• A cargo cover so thieves can’t see what’s in the back.
• Manual transmission. Both of our current vehicles are. We’re comfortable with it. The Fit has a tachometer to help me (I don’t listen to the engine like Somara can, it’s quiet anyway). People remain better at shifting gears than computers too (this is true with video games). This will squeeze a little more mileage from the car. Most of all, it discourages some people we don’t like from wanting to borrow the car…we kid there, all those we dislike moved away.

Now Sam is in the process of hunting down a match or we’ll have to wait for Honda in Japan to start building it. He mentioned something like January 27th for its completion. (Somara already shot down the idea of giving the car a birthday party.) We’ll see soon. For the interim, we will be hunting down the title on Somara’s truck (it’s a long story, ask her), shuffling the money around to get a big(ger) down payment, adjusting the fiscal plan for the Maggi Republic (I can answer this inside joke) and most importantly…buying a new, cheap iPod to put in it when we can take possession! We should have our new car within 90 days. I’ve waited a few years, a couple months won’t kill me.

Our friend and lawyer acquaintance, some inside joke from the Neil Simon movie The Goodbye Girl, celebrates his big day. Allegedly he’s spending it near the Houston area at a nearby Chuck E. Cheese. I didn’t know he hated pizza, the tokens are more edible and drier than the tickets.

All teasing aside. Mark, aka Mark B in the Comments, is a cool guy we met through Yahoo in 2003 when we were rebuilding our D&D group from the ground up after all the infighting of the last one. (Pretty sad, all the nonsense from high school continues 20 years later). However, there’s more to our relationship with Mark than gaming (Somara hangs with him too). We’ve been to movies, concerts (indirectly Spoon last Summer) and recently, Stars’ games; he’s son Evan had a good time.

Only now has he finally told me when his birthday is so I can post it on my site for the world…ok, a dozen people, to see. If you know him, drop him a line. If you have a legal question, let him be off the clock for his birthday.

My co-worker and friend let us take her to Dave & Buster’s for dinner to celebrate. She brought along her children Eddie and Anna. Those two are still at the age when there’s a time limit on the festivities yet we enjoyed everyone’s company; kids can’t help themselves, they’re kids, not adults.

I felt the food was excellent, especially in light of a place that emphasizes the games; see Chuck E Cheese. The waitress even surprised Ayako with a birthday sundae! We spontaneously sang “Happy Birthday” to her, kids included.

If you know Ayako, probably through FaceBook, wish her well.

Masami and Lee (aka Doc) have been married for 11 joyous years.

According to Wikipedia, the gift this time would be steel, scent (huh?), fashion jewelry or accessories. Steel doesn’t sound very practical unless it were a new car. Scent, hmm, I will guess perfume/cologne. Fashion jewelry gives off an air of the props little girls wear during dress-up games. Accessories. Now there’s a winner. I know Lee has an iPhone. Need to check on Masami, then they can have accessories for their iPhones! Unless they already do which means I can go with iTunes money for them to buy Applications, the ultimate iPhone accessory…content.