MAGGI PICAYUNE

So much to write about but such a lack of time plus some other stories on the horizon. Sorry!

The car gave me some concerns by Sunday morning already but it’s working…for now. I’m seriously thinking of commissioning a piece from this guy at work who used to be an animator for that car deathwatch thing I mentioned earlier.

I promise to get caught up and there will probably be another burst of posts/stories like I did at the beginning of the month. I would like to have a repeat of the record-breaking October (40!).

Meanwhile, comment away!

First off, I decided to make a new Category because car trouble and its happy (or happier) ending isn’t exactly “breaking news” as Headlines would imply. I feel the Category with the most entries should be reserved for matters that are a big deal: a new job, a new pet/baby, etc. The SCLM should do the same. Tiger Woods or Notre Dame’s new head coach doesn’t warrant being on the front page, physical or virtual. Maybe I’ll review the 250 already present and reclassify them…right, after I get the remaining posts (April 2007 to November 2008) off the old server.

Now to the heart of the story.

Thursday night was spent Christmas shopping for several friends at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar since it has the only physical branch of Mondo Tees, a little store that sells the best retro iron-ons for T-shirts; all those memories of killing time at the mall in the Seventies, I can smell the Orange Julius next door! Afterwards, we decided to go out for dinner because I had destroyed Somara’s window of opportunity to work on her annual cookies. What could I do? The catalog didn’t say the Chuck Norris gag decal I wanted was out of stock.

So we went North through the I-35 corridor of Austin, debating over where to stop along the way. A compromise was reached with Pei Wei due to its proximity to Toys R Us (something we agreed on for Julia). As soon as we passed the intersection of Parmer and I-35, the check engine LED came on. How I hate that stupid thing. Unix log files are less cryptic. Fearing the status would shift from solid (warning) to blinking with screeching (failure imminent) we went home while I started planning the next few days around Somara and me having one vehicle.

Long story short, Toby and the gang at Underground pinned down the problem, resolved it and had my VW ready by the end of Friday. Definitely saved our upcoming trip to the One World Theater to see the Manhattan Transfer Sunday night. How much? Less than a new car payment which now brings the average cost of maintaining the beat-up 1996 Golf GL to $92.70/month; this number is based upon what I have spent after it was paid off in June 2001 and includes oil changes and inspections (Austin started including emissions several years ago). Even I’m surprised. I would’ve put it at $110-120/month in light of the two big repairs in 2008 and the alarm last Spring.

A new car remains on the horizon in 2010. It will not be a VW though. Their gas-powered lines are overpriced and get the same mileage as my 1996 jalopy. My friend Bryant continues with his litany of diesel too. Namely the upcoming 2010 Golf TDI. The $22K starting price is enough to be a deal breaker. So while I had the time, I asked Toby what his opinion was of it. His immediate response was a question, “Do you plan to drive it 400,000 miles?” I laughed saying, I barely have 150,000 on mine of 13 years. Toby elaborated on how the new diesel vehicles are disastrous to support due to all the complicated electronics that have been added. He said, the diesel VWs of the early Nineties and before are easier to maintain so they’re great. Meanwhile, any diesel VW has built afterwards are only cost-effective for traveling salesmen; commuters with long, daily treks; and people who don’t mind spending $700 on just the timing belt. I think I’ll trust my mechanic’s assessment on why I should never buy a diesel-powered car more because he’s either being too honest or he’s insane. Think about it. Repairing my car fairly often could help him buy a timeshare nicer than ours in Las Vegas. I know the dealerships (namely Maund in Austin) wouldn’t bat an eye against selling me a new money pit.

This meandering tale just dovetails to how my VW seems to develop an envy streak whenever I spend too much money on other people or objects. I’m grateful the Golf only needed a small appeasement to its bruised ego.

The first friend I made in Austin 15 years ago gets to celebrate her birthday. Maybe nothing too crazy, she lives in Switzerland which is a rather uptight country, according to her. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been there. I have worked with a couple ladies from the land of cheese, chocolate and clocks. My initial impression is that I’m not surprised on the outcome of the minaret ban, especially when either of them got on a tear about Kurds or Turks.

Anyway, this is Sonia’s special day. She may kick back a bit but I think she’ll postpone anything big until she comes to the States to see her family. I myself am hoping to make a quick trip to Houston to get a little face time with the friend I call ma petite soeur, since she has usually been the wiser kid sister type from American sitcoms and films (only immediate example I can give is She’s All That, I could probably do better if I took more time research). Then again, maybe Sonia can tell me if there are any fancy-schmancy places to celebrate in Basel.

If you know my friend, drop her a line through e-mail or her FaceBook wall, wish her bon anniversaire because French is what we took together!

For my first post on the new server (aka Graceland) it’s all about how Austin didn’t get squat for snow and I’m glad. After 16 Winters in Illinois, one in Indiana, one in North Dakota and five in Wisconsin, I am so through with its weather. I did spend one in North Carolina which was in-between. Not quite Winter yet I didn’t like it.

Last night everybody was bracing for a couple inches. In the Midwest, that’s a joke and North Dakota doesn’t even give it a second thought. Meanwhile, Central Austin treats it like a class five hurricane landing. Overall, I don’t mind it too much. The snow falls, it might accumulate and it’s gone in less than a day. The pattern resembles the weather in sitcoms: there’s only snow for the Christmas episode because it’s a plot element, by next week, things are back to “normal.” Trust me, if The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Happy Days or The Bob Newhart Show followed the reality of Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago climate respectively, they’d be different programs my grandparents would’ve enjoyed; jibber jabbering over the weather one of their favorite rants.

Just a quick post for my friends who don’t live near the area. You may have seen this AP photo. Firstly, those people are in Houston, well over 300 miles from here. Secondly, you can’t count on Internet’s numerous weather sites. A couple of hours ago, the widget on my MacBook insisted it was snowing Pflugerville despite what I saw out the window, nothing.

In closing, Jeremy successfully helped me install WordPress on the new(er) server and it migrated all my posts. I had to move over the pictures (easy), reinstall the plug-ins (easy) and get the DNS to re-route (also easy). One thing I did manage on my own was tweak the php.ini file to allow movies larger then 2 MB to be imported. We’ll see if this works in the near future.

Thanks for all your patience and now let us see some posts!

I took the day off from work to run some errands and do a little catching up. Somara had a nasty cold right before Thanksgiving, the kind with the congestion, coughing and sneezing. The usual unpleasantness. Being married to her, I obviously received my turn with the illness she contracted. The bout of sickness I came down with earlier in November gave me no additional immunity. Anyway, I did a great job beating this cold with aggressive measures: guzzling a whole bottle of orange juice every day, mucinex in the morning, more fluids and grabbing several vacation days in order to recuperate. I know it worked because I don’t have to go number one every 20-30 minutes like the guys in the prostrate drug commercials. Years ago I complained to a doctor, ok a PA, over this part. He said the frequent going was a good thing, it means the body is successfully fighting the infection by expelling it through the whiz. I just wish the human body could bundle it more efficiently in bulk as Costco does.

While I’m sick, I have trouble concentrating. I used the “down” time to blow through robotic tasks on my MacBook, namely rebuilding my Now Up2Date calendar. The iCal-driven one from the Server will now tackle the chores and schedule, Now’s will be personal history. I’m almost finished. I stopped at July 2008. Not too shabby when the starting point was September 1994.

Mediocre health and rotten (cold) weather aside, life has still been pretty good. Somara packed four boxes for Operation: Alexandria and I finally moved them into my former office for safekeeping. I think we may actually get around to laying down the bamboo flooring next year, before the unbearable, hot Central Texas conditions return.

My VW jalopy passed inspection today. Why the concern? Outside of the half-dozen, There I Fixed it kludges keeping it together, the inspector guy couldn’t get it start on the first attempt. I still got the magic sticker saying the car is safe enough to drive for another. The 2010 goal for the Golf is to remain functional until our new car comes home. I’m torn over selling it for parts to some due who will take it to Mexico or have the dealer give me a pittance (I checked on the Internet, I’d be lucky to get $850).

The holidays are right upon us too (Christmas doesn’t have a monopoly here) so our card-cookie-gift database is chugging along. I’m disappointed on not to receiving any e-mail regarding correct addresses. Could it be my information is right? Unlikely. I’m going with the theory of my site being ignored in favor of FaceBook “communication.” C’est la vie. This made me ratchet up to more aggressive means, namely sending e-mails directly to those whose information could be wrong. I’ll have to see how it pans out. As for the variety of cards, Somara’s box of them was a bit slim in content and their primary source (Sparks) went out of business this Fall. Then I looked at the back of a semi-adult one in the batch, looked up the publisher (Noble Works) and hit the jackpot. These questionable nuggets of holiday joy will be for next year but you’ll have to trust me, they get me back on track. How often I continue to receive compliments for this classic in the Nineties.

Anybody thinking of giving me a gift this year, please don’t. I’m not being ungrateful or a grinch, I just want to reduce the amount of things in the house. In this economy, it’s easier, wiser and cheaper to make my stuff fit in a 1300-square-foot home than buying a larger place. If you insist, then donate to a charity/advocacy group I back (Greenpeace, Meals on Wheels, Planned Parenthood, UNICEF, my vet’s setup or Doctors without Borders). Sounds lame or you disagree? Paperless, electronic credits are cool: iTunes (Apple employees pay full price like everybody else), Amazon, Wii and the PlayStation Network. Not to be too crass, I’m an adult without children, I can usually buy the things I want.

As for the transition from the G4 Mini (Zocalo) to Intel Mini (Graceland), I’m still hounding my friend Jeremy. I will be taking Thursday off to put a stake in the heart of my sore throat, maybe I can get together with him to oversee this. So if Picayune disappears, you’ll know it didn’t go well.

Now I return to the usual string of stories and pictures.