zrath

I Netflixed and watched "Speed Racer" on Thursday Night.
Yes, the soopa-psychedelic "Deeelite"-esque motion picture.
AND I LIKED IT!
Also, the theme has been stuck in my head ever since.
Not just the original TV theme or the movie megamix, oh nooooo!!
I also have the early '90s Alpha Team techno remix stuck in there!!
AND the Alpha Team extended "naughty" mix!
And I keep cross-mixing everything and making soopadoopamegaremixes!
AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

Okay, it's really not so bad.

So anyway, yes, "Speed Racer", the reviled-for-unknown-reasons Wachowski Brothers movie.
I enjoyed it, it was fun, and it made sense in its own way.
It had cartoon physics, cartoon plot, cartoon humor, and live-action characters acting like cartoons.
It's a cartoon movie based on a cartoon TV show. Where exactly is the problem here?
Is it because certain people still feel butthurt (HAR! New slang!) over the Matrix sequels? Get over it!

I was ragging on this movie for using all-CGI cars but after seeing it, I understand why they did it.
They're some seriously insane car-fu in there and there's no way in hell you can do it in live-action.
Also, the racetracks are pure videogame fantasy. Again, impossible to do in real-life. So CGI makes sense.
"Speed Racer" starts being funny for me in the middle and stays funny until the end.
My favorite line is in French and not subtitled. During a race, a certain character completely loses it and pulls
out a .45 pistol. The reaction of the French race commentator is priceless, especially since he's been talking in
French-accented English the whole time. He goes native and exclaims: "Putain de sa mère, il a un flingue!"
Which contextually translates to "son of a bitch, he's got a gun!" (rod, heater, gat, "flingue" is slang for gun)
LOL!
I definitely want this on DVD.

Also, me being me, I am intrigued at the theoritical engineering involved in some of the race cars.
Especially the T-180 racers, with their 4-wheel steering system controlled by top-mounted roto-rings.
Are the wheels actually powered, or is the car propulsed by exhaust from the babbletech power plant?
Because if the wheels are powered, than means an electrical motor inside each wheel, which is not unheard of.
I've seen plenty of experimental vehicles with wheelmotors or hubmotors.
You'd need to run power cables from the power plant to the wheelmotors.
It's simple on conventional vehicles, really tricky on T-180s, but not impossible.
Just thinking out loud...

So anyway, if you want to experience some overly colorful sci-fi cartoony racing, "Speed Racer" is pretty much it!
Otherwise, wait for "Death Race" to hit DVD. (HAR!)

Friday: Called Joe at the garage that fixed the Fnord Stranger before I took delivery of it.
Told him about the cracked hose. He offered to fix it for free if I could find the right hose.
Well, that gave me my mission for the day!
I duct-taped the crack on the hose, filled the radiator, and went to Pep Boys to find the hose.
Apparently, they don't have the car diagrams anymore, so it was a complete waste of time. I went to
the nearby Westside Pavilion to make a payment on my T-Mobile account and keep my cellphone turned on.
While there, I discovered that the Japanese toy store "PowerAnime" had not, in fact, closed.
It had relocated to a larger, ground-floor space. Somebody had forgotten to put a sign about the move
on the old storefront way back in October when I tried going back there. Harrumph!
Anyway, this gave time to the Stranger to cool down enough for me to refill the radiator.

Went to the local Ford extortionist dealer to gather some data on the needed hose.
The Ford Parts Guy had problems understanding my accent.
Kzin: "Hi, I need a part."
Parts Guy: "A bolt?"
K: "No, a part. A spare part. A hose."
PG: "What kinda hose? There's a lot of 'em."
K: "I don't know what it's called."
I described in detail where the hose was and what it was connected to. I asked him to put up an
exploded diagram of the truck on-screen so I could point to the part. He replied that he didn't have
such a diagram. Okay, what the hell? I remember clearly such diagrams available at car parts dealers,
both dealers and 3rd party, and now they've all disappeared! Nobody ported them to the computers!
This is stupid and damned inconvenient! While at Pep Boys, I looked through a Chilton car repair book
and nowhere did I see an exploded diagram of the vehicle with all parts labelled and numbered!
Anyway, Ford Parts Guy brought up a super simple diagram showing the heating system and, miracles
of miracles, the hose I was looking for. I pointed to it and he worked the keyboard some more.
Now, this hose I needed was roughly 8 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. Pretty small.
"Oh, this is an expensive hose," he clucks. "Over $90 at least..."
He is not kidding. I wasn't planning to buy it there anyway, I just wanted the info.
He didn't have the hose in stock, but he printed out the diagram for me to have, so that was cool.

I immediately took off for Kragen Auto Parts, which is where I had wanted to go in the first place.
The guy at Kragen was incredibly cool. He let me walk in the back and look at the hoses they had in
stock to see if I could find a close match. Then, he let me walk out of the store with the hose so
I could measure it against the existing one. The hose I found was a really close fit, so I bought it.
It cost me all of $9. Mission accomplished! WIN!!! \O/
I came home and found an e-mail from Genex in my box. I did not get the job. They chose someone with
more web server testing experience. Nom de dieu de bordel de putain de couilles de merde!
I dejectedly crashed in front of the TV and watched some "John Adams", the HBO miniseries, on DVD.

Saturday: Got up at 7am (hisssssssssss!!!), showered, dressed, grabbed a few things, refilled
the truck's radiator and took off for Joe's place to get the hose put on. Traffic was wonderfully
light and I got there quickly. After the truck had cooled down, hose installation commenced.
The hose turned out to be the perfect inner and outer diameter. It was a bit long, but that was easily
remedied with a little cutting with a very sharp blade. In the end, it fit perfectly.
The engine was run for several minutes to make sure everything was good, all fluids were checked and
topped up. I shook Joe's hand vigorously, thanking him for being such a cool guy and doing this free.

With that taken care of, I headed for Torrance to attend the monthly LUGOLA meeting.
I eyed the gas gauge nervously the whole time because it was getting low, and I was out of cash.
I had a Lego set with me that I was hoping to sell to get some gas and food money.

( LUGOLA meeting details and photos here )

The weather was hot, the apartment was crowded, but we still had a good time!
And I sold my Lego set so, upon leaving the meeting, I immediately put gas in the Stranger.
Then I stopped at Red Robin for lunch on the way home. I had an A1 Peppercorn Cheeseburger, and boy
was it ever peppery! Also, two baskets of those Bottomless Fries with mayo on the side. :)
Red Robin is a pretty cool joint, they have yet to screw up on me.
I got home at around 6pm and just chilled. I watched more "John Adams".

Sunday: I was hoping to be in the Valley by 10am to help selenesue with stuff moving but
I was, wait for it, "le tired"!! Bwahahahahahaha-snort! Ahem...
So I got there a little later but just in time to stuff the Stranger full of boxes (cue Tetris Song 2!).
And then we stuffed a friend's Exploder full of stuff. Selene's got too much stuff...
We caravaned to the house and unloaded everything with help of a friend's two nephews, or something.
Then we went to the old place and loaded the Stranger and Exploder again. Greg The Jedi showed up
to help load stuff. We caravaned to the house again and unloaded the stuff. I was still achy-breaky
from the Thursday Sound System Deployment & Evac Drill, so I couldn't lift the heavy boxes of books.
I was thankful Greg was there to do that. I was completely drenched in sweat during the whole thing.
Selene treated the survivors to supper at the nearby Sizzler's, and the food was, and remember that
this is a Frenchman talking, to use the current jargon, "meh". At least mine was.
Also, the ketchup was not Heinz. It was a Heinz bottle but the ketchup tasted cheap and watered-down.
I thought there was something wrong with my fries but it was, in fact, the ketchup.
I enjoyed the fully operational air conditioning in Selene's new house for a while, then went home.
Jean-Louis was supposed to come by and get his sound system, but he didn't make it.
I showered and relaxed in front of the TV to watch the rest of "John Adams".
And thus the weekend ended...

In October 2007, something interesting happened to a building not too far from where I live.
The building in question is on Santa Monica Boulevard, the block East of the 405 freeway.
It used to be a kid's furniture store. It closed and stayed vacant for a while.
And then, some time in october '07, this banner went up and construction began:



I was rather surprised.
Those of you who read this journal regularly know of my penchant for automobiles and vehicles in general.
So when I saw this banner, I immediately realized what it was and what it meant:
There was going to be a Tesla Motors dealership in my backyard.
Tesla Motors is a company based out of Menlo Park, CA, that makes one product, for now: the Tesla Roadster.
The Tesla Roadster is a heavily-modified Lotus Elise that runs on electricity.
It's a high performance sports car, and it's completely battery-powered.
It's also rather good-looking.
And pricey.
More on that later.
Over the next few months, I kept an eye on the building, determined to see if this would really happen.

( More photos and a visit to the Tesla dealership under the cut )

So yeah, neat stuff.
Hopefully, enough people will buy this and the technology will get cheaper and more people will benefit
in the long run. Because we need people with money to be the pioneers to buy stuff and help the tech grow.
For more info on the Tesla, check out their nice website here.

So, like I mentioned a while back, I was about to get a pick-up truck.
Transportation! Finally! After all these years! I was standing there beside myself!
It is a 1992 Ford Ranger XLT pick-up truck with a shell. The truck is dark grey, like Zrath. :)
I've been thinking about a callsign for a while and I've decided on STRANGER 6.
It's a (St)Ranger, I am a foreigner, a stranger, and the number "6" pops up a lot in my life.
Here, have a picture of the Stranger!



(Not the actual license plate. I'll try to get them ASAP!)

The truck had to be fixed first, there was a problem with coolant leakage.
It was taken to the shop on Saturday April 19th, and was fixed by Wednesday 23rd.
Saturday 26th was picked as the day to do the transfer of ownership.
On that day, coyoteseven retrieved the truck from the shop and came to pick me up.
Then we went to Alhambra to rendez-vouse (thanks Wil Wheaton!) with his parents at the AAA office there.
The pick-up truck seemed to be working fine and the engine temperature gauge stayed nice and low.
After getting a new radiator AND a new water pump, darn tootin' it should be working fine!
The only thing that didn't work was the air conditioning. And it was HOT!!!
We had to drive with the windows open OR DIE! It was over 100 degrees Farenheit in Alhambra!
But aside from that, the actual tranfer of ownership was rather quick and painless.
While I was at it, I got basic AAA membership and a quote for auto insurance.
I had 20 days to get insurance, so there was plenty of time to shop around and come to a decision.
C7 and I saw his parents off, then we looked at each other and said "Lunch!!".
It was about that time, yes.

I got into my truck (MY TRUCK!! MINE!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH HOO!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!),
C7 got in too, and we cruised around looking for food. We wound up at a most un-Carl's Jr-esque Carl's Jr.
It had probably been something else before, like a Del Taco or a Jack In The Box or something.
Anyway, we got some food, and it was tasty.
Afterwards, C7 and I cleaned out the cab of the pick-up truck and threw away a bunch of junk.
We found two cassettes: "Skeletons In The Closets" (a Boingo best Of), and the "Ghostbusters" soundtrack.
I put the "Ghostbusters" tape in and we cruised around looking for our next objective: CAR WASH!
Yes, the truck had not been washed in months, possibly years! Bad Coyote, bad! No delicious babies! :D
We found a kick-ass car wash that did a great job and even cleaned the steering wheel at my request.
I gave both guys a tip when it was all done.

Then we went back to C7's parents' pad to take care of something.
Once the something was taken care of, we decided to go check out the Glendale Galleria Lego Store.
(We had gone to the one in Downtown Disney the previous weekend, so it was the Galleria's turn.)
I hit Googlesmaps to refresh my memory on how to get there (I used to go semi-regularly to the Glendale
Galleria in the mid-90s, when I had Simba, the '94 Ford Explorer Sport 4x4. That was a fun truck!).
The drive was pretty smooth and we got there quickly.
The mall was crowded, unsurprisingly. We icebreakered my way through the throngs and hit the Lego Store.
I showed C7 the building site crane I had ordered, since this store actually had it in stock.
We marvelled at the sheer number of different parts available in the Pick-A-Brick section.
I wound up picking up a few mini polybag Creator sets, small fun little things with interesting parts:
Black SUV - Jet - Triceratops - Lion
(Is that actually a lion? It looks like a lion to me.)
C7 and I had both bought a cute lil' Creator Whale at the Downtown Disney Lego Store the previous weekend.
We walked around the mall, looking for interesting stores to check out, when allsasudden, I got hungry!
It was weird because I had eaten a nice big burger at Carl's earlier (a SuperStar, I believe).
So I poked around the food court, then decided on a couple of slices of pizza to tide me over until dinner.
The pizza was not too bad. After that we wandered around some more and came across an antique furniture
store going out of business. A couple of items caught my eyes and I went in to investigate:



Yes, HIS and HERS sarcophagi! Only $600 each! They were about my height and opened and everything.
There was shelving inside, so you could use them to store your DVD collection, or something.
If I had had the money, I would have actually considered getting these! I love Egyptian stuff!
Ah well...
We clambered back into Stranger 6 and I took C7 home. The "Ghostbusters" cassettes gave up the ghost just
as we reached our destination. It was simply too old, dating back to the movie's theatrical release.
Ah well...
And then I went home. I totally forgot what I had for dinner.
And I've totally forgotten what I did on Sunday April 27th.
It will probably come back to me 10 minutes after I post this.

More later...

Saturday April 19th

Several months ago, coyote_seven had told me that he wanted Pasccal and I to have his old faithful
pick-up truck, which he no longer used. And he had talked his parents into agreeing to this. I had thanked
him profusely and told him that I couldn't do anything until my driver's license problem was resolved.
Well, it was resolved now! So "Operation Kzin Truck" was go!
C7 had to get the truck towed to his family mechanic first, because of a persistent radiator leak.
Since I had a rental car, I was going to drive over, get him at the mechanic's place and take him wherever.
We wound up cruising around and hanging out for the whole day.

So of course, eventhough the weather had been awesome the day before, it was starting to go wonky today.
There were scattered clouds and the wind was awake. I put on a long-sleeve Big Dogs t-shirt, just in case.
I squeezed into the Red Baron and put the top down immediately. I was not gonna let the weather spoil this.
I met up with C7 at his parent's place, where we discussed the truck's status and what we were going to do
for the rest of the day. I wanted to go to the Citadel outlet center to get me some clothing.
(The Citadel used to be a tire factory with the facade of a Babylonian temple. When the factory closed,
the facade was preserved. An open-air mall and office buildings were eventually built behind the facade.)
I had seen a sign for a Casual Male XL store there, and they were having a weekend sale.
Also, I distinctly remembered there being a Big Dogs store in that mall as well.
But first, LUNCH! We were both starving, and C7 guided us to one of the local joint.
The place: Arry's. The menu: vast. I ordered: a pastrami sandwich with fries.
There was enough pastrami for two french rolls, but they only gave me one. And it was desintegrating.
My long-sleeved Big Dogs t-shirt valiantly tried to protect me from the dripping pastrami.
It did not escape unscathed, despite my best efforts at damage control.
I remarked to C7 that we REALLY needed to go to the Citadel now, if only to get a clean shirt! :D

So we went, and boy has the place changed since I last visited it. The amount of stores had doubled,
and the parking lot I usually used was turned into some of these new stores!
I found a parking spot, we got out of the Red Baron and headed for the mall.
A shifty guy approached C7 and almost said, "Pssst, hey you! Need a dentist?"
I'm gonna let Coyote Seven fill in the details here, since Shifty Dentist talked to him. :)

There was a whole lot of people at the mall too. There was a contestant search for some TV show called
"Deal Or No Deal", and several clusters of loud people were roped in and being guided through lines.
Hey, lookit me! I wanna be on TV! Hyuck hyuck hyuck!!! :D
Anyway, the Big Dogs store was right where I left it, so we went in.
I picked out a couple of t-shirts: Muscle Car Club (navy shirt) and Biker Club (black shirt).
I liked the Muscle Car shirt so much, I left it on. The "pastramied" shirt was folded up and bagged.
I wanted this shirt, but they didn't have my size. I tried to interest C7 in getting something. After all,
a coyote is a big dog, sort of. And he always seems to wear black, so he could use a little color. :)
We were both really thirsty and wanted 1) water (C7) and 2) Gatorade (me). We found some vending machines
with both, but I didn't have any change. There was an information office near the machines, so I went in.
I was pretty confident they could make change because they had lottery terminals behind the counter.
And by law, they can only take cash for lotto tickets. So yeah, they had change. :)
Change gotten! Drink gotten! Aaaaaaaah, refreshing...

We meandered toward the end of the mall where Casual Male XL was, and encountered one of the few
KB Toys still open in this state. It was right where I had left it, but instead of a parking lot beyond it,
there were more stores! Like I said, the mall had expanded. But the KB was still laid out the same way.
C7 and I saw toys both amusing and frightening. I mercifully can't remember any of them.
We meandered on and reached the Casual Male store. I went in, looked around, and walked back out.
There was nothing that grabbed me, and I had already gotten two nifty t-shirts from Big Dogs.
So we headed back to the Red Baron, discussing our next objective.
I wanted to hit the Glendale Galleria to check out the Lego Store there, but C7 proposed we go to the
Lego Store in Downtown Disney instead. It was actually closer to us than the Glendale one.
That seemed reasonable, so we hit the 5 freeway and headed southbound. (o/~ Follow that sound! o/~)

Adn we got there in a very reasonable amount of time. I missed a turn and had to backtrack. I knew I had
missed a turn as soon as I found myself driving UNDER the Lego Store! Ouate zoeufs phoques?!?
I was used to being a passenger when coming to Downtown Dizzy, Spino usually drove!
We parked far away from the entrance, because we're not afraid of walking! Yes, that's it! :)
So, the Lego Store, wowsers!
They had all sorts of nifty things you usually can only buy online: the motorized walking AT-AT,
the big Star Destroyer and the Death Star, the new city block sets (Café Corner, Market Street),
the Eiffel Tower, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Jawa Sandcrawler, most of the train stuff, etc...
I was looking specifically for the Building Crane (7905). It's bigger than it looks, it reminds me of
the remote-controlled toy cranes that were so popular when I was growing up in France, and it's ON SALE!!!
And it was OUT OF STOCK! But, the salesgirl told me that I could order it right there at the store,
and it would be shipped to me for free! Hey, that's not bad! So I went for it.
Also, there were a few sets on sale for half-price, including EXACTLY ONE Exo-Force Aero Booster (8106)!
I had been looking at that set for the past month or so, but I had shirked at paying the full $30 for it.
I mean, it was cool and all, and it's possibly the most Gundam-like of all the Exo-Force sets.
Well, I could stop fretting! I got it for $15! Hoo-hah! Score! And other colorful expressions of win!
We exited the Lego Store and walked to the other end of Downtown Dizzy. C7 was hoping to get into the
park and ride a few rides. His parents and sibling were already there, but they couldn't help us.
We retraced our steps and made our way back to the Red Baron.
We left Downtown Dizzy and started looking for somewhere to dine.

I was heading generally Westbound and suddenly came across Gilbert Street, which sounded familiar.
So I made a left. Then I remembered where I knew the street name from: the infamous Prancing Skiltaire!
I wasn't planning to stop there, but it served as a convenient navigational point, and from there,
I knew where to go to find various eating establishment. C7 seemed slightly alarmed at passing so
close to the PS, and couldn't believe the light-up sign was still there, attached to the tree.
We ghosted by, made a right on Trask and headed for Beach Blvd., where all the food was.
We cruised North on Beach, looked at all the choices, and decided on Red Robin.
The food was great, the service was awesome, and we had a bitchin' funky disco time!
The waitress was very personable and I think she exchanged e-mail addresses with C7.
o/~ Coyote's got a girlfriend! Coyote's got a girlfriend! o/~ :D
Just kidding! She already has a boyfriend. :)
We eventually left and headed back to C7's parents' place, where his car was parked.
Eventhough it was chilly, I kept the top down. And C7 wanted it that way, too.
Nothing like driving at night and looking at the stars...
There was a Volkswagen commercial like that on TV.
And, hey, it's on YouTube!
Why convertibles are awesome! (Turn down your lights where applicable)


Next post will cover Sunday April 20th and will be photo-heavy.

Yesterday was a bit odd.
Mostly because of one thing.
You will see what I mean.

So anyway, my desk chair broke over a month ago and I've had to use a chair from the living room.
I hate those chairs. I've always hated them. They have very little padding. They have wooden protusions at the corners.
They're canted backwards about 5 degrees, so you're not seating straight, you're sitted slightly backwards.
They're part of a dining room set my mother bought in 1990 or something. The table is fine, nice simple sturdy wood.
But the chairs are horrible. I don't know what she was thinking. We have two chairs left over from the original four.
Here, see for yourself:



It's hard to tell from this angle, but the seat is tilted 5 degrees to the right, so it's not actually flat.
I have to use pillows to seat on if I'm gonna do any extended work at the computer. Unacceptable!
So I finally decided enough was enough and set about getting a new desk chair.
I couldn't afford much, so I was aiming for a $50 price-point, a chair that would last 2-3 months until I could get another
much better chair, probably in the $200 range. Something entirely made of metal, with machinegun mounts. Tee-hee!
After browsing a few relevant websites and seeing a few candidates on Staples.com, I went to the local store.
I wound up gettin this:



It's nothing fancy, but still cost me $50. It's taller and better-padded than the $25 super-skinny tiny desk chair for kids
they also had. It's leather, unfortunately. They did not have a fabric-covered equivalent. I'm sitting on the chair as I
type this, and I'm starting to get used to it. My lower back had protested earlier, but it's okay now. My butt ain't numb.
I think this will work out just fine.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...

While at the store, I saw something that will be featured in an upcoming Random post. :)
But before I got to the store...


A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum Staples...

As I left the Kzinti Freehold to go to the office supply pusher, I stopped by the local Ralph's stupormarket for a lil'
something to drink and nibble for lunch. I found suitable stuff paid for it, and left.
As I was leaving the Ralphs, I crossed the street and passed in front of a Ford Focus that had been greatly inconvenienced
by my crossing the street in front of it. Indeed, the driver threw up his arms to indicate his displeasure at my crossing.
As the driver's side window was open a crack, I remarked as I walked by that this was a residential area and said driver
should chill out. He sputtered and searched for a riposte of some sort but failed and simply drove on.
As he entered the Ralph's parking lot, he lowered the driver's side window and shouted something incoherent at me.
Thinking nothing more of the incident, I proceeded Westbound on foot to the local Staples store to buy the chair.
About two full blocks later, I heard some weird running/slapping noises behind me, like someone running with flipflops.
I turned around and saw the man in the Focus, except on foot, screeching to a halt about 20 yards from me.
He was a medium-height white guy with a short head of blond hair. He could have been German or Scandinavian.
He looked at me and bellowed "SHUT UP!!", then turned tail and ran back the way he came.
Back to the Ralph's where he had not doubt parked his Ford Focus, THREE BLOCKS AWAY!
I stared with bemusement at the departing figure.
A man across the street also stared at the retreating Wisigoth. He looked at me in bewilderement.
This whole situation was so odd that I felt the need to explain to this total stranger what had just happened and why an
irate Swede had just bellowed at me to shut up then had ran back the way he had come. The stranger agreed it was weird.
We said goodbye and I resumed walking to Staples, thinking to himself, "that's going into the LJ for sure!".

And voila!
Pretty freaky, huh?

Tune in tomorrow for tales of matrimony lunacy, oven-like living conditions, and why I don't eat at Arby's very often.

You see that weird black car behind the old green pickup truck in the top picture?
That's the same car in the bottom picture, viewed from the back.
It's a test mule.
It's a new upcoming car model covered in black to hide its new looks.
Car makers have people drive them around to see how they handle in everyday traffic.
Unfortunately, I was across the street from it, so I couldn't get a good shot.
I have no idea what manufacturer or make it is.
I got a faint Saab vibe off it, but it could be any tall wagon/small SUV.

I've been a baaaaaaad Kzin...

I haven't posted any Random pics since Friday!
Oh me, oh my, whatever shall I do?
Catch up, I guess.
Here's Random for Friday:





This is an ex-colleague's automobile.
It's an Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible.
It's white on the sides and light gray on top.
It has orange-red Chip Foose rims.
It rumbles nicely.

I like cars.