///Z Power

  Wasabi peas: goodness in a can
There's this dungeon of a mini grocery store deep within the bowels of my office's building. In a word, it sucks. Half the products are expired, two of my coworkers have gotten sick on their produce, and the cashier is a terrible, terrible human being, incapable of smiling or offering any form of greeting during your brief encounter.

But it turns out there's a bright side to this craphole of a market: they vend imported cans of wasabi peas. I'd seen them months ago but thought nothing of them, having never had any before. Little did I know what I'd been missing! Think of a wasabi pea as a green, tender morsel of spicy happiness. And hey, with the number two ingredient being "Glutenous Rice Flour," how can you really go wrong?

Now if you'll excuse me, I could use some wasabi peas.  ¶ 17:24 0 Comments

  Pardon the (permanent) dust
So now that I'm reviving the blog, my older posts are going to look a little funky due to some changes in my template; my apologies. I'm sure you're all heartbroken. All zero of you.  ¶ 15:04 0 Comments

  Reflections on the ThinkPad Z61t
I finally gave up hope that Apple would bow to my immediate demands to produce a 12.1" MacBook Pro with integrated HSDPA and an optional extended battery and invested in a ThinkPad Z61t about a month ago.

For whatever reason I've always owned Dell laptops with the exception of a rarely-used Vaio TX I bought when I first moved to Chicago. I've admired ThinkPads for ages (since the days of the butterfly keyboards -- remember those?)... they ooze some sort of corporate, industrial, uptight chic that's hard to describe, and they feel an order of magnitude more solid than any Dell I've ever used. No creaks, no hollow plastic; everything on the device serves a function.

Anyhoo, one department where Dell wins is configurability. There were a couple options I was forced into with the ThinkPad by virtue of the configurator's constraints: a titanium lid (versus the standard black plastic) and integrated Verizon EV-DO. The titanium lid ended up being a big win. I was concerned that it'd give the laptop a cheesy look, but it's actually a lot darker than I thought it'd be and gives the lid an even more solid and substantial feel. Rumor has it it adds a couple tenths of a pound, but it's still a big winner in the power-to-weight ratio. The Verizon EV-DO, though... we'll see. The speed isn't quite where I'd like it to be and the company's monthly cap and arbitrary ban on... well, pretty much everything except email and web browsing is utterly asinine, and at $80/month, it ain't cheap. I'd have preferred Cingular HSDPA, but for whatever reason, Lenovo only offers it on one T60 model. It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

Do I recommend the Z61t? As 14.1" laptops go, absolutely. I briefly owned a Latitude D620 and this thing spanks it in every way.  ¶ 14:33 0 Comments

Read

 
We don't need no flight plan
It bakes my noodle that Air Force Two would operate under VFR. That sort of thing leads to this.  ¶ 20:16 0 Comments

 
Wow, that's fascinating (please make it stop)
After careful analysis over a several week period, I believe that the only difference noticeable between the car in my now-famous M3 poster and my actual car is the inclusion of the moisture sensor in my car. That's just from the poster's view, of course ... if you were to turn it 180 degrees, the tail lights would be different and I believe the exhaust would have a slightly different finish.  ¶ 00:01 0 Comments

 
Mo' better Modena
Those of you who read AutoWeek religiously already know this, but for those who don't, Ferrari has shown the successor to the F360, the F430 (front and rear). Of particular note is that specific output goes up to over 112hp from the F360's already insane 111hp, and horsepower increases from 400hp to 483hp. The front basically evokes the 360, but the rear is very Enzo-like. Beautiful. Check out that massive underbody diffuser - the 360's was already big, but Ferrari seems to pride itself on zero lift without use of a spoiler, and with power going up 83hp, they're going to need that sucker (no pun intended).  ¶ 20:41 0 Comments

 
My opinion is important (apparently)
In the last two weeks I have been asked to take part in two focus groups. Well, actually, one focus group and one thing where some researchers follow me around intermittently for two days to see how I use my MSN Direct watch. There is significant compensation attached to both programs, but I'm not to keen on the MSN Direct thing, so I may pass. The other focus group involves future motorcycle design, but that's about all I know at this point.  ¶ 20:01 0 Comments

 
At least the Batmobile doesn't have to put up with traffic
Last night when I was walking through town I realized all the traffic was gone and cops were blocking all the streets. Then, I look over at Randolph Street and along rolls this crazy-looking stealth fighter on wheels sort of thing, complete with the jet engine in back. Well, it turns out they were shooting scenes for Batman Begins. Very cool! This all happened a couple blocks from my apartment in the Loop. For whatever reason it never occurred to me to pull out my cameraphone and snap a few pictures of the Batmobile, but I'm sure someone did - they were stopping most pedestrian traffic but some people, like me, made it through the set unhassled. All the buildings along the streets where they were shooting had a bunch of diffuse spotlights on them, I guess to increase their contrast and make them look more dramatic.  ¶ 23:48 1 Comments

 
The E90: my thoughts
I've had a little time to chew on the leaked E90 brochure and I've formulated some initial impressions of the car. Read on, BMW fanatics!

Front Well done, Mr. Bangle. Sufficiently muscular and businesslike, befitting a BMW. Very, very close to most of the recent photochops so this angle comes as no surprise whatsoever. My one word of concern here is that the design is a bit radical, definitely more of a departure than the E46 was from the E36, and that could translate to fewer 3er sales.

Side Ditto the front. Pretty well predicted in recent photochops. Fits well in BMW's current design DNA and represents a modest toning-down of the flame surfacing ("Bangleization") first seen in the Z4 and 7er. Roughly on par with the E60 for conservative/radical design balance.

Rear Pretty disappointing. The taillights look like they could be off a 94 Maxima. Taillight design tends to be a strong suit for BMW and this appears to be a glaring exception. My one hope is that the taillights in the leaked PDF appear to be fuzzy, hand-drawn, possibly photochopped internally either because the finals weren't done or to throw off the public.

Interior Bangle to design staff: "Hey guys, you know how everyone loves the E60's interior?" (Muffled snickering.) "Well, the E90 is a less expensive car, so take that basic design but use the plastic out of a Civic." Extremely disappointing. The E38, E39, and E46 were all known for their fantastic interior design for a couple reasons. One, superior soft-touch materials, and two, driver-centric controls (in fact, the official design directive for the E46 was to have every important control within relaxed reach of the inside arm). The E90 shuns both of these principles in favor of a cheesy E60 ripoff - a questionable design in itself.

So there you have it, folks. My first take. I'm reserving all final judgement until I see this car in the flesh, however. As you and I both know, though, the important variant of the E90 is missing two doors - and we won't see that puppy for a while yet.  ¶ 21:25 0 Comments

 
New word
large /Large/ v., To spend an unusually great quantity of money in a twenty-four hour period. Julie larged in the Palisades last weekend and came back with a $162,000 necklace.  ¶ 22:25 0 Comments