slant-6

heading to michigan this weekend to do a little late-season mountain bike racing.  27 miles from kalkaska to traverse city.  fortunately the weather is shaping up to be spectacular and mild, with a firm race course.  unfortunately, this has been my worst year yet for bike training, so i’ll be lucky to cross the finish line anywhere near my time last year.

winter has set in here in mn, officially welcomed with the start of daylight savings time, and subsequently the end to anything resembling sunlight in my life for the next 5 months.  it’s getting cold too.  not.  ready.

been a while since i last updated this.  a few changes.  obie has departed – headed to the great white canadian north.  in it’s place, meet dudley.  yeah, he’s no real looker, but he tows the boat well and doesn’t mind taking a door ding or two.  money saving measures… but hopefully a utility tool for when the bimmer arrives.  someday…

another thing i thought of… there’s no on-board “Help” on the iPhone.  it expects you to go to your computer to download the user guide for help, or consult the online community.  or navigate to aforementioned via the web.  cumbersome.

but these are mere nits compared to the sh*tstorm i forsee raging:  AT&T service.  just last night i dropped THREE calls standing in the same spot with “more bars” (meaning full signal strength).  i haven’t dropped three calls in over three months with T-mobile, and those were due to the fact that i was so far out in the boondocks that any phone would be lucky to snag a signal, much less lose one.  my sister warned me of the evil of AT&T, as they have abysmal coverage wherever they go in MN.  actually, i don’t think it’s so much the coverage, as much as the horribly inconsistent service within the coverage area.

anybody else in the MN have these issues?  this could get real annoying, real fast.

so my lethargic Windows Mobile6-based HTC Dash finally bit it.  time for an upgrade.  fortunately for me, the company was able to hook me up with the new toy.  the 16gb latest iPhone.  here’s my first impressions.

form factor:  we all know what it looks like.  it’s sexy.  and sleek.  and slick.  which scares me.  i dare not scratch it or i’ll look like an abusive parent, yet it feels so slippery that i grasp it like i’m clinging for life.  it’s about a quarter inch longer than the dash, the same width, and just a scotch thinner.  still fits reasonably well in my pocket which is key.  since it’s very similar in size to the dash, talking on it is no change for me.

functionality:  let’s face it, there’s a whole lotta neat stuff to do here, and each day i figure out some new trick.  the interweb is full of useful tips/tricks too.  too many to list here, and trying not to blow the bank at the app store.

typing:  i was first very skeptical about the typing on the virtual keyboard.  first: no tactile feedback.  but the more i use it, the less this is an issue.  yes, i need to focus my eyes on it, but i can fat-finger almost anything and the auto-correct saves me.  of course it works better on long words rather than short, and if what you fat-finger ends up actually being a word (just not the one you wanted), then you’re left to daintily place the cursor back where you need to correct.  the new landscape keyboard in OS 3.0 helps a lot… but not every app leverages this feature.  as far as the tactility piece – it only seemed to help marginally on my full-keyboarded dash, and fat-fingering was just as easy to do.

gripes:  so far battery life hasn’t been bad, but i came in expecting to be disappointed based on all i’ve read.  if you use it hard, you’ll get maybe 6 hours out of it if you’re lucky.  if you’re a sporadic user, you can go almost the whole day.  what apple really needs to do is supply an easily-accessible switchboard that toggles all the battery-draining features like wifi, bluetooth, location services, etc.  to do so now requires an adventure into the settings menu which is a PITA.  i don’t need bluetooth live 24/7.  only when i get in the car, and i want to be able to switch it on/off easily and quickly (especially if i’ve started driving already).  likewise i don’t need location services if i’m sitting on my ass in the office for 8 hours during the day.  oh yeah, also flexible scheduling for push email – something i forgot to mention in my initial feedback email.  apple’s made a lot of neat and slick little thingies and toys, but they’ve really faceplanted on some of the basics.

toys:  haven’t tried the video yet, but the camera works pretty well, even if it does only snap average photos.  obviously not designed to replace a proper camera, but one of the better camera-phones i’ve used.

phone:  it is a phone, after all.  call clarity on my end is great, but my callers say i sound a bit echoed – not badly, but noticeable.  it could be the AT&T service, but i haven’t had this issue recently with t-mobile or nokias, or really any other phone.  i haven’t played much with voice dial, but the first time i said “voicemail” it called somebody in my phone book named Isabella Ramirez, incidentally from Italy.  i had to scramble to cancel the call, as it doesn’t confirm before it dials.  big whoops there.  the on-screen commands for voicemail and dialing aren’t hugely intuitive, and since the ramification of pressing buttons to find out how they work usually results in prank-calling somebody, i’m left a little bewildered at how it’s supposed to work.

i’ll get used to it, and like every other phone, it’s not without it’s flaws.  but overall, it keeps me grinning with a goofy smile when i use it.  i’m sure the novelty will wear off eventually, at which point i’ll just have to buy another couple apps.

so, i’m a little slow on the draw.  but i finally pulled it together and landed my first published review on TTAC.  my Hertz-o-riffic rental Ford Escape was the first victim of my verbal wrath.  

read all about it here.  

the editors took some liberties to clean up my prose – if you want the raw version, you can check it out here.

headed back to the “D” next week, so we’ll see what Hertz has in store for me to tear into next.  otherwise, time to start pestering my local subaru dealer for a first drive in the new legacy.  unless it wows the pants off of me in person, it could get ugly – i’m not impressed by the redesign on paper.  maybe i’m a bit biased by the old model.

alas, my kinship to Ford explained…

So Ford is like a homeowner who planned prudently and can pay his mortgage, while his spendthrift neighbors get their mortgage reduced by some new federal program.

Ford executives are probably fretting about this, but there isn’t much that can be done. They already have exchanged some of their debt for equity, and might do more of that. But the bottom line is that we live in a world where wisdom can be punished and where foolishness can be rewarded.

how ford restructured without federal help

fair warning: when you mindlessly and selfishly flick your smoldering, nasty cigarette butt out the window of your car, and it hits my hood, spraying ash everywhere and then gets sucked up into my hood scoop where I get to clean it out later, you shall not be offended when i hurl a cup full of ice at your car when i storm by. or, if you’re lucky, i’ll flick somebody else’s used butt back into your window at the next stoplight.

just sayin’…

this isn’t new news, actually.  minnesotans – including republicans – have been rolling their eyes all too often lately at the representative’s feverishly misguided remarks.

as if minnesota isn’t still reeling from a negatively distorted social image, we get to have the republican pillars of futility claiming inane national headlines, what with norm coleman refusing to accept defeat – instead favoring a long, gruesome, and ultimately self-depricating lawsuit – and the ever-daft ms bachmann flapping her gums in front of anybody unfortunate enough to be wielding a camera.

i’ve said it a thousand times…  ”you can fix crazy, but you can’t fix stupid.”

obama and democrats responsible for swine flu.  or, not.

well, chrysler’s a done deal.  or, not.  who knows?  despite president obama’s declaration today to toss chrysler into chapter 11 bankruptcy, this drama is far from over. 

here’s how it’s going to go down.

obama, reciting a virtually scripted press release, boasted excitement over the “new chrysler” that will form through the forced marriage with italian belle vita fiat, a thorough scalping of its current creditors (um, does that include us?), and a whole heap of coin from our government (us again) and canada’s (eh?).  now, i’m sure that through all of this cram-down that they think they have perfectly scoped, chrysler will emerge with a slimmed-down balance sheet, and … well… crickets. 

even if chrysler is able to battle out of its financial hell through the scruples of the new york bankruptcy judge, there’s still a giant viability gamble that remains outside of the financials, and is starting off on a broken foot.

first of all, the obvious to the consumer.  chrysler’s brand image is in the trash.  they’ve pissed away quality and have been building utterly undesirable crap for the last several years and the buying public knows it.  as it stands right now, they have absolutely zilch in their product pipeline, so as this “restructuring” slogs on, the product on dealer lots (what will remain of them) will continue to grow increasingly stale.  in fact the only forseeable product development light at the end of this train tunnel is likely 2 excruciatingly long years out, and supplied by… well, read on…

fiat… where do we start?  admittedly, fiat has vastly improved their products from the last time we saw a new “fix it again tony” on our shores, but as anybody in motown can attest to – impressions last.  so you have one stained car company buying another stained car company, and we are to expect… success?  get real.  consider us underwhelmed. 

anyhoo, assume there is a newer generation of buyers who have no recollection of what it’s like to own an italian car in america and have visited europe once or twice to see the funky new cars they have there… and u.s.-made fiats may actually take a market hold.  this would be an ideal case, but the first reality is that as i said, this is at least 2 years away, for us to even see so much as a fuel-efficient fiat engine stuffed under the hood of a piece-of-shit dodge caliber.  much less, a u.s. crash-standard and epa approved version of any vehicle fiat currently produces in europe.  can this great new company stand a chance if it has to coast in limp-home mode on the product front for the next 2 years?  doubtful.  secondly, the splash fiat or a fiat-ized chrysler is bound to make here is no more than a ripple.  sure, fiat could sell a few thousand cinquecientos to do battle with mini, but we’re talking niche numbers here – hardly enough to justify the multi-billion dollar investment(s) being thrown at this merger.  add to that the continually eroding market share slide that the current chrysler lineup is suffering, and you’d be damn lucky if the new fiat-chrysler is able to grab a mere 5% of the north american market. 

furthermore, even past the product and the financials, let’s look at what’s going to remain of the structure of the company.  the uaw in effect will have a controlling stake in the board of “new chrysler”, which is bowls and bowls full of not good as pmd would say.  even at the end of the day, post chapter 11, chrysler is still going to be a union company, hampered by the inefficiency and resistance to change that embodies everything a union stands for.  additionally, as two confrontational entities collide (italians and unions), you can rest assured that board room meetings will be on a fast-track to self-destruction.

so in the end, we have 4 billion taxpayer dollars already chucked down chrysler’s rathole, and through chapter 11, we’re going to throw another 8 billion at them.  jobs will still certainly be shed, and at the end of this whole debacle, we will still have a mess of an undesirable, viable-only-on-paper company that fiat will probably try to liquidate after it’s milked chrysler for its only valuable asset (in fiat’s eyes anyway) – its dealer network.

spin as he might, president obama – perhaps unknowingly – officially christened the beginning of the long, tortuous end.  and oh, how it’s going to cost us.  sometimes it’s just better to tear the band-aid off in one fell swoop.

it’s wheelin’ and dealin’ days in detroit. 

this just keeps getting screwier, with no end in sight. 

chrysler is about to break a deal with its bondholders to take a 70% bath on their investment for a minority stake in the new new chrysler, which may or may not include a partnership with [currently bluffing] fiat s.p.a., and if not, then going through the ringer of chapter 11, in which all bets are off (except the side bet that it will spiral into liquidation…  and to that i say c’est la vie).  but the disgustingly ironic bit that i haven’t yet mentioned is the entity who did pony up to the negotiating table and staked their claim:  the uaw.  now, see chryco is on the hook to pay a big ol chunk of cash ($4.9b to be exact) into a retiree trust for the uaw, of which they have a snowball’s chance in hell of making good on, because they have less cash than, well, me.  which is to say, kein (yes, i’m reaching to all languages today).  so in this barter of all barters (until, well, wait just a minute), the uaw will eat that payment and instead get a staggering 55% interest in the restructured company, ahead of the 35% that fiat is snagging by making promises to share technology, and leaving only 10% to be owned by bona-fide investors (if you consider the us treasury that, because yes, they have cash in the kitty too). 

so, the uaw, the very epitome of greed and mediocrity that contributed to bringing the domestic auto industry to its knees, will own the majority stake in chrysler.  folks, if you think things are a clusterfuck now in auburn hills – you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

but wait – if deals are goin’ down in motown – nobody wants to be left out!  back downtown, gm is scrapping for salvation, but unlike chrysler, they’re getting no love from their bondholders.  so here, they’re dealing with the devil.  or devils.  seems that the only people that are willing to stick their neck out and invest in gm are the uaw and the u.s. treasury.  the feds (that’s you and me) will own a controlling stake in the company, with the uaw picking up the lion’s share of the rest.  but don’t think for a minute that you and I will have the final say in how to best manage this company, much less make it profitable.  in fact, this has turned into a monstrosity of a catch-22, especially for them dems in the white house.  the very union that bankrolled every democratic nomination since its inception will now be sitting at the boardroom table with the government.  past favors aside, it won’t take long for mr. obama’s appointees to figure out just how royally effed up the [non] working relationship of the union and gm actually is and what a bane it will be on any attempt for building a profitable and competitive enterprise.  and even if they are able to swallow that rotten fish, then the government-run-board will actually find it in opposition with… itself.

this can only end badly.  here, we have two miserably failing automakers about to be “saved” by the two least capable entities in this country – the union and the government – greed and ineptitude respectively.  isn’t that what started this mess in the first place?

it’s no wonder ford is doing everything in their power to stay afloat on their own accord.  at least if their ship does go down, they can at least go down with their dignity in tact, rather than to have a legendary legacy utterly humiliated as it’s buried.

there’s an interesting axiom in the auto industry that despite research, data, and intelligence – people buy on emotion.  here, the government has deep pockets, and the union has their hearts.  it appears they have their eye on a late model detroit – in death black.

my doctor recommended i try to kick my caffeine habit for some health reasons – notably so i can get back on my bike faster. fine. but i will admit that in addition to me not being a morning person to start, mornings suck even worse without it. i thought i was doing well because i had already been down to only 2 cups a day, but still – that was enough to feed the habit. i’ve switched to decaf (caribou natural decaf… for whatever that’s worth) just so i have something familiar to sip on the way to work… but the next week will be a slog as i wean the system off it.

this weekend kicked off the first bout of manual labor ’round the house. anybody who’s been by has witnessed the decaying, shoddy, elevated garden that did nothing but grow a jungle full of weeds which became quite unsightly. this year i decided it’s coming down to make more space on the patio. This weekend I was able to reduce it from this

to this…

this project has been a riot.  it baffles me just how poorly this thing was constructed.  the house’s previous owners were about as far from anything remotely resembling a carpenter as i could imagine.  it was as if this thing was cobbled together out of a dumpster-diving expedition at a construction site, and surveyed by a blind person with no experience in surveying.

so, anyone need some fill?