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New user? Tuesday, August 1, 2000
What a month
July 2000 was quite a month. There were only 4 days that I didn't post something on this website -- 3 Sundays, 1 Saturday. That's by far a new record, the previous was 7 or 8.
I'm becoming a lot more comfortable with writing, and so many interesting things happened in July so that made it easy.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion here, I really enjoyed it; hopefully I there will be something interesting for us to chew on this month too!
More Saturn propoganda
Autonet.ca: Import fighter, take two Saturn LW1 -- "Saturn's new motor is the best 4-cylinder engine we've seen from a domestic automaker on this side of the Atlantic."
I'm glad to hear that. :-)
I subscribed to Consumer Reports Online today to see what they had to say about the Saturn L-Series Wagon. They compared the LW2 to other very nice European wagons -- and it came in last. However, it was also the cheapest of the cars, and still more expensive than the car I'm buying.
So, while I may not be getting a Volvo, I'm getting what I'm paying for, and I think it's pretty darn good. And at 2.4% lease financing (couldn't afford to purchase it), it's a pretty good deal.
One important thing is that buying a Saturn is easy. There's no stress. You can say and do whatever you want at the dealership, because you know it won't change the price. And Consumer Reports found that Saturn dealerships had the highest customer satisfaction rating (quite ahead of the pack actually) in its last survey.
Saturn is definitely a different kind of car company.
Compare that to the pushy people at the Toyota dealership telling me their 6.9% lease financing is the "sharpest deal in town". It cuts like a knife. I'd love a Toyota Sienna but not for $6K more and 4.5% higher lease rates, over 48 months rather than 36.
What are your favourite music sites?
The recent music-mania created by the Napster lawsuit has got me listening to music a lot more. My opinion on Napster remains, but it seems to me bringing music to the masses can only improve the industry's mindshare and improve their bottom line.
Now the industry just needs to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of the millions of people who pirate music because the industry leaves them little choice.
I listened to music all the time until I was about 20. Why did I stop? I don't know. I didn't stop buying music, I just stopped listening to it on a regular basis. Since I work at home, I can listen to music all day now without disturbing anyone!
I'm using Radio UserLand, and I like it. Its UI is minimalist, and that's good. Hopefully it will remain simple, even once it's out of beta. I can't figure out how to turn off visualizations in WMP7, and it's pissing me off. What a waste of CPU.
I downloaded the free version of SoundJam for my PowerBook last night. I'd like to register that too, but at $60CDN, it's a little pricey. I'd rather see how well the QT player works with Radio UserLand for the Mac before spending that much money.
I've signed up at My.MP3.com, and myplay (more on myplay later). I'd love to sign up for emusic's $9.99US/mo. all-you-can-eat music subscription, but I want to check out some of the other dozens of similar sites before I commit to spending that much.
Speaking of those dozens of other similar sites, what are your favourites?
Slashdot | RIAA Responds to Napster - Raises Serious Questions
Science Fiction Weekly Interview
Robert Beltran speaks his mind about Voyager -- this isn't the first time Robert has compained vehemently about the writing.
I agree with most of what Robert Beltran says, but I enjoy the show nonetheless. I wish DS9 had been continued, that was a show with a cool continuing story.
Update, 10:30 AM. Note to self: Don't post after 1AM. Quality suffers. ;-)
Monday, July 31, 2000
Gooooogle... Goooooogle!
Google rocks! About.com rocks!
I wanted to find info about fitness centres in Victoria, BC. They just unveiled their advanced features, which bring it pretty close in functionality to AltaVista, but with Google's legendary quality search results.
First I tried "fitness victoria". That didn't work, too many pages about Victoria in Australia.
Then I tried "fitness victoria -australia", but that wasn't very good either, too many general victoria hits.
So, finally: "+fitness +victoria -australia".
2nd hit: Fitness and Wellness - Victoria BC
This is a great page... I didn't figure I'd actually find all these links on one page -- I expected to spend the whole night finding these.
Thank you Google and About.com!
Sunday, July 30, 2000
Driving range
Lots of golfing this weekend. Went to the range twice (free both times, friends have expiring punch cards), and to a 9-hole course this evening. I got par on 2 of the 9 holes, my total... 46 (+19!).
My chipping and putting was horrendous -- my short game is usually my saving grace. Off the tee was pretty solid, which is usally erratic.
I better go to sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow to do paperwork to transfer away the lease on my Ford Explorer, then go to Saturn to do paperwork there.
