NSLog();

Question: How frequently do you wash your car?

My Answer: Once every few months. If then. 🙂

Former neighbor/friend Gabe bought a Jetta in, oh, 2003 or so and washed the darn thing every day the first two weeks he had it. He slowed down to every other day for the next few months, and then to once or twice a week. Good thing he got silver - I'm pretty sure parts of the frame were peeking through at that point, but at least they matched!

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Question: Hillary or Walken in 2008, if you had to pick between the two?

My Answer: Walken. Oh, and I saw on the news that Arnold wants to run, but, uhhh, until that whole "born in the United States" rule is changed, well shucks, he's just outta luck.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

Aaron asked for a picture, so here it is - the image on page 55 of one of the Touareg manuals:

Apparently, Touaregs are popular with the baby-throwing crowd. 😛

No, really, the picture is meant to demonstrate that a baby which is not properly strapped in can - after a brief Superman moment - experience something better described as a Reeves moment.

Me? I just like the baby's little webby looking feet.

An article at IGN claims that the PS3 and the Revolution will both support WiFi out of the box.

August 10, 2005 - While all three console manufacturers finally agree on the importance of online gaming, Nintendo and Sony have expressed particular confidence in the growing popularity of wireless Internet connections at home: both the Revolution and PlayStation 3 should both support WiFi connectivity out of the box.

Is Microsoft afraid that if they supported WiFi out of the box, the Xbox would be as vulnerable to hackers, spyware, adware, and viruses as computers using their desktop operating systems? 😛

P.S. What's up with the slipping release schedules? Spring 2006 for the PS3 and late 2006 for the Revolution? Bah. Then again, I'm not sure how much I really care: I haven't even bought Madden 2006 yet. And may not. Anyone want to buy a barely used Nintendo DS? 😐

I started a thread on one of the VW forums (right here, since I was curious where it was too) asking people what their "favorite little things" are, and my own list (the extended version) is below. First, some general notes.

Manual
The manual is rather amusing. It's obviously a translation, because some of the grammar is, well, let's go with "amusing." It's better than the previous year's version, or so I've heard, but there are still some interesting parts and some unusual pictures (like the baby-throwing lady on page 55).

Shifting
The car's a six-speed automatic transmission, and boy does it get through the first four gears quickly. When I hit 30 MPH on flat ground I'm in fifth gear. At 40 I'm in sixth. I barely even notice first, and the RPM meter really never gets above 1250. Uphill, they extend out, and they go to about 5000 RPM in "Sports" mode. Lower RPM = better gas consumption, so I'm okay with all of this for now. I'll have to play with the Tiptronic stuff some more, though…

Lumbar
It's amazing what a difference the lumbar support makes. Wowee. My Aztek didn't have lumbar support, though it does have an adjustable seat, and on long trips my back would begin to ache. I can already tell that this won't be an issue in the Touareg.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 1670); »

SimpleViewer displays pictures nicely, along with some other features:

• Intelligent image pre-loading.
• Intuitive image navigation
• Lightweight (12k).
• Customizable interface - Set text color, frame color and width, navigation position.
• Resizable interface - Interface scales to fit browser window.
• Cross platform (requires Flash 6 or higher).
• Flash 6 detection. Users without Flash 6 are redirected to an upgrade page.
• International font support.
• Keyboard Navigation (left and right cursor keys)
• Free!

Groovy.

Question: How many iPods have you owned?

My Answer: I currently own one 30 GB iPod and one Shuffle. Prior to that, for work, I had a 10 GB iPod that I gave to Carey. I owned a 20 GB (sold on eBay) and a 4 GB iPod (sold to a friend). So, five, four of which I paid for and two of which I still own (three if you count Carey's).

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

For Ron, who thought the "Touareg" was "a computer thing," so he "ignored all those posts" and then prepared a speech about how I was a bad, greedy American for buying a Hummer… 🙂

The Touareg looks pretty nifty from the front - part SUV, part car, and not very "truck-like" at all. I like the lines, the headlights are attractive, and so forth. It looks aggressive but austere.

NSLog(@"Finish Reading %d Words", 780); »

Question: Do you have DVD in your car? Do you know anyone that does?

My Answer: No and no.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

The process is a bit more complicated than I had hoped:

1. Buy car (in Ohio, in this case).
2. Wait about four weeks for an Ohio title (from Ohio).
3. Take OH title, vehicle, driver's license, proof of insurance to notary.
4. Convert title to PA title.
5. Pay taxes and buy license plates (custom or otherwise).
6. Wait for plates and stickers to arrive.

So, looks like I'll have that temp tag for quite awhile and that Carey will be driving a car that says "IACAS" for quite awhile too. 🙂

Incidentally, I have yet to find any auto accessories stores in Erie. I don't want to buy an air filter, but I may want to buy a VW keychain or something. South Florida had them all over the place.

'Nuff said, I guess:

Well, okay, maybe a little more: "Shadow Blue" with black ("Anthracite") leather interior.

Question: What's the worst nickname you've ever had?

My Answer: "Brainy Smurf." Not because it's necessarily a bad name, but because of who was saying it, why they were saying it, and how frequently they said it. 😛

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog. Even if I did already ask it once before.

Question: Have you ever called a 900 number?

My Answer: Yeah, in college, because it was expressly forbidden and we wanted to see whether the campus phone system could track and bill the proper person. Of course, we did it in a friend's room when he wasn't there, and then denied all knowledge of the act afterwards… 😐

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.

I've spent a large portion of the past two days doing Touareg research. It seems that the early 2004s were essentially rolling lemons (and sometimes they refused to roll!), but that the bugs were squished and the late 2004s were solid, and the 2005s even more so. Never buy a first-generation product!

At any rate, the Touareg is rated very highly for crash tests and safety. It has quite a few standard features, and it gets pretty decent gas mileage. It may be "underpowered" (I'm considering the V6) but I'm also coming from a 2WD (AWD when traction control kicks in) car with 180-210 HP.

I found a dealer in Ohio about an hour from now that is willing to give me just over $3k under invoice and a good value on the Camry trade-in. Incidentally, another Touareg site exists at clubtouareg.com. I like that cars have a little community for hacks, mods, troubleshooting, and just general picture sharing.

Question: What's your favorite programming language? Why?

My Answer: Objective-C, and probably because I've done the most work with it. It's easy to look at, easy to debug (relatively), and easy to write. C naturally follows right after Obj-C.

You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.