Month: October 2005

Uncategorized

WRC Fantasies

By on Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Last night, I dreamt I went to this race track. I was just accompanying someone to get a car fixed. I don’t know why we went to a race track for that. Probably because of all those high-performance mechanics there. I really don’t know. Anyway, I somehow ended up in a pit stop in full racing gear. I was just standing there when this red Citroen Xsara WRC drives in and I was pushed/shoved into the passenger side. I glanced at the driver and he was no other than Sebastien Loeb!!!

I quickly told him was that I don’t know squat about co-driving but he seemed all nonchalant and just asked me to do whatever. And he drives off the pit stop. So I went like “Left!” “Right!” “Hard left!” “Hard right!”. I sure didn’t know what I was doing but all the twists and turns sure made it fun and exciting. The race ended for us when I made a mistake calling a turn and we spinned out trying to get back on track.

It may not exactly be WRC because it was on a racetrack (and the fact that it was just a dream :P) but it was a Citroen Xsara WRC and the driver was Loeb. Sure is WRC enough for me. :))

0
General

Run Lola, Run

By on Sunday, October 16, 2005

Have you had a bad day? Don’t you just wish you can do it all over again? In this movie, Lola (Franka Potente) did just that, in fact she was able to do it three times. It started with Lola receiving a phone call. Manni, her boyfriend, had lost a bag containing 100,000 marks (it’s a german film) that he was transporting for a crime boss. If he does not deliver the money he is as good as dead. His solution is robbing a store to get replacement money. Lola has only 20 minutes to get replacement money to Manni before he proceeds with his plan. So she had to run and run and run. This is like three short movies rolled into one and the whole thing is exciting and hilarious at the same time.

Oh, and it’s got way cool techno soundtrack:

I wish I was a stranger who wanders down the sky
I wish I was a starship in silence flying by
I wish I was a princess with armies at her hand
I wish I was a ruler who’d make them understand

I wish I was writer who sees what’s yet unseen
I wish I was a prayer expressing what I mean
I wish I was a forest of trees that do not hide
I wish I was a clearing no secrets left inside

I wish I was a hunter in search of different food
I wish I was the animal which fits into that mood
I wish I was a person with unlimited breath
I wish I was a heartbeat that never comes to rest

Rating: 4/5

0
Gadgets

Nokia 6100 Rebirth

By on Sunday, October 9, 2005

What is it with my stuff? They seem to be all dying! Yesterday, my Nokia 6100 gave up the ghost. It just powered down on its own. Powering it up is a hit-or-miss affair. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. But when it does, it powers down again after a few minutes. Now I wouldn’t mind if the damned thing completely dies but all my contacts are on the phone and not on the SIM!!! As soon as I got home I desperately tried to power it up and was eventually able to. I quickly backed up all the data using a trial version of Oxygen Express which I had hastily downloaded.

The next day, my friend Eeya accompanied me to a phone repair shop that had fixed her phone a few weeks back. I showed them my phone and they promptly flashed it. Bye-bye data. Good thing I was able to back it up. When they’re done with flashing, the phone still didn’t work. All my data gone for no reason! Grrrr. They eventually were able to fix it while Eeya and I were eating lunch at a nearby Subway, so I don’t know what the problem was. But it damn sure is not the flash memory. I hate it when people use their favorite magic tool to fix all the world’s problems. Well at least the phone is now working.

After dropping off Eeya at her place, I rushed home and tried restoring my data only to find out that the trial version of Oxyen Express does not allow restore of back-up data! Curses!!! I tried looking for warez or cracks but it is so new there are no warez and cracks. Looks like I’m gonna have to order it online :(

UPDATE: I finally bit the bullet and ordered Oxygen Express. After a day, I got the download link and the registration details. I quickly installed it and restored my back-up. My phone is back!!! :)

0
General

Car Maintenance Blues

By on Sunday, October 9, 2005

Last Thursday, my car’s air conditioner compressor gave up a few times. It seizes up and stalls the engine. I didn’t mind it much at first because I was just going slow and straight the first few times it happened. However, on the last stall, I was turning and since I’m on power steering, I lost all steering and my only recourse was to use the brakes in order to avoid running into the center island. Once stopped I turned off the AC and did not turn it on for the rest of the evening.

On Friday, I immediately had the car checked and fixed at a highly recommended car air conditioning shop. They confirmed what I suspected: I’ll have to replace the compressor. My choice is a surplus compressor or a brand new one. The drawback of the surplus compressor is that it’s a 50-50 deal. You may get a good one or a bad one. And in the case of a good one, it usually just lasts a year or two. So I chose get a brand new Sanden SD508 compressor. Of course it has a big drawback: price. And also the belt kept squealing :(

I had also decided to finally fix my brakes as it is one of the best defenses against accidents. So on Friday, I went to Cruven to have my brakes checked and fixed. Again they confirmed what I knew: my front brakes’ rotor discs were grooved and are already thin so replacement was the only option. My brake pads were also worn thing, mainly because of the grooved rotor discs. To save on labor costs, the mechanic advised me to also renovate the front shock absorbers. So I agreed. They replaced the rotor discs, replaced the brake pads with Bendix brake pads, and renovated the front shock absorbers. And I ended up with a hefty repair bill :(

But that’s not even the end of it yet. I’m planning to also get the rear brakes fixed soon. Of course, it would also make also sense to save on labor costs and renovate the rear shock absorbers at the same time. Even more expenses! Argh!

0