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Article posted on Oct 30

Hooray for not destroying my Prius!

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 30, 2008, 11:22 am

I took apart my car last night, put it back together, and didn't end with any missing or extra parts!

I was running the satellite antenna through the car to the front seat, so it can eventually be integrated with the SC-C1/TOY-SC1 receivers that should be arriving next week. The antenna had to be run down the trunk hatch's D-pillar to the very back of the trunk (on the passenger side), then forward to the C-pillar, down the pillar parallel to the back seat, through the back doorsill, crossing the B-pillar, then through the front doorsill. It will eventually snake up the kick panel and behind the dash to connect with the receivers, but I let it exit between the doorsill and the kick panel so I could test the antenna, and use it with my hand-held unit until the integrated receivers arrive.

This exercise has made me a lot more confident about doing the rest of the project. I've had... bad luck with previous auto projects (please, nobody mention the vents from the 02 Prius), but this is looking a lot easier. What definitely helped last night was buying a panel pry tool, which made it a LOT easier to undo panels from the car (especially without damaging the panels).

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Article posted on Oct 29

Nice spam, AT&T

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 29, 2008, 7:54 pm

Nice spam, AT&T, originally uploaded by fo0bar.

Apparently telcos don't have to follow their own regulations. This is
the third time I've tried to opt out.

Now, I could almost imagine them ignoring opt-out to inform me about a recall. But this is the third message since I got the iPhone 3G. The first was to tell me about new firmware. The second was the recall. The third suggested I should go to Starbucks. Seriously. For each message, I replied with "Stop", and for each message, they replied with a confirmation.

This is the sort of thing that goes at the end of your bill, not in a text message you can't opt out of. Stay classy, AT&T.

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Article posted on Oct 28

R U SIRIUS? (no)

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 28, 2008, 9:52 pm

While I sort out the plan for permanent installation of satellite radio on the new car, I decided to find my old Sirius receiver. (Yes, I miss me some BBC news when driving.) I found the receiver, but the problem is I no longer had an antenna for it. I did a semi-permanent installation of the antenna on the 02 Prius, and never bothered removing it before selling the car. Replacement antennas retail for $40, but I found a Sirius InV2 receiver on sale. It came with the exact same antenna as a replacement antenna, but the whole kit was only $25. So essentially, I got a replacement antenna for $15 off retail... and they threw in a free receiver.

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Article posted on Oct 25

Closing out the books

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 25, 2008, 4:37 pm

Every time I filled up the 2007 Prius (and it was a fill-up every time; I'm not one of those people who put a few dollars in here and there), I wrote down the mileage on the receipt and kept the receipt in the glove box. At first it was basically for legal reasons. As I mentioned before, California has this craziness where if you buy from a California dealership and live outside the state, you 1) cannot bring the car back into the state for 90 days, and 2) must prove that the car was operated primarily outside of the state for the first 6 months, if questioned. Traditionally this is done with gas receipts. After the first 6 months, I just continued out of habit.

Today I dumped all the info to a spreadsheet, and here are the results:
* 49 fill-ups, first unknown, second on 2007-06-14, last on 2008-10-13 (I noted a base mileage of 135 on the first fill-up, but didn't record the date.)
* 20,026 miles driven, 19,667 miles counted as part of this data (first fill-up was at 135, last fill-up was at 19,802)
* Average 410 miles, 9.266 gallons between fill-ups
* 444.749 gallons consumed
* Gas prices: minimum $2.759, maximum $4.299, average $3.399
* Gas prices changed an average of 12.6 cents between fill-ups
* Average fill-up: $31.58
* Total spent on gas: $1515.89
* Lifetime fuel economy: 44.22 MPG

Gas mileage was a bit lower than I expected, though by looking at the trends on the spreadsheet, it looks like it was mainly when I moved from the University (25 miles round-trip to work) to the Southwest (10 miles round-trip to work). Shorter trips lower fuel economy no matter what kind of car you have, but that is offset by the fact that I'm simply driving fewer miles per day.

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Article posted on Oct 24

Nevada: The forgotten battleground state

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 24, 2008, 6:48 pm

Nevada is always listed among "battleground" states; Obama is currently projected up 1.9 (according to fivethrityeight), well below the margin of error. But we rarely get mentioned by the pundits, because frankly, Nevada only has 5 electoral votes.

Still, it gets the candidates in town a lot. Obama will be speaking at UNR's baseball stadium tomorrow morning. Doors open at 7:30AM, I'd probably have to get there at least an hour ahead of that to have a chance of getting in. Oy, that's early.

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Article posted on Oct 24

My fellow consumers...

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 24, 2008, 1:17 pm

WHITE HOUSE PRESS CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 24, 2008

PERINO: Thank you. Mr. Fo0bar will be giving a brief statement, and will then be taking questions. Mr. Fo0bar?

FO0BAR: Thank you. Today, we live in uncertain times. The stock market has been fluctuating wildly, and the Dow has lost 22% in the last month. Unemployment is rising, the housing bubble destroyed many lives and is continuing to do so, and the credit crunch is affecting us all as well. That's why I have decided to take swift economic action to turn this economy back around. Questions?

Q: What exactly is your plan?

FO0BAR: Well... I bought a new car last night.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Article posted on Oct 16

Free Redbox Rentals

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 16, 2008, 12:16 am

I walked to Wal-Mart after the debate to get more suction cups to complete the light display. On the way out, I walked by the Redbox machine. They've got locations around town, mostly in supermarkets. Basically, $1/day DVD rental kiosk, mostly new release titles. I've used them once before, and it works well.

Anyway, I picked out a movie, and saw an "enter promo code" button. On a lark, I hit it, and typed WALMART, being I was at Wal-Mart. It took me to the summary screen, and showed "Movie, $1. Promo, $1. Total: $0". It still wanted my CC though. Hooray for random button pressing!

I thought I had stumbled on something here, but as it turns out, there are communities that deal in trading Redbox codes, and apparently WALMART is a popular one.

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Article posted on Oct 15

Obama Xmas Lights

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 15, 2008, 11:43 pm

Obama Xmas Lights, originally uploaded by fo0bar.

We wish you a merry Christmas... and a happy November 4.

OK, it looks like a colorful hamburger if you stare too long, but is unmistakable at first glance in real life.

Made with 69 blue lights, 41 red lights and 20 white lights, 130 lights total, all requiring individual suction cups.

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Article posted on Oct 15

Debate Time!

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 15, 2008, 7:02 pm

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Article posted on Oct 9

Vegeta! What does the scouter say about the market value?

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 9, 2008, 1:37 pm

IT'S UNDER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!

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