mynameistaken

He speaks with a French accent. I shit you not. What is this, 1957?

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:20:28 -0800

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Incredible stop-motion animation. Btw, Jordan, this one is worth the 2:11.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:04:18 -0800

Just knowing there are creative people in the world who can do things like this makes me smile.

Via @TheBloggess.

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253mph

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:55:30 -0800

Aidan and I just finished playing “Bugatti Veyron” after we watched the following video from Britain’s Top Gear. We got our racing helmets and set up the chairs in the playroom. I was the passenger, of course. And, being 5, Aidan somehow found us a track that took us perfectly vertical, upside down and through a series of loop-de-loops.

Best part is hearing him sound out “Boo-gah-tee Vay-rahn.”

“Can we buy that car, Daddy?”

“We could, I guess, if your father was an arms dealer.”

“What’s an arms dealer?”

“…don’t we have another loop-de-loop coming up?”

“Oh yeah…zoooooom….”

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This concept for a folding plug is ingenious

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:30:36 -0800

via unclutterer.com

Just imagine how small a North American plug could be.

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I may have to buy this app just to see if this is a hoax.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:19:54 -0800

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Untitled

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:24:34 -0800

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I've been meaning to post this for a while

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:43:21 -0800

Procrastination jokes never get old.

Via Guy Kawasaki.

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I really want to learn how to do this

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:46:53 -0800

My existing espresso machine simply isn’t capable of doing what I need. The steam doesn’t come out hard enough or dry enough to make the wonderful, silky “microfoam” you need for latte art. Believe me, I’ve tried.

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I'm not sure what's sadder, that this product exists, or that I'm not surprised it does

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:20:30 -0800

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I just found $1000 from Skip Barber

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:04:51 -0700

How amazing is this?

Back in 2001, Debra and I signed up to take a racing school through Skip Barber. We were at Laguna Seca race track in California for the Monterey Historic Races and put $500 deposits down on two spots in their October, ‘01 driving school.

A few weeks later, Debra got an invitation to a friend’s wedding and we had to postpone our class. Not sure what sort of blow to the head I then suffered, because I shortly forgot about it. And life goes on.Last week, the repressed memory resurfaced. I had a fleeting recollection of giving Skip Barber money, but thought, “There’s no way I didn’t get a refund. Is there?”

A call to Skip Barber and a couple of emails later and, sure enough, I now have a $1,000 credit to be applied to a future class of my choice. I’m now perusing their online catalog, trying to decide how to spend my windfall.True “found money,” this completely trumps that $20 bill I found in the pocket of my winter coat one cold fall morning a few years ago. Sometimes, head injuries can be good things.

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I just found $1000 from Skip Barber

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:05:49 -0700

How amazing is this? Back in 2001, Debra and I signed up to take a racing school through Skip Barber. We were at Laguna Seca race track in California for the Monterey Historic Races and put $500 deposits down on two spots in their October, ‘01 driving school.

A few weeks later, Debra got an invitation to a friend’s wedding and we had to postpone our class. Not sure what sort of blow to the head I then suffered, because I shortly forgot about it. And life goes on. Last week, the repressed memory resurfaced. I had a fleeting recollection of giving Skip Barber money, but thought, “There’s no way I didn’t get a refund. Is there?”

A call to Skip Barber and a couple of emails later and, sure enough, I now have a $1,000 credit to be applied to a future class of my choice. I’m now perusing their online catalog, trying to decide how to spend my windfall. True “found money,” this completely trumps that $20 bill I found in the pocket of my winter coat one cold fall morning a few years ago. Sometimes, head injuries can be good things.

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It looks good

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:30:56 -0700

I am happy. Queen City did a great job. Looks better than when I picked it up in Arizona.

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Finally got the call. The MINI is ready!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:33:20 -0700

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I get my car tomorrow

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:26:58 -0700

At least, that’s what they tell me. I should be able to pick it up by the afternoon. It was getting buffed today.

Funny, so was I…

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End of the week...no car in sight

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:49:14 -0700

The good news is that I didn’t get my hopes up that I’d see my MINI before the end of the week.

The bad news is that I’m completely lying. Of course I got my hopes up. I suck at not getting my hopes up. Why would this be any different?

On Wednesday, the Queen City Tracker said I’d have the car by Thursday. On Thursday, when I called, they said they’d thought they’d have it done today, Friday.

Now, it says Tuesday:

I have to say, it is a bit alarming that one of the steps you go through appears to be “Car is a total loss.” Is that when they just give up and say, “Aw, screw it, too hard…let’s go get a beer?”

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I've got 20 minutes to get this movie today

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:45:52 -0700

Amazon now does same-day delivery in seven markets, including Seattle. And as an Amazon Prime member, it’s just $5.99 more per item.

How cool is that?

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Final tally: $4,879.62

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:54:49 -0700

I was a bit off in my previous post. Turns out, driving your car into a deer has been hit by the recession, too, and you can now get in and out for a bit under 5 grand.

Hardly the heydays of early 2003 Deer Bubble, when the furry quadrupeds would be lined up along the shoulder of the road, leaping out in front of your car just to see if they could earn that now infamous “Ten G’s for Bambi” claim to fame. Back then, if you weren’t missing at least one or two prongs on your antlers, bouncers in the toniest clubs in New York wouldn’t even let a well-dressed deer in for a drink.

And who can forget this guy and his YouTube hit, White Tailed Levis? Ah, memories.

GEICO says I should have my check on Friday.

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I really don't get the whole mint-flavored chewing tobacco thing. Isn't that why they invented gum?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:26:34 -0700

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So, about that mirror

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:15:36 -0700

So, turns out they forgot about the mirror.

Queen City took it off the car, but neglected to tell GEICO that it was broken. The plan, I guess, was to put it back on the car?

I can see how they could have forgotten, though. The mirror doesn’t look damaged, and you don’t realize it is until you touch it. Whereas the driver’s-side mirror feels solid, the passenger mirror wiggles and shakes, not where it meets the body, but at the pivot point where you can fold it back. Which is, I’m assuming, what the deer’s body did.

Queen City said they’d call GEICO again in the morning to get it resolved. I can’t imagine this will hold things up much at all, but I’m sure I just jinxed it by writing that.

I’ve been heads-down the past three days working on financial stuff for my business, but I should be done by the morning. If so, I’m going to reward myself with a trip down to Queen City to see how things are going. I’m sure they will love the interruption.

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It's blue

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:53:16 -0700

I received an email from GEICO today saying that they’d approved the additional work needed to fix the damage that wasn’t caught on the first inspection. They provided a link to the updated claim docs, where I found a set of photos taken by their adjuster. I’m giddy to see that the new hood is installed and already has a coat of blue paint on it. Obviously, there is much work still to be done, but after last week’s delays from GEICO, it’s exciting to see progress being made.

It appears that Queen City have removed the door handle and mirror on the passenger side, too. I don’t see in the records that they are replacing the broken mirror, so I will have to check into that one. I’m still not going to get my hopes up that the car is done this week, but this is moving along faster than I thought.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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