Mishap's Xanga

Monday, February 26, 2007

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 04:48:22 GMT

Another new ride:

2007 Specialized S-Works Epic Carbon Disc

Full Carbon Fiber Front Triangle, Fox F/R Suspension, Full Shimano XTR, and World Cup geometry. 24lb of carbon, titanium, aluminum, and steel that rides like butter through rocks. The pinnacle of Taiwanese mass produced cycling. MSRP $6,500.

Unfortunately it was only mine for the a few hours before I had to give it back. Make a bit more than I did back in HS but I can't justify a toy like that unless I start racing again. Have already seen more miles in the last two weeks than all of last year. Still can't stand to think I'd look like the potbellied, middle aged guys wearing spandex and full body armor with $4-5,000 bikes the 12yr old kids w/ the 50lb steel Huffy's keep passing on the hills.

Will have to settle for my trusty 11 yr old GT Zaskar LE for this season:

Bike shop mechanics and people are constantly making fun of my bike's age even though I've likely been riding longer than most of them. It now qualifies for vintage races and makes me feel incredibly old. This bike's been w/ me through dozens of races including 3 top 3's, thousands of miles, ridden in Utah, Arizona, Cali, and took me nearly a year of saving and layway for me to afford when I barely made minimum wage. I figure one more season of riding and at least one race before I retire it and start shopping for something carbon and flashy at the detriment to my house fund. So either I'll show people just how well a decade old bike can still ride or how catastrophically aged aluminum can fail.

Now I've truly bored anyone who actually reads this page.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:37:57 GMT

Time to move again:
The effect of middle aged female Korean neighbors on my housemate's cars. Somewhere north of 3k in damage in the last month caused by our neighbors across the street and next door. Nothing against Koreans but my neighbors can't drive. I've actually witnessed and almost hit one of them stop dead on a 4 lane 55mph road before deciding to crawl into the left turn lane. Need to move into a 70% Chinese neighborhood and see if the same results occur.

My brother's new loft:
Spent most of what little Christmas break I had helping my brother move into his new Buckhead loft. I expect to get a lot of time on the 800sq/ft patio when it gets warmer out.

New Year's at Compound:
Wasn't planning on going out but Jason came down from Charlotte so we hit up Compound. Some of the people we were w/ got plastered so pictures kind of stopped quickly. Wound up buying tons of Krystal's and getting Korean BBQ the next day. A bit different than the dentist party last year.

Christmas for my car:
Was planning a carputer but found an OEM navi unit that I couldn't pass up. Proceeded to completely gut my 3 month old car and cut into its electronics. It's in and running and w/ plenty of blood, sweat, and skin behind the dash as well.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 01:58:25 GMT

Wow Xanga got a lot of new features. Guess all those other sites are really making it tough to make money in this field.

Figured I'd upload some late pictures of Henry and Tzui's wedding since I'm bored now that I only have 3 days of work left. Then I start my new job next week.

Vanguard in LA

Ceremony

Reception

More here: http://photo.xanga.com/Mishap/albums/92d1ff36073a25

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 07:18:27 GMT

Finally got the new car after spending over $700 to piece the Prelude back together. Paint alone was $550. Apt and police did absolutely nothing on a fairly easy case. Can't wait to move out at this point.

'06 Black/Black 6spd G35 Sedan with premium package. Was going to get the TSX to save gas but the Acura dealer tried to rip me off so badly I sent them a picture of the G when I got a letter from them. They tried to make me pay MSRP, high interest rates, and lowball my trade on a car at the end of the model year.
Only option I skipped was NAV which will be taken care of by a CarPC soon enough. Will break it in with a road trip to Charleston tomorrow to visit Jon at school.

Realize not many people care about all the car pictures so I uploaded some pictures finally.

Compound - Night I got my car broken into

Justin, Hank, Al, Andy, Vanya, and Kevin

Vanya and Kevin

Vanya and me

Vanya and Al

Beginning of August - Kevin's Birthday, Gibberish in town, and the closing of Vision

Kevin's Birthday with his coworkers, Gibberish, my brother Jeff and his wife Oanh

Penny, Me, Christelle, and Sandy

Penny and me

Gibberish and me fairly drunk

Jinesh and I (HS/GT friend in all the way from Texas)

Few other pictures here:
http://photo.xanga.com/Mishap

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 07:59:45 GMT

The unfortunate end to an otherwise decent evening

They stole a stereo that I've had since high school on the first night that I parked the car outside my garage in a year. They did it squarely in front of my apt security cameras so I can only hope they get caught with enough other stuff to suffer some serious anal rape in prison.

Sad irony is I was within a few hundred dollars of trading it in today and was planning on getting rid of it by the end of next week. Now I have to spend hundreds getting it all fixed and replaced...which will slow down the car hunt.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:23:39 GMT

Website was transferred to the new owners so all my pictures are gone. So I'll post stock pictures of cars to make up the difference.

Prelude is on its last legs so it's time to pick out a replacement. Just have to keep it cheap enough to maintain my house fund while still feeling I've done something with my the last year of my life.

The current choices:

'06 TSX Black/Black w/ NAV and 6spd

205hp, 17" wheels, 22/31mpg
Pros: Gas mileage, Touchscreen NAV, Bluetooth, Memory seats, nicer interior, slightly cheaper insurance
Cons: Slow, FWD, and a glorified Honda Accord

'06 G35 Sedan Black/Black 6spd

298hp, 18" wheels, 19/26mpg
Pros: Fast, cheap, RWD
Cons: Cheap, no nav, no Bluetooth, orange gauges, plain exterior, about to be replaced with all new '07

With my company discount, the Infiniti is actually coming in a good bit cheaper. I can add an aftermarket CarPC/Touchscreen Nav for less than the factory NAV. It'll be replaced with the new model in 3-4 months but I doubt I can get a 6spd of the new model into my current price range and I doubt I can wait until then.

Deal doesn't apply as well on the G35 Coupe. No Lexus IS either. Sister in law already has a 350 and it's auto only.

BMW 325, Audi A4, and MB C230 with any options all exceed my price/feature requirements.

Any other suggestions?

Will resume random party pictures when I get a new web host.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:31:35 GMT

They gave it to me. New job title, new work, and the money I asked for without trying to negotiate or force a contract. Stable enough now to start on the MBA that they'll pay for. Now I definitely need to go out. First day in a long time I feel any of my work has paid off.

Now I feel kind of bad having spent 2k+ job hunting but I guess knowing what's out there is important.

Edit: Meant to say that I took a new job with the same company. Offer I had up there wasn't strong enough to leave given the COL and travel. They also weren't willing to cover relocation. So I pushed my company for a position change. No NYC this time unfortunately but at least it'll give me more time and money to prepare. Get some more development in so I won't be as woefully unprepared as before.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 02:10:50 GMT

Made my salary demands today. Should be interesting to see how it will play out given I only gave them two days to make a decision and I asked for a rather large increase. Either have a new job at the end of the week or bit more money to keep me going. At least there will be some change in my current situation.

My brother just passed his 7 too. There needs to be a lot of drunken celebrating this weekend.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Thu, 25 May 2006 02:09:20 GMT

The horrible cost of interviewing half way across the country:

2 more trips up scheduled and hopefully I will have something finalized soon.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Thu, 18 May 2006 04:29:31 GMT

NYC Fri - Wed...hopefully will be able to make the permanent move after this trip.