"Guitars, Cars, Watches, Wine & The Deluxe Life"

That's what the top corner of this new publication (I recently discovered) states.  I'm into 60% of what's listed (guitars, cars, wine), maybe on 20% (deluxe life) and no on 20% (watches).  Nonetheless, that makes me a target reader demographic and definitely, a potential subscriber.  The coverage is mostly guitars, cars next and the remainder, everything else.  I hear about the death of printed media all the time but with some creativity of content, publishers can find a market for magazines like Guitar Aficionado, which merges multiple interests into a single magazine.  Personally, it would have been even better if they replace "watches" with "bicycles".

Cruising With Elsie

After having Elsie serviced a few weeks ago, it's time to enjoy the warm January afternoon sun in California.  I drive her about 15 miles a week just so she's happy and runs well.  She loves the streets above Day Creek Blvd overlooking the cities of Etiwanda and Fontana.  Today was 80 deg F, the winds having died down and was just absolutely perfect.

Stingray Project Update 1/12/12

The Corvette finally got new wheels this week.  I got some replica Chevy rally wheels from Eckler's and had the rims painted Can-Am white at Avalon Collision in Rancho Cucamonga.  The period correct color for the rims is gray but I thought a matching color to the body would work better aesthetically.  To finish the retro look, I put them on a set of Firestone Firehawk radial tires.  This should be the last of the exterior work on the car.  The next focus is the interior upholstery and carpeting.  To think it took over 10 years to get the car to this point is frustrating but I'm finally there.  And by the way, this 69 Stingray is now officially named "Betty".  Vroom vroom.  For comparison purposes, this is what Betty looked like a little over a year ago as I rolled her out of the driveway in our Pasadena house.

Rancho Cucamonga DMV Statistics (10/28/11)

I went to pick up my personalized plates today and as soon I sat down, I decided the DMV wait is not going to fuck up my day so I collected data as I waited for my number to get called.  I wrote down the ticket number and window number as they were called out.  And I proceeded to do statistics analysis on the data I was collecting.  Before I knew it, my 1 hour and 17 minute wait was over and I got my JEDIISM plate.  I should probably send my data snapshot to the Rancho Cucamonga DMV office so they can see how they are serving the public, which employees are efficient (and which are slackers).  I understand there is variability in the type of service performed in each transaction but that is what statistical analysis is for -- to get an overall feel for how a sample set represents some general aspect of anything.  Not all the windows were open (probably blaming state budget cuts) and only 15 windows called out numbers.

Service Window	Total Customers	Avg Time Per Customer
1	9	0:09
2	2	0:19
3	7	0:11
4	6	0:11
5	6	0:13
6	5	0:15
7	5	0:17
8	11	0:06
9	6	0:08
10	--	--
11	6	0:11
12	7	0:04
13	6	0:09
14	4	0:04
15	1	One Sample
16	--	--
17	--	--
18	--	--
19	--	--
20	--	--
21	3	0:09

Total Customers = 84

Total Time Observed = 1 hr 12 min

Average Time Per Customer = 10 min

Most Customers Served = Window 8 (11 customers)

Faster Service Time = Window 14 (4 min per customer)

Least Customers Served  = Window 15 (1 customer)

Slowest Service Time = Window 2 (19 min per customer)

I think for the most part, DMV employees are hardworking.  I mean, I'd hate to be doing this for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week but just like with any other place of employment, there are slackers.  If Window 8 can handle 11 customers in the sample time, why is Window 6 only servicing less than half that at a rate of at least twice as slow.  If I were to slash more jobs, I would use these numbers to justify my cuts.

Welcome Home, Baby!

After 4 1/2 months in the shop getting stripped, sanded, primed, painted, all chrome had been reinstalled and today, I finally drove Maura's car around the neighborhood in Rancho Cucamonga.  Didn't go too far since I don't have tags yet but hopefully as early as tomorrow, I can get some temporaries.  She and I talked about getting it running in 2007 but obviously, more important things bubbled to the top of what got done.  She loved this car even though it was a project (non-running) car for most of the time we owned it.

What Incentive?

I am hard-pressed to find a more inefficient agency that does not have the acronym "DMV".  A week ago, I got a notice in the mail that the personalized license plate I ordered had arrived and that I need to pick it up.  The only problem is there is not a single indicator on the notice nor on the envelope where the plates can be picked up.  Luckily, I remembered that I indicated the Rancho Cucamonga DMV when I ordered the plates online a good 10 weeks ago.  I actually took a Friday afternoon off to brave the non-appointment wait of about an hour -- which is not bad, except when I was 10 numbers away from being called, I have to leave to pick up one of my boys from school.  Which meant returning a couple hours later to wait yet again -- with a new number.  The late afternoon wait was actually shorter by a good half hour and is somewhat tolerable.  Until I had to get to talk to a DMV employee at the window.  What is the incentive for a state DMV employee to be efficient, engaging and capable?  They know the office closes at the exact time whether they serve 200 or 2000 for the time they are open, it doesn't really matter.  I did finally get D LINKIN around 4pm and was quite happy to leave and put the new plates on Elsie -- until he told me that I need stickers.  Stickers?  Yes, month-and-year-of-expiration stickers.  I needed to wait in different line for stickers.  Again, what is the incentive to come up with an efficient process?  I stood in yet another line waiting for stickers when my original DMV agent, walks up to the sticker window and asks for my paperwork.  Why on earth did he just walked over 15 steps earlier, grabbed my stickers and saved me the frustration of another line?  If there is ever a stereotype of a state employee, it's got to be a DMV clerk.  Now I know why I pay AAA membership so I could do all my DMV transactions in the more efficient, privately-owned Auto Club of Southern California. Needless to say, I like the new plates but I wish there was a simpler way to get it.

The Stingray Project Update 3/26/11

All fiberglass defects had been repaired and sanded earlier this week and I returned to McJacks on Friday afternoon to check on the completed primer coat.  For my next visit in a couple weeks, I plan on bringing all the chrome bumpers and hardware.  The underside is also getting a steam wash and hopefully the engine compartment will look a lot better too.  I originally planned on driving the car by March -- but since this month is almost over, obviously I'm behind schedule.  I finally decided on Can-Am White after going back and forth between red and white.

Elsie

It's a silly thing to do but I'm going to do it anyway.  I'm giving my Lincoln Continental a name.  Why on earth people name their cars is probably a Southern California thing but for an old car built in 1965, I think it's totally appropriate to have a name.  A girl's name.  I got this idea watching "Gone In 60 Seconds" where Nicolas Cage named the Shelby GT-500 as "Eleanor".  In fact, all 50 cars in that movie had girls' names.  So what's in a name?  I tried looking up the most popular girl's names in 1965 and none really stood out in terms of the personality of my cream '65 convertible.  And then there's the obvious ones, Connie or Tina (derivatives of Continental) but those do not seem quite deserving.  I considered "Adele", after the trailer trash character played by Juliette Lewis in the movie "Kalifornia" -- which featured a same era Lincoln.  "Betty" seemed like a cool name for a convertible but isn't every 60's car already named that?  So I've had this mental block on what to name the car since I decided to look for a girl's name about a week ago.  Until now, that is -- when I started typing my thoughts on this whole dilemma.  I figured "Elsie" is the best name because not only is it somewhat date appropriate for the age of the car (who names their daughter born in the last 20 years Elsie?) and it is also meaningful -- Elsie is phonetically LC (initials for Lincoln Continental).  My gal, Elsie.

The Stingray Project Update 2/18/11

This sat in the Pasadena garage for years. And I was determined to be driving it to work by March 2011. I've replaced the clutch, all 4 caliper brakes, new master cylinder but with my job and being a full-time single parent, I finally gave up and had it towed to McJack's Corvette in Santa Ana on 12/30/10. Almost an admission of defeat, I will pay him to restore it for me. (I bought this old car thinking it will be the product of my sweat and labor...well, shit happens.)  Today, I visited the car at McJack's and heard for the first time the 2 1/2 inch exhaust pipes emptying into these new mufflers.  Low and throaty, I am encouraged with the progress - after all, it took almost a month stripping off the old paint with a flat sander.  Hoping to get a call in two weeks after a coat of primer had been applied.  In the mean time, color choices are just going back and forth in my head.  Red, deep red, white, pearl white...I have time to decide.

Linkin Sighting - Goldfinger

Linkin Continental sighting from the last part of the best of all Bond flicks "Goldfinger".

An Inferiority Complex

I've noticed this lately about American car commercials on the radio and on television.  Some guy on the radio ad talks about an American car he just bought that has this and that latest features and so on.  Ok, the ad would have worked for me, giving me the rationale to go check out this car at the dealership.  Until the guy talking mentions that he's owned BMWs and Mercedes Benzs in the past.  Hold it right there!


By including this part about having owned imports and expensive cars in the past, isn't the ad basically claiming that this American car maker is inferior?  Another TV commercial effectively says a certain American car brand outperformed Lexus and Audi on so and so survey.  Again, isn't it important enough to say you're number one?  Instead, the ad say's we're number 1 and that list includes Lexus and Audi.  Again, there seems to be this search for legitimacy as an American car manufacturer.  I guess the Japanese and Germans had been kicking your butt so long, you don't even know how to act when you finally get better.

Ode To Avis And Hertz

Never seen a rental car that's not an off-road vehicle

Never seen a rental car that can't do donuts or skids

Never seen a rental car that can't go over potholes at high speeds

Never seen a rental car that has an engine redline

Never seen a rental car that can't go 80 mph in second gear

And for these very reasons...

Never seen a rental car I would buy for my own.

1.21 Gigawatts!

"1.21 Gigawatts!!! What the hell's a gigawatt?" Taken somewhere on the Westbound 10 freeway on New Year's Day. I was going 80 and he dropped me around Pomona. License plate read "TYMECAR".

I Am What I Drive

From an '80 Firebird to an '84 Camaro to a '94 Blazer to an '02 Tahoe to an '06 Infiniti G35 to a '65 Lincoln Continental.  Evolve or die.

I Know Gas Is Not Cheap These Days But...

I realized today that my Infiniti G35 is a gapfiller until the Nissan dealership has more of the GT-Rs available. I saw the first ever GT-R on the road yesterday in Arcadia and I know that my G35 is headed for trade-in sometime in the next year or two. From what I've read, the GT-R will eat my brother's Carrera for breakfast. GT-R 480 horses to the G35's 300. As an added bonus, the GT-R is a 4-seater so having to lug 2 kids around should not be a problem.
Top: My Soon-to-be-Traded-In Black 2007 G35
Bottom: The G35's Cousin, the GT-R, My Next Car