CharmingGeek.net Funness

Turns out $4 a gallon gas might have been the sticking point for a lot of Americans. Gas prices have been going up for years, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen people changing their habits because of it. People have complained and tried to get prices down, but suddenly SUV’s aren’t selling, Smart cars are. People are driving less, biking more. Houses in the suburbs (even more than others) are a hard sell.
With all that, there’s a lot of talk about hypermiling. Maybe not so much that you’ve heard about it. The first I’d heard of it was last week with a video on CNN. The video featured a man who averages nearly twice the fuel economy of his standard Honda Accord by using fuel-saving driving techniques. I have to admit I was a little skeptical watching him push his car out of his driveway. I guess overall it made an impression on me, because I realized there are a lot of more reasonable things you can do to greatly increase your mileage.

I’m going for it

At least for one tank of gas. I have a mighty small tank on my motorcycle, so the real question is, “How far can I go on 2 gallons of gas?”
I already have a distinct advantage — I ride a motorcycle that gets 50+ mpg. I usually average around 55 in the winter and 60 in the summer. That 5 mile difference is mainly because of item 10 from the link above. When my engine stays warm, I don’t have to burn extra gas warming it up. I just hop on and go, keeping the RPMs low.
It’s easy to kill the engine and coast to stops, and thus not waste gas idling at stop-lights. Now, I usually go a few miles above the speed limit. If I just cut that back to the unreasonably low limits in the DC area, there should be noticeable increase in fuel economy.
So that’s it — At least for my next tank of gas, I’m driving less aggressively, turning off the engine whenever I can, and coasting more than I brake. I already ride without air conditioning!
Anybody want to venture a guess at how far those 2 gallons will take me? It should take me about 3 days (4 if this goes well!) so I’ll keep you posted.

Well, my bike was just towed. That’s a real nuisance – I need to read those signs better. But I guess if that’s the first time I’ve been towed in 4 years of living in the DC metro, I’m doing pretty well.
In any case, I just found this little calculator on the Coleman Power Sports website.

OK, maybe 27000 miles/year on the bike is a bit much. That’s the number of total miles I drove last year. Figuring on a much more reasonably 12000 miles on the bike, that’s a savings of $2200 per year.

I’m sad that I don’t have the bandwidth out here in the desert to watch Frontline.

Do you ever ride with your windows open?
Maybe you have a sunroof that you like to slide back to let in the wind. Have you ever ridden in a convertible with the top down?
Remember how that makes you feel? You’re a little more awake, enjoying the drive more. You’re part of the journey instead of just being along for the ride.
That’s just the start of what it’s like to ride. It’s everyting you love about riding in a convertible with the breeze in your face, but take away all that extra metal holding you down. Now the wind blows over your hands, your legs, you body. You don’t just pass things by, you experience them with all your senses. I know that at night it’s always a little bit cooler near Arlington Cemetary. The air is fresh and moist along the George Washington Parkway. All day and through the night you can feel the heat radiating up from the asphalt of the beltway and 395.
My bike and my body move together, moving smoothly over the grade of the pavement. I carve in to every turn, leaned at an angle that would have me topple over if it weren’y for the greater force constantly pulling me forward. At this point I’m not steering the bike, I’m leading it as an extension of myself.
I breathe deeply and nothing restrains me. There’s no cluttered dash in front of me, just two needles at the edge of my vision marking speed and RPMs. The radio plays the symphony of a two-cylinder, four-stroke engine and a constant, rushing breeze.
As I straighten out of the turn, I’m already shifting into top gear. I’ve chosen my line and am looking at an open road ahead.

This is the best Google sight-seeing I’ve ever witnessed.

I haven’t posted anything in forever, but I just uploaded over 100 pictures.
Does that make up for it?
They’re all from my recent vacation to Costa Rica.
Enjoy the Pura Vida Photo Album.

Hey reddit, go outside! A total lunar eclipse is beginning NOW!

TyPower: I’m outside looking at the moon. The graphics out here are UNBELIEVEABLE!
bentley: If you shoot it with your sniper rifle, you can make it bigger or smaller.
zzleeper: LOL! What game was that? I can’t remember…
stillwaters: GTA3!
thefro: I wasn’t going to go outside, but since outside got reddited…
justinhj: I wanted to go outside, but where do you click?
theundersigned: I usually use the X on the top right of the window.
Catch-22: It’s amazing. The moon almost looks like a sphere if you look closely. A sphere!
ragingkenbo: I wonder how many millions of polygons it took to render that.
Fauster: link? Thanks!
DinosaurGentleman: http://www.aaaa.org.ar/eclipse/eclipse_eng.html
Kostoglotov: Outside
wickedsteve: Must be HD. Too bad it was cloudy here.
epicRelic: It’s fake. I can tell because the pixels are all wrong.
doctor_shim: For those too scared of the bears, here’s a visual:
O
steinalec: What is this “outside” of which you speak?
mysticreddit: “Real Life” (TM) – now in 4D!
jozzas: It’s a new RPG from the makers of IRL:
* Billions of NPCs to interact with
* Highest resolution graphics
* Advanced combat system
* Realistic physics
* An incredibly detailed world to explore
theundersigned: The downside is you only get to spawn once, unless you’re on the Indian server. That one’s pretty crowded, though.
ravindraS: photoshopped…
yortuk: According to the icon on my screen it’s overcast.
jimmiejaz: phew I thought it was being eaten by spacerats, I knew it was only a matter of time till they found out it was made of cheese.

I’m pretty sure I just saw Hillary Clinton standing by the metro asking people to vote for Obama.

So after finishing off one can of Manwich, I was very excited to come home from work and make some more Manwich. I grilled up about a pound of lean ground beef and mixed in a can of barbecue flavored sloppy joe sauce. Just as it was simmering, nearly ready, I turned to grab the buns and toast one a little. My buns weren’t on the counter where they should be. I knew I had two buns left after the one I’d packed in the morning to have with my lunch.
This is where I should tell you I’m not very good at mornings. Typically if I get out the door before 8:00am, it’s because I’ve forgotten my lunch, my keys, my ID, or my phone. If I was supposed to mail a bill or a letter that day, then I probably forgot it. This morning I was surprised to get to work realizing that I’d managed to get all of that together.
When my hamburger buns weren’t on the counter I realized that I may not have done as well as I thought. They weren’t on either kitchen counter or over the refrigerator, where I sometimes keep bread. This means I did something stupid with them.
Okay, hamburger buns on my desk? On the bed? Microwave? No, no no. In the cabinets, under the sink? The freezer. That would be a dumb place to put buns — not there either. Not in the refrigerator either. Check the bathroom, check the trash can. Sometimes I like to take one thing I’m supposed to throw away and one thing I need to keep and of course throw away the thing I want to keep. I didn’t do that.
At this point, I’m convinced that somebody came into my apartment while I was at work and stole two hamburger buns. Even though I still can’t remember what I did with those buns, I knew I had two buns left. I was seriously about to call the police and report that there had been a break-in and robbery at my flat. The damage? A bag containing two hamburger buns, predestined to serve Manwich. Meanwhile, the Manwich is getting cold.

They were in the recycle bin. I had already buried them under some junk mail that I brought up with me on the way in.

In my continuing effort to eat better, I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought three cans of Manwich, three cans of Chili, and some pork and beans. By “eat better” I mean eat more food with “Man” in its name. And to stop calling granola bars and candy a dinner.

Here are some amusing comic strips about working as a host at Olive Garden”.