I say this with a lump in my throat and a heavy heart: the US spec 2005 GTI is no where near my origonal take on the car.

VWoA reports an official INCREASE of 15mm in ride height over the german spec version but judging by the early press release photos all I can think is, Holly 4x4 Batman. The turns are all yellow instead of clear, and the seats dont look like anything special. The base price is said to be $22k (lower than expected) but the options packages seem unnessesarially coupled with unwanted features - dramatically increasing the end price. For example, Why on earth am I requiered to have satelite radio and a sunroof just to get a decent set of cloth sport seats?? There's black plastic molding in all the wrong places especially on the rear bumper. The optional 18" rims look like something more suited for a matchbox/hotwheels car, and although I havent seen pictures of the standard 17's that will come on it I doubt they'll be any better. Color options are far to limited for a car planed for such high production numbers (where's the GTI laser blue? yellow? reflex silver?) - black seems to be the only color that looks decent. The fake plastic honey comb looks horable and reminds me of the plastic honey comb that comes on non-functional ford mustang wind scoops, it you look closely there seems to be a few cutout near the bottom, whats up with that! My bet is the standard "sport seats" will designed around the typical fat american ass and will be more like the base model jetta's "comfort seats" I'll be taken aback so far if we ever see any of the cool plad-pattered sport recaros from europe. The bumper relectors on the rear bumper of the german spec car have migrated to the front... and they're yellow now. I'm so disapointed.

Fuck it. What do I care anyway, right? I'm not in the market to buy a new car anyway.

It’s Electric, Thermo-Electric

Oh man, so today I finally got to test the thermoelectric cold plate assemblies I’ve been putting together. In ambient room conditions the cold side reached a low of 19 degrees F. It was really cool to see the transition of the condensation that formed on the plate – it started out small, then bigger droplets formed, the droplets would get to big and run down the side. After a little while they’d stop running, then all of a sudden the condensation would freeze and the plate turns white. When we left it on for a while the frost really started to build up. It was supper cool, literally.

"Normal" Corrado Problems

Whoa! Coolant everywhere, as far as the eye can see… ok just that puddle there under the car… that that green one there… It’s a volkswaggen… they’re pretty rare, it’s called a Corrado… they only sold them in the US for 5 years… YES I KNOW ITS LEAKING COOLANT!

Any way the Corrado is shut down for the moment. A small coolant leak turned into a very big coolant leak today. I spent two hours tonight with Leif tearing the entire front end apart with flashlights trying to pin point the problem. We found coolant leacking from 1) the lower radiator hose to the thermostat, 2) the seal between the colling tube/crack pipe and the thermostat housing, and 3) from a crack in the thermostat hosing cover.

The so-called “crack pipe” is known to be a weak element in the cooling system. I sourced an independent group of Corrado enthusiast engineers who craft and sell the beefcake version of the crack pipe. See picture. The idea is to replace as little many components as possible to avoid unnecessary costs… but I’m thinking… while the car is apart… if this thing is going to bust ass in the next month or so I might consider buying one of these beefed trail guides.

I don’t know, I’m pretty sick of coolant problems in the Corrado. I’ve had to replace neary every pipe, every hose…. With that I’ve taken this opportunity to modify a new polo.

Lost: 1 Can, Last Seen: Near that bush over there

Fuel up the four-wheeler and make an ammo run to Wal-Mart, its here! It’s the 2005 Coors Light camouflage can, I scored a case of eighteen 16oz cans. Don’t set these tall boys down next to any foliage or you may never find them back.

For your viewing pleasure I have placed one of these appropriately nicknamed “camo cans” in a wilderness setting. I think it blends in rather well; I would defiantly think twice before I brought a case with me on my next drunken autumn walk (not much of a hunter my self).

I have found however that the camo cans ability to blend in atop the more urban setting of my desk or refrigerator is piss poor at best. In fact I’ve found that the non-camoufalged normal silver cans are much easier to lose track of on the desk, and dont even get me started about when I wear my silver gloves.

BFGed

Well I did it; I finally bought some tires for the Corrado! It ended up being $346 for all 4. Which in all actuality is a pretty decent deal considering I got the BFG g-force sports that were on the top of my previous list.

They should come in at Discount with in 7 working days. Stay tuned for the official first impression post.

Porcshe to Acquire 20% VAG stock

“In a move billed as a defensive maneuver on the part of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer, Porsche AG announced that it plans to acquire roughly 20-percent of Volkswagen AG. The purchase is intended to protect the manufacturer of brands including Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti from a potential hostile takeover, given the company’s shared chassis and technology projects like the SUV platform Porsche’s Cayenne shares with the Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7 as well as the company’s new hybrid technology shown in concept form at the Frankfurt IAA two weeks ago.” (vwvortex)

Whoa. But hey wait a minute… Porsche and VW/Audi have always been in bed together anyway. Or should I say the Porsche family and the Piech family. They're all the same. If they'd start sleeping with the Quandt family they would gain BMW too. What is it about Volkswaggen… man I cant explain it.

My impression is that this is a good move by Porsche. Volkswagen is publicly traded and by acquiring 20% of VAG stock they secure a vote on the VAG board as a major stockholder. This should help to prevent assholes like Kirk Kerkorian from acquiring a solid share as was speculated (who single handedly distroyed Chrysler by doing the same thing). VW isn't selling it specifically to Porsche because it's not VW's to sell. Porsche will acquire it from shareholders.

As far as anyone can tell right now, it seems the companies will be basically independent. It's feasible Porsche might have more sway with the VW board being a major shareholder, but it certainly wouldn't have any controlling interest (only 20%) and VW would have no interest in Porsche, so none the other way either. About the only thing we're likely to see of this deal as it is now is perhaps increased partnership between the two manufacturers on development of future projects.

Can you say new 914?

Procrastination-smashtication

So you’d think that after several years of working with groups all of us (by us I mean every one of the mechanical engineering seniors in my group) would have learned that a 50+ page lab report should be started early. This would imply that we exert a little extra effort though out the week in order to get said lab report done with out having to pull an all-nighter every Sunday.

Admittedly this Sunday some sort of miracle happened. We finished (aside from a major proofreading) an ME 445 lab report in one sitting. We started writing at about 1pm today yesterday and finished at 2:30am today. Not having done any work in preparation for this effort I’d say we did pretty good. Tomorrow I will take the report to Kinko’s to have it printed in color and probably get it bound real nice.

There’s a side bet going on for the class where in the group that does the worst overall at the end of the semester has to buy a keg for the rest of the class… it was Kluk’s idea. Most humorously, while working tonight we received a call from a group member(not Brandon) of another group(Brandons Group) in the same class… two of their group members(Brandon and another guy) were MIA and they had also just started. So far it looks like Kluk is buying the keg at the end of the semester.

Right now I’m just killin’ a few brain cells trying to relax a little so I can get some sleep. I got really stressed out today thinking this wasnt going to get done. They’ve got some really good triple in stock at the beer store that I’ve been sipping on.

New Digs for the Turtle

So I’ve got this turtle… for the last year, maybe a little more the turtle was just cruising around the house with out any one place to call home. I thought it was neat cause he got to run around where ever he felt like going and it was always exciting to play a good game of find the turtle… he’s some where in this house, but where is he?

At any rate Chelsie brought it to my attention that these were not proper living arrangements for the little guy and that he needed more. Admittedly he’d been pealing a lot lately and it appeared to be due to a lack of hydration.

This alluded to me spending all Saturday morning researching box turtles online. Turns out the little guys like it between 70-80 degrees F at a relative humidity no less than 20% (more is always better) and require a large water dish that they can sit in to absorb water through their water absorbers located somewhere not in their mouth.

This then led to a trip to PetsMart and dropping 60 shells in order to create the proper environment for our little one. We got this super sweet stuff called “Bed-a-Beast.” It’s made of ground coconut shells and comes as a small brick that expands in a bucket of water to make a moist terrarium substraight suitable for turtle habitation. Two different types of over-priced special box turtle food were also purchased as through research it was discovered that our turtles favorite food, Banana, gives him the shits… so that’s why he spent all that time in the bathroom last week!

Joe versus the Volcano round 4

I feel like I haven’t blogged in a while. And in fact I might actually be going through with drawls. Is this even possible? I’m thinking that the reason why I don’t find time to post up tends to be because I’m busy with other stuff. This would imply that When I’m not bored out of my mind I post like a mother fucker and when I do a bunch of shit and actually have real events to talk about I post nothing.

The main reason I’ve been so busy doing other things is I’ve been studying for a chemistry test that I took at 7:30 tonight. I’ve been going non-stop all week. This is my 4th time taking Chem112 and this time I’m determined to get an A. I don’t think I’ve studied this hard in my life.

At any rate the test is over as of tonight and I’m pretty drunk, because, well… that’s what I do after I think I aced a big test. Notably, I also get like to get drunk after I think I’ve failed a big test. It tends to ease the transition from intense all nighters, back into normal college life (sleeping, attending class, and doing simple homework).

Did I mention I think I aced the motherfucker! I think I did, but I’ll say it again, I think I aced the motherfucker! It was a 31 question multiple-choice test that was scheduled to go from 7:30-9:00PM. It took me 28 minutes to finish; I was the first one done. I had a positively right answer for ever single one of those questions. Yes!

Would you belive this is the first time I've ever posted under the influance.

Stained and Smooth

Right, so I ended up sanding the table. the reslts kicked ass. All the little roughies and tacky spots are gone and the table looks really good. Here's some pics:

This comment is all spammed up!

I’m against the idea of removing comments that people make on the blog. As of recent however I’ve been receiving comment spam. Despite the entertainment factor associated with them I don’t like the concept of someone using the ability to leave comments for such purposes. Because of this I've decided to include a word verification in order to subbmit a comment, sorry for the inconvenance.

The following are two real life examples that have appeared on my blog. The format seems to be: Complement. Encouragement. Shameless product plug with link and the phrase “pay when ever you want.”

A real enlightening blog. Don't stop now. This may be of interest to you; how to buy & sell motor scooter on interest free credit; pay whenever you want.

This is a excellent blog. Keep it going. Here's the resolve a lot of people are searching for; how to buy & sell everything, like cordless phone on interest free credit; pay whenever you want.

With that, I’ve taken this opportunity to write one of my own:

Reading this blog has brought me religious enlightenment. Continue to exert this great effort. Hair dryers can be found at 50% off; given current interest rates, you can find garunteed financing Honda Prelude; pay whenever you want.

Down the hill, off the ramp, and tabletop over the burnt car.

I’m in the process of staining a wooden tabletop for the dinning room. The table started out as “patio furniture,” meaning the original tabletop surface is this black rot-iron mesh with a hole in the middle for an umbrella.

I’d bought the thing for somewhere around $90 at Home Depot thinking it was cool looking. Upon use it was discovered that things tended to fall through the mesh and onto the floor. It just wasn’t all that practical from a dinner table standpoint. And about two weeks after I bought the damn thing I got to wishing that I’d just gone to K-Mart and bought a standard el-cheapo wooden rectangle.

Leif and I had been toying with a bunch of ideas to solve the problem of chipotle sauce falling through the table and onto our toes. Tuesday afternoon I was walking around Lowes with Kevin, and I spotted it, a 48’’ wooden circle (the same exact diameter of the “patio furniture” table), about an inch think, and only $27.

I spent a good part of today sanding and staining the new tabletop. I’m using a deep mahogany red polyurethane stainer; so far it looks boss.

The first coat went on really well. I decided to go for a second coat after it was dry just to make sure the wood was sealed all the way as exposure to spilled liquids would no doubt pose a threat to the longevity of the tabletop. The second coating didn’t go as well as the first, and the finish after everything was dry is not as smooth as I’d like it to be. I’m going to try sanding it a little with some 1000 grit I have laying around, if anything interesting happens I’ll post up more about what ever it is that happens. Pictures maybe latter to.

I missed the Aggies loose to UTEP for this?

Memorial Day is a US holiday that takes place on the last Monday of May every year. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. The holiday commemorates US men and women who died in military service for their country. More notably to most Americans it means a 3-day weekend and traveling across the country.

Chelsie, Carrie, Lindsey and I took an inter-state trip to the retirement capitol of southern Arizona: luxurious, Green Valley. Green Valley is to Tucson as Sun City is to Phoenix, as Florida is to the United States, as… bottom line is nobody under the age of 60 lives there.

The 292-mile trip took about 4 hours each way from Las Cruces. As shown on this here map, we cruised I-10 east till somewhere near downtown Tucson and then went south on I-19 till we got to Green Valley.


You’re all probably wondering why the hell a of couple college students would elect to spend the only 3-day weekend of vacation in the fall semester traveling to Green Valley, Arizona. We went to visit “Grandma Joyce,” Chelsie's Dad's Mom. I’d never met her before and despite warnings of religious preaching and overall unpleasantness I was amped to go and had a lot of fun meeting the old bag and listing to all her old people stories. More than anything I went because Chelsie asked me to, it was important to her that I meet her favorite Grandma.

I met a few other soon to be family-in-law-people as well this weekend, compounding to my opinion that overall Chelsie’s family is pretty chill.

On the return trip the four of us laughed the entire way back about all kinds of stuff and in addition to counting trucks with teeth, we played with a head butting finger puppet, and made fun of how Chelsie sorts when she laughs so hard she cant breath.

This Just In, Brought To You by Photo Archives

I spent a good part of today goofing off and sorting through some old photos taken from the time I spent going to school at New Mexico Tech, in Socorro NM. The few I’ve decided to show here really embody the shit that happened everyday. For your viewing enjoyment I’ll provide a brief discussion about each shot.

1. Los Rancheros! Nate and I drove all over Albuquerque piecing together these stupid Halloween costumes. I think this picture was taken at the “NMT Halloween Dance,” I don’t remember much of that night. Highlights included hauling a 10 gal cooler full of jungle juice a number of blocks from campus to some basement party. I also remember drinking a lot of corona at Nicks house and going to the haunted house.
2. Paul was always popping up out of places. This was his second car trunk, the first being a rental car we took to the Denver Grand Prix. He also hid in the box my TV came in for at least 20 minutes in order to play a joke on my mom. This picture was taken at the first and subsequently last NMTARC cruise night – although I don’t think it was the same night we were chased in Pete’s van by a group of cowboys in a big truck.
3. Little mr2 in the big city: a fly by on Wyoming. That’s really all I have to say about that one… except, look how happy Peter looks. Woot.
4. Another Halloween shot. Action doll Ken comes complete with standard Asian haircut, Duck-hunt gun, controller and matching shirt. Ken did a lot of crazy shit in his prime. Most memorable for me however is the time he accidentally ran straight into the Duck Pond while we were running from the cops out on the golf course. We were all pretty surprised about two things, one, that he didn’t smell all that bad, and two that he didn’t catch Fratphilenanagitis (a disease known to exist in duck poop with symptoms similar to the common cold).
5. This was the Mechanical Engineering department head, Dr. Reiley. Seen here relaxing at home the idea was to send Belinda to take a picture of him so that we could carve his face into a pumpkin. I stumbled across this picture along with the other Halloween pics in the same folder.
6. Pictured below is Dan, aka the Milkman, aka that guy they named that girls dormitory after. Dan and I were responsible for fucking with res-life on multiple accounts on multiple instances. At the day of the photo shoot he was wearing his “Whatup?” t-shirt, Dan can be seen wearing this shirt to this day… perhaps he still wants to know: Whatup?
7. This is classic Richard. If you know this guy there’s no way you wouldn’t agree. This picture was taken on St. Patrick’s Day 2002 – the same night Luis issued a drunken monolog about what’s wrong with the nations GOP in today’s fast growing economy (or something along those lines).
8. I’m Bald, look at my tracks, look, seriously take a picture of these sick tracks, I’m Bald. Ahhh, Dust-trip ’01, Shorty went crazy with the roadies. There was dust everywhere. While he was at it you couldn’t even see his car, just hear the engine screaming out from under a huge cloud of brown.
9. Look everyone its Shawn West. No day in the life would be complete with out this guy. This kid was everywhere. I remember the first time me and Phil met him it was in the trailer of some hick who refused to let us watch anything but porn while Shawn attempted to shot gun a beer while standing on his head. The electrical fire that’s about to be dowsed with Aquafina belongs to Jake’s Toyota pick-up.

Blogout

Whoa, it’s been a while since my last post – a little over a month, crazy. I’ve been super busy doing who knows what… I guess.

School is back in session which means I’m back into the usual routine of staying out way to late, waking up early to make it to class, and then catching up on the lost sleep in the middle of a lecture about low-pressure flow, stagnation points, inviscid something or other and a small elderly Chinese woman who cant figure out how to use the projector.

The weekend before school started Chelsie and I went out to Phoenix to visit her dad. We got a chance to check out Mills Ave in Tempe (Dueling Pianos and lots of beer). It was pretty sweet. I had a blast meeting that big softy and we seem to get along well. Bonus.