Shenanigans on RCA

Yep, I’m calling it. Shenanigans! You all know I love to be the skeptic and question the answers. Here’s one that come along out of CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, last month that just refuses to die.

Here’s why I call shenanigans and call this snakeoil: Continue Reading…

High Tech Hearts

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No, this isn’t about a medical breakthrough. We’ve all seen and eaten those candy hearts that seem to be everywhere around Valentine’s Day. They are about 100% sugar and have some clever saying on them. Well, as clever as you can get in about 10 letters and two lines.

I found some interesting ones in this year’s batch:

They’ve updated the little slogans for the modern day. They’re catering to the smart cell-phone crowd, apparently. The first heart in the photo says “CALL ME.” Okay, that’s probably not so new.

The second and third say “TEXT ME.” Now, that’s definitely very 2000’s.

The third one, though, just proves the end of civilization is near and we’ve just gone too far. It says “TWEET ME.” Go figure. Candy that Twitters…

Hello Liberty, Hello Ascender

Well, I picked up a new vehicle today. New to me, 2005 model. It cost me just about what the insurance is paying for the poor Envoy that was totaled.

2005.isuzu.ascender.20021978-300x189The vehicle I bought is an Isuzu Ascender, which almost nobody has even heard of. I hadn’t. Isuzu doesn’t even sell vehicles in the U.S. anymore. So why would I take a chance on a lame-duck used vehicle?

Simple. It’s just a rebranded Chevy Trailblazer/GMC Envoy. If you don’t look at the badging on the truck, you’d swear it was an Envoy. Inside, it’s almost identical to the 2003 Envoy I had and the trim details on the outside, that I think are “different,” I’m not so sure they’re not just due to the 2005 model year as much as the different name. Continue Reading…

Goodbye Envoy…

Well, I’m kind of embarassed to admit I killed my truck.

I went skiing last Thursday and on the way home, I had a mishap. I can’t explain it, just all of a sudden, the truck was spinning and hit the snowbank, not nose-first, not back-first, but full on sideways and flipped over. It caught the running board in the snow and rolled, ending up sitting on the driver side in someone’s side yard.

Image3No one was hurt. No other vehicles were involved and no property – other than mine – was damaged.

I’d never been in a rollover crash before. I was leaning against the driver door window with the seatbelt still holding me in the seat wondering what to do next. I wasn’t confused, nor did I lose consciousness, but I just needed to assess the situation and figure out the best course of action to a situation I hadn’t encountered before. Once I had decided that the vehicle wasn’t about to burst into flames or explode imminently, I decided to get out. I suppose that would have been the same decision, had the truck been in flames, but I had time to decide how to do it elegantly. I turned off the ignition and was annoyed that the radio kept playing. It does that. The Envoy doesn’t turn off the radio until you actually open the door.

Opening the driver door was out of the question, the truck was sitting on it. So I decided to go up, to the passenger side. I released the seatbelt and immediately fell into a heap on the door. I got up and stood up. The door was still what seemed like far away. I decided to see if the window would roll down. I then realized that to operate the window, I had to turn the ignition back on. I could reach the button for the window and it went down a bit sluggishly. Somehow I found a foothold and managed to climb up and out and sat on the side of the truck before jumping down to the ground.

The first thing I saw was a guy with a mountain bike on the shoulder of the road talking on a cell phone. He asked if I was all right and if anyone else was in “there.” He was reporting the mishap to the police. Continue Reading…

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