I know it’s been over two months since my last post. I was trying to receive the rank of Shodan in Procrastinationdo. I almost made it but couldn’t quite seal the deal. A lot has happened since my last venture into the Blogsphere, I was in a hit and run accident that totaled my Aurora and broke my girlfriend’s hands. This event also started me smoking again. Ok I used it as an excuse to start smoking again. Then Aradia’s transmission died on her Scooby two days later, so we were both without cars. The good news is we ended up getting awesome new cars. A ‘99 Saab 9-3 for her and a ‘02 Saab 9-3 SE for me (I know don’t say it). I am loving mine so far. I have already upgraded the suspension the brakes and had it tinted along with a couple of performance mods. I’m going to have a CarDomain site on it soon. However I do not have any pictures yet. Yeah, yeah a photographer who loves his car (too much according to Aradia) that hasn’t taken any pictures yet. Yes I’m lame, they’re coming though. For awhile we were kicking around the idea of moving out of Atlanta, we were going to move to Chicago then Boston but now we’re staying here (for now) and trying to move back into town. I’ve seen a few good movies and shows, maybe I’ll get to reviewing them maybe not. If I don’t do it soon after I get lazy about it. As for the site I upgraded to WordPress 2.0 and K2 Beta Two. It went relatively smooth, I had a little trouble with K2 but eventually got it to work. Anyway that’s enough rambling, hopefully this will get me off my proverbial ass and make me start posting more.
Just a quick update, I am now a contributor on Metroblogging Atlanta. I also updated my Gallery to 1.5 RC1 soon to be 1.5 RC2. It has a couple of cool new features so check it out. I also have a post coming up about a Green Day concert I went to on Tuesday, look for it soon. I promise I will start blogging regularly again soon.
As you may or may not have noticed I have switched to WordPress from MovableType like some other bloggers have done. Mainly because of all the comment and trackback spam, plus I wanted to use a blogging package licensed under the GPL. I also upgraded my Gallery software and put a new Twelfth Planet gallery on my site. It is located here. I also posted one new abstract photo here. About the only thing I haven’t been doing is blogging. And that’s not going to change, at least until next Wednesday. I’m headed to the Bahamas tomorrow morning. This is the first time I’ll be leaving the country if you don’t count my multiple trips to Tijuana (which I don’t). I promise to have an update when I get back and lots of photos.
I received this email from gavintiegirl the other day.
“Hey, are you going to ever be negative and cynical again on your blog or is it all love and roses from now on – cause you are killing me here.”
Ok, I’ll drink a bunch of Maker’s Mark and shootup some roids before my next post.
My site has now been transferred from Go Daddy to PowWeb. Now my Trackbacks and comment emails are working. I am also switching back to Gallery from Exhibition Engine. Mainly because I like it and it works on PowWeb. I should have my gallery back up in a day or two. I have also put a forum on my site, I’m not sure if it will get much use though. We’ll see how it goes, I am still setting it up right now. I also changed my site’s style sheet I was getting tired of the blue color.
Have to give some props to the following site that helped me with the transfer.
Moving your MT Blogs to a New Server or Web Host
-Alex
-Alex
Commenting is currently broken on my site. Yesterday I was getting comment spammed. I had around 300 when I noticed it. I am trying to implement some additional security measures. They should be back up hopefully tonight.
-Alex
I have added a “Currently reading” list to my site underneath “Where will Alex be?” (on the right side of the site, scroll down a little). Basically I have started to list the books I’m currently reading (as if you couldn’t figure that out). And yes I am going between four books, I skip back and forth, always have. Occasionally I will just read one all the way through but it is usually a novel. I thought about putting music on the list as well but I listen to some many different things throughout the day I would never be able to keep it updated. If anybody is interested I am using myMediaList.com to create the list.
-Alex
A while back I posted a poem titled Grind. A friend of mine posted some pretty scathing comments on it and she had some valid points. So I’ve decided to reply to them in a new post.
First off let me state the following disclaimer: Lori is a friend of mine and my reply is no way an attack. I am just posting my responses to her comments.
“What is up with you anyway?”
I’m not sure, I’m still trying to figure that out.
“When you get married and have three or four kids, you try cramming them all into your small little environmentally friendly car.”
Not all cars are small, most sedans will comfortable seat five (granted if there are three small people in the back).
“Oh and forget cramming the dog into the car with all the kids on family outings. What about uncomfortable road trips with all the kids and the dog?”
Well with three or four kids and a dog I will coincide that you will need a larger vehicle. That’s where the minivan comes in. They have more room than all but the largest SUVs and better gas mileage and lower insurance costs.
“I think you got my point. There is a need for such large vehicles. We the families need the room. As a single person, you could not understand.”
See minivan response above. I understand, I grew up with two brothers and a sister.
“Sure when I was a kid we didn’t have a SUV we had a simulated wood grain station wagon (the SUV of the 70’s) and even some hippy types had custom vans to tote their families around.”
We had a simulated wood grain station wagon as well, I used to get car sick in the back.
“Now, today, in the year 2004 we have SUVs that make toting our families around easy and stylish at the same time. It sounds like we have made some progress on that front.”
I would say that stylish is a matter of opinion. I personally do not like the look of SUVs, I am probably in the minority here but there are some of us who think they are ugly. To be fair I haven’t seen any minivans I like either.
“It might be possible for the car manufacturers to make SUVs that are large and better on gas. Will they? I doubt it.”
It is possible, and you’re right they won’t until the market demands it. As long as people keep buying them without insisting that they be more environmentally conscience they will not improve emissions standards. I know Ford is now making SUV hybrids which is a step in the right direction.
“However, until they do, people are going to continue to buy large SUVs to make their lives more comfortable. After all, we might not be here tomorrow. Wasn’t fun cramming into my little two door sports car?”
Yes we might not be here tomorrow but is that an excuse to trample over future generations? Here is a quote that sums up an attitude I dislike from June’s National Geographic. It is from a mother of two that owns a Hummer H1 in the suburbs of Atlanta.
“I know it’s not fuel efficient, but I love knowing that anything I bump into, I win.”
This kind of thinking bothers me. I’ve had cars that probably polluted as much as SUVs in the past and I know people now that have them. If you don’t have a choice that’s one thing, the problem lies when you have money and purposefully buy a vehicle that harms the environment and endangers others on the road just because you can. It is this kind of mindset in my opinion, that is the root of many of the current problems we are facing today.
Back to the poem, I originally wrote this because I was angry since I am currently “one of the sheep”. I could have just as easily said “new car” instead of SUV but I liked the additional implications SUV implies. My point is the poem wasn’t specifically about SUVs more about the current corporate lifestyle a lot of us (including myself) are living. However I do appreciate the buzz the SUV line has generated. It just goes to show that everyone has their unique interpretation of things.
-Alex