New Tires

I guess you would call my driving style "spirited." I have a lot of issues finding Tires. While i like to drive fast and need something that handles, summer tires are not an option because of the extreme northeast weather. one minute its sunny, than snowing, than downpour.

I have finally found a great tire that keeps up with my driving style and provides all season traction wet or dry. After reading some reviews, I put a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960 Pole Position tires on to replace my aging Goodyear Eagle F1's. As of so far, I haven't chirped the front wheels despite my cars torque, but then again I haven't tried either. Wet traction has been solid, and the tires grip with no squeal even as I press in and out of the off ramps. The only drawback has been the price, but you will find this is an ongoing issue with all lower-profile performance tires. As stock rims get bigger and bigger, sidewalls decrease and tire prices skyrocket. I paid $220 a price for 245/45/R18's at my local Firestone dealer.  Also, they have an aggressive directional tread pattern which looks pretty good with stock rims.



Check them out, worth a ride.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE960AS+Pole+Position

LIRR's dirty secret

About once a week, I work in NYC. I take the train into the city because I hate driving in Manhattan. Each time I occupy the platform, I notice something is off, something isn't quite right, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until now.

It's the clocks. There are none. In any LIRR train station. Anywhere. Or on the trains.

Now I am no conspiracy theorist, but why would you have no clocks on somewhere that is so heavily dependandant on time?

Unless of course you didn't want all of the riders to notice how late all of your trains were. LIRR prides itself on its On Time Performance (OTP) which is a completely randomly generated number thats 100% BS. How is it they can be hitting 90-something percent OTP, when 90 percent of the trains I have ever been on are late.

Additionally, have you ever read the fine print? OTP is defined as less that 6:59 late. I don't know about you, but I would call that a pretty signifigant amount of time. Maybe we need to let more MTA workers falsely collect disability and get paid massive pensions, so we can raise the fare even more.

Wired's top worst commutes

Think you have it bad? Wired has a great article on the worst commutes in the world, with Beijing and Mexico Cty topping out the commuter pain index formulated by IBM.

Here it is by the Numbers. NY is 17th worst in world.

Image from WIRED

Check it out here at WIRED

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/you-only-think-your-commute-sucks/

Car Crush: Audi RS6 Avant

I have mentioned before that wagons can be pretty badass. Besides hauling groceries, kids and pets, the wagon provides utility with a lower center of gravity and more even weight distribution. The result is the usefullness of an SUV, with the performance of a sport sedan.

There are some great wagons out there -The Outback XT, Magnum HEMI, The BMW 5 Series wagons, Stagea, etc. But there is an undisputed king of the wagon segment, and that is the Audi RS6 Avant. The specs alone are amazing - twin turbo V10, nearly 600 BHP, and of course AWD. Just too bad you will never be able to get one. The current iteration of the car was released in January 2007 at the Frankfurt autoshow, but we can expect that it will never see American shores. (but theres a good chance the sedan will one day show up).  So for now this uberwagon based on VDub's C6 platform will have to stay over in Europe on the Autobahn it rightfully deserves. But for what its worth, I could have totally used a car that could get me and all my groceries home from Stop and Shop in under 2 minutes.



Image from Jalopnik.com

Broken Down: 94 Explorer, 98 mountaineer, 94 maxima, 95 camry, ~95 grand marquis, a couple of vans, that tractor trailer in the middle of the CBX, 2K Focus, copule of mid 90's corollas, 93 Jetta

Counting the days

When I was younger, I eagerly anticipated summer. Summer meant the end of school, and the beginning of summer vacation. My freinds and I would live by the lake for three months, and then start with a clean slate for the next school year. Now that arrival of summer is equally exciting to me, as it signals the end of horrific traffic.

Seriously, I love the summer. its like there is about 30% fewer cars on the road, and getting to work in the morning is a breeze. The only problems are of course Thursday and Friday nights, when everyone is going on vacation.

Off to LA, but ran into some lunch meat

So off we go again, and taking to the skies instead of the road. I’m going on another shooting assignment, and this one should be a lot of fun. But getting there is half the fun and I swear the following story is true.

So I am in the security line at JFK’s Delta Terminal. I like to consider myself a pro at this after logging close to half a million miles professionally. I take off my shoes, watch, sunglasses, and any other metal. Take out my laptop, my Ziploc bag full of minis and wait to pass through the metal detector, boarding pass and ID in hand. I am waved through, and then I await the arrival of my personal effects through the X-ray machine. Suddenly, a TSA agent whisked away my main carry on bag. I wasn’t surprised, random checks happen all the time. I would have figured they would have gone after my tech laden camera bag, but that’s neither here nor there. I bend down to put my shoes back on quickly, and walk over to where the young agent is opening my bag.

At first, I am shocked to see what she is doing. She has my bag opened, and forcefully stuffing in large containers of spices and what appears to be the dirty looking laundry of the traveler next to her. And then comes the SPAM.

I kid you not. She stuffed probably five full cans of SPAM into my bag. To which prompted me to ask “Excuse me, why are you putting SPAM in my bag?” my first question goes ignored, most likely not heard. I approach again, and try to intervene in this situation before it gets out of hand, and things get meaty. This is when she tells me it isn’t my bag… And the guy next to her nods in agreement. At this point, he thinks he is getting a nice free bag to hold all of his SPAM. Not if I can help it.

So eventually, I talk them down and show them that it is indeed my bag, and the agent apologizes, and assures me, we have the exact same bag.  Then another agent comes over, and I will admit the bags have similarities –they both have zippers, compartments for holding things and straps. Other than that, totally different.

So here I am now, on my flight to LA. I have the following questions.

1. Who carries that much SPAM through an International terminal?


2. Why SPAM? I still don’t get it.


3. Why would you not let the agent know she is filling another passengers bag with delicious lunch meat and spices?


4. Will I get bed bugs / lice from this guys clothes being on top of mine? Seriously, he looked like he arrived to JFK directly from underneath the GWB lower level. You all know what I’m talking about.

In retrospect, it’s more funny than annoying, and I had to share it with everyone.

Mercury's Dropping

The latest rumors on the auto industry front is from Jalopnik, and it says there are rumors that Ford is considering terminating the Mercury brand. This would make sense, as the brand is targeted toward women, a gap which Fords new prego-and-estrogen heavy advertising and media blitz fills nicely. With no market segment, no distinct styling and no excitement, the graveyard would seem like an appropriate place for the brand that fills space in dealers that could be room for more profitable Lincolns.

But on the flip side, this could be wrong, who knows, maybe the Grand Marquis is a sleeping giant for sales that solidifies the brand for consumers while on the underpinnings of the super profitable Crown Vic platform.  it would be like making money without even trying.

What will you miss? Will it be the Sable? the Tracer? the Villager, which was touted to hanlde not like a minivan? I think most people will agree that the two things we will miss the most from Mercury will be the 2003 Marauder, and Jill Wagner.



photo courtesy of Edmunds.com

via Jalopnik

http://jalopnik.com/5549458/report-ford-to-kill-mercury