The Year in Automotive

broderic on December 23, 2013

Here’s a review of the past year in car ownership. I just want to catalog the cost of car ownership for this one year because it has to be one of the more costly years.

First things first, I paid off Itsuki-chan. She’s all mine. Now I own two cars. It’s this second car that makes owning expensive — the loan and the insurance. At least one of those payments is done.

Then even before she was fully paid off, Itsuki-chan had some issues. She had a bad start and rattle when under load. I took her in to get service for it in the spring, they changed something I forget which and cost $1400. That didn’t fix her, so I put her away for the fall maybe to take her to another mechanic to service it for real.

I switched to the VW, which was at 200k. At her age, she had some issues, too.

One day driving home from work, the temperature gauge went off. It was because a hose had deteriorated leaking coolant. I took her in for service, got her back, then had to take her in again for the temp gauge going off. This time it was the circulating fan failing. Because it had to work overtime while the temperature had gone up, it failed and needed to be replaced.

In the middle of the summer, I had the VW throw a check engine light. I ignored this one for a long time. I was still able to drive the Mini Cooper, so I set the VW in the garage. When the Mini started to worry me and I put her in the garage, I took out the VW. She wouldn’t start. I needed a new battery. Replacing it, cleared the check engine fault. I haven’t seen it show up again.

Besides routine maintenance, I bought an air compressor, so that I don’t have to pay to fill the tires up with air. The VW seems to need it all the time.

Finally, the VW’s paint is going bad. It’s peeling terrible. I should get her repainted. Next year.

Cars ownership sucks. At least, I don’t have to worry about the money to pay for them.

Quote of the Day [12.22.13]

broderic on December 22, 2013

Say, Who’s got trouble?

We’ve got trouble!
How much trouble?
Too much trouble!
Well don’t you frown, just knuckle down and knock on wood. 

Link of the Day [12.22.13]

broderic on December 22, 2013

You need science and the scientific method to help make a better chocolate chip cookie. Take it from the baker in today’s link, a guy who made lots and lots of cookies. He broke down how changing an ingredient changes the texture, flavor, or crispness of the cookie. He has unlocked the secret to the cookie.

Someone send this to Ness or at least post it to Facebook for her to see. I want my crispy chocolate chip cookies.

http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/12/the-food-lab-the-best-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

broderic on December 20, 2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has broken my relationship with Peter Jackson’s take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. I accepted his changes to The Lord of the Rings. Tom Bombadil? Meh. Evil Faramir? What? The Rohirrim run away? Gah, but time heals all wounds. Yet, the middle installment of The Hobbit is a bridge too far.

I sat in the theatre ignoring the changes, the expansion, and the additions, because I had too or else I would’ve been running out the door. When the film ended, I left in disgust. All I know is that Peter Jackson has taken a trifle of an adventure and stretched it to inconceivable proportions. All the fun has been rung out of the story. Jackson has even made me question why I like Tolkien. I kid, I kid, but he makes me wonder about The Lord of the Rings movies. All that I glossed over and accepted has come back seven fold with a vengeance. Please when will he be done and please don’t touch any of The Silmarillion.

I’m going to see the last installment just to see if the forbidden love between dwarf and elf will end in tragedy. I want to see Tauriel die in Kili’s arms. Or is that Fili? I want to see them die fighting off the horde of orcs before the gates of Erebor. I want them to die a heroic death and when their bodies are found, King Thranduil will join with Gandalf and forces of good to fight evil Sauron — 80 years too early.

At the start of The Lord of the Rings, didn’t Gandalf not know who was behind the dread in the East? Yes, but Jackson will retcon a new story. Whatever.

I hope Peter Jackson doesn’t touch any of The Silmarillion.

2 of 5 stars.

Link of the Day [12.14.13]

broderic on December 14, 2013

Tried my hand again on Arroz Caldo, chicken rice porridge. I used the chicken stock recipe as the basis for the soup. Although I extended it by using one more clove of garlic, a couple of dashes of patis, some pepper corn, and small pinch of dried red pepper flakes. It came out slightly more garlicky than I wanted, but other than that its pretty rich.

I simmered it overnight in my slow cooker. I couldn’t get 3 quarts into my small slow cooker, but I ended up with close to 2 full quarts of stock. I used 1 quart in the Arroz Caldo before adding in another 2-3 cups of water into the mix. Let the Arroz Caldo cook for about an hour before serving with a garnish of fried garlic and patis.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/11/perfect-uncluttered-chicken-stock/

Frozen

broderic on December 14, 2013

Frozen, the latest Disney animated film and not how I feel in the morning as I get into my car. Perhaps I’m not the right audience for the film, because it didn’t impress me like it did the many, many movie-goers who made it tops at the box office this past weekend. I guess I’m not a 10 year old girl or have the soul of a kid because I actually didn’t know what was so special — I mean, come on, it’s Tangled in the snow.

Frozen features 2 princesses of an unnamed northern European city-state. When they were young, the eldest exhibited Iceman-like powers and hurt her younger sister. She’s was told to suppress them so as she gets older she doesn’t know how to control them. When it came time for her to ascend to the throne, the sisters get into a fight which plunges the city-state into a deep winter. The princesses must make up, the queen rein in her power and be regal, and the younger princess must reconcile and help heal the rift between the two.

And there was a magical snowman, a puppy-like reindeer, and an oaf. There was also villains.

This could’ve been something neat if more of the relationship between the sisters was explored. If it tried to deal with the princesses like Pixar’s Brave did. The conflict seemed too superficial.

There was also way too much singing.

3 of 5 stars.

About Time

broderic on November 22, 2013

I received a text message from Cousin Bob saying that Bill Murray was an awesome guy. Seems he’s doing makeup for the Untitled Cameron Crowe movie filming out in Hawaii. Sounds pretty much fun meeting movie stars, etc., etc. Cousin Bob also says he’s working with Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and the sweety Rachel McAdams.

Wait! Rachel McAdams? Why didn’t you say so? I just saw her in Richard Curtis’s droll science fiction, romantic comedy, About Time. It was only because she was in it that I went to see the movie. I think I would go see her read the phone book.

About Time is about a lanky ginger who finds out that he has the gift of time travel. He gets to go back in time to any point in his life. Of course, he uses it to find the love of Rachel McAdams.

Their meet cute was decent. He loses her, because he changes his timeline on the day he fell in love with her. Then he waits to meet her again, woo her, and make her his. The time traveling helps for the first kiss, first date, first sodding, first wedding.

Then the film turns away from rom-com and becomes a study of living life to the fullest. The guy’s father dies, and he uses time traveling to revisit him until complications with the time line forces him to leave his father forever. That’s a scene that teared me up a little thinking about my own father.

I came for Rachel McAdams, but found a wonderful film to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon.

3 of 5 stars.

Thor: The Dark World

broderic on November 16, 2013

Thor: The Dark World is a continuation of Loki’s story in the first Thor and in The Avengers. It does include Thor, the god of thunder, but the more interesting character is Loki. And we don’t see much of him until the final third of the film. The early parts had him locked in the prison he was sentenced to at the end of The Avengers. Once freed, the Trickster does his thing: tricks his way to the throne of Asgard. What does it mean for the rest of the Marvel Movie Universe and for the Thor franchise?

The Dark World is very similar to this summer’s Superman, The Man of Steel. A once banished villain, the dark elf, Malikith, wants to return and bring ruin on the son of the man that put him away. To do that he must threaten all the worlds of Yggdrasil, Asgard, Midgard, the Giant land, the dwarven home, and to do that he must do it in Greenwich, England. Thor is there to stop him along with his love and their wacky science team.

Can I say that it got kind of funny in the middle of things with the wacky science team. It’s weird, because it was not grim. There’s always a little bit of laughter in Midgard.

3 of 5 stars.

Link of the Day [11.13.13]

broderic on November 13, 2013

I was browsing the bookstore the other day when I decided to slow foot it to work and came across the Ivan Ramen recipe book. I bought it immediately. Then I read it. It was 2 books in one: an autobiography of the eponymous Ivan and how he came to be a ramen chef in Japan, and a recipe for his ramen, the one he serves in his ramen-ya. There are some other recipes in the book, but there is only one ramen recipe in it! It takes up a better part of the book, but there is only one recipe for ramen — Ivan Ramen!

Ivan breaks his ramen down into the parts, and he gives a recipe for making that one ingredient. He also gives you a recipe for the ramen noodles! If you make his ramen completely, damn, your hardcore!

http://ivanramen.com/