Banal Leakage » WTF

Coning – Just Say No

martymankins — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:00:36 +0000

Eat the cone, don’t waste it on a stupid prank

So like planking and owling that came before it, coning (or cone-ing) is another stupid and dumb prank that mindless individuals have created to garner a few laughs on YouTube.

It involves ordering an ice cream cone from McDonald’s via the drive through and instead of grabbing it from the cone bottom, it gets grabbed from the top – the ice cream. Which creates a mess for the prankster and is intended to embarrass the employee and others that aren’t in on the prank.

Simply put, it’s just fucking dumb.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve done my share of pranks over the years and I’ve laughed when others get played. My favorite was to super glue a quarter to the ground and watch people try to pick it up. That’s classic for a prank.

This prank… not so much. Maybe I have to be younger to understand why it’s so funny. But even still, it seems rather pointless in so many ways. Watch the video above and see if it garners a laugh. Not a single one for this guy.

But it appears that not only is it catching on with other nitwits, those potential victims are being educated. Watch this coning prank get foiled by a smart and up-to-date manager.

PWNED! Ha ha… even the hot blonde gets set back. Eat your damn ice cream cone like everybody else not looking for their fail moment on the interwebs!

It’s time to just say no to these dumb pranks. I’m putting out a call out to bring back the classics… vaseline on door knobs, saran wrap on toilet seats, pennies jammed in doors and the afore mentioned quarter glued to the sidewalk. Let’s show the web newbies how’s it’s done.

And on that note, I’m going to go watch Jackass.

Nyan Cat Copyright Challenge

martymankins — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:38:00 +0000

Nyan Cat is the latest graphical meme to hit the interwebs. It’s dumb, silly, nonsense fun watching a pop tart cat make the same motion. Then someone decided to pair it up with an equally mindless song and next thing you know, 20 million views on YouTube happens.

The Original Nyan Cat video meme mash up

Now that it’s popular, of course a copyright claim is going to happen. And BAM! Sunday night, it got pulled off YouTube.

As it turns out, Prguitarman didn’t issue the copyright claim. From his blog, he posted about how he was trying to prove to YouTube that the proper rights to use the song and video were valid.

And therein lies the issue here. YouTube, needing proof from the original copyright holder of something that was his, accepted a copyright claim from someone claiming to be this person. It seems things are a bit out of control at the helm of the “all things cats” video site.

While I am all about the person who owns the copyright getting their fare share (and any monetary dues), it seems the be ok that anyone can file a copyright claim and have a video pulled, but when it comes to the actual person who owns the copyright trying to get his/her work restored, they need a mountain of paperwork that needs to be submitted.

As of Tuesday, the original video is back and all seems to be ok for now. But this case just proves that something with online copyright management needs to change, and for the better.

Must Botch TV

martymankins — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:30:51 +0000

Something happened along the way towards rebuilding a television network, and it wasn’t good.

Some years ago, NBC and Jay Leno had some talks. The talks were about Jay Leno leaving The Tonight Show and [assuming] him retiring from broadcast television. In these talks, they also approached Conan O’Brien and his eventual take over of The Tonight Show.

Fast forward to May of 2009. Jay Leno ends his run on The Tonight Show. The next week, Conan took over from a new studio on the Universal lot. [with the show being previously taped in Burbank]

In September, NBC gave Leno a new show. They called it The Jay Leno Show. An hour long experimental variety show. It sounded good. And there were even a few moments of comedy gold. But obviously not good enough for the network affiliates. NBC announced they were taking the show off the air of as February 12, 2010.

But wait. Somehow, this show will reappear in a thirty-minute format airing in the 11:35pm ET/PT – 10:30pm CT/MT time slot. That doesn’t sound like being canceled. NBC is calling it “rescheduled.” Ok then.

Um.. hold on a second. Conan and The Tonight Show are at that same time slot. Not a problem. Conan will just have to move his time to 12:05am ET/PT 11:05pm CT/PT.

Not so fast, NBC execs. Let’s hear what Conan has to say:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Taken from the following NYTimes story

what What WHAT?

Let me say that I agree with Conan and applaud his decision. Conan is at the top of his game. His move from late night to the spotlight at night was mixed. He’s not always the funniest guy on at night. But he tries. And he gives it his best effort. And that’s what I like about him. He’s fresh for someone that’s been on the air for years. His writing experience helps a lot. As does his quirky wit and sense of humor.

And Conan also makes a very good point about respecting the institution that is The Tonight Show. Sure, it’s got it’s stale moments here and there, but to move it just to accommodate it’s previous host smacks of disrespect and shortsighted decision making. Plus, it’s not just Conan that would be getting bumped. Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly would get pushed later into the wee hours of the morning.

And speaking of the previous host, NBC will continue to do it’s best to do whatever Leno wants to do. They stood by him even though most people knew the best option for everyone was for Leno to retire. He had his first chance in May. Now he’s blowing a second chance. I know there’s some pressure from the execs, but all Leno needs to do now is step aside and let Conan take the reins. Jay has had his day in the spotlight. Let him fade into the sunset in one of his collectible cars.

I know this is sounding like a “hate on Leno” post. I really don’t hate Jay Leno. In his day, he was funny. I saw him live in 1992 at Caesar’s Palace. He was very topical and I laughed hard. I’ve even met Leno in person. A really nice guy. But sometimes with age, you get into a rut or groove. You set the cruise control to coast and let it ride. Don’t look back. Otherwise, you might see what you should have done.

At a book signing in La Jolla, CA – October 5, 1996 with my then wife, Denise

Adding to all of this, NBC’s recent fucked-up decision to allow a cable network to have controlling interest. That’s an entire blog post in of itself.

Nope, this is not going to turn out good here, folks. Move along, nothing to see here. Change the channel. And with any luck, it will land on the station that Conan will be on.

Closing Up Shop

martymankins — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:59:30 +0000

No, not this blog. I’ll never close this place down [even if I've only been posting twice a week] However, there are some places here in town that are shutting their doors. Casualties of the economy. So who’s closing down?

Office Depot

It was announced last week, that Office Depot would close 112 under-performing stores, two of which are here in Salt Lake City, which both have only been open less than three years.

I don’t shop much at Office Depot, mostly due to the fact that all of their good deals require mail-in rebates. I hate mail-in rebates. In fact, most rebates are a joke. I understand why some places offer them [increase profits when people don't redeem their rebates on time], but given how many times in the past I’ve never received a rebate [even when I filled everything out exactly, without omissions or errors], I do my best to avoid any products that have a rebate attached to them. I do frequent Office Depot several times a year to stock up on paper, pens, a good sale where the item has no rebate and just to look around.

I guess this means if most people were like me, then these two under-performing stores couldn’t make it on just sales of copy paper and pens. Sad to see this store go, but there’s an Office Max just down the road that gets some of my business the rest of the year.

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Hard Rock Cafe

Back in August, Dave from Blogography and myself met up for Dave Lake City 2 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Salt Lake City.

Just three months later, the Hard Rock Cafe would close, ending it’s last day of business on December 7th. I found out about it on December 9th, while downtown with my daughter doing some filming.

While I know times are tough, it’s sad that we lost an icon here in Utah. An establishment that made us a real city [Or at least having a cool place like other big cities have]. There was no fan-fare, no article in the paper… nothing. Just an empty place where rock memorabilia once was and a memory of Dave Lake City 2 now remains. Hard Rock of Salt Lake, you will be missed.

———————————————————————————————-

Bally Total Fitness

This closure has affected me the most. Back in October, I started a workout program to help get myself in shape. I was just 18 months into my 36-month gym membership when Bally’s decided to close both Utah locations. Going up to the doors on Wednesday December 10th, gym members were greeted with this notice posted on the door:

Closed up, with no notice. Thank you, Bally’s

There were over 8.000 members between the two locations, displacing a lot of people.

Competing gyms wasted no time, plastering their offers on Bally’s front doors

And while there were many other gyms that stepped up offering membership at their establishments [most offering Bally's members to work out for free for the rest of December], it’s just another casualty of a downturned economy. Bally’s did file for bankruptcy at the start of the month, but the company claims that was not the reason for shutting down 19 locations nationwide. I have my suspicions.

As for the rest of my gym membership money that I had prepaid, I was able to easily get a pro-rated refund, which I will put towards another gym membership. But I liked Bally’s and will miss them, regardless of what gym I end up joining.

Who’s Next?

While I’m hoping that other businesses can survive, there’s no guarantee that this is the last of the closures of long term established companies. I guess we’ll see who the survivors are over the next several months and years.

Pompous Asshole

martymankins — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:16:27 +0000

So this week, I was called a “Pompous Asshole”. It stemmed from a political discussion I had with someone on Twitter. A friendly debate, or so I thought. But obviously I must have said something to set the other person off, because after a Twitter screen refresh, there it was:

POMPOUS ASSHOLE

In all seriousness, I don’t know if I’ve been called that before. I’m sure there’s been things I’ve done or said in life to possibly deserve such a label. I’m not perfect and have never claimed to be. But it just came across pretty harsh. Even my ex-wife never called me anything that harsh before [at least not face-to-face].

Plus, what’s a pompous asshole supposed to look like?

“You sir are no Lincoln! You are a jerk and a small-minded individual”

See… he fits the pompous label: name calling, cuts his guest off before they can respond to any questions, yelling obscenities when he doesn’t get his way…. the very definition of pompous asshole. But I don’t recall resorting to name calling, cutting off the other person or yelling obscenities.

The Facial

Maybe I didn’t see myself when I was Twittering. There’s got to be some sort of physical look that belongs with the verbiage:

“Am I being pompous enough?”

Hmmm… that just doesn’t seem right. It’s not fitting. I feel angry, but not really pompous angry. Bill O’Reilly, you are safe with being the poster child for pompous asshole.

Ok. I think it’s because I was trying too hard to be pompous. Looking at a recent image of myself to see if without even trying to be pompous… maybe it’s just there and I didn’t know it at the time:

“Uh dad… you are not looking pompous enough”

Nope. I just don’t see it. So it’s not a physical thing.

Maybe I missed something that I said to this other person…. going back to the conversation at hand, I find these responses:

I’m not for opposing the candidate. Just question and research them before proclaiming your full support for them.

and this one:

oh I don’t expect you to know. it’s ok.

Both of these were in response to a question about GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin’s support for the Bridge To Nowhere. So I can see that *maybe* my responses could be taken as rude or sarcastic. But “pompous asshole”?

Kiss and Make up

So I pushed an envelope and responded with a comment that pushed a button, sent an email of apology and moved on.

In the future, as I learn from experiences like this, I tread much lighter with some people. I can respect when someone throws out the “You went too far” card. I try to be sensitive to people’s feelings and if I overstep a boundary, I admit it. Now does that sound like something a “pompous asshole” would do? I don’t think so.

Obama Is Pregnant*

martymankins — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:17:49 +0000

[*Slanderous Propaganda]

Obviously the above is not true, but it might as well be. And I’m sure after posting that title above, there will be a hundred Obama haters that add new blog posts, skewing whatever “facts” they need to to claim it as being true. I say, as long as he’s covered by the same health plan that also covers illegal baby rats under the age of 3, it’s all good to me.

Enough Is Enough

My political posts out here are few and far between, but after this last week, I had to speak out. I’ve been barraged by tons of emails, some from the same person, that will stop at nothing to trash and find anything and everything to disparage Barack Obama. Now I don’t agree with everything Mr. Obama has to say and I take issue with some of his positions, and as a politician, he most likely has some black marks that follow him around. I’m all for checking out a candidate, their background and qualifications. But these emails that I’ve received have a slant which supports a certain position, and proves that there’s a lot of people out there that have way too much time on their hands.

EMAIL #1: Obama Not Eligible for President

Here is the text of the email:

Dear Friends,
The following is an article from the July 7, 2008, issue #27 from “The American Free Press” Newspaper, an article by Assistant editor, Pat Shannon.

“It now appears that Barack Obama is consitutionally ineligible for the office of president. John McCain’s eligibility was established in 1964, when courts ruled Sen. Barry Goldwater was eligible although he was born in Arizona when it was a territory, not a state. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone when it was a U.S. territory.

And, even as the controlled media continues to ignore the ineligibility of Obama, it will not go away. While few doubt that the Democrats will manage to pull off his nomination, all remain poised to view the legal performance.

The first hurdle will be having Obama produce his birth certificate, which so far he has refused to do, and prove that he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961,as he has always claimed. There is speculation that his American mother may have brought him to Honolulu shortly after his birth in Kenya, but no proof of that has been shown.

According to the law on the books at the time of Obama’s birth, the office of president requires that a candidate be a natural citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. citizen parents. Since he was not,should it be proven that Obama was not born in Hawaii, as claimed, he is ineligible without further debate. But assuring that he was born there, he has another problem.

According to a legal researcher who has contacted the AFP, U.S. law very clearly states: “If only one parent is a U.S. citizen at the time of one’s birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for a minimum of 10 years, five of which must be after the age of 16.” And therein lies Obama’s new problem.

Barack Obama’s father was never a U.S. citizen.

Interestingly, there isn’t much paperwork on the marriage of Obama’s parents, and this has a few researchers speculating that it never took place at all. On page 27 of “Obama: From Promise to Power”, David Mendell writes: “Obama later confessed that he never searched for the government documents on the marriage, although Madelyn (Obama’s maternal grandmother) insisted they were legally married.” He also notes that Obama’s father apparently was not legally divorced from his first wife back in Kenya at the time, a point of contention that ultimately led to their separation. This also would suggest that there may never have been any legal marriage by Obama’s parents at all, but the Constitution does not ban an illegitimate child from the White House, as long as he was born inside the U.S.

Obama’s mother was born in Kansas and was only 18 when Obama was born. This means even though she satisfied the citizen requirement for 10 years, she was not a citizen for at least five years prior to Obama’s birth. In essence, the mother alone is not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. citizenship. At most, two years elapsed from his mother turning 16 to the time of Barack Obama’s birth when she was 18. His mother would have needed to have been 16 + 5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama’s birth for him to be a natural-born citizen. Barack Obama was already three years old at the time his mother turned 21.

Technically, Obama should have been naturalized as a citizen, but that, of course, would disqualify him from holding the office of president. If the allegations are accurate, America could install in January of 2009 a new president who is not even a U.S. citizen, neither born nor naturalized.

It should be demanded that Obama produce his 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate.

If he cannot satisfactorily do so, he should be deemed immediately ineligible to hold the office of president.”

Ok. First, here’s the link to the Snopes.com article: Is Barack Obama a natrual-born citizen?

I tend to check Snopes.com as they have done an incredible job of fact checking. Almost everything that I’ve checked out there, has been verified from fully-qualified sources that show the true facts.

Comparing the text in the email to the detailed response in the above Snopes.com link, it seems that Obama may actually be qualified to run for President. The perpetrated theories laid out in the email are debunked and explained, as the email author has labored the adding of ages, dates and “where his parents lived”, only to show that those specifics apply only to those BORN OUTSIDE THE U.S. Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961, almost two years after Hawaii became the 50th US State.

Ok. I know many of you are just waiting to comment and tell me, “But what about the time of when he lived in Indonesia?” “But the 14-year rule, doesn’t that still apply to Obama?” Reach deep if you will, but the fact remains that Barack Obama IS qualified to run for President. Plus, do you really think that if he WASN’T qualified, someone would have caught this way before he started running for office? Seriously… think about it.

EMAIL #2: Obama Removes American Flag From Campaign Plane

Here is the text of the email:

The plane that once had an American flag on its tail now sports the Obama “O.” “Change We Can Believe In” and the candidate’s website are splayed across both sides of the fuselage, making this 757 anything but inconspicuous.
This means, of course, that the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, and other countries will see a plane without an American flag — a plane on which the sole symbol is all about one man. Barack: Afghans and Iraqis won’t be voting for you in November. But they will notice that you failed to represent yourself as a proud American citizen while you are abroad. We’ve noticed too.

As a patriotic American citizen, I am embarrassed that a presumptive presidential candidate would fail to display a core symbol of the United States of America.

As a patriotic American citizen, I am deeply concerned that the Democratic party may nominate a candidate who is solely focused on displaying his OWN image and symbols rather than those of his party and his country.

Not only is his plane’s symbolism unpatriotic, it is also narcissistic.

This one is mostly correct, but you must read the details at the following Snopes.com link: Barack Obama’s Campaign Plane.

As the Snopes.com article explains, the plane that Obama was using was chartered from North American Airlines. The flag on the tail of the plane is a company trademark. Obama (like his rival John McCain) customized his plane, adding his campaign logo.

I know some of you reading this and thinking this is just another “example” of how “unpatriotic” Obama is. And while the flag is a symbol of our country, agreeing that Obama should be held to a higher standard, removing it from a plane doesn’t undermine his patriotism or dedication to this country. The above email circulating around is just another red herring. Another avenue of finding fault with him. Anyone can hold up the flag and say they are patriotic, but it doesn’t always mean they are. How many cars do you see with a flag on it, tattered and weather-worn from traveling at 75 mph, ready to have another thread torn off of it? Is that respect? How many people never displayed a flag until after 9/11? Did they suddenly start caring about their country? Patriotism isn’t based on a piece of cloth. It’s what you can do to help this country and protect it. Enough said.

Oh, and there is still a flag there. The photo labeled “Modified Obama campaign version” in the Snopes.com article shows an American Flag on the airplane, as is placed on all American-based aircraft to identify what country it is from.

Stop The Slander

The distorting of facts to support one’s position against a candidate is not new. It’s been going on for decades. The internet just makes it easier for anyone with an email account or a blog to state their case as “the truth”. I’m not here to say Barack Obama is spotless. He plays the political game, like ANY OTHER POLITICIAN has done. But… these types of emails that go around making up shit and distorting the facts are JUST PLAIN WRONG! This is not creative. It simply shows that whoever creates this garbage is only interested in promoting slander. They are no more ethical than their exaggerated claims they make against the candidate they dislike. Do your part by checking the facts first before believing everything that’s sent to your inbox as the truth.

How do you feel about these kinds of emails? For them? Against them? Delete them and never read them? Do you see any against McCain? [I've yet to see one come into my inbox]. Let me know in the comments.

The Nightly Visitor

martymankins — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:08:34 +0000

Every few nights, we have a visitor at our house….

“Hey… need more food out here, buddy”

And this creature cleans up any remaining food, making a mess for me to find in the morning when I go out to feed the cats.

Ready for me to wash out before feeding the cats

Each spring, Mr. Raccoon always shows up right when the all of the snow has melted and the weather is starting to warm up a bit. We think he lives in the canal behind our home, since there are many ducks, rodents and a fox that live in that mostly marshy area.

Our main concern isn’t so much that it’s coming up and stealing cat food. It’s that possible confrontation with one of the cats. Since a raccoon is an untamed wild animal, it may fight back if it finds one of the cats to be a threat. So far, only one of the cats [the oldest, and the one staring into the camera in the photo below] has snapped at the creature on one visit.

Feeding Time

Our defense to keeping the raccoon away is to bring in the food at night… if we remember to do so. Sometimes we don’t, and that’s when the unwanted beast enjoys a free meal and watering.

Fate Happens

But the raccoon’s biggest concern isn’t the cats. It’s traffic. We live right on a busy road and when the raccoon finds no food at our place, he tries another home. Unfortunately for him, that means either swimming in the canal or crossing the road.

Wildlife and city streets don’t mix

So far, we have only found one dead on the road. And I really do hope they find their fate a more natural way. Getting hit by a car isn’t the most pleasant way to kick the bucket, even for a creature stuck in the city.

Any solutions?

We have thought about various ways to get the raccoons back into their wildlife home. But if they are born here in the city, their instincts are not wildlife-driven. They are based on survival in the city. That rules out catching him and driving him up to the mountains. We contacted the local Humane Society and Animal Control offices, asking what we can do. Their two options were actually less humane then excepted: drowning after being trapped in a cage or placed in a large garbage bag while being euthanized from tailpipe exhaust. WTF?

Given those options, we have chosen to bring the food in each night and hope that it goes elsewhere to find food. For those nights we forget, it’s gets a meal and goes home after eating, leaving the felines as they are.

eBay – The Good, The Bad and The Cheap

martymankins — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:20:09 +0000

I don’t do a lot on eBay. Except maybe search for things I want. And the few times I bid on something that I want, I end up losing it in the last 60 seconds of the auction. But every once in a while, I find some things that I don’t need anymore and decide to dump them out on eBay, thinking I’m going to get some extra cash. As I found out, it doesn’t always work that way.

Old Cell Phone

Back in late 2004, I won the above pictured cell phone from an online tech blog contest. I would keep it for sentimental reasons, but I used the phone, had fun with it, and saved the blog post that announced me as a winner. So this thing sat around for at least a year before I got around to starting the auction. When the auction ended, it went for a bit more than I expected, so I was pretty happy.

Not so old Bluetooth headset

At the same time I posted the above Nokia N-Gage QD, I also listed an older bluetooth headset that works well, but one I don’t use anymore. In the last two years, I went from having no bluetooth headsets to five. And since this had sat in its box for the same amount of time as the N-Gage, I might as well sell this one and get rid of something else I don’t need/use.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting the auction to close at the price it did. Did it close higher? HELL NO!! .. wait … let me rephrase that… FUCK NO!!

After eBay fees, I ended up with $4.84. And here’s the proof….

At least someone got an incredible deal

Ok. You can’t always do well on eBay. But at least shipping would only be $4.00 (which is what I calculated it to be at USPS.com, leaving me with a whopping 84-cents from the auction (not including what eBay would take out for their listing and selling fees)

I boxed up the headset and took it to the post office to send off. Here’s where I got my next surprise… postage rates went up on May 12th. Dammit! ok… calm down…. they couldn’t have gone up that much, could they? How much more of that 84-cents would I need to send this off?

$5.45… hmmm…. let’s see…. doing the math…. it COST me an additional 61-cents…. that’s $.61… to sell this item. AND I still need to pay eBay listing and selling fees. So let’s just call it even buck I lost on this sale.

Better Luck Next Time

So the lesson I learned from this was:

plan for extra shipping charges
find items that people are actually willing to pay more than $1.29 for

and……

simply keep all of my unused items in the storage box where they had been happily sitting.

“There Is STILL A Light…” Part 2

martymankins — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:25:30 +0000

As you can see from above, the “Service Engine Soon” light is still on, which prevents my car from passing emissions. If you are just joining us, read the first installment here.

In this annual on-going battle to make it legal to drive my car on the roads, I am once again needing to spend almost $1,000. Last year it was the O2 sensors ($850). The year before, it was some manifold replacement ($700). This year’s “issue”: the catalytic converter ($900).

Ok….I’ll be honest here. I’m no expert when it comes to knowing how a car works. I know some logistics, but I am not skilled in knowing how to fix cars. I do, however, make sure I keep them maintained with regular oil changes and the such. And it’s not like the car is a broken down piece-of-shit….. it works perfectly. I’ve never once had any major issues with it. It gets 28-35 mpg on a regular basis. But for some reason, a few weeks before I need to get it licensed each year, there is always something that prevents it from passing the emissions certification that the state of Utah requires before sending out new license plate tags.

So each year, I consider dumping the car and getting a different one. And the temptation this year is greater: I made my last payment on it in February. And as much as I need to take that car payment that I was making and apply it to my growing credit card debt, the thought of having a brand new car that is covered under a warranty would remove the stress and anxiety I experience each year.

Decisions, Decisions

As the weekend approaches, I am going to evaluate all options before making a decision on Monday. The two I am considering are:

Buck up, pay the almost $1,000 to replace the catalytic converter, which is the equivalent of four more monthly “car” payments

Trade in/sell my car and get something new (or newer) that will keep me from going into a rage whenever that fucking damn light goes on every year.

So until Monday, when I make my final decision, tip a glass and drink often.

above image is free to download and use from (c) Adam Hart-Davis

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

martymankins — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:20:49 +0000

I’ve had my 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE since February 2003. For the most part, it’s been a pretty good car and has almost 90,000 miles that have taken me various places on the West coast and Rocky Mountain area with decent gas mileage.

But every January or February, I see the above light come on… and wouldn’t you know it, that’s the same time I need to have the car inspected and emissions tested in order to pay more money to get it registered.

And every fucking year, there is always something “wrong” that somehow costs a shitload of money to “fix”, even though the car has been very reliable and runs great.

So this year, I thought I would get one step ahead when I noticed the light pop on. A friend of my fiance’s has a boyfriend that is a head mechanic at a local car dealership that agreed to look at it.
After a few hours at the shop, the verdict was: “We don’t know what is wrong. You need to take it to the dealer.” At this point, the light is now off, but it’s due to the car having been reset after the search for the “problem.”

Dealer = a double shitload of money. Fuck.

I decided to take it to Firestone, where I take it every year for the emissions/inspection and for most of its regular maintenance. $60 later, they give me this paper that shows what “failed” or what has been labeled as NOT READY.

“‘Evap Sys’ and ‘O2 Sensor’… what are those?” The O2 Sensor sounded familiar. Looking up what it cost me last year to get the vehicle to pass emissions, I see it was just over $900 to replace the O2 Sensors.

Fuck. Fuck.

So I talk to the auto tech and he tells me that I need to perform a “manufacture recommended drive cycle”, which for my Nissan is a combination of driving 75 miles AND starting and stopping the car 10 or more times.

So over the course of the next 7 days, I do this. The light remains off. I call the shop, ready to take the car in to have them run the emissions again (no extra cost, thank god) but am told the only emissions tech they have is out injured. I’m leaving for out of town in 8 hours and won’t be back for a week.

So I get back home last night, start up the car and again I see….

Triple Fuck.

So now I drive it around this weekend before taking it back on Monday to have the emissions re-run. Then we find out how much longer I need to drive my car unregistered and how much I must spend this year to make it legal. Stay tuned….