Even though it seems I caught the flu or something, maybe because of driving with the top down? Guess I need a hat.
Thanks to Calvin for the pic 
Still Grinning
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Category Archives: cars
New Car
It’s not new-new, but sure is new to me! Personalized license plates have already been ordered. The driving experience is nothing short of awesome.
Today we went around the bay, mostly on known roads, to learn the car. The tire pressure monitoring got me a little confused at first, so we started by checking the pressure with an old fashion gauge and resetting the on-board computer. I opted for the stock 17″ wheels in an attempt to deal with whatever passes for a road in the bay area. Potholes are everywhere!
I didn’t feel confident enough to drive in the city, so we parked in San Bruno and took Caltrain to the Folsom Street Fair in SF. There are leathery pics on flickr if you wanna see what that’s about. I was mostly oblivious, worrying about the car being alone in some sketchy parking lot 
But it was fine. The parking lot was actually less sketchy than the fair. Once reunited with the vehicle, it was time to fill up. Apparently, typical California premium gas is 91 octane, while Texas ( being oil-producing and having a low lexus-per-capita ratio ) may have 93 or higher available. The Porsche manual says over 90 will work thanks to anti-knocking control in the engine and at the expense of a few HP. Also these numbers cannot be directly compared to the octane ratings in Europe. cf nifty chart:
| US – (R+M)/2 | France – RON |
|---|---|
| regular 87 | 92 |
| ca premium 91 | sans plomp 95 |
| tx premium 93 | super 98 |
Only option to get the recommended 93 octane gasoline in my car seems to be mixing the so-called “premium” with 100 octane racing fuel. Blah… I’m not out to save the planet, but I’m not out to win street races either. Already with the plain sans-plomb, I can’t wait to be on the road tomorrow morning on my way to work 
Fast Cars and assistive devices
I had a life changing experience. I test-drove a Porsche Boxster. Later I called my uncle – a 944 owner – for some insight on german engineering. Days after driving the thing, the sound of the engine still sings in my head. I think everyone can guess where this is going 
Anyways, my uncle mentioned that he wanted to try using a virtual keyboard as a tool for his stroke-ridden dad to communicate with. There are lots of specialized assistive devices that could do the trick, but he wanted to test the idea first – on an antique win98 box with no internet connection.
Presenting GRANDPAD, a quick and dirty large-type virtual keyboard: http://daltonx.net/hacks/grandpad.html
It is standalone so the file can be saved to a floppy and run locally. With an internet connection, it could be extended with TTS and/or predictive input.
Lemme know what you think!