Work Rides: Volvo S60

One of the nice things I already said I like about renting from National Car Rental is that you get to pick the car you want. I'm no longer stuck at the mercy of whatever the rental agent feels like giving me. There's an aisle filled with cars. I pick out a vehicle. Then I get to drive it at our low corporate rate.

I was a little surprised when St. Louis had a Volvo S60 in the Emerald Executive aisle there for the taking. The reasons seemed obvious: #1 Volvos aren't usually seen in rental car lots, and #2 - one would think someone would have already jumped on the chance to drive this.

I have to say that the Volvo S60 is hands down the best rental car I've ever driven. In fact, it might be the best car I've ever driven in my lifetime. (that's probably more pathetic than surprising, so spare me your insults...)

Seriously, this was a great car. The 2.5T trim I had included (heated!!!!) leather seats, and a moon roof (it's cold outside, so who cares...). Otherwise, there weren't many other features of note. That said, the car had a solid feel, and I felt absolutely safe thanks to Volvo's stellar safety ratings. The interior and dashboard were nicely appointed and had a sleek, yet understated European feel. The engine was peppy and ready to accelerate quickly when needed. The interior was quiet, and road and engine noises were minimal.

So as scary as it is to say this, I really can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want to own this car. Oh wait, it starts at $30,885. There's one... (but if I can find one at a lower price, then I'll seriously consider one...)

Volvo S60 website

Where Work Takes Me: Austin, TX

I wish I could have taken this. I grabbed it off Wikipedia


One of the few pictures that turned out. This is Austin City Hall




I cover a lot of ground for work, but Austin isn't a normal stop (nor is it part of my territory). One of my accounts was having their national sales meetings there, so I was asked to help cover.





In many ways, that's a shame. I really liked this city, and I'm definitely interested in going back. Now, I say that even though the temps never got above 40 degrees F (I obviously hoped the weather would be better...), and I could barely see any local sights since the cold temps created a fog that limited visibility to a few hundred yards the entire time I was there.





That said, what I did see impressed. Downtown is modern, easy to navigate, and safe. The airport is one of the best "small" airports I've ever been.





The local cuisine is pretty good, too. The Tex-Mex was outstanding.





We'll see, maybe I'll have an opportunity to go back one day. If so, I'll most likely go gladly.

Sign the Apocalypse is Upon Us...and One Way to Survive It At the Same Time

So I've posted in the past about Pancake mix in a can, and thought that was weird. Now something even weirder has come to my attention.

I introduce to you: Cheeseburgers in a Can.

Makes Spam sound appealing now doesn't it? (unless you're my dad or live in Hawaii - two places that are inexplicably infatuated with Spam).

So for all those fallout shelters that were stocked for the turn of the last millenia, now you have a new product with even more class to put in there. This might even be the classiest food to ever come out of a can - evem more than caviar.

Product page here

Gizmodo's taste test

Por mi Hermano

My brother likes to collect T-shirts. He collects them like I used to collect baseball cards when I was growing up. He doesn't NEED any more T-shirts - yet when he heard that I had to be in Ausin, TX this week for work, he asked me to pick one up from a local running store called RunTex.

Well, since T-shirts are a relatively "safe" addiction, I figured why not and make him happy. (though the jury is out whether this will make his WIFE happy. ;-)) But I love the guy so I might as well show it. :-) So I went out of my way (about a 1 mile walk each way) to get this for him. (It's the only souvenir I got on the whole trip...)

A Dubious Prank

Allow me to share just one item from CES. As regular readers know, I like to read the tech blog Gizmodo on a regular basis. Before covering the event, they were given a demo unit of a product called TV-B-Gone, which is essentially a universal remote that can turn off any TV set if one is annoyed by loud televisions in public spaces.

One of Gizmodo's writers decided to use it for more deviant endeavors. Watch the video on this link to see what hilarity ensued as they walked the show floor shutting of every TV in sight - even disrupting a press conference with Motorola.

In hind sight, it's not the nicest or most innocent prank - but I definitely would have done this if I had the technology and the resources to do it. Oh, and you can read the consequences here.

[Gizmodo]

Hey, you...Remember me?

Yes, I'm finally back...

Thanks to all who have been bugging me to post again. I've really wanted to make some posts over the last 6 weeks, but a lot has happened:

• Tons of work on the basement (I'll have a dedicated post on that soon)
• a Birthday party for Ava
• my brother-in-law's wedding
• only 4 family Christmases
• beloved family members staying with us over Christmas
• catching up on lost time with Nikki and the kids
• New Year's Eve/Day (Nikki and I both got the flu)
• Trips to KC, STL, and Austin, TX so far this year.
• The "Super Bowl" for Gadget/Consumer Technology lovers: CES
• Then MacWorld and a slew of new slick products from Steve Jobs
• I had another birthday
• Nikki's computer going on the fritz, trying to fix it, then having to buy another (inexpensive) one (unfortunately not a MacBook Air, which is FAR too expensive - but oh so beautiful)
• a slew of other miscellaneous items I'm forgetting...

Hopefully you get the picture. It's not an excuse - just and apology. More posts to come soon, I promise.