Crazy Rodents

Its been way too long since my last post. Changing jobs along with some unexpected events came up, but I'm going to get back to writing since I no longer get to write useless crap for a living. So to all those 2 people that read this, welcome back!

Here is a funny picture that I found on the interwebs. A crazy squirrel crashed this photo up in Banff (Canada)...


Apparently, the rodents of Banff aren't camera shy. Here is my own photo from a trip to Banff just last month!

I should have sent this to National Geographic too, except this guy didn't wander in front of the camera, he just charged up to me. More about Canada to follow.

08 STI Test Drive

The Subaru / Gary Fisher MTB team was doing a little promotion - test drive any '08 Subaru and receive a free biking jersey. Considering the fact that I was planning on swinging by the stealership for parts, I figured I would get a free jersey out of the deal. I thought I would have to just drive a Legacy or base WRX just for the freebee, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Usually Subaru doesn't let people test drive STIs, but I managed to take one out. Blue and gold is a little beat, I would definitely go with white on the 5 spokes, but that's just me. Had to keep it under 4k rpm (only had 50 miles on the ticker) but oh well. The power delivery was still there a lot sooner than the 2.0 WRX, but duh, bigger motor. It was nice checking out what a stock STI feels like since my only seat time with an '08 was with Cobb's car that I posted earlier. Seats were nice, but definitely less support than previous years. The ride was super nice too even over crappy roads and on the freeway. They definitely made the '08 STI more liveable which is a plus for me as a daily driver.

Too bad buying a house comes first right now otherwise I would be all over this car. I was just in it for the free bike jersey. (I'll post pics when it comes in the mail for those who care.)

Rampage Jackson lost his damn mind..

I watch a little UFC/Pride stuff once and a while, but I want to make one thing clear... I am in no way, shape, or form one of those bros who wear Tap Out or Affliction shit. I just like watching people beat the piss out of each other.

Anyway, Rampage Jackson (who knocked out Chuck but lost his title to Forrest Griffin) recently made the news. After going on a road rampage (sorry, I had to do it), he was arrested after driving his massively lifted F350 over a few cars and down to Newport Beach, where he was finally detained.

Here is a tip for you would-be criminals. If you are going to run from the cops, don't use a monster truck with a life-size portrait of yourself on the side of it as your getaway vehicle...

Hell, a white Bronco would have been better


Apparently, he was too messed up to go to jail, so they hospitalized him. There are also mental health issues at hand, but I'm not sure about all the details. One thing I do know, I never want to run into Rampage... he lives in Irvine.

But honestly, who drives around in a monster truck with their mug plastered all over the side?
I don't think I would be able to pull it off...


"Better watch out, I hear after a few Appletinis, that guy's arm-bar is like an anaconda!"

Street Fighter IV

Check out the trailer from E3:



Can't wait...

Fun with Photography

The GF is taking a photography class and she had to work with panning/shutter speed. Having the digital SLR around helped things quite a bit since we could test out the settings without having to develop the film.



We started out leaving the shutter open with a moving light source and went overboard with the creativity. Once we realized things could be spelled out, the fun began.



After we came up with the tracing idea, we went inside where we could better control the lighting, and we did some cool stuff:




Pretty sweet.

Profeta Daniel

Found this picture taken of a statue of the Prophet (Profeta) Daniel in Brazil.


Upon closer inspection, I got a better look at the face:

Check out this sweet Rack

Pun intended.


Just picked up an OEM roof rack (factory EDM). It's pretty weak that Subaru doesn't offer this "load carrier" to the USA. I guess they think the WRX wagon is good enough for us 'Merikuns.

I had to order it from a dealer in the UK - Cheam Motors. It came in about a week, so I was stoked. The only downside is the current state of the dollar. The exchange rate blew, but it's worth it to have a factory rack.

Reason being, all Imprezas have a mount for the factory racks under the black strips on the roof, so the install was super easy. They also allow me to keep the JDM OE rain visors. The racks also just pop off whenever, and they only leave these tiny metal brackets.

It's not too noticeable from a distance, but I can definitely live with it.
To fasten the rack to those brackets, you just use the lever at each base.
You can see in this pic: Fastened:


The base's feet come in contact with the car under the weather strip, so there are no worries about the paint. You can't beat OEM parts for stuff like this. It's so much better when things are meant to worth with one another.

Here is a finished shot after a bath, as the sun was going down:


After the initial install the night before, I didn't have a chance to fit the end caps that go on the cross bars or these little rubber caps that seal off the bottom of the cross bars. The result was a nasty whistle that played in three distinct tones. One pitch at 20mph, the middle pitch at 30mph, and the highest at 40mph. It was hilarious. After completely finishing the install, the whistle was gone, but it was funny while it lasted.

Next thing I need to do is pick up the actual bike/snowboard racks that to attach to these cross bars, and maybe even a fairing. I'll probably get the Yakima High-Roller to hold the bikes, and the Yakima FatCat6 for snowboards, but that can wait until winter. Shit costs money.

K1 Speed - Karting

I took a bunch of my employees to K1 for lunch today, another perk of working in the automotive enthusiast industry. We currently have all of our assistants slaving away at getting all our archive articles up on the web, so we decided to give the project some incentive. Top performers will be rewarded at different stages of the project, the first round being a trip to K1 and lunch on the company.


K1 is pretty sweet. They have 5 locations total, 4 in SoCal and 1 in Seattle. It's not your typical bumper karts/amusement go-kart track. You have your own account (license they call it) and they keep track of all your race times. There is a little print out after each race, raking everyone in your group. They really cater to car people, and the facility is pretty sweet. If you are in the area, it's cool to check out if you care about racing / lap times. If you just want to tool around, go to Boomers or something.

Just for the record, I had the fastest lap time and fastest average time for the whole office.. no big deal.

Here is the track (1 of 2 at the Irvine location).

Link - http://www.k1speed.com/
(pictures jacked from K1's site)

HeroMachine 2.5

Create your own super hero. Awesome.
See what you can come up with.

HeroMachine LINK

I had to give him a light saber to compliment the numb-chucks, haha.
I'm going to spend too much time using this thing.

My New Wheels - One Gear Only

Picked it up this past weekend and I've rode it to work every day so far.

I wanted something cheaper and more simple than my Cannondale roadie bike for commuting purposes, so I decided on a single speed. Specialized has a line of bikes called Langster that are single speed city/commuter bikes, and come in different themes. Each model in the Langster series is named after a city. I went with the 'Chicago' since it's the sickest. Flat black frame, bull horn style bars, black crank, black components, sweet graphics, etc. It even says Gangster instead of Langster, lol, and has a little city scape with Al Capone on the top tube. All it needs is a set of red wheels.

Overall, I'm really stoked on the bike. I'm just going to leave the pedals that it came with on the there since they are just flats with the little straps for sliding regular shoes into. This makes it easier since I'll primarily be commuting and I don't feel like changing my shoes. All the components on the bike are bolted down (no quick releases) so I don't have to worry about locking the bike up outside of the office.

Price wasn't bad either. It was on sale before taking another 15% off for being a VeloSport team member of Rock and Road bike shop. So put it this way, I used my economic stimulus check and still went out to dinner. Thanks for the free bike, US Government. I'll be using it to stop buying gas.