Oh yeah, we’re excited over here.

I used to be so pumped about my work and what I was going to build or optimize each day. I remember being in the shower and thinking about current projects and things I could improve or whatever. More and more, I am feeling like this person:

Cheers,

-J

Little Dragon – Crystalfilm

Wednesday and a Justy

Wednesday was a pretty nutty day involving an un-usual level of logistical challenges, even for me. I was prepared to bike in, but using a different bike. I got a call from my mechanic saying I could swap one currently broken car for a newly fixed car, so I took that ride.

The biking has been great, and I plan on doing this more in the future. I had a bunch of errands to run yesterday on top of a backlog of errands from the week or so without any usable car. I must admit it was really fun to not need/have a car for a few days and has shown me that I can very much live without a car if I need to. Just that they are very convenient!  Probably the only down side of biking in was fear of being obliterated by someone sending a text while barreling down the road, or something like that.  It seems almost as if people in metro areas either don’t know what to do with a cyclist so they just putz along flanking you for a while, or they just blow by you like you are not there.  Somewhere in between would be nice!

I sort of expected my trip on CalTrain to leave me with a feeling that I was wasting resources driving around my own vehicle. But when the vehicle is a ’91 Subaru Justy, it’s hard to feel bad about driving it around. With a 1.2L 3 cylinder, it’s probably got one of the smallest engines on the road now. It’s a little smaller than the standard V-Twin on most Harleys. I would guess that if someone could control themselves with the maintenance, a Justy or something like that would be one of the most economical ways to travel.  I picked up a ’93 Justy in 2008 for a really low price and did my best to not spend too much money on it while at the same time keeping up on maintenance and such.  The only time it left me stranded was when the timing belt snapped in San Francisco.  A tow home, and I think somewhere around $150 and it was back on the road (huge thanks to Mr. Ulf Ståhle for doing most of the work on that!).  This car got around 33-35mpg and was an absolute blast to drive.  I probably spent ~$1,000 on the car at the most in the 3 years I drove it.  When I picked it up, it was barely running and was about to be donated.  As far as I know, it’s still out there tearin’ up the roads.

This one was found in Oakland back in 2006.  I had wanted one of these little cars ever since 1988 when a friend of my father’s bought a brand new ’88 Justy 4×4 GL.  It was even silver.  I was looking for a car for Jen and I found this one.  I don’t know too many other ladies who wouldn’t mind driving a car like this…  We test drove it and both of us could not stop laughing.  The teeny little car, the controls, the plaid seats, we had to have it.  Only – the person selling it wanted $5,000 and wouldn’t budge.  I couldn’t let myself pay that much for it, even though it was fairly clean and with 49k original miles.  It needed a transmission and a few other fairly major things.  Also, it would not warm up.  Stuff like that.  She eventually sold it to us for $2,500 and I am so glad.  It’s been quite a ride, and I would not be surprised if we had spent 3x the purchase price already at this point.  It’s had a transmission rebuilt (at Subaru no less), the 60,000 mile service – also at Subaru, just about every rubber bushing and hose replaced, seats rebuilt, etc etc etc.  It’s basically been restored over the years. It’s also had at least 3 sets of ignition parts, 3 fuel filters, belts, hoses, and some things that don’t even make sense.  I turned the rear hatch into a speaker box so I could have better sound but not take away luggage space.  The car has 82k miles on it now and I think it’s never been better.

It’s also fairly important to mention that without Cdub, I would not have this car right now.  I decided to sell it back in 2008, and he rescued the car from that bad decision and enthusiastically enjoyed it for the next 4 years.  I have to admit seeing his enthusiasm for the car and riding around it in once in a while was almost as fun as having it myself.  Almost.  🙂

I think I started on this tangent about the Justy because I finally got to drive it around for a while yesterday, and because I watched my Prairie City FRX video again.  I think it might be time to do another rally!  This was SO much fun, and the people were really cool.  There were some really neat cars there as well.  Pardon the video as our video camera was acting up, and it was set to “widescreen” so the image looks squished.  Oh well!

Fun times!

-Jacob

CalTrain, wow!

It’s day two of the “Auto Independence Initiative” that seems to have taken place in my life.  I don’t really have a cause or really a real solid reason for doing this, other than my cars have been disappointing me and I am a fan of trying new things.  Also, sometimes I like to take the most important item in my life and remove myself from it for a bit to bring things into perspective.  My cars are pretty important to me, as is the feeling of independence that often comes with auto ownership.  Lately, just keeping my assortment of cars running has been challenging and expensive.  The word “frustrating” does not do the experience justice!

Yesterday’s bike ride into the office was pretty great.  The ride home was even better!  I have a tailwind when riding southbound on El Camino.  I would prefer to take any other street, but I don’t yet have a workable route.  So, El Camino it is.  Anyway, it took me ~50min to get in, and only 35 minutes to get home.  The ride was a blast, and I felt not only better for actually getting exercise but also for being able to work two 12 mile bike rides into my work day.  Cost for that experience was basically wear and tear on my bike/body and of course time.  The time element was quite surprising because it took me around the same time to get home as when I employ several thousand pounds of metal, internal combustion and 80mph speeds.  This cost me nothing, and was actually really a fun and easy ride.

Today, my idea was to take CalTrain to the station closest to my office, and walk in from the station.  It is just over a mile from the station.  It took around 10 minutes to walk to the station nearest my house.  I was a bit shocked at the cost of a “day pass” at $10.00 but maybe I bought the wrong ticket.  I bought a day pass because I intended to ride CalTrain back home in the evening.  A day pass is exactly the same price as two “one way” tickets, so I think I did alright.  Looking at the fare chart, you can see that you save a little bit if you buy an 8-ride or a monthly pass.  Even if you buy a monthly pass, you are still out around $130.  I cannot imagine I would spend that much strictly commuting in a car that gets adequate fuel mileage, even at today’s prices.  The trip, even if I take the long way, is 28 miles round trip.  My least economical car gets around 22mpg average.

The actual experience on CalTrain was okay, but it was hot and humid on the train car.  I have no idea why.  I actually enjoy riding the train, but usually moreso on longer trips.  This trip took around 20 minutes.  The walk from the station to my office was odd.  Only around a mile, but I was seriously hot and uncomfortable when I got to the office.  I could have taken the shuttle I guess, had I timed it right – but I did not.  It took me over 35 minutes to walk to the office from the station.  It blows me away that I was able to ride my bike home in around the same time it took me to walk into the office.

My thoughts on the CalTrain ride are that if it cost less, I could easily deal with the annoyance.  I really did not like the walk from the station to the office, but that of course has nothing to do with CalTrain.  My overall thoughts after this experience is that I would definitely prefer to cycle into work than take CalTrain, and that has nothing really to do with the fact that cycling costs me nothing and is really good for me.

I would call this a successful experiment!  Bummer about the CalTrain thing, though.

 

Fun times!

Cheers,

-J

F*** cars!

I have four cars, one of which is for Jen of course. One is in the shop with a blown power steering line, another because it’s a needy little thing (initially for the brakes but now it’s sprung a leak), and the third just sprouted a puddle of coolant yesterday. So, I decided to bike in.

I have been wanting to do this for a long time but never made it happen.  I checked the distance, and it’s around 12 miles each way.  Something like that.  Initially I planned to ride to Caltrain, take the train up to my work area, and bike up the hill into the office.  I got to the Caltrain station near my house around 37 seconds after the train left, and after 10AM, they only run once an hour.  So, I thought – what the heck, I will just ride in.  I even said to myself “I bet I can make it to the office before the next train is here.”

As I was riding, at first it was pretty chill but I wished I had been able to carry less in my bag and wear some freer clothing like cycling shorts or something.  I was in fairly fitting Levi’s.  I remember thinking to myself “THERE IS SO MUCH SAN MATEO” as I felt like I had been riding for a while but still in the same town.  I then thought to myself how I am always complaining about not being able to go on a bike ride.  I mean like always.  I just won’t shut up about it.  So, I just focused a little, tried to forget about what happens with Levi’s on a road bike and suddenly I was in Millbrae.

It was overall a great ride, and gave me hope for more to come.  I had a ton of crap in my bag today because I brought some extra clothes, second pair of shoes and lunch.  Tomorrow it will be a lot better.

Also I am sure it would be a lot more fun with more than one gear, but at the same time – with a single speed you just pedal harder.

Woo!  Good day one, that is for sure.

Cheers,

-J

Bike storage sorted!

SAAB story

My wagon sneezed out all it’s power steering fluid on the drive home last Friday, so back to the shop it goes.

It’s for sale now, and while it’s been a fun car, I am ready to move on.

Fun times.

-Jacob

SAIL

Tesla Model S

I was driving along with this for a while on 280. It looks pretty striking in person, and it’s a lot larger than I thought they were. Pretty sweet.

-J

Major stokage!

Every day, every drive, seriously enjoying this car. Definitely the car for me.

Happy days!

Cheers,

-J