Carl the Zealot

February 8, 2009

My super-awesome mutt configuration

Filed under: News — Carl Myers @ 2:05 pm

One of the things I really miss about my old job is we had a default mutt configuration available for folks to use as a starting point which was really awesome. Additionally, we had a custom build of “muttng”, mutt “next generation”, a now long-dead fork of mutt which contains lots of super-hot extra features. I decided it was time to make my mutt “whole again”, so what follows are the steps for getting an awesome mutt configuration on Debian Linux.

So first off, I thought I would have to apply all these crazy patches and things, and build my own mutt package. Gladly, this is not the case. Most of the muttng patches have now been applied to the original mutt source. Also, to my joyful surprise, most (if not all) of the patches that weren’t merged in are available in Debian by installing the “mutt-patched” in addition to (or instead of) “mutt”. This includes the much-loved “sidebar patch”, among others.

After I got that figured out, I got to just muck with my .muttrc file. The docs I referenced are available here and the wiki is here. Now for your configuring pleasure, here is an “anonymized” version of my configuration, I hope it has some helpful ideas for you seasoned mutt users out there.

February 7, 2009

Using the iPhone G3 to listen to music under Debian Linux

Filed under: News — Carl Myers @ 2:36 am

Greetings all, I have once again found myself wishing someone else had written up this mini-hell I had to go through just to use my shiny new toy the way I want to, so once again I have written it up for posterity. I did use a mac to jailbreak my iPhone G3, but everything else I detail here I was able to do using my home wifi network, and my Debian desktop. Please enjoy, and feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments!

Now because there is a lot of out-of-date and incorrect info out there, and it was a major point of contention for me, let me just throw some stats out there: This is an 16 GB iPhone G3 (black) running firmware 2.2 (5G77) on the AT&T 2.9 network. The exact model is MB704LL. I am running Debian unstable and updated today, February 7th. I used gtkpod 0.99.12-3 and libgpod-common 0.7.0-0.1, and gnupod-tools 0.99.7-2. My kernel version (which shouldn’t matter much) is 2.6.26 (custom built from Debian patched kernel source), arch is x86_64.

Step One: It’s a Jail Break!

This is the only step in the process where I wimped out. I tried to find a Linux jailbreak solution, but most of them involved downloading some strange source code from “some dude” (not sourceforge) and building and running it, so instead I went ahead and fetched QuickPwn. It worked great. Another mac option (which appears to support some more advanced options like modifying the image you are going to upload) is Pwnage Tool. I followed the easy directions there and like a charm, my iPhone now has a pineapple shown on startup, and I was able to run Cydia (an iPhone GUI frontend to APT, my favorite package manager!) and install openSSH, perl, and all sorts of other goodies.

NOTE: do *not* try to move your home directoy. Don’t be fooled, my friends, it looks like BSD, smells like BSD, has a broken “ps” which doesn’t work with my favorite flags “-auxwwwfg” like BSD….but it is NOT BSD, it is “crazy apple OS land”. “chsh -s” does not work to change your shell, but you CAN do it by editing /etc/passwd AND /etc/master.password (the shadow file). You CANNOT edit these files to change the mobile user’s home directory, it is hardcoded out the wazoo in all of the apps. It should already be on the largest partition on the device, and if it isn’t, feel free to move it and create a symlink, but do NOT try to actually change the home directory via other methods. While we are at it, make sure your “local” directory where all the apt stuff goes is on the big partition – I think mine went there by default but I don’t remember – I think it goes to /private/var/local (and /var is symlinked to /private/var). Wow, that was a long rant…

Step 1.5: Installing Perl on an iPhone

I wanted to write some perl scripts to do some nifty tasks – one example is, I wanted to run a script like “xkcd.pl 534″ and it would use LWP::UserAgent to fetch that comic from xkcd.com and grep for the alt text, and print it out, since it isn’t possible to see it from mobile Safari. Unfortunately, perl was not in the default repository, but fortunately, I found one that had it. Super huge kudos to the fellow at Coredev for sharing his work – I was not too excited about the idea of trying to build perl myself, on my iPhone.

Step 2: Mount your iPhone

Immediately after jailbreaking your iPhone, you should change the “root” and “mobile” user passwords. I believe the default root password is “alpine”, at least it was on my version.

You probably want to set your iPhone to take a static IP address on your network so you can SSH to it. Some routers let you do this via the wireless router’s GUI, others you just manually pick one and tell the iPhone “use this static address”. I assume a user reading this can figure this part out, or google it, this part of the process was not hard to find guides for.

Once you can ssh into your iPhone, we are ready to set up “sshfs”. Have you ever asked yourself “geez, what *can’t* you do with SSH?” Well, the answer isn’t “mount a remote filesystem”, I can tell you that much. Run the following:

# apt-get install sshfs

SSHFS runs in the userspace, which means you don’t need to use sudo to mount things over SSH. This is good. It does mean, however, that some setup is required. You must add your user to the “fuse” group:

# adduser cmyers fuse

Obviously, substitute your username for “cmyers”. Now here is the tricky part – you must must must log out and back in for this to take effect. you cannot use the same terminal to continue. If you did this in a screen session, in fact, your whole damned screen session, and any windows you subsequently create, will still be using the out of date group list. Use your window manager to start a completely fresh terminal window for this – or hell, even switch to a virtual terminal and log in fresh (Ctrl + Alt + F[1-6]). If you get an error like this:

$ sshfs mobile@10.0.1.150:/var/mobile /media/iphone
mobile@10.0.1.150's password:
fuse: failed to open /dev/fuse: Permission denied

Then that means you failed to get a “sufficiently new” terminal. Also, pop this and make sure it looks right:

$ ls -lsa /dev/fuse
0 crw-rw---- 1 root fuse 10, 229 2009-01-31 09:52 /dev/fuse
$

Note that the “fuse” group has both read and write permissions to /dev/fuse.

Ok, assuming you heeded the bolded advice above (the amount of explanation in my blog is directly proportional to how much time I wasted figuring out that part – so be thankful you don’t have to muck with it!), you should now be ready to mount your iPhone.

The way most iPhone apps in Linux expect your mount to work, you actually mount “/var/mobile/Media” – which is where the iTunes DB and music goes, rather than mounting the home directory itsself (/var/mobile). To do this, run:

$ sudo mkdir /media/iphone
$ sudo chown cmyers:cmyers /media/iphone
$ sshfs mobile@10.0.1.150:/var/mobile/Media /media/iphone

Obviously, replace the IP address, and “cmyers”, with the appropriate equiavlents. Note also that the actual sshfs command runs as you – after that initial setup, you can mount and unmount the iphone without sudo – joy and hoorah!

Step 3: Teach your iPhone who’s the boss – it ain’t Apple.

It turns out that in the 2.2 update (or maybe 2.1?) Apple decided to change the iTunes DB format quite a bit, including checksumming and crap that is part of the (un)”FairPlay” DRM crap. If you are curious about the details, this is all explained here: Marcan’s Blog. Long story short, you need to tell your iPhone “please, sir, use the old version of the DB”.

Yes, that’s right. Apple added all these extra, super-annoying, redonkulous security measures, but let the configuration option to control whether they are enforced or not in plain-text XML on the device. Apparently, they don’t want to actually stop people from using their jailbroken iPhones with third party apps that can read and write the iTunes DB, just piss them off as much as possible in the process. As the blog explains, simply open the file:

vim /System/Library/Lockdown/Checkpoint.xml

Erm, you did install vim on your iphone, right? I feel sick if I ever use a *nix system which doesn’t have vim on it =) Anyways, edit that file, search for “DBVersion”, and change the value on the line below it to “2″ (instead of, probably, “4″). Now reboot your phone. ( I had a sadface @ rebooting a *nix machine )

Step 4: Exercise super cow powers!

You can fetch down everything you need (I think I got ‘em all…) by running this on your Debian box:

# apt-get install gtkpod gtkpod-aac gnupod-tools

Next go ahead and start up gtkpod. You will have to go to “repository options”, and “add new repository/iPod”. Trust me, you want to get “Music Library” all set up the way you like, THEN copy it to your ipod. Editing directly on the iPod is bad times, I lost some playlists that way. Put in the mount you used (I used “/media/iphone”), and for Model select Touch -> “16GB Touch (black) (xA627)”. Turns out the iTouch and the iPhone 3G are almost identical.

At this point, go ahead and hit “check ipod files”, or try to drag over a playlist or something, and hit “save”. You should see it copy to the iPhone, then say something like “updating DB”. If this works, you are golden, but I think most people will still have one more problem to overcome.

Step 5: Getting the “Firewire Id” (wtf, Apple, it doesn’t have a firewire port!!!)

Apparently, the newer hardware (or firmware, or something) needs some sort of hardware ID to write the DB in a way the iPhone can recognize. Without this step, you may get an error popup along the lines of “Couldn’t find the iPod firewire ID” from gtkpod when it tries to write the iTunes DB, or your iPhone may simply report it has no music on it, when it clearly does according to the storage usage info. To fix this, you follow the info on this wik, under the “determining the Firewire GUID” section. Basically, you must connect your iPhone USING USB, but you don’t have to mount it (because that won’t work), then do the following:

# lsusb -v | less

Note this should be run as root. Search for “iSerial”, and find the one that belongs to the “Apple” device (you don’t have more than one Apple device, do ya?). Record ONLY THE FIRST 16 CHARACTERS of this string, it should look like hex (0 through 9, a through f). Next, edit the “Sysinfo” file (or create it, if it doesn’t exist). Now I have seen different guides claim this file exists at two different paths. One was “/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Device”, and another was “/var/mobile/Media/iPod_Control/Device”. Chances are, one of these directories will already exist and the other one won’t, so use that. For me, it was “/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Device”.

$ vim /var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Device/SysInfo

Now add the following to it:

FirewireGuid: 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Where the 16 Fs are replaced with your GUID (doubt it matters, but mine had lowercase alphas in it). Some restarting of various programs (force-quit the ipod app on your device, close out gtkpod and reload it), and you should be able to transfer playlists now. Works like a charm for me.

See, wasn’t that easy? =|

Props

I couldn’t have done this without the generous assistance of the “teuf” on irc.freenode.net#gtkpod, All of the libgpod devs, all the folks that contributed to the jailbreaking efforts, and many helpful forum posts on the Ubuntu forums, about both gtkpod and sshfs.

January 29, 2009

Why this is a bad time for a software design job hunt, and how to overcome it

Filed under: News — Tags: , , — Carl Myers @ 4:11 am

So recently people have been saying “this is such a bad time to be looking for a job” all the time – and I agree with them. In the software design biz, however, I think it is not for the reason most people assume.

As someone who was recently responsible for interviewing people and participating in making hiring decisions, I can say that in my experience, the problem is not only a lack of jobs. Sure, many companies are scaling back hiring a little, and scrutinizing new hires more closely to ensure they are of the highest quality, but that is just a effect, not a cause.

The cause of this, that job seekers should realize, is many of the job seekers out there are seeking a job because they were “the first to go”. Nobody is going to lay off a highly valuable employee right now (I would hope!). Rather, people who were on shaky ground to begin with are the people now looking for work, and there is a real deluge of them to sort through.

Thus, to get hired in this environment, when the hiring managers and interviewers know most of the candidates out there are in this position, you have to prove you aren’t one of the “bad apples”. How does one do that? There are a couple ways. Mostly, it is a lack of warning signs, but there are also lots of affirmative traits as well.

First off, your resume should have certain attributes. Be specific, don’t just throw out an alphabet buzz-word soup, but put everything down that is relevant. It isn’t necessary to list HTML or “Microsoft Excel” or “Internet Explorer”, or for that matter, even something like “AJAX” unless you are a super rocket scientist at it or something. What programmer can’t figure out how to use Microsoft Excel? Everything that is listed on your resume, you should be able to answer the question “Why is X relevant?” with an interesting, well-thought-out answer that includes a specific example of your experience with that item.

Another important thing about your resume is it should include that experience. You don’t want your resume too long, but as much as will fit, you want a specific project or example of each of the types of experience you have. If you put down C++, you had better list a project where you used C++ and are able to talk about what it involved, and how you were instrumental in its success.

A resume lacking in experience, or dripping with buzz words and alphabet soup, sends up a huge warning flag. Beyond the resume, however, there are lots of other warning flags recruiters look for. For example, any programming job is going to expect you to answer some questions, write some code, or somehow demonstrate your skill set. Do not shrink away from this. Always think carefully about your answer, but try to think out loud as well so they can see your thought process. If you don’t know, admit you don’t know, then try to “get partial credit” by working through it anyways, or taking a different approach. Don’t be a defeatist, don’t give up, and don’t demonstrate you are not confident in your abilities. If you really are so under-confident that you can’t at least act confident, you aren’t right for the role anyways.

Also, be thorough. Ask for more details when appropriate. The difference between a “strong coder” and a “rock star” is largely in the details. Instead of making certain assumptions, question them – or better yet, say “I am making this assumption, but if I didn’t, it would have the following effect on the answer”. Discuss alternatives and why you make the decisions you make. Remember, coding isn’t about knowing everything, it’s about knowing what you need to learn and apply the tools necessary to get the job done, quickly.

Finally, if they ask, and possibly even if they don’t ask, don’t be afraid to talk about why you left your other job (that is, assuming you aren’t one of the “bad apples” I previously mentioned). Talk about the success you had at that job, and why you decided to move on. If the only thing you can say is “I hated it there” or “they weren’t happy with my performance”, that’s going to send up a big red flag, and I often asked that question for that very reason. Examples of really excellent answers I have gotten include “I wanted to have a larger impact”, “I wanted a change of pace but there was nowhere else to go at that company”, “I didn’t like the direction the company was going in”, or even “I didn’t feel my growth was recognized” (which is a nice way to say “I didn’t feel my compensation was fair given my experience”).

December 10, 2008

Holy Crap – Teacher’s Ignorance about Linux Threatens Children

Filed under: Linux, News, Open Source, funny — Carl Myers @ 4:48 am

This is absolutely the worst case of “stupid teacher” syndrome I have ever seen. I want to share it with everyone I know so they too can first laugh, then cry, as I did.

Linux Stop Holding Our Kids Back

October 26, 2008

What I don’t understand could fill several libraries of congress…

Filed under: Me, News — Tags: , , — Carl Myers @ 5:14 pm

…but anyone who claims that not to be true of themselves is quite deluded. The most recent subject of non-understanding which brings me to pour out my soul is happiness. Happiness is the drive by which evolution encourages certain very complicated behavior in animals, in a way which genetics alone cannot. Happiness is older than writing, older than language, older than music, older than just about any concept we take for granted today. It may be the second oldest emotion (I would wager it isn’t older than pain/sadness, but I bet it is close).

I have long wondered what it would take to make me happy. I mean, I am happy now, in that I am happy with my job, happy with my car, happy with my material possessions. I am happy to have my friends, and happy to have things which drive me (my current project at work, open source, music, and other things). But I always felt I could be happier. I often felt something was missing from my life. Primarily, I think that is someone to share it all with.

I often hear things from my friends like “You can’t find someone to be happy with if you are unhappy to start”, or, “you have like yourself or nobody will like you”, and other choice gems of wisdom. To me they seemed like quite the catch-22. We in the computer world call this a “circular dependency”. It is a real problem, A cannot be satisfied without B, but B cannot be satisfied without A. What is one to do?

The way to solve this problem, in Computer Science and in life, is by breaking the circular dependency. I always said “so what I am supposed to do, just try to be happy even though I’m not, that’s the only way I can be happy enough to meet someone and be happy?” and they would reply “um, basically, yes.” Well I think I finally understand that now.

Last weekend was an amazing weekend. I went out, I saw a show with friends, I saw a symphony concert with a date, and I met a new friend as well. None of these things were things I hadn’t done several times in the last year. Really, I have no idea what was different, maybe it was just that they were all in such close proximity, and I was just really trying to enjoy them, but I felt great. Last week, I went back to work on Monday feeling great. I didn’t let anything get to me. I worked hard to make progress on my project, and I did. I hung out with friends, went to rehearsal, and did all the stuff I normally did. I consider last week to be one of the happiest weeks of my life.

Now, this weekend, I had a concert. I had to wake up early for a rehearsal on Saturday. Then, I went to a cello lesson right after. The cello lesson didn’t go so great because I was pretty tired. After that I went home, and worked on my file server project, which is nearly done. I found that one of the 8 hard drives I had ordered was DOA, meaning I can’t complete the project until I RMA it. I didn’t care though, I still felt great that I all but had it working.

Today was our concert, at 2pm. I slept great – amazingly. I just took some Claritin to clear up my allergies and made sure everything was working right on my CPAP machine, and I went to bed around 1am, and woke up on my own around 10am, feeling great. Our concert could have gone better – we were playing VERY challenging music and we had a little slipup in the second number which was very disappointing (but, fortunately, was not particularly noticeable to anyone besides us). The soloist for Rhapsody in Blue was wonderful, and it went very well. The second half of the program was also pretty uneventful.

Well, all gussied up in my tux, dragging along my cello, I headed back to my car, put it in the back seat as usual, and sat down in the drivers seat. The car was warm, and I was warm from the tux, so I put down all the windows. It was a beautiful, absolutely perfect 56 degrees outside. I started driving, and I just…felt great. The concert was over, and the rest of my weekend was open, I could just go home and watch some TV or something, whatever I wanted. I started to put on some music to get the concert stuff out of my head, and the CD system settled on my “drivin’ mix” – a bunch of upbeat techno and trance from Overclocked Remix.

This is when I realized everything that I have written up to this point. I realized how great the last week was. I realized how great this weekend was. I realized how happy I was. And so, I opened the windows all the way, put down the moon roof, and turned up the music.

Now I have seen folks like this before. Driving down the road, blaring their music. I always thought how inconsiderate they were being, like they think their music is so good they have to blare it at the world or something. “Hey, everyone, look at me, I have a sweet car and loud music, and I want to turn heads”. Only now do I realize why people really do this (at least, I think my explanation is right). I did it because I was so happy, the wind in my face, the music loud and out there, and it just felt good. I was happy. The only way to keep that happy feeling was to turn up the music and put down the windows and just enjoy it all. Air conditioning blowing in my face was not going to replicate this priceless feeling.

And so I drove all the way home like that, windows down, music up, a big goofy grin on my face, wearing my tux still, driving around in a beautiful 2008 Acura TL, accompanied by the most excellent techo-ized theme songs from Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Street Fighter.

The point of this whole story is, I was supremely happy. I don’t think even a significant other could have made that particular moment much happier. I realize now that finding someone isn’t everything. It remains the most important thing on my “to-do list” for certain, but that in no way prevents me from having the time of my life. Happiness is hard to understand, but that’s what is so great about it. You never know when it will strike.

October 1, 2008

The ill-fated drive through the hills

Filed under: News — Tags: , , — Carl Myers @ 12:25 am

Last weekend I was supposed to go on a drive through rural Washington with some friends. It was to be a 400-mile trek during which we could enjoy our vehicles, form important male-bonding type stuff, and bitch about work. That was the plan, anyways.

It all started out last Sunday morning. The plan was to meet at a gas station about an hour north of Seattle, at 8:30am. I was careful to go the speed limit and leave myself plenty of time to get there. Ominously, I saw two cars pulled over on the way down, which seemed like a lot. I also saw about 4 billion bikers. One pack, some riding 3-wide in a lane, 15 rows, no fewer than 30 bikes at least, passed me on the right. Something was amiss.

I showed up a little early to find Ben and Keith already there. We gassed up and waited for our other friends, Jerry, and Forrest. At about 8:40, we decided to call them. “We’re on our way, we just got held up” was the reply. About 10 minutes later, they arrived, and explained what the delay was. Forrest was pulled over for speeding, getting his first speeding ticket ever. We commiserated briefly, I gave him the name of my lawyer, and we all made the requisite “ominous start” and “better not get another one today” jokes. They gassed up and we proceeded on our way.

We went Ben first in his dark blue BMW, with Keith as a passenger, then me in my black Acura, then Forrest in his red Honda Civic Del Sol (it’s a very nice car, not your run-of-the-mill civic) then Jerry (I forget what he drives, but it was white and fairly unassuming). There were bikers everywhere. We also seemed to be seeing a lot of cops. As we came to the first turn, there was a police car right in front of us, in fact. He made the light and turned left, while we sat at the light and waited for it to turn.

After the light turned, we made our left and proceeded down the road. We had little radios, and Ben and I were talking over hands-free cell phone as well. We weren’t sure of the speed limit, but this close to that many cops we were taking it pretty easy. I warned them that my radar was going nuts, but we were going under the speed limit anyways. Sure enough, the radar warning was right on, there was a cop sitting directly off the road, facing in our direction. As soon as we passed by him, he pulled out and headed right for us. I immediately saw this and exclaimed “oh shit”. I assumed Jerry was about to be accosted, but as Jerry pulled out of his way, he made a beeline for Forrest, and pulled him over. Again. Second time today. And we were CLEARLY under the speed limit, all of us.

Via the implicit, unspoken rules of common sense, we immediately entered radio silence, but Ben, Keith, and myself continued to speculate over the phone. We saw a church and pulled over in the parking lot, and waited for Forrest to catch up. There was this adorable white kitten we found – he was initially on the roof of the church. He jumped around, into trees, back to the roof, exploring, clearly playing and having a fine time. I grabbed my camera and the photo shoot began. After a while he decided to check us out. Forrest called us on the radio and we said where we had pulled over. When he arrived he explained that the cop pulled him over because he didn’t have a front license plate. Ben frowned, noting that he didn’t have one either. The cat literally jumped into Forrest’s car. He climbed in the driver side door, which was ajar, then all over the seats, then out the back window (it is a convertible which had the top down). The kitty started to climb into Ben’s car but he shooed the cat away since he is allergic to cats.

This time, the cop let Forrest off with a warning (what is that? I’ve certainly never heard of this strange “warning” you people sometimes talk about…I just get “Hello, sir, I see you have a pony tail, here is your speeding ticket”). He also explained to Forrest that there is a biker rally to the east today, and the entire area is crawling with cops, especially the back roads. He should expect to be pulled over several more times before the day is over unless he gets that plate on. Realizing that 50% of our caravan was now big shiny cop bait even without speeding, and the cops were CLEARLY biting today, we decided to call it off and try again next weekend.

Carefully ensuring no kitties were in the way, we pulled out of the parking lot and headed to a Denny’s to grab some breakfast, then headed back to Ben’s place for Rock Band. On our way back to the highway, we passed about 10 cops, including an unmarked car sitting by the side of the road training their radar directly at us. On the bright side, I had plenty of opportunity to prove my radar detector works (if you were curious, WA cops seem to use K/Ka band radar in that area, not laser). Drivers, bikers and car operators alike, were “dropping left and right”. I think they made their entire ticket quota for the month that very morning. Fortuitously, none of us were pulled over. Hopefully this means they will all have some vacation next weekend, I guess we’ll just have to try again then. Stay tuned for part two, and adorable kitty pics!

September 27, 2008

I <3 My New Acura TL!

Filed under: Me, News — Tags: , , — Carl Myers @ 6:42 pm

Hey all,
Been a while since I wrote a post, and part of the reason is my sporty new 2008 Acura TL. I really love it. I have been driving around a bunch and having a great time with it.

My old car, which was going on 8 years old, needed some major work done. Turned out to amount to almost 50% of it’s kelly blue-book value anyways, before I put that much money into a car I was thinking about replacing soon anyways, I decided it was time to take the plunge.

I did a lot of research. At first, I really wanted a BMW. My friend got a tricked out 5-series in the neighborhood of over 70k, and I must admit it is really nice. He tells me “Don’t get me wrong, I love my car… but do I love it more than TWO 35k cars? That’s hard to say”. He makes a pretty valid point here – BMWs are great and all, but are they THAT great? In the end, I decided that for the features I wanted, and the money I could afford to spend, a BMW was not an option, even a used BMW wouldn’t really get me what I wanted. I looked at many alternatives as well – I considered a Honda Accord (my old CR-V was a fine vehicle which literally saved my life on more than one occasion, endearing me significantly to Honda). I also looked at a Hyundai Sonata, a Nissan Altima, a Nissan Maxima, and a Honda Civic. Acura wasn’t even on my list, but it was a coworker’s recommendation which put it on my radar.

He told me that the new TSX is really nice, and I should go test drive one. He sent me specifically to Acura of Lynnwood where he “knew a guy” who wouldn’t “give me the hard sell”. Well, I went there “just for a test drive”, and fell in love. The guy he sent me to didn’t work there anymore, of course, but the sales guy I talked to was pretty good. I know you aren’t supposed to buy a car this way, but in reality, if everyone bought a car purely on statistics and performance per dollar, everyone would be driving a Toyota Camry or a Honda Civic, or the hybrid equivalents. “Holds 4 people, gets 30+ mpg, can go highway speeds” – that’s all you really need. But that’s not all I need. I was tired of driving a “4 banger”. I wanted something powerful, fun, sexy, something which said “this guy is successful and lives comfortably”. Yes, I know it’s pretty vain and stupid to judge a book by the car it drives, but it *does* matter.

He also “warned me” not to let them “talk me into” a TL. He explained that the new TL is coming out soon, and is a total redesign, and will probably be bigger and better for the same cost. He also guessed they would have a few TLs lying around they would be trying to unload. Well I followed his advice and went in to test drive a TSX. He was right that it was new and flashy and very cool. I just wasn’t 100% satisfied with the power. I mean, this is a car I intend to keep for many many years. Hopefully at *least* the 8 years my old car lasted. I asked “do you have anything with more power?” – the sales guy’s eyes must have lit up. What did he take me directly to, but the TL.

Now, due to my friend’s warnings, I was a little wary to begin with. Further evidence that my friend actually knew what he was talking about, the car already had 285 miles on it, more than one would expect on a brand new car, probably all from test drives. Also, they didn’t have a lot of them – my first-choice color wasn’t available (blue), but I saw a black one with light-colored interior which was close enough, after all, it was just a test drive.

I was driving around and having a great time, and the sales guy continued to show me all the nifty gadgets and things. Really, the only feature the redesigned TSX had which the “old” TL was missing was the ability to read MP3s directly off a flash drive. If I wanted to go that route, I would need an actual Ipod. This would have been a nice feature, but with a 6-disc MP3-CD-compatible changer, I was hardly that concerned (that is 4,200 minutes of 168kbit encoded MP3s, for those of you keeping track). The TL had heated seats, a nav system, hands-free bluetooth, voice-command navigation and calling, excellent climate control, and the power I felt the TSX was missing. Compared to the BMW, the only thing I was missing was the heads-up display. I really wanted one of those, I thought it would help me monitor my speed better, and it looks fucking sweet. In reality, it’s just another nifty gadget, hardly worth spending an extra 10k for it. Also, the Acuras are really just the “luxury name” used by Honda, so it is still in homage to the car maker whose SUV saved my life. Going from the TSX to the TL, I didn’t think a difference of 57 horsepower (201 versus 258) would be a big deal, but let me tell you, it was quite obvious.


Nope, that radar detector is not standard equipment – but it was a smart buy, trust me.

So obvious, the cop manning the speed trap noticed as I accelerated up to traffic speed on I-5 during my test drive. Yes, friends, I got a speeding citation during my test drive (which is bullshit, I was just accelerating up to the speed everyone else was going, and having a little fun doing it. The sales guy said cops usually give a warning during a test drive, this cop was obviously an asshole short on his monthly quota). Speeding ticket aside, I loved the car. I played the part of the “disinterested buyer” as best as I could, but I suspect the sales guy knew he had me. I managed to haggle down to dealer invoice or so, then a little lower (hey, I gotta pay a couple hundred bucks to contest this ticket, right?), but then they came at me with the extended warranty and the “zylon” coating to keep it shiny (especially for a black car – trust me!) and so on, so after all was said and done I ended up paying a bit more than I planned to. But you know what? I love my car, and hard sale or not, they took pretty good care of me at the dealership. They helped me with the financing, explained the paperwork for me, traded in my old car, ordered new plates for my new car, etc.

Seeing that now, just a month later, the new TL with even more horsepower, and a full body redesign, is available, some might think I would regret my hasty decision. I don’t. Having a 2009 TL rather than a 2008TL would be nice and all, but I wouldn’t have been able to haggle them down as far, and I am already paying more than I inteded to for my 2008 TL. I “got a deal”, just by settling on a different (not better or worse) body design, and giving up 20 hp and the ability to play MP3s off flash drives. One difference I didn’t know about, in fact, is that the 2009 TL is available in all-wheel drive, which I would have been interested in (hey, it rains here all the time), but that too would have increased the cost (from the website, looks like going from FWD to AWD is a $3,600 difference).

I asked the sales guy if he had been in a test drive where a guy got a speeding ticket before, he thought about it a minute and said, “yeh, I think…about three times”. I asked “did they buy the car?” and he said “ya know, yeh, I think all three did.” I guess that figure is now four. =)


*sniff* isn’t she purdy?

May 27, 2008

Coming Soon: Thoughts on Genetic Algorithms

Filed under: News — Carl Myers @ 2:14 am

I’ve always been interested in genetic algorithms – but how hard is it really to do something useful with that idea? I haven’t met the problem I couldn’t write at least a partial solution for with a couple hours of fiddling in Perl, so it will be interesting to see what I come up with. Stay tuned, folks!

May 18, 2008

Hello, World!

Filed under: News — Carl Myers @ 9:36 pm

So, I’ve been saying I was going to put up a blog for over a year now. Congratulations to me for finally doing it. No, this does NOT mean I actually have free time now. =)

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