Carl the Zealot

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?

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