Wasted Continuum

New Tires
Originally uploaded by JavaJunky

I finally got new all-season tires for my GTI today. Cost me $736. Ouch. I’m glad that’s over with. I still have to get my oil changed on Monday after work.

Long day. I think some time during Sunday, my poor GTi stepped on a nail. This morning when I was driving to work, it drove like it was slippery. I just thought it was the snow that had been accumulating. When I was exiting off the highway, my car slipped big time. Luckily, my traction control kicked in and corrected for it and I got to work alright. At lunchtime, my coworkers and I were going to take my car to head out when my one of them noticed that my rear passenger-side tire lost a lot of air. It was then when I realized that it wasn’t just the snow that made it lose control all morning. We ended up taking another car to lunch.

After work, I drove my car to Tires Plus to patch up the leaky tire and actually replace them with all-seasons. I had the stock performance tires on. The guy working there told me that the only tires they had in stock that fit my wheels were also performance tires, not all-seasons. So I told them to just patch the leaky tire and I’ll get all-seasons later this week. They go and check out the leaky tire and come back to tell me that the sidewall actually cracked on the inside and could not be patched. That was when I figured that big slip out on the highway was probably the sidewall cracking.

So I ended up having to buy a hundred dollar performance tire to replace the cracked one. I still have to go and get them replaced with all-seasons soon. I’ll probably be out approximately 500-600 bucks this week. Not good.

This is pretty. It’s the new 400 plus horsepower IS from Lexus. It has a 8-speed direct shift transmission that can change gears in 0. 1 ms. That’s slightly faster than the DSG system in my GTI. I’d be upset if this wasn’t such a sexy car. There’s a 5.0 liter V8 under the hood. That’s way too much power for this body. I test drove the IS-250 when that first came out. That was quite zippy with half the power. No official pricing on this IS yet. I’m going to start checking my couches in case I dropped a few grand in them.

So it’s one hour and thirteen minutes into the last day of 2006. I couldn’t say goodbye to it any quicker. It’s been a long, long year for me and I’m looking forward to the new year. I’m gonna make it a good one. As always, this is a time when we all reflect on the year passing. For me, it’s been a bit of a eventful (for better or worse) 365 days for me. Ok, not all 365 days were eventful, but quite a few were. Here are my milestones of 2006 in a semi-quasi chronological order:

• Jan - Accepted a full-time position as a web designer/developer.
• Feb 12 - Turned a year older (personally not very momentous, but it’s here by default).
• Feb 15 - My niece was born (tried to steal my birthday, but missed by a few days).
• Feb 15 (later that night) - Called up Marie to tell her the news. She, in return, tells me that she’s moving to Michigan. Awkward conversation ensues for the next two hours.
• Late Feb - Mai tells me she’s moving to San Francisco to study fashion design.
• Mar 1 - Got my first DSLR (Canon Rebel XT).
• Mar 4 - Helped Marie move out of her apartment. Had a lovely dinner with Marie and her mom.
• Mid Mar - Met the lovely Star. Watched V for Vendetta on the Ultra-Screen.
• Late Mar - Helped Mai leave for San Fran.
• Apr 7 - Drove down to KC with family.
• Jun 4 - Bought a JM Custom Strat from Guitar Center when all I went in there for were new strings.
• Jul 1 - Took first photo trek with the Canon. Star came as my photo buddy. Practice shoot with fireworks.
• Jul 4 - First real photo shoot with July 4th fireworks.
• Jul 6 - Bought my GTI.
• Jul 22 - Mai returned for her god-brother’s wedding.
• Aug 11 - Marie returns for vacation. Spend an amazing day with her. Told her how I felt at the end of the night. Everything implodes. Friendship slowly dissolves.
• Aug 25 - I fly out to SF to see Mai for her birthday. Stayed at the Hilton. Had the quickest tour of SF ever.
• Oct 6 - Watched Ben Kweller at First Ave.
• Oct 14 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Bunker’s with Ms. Linh - her first real concert.
• Mid Oct - Realized that I have a subconscious obsession with the character Rory Gilmore, not Alexis Bledel.
• Oct 21 - Watched David Sedaris at the Orpheum Theater again with Ms. Linh. She is now a fan of his.
• Oct 24 - The last time I hear anything from Ms. Marie.
• Oct 29 - Watched the Foo Fighters open for Bob Dylan at the Xcel with Ms. Linh.
• Nov 4 - The first time I listened to Mignon Fogarty’s podcast, Absolute Science. Reanimates my podcast interest.
• Nov 5 - My concert weekend streak officially ends.
• Nov 10 - Watched Roger’s band play at Half-Time Rec with Debbie.
• Nov 20 - Saw a girl at Caribou that looked exactly like Rory Gilmore who is now referred to as Ror-a-like.
• Dec 15 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Shaw’s Bar & Grill with Star - her first blues rock concert.
• Mid Dec - Saw a girl at Caribou who kind of resembled Rory. Now there may be two Ror-a-likes or this is the original Ror-a-like and she didn’t really look like Rory in the first place.
• Dec 24 - Took a photo trek to Rice Park to capture the giant Christmas tree.
• Dec 28 - Drove down to Sioux Falls to meet Mai at her family’s place.
• Dec 30 - Mai and I drive back to beautiful Minnesota to spend New Year’s here together.

Well, that’s my list. I think everyone should of made one of these lists in one fashion or another. See you all on the other side.