A typical team meeting:



I mean, that about sums up working at Google right there. After six years, it's still by far the best job I've ever had. I didn't think that it would be possible for me to last that long at a Silicon Valley company, let alone still like working there and mostly believing in what we do.

Hey, but here I am.

Fizzy and Nova at the beach:

Holy crap, amazing Mars images:

‘Dalmatian’ Volcano, Opportunity Rover and Other New Images from HiRISE | Universe Today

Rental car review: The 2009(ish) Hyundai Accent!

I don't drive many rental cars and I tend to stick to v6 Mustangs or the like. Nothing too special, but they're pretty good for rentals. For example, the v6 Magnum that my parents had on this trip, and which I drove several times, fits solidly into this category.

This time around, I called up Enterprise and used the keywords "cheap" and "has CD player". They stuck me in a late model (we'll call it a 2009) Hyundai Accent. Behold:



My absolute first reaction was "how can a car with so little torque have so much torque steer?" But then I drove it enough to start getting used to it and I'm really starting to get into this little car. Ticking off the essentials, the car has some sort of gutless four banger, an automatic transmission and features manual windows, locks and mirrors. But who cares about all that stuff? Inexplicably, this particular car has an aftermarket head unit and (presumably) upgraded speakers so the sound is quite good.

Leaving the gutless motor aside for the moment, the rest of the car is adequate. The brakes are surprisingly good, with no nasty ABS to get in the way. I'm more than capable of locking the front wheels in a nice smoky power slide, though I haven't felt the need to actually do it. The steering isn't great but it's heavier and has better feedback than that v6 Magnum so at least it's an improvement over the last car I drove. The suspension is softer than I'd like and I'd prefer lower profile tires but it isn't too bad. The ride is floaty and there is a ton of body roll, but there is more grip that I've needed and that includes passing under full throttle on the inside of decreasing radius two lane freeway interchanges at 90mph. In the rain.

So back to that power plant. We've all heard the cliche that rental car throttles have only two positions, on and off but the magic of this little car is that it can actually be driven that way. All the time. From a stop. In the rain. Through the apex of a turn. Whatever. Full throttle, go go go. A more powerful motor and I wouldn't be able to do things like full throttle from a dead stop with the wheels cranked to full lock to make a left turn onto Ford Road through that tiny little gap in traffic. Thanks to the GTi, I've gotten quite proficient at left foot braking so I'm able to transition the pedals quickly and use them as on/off switches. Left foot braking also makes me very quick off the line as I don't have to take the time to release the brakes and move my foot over before I can get into the gas.

In short, this little sucker is a momentum car and I know how to drive momentum. I mean, hey, I do that every time I take the Lotus to the track. It's simple. Just never slow down.

Putting it all together, picture me in this little car. Windows down, psytrance blasting. Driving one handed, with my left arm hanging out of the left window. Passing cars through turns. Beating people off lights. Using late braking points. Ah good times. I wouldn't even want a stick shift since that would make the car more complicated to drive (no more one handed driving) and would remove some of the on/off pedal magic.

There's no way I would own a car like this unless absolutely forced by financial circumstances, but it's a fantastic rental. I'm truly enjoying being able to drive a car 100% flat out without having to worry about getting up to Go To Jail speeds before I have time to release the gas. Two thumbs up.

So I was hanging out last night with my friends Julie and Tom and another couple. I'd never met this other couple before (and have since forgotten their names) and only knew that the guy was a fellow car nut. We sat around shooting the shit for awhile about various topics, mostly cars, and at one point the conversation came around to glass etching.

The woman picked up her glass and contemplated it for a moment. "I'm going to etch a water glass so that I don't lose mine any more."

As the conversation moved on, I considered this.

"Wait a minute," I interrupted, "you're not really guarding against losing your glass, you're concerned about cases of mistaken identity."

"What?"

"Well, how many times have you found yourself walking through your house wondering 'where the hell is my glass?'"

"What?"

"If you've lost the glass, it won't matter if it's etched. It'll be lost. The etching will only protect against cases of mistaken identity. The word you wanted was 'mistake', not 'lose'."

I was just being myself, right? Not at all trying to be a dick. You know, what she said had been illogical and I'd sought clarification. Just casual conversation. Speaking with Julie and Tom after they'd left, I found out that I'd had the poor woman squirming, a fact of which I'd been completely oblivious at the time. They also pointed out to me that I'd corrected her use of English one previous time, though none of us could remember the details.

Turns out that the chick is a DOCTORAL STUDENT and is teaching college level English courses. She sat for a few moments and then went off.

"Nobody EVER does that to me! And I do it to my students all the time! OhmyGOD this is so INTERESTING!" And so on for a solid five minute monologue about how fascinating she found it being corrected on her use of the language.

And really, I was trying to behave last night. Honest.