Subaru Crew - Meet The Members II

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  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Subaru Crew Sunnyvale / Santa Clara / San Jose dinner is tonght!

    Steve
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I've had horror stories with both.

    First the DSL folks dug up my yard to bury new cable, and still never got it working. This was a few years ago. They left a mess.

    So we switched to Cable. That was OK for a couple of years, but then they "upgraded" and failed to tell me my modem was out of date. That's despite the fact that I called tech support 6 times and every single time as part of their routine they ask the model of the modem I'm using. Someone here told me it was my modem, believe it or not, so they never figured it out.

    I was so frustrated I changed again, to DSL. It was cheaper, $30 instead of $43, and DSL was now operated by Verizon, which acquired Bell Atlantic (we used to say BAH!).

    Too bad you don't have choices. When I feel they're incompetent, I switch.

    -juice
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Jim and I had a nice dinner last night. Ended up just being the two of us after Kate went home sick, and Ken got a better deal in Baltimore.

    Anyhow, it was nice to see Jim again. We did this two years ago when I was in town.

    Sorry Juice, no pictures. You will just have to take our word for it that it actually happened!

    Steve
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    OK, I believe you. :D

    Chat's tonight, just a reminder!

    -juice
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    Glad you were able to meet up. Where did you finally decide to eat?

    Actually, I was in Wilmington -- I wish I was in Baltimore -- better places to eat!

    Ken
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Isn't that where they build the Solistice? Did you happen to see rows of those little roadsters?

    -juice
  • ladywclassladywclass Member Posts: 1,713
    Do they put the Solstice in rows up on end ... ala .. Stonehenge ?

    (soltice ... stonehenge ... oh well .. it sounded good in my head)
  • jfljfl Member Posts: 1,399
    we met up at the fish market again. really had a great time. hope you and kate can join us next time.

    jim
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    (soltice ... stonehenge ... oh well .. it sounded good in my head)

    This came up not long ago at a chat you missed; it was determined that this phenonoma only occured on the Chevy Equinox. That Vernal guy was talking about it.

    Steve, Host
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Both kids are sick, and Beth looks exhausted.

    It was one of the best conferences that I have attended in a long time. A lot of breakthru work in TEM (transmission electron microscopy) - unique sample prep using my specialty (FIB), lots of high powered computer work for 3D imaging, etc. I learned stuff that I can apply on Monday when I get back to work. Pretty neat....

    Steve
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    That's great to hear that the trip went well. I hope what you brought back will be good enough to warrant more trips out here in the future!

    Ken
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    It was supposed to be Zoom Zoom Live, but this event was such a disaster it deserves a name change.

    I have never, ever seen such long lines for any driving event before, it got ridiculous. One line took an hour and 15 minutes, to drive a Mazda5 for 60 seconds? And it was the shortest of 3 lines.

    I was there from 9:45 to after 1pm and didn't even get to do all the drives. Huge disappointment. Mazda should be embarassed.

    Top it off, all the food they had was some hot dogs and chips, and the only drink was water. It just felt decidedly low budget.

    I'd avoid this event entirely if anyone is still scheduled to go.

    At least I got to meet up with Bob briefly, catch up a bit. But the event ran so late I didn't even get to show him my new NAV system, which I had brought with me.

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    It was terrible, as juice mentioned. I was there close to 4 hours and got 2 minutes worth of seat time. I left without even doing the last event, as I had other things to do on Saturday. I hadn't planned on spending the whole day there.

    They should have restricted the amount of people by half, at least.

    The 70 seconds I spent driving the new Miata was fun, but it was only 70 seconds. :(:(

    Bob
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Did you get any leaves hauled away? How many loads?

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    I got one trailer load done on Saturday, as I got back too late. Thanks Mazda. :( I did the remaining 3 trailer loads this morning.

    Bob
  • grahampetersgrahampeters Member Posts: 1,786
    G'day

    Just sitting here listening to the ABC's (our national broadcaster - like the BBC only friendlier) Washington Correspondent describing the oddity of the leaf collection trucks coming to vacuum up the leaves. Haven't you folk heard of composting?

    Cheers

    Graham
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    Graham

    The leaves in my back yard get blown into the woods where they do get composted. In my case I just have too many to compost, hence the trips to the county landfill.

    Bob
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I've had three pickup loads of leaves delivered by a friend in the last 10 days - my wife is scared to death I'm going to start cruising town on garbage day and start tossing leaf bags in the back of the minivan (the city has special bags for leaf collection and they compost them for the city parks).

    My 4 horse chipper shredder has used more gas than the Outback this month.

    We have a separate compost pile going for the kitchen waste.

    A lawn service gives me a pickup load of grass clippings every week in the summer but it's trickier to compost, especially when you live on what's essentially a high desert sand dune without much brown organic matter to play with.

    When it starts getting too ripe around here I just blame it on the dairy farm 4 miles away that's upwind. :-)

    Steve, Host
  • jeffmcjeffmc Member Posts: 1,742
    Tchaikovsky is my favorite composter.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That's what I do. Basically I use a yard vacuum that chops them up small, also reducing the amount of space they take up. Then I put them in a compost pile, which I periodically have to turn.

    The next year spring, that goes in my garden as fertilizer (black gold). The compost pile goes down gradually, and then fills up the next fall.

    Repeat the cycle every year!

    This year we had a drought, but last year my garden was incredible. On one single day I picked 22 cucumbers. I brought veggies to work every day because we could not eat them all.

    My garden isn't even that big, 6' by about 20' or so, maybe. And it's on the North (shaded) side of the house. Go figure.

    FWIW, the county composts all the yard waste and turns it into free mulch. So none of it ends up in land fills, even Bob's leaves. :)

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    That's true. My landfill takes all the yard waste (branches, leaves, etc.) and turns it into mulch, which they sell very cheaply. The problem is, you don't know what you're getting as mulch, in that there may be poison ivy and other unwanted stuff in there.

    Bob
  • subearusubearu Member Posts: 3,613
    I agree the lines were a pain and the food was limited (they had only cookies and water at ours), but it was still a fun event IMO. I planned on this event getting busy, so I scheduled my time as early as I could that day - 9am. I waited about 30 minutes to drive the 5 for the matched time event of 26 seconds, and probably 45 minutes to drive the MX-5 on the main track for about 40 seconds. Worth it? You bet. Where else will you get a free event that allows you to drive fast and perhaps have some fun while doing it? :shades: Most of the other events (Lexus, GM, etc.) don't encourage quick driving and can remove you from the event if you hit cones or spinout.

    Lines when we left were growing, naturally. Mazda probably needs to limit the attendance or expand the tracks to allow for more drivers.

    Lines for the Solstice at the GM event were at least 1.5 hours long. And there were only 2 to drive.

    -Brian
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That's just it, they have to limit attendance.

    We got there a little late, but Mazda had e-mailed me to tell me they were overbooked (first red flag) and suggested I come late. When we registered they asked if I was a walk-in (second red flag).

    Plus they allowed 18 and up drivers, usually events like this are for 25 and up, at least to be able to drive.

    -juice
  • bigelmbigelm Member Posts: 995
    Interesting.... the most I waited was 15 minutes to get into the MX5. At least you had hotdogs, we had 'hot' pretzels that must've been sitting there from the day before and the brewed ice tea which was in fact water.

    But the drives were fun.. that's all I cared about. So I guess it depends on the location.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Anyone had a chance to play this yet?

    http://imprezashakedown.com/

    I think the comments the drivers make are pretty funny. I don't have a joystick so it's kind of hard to play for me, but it still made me laugh.

    Check it out. Then report your fastest and slowest time back here (be honest!). I've got a prize for the fastest and slowest times overall, OK?

    -juice
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    1:06.24 in the 2.5i

    1:07.73 in the WRX

    It's awkward to use the keys, though. I think I did some follow-up laps under a minute but I run out of time before completing a 3rd lap and they stop the game there.

    -juice
  • Karen_SKaren_S Member Posts: 5,092
    Thanks so much, juice. Just more proof how much I suck at these types of games. I couldn't even stay on the track. :sick:
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    That's wild. How did that happen?

    Bob
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That site allows you to animate a picture, and converts text to speech as well. They didn't have a Norweigan accent to I used Scottish. :D

    It's pretty neat. You can submit your own photo. Try it out, it takes some time to set up and they're slow to e-mail it to you, but it's funny.

    -juice
  • Karen_SKaren_S Member Posts: 5,092
    LOL! Now that is very cool! :D
  • ladywclassladywclass Member Posts: 1,713
    oh wait .. that's the other guys ..
    well, actually .. my DH bought a Dyson Animal vac online (reconditioned) at a $150 savings and this thing is WONDERFUL .. no false advertising claims here ...
    (never thought i'd be excited about a vacuum cleaner ... me .. who says the dust is the protective coating on furniture ...)
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I'd be interested if he somehow hooked it up to your Subie to get a supercharger effect. :P

    So....Turkey Day coming up, any body planning a road trip?

    For once we'll be in town, no 10 hour drives that should take 5 this year for us. We visited grandma early this year.

    -juice
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    A vacuum for animals? Made by animals? Maybe no animals were hurt in the making of this vacuum? All or maybe none of the above?

    Interestingly enough, there was a feature article about Dyson in the United Airlines Magazine (read it on the way out to San Jose two weeks ago. Seems he hated the idea of bags and basically invented the idea of cyclonic separation of dirt and air. His stuff is big in Europe and Asia, just starting to take off in the USA.

    Let us know if you still like it over time.

    I have Electrolux central vac, exhausted to the outside of the house. This is my second home with it. It also uses a cyclone action and no bag in the big bucket located in the basement. For small stuff when it is inconvenient to fetch the long hose, we have an Oreck XL.

    Steve
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Central vac is da bomb. Wifey's cousin had it. When she built a new house, she had that added in. Hers still had a disposable bag, though.

    -juice
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    I did it myself when we were restoring our 1880's farmhouse - to all 3 floors! It was a very compelling option when dealing with a home with lead based paints. It insured that all lead dust was exhausted to the outside, rather than possibly blown thru the bag and back into our breathing space. The builder did it for us on the new house.

    Steve
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    Sorry you guys had such a bad time. Especially in comparison with the Taste of Lexus event that I went to last month :-) The wait times avg about 10 mins and they had gourmet catered food. They also had on on-site spa and a golf-pro offering free ball-hitting lessons.

    Driving all the vehicles was fun and my only beef was that the courses were quite short with a fast run only taking 30 secs or so. They had a BMW 330 to compare the IS 350 to but for me it backfired since I felt the BMW handled better. Sure the 350 has a faster 0-60 and the interior was nicer (with more gadgets) but the BMW was more fun to drive. Oh, I figured a good indication on how close to the handling limits I was pushing a given vehicle was the number of times the GF grabbed the Oh S#!t handle :-)

    Actually the most impressive Lexus demo was a GS 430 with a Mark-Levinson audio system (with its 14 speakers). They played a demo DVD at movie-level volume and with the doors closed; you couldn’t hear a thing even standing right next to the car.

    -Frank
  • ladywclassladywclass Member Posts: 1,713
    Well .. I've owned an Oreck, and the latest one we had was an 'antique' Electrolux .. and I was impressed with both of them .. but I'm telling you that this Dyson is better than anything I've EVER used in my life! And yes, I'll let you know if if continues to be 'worth' it ..

    nah .. no hooking up anything to my Subie ....
  • grahampetersgrahampeters Member Posts: 1,786
    G'day

    We've had a Dyson DC01 for about 9.5 years. The only problem we have had was a recent drama when the cord chafed and caused a short in the power cable. Service for about AUD65 including cord replacement and belt/filters.

    We used to live near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, where the Dyson is made and James Dyson lived locally. He has designed several innovative solutions including a wonderful wheelbarrow with a ball wheel that is no longer made.

    I acquired the Dyson in a Charity Raffle run for the local town fair (Tetbury Woolsack races) where the weather girl from the local TV station conned me into raising my bid. Money well spent.

    I was a little dubious about the robustness of the cleaner but noting its age and regular use, it must be holding up well. I recently let Mum use it for a while and she raved about how good it is. The only disapporval is the dog who regulalry threatens to kill it when it appears. The fromt bar has teeth marks from her attacks.

    It has a HEPA filter and does a pretty good job of cleaning the place

    Cheers

    Graham
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Taste of Lexus was booked in DC, I got on a wait list but it came and went. :(

    Subaru does this but last time their "Washington" location was in Dover, Deleware, 2+ hours away from here. It's ridiculous to call that Washington, DC. I think it's actually closer to Philly!

    -juice
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed out on a Subaru Drive event last year. I had a printed reservation confirmation but headed out the door without it, stupidly thinking I knew where I was going (sounds like a typical guy thing to do huh?). Long story short, I arrived at the county civic center parking lot (where I "thought" the event was going to be held) and found it empty. When I got back home I actually "read" the invitation and discovered that the event was being held at the county fair grounds. DOH!

    -Frank
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    You should have called Patti's friends over at 800-SUBARU3, I bet they could have helped. :cry:

    -juice
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    I had to go down to LA for some business and borrowed my dad's brand new 2006 Corvette for 3 days. It was 85 degrees and sunny and perfect for driving (except all of the traffic!) I was able to drive Mulholland Drive and PCH, as well as a brief stint up the Ortega Hwy. I must say it's quite an impressive car.

    Now, he has a 6 spd auto with paddle shifters, which is kind of a bummer. But after spending hours in traffic I was actually glad it wasn't a stick! It has a sport mode where it the shifts are delayed and quicker, and of course the manual paddle shift mode which was pretty good. I don't know if I could have shifted much faster. It was good had picking and holding gears on the twisties, and very smooth when driven modestly. The car is quite comfortable and quiet when not driven aggressively (It has the base suspension)- I'd say it's even a little quieter and smoother than my LGT! But there's plenty there to hold the road on the curves. I ran out of guts way before the car did! (Not that I was willing to take any risks, of course- I'm sure I could push the car to it's limits on a track)

    The engine is, of course, a blast. 6 liters, just raw power. Too fun! Makes my car seem almost slow! As much as I love the sounds from my car, it's just not the same. It loafs around at 1K which you could drive all day and never get it above 1.5K. But it starts screaming around 3K and it's quite a roar at 5K, topping out at 6.5- wonderful noises!

    It also has a neat HUD which can project speed, tach, lateral g's, and Nav directions. I think I got too used to it and have forgotten how to look down at my gauges. I think it'd be good to have on more cars.

    Well, it was fun, and I can't wait to go back on another 'business trip' I can see how it's really a good 'bargain' at it's price. It's a great daily driver with some serious potential. I can't imagine needing more, and the Z06 must be a serious animal considering how fast the 'base' model is! I thought my dad made a mistake in not buying a 911, but now I can't fault him for his choice, even the auto part. I'd love to have one. Now I've just got to figure out how to get one past my wife. ;)

    tom
  • twrxtwrx Member Posts: 647
    Got one of those too Brenda. That is because of the animals, especially the Pyr and the Malamute. Hair from them has wrecked 2 vacs in the last two years. So far the Dyson has last a full 6 months (a record). It it true that it is a product that lives up to its hype. For $550 it had better.
    Bruce
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    Actually, I did call the local Subaru Dealer (which was less than 5 miles away) but no one there professed any knowledge of the event.

    -Frank
  • c_hunterc_hunter Member Posts: 4,487
    Yeah, the new vettes are sweet and are very well engineered and built (couldn't say that about previous gens). If I ever get a jump in income, a vette would be next on my list after the S2K.

    Craig
  • locke2clocke2c Member Posts: 5,038
    The 97-04 C5 was a very well engineered vehicle and competent performer. I nearly bought one-- well, two different ones actually-- instead of my Evo last year. I was considering a '99 hardtop which a friend ended up purchasing, and also an '01 Z06. The '01 Z06 depreciated nicely due to the '02 receiving a higher HP rating, yet similar instrumented test numbers.

    In the end I chose the better vehicle for 4 seasons and hauling people. I don't *need* a roadster nor corvette when I've got a sportbike. But boy, did I want one. :)

    ~Colin
  • rob_mrob_m Member Posts: 820
    Best wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgiving day. Rob M
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    I think you made the much more practical choice, Colin. And it's not like the Evo is slow! :D But after spending so much time in the car, I really want one too. Maybe my dad will sell me his after a year or two for like $10. ;)

    I am still amazed how comfortable the car is. I am actually much more impressed by the Corvette than the 535i or MB E500. Americans really can do some great engineering- it must be that they just won't? It's too bad. If every GM car was like the Corvette GM wouldn't be laying off workers. :(

    tom
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    Craig, I think I'd be more than happy with an S2K!

    It looks like I'll have to shelve my plans for a Miata road race car for another year. Kinda of a bummer but other things came up. :cry: Ah well, it gives me more time to plan and go to a few races next season and take some driving courses to get my license.

    tom
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