Sunday, October 28, 2007

Today's Jeopardy Category: Potpourri

If you don't watch Jeopardy, you should. The show is awesome. Unless you get 75% of the questions correct, though, don't try out. From my research from when Ken Jennings (google it) was on the show, most contestants know all the answers, and its mainly a buzzer issue (or at least that is what the jeopardy forums will tell you). Anyway, if you watch jeopardy then you know I'm about to throw a bunch of random things out, so here goes.

First of all I'm off to Ambercon North West next week, and I can't wait. I've got some great games lined up, and I'm even running a game. This will be my second con game of all time, and the first one didn't go so well. I've got some more GM'ing experience, and I'm running a less out there adventure (the previous one was Little Fears), and the game is right in my comfort zone, so here's to hoping everything goes well!

The second thing, I suppose is that my ancestral dog died (the one I grew up with). As I've mentioned previously, Kiwi had lymphoma, but I was hoping she would be able to make it a bit longer. I'm sorry to say that that didn't happen, but I'm sure she's happier now and in a lot less pain.

My car is in the shop (finally), after getting it running and driving it to a closed service station (I didn't KNOW it was closed at the time), we finally went and got it again. Then we drove to a Chrysler service center that didn't even exist (much less out of business), and finally we took a long trek across the lake to Bellevue and found an actual service location, and left it there. Of course, they couldn't reproduce the problem, and couldn't find any faults, so I'm just having them replace the starter anyway. There goes another $700 :/. But, thats ok, as long as they get it done in time to go to ACNW, I'll be fine, but you can bet I'm bringing a hammer on the trip (you can get the starter to work again by hitting it with a hammer, believe it or not).

Sort of in response to this, and also because I've been dissatisfied with my car for a while, I'm also considering replacing that car. On principal, I wouldn't do that, because I always wanted to be more like my parents, who seem to drive cars until they quit than like someone who replaces there car every 3 years (I've had mine for just 5 years), but I've never really liked the PT Cruiser, and with these service issues, I've been considering solving my problems with money... I haven't even really decided what price range I'm in yet. Maybe a Saturn thats under 15k? But, to be honest, I test drove a 3 series BMW, and I am intrigued. I'm planning on driving an Audi A3 or A4 today, hopefully, and maybe also looking into a Chrysler 300, which my dad has, and I like quite a lot. Fortunately, unlike the last time, I have almost as much time as I need to make a decision, so I can even factory order a car to meet my specifications, which seems likely to me (unless I go the cheap route). If any of you have suggestions in this area, I'm all ears.

If anyone is an anime fan out there, I highly recommend "Prince of Tennis." Its a sports anime, so it really is wacky samurai tennis action, and it is a little slower even than most wacky samurai action series (which are slow to begin with), but its a lot of fun, nonetheless. I'm looking forward to finishing up volume 3, which I received from the fine folks at Amazon this week.

Well, thats about all the news thats news. I should have Bliss Stage pt. 2 up soonish (we play tonight).

10 comments:

Joe Kull said...

I've quite enjoyed my Acura RSX. It's a hatchback so a little smaller than the BMW 3-series, but it's reliable (Honda luxury brand), you can probably find a used one for $15-20k.

It seems like you're focussed on non-Japanese cars though... any particular reason for that?

Ben said...

No, no reason. I should really try out an Acura, especially since I liked what I saw when I was helping Mike shop for a car.

Really, I woke up yesterday wanting to test drive a BMW, so I did. I have a bike by them, so I thought I might like their car.

But, I have nothing against japanese cars :)

Joe Kull said...

Unfortunately the RSX is out of production (2005 or 2006 was the last model year). Apparently it's too similar to the new Civic S... I prefer the RSX though, because it has leather and whatnot.

It is definitely priced well below what you would expect for an Acura though, I only spent $20k for a 2002 model in 2003.

Anonymous said...

First: I'm sorry to hear about Kiwi. Condolences.

If you really want a Saturn, check out SaturnFans.com. Those people are crazy about their Saturns.

I have a Saturn (a '99 SL1) and it's just now starting to have some minorish problems (mostly just maintenance stuff I should have checked earlier). They're good cars and can get some wicked gas mileage. I've gotten 48 MPG on lonely New Mexico roads, but regularly get around 35 highway and 26 city. I spend at least 2 hours driving around every day for my job so I like to keep track.

I might've enjoyed the creature comforts of a Honda Civic more for a similar price but Saturns were the only cars that were sized for my 5' frame-- no leaning over for the a/c controls!

Also, about half the people on my mush have Saturns. I don't know if that demographics info helps your decision. :-P

Ben said...

I went and test drove an Audi (A3 & A4), Acura (TLS), and a BMW (535xi) today... Haven't checked out the Saturns yet, though I just opened up the website.

I definitely hear you on the height thing. I'm sure its not as bad at 5'4" (my height), but there are still some uncomfortable cars out there. (it was a very big problem in selecting a motorcycle to try, after all bikes that are too tall are simply unridable rather than uncomfortable :(.

Unknown said...

I have no opinions on cars, but just wanted to let you know the Seattle auto show will be going on from Wed. Oct 31 to Sun. Nov 4 so it might be a good way to check out a whole bunch of cars at once. I know you can't drive them, but you can at least sit in them and get a feel for what they'd be like.

Ben said...

Thats a great idea! I love the motorcycle show thats around the end of november.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be at a convention for basically that entire time :(, so no dice for me

Sarah Miller said...

I'm so sad that Kiwi died. Sorry to here it.

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