This past weekend I got to drive the new Audi A3. It gets some new bodywork and badass LED headlights like the rest of the new Audi lineup. The 3.2 V-6 was a blast to drive around the city. Quattro plus the big engine and S-line seats really make the A3 a sporty car. I'd hazard to say you could get away with calling it an S3 and most drivers wouldn't argue with you. However, the fully loaded sample cost a whopping $42K!
I’d much rather downgrade to a 2.0T Audi A4 Avant and save $6,000 or more since that comes standard with leather and panoramic roof.
Oh the baby seat…it fit rear facing in the center but if you tried to put it behind either front seat, front facing you’ll have issues and kids kicking your seat.
Continue reading "2009 Audi A3 3.2 S-Line: Baby Seat Check" »
One feature I had heard about with the new iTunes was the Genius setting. But everyone who had tried it told me they didn’t like it. On iTunes itself I can see why it isn’t that great because it’s so easy to search for certain music. But on the 120 GB iPod classic I have loaded with 100+ live Pearl Jam shows, the Genius setting has become a godsend.
See, when I play a shuffle I get a ton of Pearl Jam songs in a row as you can imagine. I still have gigs and gigs of other music though and it gets annoying to skip and skip. So, I turned on Genius and was surprised at not only how easy it works on the iPod but at how great the song selection is.
It seems to know pretty obscure bands too so if I select Pinback or Pelican I get the appropriate similar bands. OK, maybe I’ll become an Apple convert yet.
I blogged about Hulu from day 1 of beta and praised how it worked, and its content, especially for bloggers since you can blog any segment of any show. If you’re a TV blogger that’s invaluable. I’m also a TV geek-a-zoid. As a kid I watched a lot of syndicated TV. Star Trek The Next Generation was the penultimate of any shows I watched on late Sunday mornings.
Sam Raimi made a name for himself with Xena and Hercules (neither one a favorite of mine) a decade ago. His latest is Legend of the Seeker. It’s a simple concept. Farmboy discovers he is the ultimate hero of a medieval and of course magical realm.
The early episodes were a bit plodding but recently they’ve gotten quite good. Especially, the past two, “Denna” and “Puppeteer.”
Why do I blog about it here? Because, if Hulu wasn’t around I’d probably never watch it. Sure, I have a DVR and could set a reminder and tape it but believe it or not the DVR is pretty full with new episodes airing regularly these days. Plus, I stay up about an hour after the wife goes to bed to blog or surf the web so I can watch Seeker on Hulu while I’m doing all that. With my Internet connection I never really have a problem watching in even a very large browser window.
I also watch Daily Show and Colbert Report on Hulu. But I think it’s new shows like Seeker that really benefit from the added convenience of the service.
I checked out my local Circuit City’s Closeout sale today around 10:30 a.m. and was shocked at the crowds. This was honestly the most crowded I’d ever seen the store. This is the CC on Elston in the Logan Square area of Chicago. I’m guessing the holiday helped. But during week one of the liquidation I did not find one deal to be had. Want a new netbook? Lenovo’s S10 was priced at $349. How much is it on Amazon? $349.
I finally got a hands-on of HP’s new TouchSmart set-up which was an open box item only. It was priced at $1199 as an open box price and sale price. It’s $1399 new on Amazon. The open box unit had a broken keyboard. It was missing four keys and wouldn’t type on screen.
How about for the gamer?
Continue reading "Don’t Buy at Circuit City Liquidations, Yet" »
Chris Cornell…what happened to you? I’m a child of the 1980s and teenager of the 1990s, meaning I loved all music from Seattle, obviously Pearl Jam, but Soundgarden was amazing. Cornell is one of the best singers, on record. Live…that’s a different story. Audioslave might have been…umm forced, but Cornell’s solo work has been more the acoustic singer/songwriter thing.
Those records have been mediocre. Cornell and his handlers must have known that and teamed him up with Timbaland for his upcoming solo record. The idea sounded to me like it might work when I first heard about it. I was kind of optimistic. But this video is not good. No, not how awful Cornell looks, but because the song is awful. I don’t mind the beats, but they drown out Cornell’s voice. Hello! That’s all he has Timbaland. Plus there is no real rock chorus or any climax in the song. Ugh. Awful.
I have a feeling Interscope isn’t allowing embedding on YouTube because they know word of mouth will be B-A-D. Or they just want you to buy it on iTunes because of things like KickYouTube.
When I test new cars I listen to a lot of talk radio. Why? Because if I blast music too loudly I might miss road noise levels, squeaks, engine sounds etc. Talk radio leaves lots of open air to hear all these things. Plus, I usually get informed on something. I spend many hours listening to sports radio and Mac, Jurko and Harry for the afternoon commute was a good listen. My father-in law isn’t a fan, but I enjoyed it.
Well, it seems the Mac part, Dan McNeil, has been pulled off the show. The testy personality didn’t get his contract picked up and the radio station escorted him out of the station on Friday. Really? They physically removed him? Wow. Guess they didn’t want him spouting off on the radio as he’s known to do. He also made $600K a year. Say what? Man, I’m in the wrong media I guess even though radio has been dying for years. That’s insane money for a guy who just talks for a living, for a few hours a day at that.
Anyway, the station website was quick to update with The Afternoon Saloon page now featuring Carmen DeFalco in McNeil’s place. I really liked the Carmen and Silvy show as they were two guys my age talking about sports and didn’t sound like the old guys at the bar yammering incessantly. They argued like my coworkers and I argue about sports. Maybe the youth will help the show.
I needed a quick bite at lunch and headed down to Potbelly’s for my usual Wreck on wheat. Up on a redesigned menu board was a clover-shaped sign that said “Try a Clubby for $5.40” with no explanation of what it was. It turns out to be a Turkey and ham with bacon and provolone. So like the Wreck but instead of roast beef and salami you get the bacon. I’m not sure if it’s better than the Wreck but it had a lot of turkey, like more turkey than all the meat from a Wreck. You can get ranch sauce with it but I went with my usual toppings and it was good. It’s also more money at $5.40 instead of $4.50. Not break the bank, but enough to push you to $6.01 with tax. Anyone else try this?
