Toyota preius review

Most people have head a ton of these so I will keep it short.. If you want to own one of these and want to get close to the advertised miledge......



YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO CHANGE YOUR DRIVING STYLE....



You cannot think of this as "Normal car" cause its not. I know people can' seem to understand that. Those people should not own one. As soon as they make a plug-in version I will prolly buy one because then it would be practle for me.



The epa caculations recently changed on this car for miledge mostly due to complaints. I believe they are in the 40's city and highway.. I rented this car for 6 days and adveraged 57mpg over 367 miles city/highway mixed about 70/30.



I have done research and studied the best ways to drive these cars and have gotten fairly close to miledge ratings both times I have rented these cars over 300 miles of distance each time.



With all of that said.I believe that there are also some improvements that could be made to this car.

1. The seats SUCK... A LOT... Lol

2. If they are not going to do a plug-in they should offer some driving style options. Like an ev-only button (like in japan) where the car runs up to like 20 MPH on eletric and the motor only comes on to charge the battery.



A "charge" mode that focuses on charging the batteries maybe above where they would normally be if the driver knew a large grade was coming.



A discharge mode that can be used before a long downhill to make room for energy to be stored, this would also give better miledge as it was discharging. When the batteries get to full on a downhill the computer freaks out and has to scrub energy.. It would be eaiser to use that energy for miledge at the top of the hill.



Even a slider that gave preference to charge or ev mode, even if it was only for a 30 second to 5 minute window and then it went back to auto that would be better.



Overall though. The preius was once again a pleasurable and fun rental car.. Needs better seats though, did I mention that?

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Nothing Left I can say.

So I haven't posted here for a while. I really lost the interest to write, with everything else going on in my life. About a week ago, my life took a drastic turn, a turn I did not see coming and had no idea how to deal with. It occurred to me, recently that letting go is one of the hardest things for me. Even after making so many mistakes, and hurting someone, its still hard for me to let go, beyond the pain, and the should have, and the could have. I want so desperately to be able to help everyone in my life and make their lives better somehow.

What I am learning is there are times when I have to let go, when I either have done as much as I can, or by my actions alone I hurt someone else. This is somthing that I cannot live with. Espically when its someone I considered my best friend. It is to late now, to late to apologize there is nothing more I can do.

Yes this post is written for you. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to drive you away. its to late for excuses, its to late to mend the fences. This is something I will have to live with the rest of my life.

9th floor and holding

so as I lay here, looking out the window of my 9th floor room I find myself thinking about everything. I have some music playing on the ipod, Amazing grace played on bag pipes. That always gives me chills. I am not sure why I have developed this admiration for bagpipe music but its like it connects to the deepest parts of me.

This road I am on, I can see it has turns. I can see that I am in for some tough decisions. I can see that I will spend a good amount of time alone. I can remember a time when even the thought of that was unbearable. The thought of being alone was so terrifying, that I would make decisions that I know now made little sense for me, and many times were actually bad for me. Driven by only my desire to not be alone I made even the worst decisions work. At least at the time I was convinced I was making them work. The Truth is that the pain and sorrow I felt, the internal struggle I had came out in other ways. Often inflicted on people that did not deserver it. At one point in my life I had decided that it was no longer worth "Working to survive." For me it was lucky that there was someone there... to extend a helping hand in my hour of deepest need. Its weird for me to write about this now. It seems so long ago, and I seem like such a different person now.

The struggles I face now, and those which are in my future will push me, they will test me. I know that I am a stronger person for them. Its odd to me, I can take a step back from my life, I can see my life from a outside perspective, and I question things. Why did I make this decision? Why do I feel that way? Why am I so hard on myself? The answers are not as important as the questions to me, I need to keep asking, keep thinking. Keem Moving forward.

lyrics

thought I would post the lyrics to the song I mentioned in my last post..

Kate Monster:
There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there's a fine, fine line between "You're wonderful" and "Goodbye."
I guess if someone doesn't love you back it isn't such a crime,
But there's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of your time.

And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.
For my own sanity, I've got to close the door
And walk away...
Oh...

There's a fine, fine line between together and not
And there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

Why?

Sometimes I wonder why I do things that I know are not going to work. Why I trust that things could be different this time around. This time I am talking about open communication about what I am thinking. I have known for many years that the way I think doesn't always make sense. I do know that each time I have tried to have open free flowing communication bad things end up happening, its probably my fault I have so many things that are broken about me.

Tonight I feel like I am just tired.. Tired of trying to explain how I work, trying to find someone who can understand me. I feel lost, my emotion has deceived me, my trust in myself misplaced.

I am laying here in the dark listing to a track from a play I recently saw... Tears streaming down my face. Music, my mistress, Always there when I need it, to illustrate a point, to make me smile, to let me cry. It reminds me how small I am in this world, and also how connected I can be to another person.

Gonna be a long week.

weekend update

Was a long weekend, but at least I got my bulk stuff out to the curb to be picked up. unfortunatly I will need to do some serious cleaning inside when I get back from Dallas.

I also went to my first NASCAR race... I actually really enjoyed it.

thats it for the update

Dinner.... MOOOOOO YA

So after work today, I drove around downtown Dallas for a while... just kinda seeing what there was to see. After I had driven around for a while and had decided back to the hotel, I put in the address into helen who had decided to work today. I plotted a course that was shortest instead of fastest. I was hungry, and as I wound through the back streets I saw this place called MOOYEH burgers and fries. Yes I am serious. I figured "Oh heck, why not."

it reminded me of a 50's diner, and the burger was AWSOME. The burger was one of the best I have ever had. the fries were cut with the skin left on, they to were awsome. So for 9$ and no waiting... can't complain bout that.

OMG breakfast buffet

I had to write about this... So I am staying in what I am calling the hollywood tower of terror (disneyland theme park ride) its old, run down and like somthing straight out of a twilight zone eppisode. So I came downstairs to get some breakfast, and experienced the worst breakfast buffet I have ever had... I was then charged 13$ FOR THE PRIVELEGE!!! Well I guess you live and learn.. I will DEFINATLY be leaving a comment card here.. did I mention the chocolate milk I had was expired.... I am SURE there will be more on this adventure..

Emotion it always comes back to this

Its been a while Since I worte about the Softer side of things. Best way I can answer to myself as to why is that I have kinda been away for a while, not only phisically, but mentaly as well. I think that for me I get into this place where I just put all the not phisical stuff. The stuff that I cannot touch on hold until I get somthing else done. Usually its one of the things that I can touch, somthing that I can phisically relate to.

Lately its been hard to stop moving forward to write about things other than what I have been writing about. with work and the travel and having to get stuff done when I am home. It doesn't seem like there is any time for the more emotional stuff. the stuff that is more about how I feel instead of "what needs to get done".

I am seriously thinking about doing somthing fun on my own... see if it is even somthing I can do anymore, I like to tell my self that I am fine on my own, but when put in the situration... I always find someone else to hang out with. This is still somthing I think I need to put more thought into.

Dallas day 1

So I am aproaching the end of the day here in Dallas. I woke up later than I had planned this morning, but due to scheduling issues I arrived at the airport 2.5 hours early. aperently when i booked my flight, I got the wrong information for when I was going to fly out and it was later than I had anticipated... better than earlier I suppose. While I was sitting at the airport using the free wi-fi catching up on some e-mail and documentation, I recieved a phone call from my co-worker that I was going to meet in Dallas. He aperently changed his flight and flew through phoenix. I hear that same announcer through his phone as I did though my own ears so I knew he was close. We found each other chatted a little and then boarded the plane. 4-rows apart.

As an interesting side note, I also recieved an e-mail from my manager who said that we did not HAVE to use the travel agency to book travel. I think that I will give it one more shot using the web site instead of calling them, if that doesn't work any better then I will try booking my own flights.

The flight was not to long, other than sitting on the runway for 40 minutes while they cleared some sort of traffic jam in front of us. In case anyone is wondering, yes I got a middle seat again!! once in flight I had my usual ginger ale, and snack mix (they replaced peanuts with a "snack mix" i don't get it but thats a rant for another day.) the landing into Dallas was pretty wild, the plane was all over the place, but eventually touched down and we taxied to the gate. Once out of the plane I headed for baggage claim to pick up the bag I had checked, and then off to the rental car place.

Dallas, like PHX has a rental car location that is off of the main airport area. The layout of the Dallas airport, is odd to say the least. Once at the rental counter and after convincing the lady behind the counter that yes I was sure it was going to be ok that I got a Ford Focus I headed out to the car. I was pleasently surprised to see that it was one of the brand new modles. I actually really like the way it looks. After driving it for about 30 minutes I can now say that I like the way it deives to. Its definatly no rocket ship, but it will keep you from dieing on the freeway if you have to get out of the way. Its also surprisingly quiet, even thought I am pretty sure it was the most stripped one you can get doesn't even have cruise control. It Does however have the aux in port and all the little trip computer stuff that I thought was pretty cool.

The drive into Dallas proper was fairly pleasent, several slow sections but nothing that would compair to the drive home from LA on friday or even normal Phoenix traffic. Once at the customers site, I was disapointed to find out I had to leave my phone in the car because it had a cammera in it, oh well. I can also say now that GoDaddy is not the only company who has crappy funature and buildings. LOL Well thats it for now. I am off to find some food I think

Driving from the OC to PHX

The Drive From Santa Anna to PHX. I think the best words I can use to describe this experience are OMG. No joke it took 3 hours to get from the customer site to the I-10. a drive that normally takes like 40 minutes like at the very most, even with traffic. I went 5 MPH for what seemed like 50 miles. luckiley, once out on the open freeway everyone decided it was the cal-az 500 and were adveraging north of 90 mph... I of course was in the slow lane with the cruise control set at 70 because I would NEVER speed....... No....... Really...... Stop laughing..... lol anyway, I got home at like 10:30 and am now exhausted. I am glad that trip is over with. Time for bed.

Santa Anna scoping and a Caddy..

I have not updated my blog for a little while now, even though there has been a sugnificant amount of stuff going on. Today I am in Orange county in what is being called a "scoping session" which basically means. how are are you doing things now? What process are you using? How can we fit that into the product, and what expectations do you have. I believe that we will also be comvering priorities as to what they would like to accomplish first and in what order.

I was able to rent a car, and drive out from Phoenix.. I reserved a toyota avalon. I figured it was only 40 $ more than the basic car. but it was larger so I could drive out and not fight the airport. when I got to Hertz, They ended up giving me a caddy CTS one of the new ones. For the mostpart it is a pretty cool car, but like all GM products has its issues.

The hotel here in Santa Anna is really nice. I am on the 9th out of a 10th storie tower. the hotel room has a door between the "sitting" area and the bedrrom area. its an interesting design. There is also an atrium around the sitting/breakfast area on the first floor that goes all the way to the top of the building. I will have to post some pictures at some point, it pretty neat.

As far as the customer, I need to remember to talk to terry about if this is how it normally starts out.. I would guess that it is. seems like the first day with new people is always a little slow having to call and make sure that people actually show up to use his term "its like herding squirls" That kinda makes me laugh a little.

This time there was catered food for the meeting.. I guess when i was in new hampshire there was supposed to be to but never was.. I have never worked for a place that catered food for meetings.... ok class is starting more later.