white male consumer

Getting prepped for Monticello

Zeke — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:20:17 +0000

September 24 is when I get to drive Monticello Motor Club again. I’m starting to get the MINI ready, by addressing the clickety-clockety passenger side axle.

I had noticed earlier that there was less than a thumbs-width of clearance from that side’s inner CV joint and an integral part of the engine directly above. I can [...]

July 25th Autocross at McCarty Ave

Zeke — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:12:54 +0000

I had Sunday morning free, so I made the first heat at the McCarty Ave autocross. My first of my three runs was the fastest, a 37.1 followed by a 37.3 and then a 37.79.

That 37.1 was pretty respectable, the fastest street tire time as far as I can tell and earning me 2nd place [...]

But I think Android is where it’s at, phone-wise

Zeke — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:11:07 +0000

I purchased a HTC Evo a few days ago, ostensibly in an attempt to figure out my internet at home issue. But coverage on Sprint is still shoddy at my home.

Still, it can do a lot of cool things when I’m not at home, so… I’ve got 30 days to make up my mind. Right [...]

Darn, Apple Makes Some Neat Stuff

Zeke — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:57:39 +0000

I owned my 12″ PowerBook G4 since the summer of 2005. I still own it, and it still works, sorta.

But the poor thing finally took one nose dive onto the floor too many. I was working at the kitchen table (coolest room in the house during this mid-90s, heat index in the 100s heat wave) [...]

Camping On Indian Lake

Zeke — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:34:00 +0000

I had planned June 14-15 to be my return to Watkins Glen with Patroon BMWCCA. I was going to camp at the state campground in town with my folks and the two dogs, just like last year. Instead, emergency repaving of turn 1 canceled the track event. So, despite a rotty weather forecast, we still [...]

Autocross #1 & #2 for 2010

Zeke — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:00:44 +0000

Going back to street tires has been an adjustment I’m still working on. I’ve found myself seriously blowing some corners, and I believe it’s my expectations of instant turn-in from the r-comps clouding my judgement. The XS have high levels of grip, evidenced by the times I can still post, but they can’t be pitched [...]

First Outing At Monticello Motor Club

Zeke — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:19:07 +0000

As par for the course, this post is coming several weeks after the fact. As hinted to in various other posts and Twitter, I was able to make it down to Monticello recently to drive the fairly new track there. Billed on their website as “a luxury automotive lifestyle resort and track located 90 minutes [...]

WMC Now Ad-Free!

Zeke — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:05:02 +0000

Last Friday I received an e-mail from Google stating that my website was in violation of the terms of service for its AdSense advertising service. They flagged a post from five years ago, where I linked to an interview with the creator of “Real Dolls” and complained that a great deal of my site traffic [...]

Motor Mount Swap-out

Zeke — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:56:17 +0000

I’ve complained previously about the hydraulic upper motor mounts found on 2004-2006 MINIs. They fail pretty quickly, leaking oil over the passenger-side frame rail, allowing the motor to buck around. Consequently you get worse shifting, additional stress on associated attachments, and more drama all around in demanding driving situations. But it’s one of those maintenance items [...]

Tax Day Hyperbole

Zeke — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:59:20 +0000

The fact that “47% of Americans paid no federal income tax in 2009″ made the rounds recently as Americans geared up to pay their taxes again and rich white people picketed on the deadline to file, April 15th. My first reaction was, “Well, yeah, but seems like that burden is being shifted downward to the [...]

MINI Maintenance 2010

Zeke — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:52:23 +0000

I’ve been looking the MINI over in preparation for the upcoming (autox / track / general driving) season and have compiled quite the list. The odometer has been sitting under 70k miles for awhile – but not much longer. Now it’s time to figure out what gets priority and what can hold off. Here’s my [...]

It’s Tick & Spam Season!

Zeke — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:13:59 +0000

The warmer weather has definitely brought out the ticks already, as so far I’ve picked a big juicy sucker off of each dog. I’ve already dosed them both with Frontline – which typically works for about 3 weeks in our experience, not the month claimed – but our stuff might be out of date. Both [...]

Murphy Came Through On The Healthcare Vote

Zeke — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:32:30 +0000

So while things have been quiet around here, I’ve been following the healthcare debate closely. Kucinich’s change of heart mid last week coincided with mine, and so I was pleased with Representative Scott Murphy’s decision to vote in favor – and relieved when the final tallies were announced late last night.

My line of thinking is [...]

Retrospective: My Weekend In Amsterdam, Part 2

Zeke — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:20:42 +0000

This is an account of my weekend trip to the Netherlands the last available weekend during my semester abroad in Freiburg, Germany, fall semester of 2005. I’m able to piece together that it was December 9th through the 12th, although additional details beyond that get hazy. This is the second part. Here’s the first part. [...]

Tired Of The Tea Baggers?

Zeke — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:20:24 +0000

Fatigued by the tea? Looking for a movement named after a drink popular with 21st century Americans? Look no further than the Coffee Party, a sorta-lame-at-first-glance rejoinder with a lot more going for it once you skim the surface:

Many of us had the same thought: the tactics being employed by the Tea Party movement are [...]

Guess I Don’t Keep Up With Vinyl

Zeke — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:24:35 +0000

Apparently Last Vestige in Saratoga closed end of January? After a wee bit of googling, however, I discover that apparently a new store is opened in its place, DIVINYL Revolution, which bought much of the old store’s wares (whatever wasn’t trucked down to the Albany Last Vestige location) and which is running sales this weekend. [...]

Retrospective: My Weekend In Amsterdam

Zeke — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:36:21 +0000

This is an account of my weekend trip to the Netherlands the last available weekend during my semester abroad in Freiburg, Germany, fall semester of 2005. I’m able to piece together that it was December 9th through the 12th, although additional details beyond that get hazy. The retelling got long so it’s split into two [...]

Activities Behind The Scenes

Zeke — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:52:03 +0000

I’ve been actively plugging away with both this site and other projects in the past few days. The employment side of things is also looking rosy, so while posts might come slow over the foreseeable future, rest assured it’s not for lack of time in front of the computer!

I completed the promised site redesign here, [...]

Conan Got Boned

Zeke — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:15:28 +0000

It’s hard to believe I’ve been silent on this issue for this long. I’ve been a fan of Conan for years and his move to the Tonight Show was a dream come true. Well, I got to enjoy it for all of seven months.

Taste in comedy is just about as subjective as you can get, [...]

Eroded Democracy

Zeke — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:59:20 +0000

Thursday’s decision, in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, “is going to flip the existing campaign order on its head,” said Benjamin L. Ginsberg, a Republican campaign lawyer at the law-and-lobbying firm Patton Boggs who has represented both candidates and outside groups, including Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group formed to oppose Senator [...]

Obama The Test-Taker

Zeke — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:00:53 +0000

Whenever there are circumstances these days that require direction from the Oval Office, it becomes a chance to “test” Obama. During immediate coverage of the Haitian earthquake last week, Matt Lauer eagerly and repeatedly dubbed it a “test.” Or cite Biden’s flub over being tested within six months in office. Has No Child Left Behind [...]

Customer Service In The E-World

Zeke — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:48:28 +0000

With the horrors of cheap axles behind me, I would like to take the time to thank the place I purchased them from. Whaaa you say? Well, when I made the decision to buy that DSS axle, the ‘lifetime warranty’ was what brought me in. And thankfully, FCPGroton stood by that warranty. I would not [...]

I Promise To Blog More, World (Srsly?)

Zeke — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:13:54 +0000

I’ve been playing with the most recent version of WordPress – 2.9.x at this point – and have been pleasantly surprised at each turn by some of the recent changes. The sad thing is I don’t think any of these are “new”; it’s just that I haven’t spent much time back here lately.

The WYSIWYG editor [...]

End Of The Year Time-Wasters

Zeke — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:47:41 +0000

Post-holiday depression? Middle of the winter doldrums? Job search got you down? Here’s my list of things to turn your mind off whatever and onto zombie cruise mode – here’s to better days far away.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

An oldie but a goodie, available cheaply. From Bethesda Softworks, Oblivion plays similarly to their newer Fallout 3 [...]

NYC, Gobblers, NetFlix

Zeke — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:33:25 +0000

Last weekend I was down in NYC, at a neat venue called Terminal 5 to see Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. Got to walk around the city a bit. For only being a few hours away, I should really get down there more often.

On Thanksgiving we made the most of it. I had some Quorn [...]

On Rep. Murphy’s Vote Against House Healthcare Bill

Zeke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:17:32 +0000

He told the media from his Saratoga Springs office on Monday that he believes health care reform is critical, but it’s coming at too high a cost to cornerstone businesses in the North Country. That is why he voted “no” on the bill.

Murphy says the bill makes a number of important reforms which he supported, [...]

Wrapping Up The Driving Season

Zeke — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:21:37 +0000

The track day at Lime Rock was a success. The predicted precip never materialized and the sun even peaked out a few times. Still chilly. Plenty of no-shows. The MINI ran without fault. I made progress by the end of the day after spending the morning perpetually screwing up big bend and the left hander [...]

Axle Shenanigans

Zeke — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:22:50 +0000

So the warranty replacement for my first $130 axle broke at MoHud’s last event of the season, October 4th. (Outer CV broke at the turn before the finish lights on my second run after a spin during my first: I finished 4th in class with a decent time for a second run that morning. Go [...]

Brakes, Autocross Results

Zeke — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:27:38 +0000

I snagged another 2nd in class at MoHud’s second to last event of the year, at McCarty Ave on September 20th. FTD was a 27.2, my best clean run was a 28.555 although I improved to an honest 28.1 by the end of the day, with 1 clipped cone in the process. If that bugger [...]

Prepping The Car

Zeke — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:17:52 +0000

So I’m doing some little things to the MINI to get ready for Lime Rock next month. I’m really not sure what sort of weather to expect mid-October, but I know I needed new tires.

After much deliberation, I went with a set of Kumho XS in 215/45-16. I’ll be mounting them to my 16×7″ gold [...]