As some people know, I have a new car. Specifically, a 1988 Mazda RX-7 (yes, with the rotary engine).
It's mostly for the summer, since I'll need a decent car to commute with in Milwaukee. And probably beyond that, though I don't drive much in Ames.
Anyway, I went from a "sub-beater" to a nice two seat sports car.
1988 Mazda RX-7
1.3L 13B Rotary engine @ 140hp or so
5 speed manual
Power sunroof
AM/FM/Cassette built in
CD changer (over FM modulation)
Overall, it's *much* nicer. It has a working heater, working A/C, a radio that works (though I had to replace the rear speakers, they were blown), and good handling.
I'm in the process of (slowly) doing a general tuneup on it, replacing the filters, plugs, wires, etc. All that stuff that should be done on a fairly regular basis that isn't. On the plus side, changing the plugs isn't that difficult. It took me about 45 minutes, half of which was spent BSing with a friend of mine who is a former computer geek turned car guy. He drives a 1994 Caprice Classic. Huge car, huge engine... thing launches like a rocket, and he's just started working on it's performance.
Driving it is a bit odd due to the lack of low end torque on the rotary. Below 1000 RPM it provides enough power to idle. Between 1000 and 2000 RPM, it provides enough power to keep the car moving... maybe. 2000 to 3000 RPM is a good range for cruising, as it provides enough power to accelerate if needed, and is quite smooth. 3000-8000 RPM is where the power lies. It starts pulling hard at 3000, and stops pulling hard at 8000, where the fuel cutoff is.
Overall, I'm happy with it. Do I need anything this zippy? Probably not. But I figure I may as well drive something fun before I graduate into driving a minivan for the rest of my life.
-=Russ=-
I understand people want to hear about this, or something.
So, here goes: My "Riot Night", from midnight or so on.
Around midnight I was driving Moonlight Express, doing my normal Red shuttle. My first clue that something was different was the call on the radio "All busses need to detour around campustown, there's a riot in progress on Welch." My passengers cheered at this point, though it involved them not getting close to where they were going.
For the rest of the night, the busses did goofy detour things, depending on where the riots were reported to be. The final detour involved going through campus. Busses did not go in the area bordered by Lincoln Way, Hyland, Beech, and storm.
At one point, I was detouring through the lower Friley intersection (the T-intersection by Music Hall). There was smoke outside (or so I thought), and I was curious as to what was burning. So, like any curious bus driver, I opened my window. It smelled like gunpowder - which was confusing, since the haze would require an ammo depot blowing up to create, and I wasn't aware of any ammo depots in Ames. After a few seconds, I realized this was not smoke, but was tear gas - and I was poking my head up to the window inhaling it. Not good. I didn't get enough to do much harm, but my eyes were feeling it, as was my nose.
After getting back to CyRide, I parked my bus and jetted back home. I put on a nice tye die shirt, dug up my gas mask, and grabbed my camera. I rocketed out on bike towards the chaos.
Cruising down past lower Friley on bike, I got a good number of cheers from people who saw a guy with a gas mask headed towards the riots.
Unfortunately, the police weren't about to let me into the Welch area to take pictures, and suggested very strongly that I go elsewhere. So, I wandered over to Stanton & Chamberlain. Police were blocking off Chamberlain around the corner of Welch, and again didn't want anyone near them. My flash wasn't powerful enough to take any decent pictures at a distance, though I probably have some black blobs appropriately captioned.
I took Knapp across, avoiding police, and ended up seeing a nice bonfire through the trees. Taking the "lawn" approach, I showed up, took a few pictures, and observed someone light a cigarette on the couch. Turns out it's someone I know, though I didn't realize it at the time.
I took a decent photo of the riot police at the corner of Knapp & Welch, and proceeded to vacate the area as one of them made a beeline towards me.
Somewhere around this point my bike tire started leaking badly, likely as a result of all the broken glass. I parked my bike and continued.
At the corner of Welch & Lincoln Way, people decided the riot had been fireless for too long. So, a small fire was started on the corner. Dumpsters were also brought out, lit on fire, and sent down the road. People made sure to kick the dumpsters away from the cars parked along the side of the road. Several dumpsters were lit, and scattered around. Somewhere in here, the fire department came roaring in, got a brick or full can thrown against the door of their truck, and tried to put out the fires. They more or less failed, because the dumpsters reignited soon after.
Soon after I finished taking photos of this, the police came running down Lincoln Way, threw a tear gas grenade in front of Arches, and watched people clear. I tried to avoid the gas cloud, failed, got hit by the edge of it, and was fairly effectively disabled for a short period. I was able to get inside Friley, and took the time to go to my room, repair my gas mask, and change the batteries in my camera (they were getting low). After about 10 minutes, I headed back out.
The gas had cleared, and I went back out. Lamp poles were downed, and laying across Lincoln Way. Cars still tried to get through, fairly successfully.
A dumpster that had been put out was burning again, and quite fiercely. I took several photos of it in front of Mayham. BLT was also around taking some photos and generally trying to avoid getting gassed.
Some people were taking out some aggression on parking meters with a large rock. I took photos, got my ankle hit with a glancing blow by the rock as I turned away (it bounced off the parking meter and clipped me), and found some other people with gas masks (apparently inspired by mine). There are a few photos of the gas mask people.
At this point it's worth mentioning that I apparently was looking very much like a stoner. A LOT of people kept asking me if they could buy weed off me - and then not listening when I told them I didn't have any. "No, man, I just want to buy a little! Hook me up!"
I decided things were dying down, so I talked with people outside Big Shots for a while, and then headed back to Welch to take pictures. Tipped port-a-potties, broken windows, a general mess. I hung around for a while, then headed back in, uploaded photos, and went to bed.
Was it smart being out and about in a riot? Nope. Am I glad I was out there taking pictures? Yup.
As for police actions, I didn't actively observe much going on, but from what I've seen posted elsewhere and from what people on the bus have talked to me about, the police were looking for a riot and their actions helped escalate it into the violence that happened.
-=Russ=-
I suppose I should add content or something.
However, until that point,
http://photos.sevarg.net/russ/riots/ - photos from the riots last weekend. I'll put up my experiences later on.
And I probably should put up a review of my "new" car.
-=Russ=-
Not too bad. I chauffeured one particular group of 12 or 13 around, and carried a handful of other people. The total tonight was 134, and when you factor in that 24 of those were that one group riding around... yea. Dead night. Quite nice, I got in some quality Frozen Throne in the breakroom.
In under a month, I'll be out of the dorms forever (or so I seem to think). No more skin-ripping showers that clean on sheer abrasive force. However, I'll be able to have a beer in my room. Silly Fresh Start.
In other news, I'm building a computer for my brother, for the purposes of gaming. I found some nice bits and pieces. Almost makes me want to build one... almost. I don't need one. So I won't bother.
I have the internship for the summer. So I'll be in Milwaukee. And, hopefully come mid next week I'll have a "new" car. If everything goes according to plan, I'll have a nice 1988 Mazda RX-7, nicely loaded.
-=Russ=-
After driving a few cars while looking for a better one, I have some thoughts.
First: My car is a pile. I didn't quite realize just how bad it was, since I don't drive "good" cars terribly often.
The Mazda RX-7 on Cheggpost is also somewhat of a pile. It's a decent enough car, Turbo RX-7. However, the guy is asking $2100 for it, and it has a few fairly significant problems. The windows don't work properly, the tail lights are out, the engine stalls out and floods, and there's a film on the inside of the windows that has bubbled and warped, and would need to be removed to see safely.
Not exactly the best car.
Ford ZX2: Nice little car, Escort-like. Too small of an engine though. It's very touchy on the gas at low pedal displacements, and has no balls once it gets going.
Hopefully I can snag the RX-7 up in West Ames - in very good condition, I'll try to test drive it tomorrow.
Other observations:
I'm very sloppy at the whole "stickshift" thing. It's probably related to the fact that I only have a few hours on a stickshift period. Ah well, I'll get better.
Also, I have problems with the concept of "winding an engine up." I understand from reading some stuff online that the rotary engines need to be run close to redline every so often - if you baby them, they get some carbon buildup and eat up the tip seals very quickly. I'll have to get used to that - I consider 3000 RPM "running hard." Something about driving busses and my car... something to get used to.
Anyway, that's my thoughts so far on the whole "used car shopping" thing.
-=Russ=-
Two comments on tonight:
Biking down the bike path on Morill is fine. Crossing the road on bike without looking back 15 feet in front of a bus? Not so fine.
And I've discovered something more annoying than someone talking loudly into a cell phone: Someone talking very loudly in a foreign language into a cell phone.
-=Russ=-
New Powerbook!
15" Aluminum Powerbook
1.25ghz G4
1 gig RAM
80 gig 5400 RPM hard drive
Superdrive (DVD burner)
Radeon 9600
Backlit keyboard
Too darn much $$!
Ah well. It's really nice. I wasn't planning to upgrade quite yet, but my old Powerbook up and quit. Well, not quit, but moving the monitor causes lockups and such. Something is shorting out, and I was looking to buy a new Powerbook anyway.
So, the plan was to dismantle the old Powerbook after I got the new one, figure out what's shorting, and insulate or replace it. However, the case was also beat up, so I wasn't hoping for a huge chunk of money selling it.
I wandered into Durham for something, and ran across Konsole. One of his coworkers was trying to sell a dead Titanium 800 (same model as mine) that suffered a fluid spill and was fried, but still had a good case/monitor.
So, I've snagged that. Strange how God provides things at random times... *grin* At some point in the near future I'll be taking both apart, picking out the best parts, building one nice Titanium 800, and selling off the rest (or hanging it on my wall).
-=Russ=-
Saturday was interesting. Full moon, "Bar Crawl" in the afternoon sponsored by our local Clear Channel Drones (105.1), and Moonlight Express. Interesting combo.
One group was on the bus for about an hour and a half, because they couldn't decide where they wanted to go. They behaved, so I had no problems with them, and they just rode in circles before heading home.
Another person I picked up at Sterling Plains was tripping on mushrooms. Interesting to talk to, though the fact that he was using mushrooms at a party was really quite questionable. Predictably, he was very weirded out by being in a loud chaotic environment while tripping. Bad idea.
Overall, it wasn't too bad. Not as bad as I feared, and actually a rather fun night.
-=Russ=-
So... this is my blog. It might get content on a regular basis, it might not. Hoewver, if it does get content, it will probably consist of a lot of bus stories and such. Especially Moonlight Express and the like - viewer beware.
Other than that, thoughts, observations, and such may live here. Maybe.
-=Russ=-