yeah i’ve always been a early adopter of stuff , bbs’ing, l33t 5p3aK before they called it that, amiga computers (didn’t make it, more or less), videogame consoles, dsl, wifi, tivo, hdtv, iphone, mini coopers, smart cars, and now what? what you say! what could it be?

it’s a OOMA?

(OMG! A OOMA)

(Did you just say Oompa-Loompa?) No I said Ooma!

(Like, that clothing store in the city?)

Right, but this is VoIP.

(Oh, VoIP, been there skyped that.. suckage..)

No, really, I ordered it on Saturday. A hub thing and a scout thing that goes from the telco drop to my router

(oh, like vonage thing or whatevers)

Yeah, like that, but this is free.

(cool! The device is free?)

No, it’s like 400 bucks. No wait, they just lowered it to 250 bucks.

(oh, so like, they are going out of business then? they aren’t free?)

No, the BOX is free, it’s on a special right now, and the service is free.

(oh, so like, free phone sex. I mean, free phone service.. oops my bad!)

Yes, free phone service, for the cost of a box.

(sweet. hows it work?)

works good, i hear. I will let you know..

(woot.. let me know)

There ya go..  (why Am I blogging to myself? LOL)

Dropping off I-80 into Emeryville, the voices say “turn right, go to Starbucks” — well, that was odd, you know I already had my coffee at home so why bother, right? Well, I do like their strangely re-heated breakfast sandwiches so off I went. Hoping for a tasty egg, ham, and cheese on a english muffin.

There, written on the chalkboard was this new thing, Vivanno. Hmm, I think Starbucks is getting into Jamba territory, but may as well try the thing. I asked the cashier what they were, he explained there was a banana-chocolate one and a mango-orange one, which also had banana by the way, along with some other goodness like protien and what not.

“What not”

Ah, geez, ok here’s a link:
Vivano(tm) nourishing blends

That’s Orange Mango Banana with a whole banana, blended with Starbucks recipe “Naked” Juice, protien and fiber powder and 2% or whatever milk you want.

Then there’s the Banana Chocolate made much the same way except mocha sauce instead of the mango.

Either of these are thrown in a blender like any good frapp but without the whipped topping or other sprinkly bits and syrups.

So, yeh the guy was going to have me sign some sort of waiver but decided he’d just give me the drink for free as well a coupon to come back the same day after 2pm and get any Grande cold one for 2 bucks. Sweet!

“Sweet”

That’s one thing this drink was not overly sweet, good job Starbucks! It actually tasted like mango, orange, and banana like you’d expect, and none of that chalky gross protein taste like Jamba has. In the course of typing this in I’ve gulped down most of the drink and ate my breakfast sandwich already I say give it a go, I have no idea how much they cost but if you like this sort of smoothie (which, essentially, it is) then cool.

Some other fun facts. The container is plastic, but it’s made greener now 15% less plastic, 45% less carbon emissions to make it. More info here.

Watching your weight or whatever?

“Whatever”

The chocolate one has 270 calories, 21g protein and 6g of fiber, while the mango has 250 calories, 16g of protein and 5g of fiber. Tasty. Feels healthy.  The mango has 32g of sugar but caffeine, and the chocolate, well it has 28g of sugar and there’s a bit of caffeine in that one.They have 120 and 170mg sodium respectively, though I gather we can thank the banana for most of that content. More than you want to know probably. Cheers.

 A friend recently forwarded me this email:

Congress      Military
John McCain     26 Years       22 years
Barack Obama  143 days       0

Of the chain-mails going around, that’s one I haven’t seen yet

You may know I’m big on tracking down urban legends and emails “is this true or not?” stuff..

Here’s a few news stories on the topics..

On political history of the two candidates (this one seems to put Barack in a favorable light)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142892/page/1

On the military aspect, interesting read though, Obama is proud of his family’s military history even though he didn’t serve:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/26/politics/fromtheroad/entry4127479.shtml

Me personally, well you know I was raised a military brat I was to join the Marines after high school, but couldn’t go because of my nystagmus condition (affects 1 in 10,000 paternal twins like me have)

So, cool, the facts are true, though, it’s obvious this was another attempted McCain stab at Obama.. as fun as mud-slinging your rival may be, it doesn’t really accomplish any real goodness.

I want to see the candidate’s ability to truly shine on their own merits and achievements. I want to feel good about the person I am electing to office the next 4 years and have a clear idea that they can help turn this country and its world image around. Anyone who has had the opportunity to travel abroad or has any sort of investments recently can understand what my concerns are.

Like two kids saying “anything you can do, I can do better”, the political rhetoric just starts to get silly. Is this where our campaign dollars are being spent? I have often found that people who tend to rely on their intimidation skills often lack significantly in other areas.

Anyway, to voters, how relevant is the military service issue? (this one seems neutral, and caught me off guard) As patriotic as I’d like to think people are, It seems most people don’t really care:

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/apr/28/few-candidates-rsums-include-military-service/

As TV ads go, both candidates’ ad campaigns try to make their rival look inferior or make themselves look better, though the McCain camp seems to be doing a lot more of it (reminds me a bit of Hilary’s approach, hah! we can all see how good that did for her — in my opinion she was a loose canon having a hissy fit and couldn’t hold it together when she started losing.. that’s what did her in, nobody wants a president who can’t keep it together in the face of competition!)

I just hope they’ll both remain focused on the positive, what their experience or intelligence can do to better the state of the union. All the negative mud-slinging is just making McCain look like cranky old fart — Bush may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s managed to get in office and stay there for 8 years. Obama is younger, yes, but he seems to have a good level head. He doesn’t seem to play the mud-slinging card too often.

I haven’t really listened to much debate from either candidate, though it does seem none of the other smaller parties have any kind of chance to win (in fact, I don’t even know who else is running for American Independant, Green party, whatever!)

One thing is true, when elected, either person is going to be challenged because the US dollar/economy is in the tank right now, geez even the Canadian dollar is higher. Do you realize what that does for the cost of classic British and German car parts? Aye!

Well, not only that, but after the election is said and done, people love to blame someone else for their woes. Republicans are going to say “oh, its because of the Clinton era we’re in this mess or oh it’s because Obama won” and Democrats are going to say “oh, its all Bush’s fault and the Iraq occupation and oil and all that”

But the truth is more likely that both parties are too strong and it would probably be best to eliminate both of them, in an effort to get rid of partisan politics and special interests or what not. Really, why not? We need a unified voice, not a this half that half mentality. Right wing left wing. You ever see a one-winged bird fly? No, the bird needs both to take flight, working together. With one wing doing most of the work, it just goes around in circles, but doesn’t really get anywhere, does it? How’s that for a political analogy.

I vote “Geniocratic” which isn’t even a recognized party, so I am listed as non-partisan or ‘decline to state’ - which makes for interesting voting because I have to request a special ballot and pick a major party when election time comes around (or I don’t get to vote on everything).

For me it’s more about what the person’s political history is, where are they getting funding? are they bowing to corporate funding that wants to pass their own agendas when the candidate is elected? Or, do they have their own agenda? Do they represent the people, the state, the whatever? Are they simply the lesser of two evils when all candidates are ranked as a bad choice?

Here’s a interesting website that looks at the campaign rhetoric and finds out what is truthful about each person’s ads and points out what is false info…
http://www.factcheck.org/

There’s oodles of websites out there. I think the most important thing is, get out there and vote and do what you can to make sure your vote is counted in spite of diebold machines or voting chits or electoral college or whatever.

What do you think?

Remember Garden of Eatin’ in Pacifica? Well they went belly up.. moved out and took their gift shop with them.

Well now it looks like someone bought the building and is putting in a (quite needed!) Indian food restaurant, yay! I can’t wait till these folks open. It is going to be called Oceans of India or something like that.

Hurry up, people, I’m starvin for good Indian food! We have Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, BBQ, Mexican, Japanese, etc, but until now there was no good Indian food within several miles from Pacifica.

Yum!

Can’t wait!

Hypermilers, you know who you are. It is the people in the high-efficiency cars, hybrids, EVs, even some SUVs are doing it.

What?

Hypermiling.

Oh.

What is it?

It is a set of things you can do to squeeze more miles per gallon out of that tank.

For example?

Well, some things are less obvious than driving the speed limit. I tried that on the way to work today. Driving the speed limit. Funny that you’re going along at 65-70+ usually but really the speed limit is 45-50, 55 in some places. Weird huh? Yeah, but try actually driving the posted speed limit. Surreal! Definately want to do that in the slow lane in California. People still come up on your butt and go around you as if you were an obstacle in the road. I’m sure on a backroad in central Maine or somewhere in the middle of Nebraska it’s probably not an issue

Well anyway, what brought this on for me is having the smart car, some of my friends are hypermiling and getting over 400 miles on the tank, that’s 50+ MPG, and this is a petrol car, right, not a stinkin environmentally-unfriendly toxic battery dangerous in a crash hybrid.

But, why am I getting 35-39 MPG with my lead foot? Oy! So trying to make things better one way is to slow down. What a novel concept. I won’t do it for Nader’s safety program, but I’ll do it to save a few bucks at the pump — the more of my hard-earned taxable income that can save and not give to the Bush family’s oil and war profiteering, the better!

Another thing hypermilers do, is, and you’re going to say “duh” when you hear it, they coast. Yup. On a downward grade? Stick it in Neutral. Use the brakes. Ok if you are goin super fast and need to keep the car slowed then gear it, but otherwise, N is the gear of choice. Your car is using a lot less gas sitting idle than spinning the revs to keep up with your downhill speed.

Stuck at a long traffic light, train crossing, or stop-n-go traffic parking lot? Turn off the engine. That will save the air as well as some fuel.

And do you really need to use the A/C in the bay area? Come on, I live on the coast. Roll the window down or at least crack it for some natural ventalation. Not using accessories needlessly saves some gas too.

I’m going to keep a log of my milage and see how things go. The more miles I get out of the tank, the better. I may not shoot for 50+ miles per gallon or 400 mile tank, but I’ll shoot for the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything, number 42.