pedal to the metal, heel to the steel

(10 comments)
2004.06.27
So I mentioned my street GPS before...it's still WONDERFUL for finding a route to a place or making your way through terra incognito, but it's lack of smarts about lights and traffic make it lousy for finding the best route. Case in point, it figures the best way from Arlington (north of Boston) to a wedding in Southern MA MUST be straight through the heart of Boston, on 93...

Anyway, when you first turn the thing on, it gives you a dire safety warning about not fiddling with it while driving, they're not responsible, blah blah. But I have to think, if they were more serious about safety, maybe they wouldn't have a permanent record of maximum speed acheived ever...I suspect having a video game like "high score" feature just encourages some guys to show off. And all I say about that is it at least looks like there's room for 3 digits in that little box...


Videos of the Moment
These four videos for the Discovery Channel's "Know More Than You Should" campaign all have nifty scifi vibes..."Antlers" and "Milk Truck" have this lovely edge of slight nighmarishness, and "Transporter" has a nifty kinetic energy.


Plug of the Moment
Thought I'd throw in a plug for Eye Q Optical in Harvard Square and the South End. They do a great job knowing how frames work with or against certain facial features, and the frames weren't more than the boring and helpful one-hour-place I went in 2001. (Though I let them sweet-talk me into a second set...) Plus, they seem really competent, especially the guy who did the exam and then also turned out to be one of the fitters. And they have a 30-day or so exchange policy, which lets a guy get glasses that are more of a "reach" than he otherwise might.

They also have a nifty logo...the only downsides are that their weekday hours aren't very long and of course you may be spoiled by the one-hour places...it was really worth it for me though. Between the hair and the glasses, I feel like I'm gonna be sending out a much better "I'm actually a bit concerned about my appearance" vibe to the world, rather than my previous "least physical and mental effort needed" model.

One odd point about my makeover, between the spikier hair and and the funkier glasses, my new look is maybe a bit reminscent of Mo circa last June.