List of Vehicles I Would Like to Own

On 07.29.10, In Cars, By Philip

A long time ago on my blog, I seem to recall having made a list of cars I liked and would like to own some day (which means they have to be affordable, meaning if it can’t be purchased new or used for ~$60k or less, I don’t even bother hoping for/wanting one cause I’ll probably never be able to afford that. This is pretty much that list updated for 2010. I can’t see myself ever getting rid of my Camaro, because this is the car that made me love cars, so any of these cars would be in addition to Evey. :D

Chevy Corvette Z06

Pretty much this, except with the single black rally stripe down the middle. Yes, I have a thing for yellow cars.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

This color looks amazing in person. (Yellow is not offered on Mustangs anymore.)

Kawasaki Ninja 650R

I’ve never ridden one before, but it sure looks like fun. The green looks sweet, and of course, they don’t offer yellow. These aren’t expensive, especially used, but I have more important things to buy for now.

Nissan GT-R

This is the least realistic car in the list and would absolutely have to be purchased used, but regardless, it’s a totally sick car and one of the only foreign cars on this list (the only one if you don’t count the street bike). A 370Z would be more realistic, but I’d rather a Camaro SS or Mustang GT if I’m gonna drop $40k. 370Z is also a very nice car though.

Chevy Cobalt SS

Yeah, you’re thinking, “WTF, why is a Cobalt on this list?” Well, this is the last year of production for this car, so I doubt I’ll ever own one, but it’s a nice looking car, it’s somewhat inexpensive, and it’s fast. The Cobalt SS will run 0-60 in 5.7 seconds – that’s 0.2 seconds faster than my Camaro LT. The Cobalt would make an excellent daily driver, but then again, so would this next car…

Chevy Volt

The Chevy Volt isn’t exactly the best looking car, but it’s the most practical hybrid I’ve yet to see, and it’s still better looking than every foreign hybrid I know of. The Volt travels 40 miles on nothing but electricity, but has an extended range (with the help of a gas generator) of about ~320 miles with the help of a gas generator, which will still get you 50 MPG. This is pretty much the perfect daily driver car for just going to work or the grocery store or whatever.

-Philip

 
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Why Lady Gaga is awesome

On 06.19.10, In Music, Opinion, By Philip

This is for all of the Gaga haters.

1.) She’s an incredibly talented singer with an amazing voice.

2.) As seen above, she’s also a talented piano player (and yes, I’m purposely avoiding using another word here).

3.) If you think she’s abandoned her roots or something, then you should be made aware of the fact that she performs piano versions of her songs very often, and in these performances, she actually sings the songs differently to fit the style of music; it’s not just a slowed down rehash of the original.

4.) Her performances are real performances. She doesn’t just stand there and sing.

5.) Lady Gaga understands the current state of the music industry.

6.) Many pop musicians let the fame get to them and end up going insane (think Britney Spears’ shaved head). Gaga is pretty much already insane, but that’s part of what makes her so great.

7.) Everyone loves and covers her music: pop singers, rock singers, punk singers, metal guitarists, etc. That’s respect, right there.

8.) Come on, admit it: her songs are really catchy, and she writes them herself.

9.) It’s always fun to see what she’s going to wear. Call it crazy, call it looking for attention, call it whatever you want, but it’s still fun.

 
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15 days and counting…

On 06.09.10, In Music, News, Opinion, Technology, By Philip

I just wrote a pretty long news update on my fiction blog. If you haven’t noticed, the only two blogs of my F-O-U-R blogs that I actually keep up are this one and my writing blog/inphiltrate fiction, so yeah, the Lucid Dreaming project is on hold.

I think I may have called Fall Out Boy’s demise a little too early. It’s looking like they’re really on break, which is fantastic news.

Music news that isn’t so fantastic, however, is that I have a ticket to see Paramore in September and I have no idea where the ticket is. It’s very unlike me to lose things like that, and I really hope I can find it soon so I don’t have to worry about it.

Just in case anyone was wondering: yes, I’m probably getting the iPhone 4, and yes, the iPhone is the best smartphone on the market, despite what the haters may think. :)

We’ll be entering election season soon, and I just thought I’d throw this out there: I think Ron Paul is fantastic, but I’m actually sort of hoping he doesn’t run in 2012, because I really want (former) Governor Gary Johnson to run, and I don’t think he’ll run against Dr. Paul. One of Ron Paul’s biggest problems was that he wasn’t really that good with the media (in my opinion, at least), but Gary Johnson is. Pretty much the same ideals with a new face – well, I don’t think that could hurt the movement that Dr. Paul’s fans stand for.

-Philip

 
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User Replaceable Parts in a Unibody MacBook Pro

On 05.29.10, In Technology, By Philip

I am posting this information for anyone that happens to be searching for this information, via search engine or whatever means.

There is a lot of confusion via lower-level Apple employees as to whether or not the RAM and hard drive are user replaceable parts in the 2010 Unibody MacBook Pro. I have spoken with employees at the Apple store on the sales floor, both of which said that it would void the warranty for me to take off the bottom panel of the computer. Each of them asked a Mac Genius and the geniuses also said that it would void the warranty. I called Apple technical support and the rep on the phone said that she doubted I could remove the panel without voiding the warranty, but that she would forward me to the tech support supervisor just to make sure.

This is where I finally got the answer that I was looking for, because I was certain I was right based on information in the user manual (page 36) and on Apple’s website. I can absolutely confirm that the RAM and the hard drive are user replaceable parts on the current generation unibody MacBook Pro and it does not void your warranty to remove the bottom panel of the computer and change either of those parts out, as long as you do not cause damage in the process.

If you get trouble for this at the Apple store, ask them to call in the question to Apple for the correct answer. I’d also recommend that if you do decide to change your hard drive or your RAM that you put the original parts back in the MacBook Pro before bringing it in for servicing for multiple reasons. It would likely be easier to not have to bring up the replaced parts at all, completely setting aside the fact that Apple usually removes third party parts and sends them back in a plastic bag when you depot a Mac. Furthermore, if they do detect that the case has been opened, you could always bring up the fact that if you call in a RAM or hard drive problem, Apple gives you the option of them sending you the RAM/HDD for you to install yourself rather than shipping the Mac to them.

-Philip

 
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And Found

On 05.26.10, In Music, TV, Technology, By Philip

On Sunday, my favorite TV show, Lost, ended. After thinking about it and reading other people’s interpretations and rewatching the last part, I’ve decided that the ending was beautiful and satisfying. Lots of questions were left unanswered, but I feel like the most important thing – the relationship between all of the characters – was resolved quite wonderfully. I must say that I’m very sad to see the show go after watching it for four years (I picked it up right before season three started; watched one and two on DVD).

I’ve been digging this song lately. Very cool synth stuff.

Melfina is awesome so far. Kalmiya was the best computer I’ve ever had, so I’m hoping this MacBook Pro will continue that trend. I’m going to wait for Q3/Q4 of this year when the next generation of solid state drives come out and then stick a sweet SSD in this thing so it’ll really fly. :D I apparently could’ve done that in my old MacBook Pro as well without voiding the warranty, but I guess it’s all been for the best.

And also, just for the record, the iPad is still amazing and I still use it every day. Crazy how I thought I had no use for a big iPod Touch, and now it’s integrated into my routine.

-Philip

 
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Melfina

On 05.21.10, In Technology, By Philip

I bought my MacBook Pro (Kalmiya) in June of 2007. I absolutely loved it from the get-go. It had a few problems since then; had a lot of parts replaced, but it was only out of commission for a maximum of 10 days over the course of almost three years, so that’s not really such a bad thing.

It started having battery/power issues again a few days ago, and since my Apple Care expires in 17 days, I brought it in today for it’s final appointment, along with a small list of three minor issues and the one kind of major power issue. I explained to the Apple Genius what was wrong, and she told me she’d do some research and get back to me within a couple of hours, which is a pretty different response than I normally get, but whatever. I got in my car and started heading to Houma.

Thirty minutes later I hadn’t gotten too far on the interstate, since there was a lot of traffic, but I got a callback from the Apple Genius.

“I’ve got some good news. I talked to my manager, and we’re going to replace your computer with an entirely new machine.”

Apple, I’ve criticized you before for bewildering business practices and closed products, but I have never and will never be able to criticize you for your customer service.

I got a brand new, $1800 MacBook Pro simply for paying ~$250 for Apple Care three years ago. I love it (named it Melfina), and Apple has officially made a customer for life.

Thanks, Apple, for taking such good care of your customers.

-Philip

 
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Yasseah

On 05.20.10, In Cars, Life, News, By Philip

I never realized how much college and my old job used to shape how much stuff I had to write about here until now. Since I don’t write about my current job here as a precautionary measure, that’s eight hours out of my day that go unrecordable. That combined with Twitter seems to have eaten most of my blogging abilities.

I always feel like talking about my car on here, but for some reason, I keep from doing it because I’m worried that other people will think that I’m bragging, when that’s not the case at all. I just really like my car, and I want to talk about it, just like I talk about my computer(s)…and, well, everything else I own that I talk about.

That said, I still haven’t posted any detailed information on it, and I plan on getting around to it at some point, complete with some pictures. I need to wax it, but I’m going to wait until the body work on it is done.

That reminds me: do not, I repeat, do NOT take your car to Winner’s Circle in Tigerland. I took it there to get my tire plugged and I got it back with some missing paint on the edge of the driver’s side door. One of my friends also messaged me recently to ask how I got them to pay for it, because one of their friends brought their car there and it came back with a scratch. Some of the people that work there apparently do not care about your car, and the owner is convinced that all of his employees are 100% honest about reporting accidents, so it’s fun to try to convince him that you respect your property far too much to fling your door open into something without even noticing.

I went to the dentist the other day – the first dentist I’ve gone to in Baton Rouge. That said, I highly recommend Bruns Family Dentistry. It’s run by a husband and wife, and though I didn’t have my appointment with the male doc, I can say that the female one was the best and most open dentist I’ve ever been to, if it’s possible to judge based on a first time visit. She told me a lot of stuff that I didn’t know about my teeth.

That’s all for now. Keep up with my experiments with lucid dreaming on my dream blog.

-Philip

 
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Lucid Dreaming

On 05.16.10, In Life, By Philip

Back in January I wrote this post about my first experience with becoming lucid in a dream. It was a truly amazing experience; in fact, it’s one that I wish to be able to replicate on command, and for that reason, I’ve started a dream blog.

http://www.inphiltrate.com/dreams/

It’s more for me than for anyone else, but I thought I’d link to it anyway. There’s no posts on it yet except for the ‘About’ page, which explains the purpose of the blog: “I’ve had one lucid dream in my life, and it was a completely amazing experience. Because of this and a general interest in (lucid) dreams, I started this dream blog in hopes that it would increase my dream retention. Apparently, by keeping a dream journal, it alerts your brain that dreams are important and that it shouldn’t just discard dreams like it does most of the time. In turn, you’ll be able to remember more dreams – the first step to being able to control them.”

 
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iPad Review

On 04.15.10, In Opinion, Technology, By Philip

Anyone that follows me on the Internet knows that I didn’t think too highly of the iPad as of exactly a week ago. The problem with the iPad is that it is a giant iPod Touch. Essentially, what I mean by that is that the iPhone OS is the problem. It’s a single-window, single-threaded device. This, however, begs the question: how important is that when most of what we do these days (that’s meant to be done on a small, portable device like the iPad) lives in the cloud?

It turns out, the iPad being a giant iPod Touch is actually the best thing about it. Using it feels very natural, and even though the iPhone/iPod Touch came first, the more obvious device is the iPad. The iPhone/iPod Touch now seem like shrunken down versions of the iPad rather than the other way around.

The first thing that attracted me to the iPad was the screen. I picked it up and held it, and the screen drew me in. The display on this thing is gorgeous. The colors are bright and beautiful; it completely outdoes the iPod Touch.

So if you’ve read this far, you may have a question on your mind: what use is there for an iPad if you’ve got a MacBook Pro and an iPhone? This brings me to what the iPad does best – web browsing. This thing is meant to browse the web. Content isn’t the only fun part about the web on this device; it’s actually fun surfing and clicking on things and zooming and moving around. The actual process of navigating through a web page is somehow made fun by the iPad’s touch interface. It’s simply incredible. Even though it’s just a big iPod Touch, the experience is completely different. The same goes for browsing your pictures; the touch interface makes it so much more fun to interact with your content.

Typing on the iPad has a learning curve just like with the iPhone. On a normal computer keyboard, I can type ~100 words per minute. On the iPhone in landscape mode, I can type ~60 words per minute, but I had to relearn how to type on a handheld device. The crazy thing is, I love the iPhone keyboard and I could never go back to a phone with physical keys. So how does the iPad fare? Just like with the iPhone, I find that I prefer typing in landscape mode. You can type in portrait mode with your thumbs, but only if you have really long fingers, and it’s still a stretch. I tend to hold the iPad with my left hand and walk the fingers on my right hand across the keyboard, and that works pretty well.

What’s funny about the iPad being a big iPod Touch is that the iPad’s iPod application is actually better than the iPod Touch’s. Essentially, the iPad is a better iPod, except you can’t put it in your pocket, which really defeats the purpose of an iPod unless you’re just using it at your desk or something.

Other things:
-The battery life is incredible. The claims of ~10 hours are pretty much true, and that’s at full brightness browsing the web and whatnot.
-It is very fast. Insanely fast, really.
-The screen isn’t oleophobic like the iPhone 3GS (as far as I can tell). More fingerprints, but not a big deal.
-Despite it saying “Not charging” when you plug it into a computer with a USB 2.0 port…it’s actually charging, just really, really slowly.
-Even with the WiFi fix, I find WiFi connectivity to be very buggy. It’s not a big deal, just a minor annoyance that I’m sure will be fixed in a forthcoming software update.
-iPhone apps look like crap on the iPad. Apps are pretty much iPad versions or I delete them, unless they’re really, really useful.

All of that said, the device is not innovative at all, but I mean that in a more positive way than it sounds. It is tech we know and love, and it is implemented in an amazing way. Sometimes a revolutionary device doesn’t venture into the unknown, but rather, it takes what we know, changes it a little bit, and makes it better.

-Philip

 
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Norirama

On 03.30.10, In Life, Opinion, By Philip

I think I bit my tongue in my sleep last night, cause it hasn’t felt that great today.

And with that, welcome to another exciting blog post here on inphiltrate dot com!

I’ve always made political commentary in the past, especially on big subjects because I hope that I can do something, but lately I just accept this crap I’m forced into and don’t bother as much. The people that truly care never get what they want and the people that kind of care and just go out on election day and vote down their party lines are the ones that get exactly what they want. It’s extremely annoying. So now, this healthcare bill has passed, and while it’s not universal healthcare, it’s still incredibly frustrating that I’m going to have to pay for other people’s medical expenses, whether directly or indirectly. And that’s all I have to say about that, because what I think doesn’t matter in the big picture anyway.

I bought a ticket to see Paramore this September. I’ve been a fan of theirs since 2006, so I’m pretty excited to see them. :D

I made sushi the other day, and it was pretty tasty, save for it caused me stomach pain afterwards. However, all sushi does this to me, and I can’t figure out why. I eat both cooked and raw sushi, and just about the only common ingredients between them all are the rice, avacado, and nori (seaweed paper). I know I’m not allergic to rice, and guacamole doesn’t bother me, so I guess I’m allergic or something to nori? :/ I wonder how sushi tastes with soy paper…

June 2010, new episodes of Futurama, here I come! :D

-Philip

 
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