Baklava Shelf Life

Rice Macaroni

In case you can't eat the wheat stuff.

No returning compression shorts?

So I bought a pair of Nike Pro Combat compression shorts (which are awesome by the way for doing athletic activities) from Sports Authority.  I pulled two off the racks of the same size based on the size labeled on the hanger.  Well, note to self, check the actual size of the garment.  Anyways, get home, wash them, try them on a week later and one pair barely goes past my knees.  Hmm... size small, that's not what I grabbed!  So I go to exchange it at Sports Authority and the girl said they usually do not accept returns on compression shorts, but she'd do it for me this time.

Dusty Santa Ana Winds

So this first picture is from a clear day over LA; abnormally clear at that.  

This is during the Santa Ana winds which blows a whole lotta dust and stuff from the inland area outwards.

Did't know it was non-vegetarin

Chocolate and Fruit

Everyone knows about chocolate and strawberries.  But chocolate and mango?  Yeah, it's pretty good.

New Fancy Bill Holder

You know when you go to a restaurant, pay cash, and get the change back?  And that change kinda falls out from the bill holder thingy?  Well, this bill holder thingy has a zip-up pocket.  Why didn't someone come up with this twenty years ago?

LA Half Marathon Cleanup

These guys don't play around.  While runners are still on course, they already have the cleanup crew going down the race route.  All the water cups are swept into the middle of the street where street sweepers scoop them up.

Solar Thermal Power Plant

On my last drive to Vegas, the solar power plant seems to be operational.  That's a whole lot of mirrors out there...

Fiat 500 Not Tripping Light

I ran into an interesting situation tonight.  I was sitting behind a Fiat 500 at a stop light in the left turn lane and it apparently did not trip the sensor, so we all sat and waited another light cycle (I crept up closer behind it hoping my car would trip the sensor).  This is a common issue with motorcycles, but it's the first time I've seen the issue with a car.  Well, the 500 is a small car.

Alternate Water Bottle Holder Use

I didn't have a place to put my cable lock, so the water bottle holder seemed to work.

The Student Life

Legos in Many Colors

So I was at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney (I think that's what it's called).  Anyways, you can buy Lego pieces in many colors by the bucket full.

CO2 cartridge gets cold

CO2 inflators are used to air up bicycle tires quickly on the side of the road.  Due to some good ole thermodynamics, the quick release of high pressure gas makes the cartridge pretty cold.

Iron Butt

Guys who can rack up a bazillion miles on a motorcycle are known to have 'iron butts'.  I ran into this older guy who had over 1 million miles on BMW motorcycles!

Diversity in KTown

We have Korean BBQ, Viet food, cleaners, boba tea, a nail joint, a salon(?), and a couple other places that I can't make out.  All in one plaza.  

Must be a new cell tower

My desk at work has been a cell phone black hole.  Let me rephrase, had been.  Just one day, out of the blue, I started getting good signal.  At first, I thought it was some type of weather fluke.  Nope, it was still there the next day, and the next.

No Tall Cars Allowed?

Viet Food at Kerbey Lane?

I was back in Austin a few months ago, back in April.  I try to make a trip to Kerbey Lane every few trips.  This time, they had a 'Seasonal Sandwich Menu' and on it was Vietnamese banh mi.

Lexus floor mat latch

The floor mat in the Lexus CT200h has a relatively fancy latch.  Often times, there's just a hook to prevent the mat from sliding around.  This mat retainer has a nice little rotary latch thing.

Tofu Firmness

I'd never bought tofu before.... who knew it came in different levels of firmness?

Eat All Your Food!

The all you can eat price at this Korean BBQ joint is $17.99.  But if you leave food leftover.... you're paying more (in the lower right).  Don't disrespect the Korean ladies!

In-N-Out Line At Night

The line for the drive-thru at In-N-Out down the street from me was a dozen deep.  And this was at 10pm.

New Car Engine Break-In Oil Change

Ya know... most, if not all, modern cars don't recommend a first oil change until something like 7k-10k miles.  I bought my first new car recently and the first oil change isn't scheduled until 10k miles.  Well, I'm a bit old school and have been playing around with cars for a while.  I also deal with engineering stuff.  So, it's of my opinion that there's still a lot of breaking-in of engines.  So, I think it makes sense to do the first oil change within the first 500-1000 mile time frame to get rid of the oil that has all the stuff that broke loose during the break-in.

So... this is what was at the bottom of my oil container after draining the oil with about 700 miles on the engine.  I'll stick to the old school method of changing the oil soon after break-in.

MPG change with summer blend vs. winter blend gas

So apparently, Cali just switched over from the winter formulation gas to summer blend.  Different additives are used here for emissions reasons depending on the season.  My car (and others which is how I learned of this) seem to like the summer blend more; I'm getting about 5% better mileage.

Your Mileage May Vary

So a buddy of mine picked up a used car like mine with 26k miles on it.  I've put 4k miles on mine so far.  I've averaged 44.6mpg lifetime and over 46mpg the last two tanks as the engine has gotten more broken-in.  The lady who owned the car my buddy bought was only doing 37mpg.  It just goes to show, driving technique is everything when it comes to mileage.  20% difference is no joke.

Adjustability Built-In

The modern sport bike is pretty much track ready.  The high-end ones, like this BMW S1000RR has these sweet adjustable foot pegs.  It's graduated for both angle and position lengthwise.

Not Too Tight

I was installing this new shower fitting and there's a rubber seal that goes between the pipe and the part which screws onto it.  Well, don't tighten it too much as I guess it distorts the rubber causing it to leak.  You also do no need the teflon tape as the rubber seal is all that is needed.  So just screw it down semi-tight, not super tight and all should be well.

The Fog...

Back in March....(yeah, I'm just getting to it), we had a very foggy streak in the morning.  I thought it best to take the car and not the motorcycle for fear of getting hit.

Car Blind Spot Warning Good For Motorcycles

Out here in Cali, the single state in the Union to allow lane splitting, modern technology has an unintended benefit for those on two wheels.  So cars equipped with blind spot warning systems typically have the yellow indicators in their side mirrors go off when something is in their blind spot.  Well, when a motorcycle comes splitting up the lanes, it'll trip the blind spot systems letting the drivers know a bike is there.

Steep driveways require an angled approach

So the entrance to my driveway is a bit steep.  My car JUST clears going straight.

So using a little bit of angle gives some more clearance.

Substitute oil container cap

These Blitz oil containers use to come with yellow caps back in the day.  At some point, they switched to green and the drain cap became garbage.  It would crack after only a few uses.  This is my second or third container with the green caps.  Anyway, it turns out the cap from my gallon of orange juice works just fine (the blue cap).

Mix-n-Match Electronic Chargers

I was on a trip and I didn't have a charger for my iPod.  I did have my HTC Evo phone charger.... close enough.  It worked.

Turning Phillips into Flatheads

Well, I stripped out the phillips head screws holding down the cap on the brake fluid reservoir of my motorcycle.  So I busted out the dremel tool to cut a groove into them so that I could use a flathead screw driver.

The Boiling Crab is popular

I've heard about this place, but never been.  There were a ton of people waiting outside, cars squished in the parking lot, and a mixed crowd.

Car computed fuel mileage a bit optimistic

So pretty much every new car has a readout that gives you the mileage.  It seems that all of them seem to be a bit optimistic.  After going through three tanks of gas on my 2012 Lexus CT200h, it appears to be about 5% optimistic.  The first tank could have been a fluke.  The second tank could have been pump variation.  After three tanks though, it certainly appears the hand calculation (mileage divided by gas pumped) shows the computer is optimistic a bit.

Oscar parties?

I don't know if this happens anywhere else in the US, but people host Oscar parties here in LA like people host Super Bowl parties.  I find it a bit odd, but I guess it is LA.

Lexus safety kit

I haven't seen a safety kit in a car since way back when my parents had a Mercedes.

This came in a 2012 T200h.  There's all kinds of stuff in there!

Razor blade refills locked up

If you need to buy the refills for you shaving needs, the stores have started locking them up behind the counters.  Reason?  They are small and expensive which makes them high value targets for stealing.

Car beeping in reverse

I guess it's a new car thing (2012 and newer I guess?) where when you put it in reverse, there's an audible beep.  It's a simple safety feature I suppose.

Cold, dry, and shocking

We had a bit of a cold blast here in SoCal recently.  Along with it came some dry air which made for a lot of static electricity.  I gave myself a pretty good shock one night and even saw the flash out of the corner of my eye.  I had to relearn my trick of holding my car key (fingers on the metal part) and tapping that on the door to discharge.  That way, the spark jumps from the key to the door and not from my finger resulting in less pain.

Little Saigon, Garden Grove, lots of traffic

My mom wanted to hit up a couple food markets in Little Saigon on the weekend.  Apparently, so does the rest of the Vietnamese community.  Traffic was redunkculous!  Even by LA standards.  I mean, the off ramp was backed up.  The parking lot had people just sitting still in their cars in the middle of the parking isles just waiting.  So note to self, try to avoid the area on the weekends, especially around lunch.

Pho is so good on a cold day

I think everyone had the same idea when a cold front hit LA last week.  I have a favorite Viet joint my co-workers and I hit up for lunch once in a while.  Usually, if we get there by 11:30, we beat the rush.  But not last Friday.  The owner told us that the day before, they actually ran out of food and had to close early.  400 bowls of pho!

Window Washer

This window washer is cool.  A water hose is attached to the squeegee and sprays water out (duh).