Oh here’s something unrelated! Someone went and re-created that classic and addicting game Lemmings… all in DHTML! It runs pretty well too. Go play!

By the way, when you search Google Images for “Roscoe P. Coltrane” page 12 is very interesting.  On it, there are photos of Frank Sinatra, Shaq and Kobe, Bo Jackson, and a diagram of the female reproductive system.  Ladies and Gentlemen… the internet!

During our research we looked into a lot of different kinds of cars. One of our criteria for a new car is some cargo room. We didn’t want to entirely lose the space that we had with the Tribute, so we narrowed the search to hatchbacks and wagons. We test drove the Honda Fit, the Toyota Matrix and the Volkswagen Rabbit (yeah it’s back), but also had the Nissan Versa, the Mazda 3, and the Golf TDI (Diesel) on the list. The Golf was very promising and the diesel idea was very intriguing, especially with the new bio-diesel fuel on the horizon. But due to higher emissions it was nixed since it can’t be sold new in California. The Mazda 3 didn’t have glowing reviews and the Matrix’ styling is crap (although the car is a good value). this left us with the Honda Fit and the VW Rabbit.

Monday night of this week we again went to two different Honda dealers to seriously consider buying the Fit. The first dealer was Norm Reeves Honda in Cerritos where we checked out the demo “You can win this car” Fit while we waited for someone to come and pressure us into buying one. No one approached us at all. We were there nearly 30 minutes before I yelled at some salesman and asked him if they had any Fits in stock. He said no. We left for another Honda dealer, this time in Santa Ana. It was getting late, so they were closing/closed when we got there. Sooo… there was a VW dealer in the same area and we stopped in there at 3 minutes to 9pm. We noticed on the window that they closed at 9, but we were content with just looking at the rabbits they had on the lot. You see, the Rabbit was edging out the Fit for the car of choice but it didn’t have the MPG that the fit did. It did however drive a LOT nicer. So we’re looking at the Rabbits and a salesman comes out of the building looking like he’s heading home and he asks if we need any help. We asked about the Rabbits and he opened one up for us and we checked it out again (we had test-driven the Rabbit twice before). He mentioned he had a blue on in the showroom so we followed him in there to get a look at that.

Funny thing happened on the way to that Rabbit… We passed a bright red 2006 GTI. It was all over, especially after we saw that the GTI had 50 more HP (200 total) and got better MPG than the Rabbit! We didn’t even make it to the Rabbit (although we did see a real rabbit on the way out). I remembered that I had read online that VW was planning on offering a 4-door model of the GTI in the 2007 model year! The next night, Tuesday, we went to another dealer and test drove a 2-door GTI to get the feel of it. The car delivered. It was so much fun to drive! One review I saw of the car said that “you can drive [the GTI] like you sat on a wasp”. I agree with that statement, but it’s got enough of a family car in it to be functional as well. Truly the best of both worlds for us. Are we havin’ cake? Are we gonna eat it too? It sure looks that way.

So two weeks into it we’ve pretty much made up our mind about what car we’re going with, while the GTI does get better gas mileage than the Tribute, it’s not as proficient in that category as the Honda Fit, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun to drive, and we found out that matters to us. We also get to keep some cargo space (I think we’ll be buying a removable roof rack someday for it as well for bigger trips). What started as a quest for a car we felt we needed to buy has turned into a pursuit of a car we want to buy.

I’ll be really happy if this all goes through and Monique has a car that she loves as much as I love the Acura TL that I drive. Not to mention it will be nice to have a VW parked in our driveway. When I grew up, in this very house, we had two VWs out there! Stay tuned for new developments, we’re planning on ordering the car soon. I’m in the process of working with the dealers to swing a deal (not fun at all).

When we got there we were greeted at the door and they immediately asked what name the reservation was under. They had one of those tiny sliding doors on the door as if they ask “what’s the password” too. At least we didn’t get that treatment. The man explained that we would be ready for hors d’oeuvres in the wine cellar in a few minutes and we were free to enjoy the lounge or the bar upstairs. So we did. As we made our way upstairs we figured out that the restaurant seemed to be a big converted house. The bar and the lounge were bedrooms in the house. We went into the one with the bar, which was just a few comfy places to sit and a small bar in the corner. We each had a drink and hung out a few minutes until we were told that hors d’oeuvres were were being served in the wine cellar.

We made our way down two flights of stairs and found ourselves in a chilly wine cellar. Not a very roomy space for the 30-40 people that were in there. We were greeted by two men pouring glasses of The Hobbit’s own brand of champagne. Good stuff! We were told that we could pick our wine for our dinner from the selection of bottles in the cellar. There were hundreds of different kinds of wine, and some snacks to eat. My favorite was the baked brie (could have been feta) with pruscitto in it. Man that was tasty! After deciding that we would do the offered wine pairings that would bring us a different glass of wine with each course, we were told they would be seating for dinner.

I was really glad that unlike some of the fancy restaurants I’ve been to, this was not the type to give you an itsy bitsy artsy bit of food that leaves you wanting more the minute you leave. This was a 7 course meal that didn’t have one thing I didn’t eat. I even had some mushrooms that were really tasty! Needless to say I was stuffed afterwards. Whoever the chef was really outdid themselves. Whoever paired the wine was impressive too as the wine with each course just made it that much better. I’ve scanned the menu for the evening for those of you keeping score at home. It was amazing!

Wondering why the place is called The Hobbit? You got me. I can only assume it’s because Hobbits love to eat, eat a lot, and eat well. The only reference to the Tolkein-folk in the house was a few framed words in the entryway:

HOBBITS… are little people, smaller than dwarves. They love peace and quiet and good-tilled earth. They dislike machines, but are handy with tools. They are nimble, but don’t like to hurry. HOBBITS have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary every day sort. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colors (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes because their feet grow natural leatherly soles and thick brown hair (which is curly); have long, clever brown fingers, good-natured faces and laugh deep, fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it.)

You can check out some photos of our evening here on flickr. Monique and I were joined by Tim and Shana and the four of us had a great time.

Oh yeah… The Hobbit restaurant was built in 1972, the same year I was built! 33 years ago today for me, actually!

1. if the 360 would play nice on networks other than one powered by Windows XP Media edition
2. More details on the Sony PS3 (launch date, online strategy, LAN features, actual game play videos)

I still might wait, especially if Sony keeps the “Spring’06″ launch date. Decisions decisions!

I know some of you have had issues with Best Buy in the past, so I’m hoping this goes smoothly for me.

ChipandDrifty.com is actually built on the WordPress playform, but mangled enough so we’re just utilizing the WordPress core news posting and commenting system. I built a similar site with MovableType back in the day (Movie Club) and overall I’m pretty pleased with how it all came together. With every new project I learned a bunch on this one. This is the first time I worked with FLV (Flash Video) which we wanted to use to eliminate the need for any video plug-in on the site. Flash is all you need at ChipandDrifty.com, and you really don’t need much of it! I learned more CSS too, of course, as all formatting is done via CSS. By the way, I worship the Firefox Dev Toolbar, as it was a lifesaver in many CSS cross-browser troubleshooting. Getting CSS-based sites to look good on IE on a Windows machine is not easy.

This thing has kept me busy on my nights and weekends for just over a month so you really should go visit. Tim would also appreciate it if you buy the album. I’m not kidding. Did I mention that besides being my friend and all that, the band is actually really great? Go. Visit. Buy.

But what is the deal with athletes starting off sentences with the words “I mean.” It’s like they’re correcting themselves before they’ve said anything to correct!

Some interviewing fool was talking with two Astros after the game last night and it went something like this:

Interviewin’ fool: “have you ever seen just a dominating pitching performance in the post Lance Berkman: “I mean he did what we needed him to do…”

Interviewin’ fool: “What does heading to your first World Series mean to you?”
Lance Berkman: “I mean it’s unbelievable. I can’t even describe it…”

Interviewin’ fool: “What’s goin’ through your mind right now?”
Jeff Bagwell: “Well I mean we work so hard for this…”

I have noticed this over the past few years, and not just with athletes, but that’s where it’s most obvious. What the heck is up with that? Why does it bug me so much?

Ehh.

Anyway, I hope Brad’s getting the most out of his team getting to the show! Yeah!