Nelly's Travels

I had been meaning to blog a bit about this past weekend, but I never got around to it. Myself, I didn't do very much interesting. But Nelly went down to Charlotte to visit her sister who is currently completing her first year at Davidson. She had a wonderful time down there, while I was miserable and lonely the whole weekend.

Except for when I was hanging out with Laurie. Laurie, you rock! But even when I was having fun I was still missing her a ton.

But, my dear readers, I did not despair, because I knew that she would return to me (despite the trials and tribulations of flying into Newark Airport). And yesterday she came back. And there was much rejoicing. Hooooray!

Hmmm, maybe the reason I didn't blog about this was that it turns out I don't have much to say. Well, I just want to get it down in writing that I really really missed her and when she came back I was super-duper ecstatic.

And Now the Conclusion of the Rav Saga

I worked from home yesterday, anticipating that the Rav would be out of the shop that afternoon. Indeed, at 9:15 Tom from Caldwell Toyota called and informed me (through choppy cell reception) that my car was ready to go.

Not only that, but Tom informed me that they were able to save the muffler which chopped $300 off the price. Final cost to me (including tax), $1024. Not so bad, Rav. Not so bad.

The car drives like it always has, but it doesn't make a loud rumbling noise anymore. Just a quiet, comforting put-put-put. It has shiny new piping on its underside. I think secretly the Rav is proud of that; it's like a surgical scar. I have to make sure I convince the Rav not to roll over and show off.

The Rav Continues to Sit in the Shop

So, they put the Rav up to begin replacing the piping today. And surprise! The pipe with the catalytic converter needs to be replaced as well. Very dissapointing. Anyways, so now the price jumps from $600 to $1200. Sigh. Woe is my car.

Rav Update

the toyota dealership called. the repairs will not be as costly as they could have been. So for about $600 they'll replace the piping. They need to order the part, but if all goes well, I should be able to retrieve my car tomorrow.

Rav Down, But Not Out

This weekend was rather interesting. On friday we had some friends over to warm our apartment. It wasn't a big thing, but many fabulous people came and there was some joyous celebrating.

While all this was going on, my car (a dependable Toyota Rav4) decided that it's exhaust pipe was too heavy to hold and so it was just going to let it lie on the ground. I only found this out when I was driving guests to catch the last train out of Montclair. Along with the tell-tale no-muffler engine sound there was a sickening screech. After dropping off guests at the train station, I looked under the car to find the exhaust pipe hanging onto the car by the muffler. It apparently had rusted through where the pipe met the engine. Quality!

Geico, of course, wouldn't cover it. So I called AAA in the morning to schedule a tow. The tow-truck arrived 40 minutes later, except it was the wrong tow-truck. The Rav4, being a n all-time four-wheel drive vehicle cannot be towed by a standard tow-truck. It requires a flat-bed. The tow-truck guy said the flat-bed would be there in 20 minutes. 50 minutes later I decided to call AAA again and see what the deal was. They said that the truck was coming and would be there within a half-hour.

Exactly a half-hour later, the truck arrived. The driver was friendly enough, and hauled my car to the toyota dealership in West Caldwell. Where it has been sitting since. They didn't look at it on Saturday and, as far as I know, they haven't looked at it today.

Meanwhile, I was able to rent a car from Enterprise (10% AAA Discount) for the weekend. We got a Chevy Cobalt. The tow-truck fiasco kept us from getting to ultimate practice, but Nelly and I were able to attend a bar-b-q in Long Island. And then head up to Connecticut to do Easter with her mother's family. Whee!

Happy Easter!

Happy birthday Paul!

Bad Reception

I am working from home today and I would like to use my blog as a platform to complain about the terrible cell phone coverage in my apartment. I just noticed, after going to the kitchen to get a glass of water, that my connection is so tenuous that mearly walking in front of the phone can cause it to drop coverage completely.

It's the 21st century. I live in densely populated New Jersey. I should have better coverage than this. It's a travesty! Can someone please think of the children!

Where to Stick Your Money

I was looking at my Fidelity account today and I discovered something most interesting.

I was looking into moving some money out of Fidelity's equivalent of a savings account and into my cash account so I could, theoretically, buy a mutual fund I have been looking at.

I noticed, in the side-bar, that the fund was giving something of a rediculous number as it's Compound Yield. Interest and such numbers confuse me, so I went and looked at the actual amount of money deposited as interest last month. As a percentage of the total amount, it was more than three times more than Chase's EXTREME SUPER PLUS SAVINGS ACCOUNT.

So I am like, wow! If only they did Bill Pay. And lo: they do bill pay!
So I am like, wow wow! If only you could do direct deposit. And lo: you can do direct deposit!
If only they offered and ATM card. And lo: they offer an ATM card! Holy crap!

Who knew Fidelity does all the stuff that a regular bank does. What the hell am I doing my banking with Chase for?! Argh, I bet that's why the woman who opened my account at Chase was looking at me funny the whole time. She was probably thinking, "If you have a Fidelity account, what do you need with a Chase account?"

Anyways, so this advertisement for Fidelity was brought to you by my own reluctance to do actual work.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

I finally finished this book. Thanks Laurie!

It wont the Pulitzer Prize and deservedly so in my opinion. Very smart, very thorough. It covers the birth of nuclear weapons from E=MC² to the devlopment of the first thermo-nuclear weapon.

It's a fascinating tale of the emergence of science as a weapon in nationalist wars. And, if you buy the book's thesis, the eventual dominance of science over nationalism. Humans designed a bomb so big that it made world war impossible (though whether it worked still remains to be seen).

Fortunately, the author (Richard Rhodes), spends very little time waxing philosophic. Most of the book's 800 pages are dedicated to following the long, winding and often arduous treck from the idea that mass and energy are the same to the creation of a physical weapon utilizing that idea. The physics isn't intimidating and the story is mesmerizing.

A+

(put that on your book cover!)

ps. I forgot to mention the book does a good job sorting out explanations/motivations for the individuals involved (from Leo Szilard to Oppenheimer to General Groves to Harry Truman) and why they chose to develop, prioritize, build, weaponize and use the atomic bomb.

Apparently, there was a lot of confusion over whether the Germans might have been working on a bomb of their own. And certainly they were, but the eventual dominance of allied air power over Europe, and the ensuing bombing, shut down any hope of large-scale production. So though the Nazis were experimenting with nuclear power, they weren't very close to making a weapon when the war ended.

The book also discusses, but does not pass judgement, on the prevaling opinion amoung allied forces that an invasion of mainland Japan would cost millions of allied lives and an even greater number of civilian Japanese. Whether or not that justifies dropping WMD on two major population centers is up in the air. But it seems that the real motivation (for both the military and scientist types) was to show the world what sort of devastation this bomb could cause.