Here are a few updates and thoughts on things –

The Car. Well, we might hold off on buying a new car for at least another year. Why? Besides the obvious ‘we can’t make up our minds’ we have a new contender coming onto the scene and it doesn’t go into production in Japan until this fall. Normally called the ‘Nissan Skyline’ around the rest of the world where it is available this car is currently referred to as the GT-R. This means that it will probably be either a 2008 or 2009 model when it finally hits the states. Possible features of this care:

• All wheel drive
• Four wheel steering
• 450-500 bhp
• Twin turbo
• Currently tested with a 3.5 liter V6

Stupid car decisions. My only apprehension? Just like the iPhone it will be the first iteration model year of it over here. I might prefer waiting another year or two to get any kinks worked out, but that would mean not getting a new car for another 2-3 years. Maybe we can lease a new one. Or I’ll get Angela a mini-van that she can trick out.

iFling poop at that iPhone. Dear Lord – please spare me the violent outburst that Angela may have if she doesn’t get her damned iPhone on Friday. I pity the poor fool who may be in line in front of her. We’ve had a hectic schedule this past two weeks but she still doesn’t miss any opportunity to ogle it online. It doesn’t help that NPR and Walt Mossberg give it a thumbs up. I’d still like to see specs on video playback, though. Does it only do Quicktime and H.264 or will it handle the various mpeg formats, divx and xvid? I hope it ships with really poopy games. I think I’ll let Angela be the guinea pig, unless she thinks it is easier and cheaper if we both get new phones. If that’s the case, we would have spent close to $2000 on four phones in less than a year. She’s nuts.

Going to be a tourist in DC? If you’re from out of town and you come to visit this area, here are the reasons that I will either club you or smack you around with a 2×4 with a nail in it:

• Hey, Jackhole – stand to the right on the Metro escalators. People walk up and down on the left
• Is that a friggin’ fanny pack you’re wearing? I will chase you and tackle you, rip it off your body and than force feed it to you. Rectally.
• If you’re driving, learn to use your accelerator. And plan out your route ahead of time. If one more person slows down to 30 mph while they make up their mind and the world around them is moving at 75 then I’m just going to install a cow catcher on my Jeep and plough through you.
• I see tourists out of my window every day. I work across from the Dept. of Treasury and the White House. I see all of you wearing the same t-shirt and/or baseball cap when you’re on a group tour. That’s right. Look up at that building across the street. That guy grabbing his chest laughing hysterically and pointing at you? That’d be me.
• Stay out of the bars/strip clubs/pool halls/deli/doughnut shop/cafes I go to. I’m not telling you which ones.
• On Metro trains, get out of the doorway when people are getting on or getting off. And don’t lean against the stupid pole that people are supposed to hold on to. I WILL shove my hand around it, even if it means plunging it deep into your chest and ripping out your heart while making Bruce Lee faces and sounds.
• Tip the good musicians at the Metro stops.
• The homeless people won’t attack you. Well, most of the time.

Home Entertainment Centers. I’m having a hard time with my multimedia set up in my house. We’re running 2-3 D-Link Media Lounges to watch video from one of my computers. I was going to install one so I bought a new receiver to replace the one in our living room. Unfortunately, the Harmon/Kardon receiver was too deep for the pier that the old receiver sat in and I can’t close the door. I’m trying to get Angela to agree to move everything around in the house so we can get everything installed. Oh, and buy a new TV set. I can do without the 103″ Panasonic (I think), but everything is going to be rewired, re-cabled and shifted around the house. Maybe we should get professional installers.

On a side note, I’ve taken to surfing the web with our Wii using the Opera browser. Sucks a little when you want to input via the virtual keyboard (if I wrote any of my posts using that thing it would easily take me 5 hours). I can get flv video, though, and some flash content. This is ideal since I don’t have a laptop that I can drag with me when I go into the basement. I’ve also started surfing the web using my phone and also my PSP.

Happy Hour. This Thursday is the first Happy Hour I’ve scheduled with my new team. We’ve already done a lunch and have another one planned for next month (we’ll be going to Aria at the Ronald Reagan Building). I’m already planning our 2nd and 3rd Happy Hours. This first one will be pretty low key, though, at the trendy Ceiba. Talk about night and day from my last job. Although I’m happy to say that there are people that I still enjoy talking to from my last job (congrats to Young on getting knocked up!).

More later. Like I said – my schedule is screwed and I don’t have a lot of time for most things.