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Got to do a fair bit of driving today. We went out to Marlborough, so I’m up to about 75 miles on it. Woo!

Driving at night in the rain was worry free, now that I know where my wipers are

I learned last night that it’s not normal for a car to accelerate on its own when going down a hill (my Ram did that), nor is it normal to be able to drive with the parking brake on (another Ram feature. It was a big sluggish with the e-brake on, but didn’t stop it at all).

The weekend has been fun so far. Friday night we hung out with not one by two honorary NEG members (they live far away but are like family). Late night… got home at 2am… but totally worth it.

Today we were with D and other D. I learned that when a 3 year old jumps off the sofa and lands knee first in your crotch, it really knocks the wind out of you Aside from that, it was a great day.

Tomorrow we will be hanging with Tember, including a trip down to Foxboro to get milk, some time at the Bass Pro Shop I’m sure, and a detour by Boch Toyota to pick up / drop off some stuff.

I learned that fans of my new vehicle call them Tacos.

I forgot the power cord for my laptop today. Subconscious excuse to drive a few more miles? Could be…

Got a call from the dealership… the finance guy missed a form, so I have to zip over there on Saturday morning. Yay. Should be quick though.

Read the manual at lunch. Now I know where my buttons are. Seriously considering the 115V/400W electrical outlet addon. MMM…. having a plug in my bed to hook a sound system / light / tool up to sounds pretty freakin cool… the motor essentially becomes a huge generator. It all depends on how much that would cost as an aftermarket addon, or it it’s even possible to add later.

So, I think for now my very uncreative name for him will be Taco.

What a day!

Back story: Up until a few hours ago, I drove a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500. It got about 8-10 mpg, and was really getting run down. I put over $1000 into it on a repair recently, and it hit me that the thing wasn’t worth much more than that.

Yesterday Jodi and I went out to get a freezer for the basement. When I started backing out of the driveway, it made an interesting noise. Hard to describe, but clearly not right. It was fine in drive, but sounded funny in reverse. This got us thinking that I should really replace it BEFORE it craps out on the side of the road on Rt. 2 at 1AM.

One thing led to another and I decided that a Toyota Tacoma was the right choice for me. Of the compact truck market, they got consistently good reviews, and were priced on the low end as well (this is a range that goes up over $30K, so “low” is a nice term).

Some research resulted in a surprise. A 2008 Tacoma with 57K miles an the options I wanted was around $24K. A 2010 with the option I wanted was around $26K. $2K more for brand new? Sounds like a good plan to me!

I went out this morning to Boch Toyota. They had the exact truck I wanted in inventory. Black extended cab V6 w/grey interior and the SR5 package. The SR5 includes cruise, power everything, backup camera, and a bunch of other bells and whistles.

Took it for a test drive, loved it, and 5+ hours later drove away in it.

The delay came in part due to a computer systems problem mid-transaction. Too far in to stop, unable to finish. So I just hung out. Yay iPhone, keeping me sane!

So there it is… my new baby

The process took a LOT longer than I was expecting, so we ended up running late for STAR WARS IN CONCERT! Fortunately running late was based on wanting to get there really early, so we didn’t miss anything.

AWESOME AWESOME SHOW!!!!!!!

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing music from the 6 Star Wars movies, with Anthony Daniels narrating. It was about 2 hours long, and very, very good. Huge movie screen, laser show, pyrotechnics and a full orchestra. You don’t see that every day

What a day/night!

I have to go back to the dealer Wednesday morning to get the remote starter / GPS alarm system installed, and get my inspection sticker put on. So while I’m all excited to drive my new truck, I should probably keep it local until the sticker is there. I have 7 days to get it done, but no reason to cause unnecessary fuss.

We went to the Harry Potter exhibit this morning. There was some really great stuff there to see. I particularly liked the Death Eaters. But overall, I don’t think it’s worth $26 per head.

If I could have taken photos, sure… then it would have been a good reference / research trip. But as it is… not so much. I’d sat it’s worth 1/2 the ticket price or so.

We got discount passes so it was only $5, and it was WELL worth that.

Tomorrow night though… Star Wars in Concert. Woot!!!

Every year the 501st and the Rebel Legion in New England go nuts for the Woburn MA Halloween parade.

This year was no exception.

General Grievous in his Droid Truck:

Leia and C3PO on the Endor float:

Yoda:

Ewoks:

A bunch of new clones:

For my part, I designed the droids and led the build crew for them. I built Yoda, and the big part… I sculpted the clone trooper armor / helmets that the clones in that last pic are wearing.

We had a blast! The parade went really well, people loved us, and nothing exploded!

Next up, a troop Friday night at the Garden… Cartoon Network is doing a promotion with the Celtics. I may even get to go out on the court!

Bumping this up for the new week. We’re looking for an IT helpdesk person. 4 days a week contract through the end of the year, at which time we’ll re-evaluate and see about going full time with it.

Windows / Linux / Mac mixed environment, in Waltham MA.

Let me know if you or someone you know would be well suited to this.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

photo, originally uploaded by stormtrooperguy.

they’re friends.
they eat each other.
it’s a complicated relationship!

innuendo aside, these were REALLY cool toys… food chain friends.