7 posts tagged “vox hunt”

I can't quite be without my phone as it keeps me tied to the world as well as functions as my mobile sanctum when I am without my laptop. It plays music wonderfully with the ability to catch calls and surf on a wi-fi hotspot. It's been plenty reliable as a device and I have come to love it with days.

Ah... My first car. It's been almost 2 years since I parted hands with the machine, yet still... I somewhat miss it. I would take ownership of my Integra back in 1999. This was a time when all of the "greatest" sports cars were nearing extinction. While friends and classmates of mine were buying Integra Type-R's, Civic Si coupes, 240SX coupes, or even used sports cars that would soon have cult status like the Supra or RX-7... I was passed this car. My family didn't believe in me at the age of 17 and to be dropped into a sports car with a manual transmission. They believed that the sedan format was the way to go and that an automatic transmission was a "safe choice". Well, they couldn't have been wrong on that as I found later with my ownership of my current car. The cool thing was that many of the second generation Integra coupe drivers liked how clean the car was stock. I had big dreams for the car. Unfortunately, one fateful day would cut things short as a high school kid would t-bone my car and proceed to hide in his web of lies before his insurance company sent a private investigator and get the real story from him vehemently denying that he had even hit my car.

The day that I got hit by that kid was a day of change... The arrogant confidence that was in me as a Honda/Acura driver was finally knocked out of me. I saw the error of my ways as a driver. I was overconfident in a machine I had no control over. A machine where I had not even pushed it to the extremes and get bit back for saying I was not ready. I got into a few accidents and even a traffic offense because I put too much faith in my car. I realized that for me to become a stronger driver and one more confident in my own skills as a driver, I needed a car to have barely any of the technological toys that are taken for granted by your average driver. I needed a car that was as spartan as they came to put me in my place and say "You are not my master, I am your master." The car would meet its maker in Automotive Heaven when it would become a "sacrifice" to the car I drive now.

From the "ashes" of my Integra's life, I bought a MX-5 Miata in, ironically, the polar anti-thesis color of my Integra (Black). The first month was the hardest as the car flogged me especially when I got overconfident with myself. The real benchmarks of my progress wouldn't show until my sixth month and first year with the car would show the merits of my time in with my car. I had improved by a large margin but the question does remain: "How much could the driving potential be if I was put back into a sport sedan with a manual transmission?" I wonder what the reality would be like if my Integra was a manual transmission. Would I have gotten into the same accidents? Would I have been able to slow my car down enough to avoid that fateful accident? I will never know the alternate reality.

The question, however, is a little bit relevant to the situation I am soon to arrive into. With my family aiding my escape from debt, they are asking me to repay them for their loan. I have been asked to look into alternative cars as family wants me to get a family car for the sake of versatility. The said "family car" is under the requirement that it must be new, if I wish to have my family to help with their credit record to assist me with an interest rate much lower than what I could get at my credit score. From seeking to integrate the driving experience that the Miata has taught me with the memories of my Integra, I have only found one car to integrate the best of both worlds.



I hope by late next year or early spring of 2009 to be in an Infiniti G35 Sport sedan to merge both the convenience of digital automotive advances with the true sense "If you want to play on the bleeding edge, you best prepared to get hurt or learn quick" driving. The choice of white will be more in honor of my driving roots and to honor the memory of my first car. As much as I hated the memories of my first car, I will never forget that it was the car that opened the door to so much more.

This was just a picture of the Tsubasa roll at Sushi Place that I had to take a picture of... The presentation was very nice and it was awful tasty. An inverted roll, where the outer shell is the roasted seaweed paper, the inner part laid with fragrant sushi rice. The inside was then filled with spicy crawfish, avocado, and cream cheese. The roll is then dipped in tempura batter and sliced. Then after the roll is laid out, it is drizzled with spicy Japanese mayonnaise and topped with fish eggs and sliced green onions. The pickled ginger and wasabi are there for the connoisseurs who know to use the ginger to cleanse the palette and the wasabi to kick up the spices up a notch. Terribly delicious and at the price of $7 it is more than fair for the experiment of the sushi chef Tsubasa. It is pretty spicy, but not overpowering where you can't taste myriad of flavors.

Ubuntu gave me the strength to believe that computers can be fun. After converting away from Microsoft Windows XP and hearing of the frustration of other users with Windows Vista (even a few isolated cases where Microsoft said that legitimate keys were ILLEGALLY obtained, when they had bought them at the computer store)... I had to get away from the viruses, spyware, and the troublesome experiences that Microsoft gave me for the past few years from Windows XP. Ever since my conversion, I have had complete and total faith in Ubuntu... All due to the hard work from the folks at Canonical and the users as well!