I was reading Piggs' shampoo (yep, his hair is 1/4 inch long, but he shampoos) and the German translation of "for all hair types" is "fur all haartypen" or something like that. Dude, I could have made up German. I installen sum flooren yesterdai. Tonacht wee had ein curry. *To mien readeren: I knau English is ein Deutschlandic languager, und that I shud not maaken judjmenteers, but it is fuun. Especially since my band now has a Man-Gyna in Germany. Or, should I say, Mann-Gyna.
Manual transmission question: All right, listen, I know it's a long shot, and that if I had a question about, say on which planet the stormtroopers originated, or just what is the physics principle that allows Dr. Who's phone booth to be bigger inside, my friends would be the folks to turn to, but I'm trying anyway. I was reading Click and Clack (the car guys, I always do), and there was a question about whether it was okay to shift into Neutral when coming to a stop. They said no, that it's really hard on your transmission to completely shift out of gear and then back in. But I'm wondering, was that for automatics only? Because I swear I remember reading that it WAS okay. And while my memory is not great, and my understanding of mechanics even worse, it would seem to me that when you engage the clutch, you are basically putting it in Neutral, in that you are disengaging the gears. And to stop, you HAVE to engage the clutch to work the brake. So why would it make a difference to go from, say, 3rd, to not-in-gear, to 1st (but not really in gear because you've got the clutch and brake engaged) instead of 3rd to not-in-gear, stopping, then going into 1st? Seriously, is there a good reason to downshift when coming to a stop, especially when just driving in town? I mean, even though it's a bit of a pain to re-train myself, I'll be happy to do it if I've been harming my precious Jellyfish. Somebody tell me! (By the way, out of ALL my friends, including my many guy friends, my money would be on my mom being able to accurately answer this, but we'll see.)
I was Blooping today. I just made that up. It's Blog-snooping. I was following speculative Harry Potter comments on my bro's blog, and realized that one of his commentors was someone I used to know long ago. Then I was looking at HER friends page, and saw a recipe that looked intriguing posted by another user, so I poked around HER blog, and found ANOTHER old friend. Then I went back to the original page (bro's) to snoop on my little bro, and from there on to his ex-girlfriend. And from her, on to Big Bro's ex-girlfriend, who's now married, and on to her husband (whom I've always disliked). Tra la la. It was fun.
Okay, so I had this idea earlier that I should find some of my ugliest, least flattering photos of myself and put them on my profile on MySpace. And it's a little scary, which makes it really tempting. See, I like to challenge my vision of myself once in a while: Am I vain? Sure, I must be, otherwise I wouldn't have scanned my, like all-time cutest picture on there. Could I deal with having the one that's been compared to Napoleon Dymnamite's Grandma up there instead? Maybe. I try hard not to be vain, but sometimes I'm like "Yeah, I look good today!" The flip side is, I try not to be too self-critical, but I also end up going "Oh my god, look at my fat belly." When I was growing up, I was always told what a cutie I was, but if I would specifically ask "am I pretty?" my mom's answer was always to emphasize how smart and talented and creative and funny I was. Which, yeah, worked the same way it does on a blind date. ("Is she hot?" "She's so funny!") But I'm glad she wasn't like "Hell yeah, you're the prettiest girl in the west!" Because then I might have ended up one of those fat, squinty, snaggletoothed girls on Ricki Lake who are like "You know I look goooood!" I assume their mommies told them they were the prettiest little things. Or maybe they just learned it from their demi-god, Courtney Love. But I digress.
Anyway, as I was thinking about the Ugly Photo Project earlier, it also occurred to me how many times lately I've said things like "I'm a genius!" Usually it's about some minor problem-solving challenged I've managed. I have no compunction about bragging about my smarts, talents, etc. At least in my head anyway, I don't go out in the world talking about how smart I am. But I don't feel weirdly guilty or suspicious about my pride in my brain, either, like I do with my looks. And I sometimes even glamorize my failings in that area -- I'll NEVER wear a middy t-shirt and be like "Yeah, check my love handles!" But I'll happily tell people that I failed two science classes in college. Anyway, I didn't come to any conclusions, I just was having thoughts. But keep your eye out for the Napoleon Dynamite photo.
6 comments:
Okay while Click and Clack are the gurus, from my personal experience, having had TWO cars that are manual transmissions and having learned how to drive on a manual transmission, I NEVER noticed any problems with my car using the neutral thing when stopping. Granted it is probably better to use a gear but my mechanic never told me not to, nor did I notice that I needed a clutch three times as often as normal. So while C & C probably are working from ideal (just like change your oil every 3000 miles- hi tried that, your car won't blow up if you wait til say 4000) I think you can get by without worries. So that's my two cents for what it is worth! PS Ich Bien Berliner!
C&C suggest changing oil every 5000 miles, so in some instances they don't work from the ideal. That does not make them any less obnoxious on the radio though...
You are so hot! Really, you look just like Kate Winslet. She's gorgeous.
You are smart, talented and creative (and I always prefaced that with "of course you are pretty). MM
From what I figure, they were speaking of automatics only (in which case I'd agree -- the automatic transmision is designed to be shifted by the driver as little as possible). In using a Manual, you do want to keep it in gear and downshift as needed to perform enging braking (particularly when going downhill), but only to a point. Your engine can slow the car down with far less stress and wear than your brakes can at higher speeds, and newer automatics actually do it as well (my roomate's truck, for example). However, you only want to engine break to a certain point. I usually use engine breaking till about 20mph, where I'll shift into neutral and just use the brakes to come to the stop (this is encouraged by my car, which actually will turn off the engine if it's not in gear and I'm braking below 19mph -- as well as it needs engine breaking to recharge the battery (thus encouraging both behaviours)).
And just a minor point, but holding the clutch in is not entirely like being in neutral. The clutch will just dis/engage the slip disc, which connects to the flywheel, which is between the engine and the transmision. Having the transmision in neutral has more to do with the positioning of the various gears in the gearbox, and doesn't care much if the slip disc is engaged or not.
Further, if you are allways leaving the car in gear, and are relying on the clutch to keep your car from moving (like sitting at a stop light in first and holding the clutch), it's a great way to speed up the wearing down of your clutch (not that you do this, but leaving it in gear as they recommend would require holding the clutch). The clutch is a simple hydrolic pump, and when you have it in there is static pressure being applied all along a very small hose. If it's going to break at all, the odds of breaking are greatly increased while you are holding it in.
Keep in mind, I'm not an auto mechanic and could be entirely wrong on every point here, but this is what I recall from looking through various tech manuals for a few different trucks.
... on to Big Bro's ex-girlfriend, who's now married, and on to her husband (whom I've always disliked).
That's almost sad, because I always admired you. Unlike me, you never allowed yourself to get sidetracked by jobs -- you powered through school and succeeded long before I managed to get back to it. For that alone I respected you.
I asked Elli why you didn't like me after we got together, and she told me the reasons you gave her. I can't imagine how you turn something like that into such dislike, but that's not my problem. So I'll put away the memories of kindesses, and conversations where you sure *seemed* to be ok with me, and just wish you well in your life. I'm sure you won't give a shit what I think anyway, so let this be the crowning moment of your hatred and let's just be done with each other.
Post a Comment