forgotten_aria

A friend let me drive the Bolt EV and it was a decent car. I'm not a fan of the idiotic brake placement trying to comply to the rule of "brake lights can't be on a movable panel," but that's about the only draw back and because of all the tax credits, it's 19k less than a LEAF with the same range (the next alternative.)

So I decided to try to order one. Luckily I learned enough about "allocations" to understand some of the dealers responses.

Apparently GM dealers get sent a list of cars they are allowed to order on Thursday (it's unclear if it's ever Thursday, or every second Thursday.) This list is different for every dealers. So there are some that might get 3 Bolt allocations, and some that might get 0 for months. Right now the lowest trim, the 1LT, is also on "constraint," meaning the factory isn't taking orders for them even if the the dealer has a bolt allocation.

Production of the bolt shuts down in November and there is a large back log of orders, so there is a chance that if I order now, I might not even get a car. The chances of getting a 1lt are unknown.

The dealers have no idea what allocations they will get in the future and there is not a lot of information on how the system works. Right now I've contacted a few dealers and have the following responses (none of the dealers bothered to try to explain allocations or constraint.)

"I was just informed by my management team that at this time we do not have a Bolt allocation."
"We have stopped taking any orders because we have reached our allocation limit."
"The 1 LT is on constraint!"

One of the dealers who clearly didn't realize how in demand the Bolt was went from "sure we can order you one at MSRP" to "we have no allocations and it's a $3000 mark up over MSRP."

So we have to decide if we want to try to order a 2LT, or find someone willing to try to order a 1LT and take our chances or something else.

Luckily this isn't dire. The plan was to replace the c-max with an EV before the battery warranty ran out. But if nothing else we can keep the c-max and spend the $6-8k to have the battery replaced plus whatever other repairs it needs.

EDIT: I've already told two dealers that 6-8 months > November. E.i. They were more than happy to place and order that likely would never be filled.

First, I acknowledge that I'm extremely privileged to have had the space and money to do the following.

I have slowly been putting together my at home work out space.

Before this all started, I had made myself a pylo box for practicing at home.

It started with cleaning out the back corner of the basement with equipment on loan from Crossfit Ares.

( long post with photos. )

I got a headstand bench. It was a bit costly and I was worried I wouldn't be able to use it since I've been struggling with kicking up into my handstand, but after a few minutes I was up and even doing leg lifts. I'm a very happy consumer.

P.S. This is after doing 150 situps as part of my noon workout. It's my dreamwidth, I'm allowed to brag!

( photos and video )

I finally decided to take the plunge and get a cricut maker for two reasons, the fact it can do (3/32") thin wood and that it can do craft foam which should help with my costume this year (which I'll go back to working on in June.) I am annoyed by a handful of things.

1) you must use either a tablet app or a web page app and, unless you have iOS, you must have a good net connection to their servers. For a piece of hardware that expensive, this feels unacceptable. Apparently there used to be alternative software, but they kind of put a stop to that.

2) the browser crashed during my first test cut and as far as I can tell there is no way to ask it to resume midcut. I accidentally started with likely the worst image possible to test it with, but still, since cutting wood takes 6 passes, the application needs to keep running it without falling over.

I sent it another test image, and it did that one in 20 seconds, which was an impressive change. I really did pick a horrible image for it, I think. I'm trying again in IE with a cropped version of the hellish image. It's about 44% done so far.

I used to wear a fitness tracker, a withings 02. I chose it because I could wear it on my belt because wearing things on my wrist drives me a bit bonkers for two reasons. That tracker served me well, but at some point I stopped caring about steps and cared more about heart rate (especially with crossfit.) It did have a heart rate sensor, but because it was on my belt, you had to explicitly ask it to take a reading and hold it against your finger. I also couldn't wear it comfortably while sleeping and you had to remember to tell it you were sleeping and when you woke, which was slightly annoying. It served me well for a about 3 years including going through several holders.

Almost all of the new trackers, especially those with nice features, are wrist mounted. A few days ago I had an idea to wear the band further up my arm. This solves both the issue of it digging in when I type and the clamminess my skin gets underneath the plastic bands (because I can move it up and down as the day progresses.) I tested this idea with the band from my old one (it came with the option to wear it on wrist or belt) with success.

Doing a little research, I knew I wanted small and 24/7 heart rate. Eventually I settled on the garmin vivosmart 4 and I'm delighted. It is not only giving me the data I want, but it's comfortable enough I forget it's on if I'm wearing long sleeves.

Now if I could get the scale and the tracker to talk to each other, but because they are different companies, I think I would have to go through a third party that I'm not that happy with, so I guess my data will have to state separate.

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I've been trying some VR demos on the ps4 lately. One of the problems with VR is a lot of the games aren't very deep, but still sport a $20 price tag.

Statik is a puzzle game. The first puzzle (and only one in the demo) was ok, but it didn't really seem like a good use of the VR. I might drop $3 if it goes on deep sale.

I tried Ancient Amulator where you are killing waves of minions who are attacking your base. The demo included the archer and the mage. The archer was fun (after I played the tutorial) and would be kind of a nice way to unwind. The mage was very difficult to use (throwing things in VR seems to be something game designers are struggling to get right.) In the video they show the warrior throwing down this little melee dummy and then you swing your fists and the dummy follows your lead. That looks amusing. I don't see it holding my attention for long. I also have the problem that in the VR you are standing on a pestle and while this doesn't trigger the panic of my fear of heights, it does cause me to not move my feet AT ALL leaving me a bit stiff after a session. One of the things I like about beat saber is it encourages fluid, natural movements. I would pick Ancient Amulator up for $10.

Reviewers rave about Tetris Effect so when I heard there was a demo weekend, I was excited. Sadly I think either 1) I don't like a game making me try to feel like I'm on drugs or 2) I got enough tetris growing up or both because I really didn't get why people feel this game is worth the full price tag of $40. Very glad I got to try the demo to learn it wasn't special.

I realize I never wrote about Superhot VR other than a passing mention. They did a really good job porting it to VR other than the throwing issues state above. I have to warn people, though, it is not to be played by certain people, and sometimes not even me.

There is a thing I want. It was on sale for $160. It's currently available for $200. I still think it is worth $200, but 1) I feel annoyed that I was out of town for the sale, or I would have jumped on it 2) the store¹ has bought up most of the competition years ago (but pretends it didn't) and in so doing has made a notable degradation in deals. 3) they have a "rewards club" where, in their FAQ, they explain they will gleefully sell your information.

Now I still want the thing, but I am so far not getting the thing because I'm just plain annoyed and mistrustful of the store (not that I haven't bought many things from there in the past.) Am I just being silly?

As far as I can't tell no one else sells the thing. It's on amazon and ebay, but it's being sold by one of the branches of the store.

¹ guitar center bought musician's friend, music123, Lyons Music, woodwinds and brass, Giardinelli and a few other sites, but still pretends they are different.

EDIT: People have started to review it and the package is missing two things in the photo without any indication that they are not included. I'm glad I didn't get it.

Ran again with the shoes with better socks and using the last holes. They were better than before, but I can't say they're really a win. Definitely not worth the money, but I also feel like they're not so horrible that I can justify returning them now that I've run outside with them. So chock it down to an expensive mistake. I think I'll alternate between these and the on and then when I can justify it, try the sturdier On shoes.

P.S. I wish running didn't leave me feeling like a failure.

I am cheap. I am willing to pay for function, but even then, I tend to be cheap.

When it comes to shoes, I mostly look for something that will keep sharp objects from hurting me and not much else.

That changed a while back when I got my fancy On Cloudracer shoes. I really like them a lot, but last run I was thinking I might need something with more protection for my feet and more bounce too.
The problem with most shoe and sports stores is it was hard to tell shoes that weren't fashion over function. So I decided to go to a specialty running store knowing that I was not going to get anything cheap there, but I was going to pay for the expertise. So I went in resolute that I was not going to balk at the price.

I went to one in Andover that had good reviews. They put me in some "neutral" shoes and took a video of my running on the treadmill. I land on the outside of my foot and then pronate, just a little, on to the inside. She decided I needed some stability help (and I think, without ever saying it, she wanted something to cushion me for my weight.) I must have tried on about 12 shoes and spent almost an hour in the shop. When I found a pair I liked, I asked "How much is the damage?" She looked at the price and say, "Oh no, I'm so sorry, this might be the most costly pair of shoes in the whole store. Let's go try on a few less expensive models of the same brand." So we did, but I didn't like them. I had never seen an sales person be so genuinely apologetic for trying to sell the expensive model. I really liked the store and the people there, so if you need an expert to help you with your running shoes, I recommend Greater Boston Running Company in Andover.

Here's hoping these shoes make me hate running less!

I decided to splurge on a fancy cat tree.

( before and after )