Today Avis issued me a Chevy HHR as my rental vehicle. Last week, it was the Ford Focus, and I was pretty happy with that - unfortunately I never found time to blog about it. That said, I’m pretty disappointed with the HHR.

While the interior is pretty nice, the blind spots on this car are pretty dramatic. Here’s an example:

And then there’s this mysterious control. What do you think it does?


Overall, the horsepower is a bit lacking, the steering is really loose, the blind spots are really awful, as well as the visibility through the rear window. And the radio reception for my favorite hard to receive channel was terrible.

I’m afraid I’ll have to give it a thumbs down.

Gah, it’s 6am and i’ve been up for an hour and a half already. Here’s a picture of how far backed up the security line was at 5:33am at San Jose Airport, Terminal C, for Gate C15:

How lame. I think there were people who missed the 6:05am Portland flight because of this.

On the plus side though, it wasn’t raining this morning! I really thought it would be… but once again I’ve missed having to board a plane in the rain - phew.

(Yeah, in San Jose, half the flights are boarded outdoors - you know, like in the movies from the 50’s.)

I ran NetStumbler tonight to troubleshoot a problem, and noticed this:

That’s a lot of wireless networks!! And look at how many of them are secured! Talk about a nerdy place! I was in Boston once, and did a scan: there were 6 networks called “linksys” and they were all open. Sheesh.

But what I think is really funny is how people leave them on the default channel of 6. That’s gotta eat into the bandwidth performance.

Take a tour of the new MSN Travel

Wow… yet another new site from Microsoft! it’s been a busy week for sure.

This morning I drove from Seattle to Redmond.

It’s a 13 mile drive, that’s estimated to take 17 minutes on Windows Local Live.

In reality it took me about 25 minutes. And it involved a bridge! Compared to my past experiences involving the Bay Bridge, this is pretty amazing. Is this typical?

I flew up to SEA from SJC tonight on Alaska, and the flight was exactly 1:30 - instead of the usual 2 hours. Wow! A 30 minute savings.

Unfortunately, this was because of strong winds. Why was this unfortunate? Because when we got to Seattle, the turbulence was extremely strong. Throughout the entire landing process, the plane was rocking back and forth, side to side, up and down. This is definitely one of the more nerve wracking landings I’ve been on yet.

USATODAY.com - Study: Cellphones can impact cockpit devices

Talking on cellphones or using laptops on an airplane could disrupt cockpit operations, especially global positioning devices that are increasingly being used to help land planes safely, according to a new study.

Researchers monitoring flights in the Northeast found that several cellphone calls are typically made on commercial flights during takeoff or final approach, two critical flight stages when accidents could occur.

The research at Carnegie Mellon University was led by Bill Strauss, an expert in aircraft electromagnetic compatibility at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md.

Researchers monitored radio emissions from passengers on three airlines with the support of the Transportation Security Agency. The emissions were tracked using a broadband antenna that was attached to a portable spectrum analyzer in a piece of carryon luggage.

Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy Department, said the activity recorded shows that the use of electronic devices should be limited on airplanes.

Morgan said the disruptions are enough to impact a plane’s navigation or other systems.

So please turn off your cell phones.

WSJ.com - Detroit’s Symbol of Dysfunction: Paying Employees Not to Work

In his 34 years working for General Motors Corp., one of Jerry Mellon’s toughest assignments came this January. He spent a week in what workers call the “rubber room.”

The room is a windowless old storage shed for engine parts. It is filled with long tables, Mr. Mellon says, and has space for about 400 employees. They must arrive at 6 a.m. each day and stay until 2:30 p.m., with 45 minutes off for lunch. A supervisor roams the aisles, signing people out when they want to use the bathroom.

Their job: to do nothing.

This is the “Jobs Bank,” a two-decade-old program under which nearly 15,000 auto workers continue to get paid after their companies stop needing them. To earn wages and benefits that often top $100,000 a year, the workers must perform some company-approved activity. Many do volunteer jobs or go back to school. The rest must clock time in the rubber room or something like it.

It is called the rubber room, Mr. Mellon says, because “a few days in there makes you go crazy.”

[snip]

Every day for a week Mr. Mellon got up at about 4:30 a.m. to make the 45-minute commute to the rubber room from his home in Otisville, Mich. At first he read the newspaper or magazines lying around, such as Reader’s Digest. He talked some with acquaintances. After conversation dried up, he says he spent hours staring at the wall, hoping time would move faster.

One day he asked a supervisor if he could bring in a cot. The supervisor said no, so he pushed together four padded chairs and slept across them for several hours. He had stayed up late the night before, anticipating this nap.

Wow. I’d go crazy too!