Dogde Caliber

no automatic window
no remote keyless entry
no cental lock
no cruise control
no engine rpm meter
but surprising it still has AC and its audio has CD! sort of weird arrangement, isn't?
very very smooth when in idle, but apparently something wrong with the noise isolation or just the engine is going to crap out even you just ramp up the engine rpm a little bit.
it is a odd layout. hatch back and high seating position. the review from driver seat is not great. actually felt compressed. just msn auto, it said a cheap version of crossover that chryster came up. so, who want a SUV is so smaller, almost like a sedan (you barely cab tell) and no competence to go offroad at all?
the conclusion is this car have to sell in a very very cheap price. Otherwise, I will just buy a huyndai.

Hiroshima and I

was thinking about this topic for a while us. many years went by, but think a lot of things are cycle around this 'Hirojima'. have you ever seen the movie - Grave of the fireflies? one of the most sad, depressing, mulling but thoughtful animation you can fine. of course, everyone knows where this place is. even don't know how exactly nuclear bomb works, nor how big damage a atom bomb can make (needless to say nuclear bomb but most people don't distinguish atom and nuclear bomb).

so, any way some how not sure why, I read all the nuclear engineering stuff, understood most necessay terms and realize the danger,destructive and the hope of nuclear technologies. I was sort reasonalizing this by my general interesting about astronology. then people will ask why and how these two are relatived. mmm indeed they are. in theory, the 'big explosion' - the start of everything, was a huge nuclear reaction. our sun is actually as dangerous balanced nucleat reaction. and the hope of ultimate energy source - nuclear fusion, is a nuclear reaction in theory thay human being never achieved but broadly used in sci-fi scheme. ok, so Hirojima, the place first showing the destructive facet of nuclear technology, was always the place I was thinking to visit.BUT because it is destructive, I knew it is not going to be pleasant so always at the bottom of my tour list. before talk about Hirojima trip, let's take a step back talk about another event happened much earlier relating to Hirojima. one of my first black and white french movie, is titled ' love in hirojima' I watched in national taiwan university's video library. I don't remember much about that movie but did realize how painful it is to watch sex scene in black-white movie. you generally cannot recognize what is what!!! haha. well, I was assuming the movie is saying the power of love is like the bomb in hirojima? anyway, I don't remember any script in that movie.


so, back to 2003, I had a chance to visit Hirojima. hum.. funny is, the intention was not hirojima, it was miyajima, one of the most culture legend place in japan (if you read me earlier post). we soon realized miyajima is at the out skirt of hiroshima. in order to get on miyajima. connect through hiroshima by shinkansen or airplane is necessary. thus, I guess that is the faith. the faith in my life that I have to see the destructive facet of nuclear technology. 3 days trip. first night at hiroshima and second night on miyajima. that's it and we set to go. we went in hiroshima in the early morning. thus, other than enjoy the less modern (of course less crowded street) and hiroshima yaki, the peace park is of course the place to go. I was initially just thinking to visit the part, rather than museum. but we eventually end up gettinginto the atom bomb museum and spend most morning in there. however, in fact, we did not finish all th exhibition. we gave up at probably a little more than half of the museum. I remembered we walk out the museum around 1pm in the afternoon, but without any appetition. Actually feeling food is disgusting............. and we were quite for next hours or so. luckily, that evening, we went to a famous hiroshima yaki shop. just like most famous japanese shop, there was always a line of people waiting. a LONG one! it certainly trigger ur appetition and eventually we waited a hour and half. (damn you definitely feel hungry after that waiting). that is about hiroshima. second day morning we took the train and ferry to Miyajima and went into a totally different world.

2004, I moved to US and end up at Virginia, not far away from DC. so, have been thinking about the national air and space museum. so,finally nov last year, after 3 years we moved to here, we finally got a chance. Well, I firstly get excited because they have a real B-29. the bomber used broadly in WWII pacific war zone.

however, soon I realized tht is the Enola Gay, the one drop the bomb at Hiroshima.My heart sunk in first 5 mins, all the memory regarding Hiroshima pop up back in my brain and stirred up my stomach.
I keep telling myself that I am coming here to see a engineering mavel, nothing about war and nuclear......... but still, that 5 mins wasn't pleasant.
couple weeks back, I had the second chance to visit the museum and got another chance to look into it closerly. I finally learnt it participate in both bom dropping, hiroshima and nagasaki.
well, I have to claim it is a evil machine now. B-29 itself is really an excellent achievement. but this one is really built up to be the evil I think. it is just like the computer itself is a significant innovation. but some of them do involve in spam and virus speading (ha! stupid metaphor)
ok. I think my memoirs regarding Hiroshima should stop here. I noticed I had another post about hiroshima more than two years ago. well, I probably did mention this place more than others. ok... move on.

Pontiac Torren

sort of interesting SUV. frankly speaking, I am sort of pleased by the interior and the power I got. the steering is not too bad but the turning radius is horrible. the interior is not bad but I should say removing all these GM common component like the cruise control and radio control on the steeringwheel etc.. they are just horrible. I just cannot believe GM says 'let's use these things cross all car'... they are just in wrong size, at the wrong place and disgusting! even a guy like me with smaller fingers found them difficult to operate. how these 'american size' people do!? only the radio panel is fine. the engine is not bad as I mention, just enough to propell this car smoothly.

my conclusion is 'common component' is a good concept. if you do it right, the benefit is multiple. save on design, manufacturing, service etc... but if you do it wrong, like this, you end up with all undesire products cross the board. no wonder we see the sink of GM.

Nissan Murano

get this car accidently. my boss has been making fun of me that I got big rental car all the time, be wasting gas. so I finally got a decent rate for economy class. but, I think the gas price is so bad so the demand for smaller car is so high, they ran out of them and offer me a SUV instead. Oh, man....
however, I have no objection to Murano. couple days back I was ready the review regarding it on USA Today. the review overall is good and just criticize its appearance mainly.
mmm either I feel the same expert sense (consensus?), or just compliant with other's thoughts (follower?) I did feel the same. the interior is not bad. yap it tries to establish a luxury image but does not go far. the engine is smooth and ok. the steering is good.

Rapidan River sweet reserve red

wooo...... who will drink this stuff?
well. my wife I think. and she still complained it is not sweet enough!?
It is very fruity, not acid, and extremely extremely sweet (for me). I have not figured out what variety it has (i bet it is a mix)
Funny it is a virginia wine which I feel should not criticize too much. but anyway, it kills me.

Honda CRV

My wife send Odyssey for a detailing. So, they gave her this CRV for temporary.

well... the suspension is sort of hard. It seems it is trying to make it more jeep off-road feeling rather than a comfy SUV. Quite different than RAV4.

The engine is not that power... but sort of sufficient. The fact is.. who heck will drive this car off road?

Toyota Sienna

hohoho....
so, after I bought a Odyssey, then I got a chance to drive this 'main competitor'
I will say I made a right decision, from space and utility perspective.
overall, it is nice drive and well balanced car. the manuveuring is not bad, not lack of juice for its engine but not too much either.
the third row space is what caught my criticism. the head and knee space is below my expectation. the useless SUV style shift stick design took out some of my favorite space too.
but generally spreaking, a well done car and no wonder it is competitive on the market.

Toyota Highlander

Which class this is!?
One of my former colleague used to drive highlander and kept saying how spacy it is. And I actually drove it once back 2002, but I have to admit I really can not recall anything.
Heck, this is apparently not what I heard and far away from my expectation. It is spacy, sort of. but considering its size (which big enough to make parking difficult in a congested company parking lot), I certaily not impressed by the interior space it is offering. It pretty much can fit up to 4 adult only and waste a lot of space. The dashborad is fine and fashion. but engine sucks. keep feeling I have to ramp up the rpm in order to gain some momentum. it is nice looking, quite fashion styling. and well equipment.

however, I could not have more good words on this car. It has these fatal issues which sacks my toyota impressions.

Academia M&A

When I was shaving this morning, an interesting but stupid topic jumped into my mind.
So, comparing the higher education system in UK and United State, it is quite different since UK is still predominated by elite college system but US is pretty much all university style.

Then I was using using the competitive advantages (RBV) to compare the both systems. One factors determining the advantages in RBV is the economy of scale, and the economy of scale on the other end.

So, US is system seems more one the economy of scale, but theoretically, it may be able to offer the education at cheaper cost (even with the skyrocketed tuition). And on the other hand, UK is more lean to the economy of scope, with certain college only focus on certain area, to ensure providing the best quality of education.


Then I was thinking this is just like to normal business competition. Of course there are debates about the purpose of education, like government subside or not child left behind whatever. But with higher education, it is more like capitalism business that the rich and smarter will get into it but not else. Anyway, so, I assume the competition between school/college/university will be similar just like companies compete in the same fields.

so, will the competition between elite college and university just the competition between Microsoft and niche player like Adobe!? I am saying yes.

Now, here is the real question after go through this path: so, will there be two types of growth for university/college? organic or acquisition? like oracle and SAP?

We certainly don't see much acquisition between college or with university are we? but will there be.... that actually is the question.

I will say mostly are organic. At least that is the impression I had.
The only acquisition case I knew is the case in the town near by. A medical college - Medical College of Virginia MCV merged into Virginia Commonwealth University VCU. MCV definitely had better reputation than VCU, but it used this tactic to take advantage on economy of scale. But whether VCU gained the same and enjoy any economy of scope is unknown. And whether this tactic can help VCU's overall reputation is unclear either.

Well apparently I don't have much background knowledge and no detail research at all during a length of a tooth brush... But I just simply note this down and may be motivated to look into it later in my life... When my life is bored.

Kia Rondo

I just checked the price of this car on msn autos. damn, this car is so so cheap.
the rental car company made a very bad job for cleaning this car. so, it smell stincky.
but driving is surprisingly pleasant thought, considering the price. its handling is notbad. the seat position is high but feel comfort. the engine is doing ok with just enough power. nothing particular about the dashboard. the space is good since it is designed to be a crossover (but think it seems more like a wagon rather than a SUV though). it is a nice plain vallina car, but the price tag is certainly make it appealing and make it a good value-to-money.

Wintergreen resort

Well. so, last year my wife and I were thinking to go ski resort. at that time, we thought it will be just a mission impossible, with a new baby on the way in the mid of this year.
however, from mid of November, we started to feel it is not something infeasible and start to gear up towarding that.
it turned out excellent. from location picking to the content of this 4 days 3 nights outting.
first, I have to mention the location, wintergreen resort, one major resort in Virginia. we considered snowshoe in west virginia seriously since beginning. but consider the distance of travel, purpose of trip and the family accommodation, wintergreen definitely had its merits.
we had a rental vacation townhouse, which is ok for size, cozy and comfortable. and never need to worry about noise. and it is far less expensive than snowshoe.
secondly, as most of us are first/second snow exposed, wintergreen's weather turned out perfect. not too cold, but cold enough to have perfect snowmaking. we are actually extremely surprised by the quality of snow on slope, and no snow anywhere else to reduce the inconvenience.
as mentioned, not many od us has serious snow experience. so, just couple snow tubing trips and some ground playing are sufficient. my 2 years spent more time having fun stumbling in snow rather than taking tube.she definitely had fun.
Me and wife spent couple hours on the slopes only, which is perfect and beyong expectation already since we ourself did not plan to go initially. It was really good feeling to know I have not forgot skiing and really had fun. the condition of slopes are excellent.
we actually didi not use the facilities of wintergreen too much except tubing park and slopes. but overall it is a well organized resort and definitely enjoyed.

Chevolet TrailBlazer

hahaha....
this is quite a classical american car. the dashboard everything are pretty much standard layout for a chevolet. the handling is not too bad but sort of unstable at high speed (I don't want to kill myself for sure)
not having enough power regarding the engine. but acceleation was ok.

Blackfriday 2008

ok. looks better this year since went throught all the Ads and did not see too many things worth to buy. so I guess we are at a stage that the electric at home is sufficient.

Toyota Yaris

My mom was initially thinking to buy this tiny sporty oriented, but cheap entry level car. I start to worry about Civic's market share. but I think its domaination will not be changed. Yaris is still achieve that level of techical excellence from my perspective.
not enough juice for sure. the dashboard is nice, apparently more fashion and modern than corolla. Handing is fine. I think it is ok to be the first car for college kid (but think still too spoiled).

Toyota 4Runner

I was quite happy to get this car. well, nothing to with whether I like this car or not. it just I bookeda lower class car but they ran it out. so I have to pick a bigger one with no extra charge ( who knows they will kick my back later or not)

overall, quite a smooth car. the seating position is high which gave me a good vision on highway. the dash board is sort of cramped. the engine is not particularly power, probably the only obvious issue. sort of spacy. but I believe it could do a better job with this size of chassis.

MDA with strange SIM ---> MAD

Two weeks ago(at the time when I was renting this Envoy), my MDA started losing signal time to time. After a week struggling, it is getting worse and worse. after rebooting and even reformatting my MDA, it kept struggling to get receptions. I was quite concerned since I really don't want to spend another $200 bucks to get a new smartphone, but I also will jeopardize my productivity badly without one.

Then one day I noticed repositioning the SIM card helps, a little. After reposition it, it will quickly find the signal and keep it for a while. After couple hours, it gets back to norm and keep searching for signal, eventually gave up.

Then I replace the SIM card with another phone... what stroke me was, both phones work great!!!.... Damn... but because I use MDA with my company number. I really cannot switch it.

So, I came down to the last option, gave T-mobile customer service a call and ask them to issue me a new SIM card. They were amazed by the issue but agreed to have me replaced it to try out.

I stopped by a local T-mobile shop and pick up a new SIM, put it in.... BANNN...... 5 secs, my MDA is back to full reception! data connection is working too!!! wooopy!

So, we now know that SIM card does affect the reception. It could turn a phone MAD easily....

GMC Envoy

I lost my notes since I reformat my MDA. it is actually an interesting story. I am going to post it on a separate note. Because of MDA went MAD at that time, I did not get a chance to take a picture of this wacky car!!!

It probably ranked as lowest as the car I have ever driven. Before this, I am actually under the impression that GMC does have a pretty good reputation in the section of trunk/SUV/crossover. I am hoping this is the worst car in GMC family, otherwise, I don't think it deserves the reputation I heard.

The major merit and probably the only one is the engine. It just has enough power, "just" but not more. The seat is cramy.. the dashboard is notwell arranged. the electronic system was so out dated like dirivng a 70s car. The interior seems trying to make it a higher class, but all just make it more like driving a slightly more luxury trunk.

I was wondering whether this is for people want to drive a "upper class trunk" and who have never drive a different car but trunk in their whole life. Compare to the comfortness and steering of passenger car, it is far away. Compare to the spacy, no way close to a ordinary Van. Even just compare to a SUV which I thought the market it is asiming. man, don't want to do that. Overall, it seems just a nicer trunk with roof but I doubt how much trunking job it can do.

Maybe I was wrong... but the fact is.. this car does not impress me at all in the begiining, and actually disapppoitning me by the end.

Toyota RAV4

here is the famous RAV4
it is bigger than I thought. it is pretty nice to drive except the engine is sort of lack of juice.

Buick Terraza

Do you believe there is a buick van actually? I didn't. I never realized it exists until I saw this one.

the engine is mild. interior is crop. cannot believe they are positioning Buick as an higher end class.
but reversely thinking, Chrysler's Caravan is even worse. I guess US car marker never think to make a upper class Van. no wonder honda odyssey and toyota sienna keep beating them up. even the over hill nissan quest still edge on them

Ego in Automative

Was quite busy recently because my newborn son came in June. That is another length note which I have not had time to work on. Anyway, this is just about a interesting story from my friend/college classmate.

My BS is mechanical enginerring. I quite focused on automative industry and was friend with a group of "car geek". I then went to the pilgrim school, U of Michigan. For an automotive engineering, that is the dream school. But ironically, during the final stage of my graduate degree, I decided to leave car industry and tought it is failing (which is kind of true now).
Back on track. This is one of the friend from this group. He came to here, went to the MBA program of one of the elite school. It was quite a investment but we all think it should be worthful.

The interesting part comes. Finally he landed a nice job and graduated. When relocation is still going on and student loan is not cleaned yet, he decided to buy a new car.
A BMW 335xi!!!
This car is more than 40K and in a upper class among BMW family.
This made me recall the last time I drove BMW. It was Autumn of 2005 when I was managing a project in Regensburg, Germany. I had some photos. But I really cannot recall what exact they were. I remembered the first time I got a BMW 318, then 320 I believe. Whether I got 325 or not, I am not sure. Funny thing is, I kept all the rental records back 2004, but I just cannot find any of these.

I always rent BMW mainly because I need GPS and client was ok for the higher rate. So, I managed to stay away from VW which my client keep saying they are crap. Oh... one point here, having a GPS in a country which you can not speak the language is a life saver. I ended up using the GPS more fluent than my own product I guess.318 was not impressed. The space is not sufficent and the engining is crying all the time... I managed to drive up to 200Km/Hr on AutoBahn but the whole car was getting shaky. 320 (or 325) was relatively better. The space is about the same (actually better because the 32x was the new model). But the smoothness around 150-200Km/Hr is quite improved.

BMW 318 when reaching 200 Km/hr

I then got couple chances to take rides with client's IT manager, who was driving a BMW 525. I just think I will never accept the tiny space in 3 series to be a family car. Overall, it is a car for two adults only, a hippy car.

Before my daughter came, we actually went to the car dealer and tried the 3 series. We also then tried Mercede C220 (I think). Well, my wife was apparently not even putting them in consideration.

Oh... when looking for photos (and rental records but return nothing), I recalled all the days I had in that small nice town in Germany. Regensburg is quite a peaceful place and may be I should post some photos later. I also noticed I actually got a Mercede B series one time. Maybe I should talk it a little bit since B series is quite rare out of Europe.

Ok... the point is, I am quite happy for my friend actually. Even thinking about all the financial implication. Car is consumer good, we all agree. And it go depreciate all the time and does not preserve value well. But from car guy ego, I can sort of understand. And I kind of thinking that if I could, I may go crazy because of this ego thing once a life time.