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Showing posts from February 20, 2005

The Nissan Leaf Gets a New Rear Axle

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Well, I finally have a salvage title for the 2013 Nissan LEAF (Actually I dont have the title yet, but I think they mail it to me. We are far from settled with the insurance company for sure. It has been six months since Angie was rear ended. The following chart shows a very sad and disturbing trend. Insurance companies aren't paying out. It should be criminal. I went shopping for a new rear axle so I can get the car driving again. The rear ended axle was so bent, the car couldn't move. The new one with no connecting bits was over a thousand dollars. The cheapest used ones I could find on ebay were over 500 dollars. I finally scored at a local used parts place for 95 dollars (removed) and with associated bits such as bearings, bushings, parts of the brakes. It took me a concentrated day with cancelled and moved meetings to get the axle replaced and the car running again. The accomplishment felt good. I am now configuring the car with tractor tires and other modifications t...
Pervasive computing journal I received my first copy of Pervasive computing yesterday. Interesting journal and of typical IEEE high quality. I was invited to co-author a journal article in another journal this week, which I accepted. I was invited by a Physicist PhD to collaborate on an article describing how a special area of economics afflicts technical communications and the information industry. The foundation work was first published in 1967. The concept I would characterize as part of the body of the "Economics Way of Thinking." John Maynard Keynes describes this kind of thinking as an "apparatus of mind." I think the article will have some good life to it as it resonates through the community in which we are introducing it. Also this week, I was asked to contribute to a book (soon to be published) on the Toyota way as it applies to technical communication. I agreed. I will not have my name on the cover but I will be credited in the book. So this week ...
It doesn't seem like it has been a week since I last blogged. Apparently it has been. I have joined the 1990s! I now have a cell phone along with Bonnie. We got Tracfones which are prepaid PCS type digital phones. It works at the house so that is great. Coverage is pretty good. Out here coverage is a big deal and something you cannot take for granted. I am doing a NPV analysis of the prices over minutes over time to ensure I am getting the best deal. Homework is taking quite a bit of my time. I am learning a lot about finance. This week we did regressions for portfolio analysis of beta among other financial models including Fama-French and emerging financial behavioral models. We have ducks! I picked them up Friday. Currently we have 8 ducks. Liz and Ken will take 5 leaving us with two hens and a drake. They are young mallards. I leared how to clip their wings as to not let them fly away. They are quite nervous still. I hope they settle down. They are really uptight. The chi...