Geek Habitat

I collect frogs. Not real ones, mind you, but stuffed animal frogs, frog art, frog photos, frog “stuff”. I didn’t start out with an intent to collect frogs, but having a frog calendar in my cube brought about an 18-inch neon orange frog, which brought about various frogs gifted to me over the course of my employ. By the time I left, I had something like a dozen different frogs to bring home… and if you remember your high school biology, frogs reproduce just about as readily as rabbits, so, well… I have an even larger frog collection now.

And then I go and buy a Ford Escape Hybrid, which if you watched the Superbowl commercials this year, had Kermit The Frog as its official “spokesfrog” — “Maybe it is easy being green!”

So, yeah, I’ve been looking for Kermit the Frog merchandise although nothing has leapt (snort!) out at me yet. For the time being, all I have is a 3-inch-tall felt Kermit pencil topper that I bought at the workplace Starbucks some years’ back (in a pure moment of weakness, I tell you! Uhm… I also bought the matching Beaker! )

And in Dallas, I bought an insanely soft frog that’s taller than my 2-year-old niece and, after making the mistake of letting her hug him (kid-speak for “Have him, he’s yours!”) we coaxed her to “put him back to bed, in his bag” at which point I whisked him away to our car. If I were a grown-up, I’d have given the frog to her then and there… (Jason & Karen, don’t be surprised if you get an oddly shaped, absurdly light, package in the mail one day! Hehe)

So, all of this leads up to the impetus for this posting. I’m surfing Amazon, which has surprising little in the way of Kermit merchandise, and I decide to search for “frog” instead.
…
And this rather sad, very strange creature is what I find… yikes!

He definitely has personality, but he really looks like he needs to be treated ASAP by a veterinarian!

Here’s one for the “I’m really glad that wasn’t my car” archives –

Joaquin Phoenix tipped/rolled his Ford Escape Hybrid — photos here. OUCH, yes? Apparently, “his brakes failed“? Joaquin and his passenger were not injured (his side curtain airbags deployed, as seen in the photos,) but the FEH sure was. Whatever the cause, I say again, OUCH!

This is really only notable because I didn’t realize Joaquin Phoenix drove a hybrid, much less a Ford Escape Hybrid. Yes, some of us hybrid drivers quirk an eyebrow, Spock-like, when we learn of a new addition to the ranks of celebrities who own hybrids; it’s really the same fascination that makes licensed general aviation pilots keep a mental tally of celebrities and what types of aircraft they fly (Angelina Jolie = Cirrus SR22; Michael Dorn = fighter jets; see?)

With something like seven onboard computers, my Ford Escape Hybrid is smarter than my desktop computer.

Don’t believe me? Read through the various systems and sub-systems involved in making my vehicle “Go” and “Stop”:
FEH principles of operation

In case that posting ever disappers, here’s an excerpt from the “Regenerative Braking” section that I absolutely love. Why? ‘Cuz it’s so absolutely geeky, and it’s almost embarassing how much I enjoy the fact that my vehicle is utterly a geek beneath its glossy exterior.

Oh, btw, I finally got my average MPG back out of the hole creating during our headwind hell to and from Dallas last weekend. My average MPG finally cleared the 30mpg mark once again, and is still climbing (30.5mpg when I parked her earlier this afternoon.) And that’s just by driving normally, although I do occasionally shift to “L” to decelerate the vehicle, just prior to brake application (it results in recharge of the battery beginning a little sooner.)

I meant to post these the other day. These were all taken during our weekend roadtrip to Dallas to visit Jason, Karen and our niece, Jillian.

All photos are Copyright © Justin W. Moore.

Congratulations are in order for V, a very talented former co-worker of mine; she’ll soon be joining Google’s exciting and vibrant employee community as a user interface designer. WOOT!

The GooglePlex just got a little cooler!

No, I haven’t turned into a rabid anti-environmentalist… I’m just suffering for horrendous allergies. Pollen.com says there’s a ton of OAK, hackberry and mulberry in the air. I could have told them that just from looking at our red Ford Escape Hybrid sitting in Jason and Karen’s driveway in Dallas, Texas, this morning. It looked like the oak trees in the neighborhood had all joined forces to tag every square inch of our vehicle in dusty yellow oak pollen. And what kind of trees do we have in our yard here in San Antonio? Why, live oaks, of course!

I love Spring, but I also hate what it brings — allergies. There’s nothing “seasonal” about my allergies — no, my allergies are of the perennial variety! When I was allergy tested as a pre-teen, I reacted to everything except foods and animal dander; pollens, grasses, molds, dust mites and cigarette smoke all trigger allergic reactions of varying degrees in me. Oh, joy!

If I’d counted the number of sneezes I’ve had today, I’d be in the triple digits. Justin just hollered out, “HOSPITAL!” as in, “If you keep sneezing like that, I’m taking you to the hospital!” Sometimes, when the sneezes get that rapid-fire and unrelenting, I’m almost ready to agree to those terms!

Anyway, we’re back from Dallas and for at least a little while, Justin has put more miles on my ‘06 Ford Escape Hybrid than I have. I didn’t have the stomach to drive her among the many maniacs-with-deathwishes we encountered on U.S. 281 and I-35 heading to and from Dallas this weekend. I concur with Justin — flying there in a rental Cessnay Skyhawk 172 feels a helluva lot safer than driving doorhandle to doorhandle with our fellow Texas and out-of-state drivers. How’d she handle the 5 to 7 hour interstate highway travels? Perfectly! We faced a headwind both heading to Dallas and returning home to San Antonio, so our gas mileage took a big hit (just like everyone else on the roadways.) Average MPG en route to Dallas was 30.2 MPG, despite a headwind, due to taking the longer and more varied speed U.S. 281 route to Dallas. Our odometer ticked over to 1,000 miles while we were in EV (Electric Vehicle) mode in Glen Rose, home of the famed dinosaur tracks — a fitting inaugural for the Escape Hybrid, hitting her break in period while running in stealth electric only mode and not burning any fossil fuels (dead dinosaurs) in Glen Rose. Miles Per Gallon en route home literally sucked (gasoline), primarily due to a very strong and gusty headwind the entire way home — 24.7 average MPG from Dallas to San Antonio via I-35. The I-35 route also involves a more sustained speed, with little to no opportunities for EV mode (unless there’s an accident, which thankfully there wasn’t), which lessens the hybrid’s ability to kick ass and take names on fuel economy. Still, 24.7 MPG with a horrible headwind, carrying four adults and all their luggage and cruising at 70-75mph for 5+ hours is none too shabby.

My Escape Hybrid is now absolutely filthy, with bug guts all over her front end and baked on pollen everywhere. She’s getting a thorough bath and detailing tomorrow even though we have an 80% chance of rain on Tuesday.

Until then, I’m going to curl up and sneeze some more until my nose shrivels up fully and falls off.

Total Prisues sighted during travels: 3, all on the way up to Dallas on Friday. We never got close enough to them to share a hybrid wave with ‘em. Justin swore he saw another Ford Escape Hybrid, but later learned some Escapes have a reflector or a text badge where our “leaf and road” HYBRID logo is.