Saturday, February 14, 2009

honda student 1999 civic salman sedan jamali google thesis

Few days back, I bought a used car. It's an awesome deal, but still a used car and hence, I am looking for friends who are mechanics :p Anyways, I ran to honda and asked them to inspect my car. They charged me $105 and with a smiling face smashed on my face a bunch of repair recommendations. So I was supposed to prioritize this list and tackle each one by one under a limited, poor-ish and a miserable budget. In the mean time, being a nerd googler, I was able to investigate a lot about the geeky terms of car mechanics and common problems and their solutions. Just today, I realized that I know a lot more than I knew about a car's anatomy, e.g. I can refill my coolant, fuel my car by myself, etc.

following are few of my recent search strings on google:

  • how to check fuse of auxiliary power outlet civic 99
  • cigarette outlet not working civic 99
  • is my coolant leaking? civic 99
  • what is oxygen sensor?
  • what is primary oxygen sensor 02 civic 99
  • how to attach a number plate on front bumper
  • lost my driver's license dmv reporting
  • zune fm transmitter
  • zune car kit
  • best fm transmitter reviews
  • pioneer car cd player deal
  • sony car cd player deal
  • magellon gps deals
  • garmin gps deals
  • garmin vs magellon vs tomtom
  • navteq versus teleatlas maps
  • samsung bluetooth headset deals
  • samsung wep200 vs wep500
  • samsung wep200 vs wep410
  • antifreez coolant autoparts
  • 1999 honda civic mpg
  • 1999 honda civic lx kbb
  • magellon 4210 review cnet
  • progressive insurance
  • what is liability insurance
  • geico
  • mr car wash
  • ..
  • ..

and seems like this list would go on and on.. errr. Anyways, above all, i wish i could drive here the way we used to do it in Pakistan.. :D I don't like it, it's so peaceful here. I notice people actually waiting for the red to be green and literally stopping when it's about to be red! See that's not way, you're wasting fuel, your time and hmm.. some excitement :D We are not supposed to switch lanes with indications and thank people for letting you cross.. it's all right, just show some aggression in your acceleration and they'll stop.. it works always :D

And what's up with these service stations here?! $90 just to check for the problem in the power outlet? $600-$700 to replace timing belt that cost's $40.. I know it's labor, but still.. it's so systematic that you just don't have any cheaper options, or perhaps i'll get to find few eventually.

One more thing, every third mechanic is a Pakistani just like every third software engineer is an Indian and every third human being around is a Chinese :D

To summarize, after 2.5 months of craigslisting, I think I've got a nice deal! :)

tht's it for now, over n out.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Our jokes, about us.

I came across the following comics.. they all relate to the software development world. Although they might not be funny enough for non-techies, but they justify a lot the source of our hopelessness :p

Suggestion: click on the image for bigger size.















Sunday, February 01, 2009

.. and 694000 songs were downloaded illegally ..



a bunch of mind-blowing facts! But still, I am just wondering how this combinatorial explosion of facilities and ease of staying updated isn't enough for us to seek a few pretty simple reality checks on what's happening around us :p .. instead we rely on a bunch of cute & dumb anchors on the tv! grrr..