Octopushat 2.0

5k and Change
Originally uploaded by OctopusHat.

I noticed this morning that I’ve rolled-past 5,000 miles in the (still unnamed) xA in about 5 months of ownership. I’m still loving it just as much as day-one. It is so much fun to drive that I actually don’t dread the drive-to-work in the mornings, and that is saying a lot. The iPod integration i with the stereo is a great feature and having 20+ gigabytes of music on-tap is fantastic.

I recently got grease-monkey on it and installed a Progress Tech rear anti-sway bar. This is a thick steel bar that bolts up under the rear suspension components to increase stiffness in the torsion-beam rear axle. This reduces the FWD car’s under steer and makes the car corner “flatter” (less lean when turning.) Basically it makes the car handle (even more) like a go-kart. The install was ridiculously easy, I was actually able to complete it on my lunch-break with enough time left over for a test-drive. (I wish I had taken some pics of the car up on ramps in the warehouse here at work, but I didn’t have the camera that day…)

The MPG has improved since those initial weeks of driving. Some combination of adjusting my driving-style and engine break-in results in an average of 25MPG on my traffic-bogged 7 mile commute. Though on no-traffic days (like over the holidays) I can easily see over 30MPG. The car isn’t really built for freeway cruising as the transmission is geared short for in-town pep, but on a recent drive over 15 miles of the 101 I hit 40MPG, and that is nothing to scoff at. The Scion xA might not be a hot-rod, but it deserves respect as a refined and fun to drive car on LA’s mean streets.

John likes Gonzo Journalism. John Likes Chefs. So obviously John Likes the king of Gonzo-Chefs Anthoney Bourdain. You’ve seen him eat a still-beating cobra heart, and cheered at his vitriol when he speaks of all that is unholy in American consumer-culture cuisine. Now, in a guest-blogging spot at ruhlman.com, see him tear-down FoodTV. He has lots of mean and hurtful things to say about all those big-headed Chef-bots on the network that so profoundly blew its promise of teaching American’s how to COOK. My favorite tidbit is what he has to say about the ghastly Rachel Ray:

“Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder.”

Heed what the man says, he know what he is talking about, and he has nothing but good-things to say about Geek-fav TV Chef Alton Brown. It is too bad that the two of them are on different sides of the food-on-tv divide, because a savvy EP could put together a fantastic “go somewhere and eat stuff” show featuring AB and AB.