You know you own a G37 when...

This has been lifted off of various forums, automag sections, comments etc.

You know you own a G37 when...

1. You still don't see another one the road, and the one you do see makes you go wow!!

2. When one of the things you hate most about your car is something as trivial as not having a tire pressure display in the TPMS.

3. you see a 2008 G35 sedan on the road and you wanna race them 

4. When u drive by people and they're trying to catch up to see what kind of car just flew by them.

5. When you play along when some dumb kid says... wow is that the one that has 400hp.

6. When you get nervous turning a corner too fast and think you might spin out because the car has too  much power.

7. When you drive by a Cayman and realize your car looks better, is faster and is way cheaper to own.

8. When you get your monthly car payment.

9.When you have stock brakes that are bigger than most guys aftermarket ones, same goes for the intake manifold, catback exhausts too.

10. When you get stares from young bucks to old fogies b/c they don't know if its a LEXUS or some new car

11. You get no girls hitting on you b/c they think you are too poor to buy a bmw

12.When every parking space feels like you're just way too close to the other cars in the lot.

13. When you get pissed because someone thought an Altima coupe they saw in the in a parking lot was your car!

14. When you wanna quit your job, but won't do it cuz you can't afford to see it GO.

15. When you're excited to drive to work!

16. and when you look forward to lunch cuz you cant wait to drive to the furthest place away from work.

17. you know you're a G37 owner when your talking on the hands free phone system through your car and the person on the other line can hear your exhaust.

18. You know you're driving a G when the other guy who clearly arrived at the 4way stop before you waves at you to go first so he can watch you drive by

19. When you prefer to turn down the stereo and roll down the window just so you can hear the engine purr~~ (or roar like a lion in an underground parking lot!!!)

20. You have an extra 7-8K in the bank because you didn't get the 335i

21. You can't wait till after break-in to feel what this thing can really do!

22. When you're eating milk n cereal three times a day to make your monthly payments even though you decided not to get the 335i because you wanted to save money, but you still ended up blowing the money saved on gas, parking because you can't stop driving it and you only park your car in a parking structure 5 miles away from civilization.

23. When you blow the doors off an Audi TT because some young punk thinks his car is faster than yours.

24. When you scratch your car and it feels like you just skinned yourself alive

25. Folks do a double-take at your car: 1st take to admire the car, and the 2nd take to wonder how the hell that guy (or girl!) can afford this car!

26. when guys in vettes and vipers tell you u have a wicked hot car

27. When haters insist on calling it a NISSAN, and then drive off in a Honda!

Ride

I bought a new car, a 2010 Infiniti G37 Journey Coupe. Enough said. Will post in detail after the break-in period of 1k miles.

Swim Shwing

Since the past couple of weeks, I have been leaving work at 5.30pm to go swimming till 7.30(the time the pool closes) and so haven’t explored DC as much as I would like to yet. Get exhausted by the time I get back (5k/day swim is no joke man). If I get good enough at swimming longer distances maybe then next year will take part in a swim marathon.

Drive to DC

Recently relocated to Washington DC. I decided to drive there instead of flying as I had done previously.(LA -> Lansing) Since I was more comfortable now with long/boring drives than I was initially.

I decided to leave around noon on Friday, halt at Rama's at Pittsburgh (my apologies to Ramya here) and then drive onto DC the next day(Saturday). I had recently also got my car serviced and decided to give this a shot. So I loaded my car with as much stuff could fit into it and took off.

Michigan,Ohio for the most part is just boring old flat land, the Ohio Turnpike especially was extremely boring, since speed limits are heavily enforced in Ohio and also since I have an old car and had decided to keep it around 2500 rpms. Thus the initial part of the trip was extremely boring (I had a good playlist ready thankfully).Once I hit Pennsylvania though things started to look up. Mountains and long curves were the norm. However since this was nightfall so couldn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped to.

By the time I reached Rama's I was exhausted. The next morning after a good night's sleep and a cup of South Indian Coffee I set out to DC. This time it was amazing though for the drive thru the mountains. Perfect weather, early morning(lesser traffic) had made it the perfect time. Pennsylvania to Maryland was much shorter, more gorgeous drive. Tunnels especially reminded me of the Mumbai - Pune expressway.

I got into DC around noon finally. There is some stuff (PS3, Guitar etc.) that I have left over at Pittsburgh and so will be going back there again in a few weeks to pick those up. The next time around I plan to halt a while to get some snaps of some awesome landscapes.

Rock Band

 

Recently got the Rock Band 2 SP Bundle. This includes a wireless guitar, wireless drumset, USB Mic and the game disc itself.

I was very apprehensive about getting RB because I had tried it earlier (in Boston) and since can actually play a real guitar the plastic one from RB just feeled very disorienting. However RB has another ace up its sleeve and thats the drums.(Am not much of a singer)

The Drums are awesome once you get the hang of it. In fact once you get real good at it there also additions like a cymbal expansion kit which can be connected. (Yes, I know that I probably sound like a drummer/geek combo by now)

Also the Rock Band music store helps since they have a HUGE selection of tracks, thus more add-on content. (Drumming gets especially difficult on the Metal tracks when the double bass kicks in). I generally do not mind paying for RB music tracks since I have pretty much ripped all my music so far from a million sources(poor student days) and so its only fair that I pay for this when I earn now.

There is another feature that most people are missing when they try RB. This isn't about how good you are on each of these 'instruments' , its about getting together, having fun and hitting the right notes. (Just like DDR isn't about how to dance but rather about hitting the right notes) Another thing that a lot of folks are missing is that RB is just another way of experiencing some good music (only this time its much more interactive). This makes RB all the more popular for kids who are starting out to explore the amount of music available out there and not just listen to Britney, Christina but rather go onto Deep Purple, Beatles, Rolling Stones. (Too bad Floyd, Zeppelin haven't released any of their stuff yet)

For now lets get back to drumming some more and hopefully get the cymbal expansion kit sometime.

Wants v.s. Needs

A new/almost new car is something I have been planning for a while. This post is exactly about that(i.e. the Planning, not the Purchase).

As of now I drive a 2000 Mercury Cougar, its served me very well since I bought it in '08. It does everything I want and more, comfortable seating (for me), more than enough cargo space, a great stereo, the V6 ensures that am the first guy off at the traffic lights (when I feel like it) and its also perfect for my favorite activity while driving (weaving). But lately I was thinking of getting another car, infact I have been thinking about this since several months now.

Now obviously since am a driving enthusiast (NOTE. the keyword is driving enthusiast and NOT car enthusiast) my first choice was a BMW. I did ride shotgun in the new 3 series sport once from Chicago to Lansing too but for some reason it felt cramped up, but of course a lovely experience nonetheless. I decided then and there that I wanted to go bigger and started looking at SUV's/Crossovers.

It started by looking into the Honda CRV, Ford Edge, Mazda CX7 and my favorite (so far) the Nissan Murano. The argument against this though is that if am going to buy a new car and keep it for several years now then I might as well go in for the higher end models. And so looked further  towards the Audi Q7, Infiniti FX, Lexus RX350 and the BMW X5(The Volvo XC60 and the Mercedes GLK350 just appeared extremely 'boxy'). Needless to say the X5 won this round hands down.

Lets get back to my situation now, as of now being a single guy I don't really need an SUV, I mean there are only so many occasions for which that am really going to need all that cargo room, seating, AWD etc. But that doesn't stop me from still wanting one. So I decided for the time being to not purchase anything at all (since I don't need it) and have now started looking towards the Porsche Cayenne.

Tragic Relief

How many have heard the " We are sorry but we are going to have to let you go". (Basically in a nutshell, you are fired). Also how many bosses have heard "I do not want to do this anymore, I quit" from their employees.



I can say that I have done each of both. Yes, I have heard the phrase, we are sorry but we are gonna have to let you go,(Toyota, Sircon) and I have also delivered the phrase, I quit (to my research Prof at UMR, I was getting paid here for RA NOT TA, and NO I did not quit because I had something better in hand, I quit because I just didn't want to do it anymore, infact afterwards I washed dishes and did the cafeteria thing for a while, but I did sleep very well though)
It isn't easy to do either though, $$$ are still essential. But each time, each of these disparate incidents happened it has been like a wakeup call. A wakeup call to salvage whatever is left and move forward. I am a consultant, I know that I get paid more because I am dispensable, I can get fired very easily without any explanations either because if the client isn't satisfied with my services I can be let go without any complications. No hard feelings. Just good business. Then again it isn't the worst thing to happen since there will always be some other client. Yes, it may entail moving bag and baggage to a totally new place but this is me we are talking about over here, for those who know me best know that making new friends, adjusting to a new place isn't the hardest thing for me to do. (I moved thru 4 states in 2008, MO, TX, CA, MI, I would know)

The reason I can do this right now is because I am not married (settled) yet. Am sure of course that over the natural course of time this will need some adjustments and will eventually settle down to a question of a comfortable life vs. more money. But for now its a question about how much can I cram into the limited amount of time that I have. (Before I get married) This can be interpreted in different ways as how much $$ can I make before the wife spends it all, how many places can I see before I get bogged down with baggage, the best car/techy goodies that I want etc etc.

I am still very much interested in 'fishing' (Can't elaborate much, my folks read this space too). But leaving everything aside if someone asks me today (01/12/2010) as to whether I want a FT versus consulting, I think I'll take the latter option. I probably may not have said this though when I got out of grad school.

Btw after reading this far it shouldn't come as a surprise that I typed this up after watching Jason Reitman's Up in the Air. Gold Stuff.