About five or six months ago, I was surprised to note that the number of comments on Dividing by Zero had reached the point where there were more comments than posts. I haven’t really been paying attention to the number of comments since then. Tonight though I just happened to take another glance at the numbers:
As of this evening, Dividing by Zero has received six hundred and sixty-six comments, 666.
So what was “The Comment of the Beast”? Well, it came in response to the post about The Eastern Setter when Luke wrote in to say, “when i die, i wanna come back as an Eastern Setter.”
It’s a sentiment I can certainly understand. Take a look through those photos and you’ll see that Wylie’s surrounded by a lot of pretty girls. He’s the neighborhood rock star after all and chicks dig the fuzzy guy.
It’s ironic that Luke should be the person who left comment #666 though. He’s in seminary and can tell you in far more detail than I can about how all dealings with the devil come with a great deal of peril. You might manage to get exactly what you asked for, but there’s always going to be a vital detail you didn’t think of.
In those photos, Wylie is getting his back skritched by pretty girls, and what guy wouldn’t like to be in that situation? But here’s the detail Luke overlooked: Wylie has been fixed.
Monthly Archives: September 2009
The Eastern Setter
Ol’ Wylie is pretty much the neighborhood rock star. When we go out for our regular after-work walk, the neighborhood kids frequently flock to his side. The kids inevitably want to pet Wylie, and many remark on how soft his hair is. (He uses shampoo with extra-conditioner.)
One of the most frequent questions the kids ask me is what kind of dog Wylie is. They’re never satisfied with “I don’t know” so I’ve tried variations such as “Black” or “He’s a Wylie.” None of those work either. Some Wylie-historians claim that Wylie is an Irish Police Dog from Scotland Yard, but Wylie insists that this is a gross exaggeration and he only ever worked with a small constabulary on the outskirts of Dublin.
So far though, Wylie hasn’t been willing to discuss his origins. Until now.
Earlier this week, Wylie and I were talking about the problem with the kids not accepting any of the standard answers. He admitted that it always bothered him to be putting me on the spot like that, so he’s decided to share his secret with the world:
Wylie is an Eastern Setter.
For those unfamiliar with the particulars of this breed, the Eastern Setter is native to North America with a range covering the mid-Atlantic states, going North into New England and as far West as Indiana.
Here we see the Eastern Setter in his natural environment — setting on the couch.
Likewise, here we see the Eastern Setter in another of his favorite settings — setting on the deck, getting his back skritched by a pretty girl.
And again, the Eastern Setter, setting on the couch, getting his back skritched by two more pretty girls. (It’s truly a dog’s life!)
Batteries not included.
My car’s check engine light came on again late last week. This time it was accompanied by the IMA light. IMA means “Integrated Motor Assist” or, translating from Honda to English, “The part that makes is a hybrid.”
I took it to the dealership this morning and they called me around 1:30 or so with the diagnosis. The battery needs to be replaced. Not the run-of-the-mill battery for starting the gas engine (that was replaced last fall). This time it’s the one located in the trunk, right behind the back seat, which provides the extra “oomph” when I’m accelerating.
Then I found out the cost. Around $4,000.
Ouch. (Have I mentioned that the car has 100,000 miles on it and is thus been out of warranty by 20,000?)
I don’t understand the details, but for whatever reason (possibly because they want people to buy their hybrid instead of the better known one from Toyota), Honda is going to give me the battery for half of what they paid for it, but that still comes in at $1,600 plus labor.
It’s not as bad as it might have been, but it was still enough to make me wonder whether getting a hybrid was really worthwhile after all.
Some quick back of the envelope numbers….
Assuming $2/gallon (definitely a lowball figure since Katrina hit in 2005), $1,600 would buy 800 gallons of gas. If a regular Civic gets 30 MPG, that would be enough to move it about 24,000 miles.
My car has been averaging about 46 MPG, so with 100,000 miles, I’ve used a little less than 2,200 gallons of gas over the past 6 years.
Using that same amount of gas, a regular civic would have only gone 66,000 miles. Add in the 24,000 miles worth of gas you could buy for the cost of the new battery and my car’s still ahead by 10,000 miles.
The oil changes cost more, but they’re less frequent than with a conventional engine, so we’ll call that part a wash.
The hybrid did cost more than a regular civic. I don’t recall the exact amount, but I remember that the various tax incentives (no state sales tax, $2,000 federal deduction) made a serious dent in it. (A dent in the cost please, not the car!!)
So I can’t be completely certain, but I think I came out ahead by at least enough to buy a celebratory dinner at McDonald’s.
Plus, I get a fairly huge number of geek points for buying a hybrid back in 2003, long before the gas prices went up.
So yeah, the hybrid wins. 🙂
Dog Park
In order to shake up the routine a bit (and Lord knows, the routine needs shaking), I’m planning to take Wylie to the dog park this weekend. In order to avoid any scheduling conflicts, I asked Wylie what he thought of the plan.
Wylie’s response was, “‘Dog Park’? I was thinking ‘toga party’, but sure, the Dog Park would be fun too.”
I have to admit, Wylie’s idea would definitely shake things up, but with Talk Like a Pirate Day coming up the following weekend, I’m not sure throwing a party this weekend is practical.
It does go to show however that some things never change.
Apathy
“You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do.”
– Kilgore Trout