My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on April 15, 2010

I was reading a column in SmartMoney magazine by James Stewart after he attended the New York Auto Show about the return of profits to the automotive industry, at least some of them. It may be in part due to a cycle of replacing their aging cars and in part due to a renewed focus by well managed companies in building vehicles that consumers will want.

Stewart highlighted the “demand to go green” direction as the recession ends (we all hope) and was positive about Ford with their new Fiesta world car (as well as the 300HP 31mpg Mustang for 2011). His most positive comments were saved for Volkswagen and Audi with the ‘clean diesel’ line of efficient TDI vehicles.

One other company also stood out for its array of fuel-efficient new models. Volkswagen now offers its clean-diesel technology in the U.S. models of the 2010 Golf TDI hatchback and the more-luxurious Audi A3 TDI. (Volkswagen owns Audi, which last week reported March sales jumped 22%.)

Green Car Journal named the diesel Audi A3 this year’s Green Car of the Year, succeeding last year’s winner, the diesel Jetta. Both the Golf and the Audi boast fuel ratings of 42 highway/30 city. A Volkswagen spokesman at the show emphasized that clean-diesel technology offers high fuel standards in both city and highway driving, whereas the hybrid technology’s advantages are largely confined to urban driving. Still, given the popularity of hybrids in the U.S. market, Volkswagen plans to introduce hybrid models within the next few years.

At the show I spoke to Ron Stucker, a potential buyer from Staten Island, N.Y., who was eyeing the A3 along with some friends. Like many Americans, he was initially wary of diesels, but his wife bought a Jetta TDI model. Now, they like it so much he was shopping for another one, at least until he spotted the Audi A3 TDI. “I’d definitely consider the more-luxurious model,” he said. So would I when my current lease expires.

With the low TDI inventory at VW and Audi dealerships they are either selling extremely well even in this recession or the automakers continue to ship fewer vehicles to North America than they should … or at least that is my opinion.

Speaking of Volkswagen TDIs … Autoblog posted a good rundown on the return of the Golf TDI. Nice!

Category: Automotive, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: audi, diesel, ford, green, smartmoney, volkswagen

Posted By RichC on April 14, 2010

It was a melancholy day in that a friend who has been a loyal customer for over 20 years announced his retirement. Of course I’m happy for him in that he’s leaving work with his sanity and will have more time to enjoy life at his own pace. I asked him what his intentions were: he commented  that he’d like to find some part time work, be it consulting or maybe working in his wife’s landscaping company. We both agreed that since he is only 60 that he is too young to just do nothing. (I didn’t ask, but sensed he may have been enticed to retire early for budgetary reasons)

Besides spending most of the day on the road, I also had detoured for 90 minutes at a McDonald’s in order to access their free WiFi connection – glad they didn’t kick me out. I was hoping that it would be reliable and fast enough for a training “webinar” I was tuned into – thankfully it was. I’m glad to have free hotspots available in about every Ohio city I travel… I only wish they were a bit faster. Unfortunately with Wandering WiFi  managing more and more locations, the restriction on bandwidth intensive tasks are not always easy … like at the Radisson I stay at! Ouch … dialup 65 Kbps down speeds tonight.

 
So disappointing … so it’s back to using my Sprint Palm Pre and MyTether. 😉

Category: Cellphone, Computer, Personal, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: retirement, webinar, wifi

Posted By RichC on April 13, 2010

As I continue following Reid Stowe (previous) and his sailing “Mars Ocean Odyssey,” I wanted to post a short video of him and Soanya shortly after setting sail 3 years ago (below). They began their “odyssey” as a couple in April of 2007, but Reid has continued on alone after Soanya left the schooner as she struggled with seasickness … and no doubt the difficulty of life at sea. Shortly after she also delivered a a baby boy— hmm???

To update Reid’s sailing, he is well past the ‘1000 days at sea’ goal, and is at day 1088 on his way back to New York. His plan is to continue sailing north in the Atlantic and to sail up the Hudson River with a flotilla of boats around the third week of June 2010. The voyage is interesting since the majority has been alone for Reid. It has not been without struggle … both physically and mentally … but amazingly the schooner is still sound and his spirit good. The computers that he used to post messages to the blog gave out last year but his food supplies are plenty (prepared for two). There are still a few short messages posted to the website, but as expected, he seems a bit ‘out there’ … and probably always was: “I WEAR MY VIOLET TRANSPARENT HEALING CAPE OUT IN THE SUN. IT TURNS ME VIOLET & HEALS & INVIGORATES ME!” — Reid Stowe 4/11/2010

Category: Sailing, Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: cruising, reid stowe, sailing, voyaging

Posted By RichC on April 13, 2010

Pretty cool uStream.tv video that gives a live look into a bald eagles nest …

Category: Video-TV | 2 Comments »
Tags: birding, eagle, live, ustream.tv