rats

First of all I have to say Gong Hay Fat Choy, that is, Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! It is now the Year of the Rat, which doesn't sound very glorious but rest assured it is a very good time in the Chinese Zodiac calendar.

Speaking of rats, there was a recent study conducted that shows that drinking diet sodas with artificial sweeteners may not help you lose weight; in fact, according to the study you may actually gain weight by drinking one or more diet sodas a day. Diet soda proponents will of course argue that it's still better than drinking a full-on sugar-laden soda instead, but watch this video and give it some thought -- the possible theory for the weight gain in rats (and I guess it somehow correlates to humans) who drank diet sodas is that somehow your mind thinks you're drinking something sweet but you don't actually get the sugar so your body adjusts in a way that leads to weight gain. Well to be fair all this study really means is that if you're a rat (and most of us reading this probably aren't), then the artificial sweetener may mess with your body and mind in ways you might not have expected. The one tidbit of truth that you can take away from all this? You should drink less soda, whether diet or not, and drink more water.

chocoholics

I got a new cell phone this weekend -- the LG Chocolate in Blue Mint. Very slick, and a major improvement over my previous phone which got lousy reception -- I may never buy a Samsung product again. The guy at Circuit City/Verizon was very nice and combined a few offers together so I was able to get the phone for the low low price of $FREE.99! But wait, there's more... he also threw in an BOGO offer, so we got a second Chocolate in Black Cherry for V. and we only had to pay the sales tax on it. So now we have matching his and her's phones, very dorky! Guess you could think of it as an early Valentine's Day gift.

The Chocolate is a slider not a flip phone, but its simplistic design calls to mind the beloved Motorola StarTAC that I gave up for the Samsung. It also doesn't hurt that this new phone is probably 70% thinner than my old phone, and maybe 50% smaller than V's feature-laden but brick-sized LG VX9800. Yes, the Chocolate does has a camera and MP3 music player incorporated into that slim little case but they haven't missed the mark on the most important aspect of a phone -- namely, to be able to make clear phone calls and maintain a good signal. Well let's not unconditionally praise the new phones just yet -- we'll have to play around with them for a bit and see if they live up to their initial positive impressions in the long-term.

bratty

Happy Birthday to my sweet-cheeked honey V! Today she turns ... um.... sweet 16. Yup. Here is her latest portrait, courtesy of her Nintendo Wii and her new TV. I'd say it's pretty accurate, even down to her new haircut.

We celebrated last night by going out to Ray's Sushi in Hayward and attacking a record amount of sushi, sashimi, and some fried tempura green tea ice cream. Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled starvation and fasting. I am so close to my goal of losing 10 lbs. in January ... 3 lbs to go.

technologic

In my last post I mentioned acquiring some new gadgetry -- in our modern life of conspicuous consumption, we just can't get through another year without picking up some new electronic gizmos. Well I certainly can't seem to do so, at least.

The biggest new toy is truly a sight to behold -- it's 40" of 1080p goodness. While I was living large downstairs with my 50" Panasonic HDTV, my poor little V. had to make do upstairs with a sturdy but somewhat diminutive 20" Sony Trinitron. Well I just had to do something about that. So as an early birthday gift I found a pretty good deal online and had the TV delivered, set up and ready to go all while she was still sleeping one Saturday morning. It's a Sony Bravia KDL40V2500 LCD flat panel and it looks mighty nice -- and actually it looks pretty darn big in the smaller living room. Needless to say V. was quite impressed and very happy with her new TV.

During the holiday season I also picked up a little toy for myself too. My home theater setup was distinctly lacking in the bass department, due to my old unpowered subwoofer not being compatible with the new Denon receiver. Not to worry, the old receiver and subwoofer continue to see use up in the bedroom. I had some gift cards for Best Buy left from my birthday presents, so after several trips to listen and consider, I finally decided on the Klipsch Synergy SUB-10. It's actually a pretty big enclosure -- about the size of one of our ottomans. And when I plugged it in and fired it up, the difference was, to use an old cliche, like night and day. Even watching ordinary commercials on TV revealed all kinds of fantastic bass notes and beats that you would never hear if you just rely on the measly speakers that come with most TV sets. And when I watch some of my favorite action movies, the ground shakes and you can really feel the rumble. I watched Ratatouille for the first time after I got the sub set up, and at one point when a lightning strike fries our hero Remy, I nearly jumped out of my sofa. Good times!

I also got a pair of very nice Acoustic Research 308HO speakers from my dad that he didn't want -- he's convinced his vintage pair of Dynaco's and a set of Polk Audio surrounds are better. His setup is mostly for music though, so I gladly took the ARs off his hands and I have to say they sound pretty good ... though probably anything would sound better than the tiny surrounds that came with my old Koss receiver. They're pretty big speakers but they really need to be raised up on stands to sound their best. So I guess the next thing to shop for is some new speaker stands. Boy, this home theater hobby is getting expensive, even with the recycled hardware and the hand-me-downs.

Is there no end to this techno-odyssey? Well there's just one more gizmo to mention. My honey V. had wanted a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, but somehow Santa got his lists all crossed up and put her on the 'naughty' list. So all she got was a lump of coal in her stocking on the 25th. Being the smooth talker that I am, I appealed on her behalf and got her vindicated, so she got her Christmas gift a little late. Right now all we have is the Wii Sports game that comes with the system, but it's a lot of fun -- I'm getting a sore arm from the frenetic swinging and pitching in the baseball game.

Well that's it for now... too much fun without ever leaving the house. But seeing as I have tomorrow off from work for the MLK Jr. holiday, I just might go out for a drive if the weather's nice.

hotness

Happy New Year everyone! I've been relatively busy at work and there's lots of new gadgety goodness for me to talk about, but right now I wanted to focus on some new automotive hotness coming out of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where many of the world's carmakers show off their new models and concepts.

The first car that caught my eye was the ultra-sleek and very green Fisker Karma, which is a premium luxury hybrid sports sedan. If you've never heard of Fisker before, it's because they're a fairly small coachbuilder which is a fancy way of saying they take other manufacturer's cars like the BMW 6-series or the Mercedes SL-class and completely restyle them, with new bodies and new interiors but the same mechanical underpinnings. But this is a bold new step for them, partnering with a high tech company to develop this all-new hybrid design. The car has an electric motor that can run in "Stealth Drive" mode, or lay some smack down when paired up with a 4-cylinder engine for more oomph. Me likey! And it will arrive on our roadways in late 2009 at a price of $80,000, which doesn't really sound too bad when you consider the very compact and all-electric 2-seater Tesla Roadster will go on sale for around $100,000. And with the limited production of the Karma, you will be sure to have a very unique ride -- after all isn't exclusivity a big part of the idea of premium luxury?



Fisker Karma website

Fisker's Karma Hybrid unveiled at Detroit show


Autoblog's Final Wrap-Up of the Detroit Auto Show