resurgence

It has been a while since Toyota came out with a car that generates any kind of excitement for a car enthusiast like myself.  It seems like they have been content with selling boring appliance-cars like Camrys and Corrollas, and also leading the hybrid revolution with the equally yawn-worthy Prius.  I'm not excited at all by the prospect of driving any of these cars.  I've been a Toyota loyalist for many years though, and so I tried to stay in the family, buying my last two cars from Scion and Lexus.  But I've held on to my last real sports car from the year 2000, my Toyota MR2 Spyder (known as the MR-S in the home Japanese market).  To me, that was the last time Toyota made anything truly sporty.  Sadly, US sales of the MR-S ended in 2005.

Fortunately, Akio Toyoda, the current president of Toyota, felt the same way.  He is a true car guy and even takes the time to be involved in motorsports. Now that's leadership by example.  He wants to bring back sporty and fun driving to the Toyota family of vehicles and that started with the Lexus LFA, which he helped push into production.  However the LFA costs a cool $375,000 -- er, how about something for the regular folks Akio?

Fear not, 99%-ers, Akio has your back too.  Toyota and Subaru started work on a joint collaborative project that would create a new Front-engined, Rear-wheel-drive platform.  Inspired by Toyota's past sports cars like the 2000GT (another one of my dream collectible cars), and the wildly beloved RWD AE86, it will be powered by a Subaru-developed boxer 4-cylinder engine and make 200hp.  It will reach dealerships as the Subaru BRZ, and in various forms around the world as the Toyota 86 (Japan), GT 86 (Europe), and Scion FR-S (US).

Early press reviews are quite positive, describing the car as fun to drive and easy to push hard to the limit, making it a very attractive car to enthusiasts and drifters in particular.  Toyota/Subaru even go so far as to say that they set the Porsche Cayman as their handling benchmark while developing the 86/BRZ/FR-S.  If that is indeed what they are trying to go for, I will definitely want a test drive when these little rockets come out.    The styling is pretty sweet and dare I say it, from some angles it even looks like a baby LFA:

Scion FR-S

Lexus LFA

Unfortunately my old MR-S is starting to show its age, and it might be time soon to start thinking about a replacement.  Could be that an FR-S is the answer.  Coming to dealerships, your local twisty roads, and the racetrack, in May 2012.

demolition

December is here once again.  Two trials, and a whole year in our new place now behind me.  I've decided to take the rest of the year off (sounds so much more grand than saying I'm taking 2 weeks off, right?) and started telling people at work, I'll see you in 2012.  Some of them seem a little put off by that.  Most satisfying.

And just as I return from Washington DC and settle into my comfortable routine of staying up late watching movies and playing video games, and sleeping in ... what is this cacophony outside?  Oh that's right, I have an army of workers outside digging, hammering, pouring cement, building walls, and bringing my backyard designs into fruition.  Can't believe it's finally happening.  We got our city permits, HOA approval and everything.  Months of talking about design ideas and choosing stone materials for pavers and tiles and moldings, actually turned into something really being constructed!  It's very exciting for us, not to mention costing us most of the remaining savings we had left after purchasing the home, so we are of course monitoring things very closely and taking pics of everything that goes on.  Oh, Mauro is going to move a pile of dirt from one side of the lot to the other with the Bobcat?  Hold up, let me go get my Nikon...

Can't wait to see it all when it's done.  Firstly, because it's going to be awesome.  Secondly, I can start sleeping in again.

architectural

It's been a year since we moved into our new place at Stonebrae. And we still haven't started landscaping in our back yard. Not to worry though, I have been hard at work designing and visualizing what our back yard will look like, and we've selected our contractors for the project. So we'll be getting that started soon and we're very excited about how it will turn out.

2D drawing, my layout overlaid on top of plan drawing of our lot.

I started out sketching designs and ideas on the iPad using Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro, which is a great 2D sketching tool. But when I started to use photos and try to visualize the outdoor kitchen and pergola in 3D, it wasn't cutting it.

Top view of the lot in Sketchup.

 So I found out about Google's free 3D drawing tool, Sketchup, and started playing around with it. It's pretty easy to learn by watching the various tutorial videos they make available, and you can't beat FREE! So I started out by sketching the kitchen area, and next thing you know I had added the pergola, and then the whole backyard design. And then to take it to the next step, I started drawing the outline of the entire house, and before you know it I had a complete 360 view of the property. So I went ahead and did some redesign in the front yard too. This stuff is addicting! One of its primary purposes is for architectural and landscaping design, so it was very easy to take the real world measurements I had and input them to make my drawing to-scale and as realistic as possible.  

Kitchen and pergola area, with measurements using Sketchup.

In addition, Sketchup can pull in real world imagery from Google Maps and Google Earth, so you can actually render stuff and see what it looks like in real locations.  And you can build and share objects (called components or models) with everyone else in the Sketchup community, so you don't even have to draw/create everything yourself.  If you need a pre-rendered palm tree or a chair, chances are someone has already done it for you, and you can just drop it into your project and move/rotate/scale it around to your taste, or even tweak it further.  Data just wants to be free...

Plants, furniture and pergola from the 3D Warehouse.  House, walls and fountain design by me.

We're still in the process of getting approval through the HOA but our contractor is on board and we are ready to make this jump from virtual to reality very soon. Stay tuned for real photos of the finished project and we'll see how true to the design it turns out!

wondrous

Check out this awesome time-lapse photography video.  Watch it fullscreen, on a big monitor or TV if you can.  It's just breathtaking sometimes, when you see how beautiful nature can be.


Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.



Got a few minutes or a few hours to kill, and trying to attain a childlike state of amazement and wonder?  Search for "time lapse nature" on vimeo.  You're welcome.

classic

It's October again, and we all know what that means!  Well it means a lot of things of course... changing of the seasons, Octoberfest (good beer), and SF Fleet Week.  The Blue Angels are performing in town like they do every year!  And thinking about that made me recall this classic Van Halen video from the 80's or 90's showing the Blue Angels using the older A-4 fighter jets.  Watching it brings back memories of watching airshows as a kid, and falling in love with jets and aviation.  And of course, Van Halen rocks.





Here's a modern updated version featuring the F-18s they fly today but showcasing the same awe-
inspiring cinematography and precision flying ... love the USN Blue Angels!