Car repair is expensive!

Recently my father got into a minor fender bender in this leased Toyota Corolla. As he was driving along on the right-most lane of a multi-lane road, a car to the right merged onto the roadway without checking the blindspot. A severely mangled front-end was the result, though thankfully the car was still able to drive straight. No injuries to the persons, which is ultimately what you want any time you’re unlucky to be in a car crash.

As modern cars get more and more expensive (average transaction price is well over $40,000 in the United States), it seems so have the cost to repair them. My father’s Corolla sustained damage to the bumper, headlamps, bits of the front fenders, and radiator core support. Rather minor in the grand scheme of things (no frame or suspension damage), but those items alone amounted to some $14,000 in cost from the body shop. That’s more than half the price of the car brand new!

A portion of that cost is the relatively expensive radar cruise sensor up front. Not only a new part is needed, but the car also has to be sent to a Toyota dealer to recalibrate the entire system. Hooray complexity, all in the service of ease and comfort whilst driving.

And because we’re still in the midst of global supply chain shortage of many things, it took a solid month from start to finish to fix the Corolla - for a minor fender-bender! We’re lucky because my father was able to get a rental car, so the extended repair length was not that bothersome. I’d imagine others aren’t so fortunate. That’s the true hassle of getting into an accident: dealing with the lack of a car or finding a temporary replacement while your own car is getting fixed. And also taking time from work to deal with the body shop, most of which are typically not open on weekends.

We’re just glad it’s over with now.

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Pachinko.

Limousines are not safe

The horrific news from this past weekend of the limo crash in NY that killed 20 people keeps sticking in my mind. The stretched Ford Excursion allegedly blew a stop sign, then ran right into a tree, killing all 18 onboard and two innocent pedestrian bystanders. What an awful, Final Destination-like way to die. Most of the deceased where young adults in their early 30s, so it’s doubly tragic that a whole chunk of productivity and promise gets removed from the population.

When I was a kid I used to think limousines were some of the coolest vehicles on the planet. There’s something awesome about taking a typical passenger car, split it into two separate pieces, and then rejoin them with a body extension. I’ve always wanted to ride in a limo, and figured that as I became an adult I’d get the opportunity. However to this day I’ve yet to tick that box on the list, but having read about this tragedy in New York, I’m not sure I ever want to now.

It never once crossed my mind how dangerous limousines can be: essentially a structurally compromised vehicle that was never engineered for such extreme modifications. Ford didn’t produce the Excursion with limousine duty in mind: it’s raison d'être is to be an all-capable, absolutely massive sports-utility vehicle. What is the likelihood the companies in charge of hacking it into a limousines have the same battery of engineers and crash-testing methodology as an auto manufacturer?

None, that’s what. I’m not sure a single thought have been given to passenger safety when stretching standard cars into limousines. Comfort is first and foremost, isn’t it? The utter lack of safety belts and proper crash-tested seating was probably a huge factor contributing to the death of the people sat inside that Ford Excursion. What a stomach-turning sight it must have been for the first-responders: 17 bodies mashed together and piled up at the front. Surely a day that makes the job almost not worth it.

It’s been reported the particular Excursion limousine was deemed not road-ready during its most recent inspection, but the rental company flaunted that decision and operated it anyways. There’s also the lack of clarity on whether or not the driver was properly licensed to commandeer a vehicle of such mass and length. The myriad of lawsuits to to come out of this will be most interesting indeed.

The main lesson to take from this is to not get into a “limousine” ever, unless it’s a vehicle that’s meant for such capacitive duty such as a bus. Also, if your personal car isn’t road-worthy (like having super old tires), don’t tempt fate; you’re seriously endangering yourself and others on the road.

Heading out to the surf in Santa Cruz.

Airpods are more robust that they look

Airpods, these wonderful little things are so comfortably inconspicuous in feel that it's often easy to forget I am wearing them (never mind for a moment the disconnect about music playing in my ears should make it obvious). When that happens it can get dangerous - for the Airpods. 

This morning I was washing up listening to music as usual. When I went to wash my face with a towel I forgot I had the Airpods on so sure enough the towel brushed the left-side pod and it tumbled into the sink-pan. The faucet was running so it got properly soaked. Dread filled me as I fish the thing out of the torrent, facing the likely possibility it was wrecked.

To replace a single Airpod costs $69 (nice) from Apple. 

I grabbed a can of compressed air (those are always convenient to have around the home) and proceeded to blast through the orifices and apertures on the soaked Airpod. Plenty of water came out, which was more evidence the thing was probably a goner. 

Not waiting for the thing to dry completely (stupid move in hindsight), I stuck the Airpods back into my ears to test it out. To my utter surprise the soaked piece still works, with no degradation whatsoever! These brittle looking things have turned out to be quite robust. Prior to today's folly I've also dropped the Airpods many times (from standing height to concrete, no less), and they've yet to fail or even look worse for the wear. 

Whether it be good luck or otherwise, kudos to Apple for making surprisingly durable product. 

I love it when B&H sends their massive catalog goodies.