Animation Unlimited

My wife and I welcomed our daughter, Tessa Marie, into the world on Mother's Day. She was 7 lbs, 4 oz and 20 inches long. If you have wondered where I have been, the answer is elbow deep in diapers!

That said, I am watching a few things. I started on Ranma 1/2, Season 2 ... it's a good little show to do laundry to! Not heavy, can check the brain at the door and watch.

On the flip side, I have been reading the Kare Kano manga, and have made it through volume 6... as a comparison I have been watching the anime, His and Her Circumstances as I go along. You'll have my thoughts on this in coming weeks.

I'll be back to work next week, so my "lunchtime" project can resume then. I do have several updates to post regarding quite a few things, so look for them!

Hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year full of animation!

After a long month-and-a-half with a smelly rental, we finally got our Mazda5 back repaired.

A new heat shield, new software upgrade, and a wax and tank of gas.

Oh, Mazda did also decide to give all Mazda5 owners $500 for their trouble and a reset of the warranty so that it starts in December 05 (Instead of when we bought it in August).

Glad that's over.

And it's largely user error. Turns out, quite a few yahoos were running their automatic transmissions in Manual mode, and going highway speeds in second gear. Thus, the car burned up.

Hopefully this will be over soon. Looks like it will take a decal, a software update, and a heat-shield and we will be on our way. I just hope those parts come in soon!

Here's the press release:
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STATEMENT: 2006 MAZDA5 EXHAUST SYSTEM OVERHEAT

UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2005

A safety-related defect may exist in the MAZDA5 as a result of the exhaust system becoming overheated. Although only three instances have been reported, and there have been no injuries as a result of the fires, Mazda will be initiating an aggressive campaign to repair all of the approximately 2,700 affected vehicles either at dealers or in customers’ possession. Customers will receive a formal recall notification at a later date.

Mazda has determined that the cause of these fires is excessive exhaust heat caused by inadvertent operation of the vehicle in the manual mode of the automatic transmission at highway speeds in second gear. It is possible that extended high-RPM operation may cause this exhaust overheat, and a subsequent fire.

Mazda will resolve this situation with the installation of a warning label instructing customers on the proper operation of the vehicle in the “M” mode of the automatic transmission. In addition, a heat-shield will be added to all vehicles as well as a recalibration of the automatic transmission electronic control unit.

Mazda expects all vehicles to be repaired and returned to their owners as soon as possible. New vehicle deliveries will resume as soon as vehicles in inventory are repaired. In the interim, Mazda will provide all customers with replacement transportation at no cost.

At least for the moment.

I should have followed my gut. I always have been a believer of "never buy a car in it's first model year." My Jeep Wrangler is a '98 and it has served me well (new model came out in '96-'97). But with a growing family, the old Ford Escort just was not cutting it anymore. Hell, the Jeep does not cut it either but I can't get rid of that baby for a new one.

We could not bring ourselves to get a true minivan, but we needed more room. When my wife saw the 2006 Mazda5 in a mommie magazine, she really thought it would be the ticket. The car seems to have everything, 3 rows of seats, sliding rear doors, and a profile more like a wagon or SUV than a minivan. Oh, and a price below 20k!

It drove well, was pretty comfy, and we really liked the Red one she found. We decided to call it Red-5, go figure. Through my company I had an employee discount ... so I was even able to get it for invoice price with (little to) no haggle. Too bad the rest has not been that easy.

First problem: missing key. It sure seems minor now, but do you have any idea how hard it is to get a replacement key for a model car that has barley been on the lot a week? The dealer lost one, and it was a major fiasco trying to get a replacement. Two weeks and a ton of pain later it was done.

New problem: exhaust issue. We got a call from the dealer service manager last night, he said it was urgent that we get back to him ASAP about our Mazda5. It was a strange call that came in very late in the business day. I called the dealership and spoke with the sales manager that we dealt with when they lost our key. Turns out, Mazda is recalling every Mazda5 in the country due to an exhaust issue. I don't have all the specifics because I have not been able to chat with the service manager, but it seems that the exhaust design is a fire hazard and about 3 cars have allegedly caught fire. The VP of Mazda USA called the dealers and told them to get the customers out of the cars ASAFP.

Great, just freaking great! We have probably put more miles on our Mazda5 in the last month than most people in the country. We took a 2,000 mile road trip the week after we got it ... and this thing could have caught fire? Who designed this thing?

What's worse, there is no ETA on a fix for it. We could have the rental (paid for by Mazda ... she got a Subaru Outback), for a month. It seems like they are going to have to redesign the entire exhaust system in a hurry and get them replaced for all 20,000 cars in the U.S. I sure hope they get it right this time.

It's too early to tell, but there is a chance we may need to invoke the lemon law on this one. I really hope that worst case scenario does not come to pass, it would be as much of a PITA to get it done as buying the freaking car in the first place and we really do like the car. Problems aside, it is the perfect match for our family. But, if this takes more than a month to fix Red-5 we might have to consider it. We do have some protection under GA law.

Bottom line, cars suck. Animation is so much more fun.
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Update 9/19: The official word is posted on Ford's media site today.

STATEMENT: 2006 MAZDA5 EXHAUST SYSTEM OVERHEAT

The exhaust system of the MAZDA5 could have a safety-related problem that may cause a fire. Although only three instances have been reported, and there have been no injuries, Mazda will be initiating an aggressive campaign to repair all of the approximately 2,700 affected vehicles. Customers will receive a formal recall notification at a later date.

Mazda today began requesting all MAZDA5 owners contact their local Mazda dealers to initiate the repair process as soon as possible. Mazda will provide all customers with replacement transportation at no cost.


Discussion in the Forum.

I'm breaking from our usual programming to bring you a copy of a letter I wrote to my Congressperson, Cythia McKinney, and Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson. I try to stay non-political on this site, but the events of this past week have been too much to ignore.
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Like most Americans, I have been watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina all week long. Like many of them, I'm just disgusted at how inept our government has been in getting help to the region.

It's a failure of the Bush Administration, a failure of FEMA, a failure of the Department of Homeland Security, and a failure of this government. There is no excuse for the slow reaction to this tragedy.

Those Americans in the path of the storm were left to die. The rich got out, the poor had no way to leave. The busses that started to arrive on Saturday should have been there long before.

"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming." There have been ample warnings that this scenario could come to pass. In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war. A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. Here is the article if you have not seen it.

The evidence is damning, the outcome is inexcusable.

Where the hell was the National Guard? Too many of them from the region are in Iraq. Where the hell were the airlifted supplies? If they can drop sandbags, they can drop food and water. Where the hell was the President? He was on vacation playing golf after the Hurricane struck. Where the hell has the Vice-President been since his last declaration that things in Iraq were going well? I have not seen anything of note out of him in months ... he should be helping too. And most of all, where the hell is the Department of Homeland Security?

You know, it almost took us less time to get to Baghdad than it has to respond to this American crisis. The government should have had ships and personnel on standby when they saw a storm 400 miles across with 175 mph winds headed to a city built BELOW sea level. It's just mind boggling to me how slow the government moved in the face of a national crisis.

What if Katrina were a terrorist attack? What if it was a Nuke? You don't see those things coming. After this debacle, I have Zero confidence that if a terrorist attack were to strike Atlanta that the bloated Department of Homeland Security would be able to get up off its rear and help us in any amount of time that mattered.

This should be a real wake up call to you, our leaders in D.C., that things are not going well, and the government is not prepared to protect us in the event of a tragedy. I feel my tax dollars are being wasted, that my chunk of the billions and billions in the national budget is going to the wrong place.

I hope things change soon for all of our sakes. I promise you I will work to change things for the better during the midterm elections next year. I will make my vote and my contributions count.

More discussion and information in the forum.

So I got a new blackberry at work today. I have supported them for a while now and I thought that it was time I got one for myself.

Observation 1. These things are a bear to type on.

Observation 2. As sick as it seems, I am doing this post off of my blackberry.

Observation 3. All of the providers are about the same as far as difficulty in getting them hooked up.

I'll be on vacation the next few weeks starting Sunday, so expect things to slow down a bit. I just hope that I'll be able to stay unplugged with this new leash I have.

DULUTH, GA. (AP) -- A man accused of killing three people at a courthouse was captured Saturday after taking a woman hostage at an apartment complex, officials said. The man is also a suspect in the fatal shooting of an immigration agent earlier Saturday.

"Brian Nichols is in custody. He turned himself in without incident. Everybody is safe," said Officer Darren Moloney of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
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It's always a little unnerving when things like this happen in your backyard. I work only a few blocks from the Fulton County Courthouse where the alleged shootings took place yesterday, and live only a few miles from where they found the body of the US Customs agent at Lenox Mall. I'm glad Nichols is behind bars.

I have a 47th floor windowseat in my building in downtown Atlanta. I'll admit, ever since 9/11 I have been a little hyperaware of helicopters and sirens in the downtown area - especially when they buzz the tower. Yesterday, I knew something big was up when I saw the 3 helicopters circling downtown and the 6 unmarked police cars blaring their way down Peachtree toward the capital. Like I said, I tend to notice these things.

Our building was in lockdown for about 2 hours after the shootings - and it was the topic of conversation at work all day. I personally think it is absurd that he was able to escape in the first place, you'd expect the security would be a lot better in one of the biggest courthouses in the state. I'm also shocked they took him alive, given the violence over the last 2 days.

I wouldn't call it a happy ending given all the deaths, but I am thankful it's over for now.

One of my former creative writing professors, John Dufresne, recently published Johnny Too Bad, a collection of 18 short stories that take place in South Florida. I have enjoyed his other works, and I'm sure this book is excellent, so I figured I should give it a plug.

I had the pleasure of taking a course with John at Florida International University back in the summer of 1993. I learned a ton about the creative process in that class, and he was one of the best writing professors I had in college. Actually, if you are interested in creative writing, you should check out The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction also by John Dufresne. It is a wonderful guide and any writer would benefit by having it in his or her library.

John maintains a blog that he updates daily, go and give him a visit. It is highly political, you have been warned, but it is a very worthwhile read. Like his books.

More off-topic news. My aunt, Nina Romano, has an excerpt from her upcoming novel featured in the Spring 2005 edition of Dimsum Literary Journal .

"Edited by Nury Vittachi and published three times per year, Dimsum is available worldwide through major wholesalers in America and Britain and directly to readers through leading online booksellers in the USA, Britain, Canada and Asia." Dimsum features "short stories, poetry and selected non-fiction by Asian authors or on Asian themes."

In addition to my aunt's work, this edition features contributor pieces by Thomas Keneally (author of Schindler's List) and Yu Hua (author of To Live and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant). I have added a direct link to the journal under the "Links" section in the left sidebar. Or, simply click here. Check it out today!