Hypermiling: thank you, geeks...

Yet another reason to appreciate geeks of the world. Hypermiling. As the gas prices go up, so does the growing community of hypermilers. Geeks of the world came up with a long list of things to do to extend the miles per gallon on your car. In general, if you can afford to "drive like an old man" and ignore the swearing you may get from other car drivers, you will save a lot of money. It's not that hard really. Doing things like taking your time, using neutral down hills, turning off your car a stop lights, driving behind semis, using cruise control, not riding your breaks, and the list goes... I have a co-worker who was able to stretch an additional 150 miles out of his tank. An old college friend told me this weekend he's been on the same tank since early April. And I used just a few of the strategies on a trip to NYC recently; based on my car indicator, I should have not been able to make it to the city but I did some hypermiling and made it not only to the city but back to NJ to buy some cheaper gas. :-) I wish people would have been talking about this years ago.

Some quick hits (so I don't have to do other small blog posts)...

1. I met the Stuff White People Like guy at the awards show. It went something like... 'Hey, I'm #31, snowboarding.' Him:"Oh my God! That was you?!" It was a pretty funny moment. He understandably thought he'd never meet someone from a random pic he took off the internet. Anyway, he offered to credit me in the pic but I told him no thanks. I prefer the anonymity, and the fact my friends think it's cool is fame enough. And I'll be sure to buy his book out July 1st.
2. The Man has finally caught up with me. I'm starting jury duty in two weeks. I've never had to do it before. I postponed in April because I had a vacation planned. I called this morning to try to postpone again since I was worried if I got picked, I'd end up stuck for three weeks and I've got too many wedding/tournament/vacation plans in July. The woman on the phone was like, "You really don't want to postpone again. You're only signed up for 2 days. This is the one you want to accept. Trust me." So that's cool with me. :-) Two days and I'm set for a good 5 years. I'm actually kinda excited. I'm hoping to catch some Judge Judy-type drama.
3. I'm on day 16 of my new fitness/eating plan. I've gone running every day, whether it's a few miles or a few minutes, and yesterday I started on this new crazy workout plan. I might be ready to sign up for American Gladiator in 90 days. Haha! We'll see...

Celeb Mingling...

So, for the past 6 years or so, I've been fortunate enough to do some seatfilling. Basically, I go to awards shows and fill seats for people who go off to the bathroom, get up to present, or maybe just didn't show up. I've gotten to do things like sit between Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Coolest thing is I sit in these $1000 front-row seats for the low cost of *nothing*. Not a bad gig, especially when the only work is sitting on my ass.

Anyway, I've got another one of those gigs tonight for this award show appearing next week on Bravo. So when I went to check out online who would be at the awards, I came across an interesting name: Christian Lander. He's up for an award. This is the creator of the blog I am randomly pictured in. Not only is the blog at 30 million hits now, he's coming out with a Stuff White People Like book. The guy is huge now. I am hoping I meet him so I can say, "Hey, it's me... #31, snowboarding!" I think it'd be cool. It's just funny I'm not excited about any real celebrity encounter; I want to meet the blog guy. Haha!

http://www.bravotv.com/alist/2008/about/index.php