RWC + Classic Autos

--Note: This was written on 29 October 2011, thus "today" refers to that date, not the date of posting.--

Over the six weeks of the Rugby World Cup I asked people what would happen if New Zealand did not win. The first response was economic recession and an increase in family violence. Each additional person I asked gave the same response. I assumed it was just a national joke, then I saw the sign. The other day, I ran past a billboard sponsored by the New Zealand Police urging Kiwis to “blow the whistle” on family violence. Apparently, when the All Blacks loose, there really is a surge in family violence! Maybe that is true of all sports, but Rugby (and all other sports) are not worth it! It blows my mind, but then again, maybe that is why all the girls were dolled up for the finals, “you can hit me, or...”

Today, under the billboard was a yellow 1978 Mini Clubman LE for sale (the billboard is in a field on Highway 1 where people sell vehicles). I like the Volkswagen Kombi vans, and the 70's era body style is decidedly the best looking. Perhaps the only vehicle better looking than those vans is the classic Mini (maybe classic vehicle in my price range that is better looking...). The car is tiny, yellow and black (like my 1976 Schwinn Le Tour), and in good shape. I am feeling committed to living car free as long as I do not need one, but cars like that definitely make it hard for me to stick it out.

Psychiatrists

A frequent theme in the TV show House is that patients lie. Maybe not a theme, maybe a mantra of Dr. House's, that is usually part of the flourish that makes the show work. Without the lie, the writers of the show would generally not have the gotcha moment. I have no doubt that most patients do lie to their physicians, after all, it is much easier to present the person we want to be, rather than the person we actually are. While I have much to say about physicians, they are only slightly related to this post.

A recent Science Friday was about the movie, book and case history source material of Sybil. I think I may have seen some clips of Sybil, but I have not watched the movie, or read the book. I also have not listened to the Science Friday because listening to the people who call into radio shows is like putting a cheese grater to my intellect, and I come out of listening to a Science Friday 3 IQ points lower than going into it. So, full disclosure, I do not really know what I am talking about when I refer to the specifics of the impetus for writing this post. Thus, I will attempt to not reference them very much.

In the Science Friday, apparently, psychiatrists and/or psychologists have their knickers in a twist because some new analyses have been published about Sybil (the person who inspired the story, not the movie). Further, the case is frequently used as an example of a mental health clinician becoming too involved in a case, and lost objective assessment. This makes me wonder, does one necessarily want objective assessment in a mental health clinician?

Everyone would probably benefit from talking to a psychiatrist (I will henceforth lump all mental health clinicians into one label, I will try to stick with psychiatrist). Emotions are complicated, and often times we are limited by who we feel comfortable talking to about our most complex emotions. Even still, I have no interest in speaking with a psychiatrist. How can I acknowledge the potential benefit, but have no interest in engaging in some sort of therapy? I have a hypothesis, but no answer.

Imagine going into a job interview, and telling the interview committee about yourself in earnest. You would never get a job. They want to hear how well you can sell yourself, and the committee attempts to get a glimpse of who you are by analyzing how you present yourself. The committee is not being honest with you either. The committee never starts the interview with the problems of the company, and they dance around them when you hit tender topics. I see going to a psychiatrist as a variation on the same theme.

I picture (though I have never done it) going to a person who will take loads of personal information about you, that clearly identifies you, then talking to you about your problems. What are they doing? They are sitting over there judging you! You have voluntarily given someone power over you (the opinion of a psychiatrist can affect your ability to obtain visas, job offers, security clearances, etc.), then are both expected (from their perspective) and required (to get effective treatment) to tell them the truth. Will this person act as an emotionally attached friend who wants the best for you? No, their goal is to maintain objective assessment! Why would any sane person want to find themselves in this situation?

How many movies have been created where the sane are assumed insane because they do not accept the benefit of telling/admitting their problems to someone who has power over them? Countless, I imagine. I know that people are more likely to talk to friends about some issues. I have some friends that I feel comfortable telling everything/anything to. Without them, I would be lost much more than I am, but they are feeling their way through life with equal uncertainty as I, which is probably one of the reasons that I am attracted to their friendship. These friends are dear, and helpful, and committed to what is best for me, but, they do not know what they are doing when it comes to assessing my true mental health, and they are usually just as lost when it comes to what to do to find happiness in life. So what about the other side? What if there was a trained person who did not know you, kept no records, and only made recommendations to you, i.e. no power over you, would you be likely to tell them the truth?

I wouldn't.

At first when I started wondering these things I began thinking about a scene in the movie Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes (my mind works this way, in absolute honesty). In the scene, Wesley Snipes' character wants to use a public computer terminal that looks much like a payphone (I guess they did not see smart phones coming). The terminal is in use by a person engaged in conversation with the computer where the computer is asking the person questions, and the person is lamenting that lately they just don't feel happy, and doubts their self-worth. I think Snipes then throws them into a bush, which is a bit of fun for us to watch. In the dystopian universe of Demolition Man it is unlikely that this would be anonymous, but it could be. My anonymous psychiatrist is a person, rather than a computer, but operates in much the same way. I wonder if I would talk to this person, and while I think I would be more likely to talk to a person who was anonymous, I still probably would stick to silence.

Once every two weeks or so Wayne walks through my building. Wayne is an employee of a contractor who provides support to employees. Apparently, one may speak to Wayne about anything, confidentially. GNS provides this service to keep employee's “happy.” I am too cynical to see it that way. I see it as GNS sending a goon around to spy on the employee's mental health, so I generally try to politely avoid talking to Wayne.

Wayne is the anonymous psychiatrist! He is the service that I imagine, he is the human version of the Demolition Man computer. Yet my base assumption is to not trust him with my troubles. I do not trust him because he is interested, yet not invested. In the same way that I do not trust the psychiatrist. Which means I will only trust someone with my emotions who is emotionally invested in me, which, for me, invalidates the entire ethos of the psychiatric profession.

Spreadsheets and Climate Data

I enjoy creating spreadsheets. I like seeing data organized, and I like to compare the numbers in ways that give me new understanding, or quantify what I may have felt like I already knew. I currently have two spreadsheets active “just for fun.” I will share one here, the other is a work in progress (I am converting lights in my home to compact florescent lights to save power, and I am quantifying how much power I am saving, this activity is limited by budget and availability). The spreadsheet I will share is climate data for Taupo, Vancouver and Seattle.

The motivation for comparing climate data for these three cities is that in the two months I have been in Taupo, it seems that the weather in Seattle and Vancouver is generally better than the weather I have experienced here. This observation was met with a cacophony of arguments by my coworkers rejecting my sound observations of the weather. Some of these co-workers have lived in Vancouver, or Cascadia. Some have only visited, but they all agreed that Taupo has great weather, and Seattle and Vancouver have insufferable weather. The only thing that can be done in such situations is to get on Wikipedia, find some climate data, and prove a large group of people wrong.

Taupo has terrible weather. Were this an academic paper, it would be entitled; “An analysis of climate data for Vancouver, Canada, Seattle, USA, and Taupo, New Zealand to assess favorability for habitation and bicycle commuting.” After the location maps, the first figure that showed climate data would be referred to as something like this: “While Seattle, the Vancouver airport (YVR), and the Vancouver central business district (CBD) have rainier months than Taupo, climate data suggest that Seattle and Vancouver have either comparable climates to Taupo, or better, i.e. Taupo has terrible weather (Fig. 1).” I would normally want to leave it at that, enough said, but in order to celebrate how fantastically correct I am, I'll continue to belabor the point.

Figure 1:  Taupo has terrible weather.

First, a bit on how I went about this, other than copying data from Wikipedia. The value I initially wanted was the number of days that it rains in each city, but it seems whoever compiled the climate data for Wikipedia for Taupo lacked this information. In fact, they seem to have lacked a great deal of information. Owing to the fact that I am lazy, or do not really care, or something along those lines, I have not attempted to find more complete data. I decided that three numbers could capture the climate, average daily high by month, average daily low by month, and average daily precipitation by month. Today it occurred to me that average wind speed (while riding straight into strong winds) would be a useful addition, oh well. Next, I reorganized the months by winter solstice, whereby month 1 is January in the Northern Hemisphere, and July in the Southern Hemisphere, and month 12 is December in the Northern Hemisphere and June in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally, I plotted a scatter plot with all of the data. Then, the fun began (the “fun” being realizing how right I was, the traditional fun started with opening Open Office Calc).

All three cities have a similar amount of seasonality when it comes to temperature. Taupo tends to have the highest average daily high. The daily low is closer, but frequently lower in Taupo. For the bicycle commuter, this is an important number. I rarely commute during the hottest part of the day, though I do often commute to work before the sun has heated the air, and the night's cold is still lingering in the gullies along my route. Thus, for the bicycle commuter, the lowest lows are not made up for by the highest highs. Further, for favorability for habitation, I would argue that while an outside temperature of 72 is probably ideal, a narrow temperature range is also very important. Given two cities, one with a high of 87 and low of 57, and one with a high of 65 and low of 55, I would take 65 and 55. A third city with high of 90 and low of 80 would also be more favorable than the first city. The average temperature in the first city is an ideal 72, but at almost 90 during the heat of the day residents will want to be wearing shorts, running fans or air conditioners, and drinking a cool beverage on a shady veranda at noon. In the mornings, evenings and nights the temperature drops below sixty, and the residents will want to wear long pants and a jacket, running heaters in their homes, and cuddling under blankets at night. This means that they have to carry a change of clothes to be comfortable, and pay to both heat and cool their homes. In the second and third cities, the residents plan on a temperature, grab a jacket, or an ice water, and go about their day. In this way, both Seattle and Vancouver have nicer temperatures than Taupo.

Perhaps the most important number is precipitation. Rain can be dressed for, much like any other weather. It can feel oppressive, but like anything else, a little prior planning, and you can be reasonably comfortable in the rain. Vancouverites have to deal with the most rain overall, and Seattleites the least. In both of those cities, residents can expect months 1, 10, 11 and 12 to be rainier than in Taupo. Vancouverites have to deal with the rainiest month 2 as well (Seattle and Taupo tie for second). For these four/five months, it is much rainier. The Seattleite and Vancouverite must plan for rain most days. They will, accordingly, adjust their attire to a winter wardrobe. The resident of Taupo must have the wet and dry wardrobe ready throughout the year! During months 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (the majority of the year) the Kiwi will endure more rain, and, like the other five months, must have at the ready wet and dry weather clothing!

This post may come across as very negative, but it is not necessarily meant to be so. I did not ever feel that the weather in Seattle or Vancouver was “terrible,” it was difficult to go from sun everyday, to cloudy many days, but it was not terrible. The use of the world terrible is mostly in response to my co-workers' indignant, “Vancouver (and/or Seattle) has terrible weather.” Thus, if the Pacific Northwest has terrible weather, then it follows that Taupo has terrible weather, since it is worse here. Kiwis need not worry though, because they definitely have Ketchikan beat.

Rugby World Cup

I am at home writing.  While I do this, 4 of 5 residents of Taupo (Taupons?) are down the street for the Rugby World Cup (notably being played in Auckland, not down the street).  It is a big deal here.  Rugby may seem like just football with no forward passes, but it is like hockey in Canada - basically more popular than heroine in a methadone clinic.  I can hear every single play from the crowd's reaction.

I walked around a bit to check it out, and see if I could spot someone I knew to be social for a bit.  I was unsuccessful at running into someone, and in finding something to keep me out on the town.  Most people are enjoying the festivities in groups where the women have worn trendy, revealing outfits fitting of clubbing to entice their blokes, and their men have worn All Blacks jerseys and jeans, the average Tuesday attire.

The Best Cars, or Some Good Ones Anyway

I have driven most of the vehicles at work now, in addition to driving all of the personal, rental and work vehicles I have encountered in the past, and it seems that I can makes some generalizations after years of driving. I could just lay down the generalizations, but that would not be much fun to write, and it certainly would not be much fun to read. I will start with the oldest observation, I do not like Toyotas.

I know, I know, Toyota lovers are aghast with disbelief. I liked my parent's 1981 Toyota Corolla Wagon. It had the loveable early '80s squariness, it was fuel efficient, it was utilitarian, and, though I have not confirmed the price, it probably had a utilitarian price tag, which, along with quality, is one of the ways that the Japanese automakers surpassed the Big Three. It is true that the quality thing seems to remain in today's Toyota cars, which is a definite plus. However, new Toyotas are dripping with sleek lines, but they are not sleek. The interiors are constructed of so much cheap ugly plastic that it feels like you can start sympathizing with Barbie, waiting inside of disposable packaging on your way to your destination. I do not like that Toyota has linked off-road and towing capabilities with luxury fittings on the inside (e.g. leather seats). I also do not like how the starter motors sound. That may be petty, but I do not like it. I dislike the sound of Chevrolet starters even more, they kind of sound like turning a running car over mixed with fingernails on a chalkboard. Lastly, I do not like the price tag that Toyota has inflated the cost of their vehicles to. When I was last shopping for cars, a similarly loaded Yaris and MINI Cooper were the same price. The Yaris might be a better car, but I simply cannot justify $20,000 on a Yaris.

It will come as no surprise that I dislike Chevrolet/GM/GMC/Pontiac. They all suffer from the GM starter motor issue, but I take issue with their aesthetics too, all of them. I cannot think of a GM product that I have looked at and thought, “I like the looks of that car.” The new Camero isn't bad, but the reverse lights are terrible. It is as if the architects drew up the plans, they got approved, the engineers started building them, realized there were no reverse lights, and stuck in the middle of the bumper. Had they simply duct-taped a flashlight to the trunk it would have at least been unique, but they didn't.

Hondas are okay, but too expensive for what you get (if I was buying a new car tomorrow, I might test drive a Civic hatchback). The Suzuki Swift is super cute, and the SX4 Crossover is a practical all-wheel drive, and good to look at. Nissans, I despise. The trucks suffer from tremendous body-roll, I would rather try to turn around a 14' raft with a teaspoon after realizing I was about to go over Niagra Falls, than make a U-turn in a Nissan on a busy street, they are designed with a face made for radio, and, like many of their fellow countrymen, they are expensive. What solidified my dislike of Nissans was the Nissan Pulsar five-door hatch. The driver, owing to the position of the seat, steering wheel and pedals, sat at a 5 degree angle to the car. Terrible!

I like Ford trucks. I might argue that Ford is the only company (saving maybe the Land Rover Defender) still making a work truck. Ford's cars are decent. I like the new Fiesta, but the branding is tragic (I would have a hard time buying a Fiesta). They are not “great cars,” but my Ford Ranger had less unscheduled maintenance in the first 100,000 miles than my parent's Subaru, so they might not be bad cars either.

Subaru makes a great all-wheel drive system. Probably as good as Suzuki's, Ford's, and most other company's, but it is not as good as VW's. Sorry Subaru, I have driven a VW van that was more capable off-road, and as fun to drive as every Subaru I have been in. I will say that the VW van had as much road noise as the Subaru (deafening), but to be fair to VW, it was a cargo van, and all of the sound dampening material had been removed behind the front seats.

I have a crush on small hatchbacks, and no one does them better than the Europeans. I like the Fiat 500, BMW 1 series, Volkswagen's Rabbit (RIP, the nearly identical Golf just is not as sweet) and GTI, and the Volvo C30 is beautiful. Seat, Renault and Skoda have some acceptable cars. Peugeot has the decent looking 308, and made a hatchback with a sliding door, which is beyond words, even though it was kind of ugly. The top of the list for European cars is the MINI. It is not perfect. Sometimes sitting in a MINI I have an incredible urge to touch something made of a natural material, but their plastic is vaguely nicer than other plastic cars (if I were to buy a MINI without budget constraints it would have a wooden steering wheel, an option they may no longer offer, -tear-).

Korean cars remind me of the Toyota of the 1980s. Decent to look at, great running, kind of crappy interiors, and a price tag fitting for the reliable, no frills vehicle they are selling to move a family or commuter around for years to come. The Hyundai and Kia of old were trash, but the new ones seem great. I challenge any Toyota (Subaru, Honda or Lexus) dedicated owner to get into a Hyundai of the same trim level and make a compelling argument that their car was worth the extra money. It seems to me that the Koreans are doing to the Japanese what the Japanese did to the Big Three all those years ago.

Lots of cars did not make the list, but here are the promised generalizations. I like Ford Trucks. They are the best trucks, if for no other reason than they make a work truck, and if your truck is not for work, buy a station wagon. I like European cars, and do not like Japanese cars. Everything else is somewhere in the middle. There are, of course, European cars I do not like, and American and Asian cars I do.

The astute reader and lover of Japanese cars may be upset that I specifically mention liking Suzuki autos, but dislike Japanese cars. Here is the rub. When I sit in a Suzuki, it feels Korean, in the sense that it feels like a Japanese car in every way, except the price tag was set at the value of the vehicle, not the value of the vehicle plus hefty advertising. Suzukis feel like Korean cars, and that is a good thing...

But, the swift just isn't a MINI.

Alice in Wonderland

I started reading Alice in Wonderland on my phone while waiting for something to happen (I do not recall what).  Progress has been slow, as I have not spent a lot of time sitting in waiting rooms alone lately.  I started reading it because I was curious about e-readers, and it seemed handy to have a book on my phone.  Progress in Walden has also slowed owing to my working lunches of late.  On the bright side, LOTR continues to progress at a reasonable pace for a bedtime book.  I anticipate my reading will increase once Sarah departs on Wednesday, which I suppose might be a bit of sweetness, but I am not looking forward to it in the slightest.