The comun (Common=regular) ticket is what you would usually get if you don't ask for something else.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
More Bus Fun
Just when I barely got the "transbordo" thing down, we get on a bus and ask the guardo (Fair taker, some busses have them some don't, otherwise the driver takes the money and issues the ticket) for dos transbordos. Well out print the tickets and I look at them and don't see the word transbordo on them, so I hand them to him and explain that I wanted 2 transbordo tickets. He then points out the word "hora" (Hour) and that the passes are good for one hour. On the next bus I hear the guy in front of me say to the driver "un hora", and I realized, out goes transbordo tickets, new thing is 1 hour and 2 hour bus passes that allow you to ride on the same bus line as many times within 1 or 2 hours.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Old Man Moment
My office is going through renovations right now and we have contractors tearing down walls and replacing this or that. I have moved to a new office for now. I went to my old office to get something and "Kid Rock" was blaring on the stereo. "Excuse me sir, I'll turn that down" says one of the young contractors as I entered the office. I told him not to worry about it.
I've been there and done that! I listed to AC/DC and B.O.C. (Blue Oyster Cult) when they were still cool!
I've been there and done that! I listed to AC/DC and B.O.C. (Blue Oyster Cult) when they were still cool!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Funny and Informative Click and Clack
Dear Tom and Ray: Can you use a hybrid vehicle to jump-start another car? Recently when my girlfriend was visiting me in Cleveland from D.C., her car wouldn't start. The first thing I tried was jump-starting it from my hybrid. Before I knew it, there was smoke coming out of both cars! Naturally, I panicked and quickly disconnected the cables.
I soon realized that the insulation on the cable's pincers was melting and generating the smoke. I'm sure the cables were connected to both 12-volt batteries correctly. Any idea what might cause this? Happy ending: Eventually, we got my girlfriend a new battery, and she was safely on her way home to D.C.
- Tim
Ray: You likely used a cheap set of jumper cables. If you use really thin cables and send lots of current through them, they're going to get hot. There are ways to exacerbate the situation and make them get very hot.
Tom: If your girlfriend's car is much bigger than yours, her battery will try to draw a lot of current from yours. That'll generate extra heat. So will a failing starter motor; if her starter is giving out, it will keep trying to draw current until it either starts, melts or fries the wiring, whichever comes first.
Ray: And all that heat can set some frayed insulation a-smokin'.
Tom: It's possible that if you had left things alone, her car would have started before the fire did. But if you're not a mechanic, and you see smoke coming from the site of a repair you're attempting, abandoning ship is exactly the right thing to do.
Ray: Just to be sure, we checked with Toyota, which sells more hybrid vehicles than any other manufacturer, and it said that there are no restrictions against using the Prius, for example, to jump-start another car.
Tom: The Prius, like most other hybrids, has a 12-volt battery, in addition to its larger, hybrid battery pack. It's a small 12-volt battery, and it's located in the trunk. But there's a pair of jumper terminals, marked with plus and minus signs, under the hood, to allow the car to jump-start or be jump-started.
Ray: As long as that 12-volt battery is in good working order and is properly charged, it should have done a perfectly adequate job of jump-starting your girlfriend's car.
Tom: But despite that, you did exactly the right thing, Tim. You saw smoke, gave up on doing it yourself and threw money at the problem. Women like that. It shows that your judgment is stronger than your ego. I'm sure it added to your girlfriend's confidence in you.
I soon realized that the insulation on the cable's pincers was melting and generating the smoke. I'm sure the cables were connected to both 12-volt batteries correctly. Any idea what might cause this? Happy ending: Eventually, we got my girlfriend a new battery, and she was safely on her way home to D.C.
- Tim
Ray: You likely used a cheap set of jumper cables. If you use really thin cables and send lots of current through them, they're going to get hot. There are ways to exacerbate the situation and make them get very hot.
Tom: If your girlfriend's car is much bigger than yours, her battery will try to draw a lot of current from yours. That'll generate extra heat. So will a failing starter motor; if her starter is giving out, it will keep trying to draw current until it either starts, melts or fries the wiring, whichever comes first.
Ray: And all that heat can set some frayed insulation a-smokin'.
Tom: It's possible that if you had left things alone, her car would have started before the fire did. But if you're not a mechanic, and you see smoke coming from the site of a repair you're attempting, abandoning ship is exactly the right thing to do.
Ray: Just to be sure, we checked with Toyota, which sells more hybrid vehicles than any other manufacturer, and it said that there are no restrictions against using the Prius, for example, to jump-start another car.
Tom: The Prius, like most other hybrids, has a 12-volt battery, in addition to its larger, hybrid battery pack. It's a small 12-volt battery, and it's located in the trunk. But there's a pair of jumper terminals, marked with plus and minus signs, under the hood, to allow the car to jump-start or be jump-started.
Ray: As long as that 12-volt battery is in good working order and is properly charged, it should have done a perfectly adequate job of jump-starting your girlfriend's car.
Tom: But despite that, you did exactly the right thing, Tim. You saw smoke, gave up on doing it yourself and threw money at the problem. Women like that. It shows that your judgment is stronger than your ego. I'm sure it added to your girlfriend's confidence in you.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Book Corner - Finished Reading
The Last Jihad
Author: Joel Rosenberg
Paperback 352 pages
An oldy but goodie from 2002. A political thriller, you can pretty much guess what it involves by the title?
For me it started off as a good read but kind of lost my interest towards the end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)