Selling the Jeep (part 2)

It's a done deal. Well, technically, it isn't a done deal but I am a few days from having traded in the Jeep for a Scion xD...

The features that settled it for me were, in order of importance:

1. Fuel Efficiency (up to 37 miles per gallon)
2. Roominess (for a very small car, it also has a hatchback with fold down rear seats, which means I can load some stuff into it and still fit a passenger.
3. Touchscreen navigation system: (if you click on the link, then hit the play button above the demo button to the right of the picture) Being that this car is created by Toyota, it shares some elctronics with the Prius. For example, the touchscreen navigation. But it also give you a direct ipod connector that displays all of your ipod info in a very intuitive ipod interface on the touchscreen, which I love. If I subscribed to XM radio it would also give me real-time traffic info to help me navigate around traffic jams (but I am not in rush to SUBSCRIBE to the radio... hello?)
4. Manual transmission.
5. Nice colors.

So, needless to say, I am excited about what it has to offer and I might be able to get my hands on it by the weekend. Soon I will say goodbye to the Jeep.

Here are a few more pics for fun:

Everyday Italian!

So I found this interesting and I thought I would pass it along here. Lately I've been trying to learn a little Italian just for fun, and I found a few fun words and expressions that have edged their way into the English language (at least American English, as far as I know.) Here are those expressions:

Ciao - pronounced "Chow"
This one is obviously Italian but people do say it and mean "Goodbye." Interestingly enough, it also means "Hello" in Italian.

Presto - pronounced as it looks "Press-toe"
In English, we hear this in a magic act, "And presto-chango, the bunny has disappeared!" In Italian it means "See you soon," which is a funny thing to say to something that is about to disappear.

Squattrinato - pronounced "Skwa-tree-Nah-toe"
The exact Italian phrase might be "Sto squattrinato" or in English, "I'm broke." To the average American you might hear someone ask, "Could I borrow a few bucks?" and their response would be "I got squatt!"

So now you know a few Italian words that you likely already knew.

Tea at Kensington Station Interview with Poet Chris Choate

I was able to visit my friend Chris Choate in his hometown of Washington, DC, this last month and I am just now starting to output a few videos that we made while I was down there.

This is a video of Chris. We chatted about his life in poetry, from how he got into it to the backstory on the poem "Tea at Kensington Station." Hopefully I will find the time to edit and upload Chris performing this poem in the next few days and weeks (I had a lot of fun filming it) but in the mean time, here is the interview.

(If you cannot see it here, you can check it out on my youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/enginpost )

Jersey Jungle

I thought this picture was a good view of what spring is like in the area. I was traveling down a road that looked beautiful last fall and now, rather than fall leafy colors, the entire road looks like a jungle!