Saturday, January 22, 2011

Mallory's LEAF Triumph, Cerritos Branch Meetup and April Delivery?? What the...!?!

Mallory's LEAF Triumph: Getting a LEAF if you Rent your Home


Mallory, a fellow member of the MyNissanLEAF forum, has accomplished something quite remarkable.  An apartment dweller in Santa Monica, Mallory managed to install an EV charging dock (EVSE) to charge her LEAF.

Potential EV owners who live in multi-family dwellings, especially those who rent, face serious challenges in installing charging docks.  Property owners, landlords and HOA boards of directors are often uninterested or unwilling to finance or even to allow the required physical or electrical upgrades to their property.  Since most EV charging is likely to be done at home, these limitations for renters or condo dwellers will likely limit the growth of the market for EVs.  This issue is recognized as significant by EV manufacturers and government agencies who are trying to promote the adoption of EVs.

Mallory used persistence, good manners and enthusiasm as she worked with her property owner, her SCE electric utility, her electrician, the EVSE maker Aerovironment and Nissan to get her EVSE installed.  The property owner shares some of the credit for being willing to allow Mallory to have the electrical work done, but Mallory's commitment and persistence were most responsible for her being able to bring her new red LEAF, "Ruby", home with her this month.  Her success will be a landmark in the early history of the adoption of electric cars.  Congratulations, Mallory!

My LEAF Delivery Date is Now April?  What's Going On?


I announced last week, with much relief, that I had been given a delivery date of March 2011 for my new LEAF.  Well, that relief was pretty short-lived.  Two days ago, my Nissan online "dashboard" delivery date changed to "Month of April 2011".  As you can imagine, I'm not thrilled about that.

What is going on?  Is Nissan having trouble producing the number of new LEAFs that they promised?  Were there quality issues that needed to be solved with the early batch of LEAFs that caused Nissan to slow the production line?  Both of these guesses are possibly true, but Nissan is denying them.  The official line from Nissan executives is that their engineers want to be absolutely sure that the LEAF will be 100% free of defects.  I'm willing to believe this and I'd also like to see the LEAF earn a great reputation for quality and reliability. But the most accepted rumor right now is that Nissan is focusing on delivering LEAFs in the home country of Japan because of the impending expiration of a government tax credit that supports the purchase of new EVs.  If this is true, we expect to see a surge of deliveries in late March and in April, followed by a regular stream of LEAFs being delivered in the US and in other world markets according to Nissan's previously announced plan.

The LEAF Branch Gathers in Cerritos
As members of our Southern California LEAF Branch group receive their cars, the driving range of the LEAF is encouraging some changes in the locations of our popular breakfast meetings.  Last week, eleven of us, including Jimmy from Oceanside to the south, met in Santa Ana.  This morning, seven of us got together at the Home Town Buffet in Cerritos, about 20 miles closer to Los Angeles. The group included Mallory from Santa Monica and Tom ("Sparky") from Pasadena, as well as Kat from central LA, who is a regular at the Santa Ana meetings as well.  We missed Gary's guiding presence, but we knew he was enjoying himself learning to be a community emergency response team member.

Sparky brought his great-looking black LEAF, and it was joined by Mike Walsh's blue beauty and Mallory's red "Ruby".  We had some great conversation that was a bit less technical and revolved more around how the new LEAF owners were enjoying living with their new cars and how the LEAF was fitting into their lives.

Here are some pictures from the meetup this morning.
(Pictures are clickable for enlarging)
Tom (tbleakne), Mike (mwalsh), Tom (sparky), Mallory (malloryk), 
Kat (kataphn), Mitch (1051) with Sparky's car

"Sparky" strikes a pose

Checking out "Sparky's" LEAF under the bonnet


Mallory and Kat arriving, parking next to Mike's LEAF

Mallory and Kat, showing off "Ruby", Mallory's red LEAF

"Bo" Mike Walsh's co-pilot

Kat gave Mallory a "Bo" of her own

More LEAF news soon.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A Rustle on the LEAF Branch and When Should I Charge?

The LEAF Branch
This morning was the fifth meeting of the Southern California LEAF Branch and the FIRST meeting that included actual LEAFs!

Our group of about a dozen highly geeky electric car lovers who met online at www.mynissanleaf.com meets one Saturday morning a month at the Hometown Buffet in Santa Ana.  There we eat cheap and fattening breakfast foods washed down with mediocre coffee and grin and chat with each other about our LEAF obsessions.  We discuss home charging docks, electric utility rate structures, brake regeneration, battery capacity, Nissan dealers, Nissan Corporation, and any number of intimate EV details, as well as our kids, our grandkids, and the weather. Our Branch Manager is Gary (garygid), who found the venue and who apparently has been thriving on HTB food for some years.

This morning, Mike (mwalsh) and Omkar brought their brand new LEAFs to show off.  Mike gave rides on the freeway to several of us, even "flooring it" at the request of one speed freak.  Jim (Jimmydreams) came up from Oceanside by hybrid car for the first time, his new LEAF needing to stay at home and charge up for his next commute, and it was great to meet him finally.  His LEAF emailed him while he drank coffee to let him know that it was charging.  Omkar was proud to talk about welcoming his first new baby daughter into the world last Monday.  He seemed sleepy, unsurprisingly.

Here are a few pictures of the group talking and enjoying the cars in the HTB lot.  There will be another Branch meeting for some of the more northerly-based members at the HTB in Cerritos next Saturday, January 22.

(Pictures are clickable for enlarging)
Mike's blue LEAF Draws a Crowd of the Well Informed

Omkar's and Mike's LEAFs Enjoying a Reunion

LEAF's-Eye View of the Gathering

Gordon, Kat (kataphn), Gary (garygid), Omkar, Mitch (1051), 
Mike (mwalsh), Jeanine (JPVLeaf), and Tom (tbleakne)
(Golden Arches Tastefully in the Background)

Kat is Tall, But She Was Comfortable in the "Stadium Seating" in the Rear of Mike's Blue Beauty

When Should I Charge my LEAF?

Here in Southern California Edison Country, many of us have been discussing the fascinating topics of which rate schedule we should choose and when we should charge our LEAFs.

When I began looking into SCE's rates, I found that their online rate sheets were so complicated that I couldn't understand the first thing about them.  With help from several members of the MyNissanLeaf forum and from an analyst at SCE, I can now predict my costs with some degree of accuracy.  That's no small feat.  Especially with the added complexity of solar power generation, you're in for some head scratching.

One confusing fact that we learned was that, when calculating which of two pricing tiers to charge our electrical usage to, SCE actually ADDS our net solar power generation to our power usage, instead of subtracting it.  I was curious whether I should then, against logic, charge my car during the Peak daytime hours so that SCE's meter would never see the solar generated power.

So I did what I usually do, I built a bunch of spreadsheets.  Without boring the reader further, I found that my best bet is to request the electric car charging time-of-use rate schedule TOU-D-TEV and to charge the LEAF at the Super-Off-Peak times, between midnight and 6 am.  The reason is that, though SCE's billing methods push us into Tier 2 pricing more quickly, that also gives us a bigger savings from the extra solar power we make in the summer. 

Nissan on the Defensive for Delivery Delays


Nissan is being widely criticized among the group of waiting customers for delaying deliveries after the first few, very few cars, and for providing no information to the rest of the customers except "Four to 7 months after you ordered, thank you for calling".  After many of the customers, including me, who placed orders in September were notified that they have March or April delivery months, some of the pressure is off.  But there is still widespread suspicion about why there are very few deliveries in the second half of January and almost none scheduled for February.  

Nissan execs deny that there were quality problems in the first batch of cars and say that the engineers were simply concentrating on getting the first LEAFs right the first time.  Given the high profile of this first mass-produced electric car, and the number of people (and companies) who would like to see it fail, I'm inclined to agree with Nissan that it needs to be right from the start.  But I do think that they needed to be more open with their faithful first customers.  I know that I just described quite a PR tightrope that they need to walk, but that's Nissan's problem to solve.

That's enough geekiness for now.  More LEAF news next time. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

AND...We Have a Delivery Month!

No Longer In Pending Pergatory
Last night, January 10 around 11 pm, on my Nissan customer online "dashboard", my delivery month estimate changed from "Pending" to "Month of March, 2011".  I'm very excited and feeling much more upbeat about the ordering and delivery process.  Maybe it was my "rant" in last week's blog that shook Nissan out of their freeze.  :)  Now I'll have to wait to find out the actual date in March when we get to meet our new LEAF.


Actually, a LOT of people who are waiting for their LEAFs had an update to their online dashboards.  I'm seeing a good many people (maybe 30 or 40) on the www.MyNissanLeaf.com forum happily reporting that their delivery month was updated to March or April.  It appears that a logjam of some kind has been cleared at Nissan's Oppama manufacturing plant.  The rumors are that there were some defects discovered in the first group of LEAFs delivered and perhaps things were slowed down in order to fix the defects in the next group of cars to be delivered and to resolve the issues in the manufacturing process.  I've also been told that Nissan had to sell a certain number of LEAFs in their home market of Japan to meet some kind of battery quota.  Whatever the reason, things seem to be moving along now.

What I'm Driving Now
I mentioned last week that my Nissan dealer asked to buy out the lease on my BMW so that he could sell it as a used car.  That was a good deal for me as well, because I avoided hundreds of dollars in lease end fees.  Yesterday was the day that I took the BMW to Connell Nissan and came home with a rental car.  It was a bit sad for me, but I was so happy with the lease-end plan that it didn't affect me much.  I was also interested to see what kind of rental car Connell would provide for me.  As I mentioned, the whole idea of the BMW lease/purchase came up when I was asking my dealer at Connell whether he could help me with a rental car while I waited for my "ship to come in".  He agreed to rent me a car at a good low rate while I waited, and the BMW deal helped him to make that rate even more attractive.


So yesterday, I drove home in a 2008 Nissan Altima Coupe.  It was a pretty nice car, with some extra features like keyless entry, a trip computer and a power driver's seat.  It wasn't really practical, with its two door body style, but then neither was the BMW.  It was used though, a 2008 model with some miles on it and possibly some problems in its past, but it was fine for my purposes.


Today, I got a call from Connell Nissan that I had left some personal belongings in the BMW and also that they wanted to swap me into a newer rental car.  I went over there today and turned in the Altima and got into a nearly new Nissan Cube.  I'd always been intrigued by the styling of this box-on-wheels, so it was fun for me to try this one out.  It isn't as luxuriously equipped as the Altima was, but it does have a Bluetooth phone system and iPod connection.  I think that those features are part of the youth-focus of the Cube.  It is fun to drive, roomy inside and quite a novelty to drive around.  Truth be told, I like cars so much that if I got to drive a different car each week, no matter which car, I'd be pretty happy.  I realize that for lots of people, that is their definition of a pain in the rear, but it's part of what floats my boat.  Carol and I ran some errands in the Cube today and it was perfect for buzzing around town.

Insurance Wrinkle
I also found out that while my State Farm auto insurance covers me for liability and damage to a short-term rental car, such as one that I would rent on vacation, it doesn't cover me for a car that I rent for over 20 days.  Thanks to a caution from a friend who is a State Farm agent, I spoke to my own agent and he added some additional coverage to our existing Prius auto policy for a few extra dollars that will cover the long term rental of the Nissan Cube.


What Happened with the California Rebate Fund?
I mentioned last week that the important California Clean Vehicle Rebate Fund had taken an unexpected drop in available funds to the tune of $590,000 in one day!  The staff at the California Center for Sustainable Energy who administer the funds are refreshingly responsive, and one of them reported that Staples had purchased about 30 large electric Smith delivery trucks, and they are eligible for rebates of $20,000 per truck!  We individual electric car buyers are not happy to be competing with large corporations for the same pot of money, but that is the way the fund is set up, so that's the game we're playing.  This may not be the last big hit on the fund before I apply for my rebate, so I have to brace myself for that.  Meanwhile, I'm tracking the fund daily and it still has enough money for about 460 LEAFs (or Codas or Teslas) from the 2009-10 funding, and there was supposed to be an additional $5 million approved for 2010-11.  So we should be okay for a few more electric cars before we have to wait for new funding.

EDIT: I just read that an additional $2 million was added to the 2011 funding for the California rebate program.  This will be on top of the $5 million that is already destined for the fund for 2011.  AND, this additional $2 million is ONLY for four door electric cars.  So the commercial companies that are buying electric trucks, the Tesla roadsters and the NEVs (neighborhood electric vehicles) that are too slow for highway use are all excluded from this particular sum.  The $2 million alone would be enough for 400 LEAFs or similar EVs.  Again, the GM Volt is not eligible due to emissions rules.  At this time, if all of the remaining funds from 2009/10 and 2010/11 were rebated to LEAF or similar car buyers or lessors, there would be $5,000 rebates available for over 1,800 cars.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Getting Frustrated Waiting for Nissan, and Saying Goodbye to the BMW

Nissan, What's Going On?
I'm going to take a moment to do some self-indulgent ranting about the lack of information that Nissan is providing about the timing of the delivery of the cars for those who ordered after August 31, 2010.

A few people, probably about 25, have received their LEAFs in California, so far.  As reviewed in my last blog post, a friend Omkar, and now another, Mike Walsh, from our local enthusiast "LEAF Branch" have received their cars in the last few days.  So far, everyone who has received his or her car was able to place their order on August 31 except the first person to receive his car in San Diego, and he was hand picked for various marketing reasons.



All well and good.  We've known for a while that these folks would be the first to receive their cars, based on updates they received on their Nissan online "dashboards".

But the rest of us have no information about when we'll receive our cars.  Nissan's customer service folks will just say "Four to seven months from your order date."  They won't give any information about whether the next wave of cars will be delivered based on order sequence, or whether some other factors will influence the delivery sequence.

I was able to place my order on September 3, just four days after the group who are receiving their cars now, yet my Nissan online "dashboard" continually reads "Pending".  If it just said something like "Last two weeks of March", I could handle it.  At least we would know that we are in some kind of rational sequence.

People on the online forums have started jokingly using the word "Penduary" for their delivery month, but it isn't funny, really.

From what I've read, GM is doing a better job by giving their customers regular updates on the status of their cars as they go through the build and shipping processes.  Nissan just has us perpetually PENDING, Pending, pending....
A GM Volt Charging up at the Charging Docks at the Neighboring Nissan Dealer

My biggest concern is that the pool of California's Air Resources Board funds in the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project is finite and the currently budgeted funds will only last through the first 1500 to 1600 buyers.  Right now, LEAF buyers are the ones most likely to get those rebates because the other potential competitors, such as CODA are coming later to the game.  The GM Volt does not qualify because of emissions regulations.

I'm probably being overly anxious.  I think that I have a very good chance to get my California rebate.  But watching others reserve their rebates while the only information I can get is "Pending" is really frustrating.

Nissan, if you're out there somewhere, watching for feedback, mine is that you need to provide more information so that we know when to expect our cars to arrive.

EDIT January 8:  The amount of money already spoken for (reserved) on the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project web site jumped by $590,000 yesterday.  That would equal 118 LEAFs, but that many haven't been delivered yet.  So it was probably a bunch of large electric trucks that get $20,000 rebate per vehicle.  Or something is going on behind the scenes that we weren't told about.  Anyway, from a trickle of 4 to 5 California LEAFs per day, this jump certainly got my attention and concern.  My anxiety level jumped from a 5 to an 11!

Okay, rant over.  Hopefully my posts will become more upbeat soon.

A Fond Farewell to my BMW
This is not my BMW, but it looks a bit like it

The three year lease on my beautiful BMW 328i Coupe will end next week.  I'll miss it a lot, but I hope that my LEAF ownership experience will be almost as satisfying.  Being a pioneer and a supporter of the early electric car revolution will definitely be involving and exciting.

The BMW was a great car.  It only went to the shop once in the three years that I had it, and that was just for scheduled maintenance.  After driving it for three years, I finally get what everyone has been talking about in terms of the quality of the car.  It is really fun and satisfying to drive, and has just the right combination of handling responsiveness and driving feel for me.  Maybe one day I'll own another BMW, possibly an electric one.

I have a few more days with the car and I plan to go on at least one enjoyable drive in the country to say goodbye.

I'm really happy about the "end of lease" plan that I've come up with.  I'm going to allow my Nissan dealer to pay off the BMW lease and to take ownership of the car for his used car inventory.  I wasn't aware that this was possible.  BMW and the other companies that do a lot of new car leasing thrive on taking back the returned lease cars, reconditioning them and reselling them as "Certified Pre-Owned" cars.  Mine will be a prime choice for resale because I only put 6,000 miles per year on it and it is in such great condition. It does have a minor paint scrape under the front bumper.  This minor damage and the standard $350 lease end fee would have added up to a $750 charge for me to just return the car to BMW.

I felt that BMW should waive the $750 lease-end charge because I had only put 18,000 miles on the car, with 30,000 miles included in the lease that I paid for.  But BMW only waives fees like that if you are getting another BMW to replace the leased car.  I'm not doing that, so they wouldn't waive the fees.

But in talking with my Nissan dealer, he found the car attractive as a used car because of the low mileage and good condition.  So he will send BMW the residual lease payoff amount and I won't have any lease-end fees. This arrangement would only work if the car was a valuable and desirable used car.  

By ending my lease this way, I feel like I'm getting the consideration for the good condition of the car that BMW wouldn't give me.  Very few people realize that this is an option, and I'm happy to be able to help make it better known.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

June 23 2005


Thank goodness Condi's got a bevy of foreign ministers to entertain

and has been quiet for a couple of days. There's a high of 107 where

I'm going today - happy I wrote, in anticipation


Tumbleweed's my next of kin

I finally found a partner willing to drive the truck and make the movie

of me shrinkwrapping them and my obsession with real-world

compression and thistle-management, cemented bamboo skewers,

totemic amaranthine sheshkabobs photographed and reduced - to

reproduce in three dimensions for the purpose of provocatively

weighting paper - todays artists bent on creation of large scale in

public have got it all wrong - I know being right is no consolation

makes for enmity, its dangerous - I like it out here in the desert

title of my anthem to separation nonanxiety -

save you, darlin



THREE HOURS SOONER OR LATER - Chip Sought "Talk" Therapy

for the problem that is Condi's Stalking him


-So Condi kind of corners you with her emotional

- Outbursts, yeah, she says she feels like an impostor

- What kind of an impostor

- Oh, a Black woman, I guess, hanging out with the W's and the Rumsfelds,

providing all these intellectual underpinnings and moral equivalencies...

- What do you say to this?

- I don't know what to say, and saying the truth feels too devastating

to let loose - its pathetic, sad, repugnant - the only impostoring I can

sense is her and human being-ness

- Well

- You know I checked, really, for the rubber human mask with zipper

concealing the lizard - she's human allright

- How can you be sure?

- I know she has a menstrual cycle - the stalking gets worse periodically -

its like clockwork, her stalking ebbs, flows - she's very regular and very

fucked up about wanting me to share her lust for blood

- the masturbation phone calls

- its like I put the phone in the next room and I can still hear her

- Why don't you hang up?

- I take her "jokes" about the vacation in Cuba business seriously

- That's smart

- She says they are all like that

- Who?

- You are not too worried about Need to Know?

- I can't help you if I don't know

- Well what surprise the administration is full of blood fetishists?

- Top down?

- all the Cabinet members are soaking in it

- oh

- Yeah she says I need a black woman

- Do you?

- I had a Black Woman, Emily, my one, my only, my Addie - I tell Condi

that, as if that's what keeping me from her, but she's not Black,

and coming from a reverse chronological flow negro like me -

I don't know, I just don't have the emotional wherewithal to level

with such a wretched high-level human being like that - I mean

- You think it could affect our Foreign Policy?

- If you think its heinous now, Emily

- So you tell her about you devotion to Addie

- True enough, as far as it goes

- How does she take that?

- Kind of cagey - I can tell she's trying like to hell to track Addie's

family down so she can threaten me

- Did you tell her about the Crisco Storey?

- Good lord, No!

- I wouldn't, either. I don't know Chris - this is a tough one.

I admire you for doing what you can to keep the heinous-ness

of our Foreign Policy within some kind of bounds - but I worry

about what its doing to you

- All I'm asking for is a couple of refills on the 25 milligram valiums

- All that does is hide the symptom of your anxiety - it doesn't address

- You think I don't know that! But you know what it keeps me functional.

When I couldn't get a hold of you yesterday, after her latest series of

intrusions - I had to steal that car

- I understand - we'll get you 250,000 milligrams of valium, available on

- That's a relief - it helps me write my new referent-less, clean pure unsullied

by worldly detail or convenings with hideous prosal turgidity-less prose

- I appreciate that

- Emily I think its what the world needs now

- Easy on the rime

- Easy on the dime

- Get Rid of the Body

- Not in just photography, but at every opportunity

- if anyone can sing the reverse chronological flow negro spiritual bio-semiotic

- Thanks Em

- Murl don't lose my url

- Can I borrow a pen?

- Don't you worry about paying me, Chip - just know how relieved and proud

I am to be a citizen of the same country as you

- Talk like that can get the old transference cooking

- You can't stand the heat

- Whens your next appointment

- 30 minutes past transgression


If this conventional syntax word knitting, wound round and round

like preforatable white tissues on a cardboard tube - I hesitate to

demean the notion of "prose" with this, and regret the connoting

of shix some of you baser creatures are sure to - if it looks like

something I might do while more purposefully engaged with a creole

tomato sandwich, mayo, salt, butter lettuce and avocado - that's

correct, that's the true to life effect some have been looking for -

crystal chunk of sea salt, here in the heat, high of 94, low of 81,

the usual great percentage of Humidity - turning back around with

the Corrola I stole yesterday off Ber=Gundy street was a smart thing -

I come back and the parking spot was still empty and I don't even know

if it was missed, thank goodness, the proliferation of grimy worldly

detail was starting to sink me, and as I snuck away from the corolla

last night, under the gaze of this beneficent solstice full moon -

this amazing silver disc - I began to think this Condi's stalking me

problem - I have a few, but this seems the worst - this is something

I could deal with; I still had Emily's pager number and her standing

invitation to ring it anytime the walls started closing in and the floor -

you get the picture - where's my home you are wondering by now -

here in Nola its a cool white room with hardwood floors, two shaded

windows in the back of a big house not far from where sonny and stella

carried on in streetcar - its in the text, you can look it up.

But I'm going out now to listen to some earnest-profound-tropical

caterpillar=with-colours-poetry, as is the style around here -

i don't think its right, but its the least offensive entertainment I

can think of, and I need some - I'll tell you all about what Emily helped

me realize about Condi's Stalking behavior means, and what I can do

about, and pretty soon my writing return to the miracle unscented

waterless hand eye and mindcleaner prose I was aspiring to, that

a few of you out there, I know, thank goodness, were hoping for to.

I'm going to have to drink a little though, to abide by all this orange

and green creepers stinging what're they thinking metamorphosis

verse - wish



We all like horizon lines don't we - seen through windshields as the sun

wanes on the years longest day, still warm, not going anywhere - Condi's

breaking the law to harass me, no way its ethical or legal to use federal

resources like she does to keep these tabs on me - its killing me, I decided

to make a break for it, fingering the old corolla key I keep - it

will open every other 80's toyota, I tried a few this afternoon on Burgundy

street, and bingo - now I'm heading west, 34 miles per gallon, feeling a

great guilt about this theft, its closing in on my chest, I can't even play

the radio without hearing in other news, Condoleeza; I got so freaked out

by the voice mails I dropped my phone out the window moving at 60 mph -

I have about 5 gallons left, about 10 dollars, sob, weep, scream - I hope

our secretary of state is happy now - not enough to foment genocides

and generations of strife not enough to have her knowing little chucklefests

with the sunday morning syncopaters in the guise of archerdanielsmidland

reporters - this humble little life of mine that just wanted to write, quietly

referent-lessly, to get rid of the body and the season and even the flavor

scent texture colour and miracle of the rose - to dispose of you and whittle

the hideous slavering rationalizing monstrosity that is I down to a few shards

consequential of next to nothing - to find the harmless poetry in this, to

consume and harm as little as possible in this effort -

it does embitter

I do feel the bile rise in my throat

this crime I've committed - stealing someones beloved little 87 tercel -

I can tell by the way they've kept it, by the silly plastic dashboard palmtree's

monkeys and miniature beachchairs depicting oasis - I should turn now

to put the sun behind me and drive back to Bergundy street

I guess she thinks I know too much

how about a nice vacation in Cuba her last text message said

so much for my dream of a new prose style - fucking Condi's - I could

tell you a few things - stalking me

I wanted the new writing to fall down like rain, only all usion I was

going to use, and the bicycle, effortless pedaling of the bycycle,

maybe - no bicycle, that's too much like the body - and calories,

pretty soon they're being ingested and then next you have to wonder

what's being excreted, and with excretion comes critic-ism, petty

dislikes and offal exchange of diminutive compliment - no faint praising

here - just rain thought pattering spongey miraculous eye-sopping -

eye is not part of the body, free censored herald tribune with the

all you can eat breakfast buffet bar - I won't

this Condi's Stalking me business is taking the joy out of my life

and this new potentially miraculous prose I meant to flow her ceaseless

voicemails, these crazy e-mails - doesn't she know these are not

private? Is it the arrogance of being one of the worlds most powerful?

This nonsense about she heard I had a Relationship with a Black Woman?

Sure I had a relationship with a Black Woman and am hard at work on

my autobiography currently slated for 06 Publication by Charles Scribners

REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL FLOW NEGRO LIKE ME - it pains me to say -

upsets me so, makes me writhe and shake, even to a sociopath like

her, Condi, you are not a Black Woman - not like Addie, and I have no

interest in meeting your family and I do not care how poised you are to

take over for Chaney in Sixteen - says the gap in our teeth is the same

slow incrementally widening 1/13th of an inch - fed exing these ridiculous

silver plated ankle weights - don't you have an inhumane foreign policy

to run - LEAVE ME ALONE

sigh, breathe, okay - back to my plain illusion-less prose, basal finger

tapping measure of my pulse, tapped bits of black into the white void

of the page so that it may be seen - taken in the eyes, reading,

breathed - I want to be the non stinging jelly fish a wave slops over

your

you again - see what this Condoleeza Stalking Me business has done

to this page's erstwhilest dance with grace, our chance at repose,

respite from the knowers of all?



I wanted to keep everything out of my new writing, everything but

this weather, which, where ever I am - today its Singapore, low of

79, hi of 83, light monsoons in the afternoon, fragrant dutch colonial

scents in the air, black jellied century nitrogen eggs, fermented

durian - to keep my writing clear of so many things, diary, emotion,

sarcasm, humours, he said she said, peaks and valleys of the

obtuse endocrine - palette cleansing prose that has no need to

impress, know it all, lavishly describe, pith manufacture - inform -

readers nowhere to get this stuff - not here, she comes for the

"stunt" the live finger tapping exclusive of even the extraneous -

this is the aim, not the ambition, there is no "target"; no great

affiliations to speak of, no maligning, praising, recognizing or

considerations to make, just to let it unfurl, page after page of-

but this morning

I am upset and have no recourse but to go public that

CONDI'S STALKING ME

Yes - that singular Condi of Stanford Provost fame, is way into me

and its starting to hurt. It started innocently enough, I was in the

front row of the Gap Toothed Fella's Assembly, we got together on

a la



okay here goes, just real live fresh writing off my fingertips

no drugs involved, just water, sips my favorite new word -

no thinking, no deleting, no check-spell, no idea's - just regular

syntax writing as performative - wait, "stunt"

my likes have enlarged in this hiatus, something definitely happened,

let me tell you about the weather cannot be praised often enough

around here, though I do not know how hot it was - I wish you were

here, but its a rule, no writing to you anymore - your name or nothing,

your cooling sweat pooling in the curve of your spine, this I held

and gently patted dry - reason enough no invoking this you around

here - sacred as are, little

I slipped

just the real live good country fresh wordstock, keep reading, come

on - how about this Robert Horry basket player? What about this Manu

fellow from Argentina? That reminds so much of the Juco baller I once

was, pride of

Colours, Sonata

people earn money not other method around

it is not getting better - rationalized health care -

no bummers here at the web-log, I'm getting hooked again.

I have read a book or two and let me tell you - drugs sound

very good right now - I've been trying to get used to the sadness,

its not a problem, a torment, an illness text can cure - it just is.

It makes me dull, this idea I should not like to shrug it off

I should just - too many eyes, I'm sorry - that's how it goes though

with the automatic unpremeditated writing for no reason but to

write model - the inside of rais'n bran cathedral boxes are full

of text - diatribe, everytime I enter a walgreens now I fuck shit up -

how else to justify the differential between peoples clinic prices

and these? Twice as much - M'Opera, anybody like to hear M'Opera?

They sent a van to costco yesterday, didn't even ask me if I wanted

anything, I need batteries, 24 packs of duracells, evereadies, and I'll

tell you why, the automatic writing isn't going so well its to revealing

I need mediation, some 10 milligran v's, I need

webutrin back to the new automatic writing web-log

predictable encounters with constabulary n sherriffs

next - no I though -

A New LEAF visits the house

We Get to Turn Over a New LEAF in the New Year
January 1 was an exciting day for a friend, Omkar, from mynissanleaf.com.  Omkar is the first person in Orange County to pick up his new Nissan LEAF.  Since I have a new charging dock (called an EVSE) and Omkar lives just a few miles away, he was kind enough to come by and show us his new LEAF and try out our Level 2 charging dock.

I don't want to steal Omkar's thunder, but he said that he is fine with my posting pictures and videos of his visit this afternoon.






Omkar, the Proud Owner

Omkar grabs the EVSE "nozzle" to charge his LEAF



The "E-Fuel" Level 2 Connector in Place and Charging

EVSE in Charging Mode

Dashboard Lights Showing One Third of Battery Full, One Third Flashing as it Fills, One Third Waiting to Charge

Using TED iPod App to Check Charging Power Use via Wi-Fi






Cool Looking Blue Accents all around the LEAF

Omkar was kind enough to let me drive the LEAF for a few minutes. My wife and I liked the VSP sounds.  They are high tech sounding and they add to the car's next generation flavor.


I enjoyed the drive very much.  Though I've driven the LEAF three times before, at drive events, this is the first drive on a highway for me, and I found the car to have a strong, planted feel.  The large, open cabin and quiet operation, combined with the solid feel, that probably comes from the weight of the battery pack, give the car a luxurious, confident feel.  The acceleration feels strong and I was able to pass other cars easily and to out-accelerate cars at a traffic light in order to change lanes ahead of them.  I can't wait to get my own LEAF on a winding road to see how it handles in that setting.  I know that I'll enjoy owning a LEAF, and today's drive reinforced that feeling.  

As for power usage while charging, my TED monitor showed a usage of about 3.74 kW while it was charging. This was surprising to Omkar and me, since we knew that the LEAF onboard charger is a 3.3 kW unit.  Then we realized that the TED was monitoring the usage at the power panel, and that maybe we were seeing additional kW being used by the 70 feet of 8 gauge connecting wire and the 25 foot "e-hose".  My TED system shows that we charged the car for 34 minutes and used 2.1 kWh of charging power.

Again, many thanks to Omkar for stopping by, allowing me to try out my EVSE and for letting me drive his new baby.  We I had a lot of fun.