Mounting tires with Clayton

May 12 2012

So, I need new tires. HEY, I can order these at TireRack.com and save a ton of money. Let’s do that. Shipping is $60, what the heck. Oh well, that’s still cheaper than buying them in store somewhere.
*Tires arrive at Clayton’s house*
Man, these things look great. I need to get these suckers on as soon as possible. Where should I go? Dad normally goes to Sam’s Club, but I think I will try Wal-Mart; I’ve heard good things about them.
*Put tires in Mustang*
Holy dang, these tires are huge. Oh sweet, barely squeezed them into the passenger’s seat! Anndd, we’re off. Oh snap… I can shift into all gears EXCEPT reverse… nutsack. I guess I should move these tires around.
*Driving to Wal-Mart*
Hey guys, can you mount and balance tires? Sweet! I’m assuming you can do it without scuffing up the chrome, right? You can’t? WTH. Okay, well thanks for at least being honest. You say the Wal-Mart over on 280 might have a newer machine? Okay, cool. I’ll try there.
*Arrive at 280 Wal-Mart*
So, I hear you guys have updated mounting equipment. Can you guys mount my tires onto polished chrome rims? NO? Seriously? Okay, well I’ll try NTB.

*Arrive at NTP*
Okay, please tell me you guys know how to mount and balance tires on chrome rims. ROLL TIDE. I save $3 per tire if I let you keep the tires? Sounds good to me. Oh, only 15 minute wait? Heck yeah bro. Sounds good, I’ll just wait in this sketchy waiting room over here.
*2 hours later*
So is there a clock in this place? Because I’ve been here for about 2 hours now and I’ve heard nothing… oh really, you have 2 tires mounted? That’s… that’s wonderful.
*20 minutes later*
Alright, finally done aye? Sweeeet. Okay now let me hurry up and pay so I can get out of here – I’m meeting some peeps for lunch.
*4 hours later*
Why the heck did they charge me $3 per tire? That bro definitely said I would save money if I left the tires with them.
*Drive back to NTB*
Uh, WTH bro, you told me I’d save money here. Uh yeah you better give me my $12 back.
*Finally done*
Yay, now I won’t slide all over the road when I drive.

——

So yeah, I don’t think I ever want to buy tires again. I was very unhappy with NTB’s service. They treated me like trash, and other customers were complaining as well. One bro told me he had been there for 2.5 hours and all he was getting done was an oil change and tire rotation (that’s crazy!). But they finally got the tires mounted and balanced. They did however scuff up the rims and I’m kinda ticked about that. Next time I think I will just find a friend that’s willing to do it for me. These businesses that don’t know what the heck they are doing really piss me off. Thanks to Wal-Mart at least for being honest about scuffing up my rims. Props.

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UPDATE: 1999 Mustang GT

May 08 2012

For those who are wondering, here’s what I’ve done to my car:

  • Speakers installed all around
  • Replaced the missing right-rear reflector
  • Windows tinted all around 35% (lowest legal in Alabama)
  • Replaced broken passenger window motor and regulator
  • Installed Mach 1 Grille Delete
  • Installed Mach 1 Chin Lip

I have also ordered new tires, and they should be here within a week. After those are installed, I will look into lowering springs and shocks/struts. Here’s some pictures below:

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1999 Mustang GT

Feb 28 2012

Last year, I sold my 2008 Corvette Z51. It was/is the car of my dreams. I chose to sell it for several reasons, but mainly because I wanted to use some of that money to invest in other business ideas. Hopefully I will own another Corvette, but probably not until I get a full time job again. The original plan was to wait until I finish school to purchase another car, but I came across this sweet Mustang GT that I couldn’t pass up. In my younger years, the 4th generation Mustang was my favorite car.

Here are the specs and some pictures:

1999 Mustang GT

5 Speed, Hurst Short Throw Shifter

Cold Air Intake

BBK Longtube Headers

Flowmaster Exhaust

Cobra Wheels

New speakers installed last week. Buying subs, amp, and possible head unit soon.

 Plan for upgrades:

Lowered by 1.5″

Windows tinted

Supercharged? :-D

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How to store passwords safely

Feb 26 2012

Internet security is becoming more important every single day. Computers are becoming faster, and this means that hackers can brute force their way into your accounts faster than ever before. The longer and more complex your password is, the safer you are. Never use your name or birth date as a password. It is considered good practice to include at least one lowercase and uppercase letter, along with numbers and various special characters where allowed. It is also highly recommended that you do not use the same password for any two accounts. Secure passwords should be between 10-20 characters long.

Remembering passwords is often difficult. There is a solution.

For about a year now, I have used a simple program called KeePass. This program is an open source password safe which aids in creating and remembering complex passwords. A master password is created and used to access a list of usernames and passwords that you can add and edit at any time. KeePass uses highly effective encryption. You can find more details about its technology here.

Nothing is bulletproof. Remember that. I personally would never store my bank account information anywhere other than my head. It is simply too dangerous. However I do use KeePass for everything besides a handful of “critical” accounts. I would personally recommend it to anyone who wants secure passwords, but has trouble remembering such passwords.

Download KeePass here.

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AT&T U-Verse Review

Feb 24 2012

It’s been about 6 months since I signed up for U-Verse. I was offered a promotional package last year with the U100 with HD and their 18mbps internet. Installation went smooth, although it did take them about a week to schedule the install. The installation technician was very kind and even explained the technology of U-Verse compared to DSL. After the technician left, I ran my first speed test. We got a solid 17mbps down and 1.45mbps up with a 47 ping. I was a little disappointing in the ping, but the speed was pretty good.

The TV also worked great, and the HD worked well for the most part. Some channels, specifically local HD channels would be fuzzy, and others would drop for several seconds during major sporting events such as football games for several seconds. AT&T also sent us a DVR without my permission, and tried to charge me for it on my first bill. I called customer support and they informed me that I had to send the main TV box back and wait for a new, non-DVR to arrive before I was able to watch more TV. I called back again and got a different technician. This person was much more kind was able to deactivate the DVR feature from the phone; no packaging and shipping required.

My only other complaint regarding the TV service was the slow remote control response. After hitting the guide button, it would sometimes take a full 2-3 seconds for anything to appear on the screen. Switching channels would also take several seconds at times. This became increasing frustrating over time.

The internet service provided a solid speed right from the install. The ping was a little high, but the connection was solid. I can honestly say that this has been the most reliable internet that I have had to date. It has only gone twice that I know of, and it was only for a few seconds. However, there are some major complaints I have with the internet. One, the ping is higher than I prefer. I realize this is natural for a U-Verse type connection, but it can be very annoying while playing video games. Secondly, I am 100% sure U-Verse throttles YouTube. I spend a lot of time on YouTube and I regularly watch videos in 360p or less because of this throttling. It has gotten to the point of being ridiculous, and U-Verse will not admit it. No other websites appear to be throttled. My final complaint is the bandwidth limit. This complaint is more general for all internet service these days, but it’s valid nonetheless. U-Verse customers are limited to 250GB of bandwidth per month. I consider myself a heavy user, and I share this connection with my roommate. Although we have never crossed this 250GB limit, I know we have come close and it’s stressful having this limitation to consider every single month. With as fast as internet speeds are now, bandwidth limits should be near 1TB per month; of course this is a discussion for another post.

The customer service was average, and sometimes pretty bad. AT&T is one of those companies that you have to call several times in order to talk with someone who understands what is going on. Most customer service representatives spoke very poor English and were hard to understand.

Pros

  • Reliable

Cons

  • High internet ping
  • Throttled internet
  • Customer Service

I will be switching to Charter this week. They offer more internet speed and a better price than AT&T.

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WP Super Cache causes delay

Jan 26 2012

If you’re like me, when you update your blog, you like to view those changes immediately. Whether that includes changing the logo or adding a new post, any hesitation related to those changes appearing can be really annoying.

While trying to add Google Analytics to my website this morning, WordPress decided not to show the changes that I made to my header.php file. This hesitation was caused (in my case) by the use of WP Super Cache. Although I did not install this plugin myself, HostGator did when I installed WordPress from cPanel. If you are experiencing similar problems, check to see if you have the WP Super Cache plugin installed. It is included with many automatic installations.

To disable WP Super Cache, do the following from the dashboard:

Settings > WP Super Cache > Check “Caching Off”

WP Super Cache

If you do not see WP Super Cache listed in your settings, go to:

Plugins > Installed Plugins > WP Super Cache

You might have to re-enable the plugin to disable the caching.

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Change Word’s default font

Jan 19 2012

Microsoft introduced a new default font for its Office products in 2007. It replaced Time New Roman size 12 with Cambria size 11. Many people dislike the Cambria font, and might be wondering how to make Microsoft Word start with a different font setting than Cambria.

Step 1: Open Word, click the Home tab, and then click on Font.

 

Step 2: Select the font, style, and size you want to be default.

Step 3: Click “Set as default” and check “All documents”

Now when you open Microsoft Word, you will see your favorite font instead of the default Cambria font. Enjoy this short tutorial!

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Next to last semester

Jan 11 2012

If all goes as planned, 2012 will be my last year of school. This semester I am taking 5 classes plus a lab, for a total of 16 credit hours. It will certainly be easier than last semester’s 18 hours, but still challenging nonetheless. This summer I will be working for a local computer programming company, and I am absolutely thrilled about that! This experience will definitely be something I will learn from. I am planning on fine-tuning my programming skills over the spring, so I’m 100% prepared for the summer. Even though my job only lasts for 8 weeks, I want to be as impactful and helpful as I can for this company.

And finally, when fall rolls around, my last semester will start. I’m not sure how many classes I will be taking, but it won’t be more than 5 or 6. This entire college experience has flown by, but I’m super glad my parent’s pushed me through it. Thanks Mom and Dad. I’m almost there, and I’m not stopping now.

Oh, btw… ROLL TIDE! FOURTEEN, baby!

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Modern Warfare 3 Review

Dec 16 2011

So it’s been over a month, and I haven’t written anything about Modern Warfare 3. So I will now.

The game is fun, but has some big issues; especially the PC version of this game. I own both the Xbox 360 version and the PC version, and the PC version is plagued with issues – hackers, lag, and FMG9s. The solution for these issues is so simple, and I don’t understand why a company that makes $1 billion in the first 16 days can’t figure that out.

Lag is easy to fix; dedicated servers. For the PC, this is a super easy fix. You’ve done it before IW… it was called COD4. Implement that, with a few updates (like party ability), and you’re set. Code something similar for the Xbox 360, and a lot of the complaints you receive will go away.

Dedicated servers are also the answer for the hackers on the PC. Admins can kick players who hack, and everyone is happy again. On the Xbox 360 version of MW3, implement a kick system. Will this result in legit players getting kicked occasionally? Certainly, but it will also nearly always get the hackers kicked.

And last but not least, please remove the akimbo option from the machine pistols. Secondary weapons should be just that – only for backup. You should not see anyone running around with akimbo primary! If you do, there is clearly a problem. Keep machine pistols, but make akimbo only available for single shot pistols.

… that’s all for now. I’m enjoying the game, but I feel like it could be a great game.

MW2 > COD4 > Black Ops > MW3

EDIT: One more thing…

WHY are PC gamers left out? We didn’t get mountain dew double XP or prestige tokens from previous Call of Duty’s. I spent money and time in the previous games and I think I deserve tokens and double XP, too. It just doesn’t make sense.

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Quick Battlefield 3 Review

Oct 29 2011

Alright guys, Battlefield 3 came out this week and I decided to buy it. At first I thought I might skip it and wait for Modern Warfare 3, but I decided to jump on it.

So far, this game has been excellent. In my humble opinion, it doesn’t play like any of the other Battlefield’s. It plays like something in between Call of Duty and the old Battlefield’s; and that’s exactly what I was hoping it would be. The maps are huge, but that hasn’t been too much of a problem for me because there are so many players on each server.

The guns feel good, except for the default sniper rifle. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s an utter piece of crap. You’re better off running around on the biggest map in the game with a shotgun rather than that sniper. I hear once you actually get a scope on the gun it feels more like a real sniper rifle, though; so we’ll see.

Ranking up is slow. If you’re expecting to rank up 4 levels in one game like Call of Duty, forget it. It takes at least 3 games to rank up, and that’s if you’re doing really well. The games are also much longer than a regular Black Ops match, unless you’re playing Team DM.

The connection for the PC seems to be solid. I haven’t had any trouble finding a server that is relatively local to me with a good ping. At times, finding an open slot can be a problem, but with 64 people on a server, someone is bound to leave if you’re persistent enough.

Overall, I like the game. The guns feel nice, I like the customization, and I am digging the new features that I haven’t seen in COD. Having the ability to spawn near your team mates is a brilliant idea. I think this has been a feature in the previous Battlefield’s, but I’m not positive on that. Unfortunately, I don’t have any friends with the game yet so I haven’t had the experience of playing with a good team of players. If you do play on the PC, speak English, and want to play some Battlefield, hit me up on Twitter and we’ll start a squad.

Take care guys!

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