Having It All

[Task]

It's been a busy couple months.
It took a lot of work, but I finished off my previous project (http://www.myhipom.com).
Took a week off during the spring to go on a honeymoon cruise with the wife. Two years after the marriage, but we figured it'd be about that long till we could get the time to ourselves. 8 )
Then earlier this month I got a job offer. Actually, not just "a" job offer, more like THE job offer. As in "the job I've always said I wanted". Lead Developer for a company (http://www.invivo.ca/medical_gaming_overview.html) that actually makes video games (http://www.spongelab.com/spongelab/main.cfm?thePG=play).
Well, I couldn't turn that down, could I? 8 D

Do you think I can top that? Is it even possible?

Well, I'll answer that with the final piece of the puzzle:

We're leaving this Friday night to spend a week in Florida. Taking the wife and kid to Disney World. He's 5 and excited. She's almost as excited. 8 D

There's been a fair amount of bad news around, there often is. But you know what? Sometimes it all comes together. Sometimes everything works. Sometimes life turns out exactly the way you dream it might. Every now and then... you can have it all.

Time to enjoy it.

So, anyone who's living in and around Orlando, let me know if you're around and looking for a race. Like the proverbial comic, I'm going to be there all week.

[Medusa]

Wowww! That is awesome! Good for you, Jay, you deserve it, that's for sure! Congrats to you and the wife!

Maybe just me reading into things (well of course I'm reading, aren't I?), but you seem to prefer work that is really meaningful--judging from the last couple of jobs only of course. :clap

What's better than video games that actually make a difference? (No, I mean more of a difference than WipEout...) That's really exciting. Is it weird that I'm looking at those games thinking they'd be really fun? Guess it's a good company...about to get better though!

Enjoy your holiday, and enjoy this new stage of life!

[Task]

8 )
Thanks, Izzy.

Yeah, they tend towards educational-type video games, which is definitely a good thing. I definitely prefer to make something meaningful, and it certainly looks like I've found that.

Anyway, yeah, definitely enjoying the vacation so far. Went trick-or-treating in Disney World last night. I don't think we're ever going to beat that one. 8 D

Today we're relaxing a bit. Which, of course, means that the wife wants to go shopping. 8 P

Poor me, I hafta drive. The Ford Mustang convertible we got. 8 D

[SaturnReturn]

Good for you Jay. I love this quote on the website of 'a company':
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”
This is the problem with teaching in schools IMO, at least in the UK - there's just not enough involvement and information is just thrown at kids in the hope it sticks. It carried on for me even until university. So I think anything that is more engrossing for kids to learn with is a good thing.

[Medusa]

Poor me, I hafta drive. The Ford Mustang convertible we got. 8 D

Oooh, need a review when you're done with it. V6? Or V8? Standard, auto???
Was looking into buying a new mustang, a few years ago. (when I thought I had money, LOL!)

The cheapest fun car out there IMO!! Well, if you want to qualify muscle cars only, and even then, some people will still argue...but anyway...off topic, lalala off I go...

[Task]

Oh, it was a rental, so the Automatic was (very unfortunately) the Mandatory Option. No choice on that one, no matter how much of a crime I think it is to release any kind of sports car in an 'automatic' version.
The good news is that it's just as nice a car as you'd expect. Fairly cheap too, by the looks of the sticker price. We got it in red (http://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2010-mustang_convertible/) because Dorian's a big fan of a certain red racing car (http://www.topgearrules.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/cars-lightning-mcqueen.jpg).
As for the engine, the first thing I did with this car (after we got to the place we were staying for the week) was pop the hood and look at it (http://mustangs.about.com/od/2010mustang/ig/2010-V6-Mustang-Photo-Gallery/4-0L-V6-Mustang-Engine.htm). My favourite feature of the engine being the battery placement, which attempts to counter the weight of the driver.
It's a nice V6. The gas tank holds $30, and half the tank got us to Tampa Bay and back. The car has some definite weight to it, so when you get it going it'll maintain speed with little effort. It's got brakes to match, slowed us down quickly and without issue.
The main things I noticed about it were kind of cosmetic. The car is really high. In my Sunfire coupe I can hardly see the hood even though I feel very low to the road and the ceiling is just above my hat. In the Mustang I felt suspended well above the road and the car was even higher. I could see miles of hood in front of me, there was a boatload of headroom, and I still felt like the little old granny who can only just barely peer over the top of the steering wheel!
The bucket seats take some getting used to, the headrest shoves your head forward and cushions the top of your head instead of the back. Feels exceptionally strange. By the end of the week I wasn't even noticing it anymore though. It somehow started to feel natural.
The most important thing though is, of course, THE HANDLING. This thing has a nice wide wheelbase feel to it. Solid, square, and heavy. Just how I like it. And yet still nimble! Tight turning radius, you can crank that wheel and u-turn inside two lanes. It definitely brings the muscle car feel if I'm any judge. Which I might not be, seeing as how my experience is based on 80+ hours of GT3. 8 P
Only seats 4, sitting on "the hump" is an experience you should reserve as a special minor torture technique now available to you.
I got a chance to really put the hammer down when I found myself on a high-grade uphill on-ramp onto the I-4, that was the only time I figured I was safe seeing what was after the 50% mark on the gas pedal. This car _flew_ up that hill. A few of my passengers were excited by the acceleration capabilities at only halfway to the floor.

I think that's about all I can say about the car, definitely recommended for a rental. From what I hear, it's good to own as well. 8 )

Would definitely drive again.

[Medusa]

Nice review, thanks! (GT3, LOL!) If I remember correctly I test drove the 05 V6 auto; it was a snow with mixed in sleet day, and the car (and its all seasons) informed me it needed upgrades in steering/suspension (besides a good set of winter tires!) for our climate--it was just too loose in the back. But the new ones have had that, sooo...I just need to work another give years, hahaha!!!