Maiden Voyage

Took my first spin in the new car over Halloween weekend.

Many things in NZ are backwards compared to the way we view them in the states. However, even in NZ, it is still not cool to drive a minivan. Doing my part to promote transpacific harmony.

Driving from the passenger seat on the wrong side of the road was terrifying for the first couple of days.  I made it a point to remind myself to “keep left” when I put the car in gear.  After a few trips, it became easier to drive.

I made a short trip around the various bays in Wellington on my first trip: Houghton Bay, Lyall Bay, Island Bay, Scorcher Bay, Breaker Bay, Oriental Bay.  Lots of bays.

The picture of the car (above) was taken near Breaker Bay.  This is about 15 minutes away from the townhouse.  The sun was out.  Everything is great here when the sun is out.

If the car windshield looks clean, it is because they put the wiper switch where the turn indicator should be.

Buttons...

… that are currently failing me.

• The ‘OK’ button on my cell phone.
  Services inhibited by said failure: sending texts that aren’t in reply to one I’ve already received, taking photos, deleting multiple text messages. Just started working today for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks, probably because it knew I was trash-talking it on the webs. Also starting to fail: the green ‘SEND’ button. If that happens, shit’s goin’ down.
• The Eject button on my car’s stereo.
  Services inhibited by said failure: ejecting my goddamn CDs. It always happens when I’m absolutely sick of an album and the reception for any decent radio (read: NPR) is inconsistent. Sometimes takes days until it finally decides to spit it out. Right now I’m on Day 6.
• The iPod button on my iHome alarm clock.
  Services inhibited by said failure: turning music on or off on my iPod docked in the alarm clock. Leaves me half awake, rapidly pressing a button I can barely see trying to turn the damn thing off. Or on.

Let’s not even go into my car or my hot tub having problems right now. It’s too much. Excuse me while I retreat back beneath my technological black FAIL cloud.

Concurso Inauguração - O QUE É AMAR COLEÇÕES ?

Para inaugurar o blog e o twitter estou promovendo um concurso no twitter no blog.

responda a seguinte pergunta:

O QUE É AMAR COLEÇÕES ?

A resposta com no máximo 140 caracteres e mais criativa ganha um Camaro ‘69 T-HUNT 2008 NOVO LACRADO NO BLISTER.

regras do consurso

1° – O participante tem que seguir o twitter e responder em no máximo 140 caracteres.

2° – Responder dentro da validade do consurso

3° – frases repetidas serão eliminadas

4° – O participante pode mandar quantas  mensagens desejar

5° – O Concurso só é válido no twitter

6° – depois de mandar a frase pelo twitter, mandar o RT #concursoamocolecoes – Eu participo

7° – Concurso valido somente em território brasileiro

Inicio: 12 de Novembro de 2009

Termino: 22 de Novembro de 2009 as 1:00(uma hora) da manhã – horário de Brasília. 0:00(zero hora, estados sem horário de verão)

Boa Sorte a todos e sejam bem vindos

Todos os direitos reservados © Amo coleções – 2009

www.twitter.com/amocolecoes

Shaq's Wife Shaunie Files for Divorce!!!...I hope he learned from the first time she tried to take him,...it's about the money,not the kids...

Shaunie and Shaq....divorce again

Fool me once, shame on you…Fool me twice, shame on me!

Shaquille O’neal has been served papers for a divorce from his scandalous soon to be ex-wife and baby mama to his multiple children Shaunie O’neal.

Didn’t they do this back in 2007?…I always tell fool’s not to go back to some honey that your have just separated from,I mean,that’s a big message that the two of you are tired of each others company.That does not get any better, just a lot worst.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20054672,00.html

I guess no one ever told Shaq.

Reports coming from TMZ.com are stating that Shaunie, who resides in Miami,  abruptly flew to Los Angeles and filed a petition for legal separation in Los Angeles County Superior Court,on Monday.

She filed the divorce papers in California as opposed to Florida, because a spouse generally does a lot better in the spousal support department  in California.

Shaunie is asking for both spousal and child support , though she did not specify an amount for either. This is all just to get the ball rolling.

In 2007, Shaquille had discovered a lot of his money missing, and after further review, he discovered that his wife had funneled millions of his dollars into secret accounts, and purchased real estate property that he was not made aware of.

She is also rumored to have been spending a lot of Shaq’s cash on a secret boyfriend,her Cuban personal trainer, in which Shaunie supposedly  had a one year affair with .

The cause then was reportedly money, the Miami Herald reports,and it is at the center of the divorce presently.

Shaunie O’Neal, who had access to Shaquille’s money, is being required to provide “correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities.”
The only thing I can assume is that after the 2007 issue, and reconciliation, that Shaq had instituted safeguards for his money from his scheming conniving scandalous wife.

If you are not aware of that past drama, click on this link to an article on Vibe…http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2007/09/shaq_shaunie_split/

Then ask yourself, why would Shaq go back to a women who is clearly working against him. This can’t be what marriage is all about, but in the end, it is only about the money.

Who needs that?

For all the people who ask me why I am not married, it is because I am not open to this kind of personal drama.

I guess Shaunie was not trying to live in Cleveland this year, it is not as warm there as in Miami and LA., and she has a wider variety of young buff trainers to buy in the warmer climates.

If I was Shaq, I would just pay her off, and get full custody of my children, she could care less about them.Just have your attorneys figure out what she would get if she had to raise them, and pay her off and get rid of her from their lives.

She has a price, you know that now, so get it done, and get over this ridiculousness.

I bet his stats will go up,he will start hitting free throws, if he is allowed to be free of this festering distraction that has plagued him since 2007.

The lesson here people is that if you want to have a bunch of girls and/or guys on the side,…then it is better to be single.Doing that during a marriage just causes a lot of unnecessary drama, a waste of money, and the waste of a lot of time.

Who needs that…probably not Shaq.

The date of separation is listed as 11-9-09. The couple has 4 minor children. Shaunie wants legal and physical custody of all the kids.

They have been married for 6 years, 11 months.

Please voice your opinions on this train wreck of a marriage, and your views on dating while your married in general.

For the best reporting on celebrity divorces, follow the story on TMZ.com…

http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz0WU8YTrJ8

Car Rental - Rent a Car

Wait…want to hire a car? But you are still unaware of many things related to car rental…

Car hire agency or car rental agency is an agency that rents out cars or automobiles for a limited period of time with a certain amount of money or fee for hiring an automobile. Car rental agency is a wide form of hiring shop with numerous branches. Majority of these agencies are located near airports, bus stations, railway stations and busy cit areas where a frequent hiring of automobiles are seen. These agencies also have online reservations through computer. Most of the travel agencies also have connection with major car rental agencies. Car hire agencies also serve a wide variety of needs by renting vans and trucks also.

The conditions to get a car for rent may vary according to the brand or size of the car. The rented vehicle should be returned in a good condition and should not exceed the prescribed driving distance or kilometers by the car agency. If the distance exceeds the normal prescribed one, the agency will ask for extra payment for extra kilometers. In addition to this, there is a minimum age for the vehicle driver, mostly 18 or 21 but in some cases it is 25. In today’s technological world the introduction of GPS (Global positioning System) technology which is used to limit the speed of the car and also to locate the vehicle in case of any mishap. A majority of car rental agencies insists the use of credit cards to make it easier to identify the person who steals the car or to charge additional fees, if any defect is later found with the car after the car is returned to the agency.

The information or documentation to collect a car are passport or any other identification similar to that, driver’s license, prepaid car voucher and a valid credit car in the driver’s name. In some countries international driver permit along with national license is needed. If the person wants to make any changes in the booking, he will have to contact the customer service. Different types of insurance coverage will be offered to add money on to the base rental rate. But most of these insurance are covered by the personal auto insurance policy. Exception from this is Collision Damage Waiver or CDW which is an extra daily charge covering both the cost of damage of a car involved in an accident and loss of use charged by the agency. To avoid cheating, consult with an insurance agent before taking a car for rent. Loss of use is the time and money lost for the car company as the vehicle cannot rent during the time of repair, if it met with an accident. Some credit card covers the damage or theft of the rented car. Most credit cards which offer this feature only cover basic models which do not include SUV’s and luxury cars.

There are certain requirements to meet before taking a car for rent. They are:
(1)Know the age requirement of the driver.
(2)Compare the rent of different agencies.
(3)Determine whether it is a free upgrade or discounted rate.
(4)The classes of the car depend on the different brands at different car rental agencies. Rental cars will be typically the base models.
(5)Book the vehicle as soon as possible to avoid the confusion during travel.
(6)Before providing the credit card number, ask about the cancellation policy.
(7)Give rent only for the needs.
(8)Don’t pay double of the car insurance.
(9)If two people are going to drive, make sure that both of their names should be in the agreement.
(10)Inspect the car before taking it from the car agency.
(11)Fill the fuel before returning the car to avoid charging a premium.
(12)Ask for map and directions to the destination.
(13)Take a membership of a rental agency to avail special offers, if the traveler is frequent renter.
(14)Make sure the mileage policy is favorable so that to avoid extra charge.

It is better to take the car according to the weekly rate, if a person is keeping a car for more than five days. Mostly the seventh day ends up saving money on weekly rental and might not need the free seventh day but there is always a plan of change.

For Car Hire visit @  www.gerrardbeacon.com

Article Source: www.buzzle.com

I one Auto Insurance almost had violation have

I have had one violation almost 3 years recent and have had insurance now for almost seven months.  looking for the cheapest (min. coverage) place to get auto insurance as the car is sole driven a bit days a week. Any suggestions will help

Attempt this car insurance site state auto insurance
here we could get quotes from different companies so we could discover the best option for you.
what we are looking for is not the cheapest insurance company.

what we are looking for is the company that gives we the the-most

value for my currency and has a solid reputation for the best service

with the least amount of hassle. I used to have mercury insurance

but changed to 21st C. insurance cause all-of-them give we more

stuff thats included at no extra charge, our website is easy

to navigate and easy to make changes in my policy and i have

been with all-of-them from 2005.

21st used to be owned by AIG and has from been bought by

farmers insurance so the quality of the company is even stronger

than ever.
The standard rates for all companies are almost same. we have ask different discounts and choose my covers to come at price of insurance. We could ask for discounts in various counts such as being a member of AAA, for holding certain credit cards, being employed by grand employers and for memberships of teacher’s union and AARP. Gossip to my insurance agent or general auto insurance auto insurance company representative around this car insurance to discover out if we could avail the benefit of a lower rate based in any of those factors. Ask what discounts are available to you. We could go for online quotes from various companies which will enable we to values pro and cons of each-one and price offered by them.
Is the conviction date of the ticket almost 3 years old?    Await till it is 3 years elder before shopping around.   If my in CA afterward 3 years the ticket will not count.  And, we could get credit for driving less.

Call around and get some quotes.   No one there could give we quotes because all-of-them will have to have insurance license in my state to do that.   And, it is versus the rules to solicit business in this car insurance website.    Just call some local insurance agents.
We look like we have a good driving record.  The insurance company I understand of that rewards good driving records the the-most in 4insure.net.  Just enter my zip code there to start. We could probably go there and get 2-3 times cheaper than the grand companies will charge you.
I could give we a suggestion and i bet that will be definitely helpful. Go to  and we could get widely variety of insurance options to choose. That will be quite helpful to we as it have been to much of my friends.
Getting fresh auto insurance is a simply way to save money.  Get a fastly quote at a website all-of-them usually give lots of quotes.

here’s a grand place where we could get free quotes and save around 40%

autoinsurance.undonet.com – attempt this car insurance one. I personally have our car insurance, cause it is the cheapest for me in our area.

Next-Gen Car Dashboard Talks to the Cloud

Automobiles will soon be linking up with servers in the cloud to enable everything from crowdsourced pothole detection, personalized radio stations, video selections that include YouTube and even video streams from the front windows of other cars.

Think of it as Dashboard 2.0.

A consortium of tech companies called ng Connect showed off a functional concept version of a Toyota Prius on Tuesday that includes multiple LCD screens, an app platform similar to the one for the iPhone, and a high speed LTE internet connection that promises to make 3G feel like dial-up. The set-up turns the car into a Wi-Fi hot spot, plays movies on demand, and lets passengers frag each other in multi-player games.

The LTE connection is fast enough to stream four high-definition movies to four different screens in a single car, according to Alcatel-Lucent vice president Derek Kuhn. While still a telecom dream, LTE is backwards-compatible with today’s 3G networks. It also relies on a single standard, which will hopefully make nationwide rollout cheaper and faster than 3G has been.

ng Connect is comprised of a motley crew of tech companies: the networking company Alcatel-Lucent, Atlantic Records, QNX Software Systems, Toyota, geek gadget company chumby and Kabillion. Their LTE Connected Car project is only a prototype now, but the group expects its technology to roll out within the next two to three years.

ng Connect’s system leverages two major trends — cloud computing and mobile applications – to provide safety, navigation, and entertainment features that already go a long way towards justifying its “next-generation” moniker.

The high-bandwidth connection enables processor-intensive applications like voice recognition — a crucial safety feature in gadget-ridden cars — to happen on the server side, where voice commands can be processed more efficiently. And that’s just the beginning of what cloud computing will do for drivers, according to the ng Connect group.

“This car also is a sensor,” explained Kuhn. For instance, if your car’s temperature and moisture sensors determine that the surface temperature of the road is below freezing and that the road is wet, it can upload that information into the cloud so that the drivers behind you know to take it a little easier around the turns. It’s like a crowdsourced version of what traffic helicopters do today.

Entertainment-wise, the system offers Pandora’s personalized streaming radio, Atlantic Records’ apps that pull in an artist’s latest tweets and songs, YouTube and a movie streaming service that remembers where each viewer left off. Future applications could even use the vehicle’s moisture sensor to suggest that you play Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, according to Kuhn.

Lest you worry about drivers being distracted, the system cuts off the entertainment stream to the driver’s monitor as soon as the car is in motion.

A camera embedded in the rearview mirror captures the road ahead, letting you pipe a video stream to the cloud. This will let you see the view from a connected car a quarter-mile ahead of you, so you can find out what’s causing that traffic jam up ahead. The system can also sense that traffic is becoming more compressed, warning you to slow down before you encounter a traffic compression.

Of course, America’s love affair with the car has a lot to do with freedom, and some could bristle about this sort of connectivity compromising their privacy.

“Let’s be open, there are privacy issues,” said Kuhn. “But we think we can abstract it enough that it’s not Dan driving.”

“It’s a nameless entity, right?” added Dan Dodge, president and CEO of QNX software, which developed the Flash Lite-based platform used by the system, who was seated in the driver’s seat for our demonstration. “It’s an identifier that would change every time you get into your car. It’s randomly assigned and has no idea who you are – it’s just a moving dot, and that’s key.”

However, Dodge added, applications that need to know who you are, such as Pandora, can do so without broadcasting any personally-identifying information to the cloud.

“The other exciting thing about this is municipalities,” said Dodge. “If your car hits a pothole, you can have a real-time signal go back to the municipality and they can see potholes appearing in real-time and send out a truck.” (Or start ignoring them as soon as possible, as the case may be.)

The losers in all of this: satellite navigation and radio. They appear to have about three years, tops, before personalized applications and cloud computing make them look as outdated as black-and-white television.

“Once you assume constant connectivity, the whole mindset changes of where you partition what’s in the car and what’s out in the cloud,” said Dodge. “Other than this nice, rich touch screen, a lot of the computing power has been moved onto the cloud, so the car of the future may be physically cheaper to build.”

Price will likely be a crucial factor in the success of this and other connected car platforms. ng Connect chose the Prius rather than a luxury model because research indicated that the segment of the population most interested in connected cars with advanced features is not the same that buys high-end luxury models. Rather, it’s young families and older singles who see connected electronics as a necessity.