So we went on a trip for a week and a half, so the BMW 320d (yes I should specify) didn't drive for that time. When I tried to start it yesterday it had a dead battery. Luckily not dead enough for all the electronics to loose their settings, but not starting dead.
So went and borrowed a friend's (thanks Paul) jump starter. It's one of those small Lithium battery jump starters and it worked as a charm.
This got me thinking I'll have to get one of those. Some googling taught me that
- there are a lot of those out there
- they come in all different sizes (roughly 5000mAh to 20000mAh)
- most of them have additional extras like flashlight / usb charging ports / compass / ....
One thing that's really missing from most of these is the ability to charge from USB, which really hampers the power bank function of the thing. I have a nice solar panel to charge it, but can't use it.
I'll keep you posted if I find one that's USB rechargeable (and doesn't cost 150$ like the noco geniusboost)
Saturday, 13 June 2015
Monday, 2 March 2015
COTE - BMW Z3 coupe
Here we go, a new COTE (Car Of The Era).
So now comes the time where I ramble on about what "needs" to be changed / repaired / modified on the car. You've been warned.
- all bushings on the rear suspension. They aren't shot, but according to the interwebs it's a nice improvement in driving feeling and could actually prevent chassis damage in the long run
- Navigation system is much needed. I've been ogling the Parrot Asteroid RNB6. Can't wait until it is released
- Check radio reception. For the moment there is no reception. I suspect the antenna amplifier to be either defect or not powered. More digging is necessary
- Polish the windshield. There's some swirl marks in the glass.
- Gear shift knob. It's too high for the moment
- Put lights in the gear shift knob i don't have yet :-)
- Get rid of the curb rash on the left rear rim. Not much, painting and polishing should do the trick.
- replace the engine hood ground wire
- and the list goes on :-)
Saturday we went and got the new car, or at least the new to me car.
It's a Z3 coupe with the M52TUB28 engine, as you guys should know from previous posts.
Here are some pictures, which should give you an idea about the car.
The car has dutch export plates for the moment, which are rather funny since they're just stickers glued on a plastic
- all bushings on the rear suspension. They aren't shot, but according to the interwebs it's a nice improvement in driving feeling and could actually prevent chassis damage in the long run
- Navigation system is much needed. I've been ogling the Parrot Asteroid RNB6. Can't wait until it is released
- Check radio reception. For the moment there is no reception. I suspect the antenna amplifier to be either defect or not powered. More digging is necessary
- Polish the windshield. There's some swirl marks in the glass.
- Gear shift knob. It's too high for the moment
- Put lights in the gear shift knob i don't have yet :-)
- Get rid of the curb rash on the left rear rim. Not much, painting and polishing should do the trick.
- replace the engine hood ground wire
- and the list goes on :-)
Sunday, 22 February 2015
COTE - The end of an era
As i write this, there is an empty spot in my garage. It's been 7 years since that's happened, but it finally happened again. The celica has been sold.
That concludes a decade of me driving a toyota celica. The first 3 years and 98.000km were driven with the one and only black celica. The last 7 years (and 200.000km) were driven with the gray, which never really truly could fill the footsteps of the black one.
So yesterday I sold the car to two Libanese brothers, the older one paying for the car the younger one is going to drive. Given his enthausiasm for the car, and his brothers sceptism, I thinkit's going to a good home, maybe even a better home than it had with me, since for him it really is the one :-)
This also means that my COTW rants are going to have to come to an end, since I'll have to decide on what car I want to fill that empty place in the garage. For the moment I'm chasing down a BMW Z3, so keep your fingers crossed for the next post to arrive very soon.
Monday, 16 February 2015
RANT - FOD economie Arbeidsenquete
Dear Readers,
Some time ago I got a letter telling me that I was one of the lucky ones selected to take part in a mandatory survey. Some random person would get in touch with me in due time.
Apparently the guy came to our place some evening around 18.00. Needless to say we weren't home, so he left a card saying that he would be back. In case I wanted to make an appointment he left a phone number. A landline number. That's alarm bell number one.
Being a good citizen I gave the guy a call and made an appointment for saturday morning. But not before calling the FOD and asking if i could take part by phone. The nice lady told me that this was only possible for pensioners. So let's get this straight. Working people, who are all day occupied at work and have to cram their household chores in the few waking hours are supposed to waste some more time. This would be alarm bell 2 for you.
So anyway, saturday morning, I eagerly await the FOD guy. Turns out it was an 80 year old guy.
He installed himself and took out his laptop, on which he typed the answers to the questions. I had trouble restraining myself from taking the laptop out of his hands.
Anyway, the questions were
- Do you work
- Since when
- Where do you work
- How do you go to work
- What kind of work do you do
- What kind of contract do you have
- How much do you earn
- What's your highest education
That's it ... nothing more. It took about half an hour in total. Yes you read that right, half an hour for those few questions.
I really honestly wonder why they didn't just use an online survey. So I asked them. Here's the question and the answer i got from FOD :
Geachte heer,
Hierbij heb ik uw mail overgemaakt aan de verantwoordelijke van de dienst arbeidskrachtenenquete van de fod economie. Hij zal u verderhelpen met uw concrete opmerkingen.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
U hebt op 14-2-2015 om 9:32:59 de volgende vraag aan ons gesteld:
Beste,
Ik heb daarnet een enquêteur op bezoek gehad i de het kader van de arbeidsenquete.
Deze man was van redelijke leeftijd en moest mijn antwoorden op computer intypen. Zelf ben ik programmeur. Ik hoop dat je de ironie kan appreciëren. Zelf had ik de vragenlijst nauwkeuriger en uiteraard vlugger kunnen invullen.
Is het niet stilletjesaan tijd om dergelijke enquêtes online te doen? Dit zou enorme besparingen met zich meebrengen, zowel op gebied van tijd voor beide partijen, geld voor de FOD, en gemak bij het verwerken van de resultaten.
Hopende dat er volgende enquête de 21ste eeuw waardig is,
Groeten.
This is the answer I finally got on my mail. Apparently the participation rate is higher when they send people instead of going online. A slight improvement would be to send people to the xx% of people who don't reply online. Giving us good citizens a break :-)
Bij de Algemene Directie Statistiek organiseren wij al jaren enquêtes bij huishoudens via internet. Enkele voorbeelden zijn: het Reidonderzoek, de ICT-enquête over computer- en internetgebruik door huishoudens en de Adult Education Survey over levenslang leren..
De reden waarom wij voor de Enquête naar de Arbeidskrachten een beroep doen op interviewers die aan huis komen, heeft met kwaliteit te maken. Bij internet enquêtes neemt slechts tussen de 20% en 30% deel. Als wij de enquêtes laten afnemen door interviewers, dan stijgt de participatiegraad tot 80%. Wij hebben die kwaliteit echt wel nodig om een correcte schatting te maken van het aantal werkende, werklozen en niet beroepsactieven in België.
Intussen hebben wij een project opgestart om na te gaan hoe we in de toekomst wel het internet kunnen gebruiken voor de Enquête naar de Arbediskrachten, zonder al te veel in te boeten op kwaliteit.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Some time ago I got a letter telling me that I was one of the lucky ones selected to take part in a mandatory survey. Some random person would get in touch with me in due time.
Apparently the guy came to our place some evening around 18.00. Needless to say we weren't home, so he left a card saying that he would be back. In case I wanted to make an appointment he left a phone number. A landline number. That's alarm bell number one.
Being a good citizen I gave the guy a call and made an appointment for saturday morning. But not before calling the FOD and asking if i could take part by phone. The nice lady told me that this was only possible for pensioners. So let's get this straight. Working people, who are all day occupied at work and have to cram their household chores in the few waking hours are supposed to waste some more time. This would be alarm bell 2 for you.
So anyway, saturday morning, I eagerly await the FOD guy. Turns out it was an 80 year old guy.
He installed himself and took out his laptop, on which he typed the answers to the questions. I had trouble restraining myself from taking the laptop out of his hands.
Anyway, the questions were
- Do you work
- Since when
- Where do you work
- How do you go to work
- What kind of work do you do
- What kind of contract do you have
- How much do you earn
- What's your highest education
That's it ... nothing more. It took about half an hour in total. Yes you read that right, half an hour for those few questions.
I really honestly wonder why they didn't just use an online survey. So I asked them. Here's the question and the answer i got from FOD :
Geachte heer,
Hierbij heb ik uw mail overgemaakt aan de verantwoordelijke van de dienst arbeidskrachtenenquete van de fod economie. Hij zal u verderhelpen met uw concrete opmerkingen.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
U hebt op 14-2-2015 om 9:32:59 de volgende vraag aan ons gesteld:
Beste,
Ik heb daarnet een enquêteur op bezoek gehad i de het kader van de arbeidsenquete.
Deze man was van redelijke leeftijd en moest mijn antwoorden op computer intypen. Zelf ben ik programmeur. Ik hoop dat je de ironie kan appreciëren. Zelf had ik de vragenlijst nauwkeuriger en uiteraard vlugger kunnen invullen.
Is het niet stilletjesaan tijd om dergelijke enquêtes online te doen? Dit zou enorme besparingen met zich meebrengen, zowel op gebied van tijd voor beide partijen, geld voor de FOD, en gemak bij het verwerken van de resultaten.
Hopende dat er volgende enquête de 21ste eeuw waardig is,
Groeten.
This is the answer I finally got on my mail. Apparently the participation rate is higher when they send people instead of going online. A slight improvement would be to send people to the xx% of people who don't reply online. Giving us good citizens a break :-)
Bij de Algemene Directie Statistiek organiseren wij al jaren enquêtes bij huishoudens via internet. Enkele voorbeelden zijn: het Reidonderzoek, de ICT-enquête over computer- en internetgebruik door huishoudens en de Adult Education Survey over levenslang leren..
De reden waarom wij voor de Enquête naar de Arbeidskrachten een beroep doen op interviewers die aan huis komen, heeft met kwaliteit te maken. Bij internet enquêtes neemt slechts tussen de 20% en 30% deel. Als wij de enquêtes laten afnemen door interviewers, dan stijgt de participatiegraad tot 80%. Wij hebben die kwaliteit echt wel nodig om een correcte schatting te maken van het aantal werkende, werklozen en niet beroepsactieven in België.
Intussen hebben wij een project opgestart om na te gaan hoe we in de toekomst wel het internet kunnen gebruiken voor de Enquête naar de Arbediskrachten, zonder al te veel in te boeten op kwaliteit.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)