19 04 2004
Pretty fun weekend, even if I never did get around to cleaning up the apartment.
Saturday, Simone dragged me out of my cozy basement, kicking and screaming, in order to meet up with Reg, Hwan, Kendrick, Gina and Jenning for lunch at (dim) some restaurant in Scarborough. This was only the second time I’ve been to one of these restaurants where they run carts around and you pick off whatever you want to eat. The last time I ate chicken feet. This time I was far more careful.
After lunch, we went back to Hwan’s and played with Reggie’s new Xbox on a big, fat TV screen. If you get a screen big enough, the quadrants in 4-player Halo is still a pretty good size… but I still got slaughtered. I was up against three guys who play this far more than I do.
A few of us went outside for ‘real’ exercise - Frisbee and a game of tag. Kind of an immature way to spend a Saturday, but you are the company you keep. Fat, ol’ me had a challenge trying to catch my breath after being tagged ‘it’, but I think it was a good idea. I wound up overeating in Barrie the next day.
Simone showed me an article on Bobby Ore’s Driving School where they use Escort ZX2’s for initial training. While on the site, I read up about something called shuffle steering. Take some time to read the linked article. It outlines the lazy-man’s “palming” method of steering (that we’re all guilty of at one time or another), the “hand-over-hand” which is what most of us are taught from Day 1, and “shuffle steering”. The last is apparently far safer - especially since the advent of airbags - giving the driver more consistent control and power in steering.
I’ve been re-training myself to use Ore’s variation on shuffle steering, which keeps the left hand on the left half of the wheel, the right hand on the right side, and both hands always at the same height. It’s a real challenge to re-train myself after 12 years of driving, but I’m already feeling more control and quicker response on 90 degree turns.
Since getting the ZX2, I’ve been trying to get comfortable with the steering wheel. My hands just couldn’t sit where they wanted to. With Ore’s style of steering, (hands at 8-and-4) my fingers all sit comfortably. Since Ford is a sponsor of his stunt driving school, he might have had some input on the design of the steering wheel.
Just as I’m getting some new life out of my car, some fucknut comes along and snaps the antenna off my car while I was parked outside my parent’s house. The antenna doesn’t cost much, and even I can install it myself.
But it’s still a real bitch that I couldn’t hear the Leaf’s lose in OT last night. I really would have enjoyed that.
