June 2005

Images can be found at http://www.heathallyn.com/gallery/Prius!

More cool photos and info can be found at Toyota's site.

Anyone who spends $30,000 on a car which is not a Toyota Prius is a making a huge mistake. This car is the coolest thing I have ever owned. More importantly, the "bang for the buck" on this car is off the scale in my opinion. If I just had to guess the price based on seeing and driving it, I would put it much higher.

We picked up our Toyota Prius this morning. Pure bliss. Words can not convey the awesomeness of this car. We paid about 31K for it completely and utterly decked out and it was worth every penny. If I didn't know the price and had to estimate its value, I would have guessed much higher.

Pictures and details will be forthcoming.

We were out celebrating a friend's birthday when I heard one of the funniest kid-related stories ever. It probably will not translate as well in text form since the delivery of the story is what really sold it, but I have to relate it anyway.

Using the link Annika posted, I played around with transforming my face. These two were my favorite:

Monkey Heath!

Old Heath is kinda creepy

Just a quick little tidbit: www.themonsterengine.com Art made from children's artwork. Very cool.

A quick aside: since I couldn't take the pressure of supplying a haiku every day, I've decided to change my methods to instead post a new haiku with each new entry I make. Sometimes it may just be a haiku relating to the entry, others just a random inspiration. We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

Apparently I've been "tagged" by some look-looks.

It's the Caesar's Bath Meme game. You list five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can't really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), "Nice. Nice. Not thrilling...but nice."

1. American Idol (and by extension reality TV in general)
   I don't get it, I've never got it, and I don't want to get it.
2. Tied for second (only because I'd feel redundant making two entries about musical artists), Bob Dylan and The Greatful Dead
   Neither has ever done anything for me, and I don't mean in the sense that they've never lent me money or washed my dishes, but musically they've just never floated my boat (also not to be taken literally).
3. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
   This one pains me to admit. This is probably one of the single most influential albums ever. It seems like every musician, band, songwriter, and hell, probably mimes, bus drivers, accountants and every other profession in the world seem to list this album as one of the great masterpieces of all time. I can appreciate it on a technical level with it's masterful harmonies, orchestration, and incredible vision and innovation for it's time, but at the end of it all it leaves me feeling very much like the line that inspired this exercise: "Nice. Nice. Not thrilling...but nice." I've probably just been put on some secret musician blacklist for writing this. I plan on giving it more attentio in the future and maybe, when I'm ready, it will unveil itself to me like a burrito whose tortilla has fallen open.
4. Blue Velvet
   Another example of something I've always heard exalted as some incredible classic, and one of Lynch's greatest works. It did nothing for me at all. I far prefer Mulholland Drive for a Lynchian Mind Fuck movie.
5. Getting Drunk
   Most of my personal experiences with this were completely miserable and ended with firehose-like power vomiting. The few occasions where I managed to get drunk but not too drunk were just completely "meh." No thrill. I think my body just doesn't agree with alcohol. I certainly can't stand the taste of it. What few alcoholic drinks I can tolerate, I generally think would taste even better without the alcohol in them. On the whole I'd far prefer some chocolate milk or a soda (or some low carb chocolate milk or a diet soda now that I've given up sugar). Generally speaking I don't like people very much when they're drunk either. They seem fake, obnoxious, and I feel like there's a think haze between me and them that completely prevents me from "connecting" with them on any real personal level. I can understand people who genuinely like a certain alcoholic beverage and wish to partake a little, but the whole drinking to purposefully get utterly Sheen-faced with complete intent and purpose completely baffles me and makes me feel like I'm from another planet observing the strange behavior of these ugly bags of mostly water known as Yoo-Mons!

Now the disclaimer: That is not meant to be "judgmental" or criticizing of anyone who does drink. I fully support "to each their own" and realize that the above statement is a sweeping generalization which does not blanketly apply to everyone. It's just my own personal feelings from my own experiences. I do not think less of anyone who drinks or have any kind of lack of respect or other condescending view of them. Many of my favorite people drink and get drunk. This disclaimer is brought to you by the letter B and a grant from the Chubb Foundation.

First a quick update not worthy of its own post. We spent memorial day weekend in Dallas with my friend Esteban totally vegging out and playnig video games all damn weekend. I will be buying Mario Golf:Toadstool Tour for the Gamecube.

Next order of business:
I don't do a lot of these test type thingies, but this one amused me and I thought it was quite accurate. However since I'm considered borderline in 3 of the 4 traits that means I could very easily be part of any of the listed groups as long as they have the "Arrogant" trait in them.

I'd say that's pretty accurate in that I do think very highly of myself, I just don't think that anyone else thinks highly of me. My self esteem is great. It's other's esteem of me that I always fear sucks.