Telecommuting - The Ultimate In Hypermiling

Today I joined the ranks of telecommuters. I am only doing it one day a week for now, on a trial basis, but even so I am pretty stoked. With hypermiling, as much as I do of it at least, it takes just under a quarter tank of gas per day to drive to work. Averaged out, it should save me at least a tank of gas per month, which at the moment costs $65.

Today was my first day, as I mentioned above. Normally I get up at 5:30 a.m. to leave the house between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. I move very slowly in the morning, so I have to set my alarm to 5:00 in order to click snooze for a half hour. This morning I thought I would get up at 7:00 in order to eat breakfast and have a nice casual morning before beginning work at 7:30. My son had other plans. We were awakened at 5:45. Yep, a full 15 minutes later than any other day. What a great start this morning. :)

As a Web Developer, it makes sense for me to telecommute. My company pays for my cell phone and internet access, and provided a laptop for home use (even though it is a Mac), so why shouldn't I use what my company is providing for company business? I am very glad for the chance to test it out.

Telecommuting has been done before in my department, but it failed on each attempt. Some failures were due to misunderstandings, and others through goofing off I understand. All the more pressure on me to prove the system can work. I think today went pretty well.

My office is pretty secluded, so working at home granted me almost the same amount of privacy I usually enjoy. I had to check in with my supervisor more than normal, but that is to be expected for now. Everyone needs to see that it can work before we all breathe easier.

I will keep writing about the progress each week, and let you know how it goes. Until then, happy hypermiling, telecommuting, carpooling, or anything else you do to save gas. :)

A Real Car For Real Drivers

I came across a pretty funny commercial from Chevrolet Europe. I think this is definitely a must-see for any automotive or Transformers fans. I got a good laugh and wanted to pass it on.

How annoying would it be if your car could transform and dance like the one featured here? There would definitely be some fun moments, but I can feel for the poor guy. Watch the commercial below:

The message in the commercial is clearly a reference to fancy cars with all sorts of bells and whistles to entice people to buy them. The bottom line is that you want a real car. A car that will get you where you are going. Sure you want it to look nice, but dependability and reliability are more important to you. Why not go with a car that has this dependability and reliability as well as some class? Check out the new Chevy Aveo. Only real drivers need apply.

Jiffy Lube? Not Quite

I let my car go further than I would have liked without an oil change, so I took it in today. Things kept coming up to prevent my task, so I had no choice but to just get it done today. Unfortunately the place advertising $14.95 oil changes was not open today. I decided to give Jiffy Lube a chance.

When I got there I was pleased to find a short line. This short line turned out to be misleading. The people were very friendly when I pulled up, and pointed out where I should park my car. If you read my post about Wal-Mart you would know that this was a great start to my day. I was told to sit down and a guy would fill out the paperwork. I had my wife with me in her car, as oil changes typically take forever. The plan was to go to lunch and pick up my car when we were done. This was not to be.

A few minutes go by and nobody has contacted me regarding paper work. I walk outside from time to time to make sure I have been noticed, and after 15 minutes or so I was approached. I was on the phone with my wife who was still waiting in her car when the guy started calling out some name. It wasn't mine so I kept talking. Finally he got my attention and repeated this name and confirmed I had the Taurus. I told him the Taurus was mine but he had the wrong name. I then remembered the JiffyLube sticker on my windshield. The last owner was in the system.

I went through the process with the guy, making sure all my data was recorded. He tried to sell me the usual extras, but I had found out a moment before that the price would be more than double what I usually pay at Wal-Mart. I told him I would wait to buy the extras until the "sticker shock" wore off in the future. As he got to the bottom of the form, a older lady pulled up in her truck. He told me to "Hold on sec" and tried to convince the lady to sell him her truck. Apparently he either knew her or she was a regular customer, as they continued to talk as old friends. I finally got his attention and asked how much longer the process would take, as I wanted to go to lunch with my wife. He said "15 minutes". I told my wife it would be 15 minutes. It wasn't.

A quick price comparison follows:

	Wal-Mart	Jiffy Lube
Oil Change	$27	$39
Tire Rotation	$1.50/tire	$20

While I was waiting a lady was called to the front because her car was finished. He gave her the final price and she was confused. She asked him if they had done all the extra stuff. Apparently the price was lower than she expected. She had asked for a fuel filter and a tire rotation. This wasn't on the paper work he told her so she asked him to do the work. To their credit he went into the garage and hounded the guys to get her stuff finished quickly. At least they didn't try to argue with her.

Finally my turn came. He gave me the final price which turned out to be slightly lower than the quote. It was only a dollar or two, but I was still happy about it. When all was said and done it took about an hour. Considering the fact that my car was first in line in it's particular stall, I don't think it should have taken an hour. I will be making the trek to Simi Valley to let Wal-Mart do my next oil change.