I just wanted to hi to everyone on this board. I've been reading the forum for about 2 months but haven't had time to actually register and post. Now that classes are over, I finally have time.

I ordered a Lightning Yellow GT 6spd in early Feb. It's nice to be in a small town since I was only the 6th person to pre-order at the dealership and am on the 1st allocation. The dealer had already pre-ordered his allocation of 8 cars and they had one just how I wanted. I can't wait until arrives.

Right now, I'm driving the car that I've had since 1995. It's a 1986 RX-7 NA with 217k miles. I've done quite a lot of work to it over the years ... including rebuilding and porting the motor myself. It blew an apex seal at 170k miles. But since I drive my cars very hard, I would expect a little short of 200k. While owning this car, I've also had a 2nd car for about 2 years. It was another RX-7, of course. A red 1985 GS with GSL-SE suspension and brakes that I picked up for $450. It didn't run when I looked at it, but I quickly fixed it on the spot. The floats were stuck in the carb.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/jwise/86quarter.jpg
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/jwise/beater2s.jpg


Well as I said before, I just wanted to say hi to the forum.

Welcome John

Sounds like you have some pretty good mechanical skills there - I am impressed (I probably couldn't change a spark plug and I studied Mechanical Engineering). What are you studying? I originally wanted a Yellow but got put off when they didn't produce the Black/Yellow interior - settled for the low-key Velocity Red (with Black/Red of course).

Pel

Hey Pel,

I'm studying astrophysics. Getting my PhD. Hopefully I'll be through in 2-3 years from now. I used to work at a rotary specialist shop back in high school when I lived in Dallas. That's where I picked up all of my skills. I'm still kinda nervous about car work on the RX-8. I really don't want to bring my car to the dealer for servicing. In my past experience, it's dependent if they have or don't have a rotary guru in the shop. I'd rather do the work myself, and I probably will when the time comes.

I was set on Yellow when I saw the yellow RX-8 at the 2002 NYC Auto Show. It was beautiful. Actually, I prefer the solid black leather. So it didn't really turn me off when I they didn't offer the black/yellow leather that I saw in NYC.

I wanted to study Astro or Theoretical Physics since I was 8 years old up to this day (almost 30 years later) - still read pop science stuff. What's your speciality? And what will you do after finishing? Some friends of mine who got PhDs in various types of Maths and Physics all went to work for McKinsey and Booz Allen & Hamilton etc as management consultants (such a waste of brains) - apparently these companies like people who can think logically.

Originally posted by pelucidor
I wanted to study Astro or Theoretical Physics since I was 8 years old up to this day (almost 30 years later) - still read pop science stuff. What's your speciality? And what will you do after finishing? Some friends of mine who got PhDs in various types of Maths and Physics all went to work for McKinsey and Booz Allen & Hamilton etc as management consultants (such a waste of brains) - apparently these companies like people who can think logically.

Pelucidor - as a former Aerospace Engineer and current management consultant (after the requisit MBA of course) I will try not to take the waste of brains comment too seriously.;) Actually it was the prospect of having to live in Houston (NASA) that drove me to the life of "wasting my brain" in mangement consulting. Not sure even your new house and a new RX-8 could make be forget the heat, humidity, pollution and traffic! By the way, the amount of analysis and process logic I do now is more than I ever did in engineering. It is also hard to beat the perks of playing golf with clients several days a week and having an RX-8 coming as my new "business" write-off -- oops I mean vehicle -- what was I thinking wasting my brain with such nonsense :D

p.s. love your new house and little girl -- what an angel!

Welcome to the forum and its great to see that you have good taste i also ordered the rx8 in yellow gt 6 speed manual ,from the sound of it lot of the rx8 in the states will be macthing the road in the titanium ,it great to see someone whos not put off by bright colours .

And don't be put off by all the squabbling astrophysicists - there's also lots of us stoopid guys too!

S

Originally posted by RXhusker

....Not sure even your new house and a new RX-8 could make be forget the heat, humidity, pollution and traffic!...



Ah, home sweet home! :D And lets not forget the mosquitoes... But come next January and February when everyone is bitching about snow, salt, and sand on and in their precious RX-8, I'll be cruising with the windows down... and probably the heated seats on - I dont guess I'll ever get much use out of them anyways...

Originally posted by Boozehound
Ah, home sweet home! :D And lets not forget the mosquitoes... But come next January and February when everyone is bitching about snow, salt, and sand on and in their precious RX-8, I'll be cruising with the windows down... and probably the heated seats on - I dont guess I'll ever get much use out of them anyways...

The traffic and pollution is trivial after living in London, Singapore and Hong Kong (too much of my life living in big cities - I prefer the countryside now I am in my dotage). But the heat, humidity and mosquitos of Houston have got to go - worse than any other place I ever lived! But even worse for me is that my favourite season is winter - with crisp air and lots of snow for the dogs to play in and me to ski in etc. I like 0 Fahreheit and below! I am changing my avatar to reflect this...

Originally posted by pelucidor

The traffic and pollution is trivial after living in London, Singapore and Hong Kong (too much of my life living in big cities - I prefer the countryside now I am in my dotage). But the heat, humidity and mosquitos of Houston have got to go - worse than any other place I ever lived! But even worse for me is that my favourite season is winter - with crisp air and lots of snow for the dogs to play in and me to ski in etc. I like 0 Fahreheit and below! I am changing my avatar to reflect this...

I lived in the South all of my life before moving up here to PA. The heat, humidity, and mosquito bites just become a part of life. It didn't really bother me since I grew up with it. The heat and humidity is worse than Singapore?!? I would think that near the equator it would much worse. But luckily I love cold weather (<20F for me) and snow. I also love snow driving. It's so much fun. You give it a little gas, kick the tail out, and just drift around the corners. It's not that dangerous since you're only going about 10-15 mph. But it sure scares the crap out of the cars and pedestrians around you. They think you're going to spin out. And downhill skiing is a blast, too. That was a relief to me when I saw the RX-8 had a door to the trunk for skis since it's going to be my one and only car.

Originally posted by pelucidor

What's your speciality? And what will you do after finishing? Some friends of mine who got PhDs in various types of Maths and Physics all went to work for McKinsey and Booz Allen & Hamilton etc as management consultants (such a waste of brains) - apparently these companies like people who can think logically.

My speciality is computational astrophysics. I model early universe galaxy formation and the formation of the first stars. The galaxy formation is in full 3-D, whereas the first star formation is a semi-analytic code. I wanted to become a programmer, but if I was to work for some company, I'd always be told what to program. Plus I love astronomy and physics. I'll probably start on my thesis in the next 6 months. I'm skipping the M.S. and going right for the Ph.D. I'm planning on doing research for a university (probably outside the US) after I defend, then I want to become a professor and head my own research. If you saw the cover of February's National Geographic, that was my advisor's work on the cover ;)

I don't want to become a consultant at all. I agree that it's somewhat a waste of brain when you get such a high degree and not use it to advance the scientific community or teach to younger students. Instead you're telling companies and their big-wigs what's best for them. I guess it's a matter of personal choice, so I pick academic route.

you guys need to move to Arizona, I moved from Toronto to Phoenix in '94. Best thing I ever did,no humidity, no bugs, no snow, no more rain on the weekends and sunny weekdays!! If you can survive the blistering summer ( for 3 months) then you can have the best weather in the States!:p

Originally posted by dreamgetter1
you guys need to move to Arizona, I moved from Toronto to Phoenix in '94. Best thing I ever did,no humidity, no bugs, no snow, no more rain on the weekends and sunny weekdays!! If you can survive the blistering summer ( for 3 months) then you can have the best weather in the States!:p

I believe San Diego is. Rains prolly 8 out of the 365 in the year and that's considered our winter. Other than that... it's Sunny San Diego. :D

Okay maybe fourth after hawaii, cali, P.R. But it's pretty damn nice here!! Wish I had a beach to go to though!:p

Welcome to the fourm. It is always nice to have another brainy person with lots of rotor tech knowlege, just as long as you don't mind being bother by the less gifted people (such as myself :)).

The humidity in Singapore is ALWAYS 90-99% (except when there is a torrential downpour every day at 4pm during monsoon season) which is perhaps worse than Houston, but the temperature is never above 90Fahrenheit and never below 75Fahrenheit. My wife who is Singaporean hates the Houston climate - especially summer.

I had a friend who lived in San Diego and kept telling how wonderful the climate was there. First time I visit him it drizzles on and off for 3 days - he tells me it's the 100 year storm.

Arizona sounds good - no humidity and no bugs (I can take heat for a while).

Glad you are staying in academia - the most important endeavours in life IMO are learning and teaching and you will have a chance to do both. Sounds like some pretty big/fundamental questions that you are working on. I saw that cover for National Geographic but never read the article. BTW what is the latest theory on quasars - are they still thought to be birthing galaxies or is there a new idea?

BTW what is the latest theory on quasars - are they still thought to be birthing galaxies or is there a new idea?

The latest idea for quasars are they form at high redshift (early universe) as intermediate mass black holes (100 solar masses). These are called seed black holes since they plant the seed for supermassive black holes. Then they accrete matter and grow into the quasars/active galactic nuclei we see today. They are intrinsically bright from the high gas accretion rates. A large fraction of the accreted gas's gravitational energy is converted into radiation, which then comes to us. We also see X-rays from quasars from relativistic effects (Inverse Compton effect). Quasars are just in the most massive galaxies. In the current Universe, they would be the giant elliptical galaxies in the center of galaxy clusters (e.g. M87).

The latest idea for quasars are they form at high redshift (early universe) as intermediate mass black holes (100 solar masses). These are called seed black holes since they plant the seed for supermassive black holes. Then they accrete matter and grow into the quasars/active galactic nuclei we see today. They are intrinsically bright from the high gas accretion rates. A large fraction of the accreted gas's gravitational energy is converted into radiation, which then comes to us. We also see X-rays from quasars from relativistic effects (Inverse Compton effect). Quasars are just in the most massive galaxies. In the current Universe, they would be the giant elliptical galaxies in the center of galaxy clusters (e.g. M87).


Damn that sounds very interesting. I knew there were other majors other than engineering I could've taken. Thats what I get for having friends with english or forestry majors.:mad: :(

Originally posted by dreamgetter1
you guys need to move to Arizona, I moved from Toronto to Phoenix in '94. Best thing I ever did,no humidity, no bugs, no snow, no more rain on the weekends and sunny weekdays!! If you can survive the blistering summer ( for 3 months) then you can have the best weather in the States!:p

Don't say there aren't any bugs! I have a vacation house north of Phoenix and in 6 years we have had termites twice, a number of scorpions, bees, and the ever present desert crickets that need to be swept up every time we open the house for the winter.

Other than that AZ is probably the best climate in the country -- So Cal is OK but just not the same as the Valley of the Sun :D Makes our Nebraska winters bearable.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RXhusker
[B]

I have a vacation house north of Phoenix and in 6 years we have had termites twice, a number of scorpions, bees, and the ever present desert crickets that need to be swept up every time we open the house for the winter.

How far North? What the hell is a desert cricket? I don't have scorps or bees, usually not bad in city areas. Mind you we don't have deer flys that pick you up and take your blood, or those damn mosquitos and flys so ya I guess some people have them down here but not too many I know. I guess every place has it's bugs (we call em Snowbirds) hehehehe:)