I just wrote a guest post for the guys at ThesisThemes.com where I talk about how a relative newcomer to Thesis can learn to troubleshoot their code when things go wrong. Go check it out and make sure to try out some of their skins (most are free) while you’re at it.

In other news, I must admit that I haven’t written a tutorial in a while. This is partly because I don’t know what people really want to learn and partly because I sometime think that tutorials should be more proof-of-concept than copy and paste, which has been prevalent here for some time, so I guess I’m internally resolving that mix of ideas as well. If you want to hear about a topic and see it covered in a tutorial, please leave me a comment and let me hear about it.

“A bit to the left, to be exact.”

I dropped my 2000 GMC Jimmy off at the repair shop today to get the front tie rods checked out. For the less mechanically-inclined people, tie rods are what make the wheels turn. When tie rods go bad wheel alignment suffers and your car will start to wander, which mine does. A bit to the left, to be exact. A bad tie rod also causes severe tire wear. Yup, got that too. Spent a few hundred replacing tires this past year.
But I cannot complain. The car is about a decade old. Cars are like dogs, their years are faster than human years. Woof.

With over 120 000 miles, my little SUV has hauled my butt from Boston to Chicago and back again. I love my SUV and would like to keep it going as long as possible. But it’s breaking down. Has been for a while.

It started with the power windows. Sometimes they stick and the passenger side one won’t go down except from the driver’s console. Then the doors started to squeak when they’re not oiled. The rear windshield washer fluid nozzles are clogged. I can clean them, but haven’t yet because it’s a pain. The gas gauge is broken so I carry around a gallon of gasoline in the back. I started that habit after I ran out of gas on the New Jersey Turnpike. The first time I was on my way to work in December. The second time I was shopping in Short Hills and left a car full of birthday presents sitting naively on the side of the road.

You just can’t build those kinds of fond memories in a Corolla, ya know?

Maybe the slow breakdown of my favorite car ever is an analogy for GM. I love the brand. I love the people that make them. I have strong ties to Michigan. My GF’s dad worked on as assembly line outside of Flint. He retired very young and now has plenty of time to go fishing and do whatever he wants. Doesn’t seem too bad to me.
Logically I know that GM needs a change. But emotionally I am still tied to memories of being a teenage lothario in the back of a GM SUV. You just can’t build those kinds of fond memories in a Corolla, ya know?

As the price of gas rises again this Summer I remember back to a year ago when I bought a bicycle from a graduating college student so that I wouldn’t have to pay $4.50+ per gallon. As a freelancer, I had the fortune of being able to work wherever I had wifi. So I raced down to the coffee shops downtown with my laptop strapped to my back. Raced downhill, rather. I had not ridden a bike for years and it took my a week or so to remember how to change gears, I’m ashamed to admit. While I huffed and puffed around Michigan, my little SUV sat in the shade of a willow tree. Even when the Spring storms came through and ripped down branches, they all missed my car. I knew they would because my car is lucky. Which is good because I am not. I credit GM for that. I have driven my car with busted brakes and no wheel bearings and gone right through three feet of water while other cars got stranded on the New Jersey highways.

Time to clean up the old bike while my SUV is in the shop. I’m cool with that. It’s still better than a Corolla.

Update: Kevin from NoDebtPlan says that GM isn’t going anywhere.