Thursday, September 27, 2007

Mini Baja (Baja SAE) Anahuac, six years and counting

number six I cannot believe it. It was six years ago on a Thursday September 27th that we held the first ever meeting of the Mini Baja Anahuac Team.

It seems like a far memory when we first gathered around in a classroom and start discussing the idea of having a team dedicated to building a car to compete in the USA. It was un-thought at that time to have that kind of project in our University, some have tried to but never succeeded.

After that meeting, we began our attempts to design a car and enroll more team members. It wasn't until a couple of months later when we got funding from the University and the Ford Company that things started to look clearer.

In February 2002 we took some persons that were interested in participating in Mini Baja to a competition in the city of Queretaro. That was all we needed to convince them. They got hooked up and the rest is history.

Along these years I have been the Captain and now Faculty Advisor of the Team. Lot of people have gone through the team and I hope that it has changed them. We have built some cars, participated in a few competitions, and have lots of fun.

Right now the team is struggling to survive (yea I know, again!), let's hope that it succeeds and keep alive what has come a tradition in the Engineering Faculty of the Universidad Anahuac Mexico Norte.

I leave you with some numbers that reflect what has happened in these 6 years of Baja:

  • 6 years;
  • 3 cars built (and one more in construction);
  • 10 competitions (2 in USA, 8 in Mexico);
  • 12 competition entries;
  • 1 test first place;
  • 1 disqualification;
  • 4.83 average grade of all entries;
  • 6 Captains;
  • 2 Faculty Advisors;
  • 2 broken transmissions;
  • 1 guy with blue face ("the smurf");
  • 1 guy temporarily blind (less than a day);
  • An unknown amount of lost tools;
  • About 5 rollovers; and
  • ONE TEAM

That was a long post and it could be longer. Remembering the Tlacaelel, Homer, and Coyote.

Friday, September 14, 2007

TiVo

tivomex4

Forget your VCR, TiVo is finally coming to Mexico.

That's right, TiVo, the famous DVR (Digital Video Recorder) is being offered  by Cablevision in Mexico City (which fortunately I am subscribed to).

Now you can pause, fast forward, or rewind live TV. You can record your favorite series using Season Pass. You can skip commercials! That's sweet!

The service will cost you an initial payment of $499 pesos (about 45 USD) and a monthly fee of $149 pesos (about 13 USD).

I almost sure that I will get it :-)

Gizmodo article: Cablevision Offers TiVo To Mexico City, But Not To Me.
Cablevision website: www.cablevision.net.mx.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Enjoy! New iPods for (almost) every taste

Wow, it was an exciting Apple Special Event. Three new iPods and a refresh on one iPod.

The iPod lineup has gone wild. We have the same iPod Shuffle that spots new colors, 1 Gb for $79. The iPod Nano "fatty", smaller, thinner, new colors, new interface, coverflow, larger screen with better resolution, video, 4 Gb for $149 and 8 Gb for $199. The updated 6G iPod Classic, thinner, new interface, coverflow, silver and black colors, 80 Gb for $249 and 160 freaking Gb for $349. And there's the iPod Touch, basically a phone-less iPhone, thinner, Wi Fi, iTunes WiFi Music Store, Widescreen, Multi touch, Video, etc, 8 Gb for $299 and 16 Gb for $399.

These are all pretty exciting and cool products. The only thing that makes me wanna complaint is that they should got more storage into the iPod Touch. All right it is cool, and has the multi touchy thingy but come on 16 Gb is not what I was expecting for.

I am only left with a tough choice to make, which iPod I should buy, or if I should buy one. The iPod touch is soo cool, but lacks storage. The iPod Classic has storage but not a widescreen. Tough choice indeed.


Quote of the Day:
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
--Robert Fulghum