Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev.

Today I observed a car being towed in the USA. It looks something like this:

It reminded me of our green little tow trucks – they operate like a crane and generally take care of the car. But there, they simply hook up a crosspiece under one pair of wheels! What if you’ve put on the parking brake or have AWD? I googled it, and it turns out that the tow truck drivers don’t really worry about it often leading to damage. Basically, don’t park illegally http://forums.anandtech.com/archive/index.php/t-2071463.html

“My grandpa towed his 4×4 Dodge Dakota from Eugene Oregon to Victorville California behind a motorhome with the transfer case in 4L and the transmission in P, he swears he put it in neutral but I suspect he had a senior moment. He ended up destroying both the transmission and the transfer case.”

“The transmission gets screwed. NYPD tow truck driver towed my friend’s Eagle Talon TSi and destroyed the transmission on it. I don’t remember why the car got towed, but yeah they didn’t claim any responsibility and my friend never followed up with it. He sold the car for like $2000 and it was mint otherwise.”

It’s been eight hours since I left Six Flags, and I still can’t get over it. I feel sick in the car, and overall queasy 🙂 I rode more than a dozen roller coasters, some of which are unforgettable. About some of them:

For comparison: on the Superman ride, the coaster accelerates to 160 km/h (4.5G) in 7 seconds, climbs to a height of 120 meters, then dives down at speed (on a similar attraction at VDNKh – 40 meters). Here’s a link to the video http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Escape_from_Krypton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WQXxZmLMFQ

In “Goliath”, the overloads reach 5G, dropping at 135 km/h from a height of 70m, then climbing up again, descending again, all the while the cart spins and mountains and clouds flash by. Awesome! Check out the video below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_(Six_Flags_Magic_Mountain)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCMeq6EzmlU#t=99

Apocalypse – it’s wooden. But I liked it the most. Although it’s not the fastest (about 80km/h), the sense of speed feels much greater than on the other coasters. Because of the noise and proximity to the frame, everything flashes before your eyes much more frequently

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse:_The_Ride

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1zHu78U-g8

In “Full Throttle”, the largest loop in the world. I still feel like this ride was one too many (maybe it was the 12th in order…). I still feel shaky, and the after-effects are quite unpleasant, but while I was in the park, it was cool! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Throttle_(roller_coaster)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_OwrEb-23s

Here I discovered the TOYOTA FJ Cruiser and KETTLE chips. Both are wonderful) Are there any bad reviews about the Toyota?

The fall of the Russian ruble is keenly felt abroad. There are four of us here.

Visiting the San Diego Zoo with the family – 12000 rubles.

Visiting the San Diego Safari Park with the family – 12000 rubles.

Going to Six Flags to ride the roller coasters – 13100 rubles.

Visiting Universal Studio in Los Angeles with the family – 23600 rubles.

Visiting Disneyland in Los Angeles with the family – 24760 rubles.

Almost all of the activities listed take up a whole day, but do not include breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or accommodation.

Going out for breakfast at a restaurant with the family costs at least 3500 rubles. Lunch and dinner are at least that much, often one and a half times more, and sometimes even double, depending on how it goes. You end up spending probably 10000-13000 rubles a day just to eat well in restaurants, plus a few thousand more for snacks on the road at gas stations and supermarkets.

And that’s almost everything.

It’s nice that there are free museums (like Getty), cheap fuel (about 440 rubles per 100 km), relatively inexpensive hotels/motels (about 5000-8000 rubles per night), relatively inexpensive entry to national parks (1300 rubles), and free entry to regular parks and beaches.

So if you’re planning a trip to the U.S., set aside at least 3000-3500 rubles per person per day for food, about 5000 for accommodation, and no less than 3500 for entertainment. That adds up to at least 11500-13000 rubles per day.

Los Angeles Today

“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” (с) Henry Ford

Taken today in Los Angeles

In America, there’s some issue with tea. There are places where it’s not even on the menu. For example, right now at Tropicana Bakery & Cafe, there’s no tea; there was a similar instance before somewhere else. But where tea is available, it’s always in tea bags. You can’t find green tea in cafes at all, and tea is never served in teapots – only by the cup.

The coffee at Starbucks, by the way, is different from the one in Russia. The sugar in packets resembles powdered sugar and is less sweet.

Plain bread is not served anywhere. Instead of bread, they always give toast. Toasted and sometimes with butter.

Water is served for free. Usually, if not specified, it comes with ice and lemon.

The coffee is often so-so as well. It’s made better in Europe.

I was surprised by the poor connectivity in California. In the cities, mobile service and internet are somewhat okay, but once you leave the city, T-Mobile vanishes and if the internet appears at all, it’s just Edge. The fact that there’s no connection at all in national parks doesn’t surprise me anymore. I wonder why that is. It seems that it’s very important for safety. You can’t even call 911.

After pirating two PDFs of Dan Ariely’s previous books, I decided to buy the third one for dollars. It’ll give me something to do on the plane.

Neighborhood