(Almost) Music to My Ears
October 24, 2005 | Life | Technology
8:18 AM: On FedEx vehicle for delivery.
Jetta GLI Winter Wheels Redux
October 23, 2005 | Business & Commerce | Life | Products & Opportunites
As I've said before, the winter steel wheel you want for your 2004 1/2+ Jetta GLI 1.8T is a Macpek X41657. Not mentioned previously is that the tire size is 205/55 R16.
The post generated a lot of comments at the time, and now that winter is coming I'm getting another round of email on it. Amazing really – I was just venting about how hard it was to find the right wheel, but then I found one, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and it seems like every other person with the same car and the ability to use Google wants to talk about it. Which I can understand – the VW dealer network isn't known for their attitude or service. Here's a quote from one correspondent:
My dealer experience is on a par with yours. Basically no help.
Confidential to VW: I offer high-resolution qualitative market research and product strategy consulting services that would be a good fit here. Happy to help if you'd like; just give me a call.
The question is: Where do you get this fabled Macpek X41657? You can take a look at the Macpek website, but it won't help much. There's no part listing, and the inventory tab is behind a password. One strategy would be to call them and find a distributor in your region, then call the distributor to find a dealer. Welcome to supply chain management, where a rewarding career awaits you.
I happened to find my wheels at RH Scales in White River Junction VT. You can call them at 802-296-7203, but I have no idea if they ship of if it's local pickup only. This is a real honest-to-goodness industrial parts jobber with one employee, so don't expect the same level of service you get from LL Bean. RH Scales has offices all over the east coast, so there might be one closer to you. This page from an unrelated search has a lot of the RH Scales offices listed. If you drive up here to by a set and you're coming from more than two hours away, send me an email and I'll buy you lunch before you drive home.
Tire Rack has gotten better this year. Here's a search page for winter tire and wheel packages for the 2005 Jetta GLI 1.8T. The 16" package starts at $125 per wheel. That's probably the easiest choice – Tire Rack is well-known, they seem to have the winter wheel package ready this year, they ship all over the country, and their prices are good. OTOH, they don't list any steel wheels available, only alloy ones, so then you're back to finding a Macpek if you want the cheaper steel wheel option, or if you're a Rolling Stones fan.
Milton Glaser
October 12, 2005 | Arts & Culture | Business & Commerce | People & Society
Chip Kidd interviews the designer Milton Glaser. Highly recommend.
On parental influence:
CK: How did your parents feel about your wanting to become an artist? I assume that’s what you always wanted.
MG: Yes. I tell the story: At the age of five I made that decision. In my parents I had the perfect combination—a resistant father and an encouraging mother. My mother convinced me I could do anything. And my father said, “Prove it.” He didn’t think I could make a living. Resistance produces muscularity. And it was the perfect combination because I could use my mother’s belief to overcome my father’s resistance. My father was a kind of a metaphor for the world, because if you can’t overcome a father’s resistance you’re never going to be able to overcome the world’s resistance. It’s much better than having completely supportive parents or completely resistant parents.
On retirement:
CK: Any plans to retire?
MG: Oh god, no. There is nothing I fear more than the idea of having to retire. I fear retirement more than death.
CK: [Laughs]
MG: I think the worst scam that was ever performed on the innocent American people is this idea that retirement is desirable. It’s only desirable for people who really hate what they do.
CK: Yes.
MG: But for us, who basically are in the activity that is so interesting and compelling and has the ability to sort of enter into the world, by God retirement is the absolute last thing I would dream of.
On designing the I Heart NY logo, and social change:
MG: Well, it was the mid-seventies, a terrible moment in the city. Morale was at the bottom of the pit. I always say you can tell by the amount of dog shit in the street.
CK: Dog shit.
MG: Yes. There was so much dog shit because people didn’t feel that they deserved anything else, right? I mean you were just walking through all this dog shit day after day, in this filthy city, garbage, and so on. And then the most extraordinary thing happened: There was a shift in sensibility. One day people said, “I’m tired of stepping in dog shit. Get this fucking stuff out of my way.” And the city began to react. They said, “If you allow your dog to crap on the street, you have to pay a fine of $100,” and within a very short time it became socially untenable to allow your dog to shit on the street. Now, I don’t know what produces those behavioral shifts, right? From one day where it’s OK, and then suddenly the city simultaneously got fed up and said, “It’s our city, we’re going to take it back, we’re not going to allow this stuff to happen.” And part of that moment was this campaign. More than anything else it was a device to encourage tourism.
