19 posts tagged “cars”

So, our main family ride, our Dodge Magnum, is an accident machine.  5 times it's been hit since we purchased it.  Usually when we're going to California.  Well, today, I wasn't going to California, so I didn't actually get hit, but it's not for a lack of trying.

Not sure if this trucker is pro-fat-cat or anti-all-cats (he was next to me at a stop light).

Cat Food

Anyway, we got the Magnum back from the body shop.  Looks fine.  Of course, as I was driving in, I saw yet another person trying to kill me.  She was using an eyelash curler while driving.  Seriously, can I not just shoot these people in self defense?

As you know, our venerable Magnum (which is being cut from Chrysler's line-up as of next year and is inexplicably defined as a cross-over vehicle for some reason) has been in more than it's fair share of accidents.  When it came back from the shop this time, Ladybug decided she'd had enough.

So, we swapped cars.  I drive the Magnum now, and she drives the Buick.  This raises an interesting conundrum.

Eventually, we're going to need to get another car.  My plan was to get rid of the Buick so that I could get something small and sporty-ish and efficient.  A Toyota Aygo, or a smart fortwo or something (not a Prius).  I accepted the Buick to replace my Storm (those who know me know the car - Kat even got to drive it once) in a sort of defeatist way: I couldn't justify the Storm with a kid, it was just too unsafe.  And Kat will say too loud.  But I took the Buick because it was free, and it was big.  But it's a dull car for dull people. 

We wanted something to say, hey, yeah, we have a kid, but we're still cool. 

So we started looking for something, family oriented that could carry kids and kid stuff for a good long while, to replace her Altima, which was looking at some serious repair work, and which I pretty much hated anyway.  The gas pedal on the Altima she had (a 1999 model) was way too close to the center console, and my huge clod-hopper had issues with that.  In 2004, though, family oriented meant, pretty much, a full size sedan that looked like every other full size sedan, a minivan, or an SUV.  There were options like Mercedes and BMW and Volvo wagons, but we're not that type, I mean, class of person.  Ladybug was resistant to the whole soccer mom ethos, so we were feeling kinda stuck.  And then, we were watching the Superbowl, and Dodge had this fantastic ad.  A guy with a monkey on his back, wondering what kind of car to get for his growing family.  He felt exactly like we did: the available choices were, essentially, surrendering to conformity and mediocrity.  And there it was, the Dodge Magnum, a hot rod hearse of a station wagon, the spiritual successor to the Chevy Bel Air Nomad of the '50s.  The monkey drops off the guy's back, and we had our family car.  Honestly, I think we had one of the first ones sold in the Valley.

Of course, then, morons kept hitting it.  Probably because they were staring too hard.

Now, ladybug feels she can't really see well enough out of it.  Maybe she's starting to feel like the accidents are her fault. Maybe she's just worried that the car is cursed.  Anyway, it's my car now.

So, what do we do when we want to get our next car?  We'll need one big car for family trips, but our other car can be a small commuter car.  I'd like to, you know, be able to choose the car, since Ladybug got to choose the last one, and since I'm probably the one with the longer commute, it will be me who drives it.  I'd also like it to be a standard transmission.  That leaves Ladybug with the other car most days.  So what do we keep?  The Magnum?  I'd like to.  It's newer, has better safety features, and they're going to stop making them, which gives them rarity value without the hassle of not being able to get parts, because they're still going to make the 300 and Charger, which are mechanically identical under the hood.  But if Ladybug is driving it, she'll probably want to keep the Buick, even though it's older, more things will start to go wrong with it sooner, and it's, let's face facts here, damnably boring to drive.  I don't hate the Buick, by any stretch of the imagination.  I just have no affinity for it.  Certainly not to the level I have for the Magnum.  I guess I'm just going to be stuck, here. 

Well, this about sums it up, why I won't have a Prius.

Not that we can get the VW Lupo (now Fox) here (those are cute, and I wouldn't mind having one).

Last night, I get home, and go to turn off the car, and . . .

So, as you may know, our main family ride is a Dodge Magnum.  This Magnum is cursed.  Since we bought it in August of 2005, it's been hit three times.  No.  Wait.

Make that four.

Last Wednesday, Ladybug went out to CVS to get a refill on a prescription.  I expected her back in, oh, 15 minutes or so.  No dice.  She calls, and asks me not to freak out. 

My whole day had been going lousy.  I spent the whole day fixing errors in code that should never have even existed if I was working with competent people.  I couldn't get the timing right on anything.  The drive home from work was monstrous that day, with every avenue of escape from downtown Phoenix restricted in one way or another.  My usual route?  A police car sirened his way past me only to cut off access.  I tried Washington, no dice, it's half closed for construction of our light rail system.  Van Buren?  Looked good until it turns out that a Denny's chose that day to burn down (not by itself - every fire needs a little bit of help), and the road was closed with everyone being routed back down to . . . you guessed it . .. Washington.  By this point, I couldn't get up to the 202, or down to the airport to try to bypass the mess, so I was stuck in it.  For 40 minutes.  My whole commute takes less than that.

I got home, and Ladybug was bringing the kids (I had called her because there was no way I could get them in time).  She was running late as well, but not as late as I was.  Anyway, we had a Disney Character Call scheduled, part of our package.  Minnie was going to call at 7:30 Mountain (the time listed on the website where I set it up) to talk to Lotus.  I had it all planned.  Google reminder and everything.  Then, at 6:30 our phone rings.  I pick up.  It's the damn call.  Ladybug isn't home yet.  There's no way for me to reschedule now, and nothing I can do but hang up.  The phone rings again almost immediately.  Nothing to be done, I sadly hit 1 and listen to Minnie's invitation.  I hang up.  I take my hand off the phone and I hear . . . the garage door open.  I'm not sure how Ladybug didn't hear my excruciating howl of defeat.  We'd been hinting at this call with Lotus for a week.  She was looking forward to it, and now, because the designers of the Character Call website don't really know what Mountain Time means in Arizona (where, you know, the area code was), she'd missed it.  By seconds.  Seriously.  I guess it's my fault, right?  I mean, I should have put in Pacific time or something.  Why the hell do we even have Daylight time any more?  They've expanded it so much that now most of the year is on Daylight.  Just set everyone's clocks forward an hour, redefine the time zones, something, just leave it alone.  All this clock changing just screws with those of us smart enough to live somewhere where it doesn't happen.

Anyway, Ladybug calls from CVS and asks me not to freak.  An idiot in a Civic backed into her.  Driver's side door.  No one was going very fast, but it really banged up the door.  It still opened and closed, but the window wouldn't go down more than an inch, and the door will likely have to be replaced.  The Magnum is the only car I trust to make the journey to California and back, as my Buick is old, and at the moment is suffering from worn tires which, eventually, I'll either find the time to replace, or have a blow out on the freeway.  And now, some idiot wasn't watching what he was doing, and backed into it.  7 hours before we're set to drive to California in it.  I was incensed, and it's probably a good thing I wasn't there, because if I had been, there would have been bloodshed.  In the end, it was still drivable, but I made the 6.5 hour trip with a whistle in my ear because of this guy.  The door doesn't really sit flush at the moment, because of this moron.   And now, we have to deal with insurance, and rental cars, and be without our main family conveyance because this blithering idiot doesn't know how to use a rear view mirror.

Why?  Why do idiots keep hitting our car?

No, I'm not talking about school shootings, I'm talking about me missing two days of posts.  One was because I was in Burbank (official home of the best airport in the US as ranked by me), and the other was because I was dealing with the aftermath of me being in Burbank (seriously, it's a great airport).

So, I'm thinking about getting a new car.  By which I mean a used car.  We bought our Magnum new, and, frankly, that's the last time I'm doing that.  First of all, it was involved in 3 accidents in the first year and a half we had it.  I blame this on the fact that we had one of the first ones in the Valley, so everyone would spend more time looking at it than looking out for it.  We got plenty of comments about it as well.  People liked it.  They still do, but it's not as unique.  I was over at a friend's house for his birthday, and he was complaining about all the freaking Magnums everywhere now, and blamed me for starting it.

Anyway, the car I have now is in decent condition.  It's a 1991 Buick, low mileage (just crossed 60K actually), and it runs great.  But it's a 1991 Buick.  It drinks gas like it's going out of style.  And it's a 1991 Buick.

I'm considering a number of cars.  Beyond my dream cars of a Lotus Elise and a Caterham 7, I am looking at some more feasible cars for a person who will need to cart around children.  A PT Cruiser is a strong possibility.  The Magnum is in the shop for a replacement of some parts in the rear differential (*sigh*), and we got a yellow PT as a rental.  Maybe a convertible?  New Beetles are also up there, and are also available as convertibles.  See a trend here?  I was thinking about an Eos as well, but those will be expensive for a while.  Maybe a Caliber?  Or an Avenger?  I do like Chrysler products, as they tend to be . . . different . . . until everyone else buys one.  I've also been toying with the Scion xD (or a used xA).  A smart would be fun, but is only two seats.  One of the more interesting choices is the new Volvo C30, which is just weird looking, and therefore attractive to me, but since they're new, I'll probably have to wait a while before they show up used.

Suggestions for a smaller family car that does good service as a commuter car?

I don't have anything coherent to blog about (as opposed to all the other days - ha), so I'll just blither about some random thoughts.

First, Toyota is now the global leader in car sales, beating out the General by 90K cars.  What this means to me personally is more bloody Camrys on the road.  Seriously, I saw one sit at a green arrow this morning for a full 20 seconds before realizing it could slob its way through the intersection.  No one even honked at her, which tells me that more and more people are coming to realize what I've already espoused: if you drive a Camry, you're oblivious to everything and everyone around you, so really, what's the point in honking?  She won't notice.

Second, I really like the Belkin iPod car mount.  Plugs into the lighter, has a semi rigid arm to put the iPod in just the right place.  What I really don't like about it is that the transmitter is weak.  At least in the Magnum.  Probably something to do with the fact that the actual antenna is way in the back of the car, and we're, obviously, in the front.  I will say it works better in my crap mobile, but I have an aftermarket stereo which can't pick up over-the-air radio transmissions, so having the transmitter right next to the stereo seems to work better.  Something about my car's antenna is funky.  But since I don't listen to much radio anyway, no harm, no foul.  Next car will have an integrated iPod system, if I have anything to say about it.

Last, I am Mr. Wolf.  I got back from training, there's all these problems, and everyone just seems to count on me to sort it out with the minimum of fuss, even if it means crushing a cadaver in a car boot.  If only I could pick the cadavers.  If I am lucky, I will have extricated myself from here in July, after the Costa Rica trip.

What is the deal with Lost?  Only 5 new episodes left this season, and they're just getting around to some of the items I've been waiting to understand since the massive break mid-season.  Also, is Juliette playing both sides against the middle here?

Well, work is annoying the crap out of me this week.  I don't know why.  Actually, I do know why.  A big part of it is that I get a week off of this project for training next week.  That's something I really need to have.  Those of you who might see me next week, be prepared for drinking.  Lost weekend drinking.

I really want off this project.  I think either a move to another local company, or taking the opportunity of a year in Australia.  In both cases, I'm off this project.

Moving on, I think Lotus is attempting to drive everyone in her family insane.  She spent all of last night fighting every little thing we asked her to do.  Every thing.  Even things she normally likes to do.  I can't imagine why.  Unless it is, again, the issue of changes to her routine.  I don't want to think about how she'll be next week when I am out of town.  An unholy demon child is the best I can imagine.

Blood Dragon, your new car is awesome.

The wife just filled the Magnum with gas.  At $3 a gallon.  Yeesh.  I mean, we're relatively affluent.  We're not Upper Class, like the Democrats would have you believe (huge ass TV not withstanding, k>>dn), but we don't worry about bills, and when we want to go out to eat, we just go without thinking about what we're going to have to economize on in the coming week.  When I was growing up, my parents had to deal with that.  So, I consider myself, still, to be an example of the American Dream™ wherein your children are better off than you were.  If trends continue (and they should, seeing as how my kids have no cousins) my kids should easily do better than I did.  Point is, we can afford it.

I'm not going to go in to why gas is $3 a gallon.  I'm sure there are lots of reasons.  I'm not going to rule any of them out.  Give me a reason, I'll accept it.  The fact is, we have a fossil-fuel based economy, so we're just going to have to pay for it.

But $3 a gallon is $3 a gallon.  My only hope of lowering the cost is to reduce demand.  So, I'm reducing my personal demand.  My wife and I work about 10 minutes from one another.  The daycare center is on the way.  In order to limit the amount of time the kids spend at daycare, I was going to work early (as in, 3 hours before anyone else shows up) and leaving early (about an hour before anyone else leaves).  The wife was going in a little later, and dropping off the kids.  I would pick them up.  Now, that was working pretty well.  We both had our own cars, we could do our own thing during the day, and it was reasonably fair in that we both had the kids on our own for a similar amount of time every day.

Some things changed.

First, Tesla is crawling.  Like, a lot.  And pulling herself up on all sorts of things ranging from the piano bench to the top rack of the dishwasher.  And in a house with stairs, no matter how barricaded they are, you have to watch a mobile child who has yet to develop accurate depth perception.  Considering the issues of Lotus dropping food all over, that's just something else you have to watch for, clean up, and so on.   Lotus is also getting to the point where she wants to play outside a lot again, and that's not easy to monitor with a mobile baby.  So, having both parents around before and after makes it much easier to manage the little crumb snatchers.

Second, the wife and I don't do all that much during the work day.  If one of us goes out to lunch, it's either carpooling with other co-workers (for which our cars are useless with two baby seats in them), or with each other (in which case I go pick the wife up anyway).  Bank runs?  Same deal.  The wife does a little grocery shopping over lunch sometimes, but I'm happy to let her have the car for that.

Third, of course, is $3 a gallon gas.  Why take two cars that get approximately the same mediocre mileage (they both run about 22 mpg) when you can very easily take just one?  When we were paying closer to $2 a gallon, it made a little more sense, though it was just as wasteful of non-renewable resources.  So, we're saving money which we can use for more fun things, rather than for a couple of adults to indulge themselves.

Makes sense for everyone?  Nope.  I'm really not soapboxing here about what everyone should be doing.  It just so happens that given our rather unique circumstances at the moment, carpooling actually makes a lot of sense for my family.