Now Go Find Timmy...
Without any training, Daisy has started "pointing". She finds something of interest, stops, looks, and picks up a front leg. Sometimes birds. Sometimes squirrels. The other day, she ran up to one her poops in the back yard, sniffed it, then stopped and lifted her leg and looked back at me. "Very good!", I told her. "You're like the blond Lassie or something!"
Monday, January 29, 2007
There Can Be Only One
(Or: Oh God, There's an SUV in my Driveway)
Until last week, we owned two well-traveled, well-loved mid-sized sedans with a lot of miles on them. We liked not making car payments. We didn't like having to leave stuff behind when we went camping. We needed something bigger. The family is growing. We've got a house now. There's more stuff going in and out. (For example - We bought a fake Christmas tree a few months back. The thing was so big we had to drive home from the store with the box sticking out the window of my car. While I might have found it amusing my younger days, at the time I just thought it pretty much sucked...)
Over the course of the winter, we started looking for something a little bit newer (and bigger) than what we had in the driveway. A station wagon or small SUV would probably best fit our needs. If they still made the Honda Accord wagon, I'd buy it in a second. But they haven't made one for the US market in 10 years (although you can buy one here and get it shipped... But good luck to you if anything ever goes wrong with it).
We started looking at the station wagon offerings from Volvo and Subaru. But we had concerns about the reliability of a used Volvo (Consumer Reports listed "engines" and "transmissions" as concerns on a used Volvo... Yikes... those are big ticket items) (Reliability in my vehicles is very important to me. Among the first cars I owned were a 1983 Dodge 600 and a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra -- possibly two of the worst American cars ever made). And the Subaru's we've been in just feel a little cheap on the inside.
We then moved on to the small SUV class. I really liked the Honda Element. Unfortunately, the way back section wasn't going to be big enough for our 60 pound Lab (and the Element is a little noisy at highway speeds). Same problem with the Honda CR-V and Toyota Rav4.
We started looking at Honda Pilots and Toyota Highlanders (anything bigger than that wouldn't have fit in our driveway). Toyota and Honda are pretty much tops on everyone's list when it comes to reliability. In the Toyota vs. Honda battle, I've always been a Honda guy. Honda's designs always seemed a little more interesting to me. And I found driving Hondas to be much more enjoyable. "Toyota: safe, reliable, predictable. Like the missionary position with the lights off."
But, to my surprise, I kinda liked the Highlander in the test drive (and the V6 was much more confident than the 4 cylinder). I wouldn't say I LOVED it, but I liked it enough to move it up the list a few spots.
The other advantage the Highlander has over the Pilot is that you can find them used. Used Pilots seem to disappear immediately.
We've had the Highlander since last Friday. Considering how reluctant I was to consider an SUV at first, I'm surprised to find that I actually like being up high and being able to see everything. It changes your approach to driving. You can see what's going on two cars ahead of you.
The short commute is really the only way I can justify owning an SUV in my mind... And we're going to hang onto the Acura for most of our driving. But man... There's times when you just needs something a little bigger...
(Artist's depiction of what we were looking for from our next car... I think we came pretty close.)
(Or: Oh God, There's an SUV in my Driveway)
Until last week, we owned two well-traveled, well-loved mid-sized sedans with a lot of miles on them. We liked not making car payments. We didn't like having to leave stuff behind when we went camping. We needed something bigger. The family is growing. We've got a house now. There's more stuff going in and out. (For example - We bought a fake Christmas tree a few months back. The thing was so big we had to drive home from the store with the box sticking out the window of my car. While I might have found it amusing my younger days, at the time I just thought it pretty much sucked...)
Over the course of the winter, we started looking for something a little bit newer (and bigger) than what we had in the driveway. A station wagon or small SUV would probably best fit our needs. If they still made the Honda Accord wagon, I'd buy it in a second. But they haven't made one for the US market in 10 years (although you can buy one here and get it shipped... But good luck to you if anything ever goes wrong with it).
We started looking at the station wagon offerings from Volvo and Subaru. But we had concerns about the reliability of a used Volvo (Consumer Reports listed "engines" and "transmissions" as concerns on a used Volvo... Yikes... those are big ticket items) (Reliability in my vehicles is very important to me. Among the first cars I owned were a 1983 Dodge 600 and a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra -- possibly two of the worst American cars ever made). And the Subaru's we've been in just feel a little cheap on the inside.
We then moved on to the small SUV class. I really liked the Honda Element. Unfortunately, the way back section wasn't going to be big enough for our 60 pound Lab (and the Element is a little noisy at highway speeds). Same problem with the Honda CR-V and Toyota Rav4.
We started looking at Honda Pilots and Toyota Highlanders (anything bigger than that wouldn't have fit in our driveway). Toyota and Honda are pretty much tops on everyone's list when it comes to reliability. In the Toyota vs. Honda battle, I've always been a Honda guy. Honda's designs always seemed a little more interesting to me. And I found driving Hondas to be much more enjoyable. "Toyota: safe, reliable, predictable. Like the missionary position with the lights off."
But, to my surprise, I kinda liked the Highlander in the test drive (and the V6 was much more confident than the 4 cylinder). I wouldn't say I LOVED it, but I liked it enough to move it up the list a few spots.
The other advantage the Highlander has over the Pilot is that you can find them used. Used Pilots seem to disappear immediately.
We've had the Highlander since last Friday. Considering how reluctant I was to consider an SUV at first, I'm surprised to find that I actually like being up high and being able to see everything. It changes your approach to driving. You can see what's going on two cars ahead of you.
The short commute is really the only way I can justify owning an SUV in my mind... And we're going to hang onto the Acura for most of our driving. But man... There's times when you just needs something a little bigger...
(Artist's depiction of what we were looking for from our next car... I think we came pretty close.)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Brrrr...
Daisy and I had our coldest walk yet last week. It was 14 degrees at 6:45 AM last Wednesday.
We're still enjoying our walks together, but it's tough being outside when it's that cold. My skin is in danger of turning into one big dry spot. Yuck.
Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 14, but with the wind chill, it could get as cold as 20 below. I think we might skip the walk tomorrow morning.
Daisy and I had our coldest walk yet last week. It was 14 degrees at 6:45 AM last Wednesday.
We're still enjoying our walks together, but it's tough being outside when it's that cold. My skin is in danger of turning into one big dry spot. Yuck.
Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 14, but with the wind chill, it could get as cold as 20 below. I think we might skip the walk tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Daytime TV
Based on my Tuesday sick day, I've discovered that people at home during the day:
- don't know their credit score
- aren't getting a good night's sleep in a traditional flat bed
- need help picking a career (or wish they could work from home)
- didn't know that they could switch lawyers at any time
I will provide you with additional findings from my research as soon as possible.
Based on my Tuesday sick day, I've discovered that people at home during the day:
- don't know their credit score
- aren't getting a good night's sleep in a traditional flat bed
- need help picking a career (or wish they could work from home)
- didn't know that they could switch lawyers at any time
I will provide you with additional findings from my research as soon as possible.
PLEASE CALL THIS NUMBER. WE HAVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR ACCOUNT.
We've gotten 3 automated phone calls from a computerized voice in the last two weeks asking us to call them back about our account with the gas company. It's obviously not the actual gas company making the call. When you look up the number, it looks like a collection agency.
Oh crap.
We pay our bills on time, but we have an usual situation at home. We have gas hot water, but oil heat. The gas company has been "estimating" our last few bills as if we have gas heat as well. They've been astronomically high. So I've been "estimating" our payments based on what I think they should be. I've explained to them on the phone several times that we really don't use gas for heating the house. When they actually come out and read the meter, they see that we don't owe them anything and we're actually ahead on our payments. But I thought maybe they had had enough of my estimates and were sicking the collection agency on us.
So I called up the mystery number today, and it turns out the collection agency was looking for Frances, a previous owner of the house.
"Um, she's dead."
(slight pause)
"OK... I'll close out this account!"
Nothing shuts up the collection agency like telling them the person they're after is gone.
That was a bit of a relief. I'm glad they weren't after us. I'm guessing they were calling us because they finally found a working phone number to go with our address again. I wonder how long those calls would have continued if I hadn't called them. And I wonder why no one bothered to tell them poor Frances is no longer with us...
We've gotten 3 automated phone calls from a computerized voice in the last two weeks asking us to call them back about our account with the gas company. It's obviously not the actual gas company making the call. When you look up the number, it looks like a collection agency.
Oh crap.
We pay our bills on time, but we have an usual situation at home. We have gas hot water, but oil heat. The gas company has been "estimating" our last few bills as if we have gas heat as well. They've been astronomically high. So I've been "estimating" our payments based on what I think they should be. I've explained to them on the phone several times that we really don't use gas for heating the house. When they actually come out and read the meter, they see that we don't owe them anything and we're actually ahead on our payments. But I thought maybe they had had enough of my estimates and were sicking the collection agency on us.
So I called up the mystery number today, and it turns out the collection agency was looking for Frances, a previous owner of the house.
"Um, she's dead."
(slight pause)
"OK... I'll close out this account!"
Nothing shuts up the collection agency like telling them the person they're after is gone.
That was a bit of a relief. I'm glad they weren't after us. I'm guessing they were calling us because they finally found a working phone number to go with our address again. I wonder how long those calls would have continued if I hadn't called them. And I wonder why no one bothered to tell them poor Frances is no longer with us...
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