Greed And Corruption: The New American Way

Given the recent headlines, you may think that this is going to be a post on the economic crisis that our country is facing.  Well, you’re wrong.  However, what I say in this post can be related to the problems that our economic and housing sectors are going through because the root problems are the same: greed and corruption.

I actually want to give everyone a follow-up on our recent car situation.  You may remember that our Dodge Colt finally died and that we had to buy a new car.  If you remember those facts, then you probably also remember how the fine folks at Auction Direct in Clearfield made a very valiant effort to screw us over.  At the time, it looked as though our returning the Nissan Maxima was the end of the story but it actually wasn’t.

I Hate Buying Cars

After the ordeal last week with our Dodge Colt, we decided to go out and buy a new car so that I don’t need to freeze as I ride my scooter in colder weather.  I hate buying cars.  Every car that I’ve ever bought from a private party has had problems within the first month that took hundreds of dollars to repair and going to dealerships usually involves a feeling of being severely ripped off.

I started looking at cars on a few different websites Wednesday morning and found one that I thought would work for us.  Holly picked me up from work that night and we drove to check it out at a place called Totally Awesome Cars.  That name in and of itself is very funny because there was absolutely nothing that was “totally awesome” about any of their cars.

Death’s Icy Embrace May Be Near

I think that I’m dying.  As I type this, I can barely breathe, my chest hurts, I’m sweating profusely, and I want to go lie down.  No, I’m not sick.  I’m just physically exhausted from pushing our car half a mile to our house.  This is probably confusing to you so let me start at the beginning.

Our 1994 Dodge Colt has 198,000+ miles on it and has been trying to completely die on us for the last few years.  We’ve managed to keep it going by replacing the clutch, transmission, fuel pump, and distributor.  Over the past few months, the car has been able to drive shorter and shorter distances each time we take it anywhere.  This hasn’t been too big of a deal because the weather has been warm meaning that I could drive my scooter.  Now that it’s getting colder in the mornings though, I’ve been wanting to be able to feel my fingers when I get to the office.  Yesterday I drove the car into work knowing full well that I might not get home.  I was right.  It died half a mile from the house.

We’re Fuel Efficient

With gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon, Holly and I are looking for any way to save money that we can. We don’t do a lot of driving but I manage to go about 30 miles each day to and from work and Holly seems to be spending a lot on gas for the van. She doesn’t drive far but costs seem to be adding up due to the fact that it’s a van that doesn’t get great gas mileage.

We’ve been talking about it for a few years, but after running some numbers, factoring in current, and probable future gas prices, we finally decided that it was advantageous for us to purchase another vehicle. No, we didn’t get a hybrid and we still have both the van and the Colt. We bought a scooter.

Our Trip: A Retrospective Part II

Here is part two of my post about our trip.  We last saw our heroes at their hotel, sleeping snugly in some beds with cheap mattresses…

Friday morning arrived and we went to play with some animals near our hotel. There was some sort of small deer and an alpaca that the kids were able to pet and feed grass to. Also, I discovered that alpacas like to have the area between their ears scratched. It makes them close their eyes and move their ears in a circle.

We spent most of the day Friday enjoying the beauty of Zions. We started at the visitors center where we took the shuttle to the Zion Human History Museum. It was here that we watched a film about Zions and it’s history. The film was really interesting and gave us an idea of the park features that we wanted to be sure to see.

Our Trip: A Retrospective Part I

Since Holly finished up her first year of nursing school on Wednesday, she thought that it would be fun to go on a little vacation during her week and a half break. You see, she starts her RN year next week and wanted to do more than just sit at home doing nothing during her time off. I agreed with her and so the planning began.

Since neither of us had ever been to Zions National Park or Bryce Canyon National Park, we decided that we should take a road trip through Utah and enjoy some of the beautiful scenery that this state has to offer. We booked our hotels and I told my boss I was leaving for a few days, then we loaded up the van and started driving.

Car Buying In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

My boss told me to watch this video. I thought that it was so funny that I decided to share it with you, my esteemed reader.

Me The Greasemonkey

Holly and I have been considering buying a new car. Not because we need one but because our 1994 Dodge Colt is a steaming turd. Well, actually it’s a frozen turd since the heater doesn’t work but that’s beside the point. We discussed our options and decided that it would be best if we can squeeze another year out of it. If it can run until December when Holly is out of nursing school, we can get the type of car we want instead of a piece of junk.