• Someday, when I have the extra money, right after I buy a flying pony, I will have a family crest put together. Not sure what imagery I will use, but it will probably have a bear in it somewhere. For the family motto, I’m thinking I’m going to have someone who knows what they’re doing translate “Sleep is for the weak” into Latin.
• Irish Woman and I plan to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary next year by going back to Ireland.
  • My goal is to make my wife happy
  • Her goal is to introduce her son to Ireland and be there when he has his first beer.
  • I’ve already warned the lad about pretty Irish women and sweet, smooth, Irish beer.
• Looking at the cost of airfare, and ye gods and little fishes, it’s dear. For what they want for an 18 hour flight to Dublin and back, with a 9 hour layover in beautiful Newark, it might be cheaper to pay someone to smuggle us over as livestock.
  • For those of you keeping score at home “9 hour layover in beautiful Newark” is not a romantic proposal, no matter the lady to whom you’re making it.
  • Does Aer Lingus have steerage? Might as well get the whole family history experience while we’re at it.
• The news is breathlessly reporting how responsive and leaderish Joe Biden is because several more unidentified flying thingies have been sighted in the past few days, with at least one of them being shot down.
  • Here’s a hint – If he were a real leader, they wouldn’t be there in the first place, because we would answer in kind with something a little more festive.
  • Is there a Mandarin equivalent to “Fuck around and find out”? How about Mongolfier?
• My bones tell me that the Ukraine war is going to come down to who gets tired of spending first. Will Russia get tired of spending young men and dwindling technical resources for land or will the West get tired of spending war reserves to make every square kilometer of ground gained by the Russians hideously expensive in blood?
• The earthquake news out of Turkey is horrific. No matter how well you build, no building is going to do well when hit with multiple 7+ scale earthquakes.
  • An evil little part of my soul is wondering if Russia, who Turkey has been cozying up to a tad too much, will contribute as much aid and relief supplies as Sweden does. Sweden, you will remember, has applied for NATO membership, which Turkey has been blocking because….. Kurds, I guess?

• There must be some way to mathematically describe wind strength and behavior based on the way hound dog ears flap when the pup puts her nose into the breeze.
  • This will require more thought. And coffee.
• Irish Woman went on a cruise with some family and friends last week, and it did wonders for her attitude.
  • Apparently, the secret is no Internet access for several days, along with having rum punch on demand.
  • The magic formula appears to be 3 rum punches followed by a 3 hour nap. This procedure should be repeated as needed.
• The disagreement on whether the end of the 8th grade is a life changing event or just changing of a school continues.
  • Irish Woman is following the Louisville tradition of celebrating ‘graduation’ from the 8th grade as if the Young Prince was finishing a rigorous course that will lead to all great things that she could ever want for him. Plus a pony. With ice cream.
  • I, on the other hand, being a sane, non-Lousvillian, look upon the end of the 8th grade as “Congratualtions. Let’s get pizza. The yard needs mowed tomorrow, kid”.
  • The difference in trouble, time, and cost between the two positions is staggering.
• The new car arrived a couple of days early, so I officially own a Subaru hatchback. The hunt for bumper stickers has already begun.

Automotive Rumblings

So, in a few weeks, I’ll have a brand spanking new Subaru Crosstrek. First Japanese car I’ve ever owned. I’ll have to explain that to my great grandfather next time I see him.

I looked at the Forrester and Outback, but would have been waiting almost until April for one to come onto the lot that hasn’t been bought already.

Volkswagen lost out because they didn’t have a Jetta for me to test drive and wouldn’t have one until February, at the earliest.

Toyota lost out because I got snotty responses from both dealerships when I asked about Camry availability over the phone.

Honda lost out because all SEVEN salesmen who responded, repeatedly, to my internet query acted like that girl in high school who was just a little too driven to have a date for the Sadie Hawkins ball. In this market, if you’re that desperate to sell a car, something’s going on there, and I didn’t like the Accord I got as a rental last year enough to go into the dealership to look at them in that climate.

Chevy, Jeep, and Chrysler lost out because I’m not paying what they want for what they have to sell. I also took a peek at Volvo, Audi, and Mercedes, had a good laugh, and closed those webpages.

Ford had first pick, but they don’t make cars anymore. They make Mustangs, trucks, and malformed minivans. I have a truck, can’t fit my kid in the back of a Mustang, and already know how their crossovers look and feel. Plus, all of the reports I’m seeing of Fords getting sold missing parts put me off the brand this time around.

The Subaru salesman was a laid back dude, mid-twenties, who was cool with taking me for a test drive in their base model and shooting the shit for 15 minutes before being patient with me for an hour as we looked at all the options.

Did I strike a good bargain? Probably not. It’s a seller’s market, and he’s selling cars before they leave the factory. I got a couple of deals on add-ons, but that’s about it.

If I had waited 6 months, I think things would have been different. Things are starting to trend down in the economy, and new cars are the first things that take a hit and go on sale.

But, I need a good, reliable car for commuting and for a couple of long road trips coming up, and the cost of a rental for said trips was just a tad more than 10% of the purchase cost of a new car in the class I was looking for. The truck is 10 years old, has small nagging things, and the big nagging things are soon to come.

One good thing Subaru did was not tack several thousand dollars onto the purchase price because their cars are popular. Several other brands around here are doing that. So, they got struck from the list entirely.

Now, I just have to come up with a cool name for it. The truck is WeissTod, so the silver Subaru needs something with style.