Just Catching Up

So I haven’t written much lately. I am really not sure why, funny things happen to me all the time and I just don’t seem that motivated to write them down. Maybe I am just over blogging. Maybe it is because we have so many other quicker options for daily expression – Facebook, MySpace and Twitter come to mind. We really are a society built on convenience and it is so much simpler to just change your status on Facebook than it is to write a post on Blogger.

Overall life has been good – although my brother called me to let me know that my mom thought I sounded depressed on the phone the other day. Depressed? Moi? I am not sure I have ever truly been depressed, but I certainly have not been “blupressed” for a while. Don’t worry mom, my life is peachy. Most of the time I would say it has never been better. And my only real complaints are about work and the economy – like most people today.

Anyway, here are a few of my latest happenings and some thoughts of mine.

The Rose bought a newly used car. I like the new car, mainly because it is a convertible and I miss mine terribly. Unfortunately, we really won’t be able to enjoy the wind in our hair until spring. And yes I have hair, it is just really short. Speaking of her new car…

The Rose and I drove to Poughkeepsie last weekend for a wedding in her new ride. K’s brother got married and as I am an adopted part of their family, I scored an invitation. I would suggest that everyone who has Poughkeepsie on their list of places to see before they die, should really remove it. I think The Rose hit it on the head when she said that the town peaked in the 70’s. And although I applaud their recent efforts to bring it back, it really isn’t worth the trip. The drive up was very nice though as it is fall on the east coast and as a west coaster, I did not grow up with fall. On the west coast we tend to go straight from summer to why won’t is stop raining. It was nice to drive up through the mountains with all the fall colors. Oh, and the wedding was nice.

I also went north earlier this month for Sam’s first birthday. She is already getting big and the party was, well overdone, as I guess they should be. I am always amazed at the effort that parents put into the first birthday party since it is the one birthday the child is sure to never remember. Sam did seem to enjoy eating her birthday cake. Pictured below.


I am also looking forward to voting next week for a few reasons. First this is the first time I have lived in a state where my vote might actually mean something. I have always lived in a state where the winner was predetermined before the voting started. That always made presidential elections a little less exciting for me. I mean I lived in Texas when Bush was elected the first time. He was the Governor and although I knew he was an idiot, it wasn’t like he wasn’t going to carry Texas, so why vote? Now I live in one of the swing states and believe me, I long for the days of living with the predetermined. You have no idea how many ads and radio spots we have to endure in the swing states. It isn’t every day or every hour, it is every minute here. I am so over it. I mean really, are there people out there that are still undecided? What the hell are they waiting for? So the second reason I am happy to be voting next week, is that it will all be over.

I am also excited for my sister as she is starting a new business in January. This has been a long time coming and I truly hope that this works out for her.

There is also some exciting news about The Rose and me, but I will save that for my next post.

Who Do I Talk To About This?

I wrote some time ago about the phenomena that no one ever sees a fancy sports car pulled over and getting a ticket. It is like the police avoid the one group of people who can probably afford to pay the speeding ticket and always seem to focus on the people driving the crappy Ford held together by duct tape.

Well, I was driving to work and I actually saw a Nissan 350Z pulled over and getting a ticket. Did the 350Z not qualify for the “can speed all they want” list? Did someone forget to send in the proper paperwork? I mean I realize it is a Nissan and that has to work against it somewhat. But it is also one of the fastest cars you can buy today. It is not meant to be driven at 65 MPH. Maybe it is the fact that it doesn’t have the same price tag as a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. But if that is a determining factor, all you Boxster drivers had better look out. The Porsche name will only get you so far.

I used to be able to drive my Jaguar worry free on the highways as the XK8 apparently qualified for fancy sports car status. Now that I only have the hybrid to drive around, I have relinquished my carefree status. I must actually pay attention to my speed and slow down when I see a police car parked on the side of the road. Who knows, maybe the police will learn to have a soft spot for all of us GREEN drivers. It really isn’t a stretch as most of you don’t do over 50 MPH anyway.

And speaking of people driving on the highways…I would like to personally thank those of you out there that have taken it upon yourselves to make sure that the rest of us don’t speed on the highways. I know it is grueling work to drive on every highway at 5 MPH under the speed limit to protect the rest of us from ourselves. It is especially nice when two or three of you get together on the same road to help us all. Although I appreciate your tireless efforts, do me a favor, let me worry about my own speed and get the hell out of my way.

Here are a few tips for all of you commuters that would greatly reduce the overall frustration on the road:

1. Keep up with the car in front of you. This is probably the biggest thing that you can do to eliminate traffic. I am not asking that you tailgate the car in front of you, but don’t let the car get 20 car lengths in front of you. All the impatient people behind you, me for one, then just feel the need to go around your slow ass and that causes more traffic. Keep up!
2. Learn how to merge. All of my trouble spots on the way into work are caused by merging. If you are even somewhat considerate and leave people a little room to merge, then everyone behind you won’t have to come to a complete stop every time someone has to squeeze in. And if you are the mergee and someone leaves you some room, take it and stop trying to wait until the last second to merge in.
3. And the very last thing that I implore you all to do while driving home is this: GET OF YOUR DAMN CELL PHONE! I don’t know how many times I notice the person causing the traffic jam has their cell phone attached to their ear. Holding a phone to your head is not only distracting, but it blocks half your peripheral vision. How can you pay attention to what you are doing if you are busy having that conversation that couldn’t possible wait ten more minutes for you to get home. Use a headset if you have to, but stop holding the phone to your ear.

Thanks for listening and happy commuting.

Blue Goes Green

That’s right Blue has joined the eco-friendly nation. I traded in my convertible Jaguar for an eco-friendly hybrid. Considering that I have driven the Jaguar about three times since last summer, getting rid of it seemed like a good idea. My hybrid of choice, the 2008 Toyota Camry. I test drove a few other hybrids and found that the Camry gave me the most features and luxuries for the least amount of money. Amazingly enough, although the Camry costs about $7000 more than the Honda Civic, the special lease pricing from Toyota actually makes the monthly costs less.

Oh yeah, I leased the car and did not buy it outright. I leased the car for three years. I even got them to include all the maintenance on the car for those three years – no oil changes or anything. You see I have come to realize that I have auto ADD. I never seem to keep a car for more than three years, which makes it difficult to ever pay one off or build up any equity. Proof of my ADD can be found on my blog – my original post after I bought the Jag was in May of 2005, a little less than three years ago. I figure my auto ADD makes me the perfect lease candidate, besides I like that the lease gives me options when the three years are up. I can:

1. Just give them back the car. Literally hand them the keys and walk away.
2. I can trade the car in on any other make or model of car. This only works if you have equity in the car, which I should.
3. I can buy the car for the residual payment. This will likely be a last option for me.

I am not used to having a NEW car. I usually buy cars that are two to three years old. This is only the second new car I have ever owned. I bought a new Mustang in 1986, which my ex got repossessed which destroyed my credit for seven years. Let’s hope this experience turns out a little different. This is also the first step in my master plan to go from two cars down to one. I figure that in 2007 I spent about $13,500 on my two cars. This includes loan payments, insurance, gas and maintenance. My estimate for 2008 is about $6000.

As I said, this is the first new car I have had in a while. My Jeep is a 2002 so I have now jumped six years in technology and I have to say that one of the features of the Camry has crystallized for me how lazy we have become in this country. Did you know that today, you don’t even have to take your keys out of your pocket to drive your car – ok key is a misnomer as I don’t even have a key for the car, just a remote. I don’t need to take the remote out to lock, unlock, start or stop the car. The car unlocks when I touch the door handle, it locks when I push a button on the door handle, it has a “start” button in the car instead of a key slot. I mean really, have we become so lazy in this country that we can’t even pull our keys out of our pocket or purse. So sad.

Anyway…I guess I will have to change my name from Blue to Greenish Blue. How about Aqua?

I have a couple of other posts I will try to write later this week. The first on my experience last Sunday with the ancient art of torture – I mean yoga. I have also gotten permission from The Rose to post one of the pictures form our trip to Myrtle so I will do that and give you an update on our relationship.

The King Has No Clothes

So someone told me this week that one of the main reasons the Prius is the most popular Hybrid is because when you drive it, people know you are driving a hybrid. It has become a status symbol. The car is so distinctive that everyone knows it is a hybrid. Can you imagine buying an ugly car just so you can show your friends that you have gone green? I guess it really is true what Bill Crystal always used to say, “It is better to look good than to feel good.” Or in this case, it is better to show you are green than to just be green.

I am not sure if you have noticed, but Honda is now combating marketing dilemma in their new commercials. There is one with a dad and his teenage daughter and she asks him to drop her off a few blocks from the school because all the other parents are driving hybrids. He points out that his Honda is a hybrid and then the girl is happy.

I guess I really shouldn’t be that surprised by our superficial society. I mean I have witnessed for years that people will wear, carry or own something that looks ridiculous just to show that they are hip or important. I mean look at all the people who carry around a Coach bag. That Coach pattern has to be the ugliest pattern I have ever seen and yet people still pay a fortune for THAT bag. And if you are wondering which pattern I mean, I mean all of them. It would really not surprise me that some marketing genius came up with the whole idea. You know if we make things distinctive, even if they are ugly, we can market them as rare or hip or have to have and every wanna be idiot out there will buy it.

I have never understood the need to be trendy. Don’t get me wrong, anyone who knows me will tell you that I will spend any amount of money on something I really want. I just don’t buy something because the rest of the world thinks it is cool. For this reason I am likely to buy the Honda hybrid. Mainly because the Prius is one ugly car and I don’t really care if people see me in my Honda and don’t know I have gone green. I am more interested in saving our environment, well and driving by more gas stations without having to stop.

So do me a favor and the next time you are out shopping and you see that hip trendy item that everyone has, really look at it. Please decide for yourself whether you want it and don’t let the opinion of the masses make your decision for you. I mean really, have the masses made that many great decisions lately? Make your own decisions and stop falling prey to the marketing machine that is American capitalism.