Christmas came early this year for E and I, we went out at lunch yesterday and bought new 3G iPhones!! I got a new one because mine was having issues with signal and dropping calls and everyone said that the call quality sucked when I was talking. E got one because she had that crappy Sony phone that didn't really do much other than work as a phone. Besides, Raja pooed on it, who wants to have a phone that the cat pooed on?
So, now we just have to figure out how to keep them seperate. Just this morning I picked up my phone, put it in my pocket, walked out of the room and then back in, saw the phone on the counter and put it in my pocket. It was at this time that I realized I already had one in my pocket and checked to see which one was mine. This is going to be confusing...
Yay iPhone!!
Ok, I don't know why, and it is not entirely rational, but for some reason I am dying to buy a car. And not just any car, I want to buy a nice car. A sports car. A car that has very little practicality to it.
What is it about living in the US that makes me want to own a car when I have so clearly demonstrated over the last month that I do not need one? Does it have anything to do with living in the US? Or is it strictly because I am a gearhead and want to have something to tinker on? It's weird, but I look at cars when I am on the bus on the way home and think of how it would be to own that car, or when I see one in our retail lot I do the same. I know the rational, responsible thing would be to wait until we have more saved and pay cash and not have a loan, but for some reason, I am jonesing for a car. As I wrote in my last blog post, E is fully, completely sick of hearing about car x and y and how cool they are or how we could swing it.
Either way, whatever car we end up getting prior to the start of the '09 auto-x season will be easier to drive fast than the TL, and not just because the car is lighter, but because my ass is lighter! I have been holding steady at 250 for a few weeks now, but today I was able to use a new notch in my belt without my pants feeling tight! I guess that I am putting on a little muscle for every bit of fat that I am working off. Starting last week Erin is also working out with me, and we are both really sore right now from yesterday's back workout, but I feel so much better now than I did before. I have stopped any and all drinking of alcohol or soda in an effort to maximise my fat burn throughout the day, and so far it has helped a LOT. I was able to do (almost) four pull-ups on Sunday morning, and as of a couple of weeks ago I couldn't even hang from the bar because my shoulder hurt so much. I guess working out is helping that to heal.
One weird side effect is that I am cold. All the time. I used to complain about how E was cold and she should get a blanket last winter when our thermostat was set at 69. Our thermostat is currently set at 73 and we have both been complaining about being cold for the last couple of weeks. I know that having extra chub on your body helps to keep you warm, but I have never really experienced it like this before, this has been a dramatic change that has been noticeable to me and to E. Maybe I'll get to start wearing sweaters again and not worrying about soaking through them by the end of the day?
What else has been going on? Oh, I signed up to twitter and have been putting info up there as often as I can think of it, but honestly I am reluctant to put more of the mundane stuff out there since it is just so mundane. I guess this helps to keep me from really putting anything out there at all, even though the idea is to put the mundane out there since it is not blog-worthy and people sometimes like hearing about the more boring parts of life, maybe this is why everyone talks about the weather? Speaking of which, we didn't break the 0 mark today, our first day completely negative. It was so cold that the snow was noisy as all get out. It was like grinding styrofoam together.
We are currently planning a progressive dinner for people in our building for New Year's Eve this year since no one is really digging going out and partying. I told E and some friends that I would do the DD thing if someone would volunteer their car, but with so much public transportation around, we really don't need to bring a car, we just need cab fare.
Other than that, we are just gearing up for our Hawaii trip in Feb, our x-mas trip next week, and that's about it. Lucky for us that a few of our neighbors have decided to start saving like E and I have been trying to do and are not wanting to go out every night. It has been nice that others are not trying to drag us to bars each and every weekend/weeknight.
Something I was just thinking about is how when we tell people that we don't have a car, how much support we get. We met some new neighbors the other day and within minutes we were talking about cars and when I was asked what kind I had and my response was that I didn't have one, they immediately offered to allow us to use theirs if we needed it. I was actually admonished this morning because we walked to the grocery store and didn't call and borrow someone's car. Odd. But, I have to say, the overwhelming repsonse has been very positive and supportive of our effort to see how long we can go without a car. We have the scooter, but when the air temp is -8, you couldn't catch me dead on that thing outside our garage. Well, on second thought, maybe you would catch me dead from frostbite or hypothermia or something.
I guess with that I will sign off, all of my random thoughts have been displayed. And KK, I'm with you man, jut got to talk the little woman into it... :)
What is it about living in the US that makes me want to own a car when I have so clearly demonstrated over the last month that I do not need one? Does it have anything to do with living in the US? Or is it strictly because I am a gearhead and want to have something to tinker on? It's weird, but I look at cars when I am on the bus on the way home and think of how it would be to own that car, or when I see one in our retail lot I do the same. I know the rational, responsible thing would be to wait until we have more saved and pay cash and not have a loan, but for some reason, I am jonesing for a car. As I wrote in my last blog post, E is fully, completely sick of hearing about car x and y and how cool they are or how we could swing it.
Either way, whatever car we end up getting prior to the start of the '09 auto-x season will be easier to drive fast than the TL, and not just because the car is lighter, but because my ass is lighter! I have been holding steady at 250 for a few weeks now, but today I was able to use a new notch in my belt without my pants feeling tight! I guess that I am putting on a little muscle for every bit of fat that I am working off. Starting last week Erin is also working out with me, and we are both really sore right now from yesterday's back workout, but I feel so much better now than I did before. I have stopped any and all drinking of alcohol or soda in an effort to maximise my fat burn throughout the day, and so far it has helped a LOT. I was able to do (almost) four pull-ups on Sunday morning, and as of a couple of weeks ago I couldn't even hang from the bar because my shoulder hurt so much. I guess working out is helping that to heal.
One weird side effect is that I am cold. All the time. I used to complain about how E was cold and she should get a blanket last winter when our thermostat was set at 69. Our thermostat is currently set at 73 and we have both been complaining about being cold for the last couple of weeks. I know that having extra chub on your body helps to keep you warm, but I have never really experienced it like this before, this has been a dramatic change that has been noticeable to me and to E. Maybe I'll get to start wearing sweaters again and not worrying about soaking through them by the end of the day?
What else has been going on? Oh, I signed up to twitter and have been putting info up there as often as I can think of it, but honestly I am reluctant to put more of the mundane stuff out there since it is just so mundane. I guess this helps to keep me from really putting anything out there at all, even though the idea is to put the mundane out there since it is not blog-worthy and people sometimes like hearing about the more boring parts of life, maybe this is why everyone talks about the weather? Speaking of which, we didn't break the 0 mark today, our first day completely negative. It was so cold that the snow was noisy as all get out. It was like grinding styrofoam together.
We are currently planning a progressive dinner for people in our building for New Year's Eve this year since no one is really digging going out and partying. I told E and some friends that I would do the DD thing if someone would volunteer their car, but with so much public transportation around, we really don't need to bring a car, we just need cab fare.
Other than that, we are just gearing up for our Hawaii trip in Feb, our x-mas trip next week, and that's about it. Lucky for us that a few of our neighbors have decided to start saving like E and I have been trying to do and are not wanting to go out every night. It has been nice that others are not trying to drag us to bars each and every weekend/weeknight.
Something I was just thinking about is how when we tell people that we don't have a car, how much support we get. We met some new neighbors the other day and within minutes we were talking about cars and when I was asked what kind I had and my response was that I didn't have one, they immediately offered to allow us to use theirs if we needed it. I was actually admonished this morning because we walked to the grocery store and didn't call and borrow someone's car. Odd. But, I have to say, the overwhelming repsonse has been very positive and supportive of our effort to see how long we can go without a car. We have the scooter, but when the air temp is -8, you couldn't catch me dead on that thing outside our garage. Well, on second thought, maybe you would catch me dead from frostbite or hypothermia or something.
I guess with that I will sign off, all of my random thoughts have been displayed. And KK, I'm with you man, jut got to talk the little woman into it... :)
It's been a whole month and still no car. There have been some times when I have had a serious craving for a drive, but I have made it. I think I have been driving Erin nuts with my car search, she really doesn't want to even think about it until we are ready to purchase, but I have been keeping my eye on the local market and what is out and around. Odds are good that the best deal will be on a car that gets advertised in the next couple of months and is still available once it starts to get warm.
I was watching Mission Impossible III tonight and saw a commercial that BMW is offering .9% financing on all used models. What does that say? It says to me that times are going to be REALLY rough on the car industry, and not just the American ones. That tells me that the longer I can hold out, the better deal I can expect to be able to find. Maybe instead of a brand-new Civic Si, I can weasel my way into a 2-4 year old M3? It sounds like a tough decision to me, brand-new FWD 200HP 4DR or a couple of years old RWD 330-400HP 2DR? I wonder which would be better for racing? I can bet that the Civic is going to get better gas mileage, but which will have a higher fun-factor? I'm leaning toward the M3...
I was watching Mission Impossible III tonight and saw a commercial that BMW is offering .9% financing on all used models. What does that say? It says to me that times are going to be REALLY rough on the car industry, and not just the American ones. That tells me that the longer I can hold out, the better deal I can expect to be able to find. Maybe instead of a brand-new Civic Si, I can weasel my way into a 2-4 year old M3? It sounds like a tough decision to me, brand-new FWD 200HP 4DR or a couple of years old RWD 330-400HP 2DR? I wonder which would be better for racing? I can bet that the Civic is going to get better gas mileage, but which will have a higher fun-factor? I'm leaning toward the M3...