Tales from the Steppes

2003-11-21

10:07 a.m.
car shopping

Tomorrow I have yet another playground workday schedualed. And I have done nothing to prepare for it. Nada. Zip. Zero. Nothing ordered, nothing planned, and a troop of boyscouts showing up to help me with it. This will require some creative thinking and fast phone calls. Maybe they can spread mulch. Never let it be said that I don't know how to have fun on my weekends.

Last week LM (largest mongol) had a disagreement with a tree in the Beetle. He is fine; the car is not. When we bought the Beetle, it was with the understanding that he would get to drive it during the week to work, since he is the one who makes the money. However, he was looking at buying a new car for him and full possession of the VW was coming to me. Because, let's face it - that was my car. I mean, I'm the one that drives the little stylish impractical cars, he's the one that drives a Buick. My name was even first on the title. My philosophy is that if I have to fill out all of the paperwork, I'm damn well going to put my name first. So now we had a problem. Because I am _not_ driving a minivan for one second longer than I have to.

We decided that he would go ahead and get a new (used actuallly) car and that the question of what to do about the VW was now my problem. This was a particular sleight of hand that I must admire. Let's see, he had a nice car but wrecked it and now he gets to pick out another one. I've been driving a crappy van and get to deal with the mess from his accident. I guess it all comes down to whose money we are spending. In all fairness, I could have decided not to repair the VW but buy another one. Would have costed $7000 more, but it was my option. But if I were given 7K, is this how I would spend it? No. I would be spending the next summer in Italy, alone, sketching. Or any number of ways.

We spent Sunday afternoon at Carmax looking at the cars, but it became very obvious that our tastes are widely disparate. My requirements include a manual transmission, a fair amount of road noise (keeps me from driving too fast) and enough room for my polearm. Beyond that, I'm pretty easy. No heated seats, no electronic moving steering columns. Looks like LM is getting an Acura.