The Sensible Route

New Wheels

Watched Family Feud after dinner yesterday and one of the questions in the final round was -- What's more broken down than your body? Car was the number one answer.

Speaking of broken down. Joy broke us down last night in a basics yoga class where the only thing that's supposed to be broken down is the first element or two of a posture but, in hindsight, that beat down was foreshadowed. I complimented Joy on some heart-shaped earrings that she was wearing and she said something about channeling compassion because sometimes you need to. Well, I think Joy was working something out and took us along for the ride but I digressed...

Bought a Consumer Reports Cars back in 2012 -- that's how long replacing my 2001 car has been on my mind. Well, I finally made a move which required a lot of trust on my part. First and foremost, I had to trust that my financial universe would not collapse upon getting a new car.

Still, I had to make a list of the reasons that it was time to let the car go. A Subaru was not even on my list when I started the car search but that's the direction that I ended up going in and, up until the day that I bought the car last week, I wasn't sure if I was going to get a four or five-door but I went with the five-door hatchback because I know that I plan to have this car for at least a decade and, in the end, I liked the color and spaciousness of the five-door better. For me, this was also a lesson in not settling. I often choose the sensible route or color or whatever and when I thought about how  much I enjoy driving and how many more cars I'll possibly have in the future, the decision was an easy one.

Here are things that I've learned:

1). Take someone with you when test-driving a car -- the more the merrier -- because all of those shiny cars are distracting and you'll forget to ask questions or to even take the dang car on the highway.

2). Pay Attention. Two salesman told me that they only had 0% percent financing for one car model although it was listed under every single car on the website.

3). Test-driving, although annoying, is a must. Also become familiar with the various editions. The Impreza comes in five models: 2.0i, 2.0i Premium, 2.0i Limited and 2.0i Sport Premium and the 2.0i Sport Limited. For real? I went with the second in line -- the 2.0i Premium.

4). Even clouds look better in a Subaru's side view mirrors.

5). I was made to drive an Impreza wagon, yup.

I was going to take my car to the junkyard until my aunt Al spoke up and said that my cousin might want it so I sold it to him for $1 dollar. It was perfect time because my cousin has some important appointments that he needs to keep.

You Want To Be Starting Something

After watching The Good Wife, left my Aunt Al's about 9:45 p.m. on Sunday. Got in my car and it wouldn't turn over. Lifted the hood and there was corrosion on the battery but still didn't the battery was the problem since it's two years old. Cleaned off the cable with baking soda and water. Couldn't get the bolt off to properly clean it... yadda yadda yadda.

Poor Chiquita. She had fallen asleep on a March Madness game and was planning to stay at her mom's but ended up taking me home. She has had to play taxi etc. a lot in the last six months.

Got my car towed on Monday and got it back today. As I handed over a credit car, knew that I would get an email warning me that a large transaction had posted to my account. Had to replace the starter and, for the past year, I've had and on-again off-again brake\wheel noise. I joked with Alison that I was going to create a reality show with mechanics and the one who figured out the problem would win the prize of my undying gratitude. The noise is now gone...

When I told my uncle Pat about the starter he said that he could have fixed it but he's been working a lot and on the midnight shift and he's already working on my computer.

Went swimming tonight and I was able to relax my mind. Didn't know if the pool would be open. Apparently, it's on the chopping block because that district has a huge deficit.

No Shoe Left Behind

I wear flip flops a lot and they are perfect shoes for heading to climbing because I don't have to get out of one pair of shoes to get into climbing shoes. Ditto for flip flops and swimming/yoga .

As I headed from the climbing gym on Monday to yoga class, an unidentified belt got really noisy, the battery light popped on, the temperature gauge rose and I pulled over and the car dumped antifreeze on the ground.

I put my climbing gear in the trunk and was happy to discover my tennis shoes since I had to walk about 30 minutes to a pay phone.

I got my car towed pretty fast and I was happy for several reasons including the fact that it was 100 degrees the next day; 100 degrees and climbing shoes do not mix.

Ah, the joys of car ownership:

Ignition Coil One (blows in Feb.)

Ignition Coil Two (blows in August)

Water Pump (blows in August even though it was replaced when timing belt was replaced two years ago)...

When I called roadside assistance, they wanted to know if I/the car was in a safe place. Thanks for asking...

In honor of Flick Friday, here are a few movies that I recently enjoyed.







Hope that you're enjoying Friday and that you're in a safe space.