Honda Fit

It’s hard to find a good car these days.  With gas prices going up, people around here are ditching their trucks and SUVs and buying up used Hondas, Hybrids, and Diesels.  Domestic car companies help to narrow down the selection, as they don’t even have a serious offering of thrifty, reliable small cars.  The closest match is the Daewoo Chevy Aveo, which consistently receives bad ratings, lacks in features, and has only adequate fuel economy for its size.  And it’s not really a domestic car.  The closest match was the Saturn Astra, but the lowest price was $18000 just to get cruise control and a car that’s rated at 32mpg.  Other than that, it is a pretty nice car but then again, it’s made mostly in Belgium and Argentina and is thus not really a domestic.  The upcoming Ford Fiesta looks promising, but it is a distant dream at this point.

After several nights of edmunds.com, Consumer Reports, visits to dealer lots, and spreadsheets calculating cost per month including gas at different gas prices, I narrowed the field down to three cars.  The Honda Fit, the Volkswagen Rabbit, and a used 2005 Honda Civic SI hatchback.  I was mainly interested in a hatchback because I love the sportiness combined with the ability to haul a lot more stuff than a sedan.  My old RSX was so handy simply because it was like having a miniature truck.  High MPG rating was also key, as I drive 122 miles each day.

I was really impressed with my test drive of the Volkswagen Rabbit.  There were a lot of cool features packed into this car and it came with a traction control program which would be good for winter driving.  However, when talking with the sales rep, I got locked into negotiating a monthly payment, varied by term, so I retreated and played the “gotta talk to my wife” card.  I learned later that the VW dealer in Lansing is notoriously non-negotiable on prices.  However, even if I was to get below invoice on the Rabbit, it would still cost $100 more per month to own than the other alternatives, simply because it gets a measly 29mpg highway with its 2.5L I5.  Why can’t VW put in the 2.0L I4 that the Jetta has?  Or, better yet, a turbo diesel engine!  The Jetta is known to be coming this fall with a TDI engine and the Rabbit is rumored to possibly come with one as well.  At up to 60mpg, a TDI would be the best choice, even at $4.50 per gallon.  Sorry, I can’t wait until fall! 

I found a 2005 Honda Civic SI at a Honda dealer outside of Detroit.  I was pumped about it because it was basically the same as my RSX, just with a taller body, cloth seats, and a strangely-mounted shifter.  When Julie took a test drive with me, we realized that the car smelled of cigarette smoke, and I was greeted with a blast of tobacco fragrance when I turned on the A/C.  Even after a 100-so point inspection, there was pop residue in the cup holders.  The dealer offered another cleaning, but it just didn’t make sense to pay $1,000 less than a brand new Fit to get a used car that will probably always smell bad and get lower mpg.  

Which brings us to the winner - the Honda Fit.  I was really attracted to the low price, the hatchback style, and the 34mpg rating.  The car is an econobox, but it has a ton of storage space and the seats fold into ridiculously awesome positions to maximize hauling room.  Just this weekend we hauled our luggage, a double-tall dorm fridge and a garden full of plants home from Illinois.  I even have more headroom than in the RSX.  I can finally sit up straight when I drive.  On my first tank of gas I averaged 38mpg.  The lowest I’ve seen is 34mpg after a tank’s worth of interstate driving at around 70-76mph.  The only downside is there were no Fit Sports with a manual transmission in Michigan.  I decided to get the base manual model, which means no cruise control.  However, the dealer did tell me that they can install cruise control for a fee.  It may just be worth it.  Since Fits and Civics are being snatched up like crazy, I wasn’t able to negotiate on price.  What really got me is that they added on a fee for having a seat cloth protector sprayed on.  When I asked if this was optional, they insisted that the protector was already applied.  Grrr!  I should have threatened to walk out then, but after days of searching and finally being at the end, I didn’t press the issue.  Now, I realize how silly it is because, supposedly, I have to take it in once a year for a few more years to get more stuff sprayed on.  If that’s the case, then I should have at least only paid for one spraying!  Oh well, live and learn.  I’m really bad at negotiating!  The last time I bought a car, the dealer didn’t even wait for a response to his initial offer before going off to “talk to his manager.”  It was so easy then…

Crash!

On Friday I was on my way home from work when Julie called and told me we were having dinner with our neighbors.  I was pumped!  I continued driving home along a 2-lane highway when the car ahead of me started slowing down at an intersection.  He wasn’t using his signal and for some reason I assumed was going to turn right, so I passed him on the left as there were no cars coming the opposite direction.  Well, he ended up turning left, straight into the rear driver’s side panel.  I slammed on the brakes as I realized this was going to happen and tried to swerve away, but it was no use.  I headed straight for the ditch.  It didn’t really happen in slow motion, but when he hit me, I thought, “crap, I’m in an accident!”  As I headed into the ditch, I thought, “double crap, I’m in the ditch!”  Not in those exact words.  

The ditch was next to a farm and there was a “land bridge” connecting the farm with the highway.  I felt a thump as I landed in the bottom of the ditch and another thump as I ran into the land bridge.   Since my windows were opened, my car was filled with cattail fuzzies.  I got out and made sure the other guy was OK.  He wore a muscle shirt that said, “F— yeah” and didn’t look like someone who’d order an orange mocha frappuccino.  He didn’t seem too angry.  His Ford Escort only had a dented fender.  

I called the police and waited for 45 minutes until a trooper from Ypsilanti (30 miles away, going with rush hour traffic) could get there.  Meanwhile, a few people from work stopped by as the accident site was between work and Chelsea, where they live.    They were all very kind.  It was pretty clear I passed in a no passing zone, so I ended up with a ticket.  Just as my car was towed away, Julie showed up and it was so good to see her.  

After dinner and the drive home, I decided to go to the ER, as my chest was very sore.  Thankfully, it’s just bruised.  It’s nice to have a hospital right across the street!  Especially when I didn’t make it out of there until 12:30am.

So, no more crazy maneuvers like that!

The car is beat up, but I’m thinking it may be salvageable.  The front bumper is a bit beat up, but the radiator is pushed into the engine.  I had tried starting the car in the ditch, but it didn’t sound too good as it ran.  The driver side window is also broken.  There’s a nice dent in the rear side panel.  We’ll see how much it is to fix.  

I’m thankful to be alive!  Praise God!

Clearing the Cache

In other news, spring is slowly creeping in - we’re now seeing 40-degree highs!

It’s pretty much official now that I’ll get to go to RailsConf in Portland, OR this spring.  I’m really pumped.  I’ve also never been to the West Coast so that will make it even more fun.

I also volunteered to help put together the Westside home tour.  It’s a cool annual event where people in the neighborhood open up their houses to give everyone a glimpse of the 20’s-40’s era architectures.  It also benefits the a local nonprofit.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to put a more positive post at the top of my blog.  I realized I may have offended some and while I would like to just delete the post, a big conversation has already started.   I do sincerely apologize if my post created any hard feelings.

Arborific

There’s a bit of a rivalry between East Lansing and Ann Arbor. I don’t know all of its nuances, but from what I can tell, U of M is the turtle neck-wearing elitist and MSU is the down-to-earth, good old boy. After visiting Ann Arbor a few times now, I can say I really like the city. It has a very vibrant downtown area and the city is brimming with entrepreneurs and high-tech companies. It’s like a tiny slice of Boston or New York was transplanted into Michigan.

Since Julie had a flight to Jacksonville early this morning and the weather reports were calling for several inches of snow, we decided to stay in a hotel between Ann Arbor and the airport instead of waking up at 3am to drive from Lansing.

While I was at work, Julie found a cool tile factory called Motawi that makes artsy tile. She got a tile that will be a centerpiece in our kitchen.

After work, we ate at Zingerman’s deli. I had never heard of it, but, apparently it is well known and is one of Jeffry Steingarten’s (the cranky critic on Iron Chef, food columnist) favorite restaurants. It’s basically a super-gourmet deli. The staff are extremely friendly and let you sample anything. We tried some cheeses straight out of France and some chocolate-covered bacon. I had the best Reuben ever. The corn beef and sauerkraut had delicate tastes and simply melted in my mouth. The cakes we had for dessert, however, were just OK. It was a great experience, but definitely not cheap, as far as delis go.

At the hotel, I enjoyed the whirlpool and then digging my car out of 10 inches of snow. Julie enjoyed being stuck on in her plane on the TARMAC for 2 hours this morning. Now she’s in sunny Jacksonville. Lucky!

What, Me, Plow?

The only thing that’s been difficult about my daily commute is the snow. Normally, a few inches of snow would be no big deal, but it turns out that they don’t plow the roads in Michigan. Part of it is that they’re running out of salt due to a national shortage, but it’s also because the state government is so underfunded (close to bankruptcy!) that they have a hard time paying for fuel for the snow plows. Well, the extra time spent driving just gives me more time to listen to my podcasts. Right now I’m listening to some American history lectures, the usual Mars Hill podcasts (highly recommended!), the Rails Envy podcast, MacBreak Tech, and IT Conversations.

I’m still playing soccer on the weekends and things are improving. I can now pass the ball and it takes me at least 4 minutes to get winded!

As spring approaches, the fever for home improvement has been kicking in. Our plan is to turn our main level closet into a half bathroom and re-tile/re-counter our kitchen. It’s interesting how much your perceptions of a house change after living in it for almost a year. The charm of an older house is nice, but you start to find interesting quirks over time. There are so many things that have been “hacked” or “cobbled together” by previous residents. Sometimes I get the urge to just “refactor” (read: tear apart and rebuild) some things, like the ductwork, wiring, walls, etc. But then I realize it would cost money and tons of time.

I’ve been keeping busy with various software development group meetings and watching Arrested Development. The show is absolutely hilarious! It’s so packed with puns and in-jokes.

Already, my family is planning a trip to Europe (mostly Italy) next year. I’m hopeful that it will come together. I’m feeling the need to travel again!

I’m also finding some of Michigan’s hidden gems. I’ve been extremely impressed with Ann Arbor. It really is a gem. They’ve managed to keep a lot of development within the city and there are a ton of innovative companies there. It’s a very vibrant town and is like a little slice of the East Coast. Overall though, I’ve found that I’m starting to acclimate to Michigan. Not just the cold, but the fun and interesting things the state offers. I think finding a great job has a lot to do with it. Oh yeah, and the fact that I see the sun at least once every few days now.  Next excursions: the Michigan Historical Museum and the Museum of Surveying.

Winter Doldrums

I’m officially sick of winter!  Tonight we’re supposed to get 3 to 5 inches of snow (with possibly a foot by the end of tomorrow) and yesterday we had a high of 12 degrees with a subzero, 25mph wind chill.

I watched the first season of Arrested Development.  Probably the second most hilarious sitcom I’ve seen (Seinfeld still reigns supreme).  I hadn’t appreciated it when I watched it a few times when it was on the air because I missed out on all the in-jokes and plot line.  It was sort of a proto-How I Met Your Mother. 

While the weather has been reluctant to change, my job situation has.  I’ve left a quasi-state government organization as an ASP.NET developer to developing tools and web applications for an anti-spam company in Ann Arbor where I get to write Ruby on Rails apps and Perl scripts on a Linux workstation!  Life is good!  The commute is an hour long, but it’s totally worth it.  I started on Monday.  I’ve also been doing some web development on the side for a little extra bonus. 

A new MacBook Pro may be in my future as well.  My 4.5 year old PowerBook G4 has a weak battery, a jury-rigged keyboard cable, a creaky case, and a damaged video cable that results in blacking out the bottom third of my screen.  With only 500MB of free disk space, it’s also groaning under the load of constant virtual memory swapping.

We spent MLKJ weekend in Virginia and got to see our friends there and see my parents (after missing them over the holidays).  It was very nice and relaxing.  It also makes me miss Virginia.  However, it’s interesting to reflect on how God’s timing for everything worked out with me finding a job in Michigan and changes in Virginia that would have been unpleasant to experience had we stayed.  The timing for this new job is great as well.  Feel free to shoot me an email if you’re wondering why I’m being so vague
Last weekend, we made a quick weekend getaway to Chicago for Molly’s birthday.  I had a BLAST playing Rock Band.  I faired fairly well on the Bass, but my drum and vocal skills are a bit lacking.  I think it’s especially difficult at 4:30am.  Julie even loves the game and we’ve tossed around the idea of getting our very own.  I just know that would be the end of my productivity and social life because not only would I be addicted to Rock Band, but I would spend additional hours playing Gran Turismo 4 (and 5 when it comes out).  Oh yeah and FIFA ‘08. 

2000-what?

It’s 2008 already?!  Man!

So many things happened:

• January: Drilled a well in Nicaragua, visited the Eastman School of Music for Julie’s interview.
• February: Visited Michigan State University and the head of the Music Education department.
• March: Julie got accepted to MSU.  I interviewed for my job in Lansing.
• April: Travelled to Germany and Austria.  I moved to Lansing while Julie stayed in Virginia to finish teaching the school year.
• June: We bought our first house and moved in.
• August: Julie began her first year of graduate school and teaching at MSU. I started going to the Grand Rapids Ruby Users Group.
• September: Julie’s dad passed away.
• October: Lots of trips to Illinois.
• November: Thanksgiving in Illinois.  Geared up for the neighborhood progressive dinner party.  Started refinishing the kitchen door.  Installed a new chandelier in the dining room and a new light in the living room.  I started going to the Lansing Web Design Meetup.
• December: Christmas in Illinois.  New Years in Chicago.

That was one busy year!

This year is shaping up to be no less busier.  On tap so far:

• Trip home to Virginia on MLK weekend (whoah, that’s THIS weekend!)
• Ruby hackfest in Grand Rapids.
• Possibly a trip to Florida in March.
• Ashkenazy in Detroit.
• Some sort of big home improvement project.  Right now, it’s looking like new kitchen tile and counters or a house painting bonanza.

Some other projects that need to be worked on:

• Finish refinishing the kitchen door.
• Watch the Arrested Development DVDs lent to me.
• Clean out the basement and garage.
• Finish reading Virginia: The New Dominion and Frontier Illinois.
• Cobble together a super-wide frame for our sweet panorama poster of Salzburg.

Another recent development is that oil has appeared in our Pontiac Grand Am’s coolant reservoir.  At only 81,000 miles, this doesn’t bode well for continued reliability, and it’s a bummer that the car gets -3mpg.  We’re seriously considering a new car.

Chilin’ Out, Maxin’, Relaxin’, All Cool

After an intense fall, we’re spending some quality time making food, watching TV, and napping.  Vacation is so great!

Working Hard (Not Hardly)

You just can’t beat the classic snap trap. 3 of the 4 mice that invaded our house met their end by trying to lick peanut butter from these traps. The remaining mouse got caught in a “no see ‘em” trap shaped like a hockey puck. I had also bought an electronic trap, but the mice never even bothered to search for the meal waiting inside. The mouse drama seems to be over, as I’ve caulked in some of their hiding places and we haven’t been bothered by any new visitors for a while now.

Julie is amazing. She finished the first three chapters of her thesis and still had time to make desserts for our neighborhood party (and I helped!). We had fun meeting neighbors and seeing some really cool houses. I’ve been working on several projects: refinishing a kitchen door, building a custom frame for our sweet panorama poster of Salzburg, putting up Christmas lights, and writing an iPhone interface for kayak.com.

Today I made reservations for the Swissotel in Chicago. We spent the night there before we left for Cancun on our honeymoon. We’ll be back for our anniversary. It was a really nice place. In fact, this website called Schmap features a picture I took of our room.

Interesting fact for the day: Did you know that Michigan is second only to Seattle for the number of cloudy days in a year? In December and January, there’s only a 30% chance that a given day will be sunny. I keep my office window shades open in vain, hoping that the sun will come out, allowing me to bask in its warm glow. Well, it’s not completely in vain. A few days have offered a fleeting glimpse. We haven’t had much snow yet. At most we had a couple inches a few weeks ago.

Jack Frost Arrives

The weather quickly turned cold on us in Michigan.  Now we’re lucky to see the mid 30’s.  Mice seeking warmth have invaded our house and we anxiously await the moment they spring one of the traps we have set.  While it is much colder than Virginia, I’ve found that I’m starting to adjust.  It’s especially easy to stay warm by being active.  I set up my 1999 Blueberry iMac in the garage to play tunes while I refinish an old interior door that’s been sitting in the basement since before we moved in.  It has about 4 layers of paint on it and each application of stripper only takes off one layer. 

We’ve been sprucing up our house to get ready for our neighborhood’s progressive dinner party.  We volunteered to host dessert, since Julie has some mad dessert making skillz.  We replaced a ceiling light in the front entry and replaced the ceiling fan in the dining room with a chandelier.  Installing light fixtures is much more difficult in an older home!

I still can’t believe there’s only 4 weeks until Christmas.  We’ll be spending the holiday in Fisher and then New Year’s (and our anniversary) in Chicago.  I used to hate Chicago.  I used to think it was a bunch of warehouses in the suburbs and a few office buildings downtown.  But now that I’ve been around town a little, I have to say it is my favorite American city.  New York is cool and all, but Chicago isn’t so pretentious.  DC has history and some culture, but it’s comparatively bland outside of the downtown/Georgetown/Alexandria area.  Plus, the area is too car-oriented, which makes exploring the city prohibitive, especially if you live and work in the suburbs.  Anyway, I like being only 3.5-4 hours from Chicago (or 4.5 hours by train).  I like that Amtrak takes me directly from Lansing there, but I wish it would run more often than once a day. 

Speaking of trains, I’ve been thinking a lot about why they’re not so popular.  I would think spending 4.5 hours on a train that doesn’t require a security check, allows you to plug in and use your laptop, and costs half as much as flying would be better than flying.  Sure, you may get there a bit faster, but at a higher cost financially and psychologically.  I could see it replacing all of those short-haul hour-long flights, like the ones from Lansing to Detroit or Chicago.  Why not stick a train terminal right next to the airport?  I’d rather take a 4.5 hour train to Chicago than take a plane and spend 2 hours waiting for my connection.  Just think of the reduction of traffic that would result at airports if they could get rid of those short flights.  Think of the money the airlines could save by ditching their regional jets and only having to maintain the larger ones.

In other news, I’ve decided to spin off all my technical posts into a separate blog.