Not at my best

Today's been one of those days. The cold that I've been fighting for a couple weeks came back yesterday and knocked me on my backside. Last night was awful, and I didn't get enough sleep to be able to put in a work day. I stayed home and have been trying to take care of myself, but the cold's been winning. Such is life. May tomorrow be a better day.

Good bye, Subie

Our last look at the Subie before it gets picked up by the salvage company.

Mourning

The mood in the yurt is distinctly morose these days. We had a minor accident with our '95 Subaru wagon a couple weeks ago, and our insurance company has decided to total the car. We've made 330,000 miles of memories with it, and it almost feels like we're putting down a family pet.

We've owned cars longer, but never put as many miles on one as we have this, and I can safely say that it's been our overall favorite. It's had two engines and two transmissions, but has been as reliable as anyone could hope. I've been trying to eke out as much life from it as possible, much to the chagrin of my mechanics, who are tired of working on it. While I'd love to give them the chance to work on a mid-life crisis Corvette, financially that's just not in the cards for a few years.

I've been looking at cars for a while, but don't have deep enough reserves on hand to pay cash, and not enough cash flow to feel comfortable with a loan. I should admit, that I'm picky about what I drive, and can't see spending less than $10k. The cars that I'd prefer (think roadster) are hard to come by under $20.

Mrs. Attila and I had a talk about it yesterday, and are going to embark on a grand experiment, trying to get by with one vehicle. My only hope is that we can make it last long enough to get some cash in the bank again. In the meantime, we mourn the passing of our Subie.

Love is in the air

Maybe I'm crazy, but I like Valentine's Day. I know, most of it is a marketing scam, but I'm the kind of guy that enjoys having an excuse to do something nice for my wife. I picked up the requisite card after work yesterday, and on the way back to the truck passed my favorite jewelry store. Knowing that Mrs. Attila wasn't expecting anything other than the card made it a no-brainer, I bought her a nice pair of earrings just to give her a surprise. Of such things are 30 year marriages made.

Sixteen tons

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately, but having another birthday
roll around is a "good enough" reason to hit the keyboard. It's been
tough lately to do much of anything on the Net. We had a transformer
fire in the neighborhood a couple months ago that fried my main
computer. Five power cycles in less than 30 seconds as the transformer's
feeder breakers cycled to shed the load was enough to kill my
motherboard. Add one more item to the list of things to spend money on.

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

We also spent about $1500 on car repairs a month ago. We've been trying
to eke out as much life as possible from the Subaru, and it's cheaper to
keep fixing it than it is to buy another one. At this point in its life,
the Subie's only worth about three grand, so this was a significant
fraction of the car's remaing value. No good deed goes unpunished
though, a few days ago the hood latch failed at highway speed. Estimated
repair cost $2900 with a $500 deductible. The insurance company is still
making up its mind whether or not to total the car, so we don't know yet
whether we'll have $500 out of pocket, or be springing for a replacement
vehicle. Add another item to the list.

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I've been making do with an older pair of glasses for a while now. Last
week my work pair of safety glasses broke, so I had an excuse to get to
the optometrist for a replacement on the company's dime. Not being one
to miss an opportunity to save some time, I decided to order a new pair
of dress glasses for myself. Decent glasses are not cheap. Even with my
health plan's vision "benefit" I'm going to be out $364. Admittedly,
these are going to be a top-end pair with good frames, and Zeiss lenses
with photochromic and anti-refection coatings, but it's one more item on
the list.

And I still don't have the yard work paid for...

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store