Friday is here, and soon I won’t be.

May 21, 2004

So I did some more browsing for cars last night, and I found some interesting models in the Portland area. Mind you, these are all from dealers and I haven’t been looking at private sellers, particularly since a private seller is more likely to expect the full amount of cash up front and not be willing to accept monthly payments like I’d have to be doing. Honestly, though, if I could find a private seller willing to take monthly payments for a car I discover I like driving, then as long as it checked out from a mechanic, I think I’d get a good deal. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. I’ve been looking closer at late model Jettas (1998 and newer) and I like the design of some of them, but not all of them. I’d also have to drive one, obviously, to see if I like how they handle, how much pickup they have, that sort of thing. I’ve also kept an eye on the Ford Escort ZX2s since I liek the design so much, as well as later model Acura Integras, particularly since they pretty much look like the ZX2s. Or is it the other way around? I don’t know.

I’m limited by several mitigating factors, though, in my search for a new automobile. Firstly is price. I’m looking for cars preferably under $8000, though depending on the circumstances and model of car, I may be willing to go as high as $9000. I’m not paying for the car entirely by myself and I’ll have some help from my Dad, but I don’t want to be paying off a car for six years. Which reminds me…I saw a good ad on TV for the new Ford Focus. “Only $179 a month!” it proclaimed. Yeah, for *72* months. With money down. Ouch. I’m already going to be paying off my student loans until my kids are entering college, so tacking on the price of a new car wouldn’t help. Which is why I’m buying used.

My second limitation is transmission. It has to be automatic. Yes, I know that’s severely limiting me, but I’m an idiot and can’t drive stick, and I don’t particularly want there to be a steep learning curve on my first new car. I’m certain I’ll learn stick some day, but not today. Stick offers the advantage of it being less expensive than automatic as well as typically being found in higher-performance models, but for those who have been quoting it to me, there’s no noticeable difference in gas mileage in newer model manual vs. automatic transmission cars. At most, it’s maybe one or two miles per gallon on paper, which is negligible. Real world testing, though, indicates there to be little or no difference in gas mileage between a good automatic transmission and a manual shift car.

The third mitigating factor is body style. No SUVs. No trucks. No station wagons. Only a very limited number of hatchbacks would I consider driving. So pretty much, it’s got to be two or four doors. I’ve driven a two-door car for seven years, now, and while it’s something I can live with, I’d certainly rather have four doors. And a fairly small passenger vehicle, too. I don’t want to end up in a Pontiac Sunfire, which may be nimble but is a wide and long car. I’ve been driving a wide and long car since I was 17, and I think I’d prefer something of the size of my Mom’s Accord. A bit smaller, a bit lighter on the handling, a bit lighter in general. I’m going to miss the V8 engine of the Mustang, but to get A/C, power windows, better handling, probably 50% more gas mileage depending on the model, and the ability to put in the stereo and speakers I want, among other things, I’m willing to pass up the raw power on the Mustang’s 289 cubic inch V8 engine. The roar of starting it up is something I’ll miss hearing, but I think it’s a fair trade off.

My Dad thought that the idea of a Jetta was something worth exploring, but he noted from our family’s experience with Volkswagons (a Micro-Bus about 30 years ago, a Beetle my sister had, and a Fox she had later) that they’re expensive to fix. “You’ve got to hand it to the Germans,” said an old commercial (as well as an extremely funny movie), “they make great cars!” But it may cost an arm and a leg to fix. However, in one of the comments left for a previous entry, I was informed that the Jetta came in above the Civic for reliability ratings, yes? That’s a start. Once I take a couple of test drives in different models and get a better idea of what would and wouldn’t work for me, I’ll do a bit of research into particular models and see what reviewers have to say about them, as well as any recall information.

I like doing this kind of thing, and my Dad knows it. I’m good with research. He’s always come to me about most of his computer purchases and had me research things for him because not only did I keep up with that stuff more, but I like comparison shopping. With cars, however, it’s a bit more difficult. I’ve never comparison-shopped something this big and expensive before, and unlike a computer microprocessor that costs me $100 that I’ll be replacing in a year or so, this car is something I’ll be stuck with for at LEAST five years, dependign on my future financial situation, of course. But that’s a fair estimate. So I have to make sure it has all the features I need/want. Good reliability ratings. I have to read what actual drivers have said about it. Look at recall information. And of course, make sure it’s a color I like. I’ve decided that if it’s champagne, purple, burgundy, or light blue, it gets an immediate pass. I’m sad to say that I am truly a Self, because red models get first look from me. Then black, then silver, then blue, then white. I guess I probably won’t reject a car based solely on color, but if I can avoid a color that makes me ill, I’ll be eternally grateful.

And my Dad decided to be a smart-ass yesterday, claiming that he found the perfect car for me. A blue, 1996 Ford Escort with a winglet on the back. EXACT same car as my sister. Thanks Dad, but I park next to my sister and I really don’t want to have matching cars with her.

Thank goodness it’s Friday. It’s not that the week has been so long or terrible that I desperately need a break, but having a couple of days off to recuperate will be a welcome change. Working 40 hours a week is something that’s still going to take me a bit of time to get used to, though I’m adjusting better than I thought I would. Coming in and making tea as the first thing I do (well, aside from turning on the light in my office and turning on my computer) means that I’m alert all morning, but sadly, I am making more frequent trips to the restroom. One might say I have a small bladder…I just say I’m more efficient than others. I’m getting waaaaaay more than my daily recommended amount of fluids, though. I have a travel mug that I bought a couple years ago that holds maybe 14 ozs, and I typically have two of those every morning, plus a liter of Diet Coke at lunch. I do enjoy the tea that I picked out. I’m working through a box of English Breakfast black tea that’s pretty tasty, as well as a Orange Spice tea that smells better than it tastes–though the taste is quite good. Just not quite as strong and sweet as the smell, if you know what I mean. Regardless, it’s helpful in my line of work to get a nice energy boost in the morning that can take me into the afternoon.

For example, yesterday I was working on a pre-release piece of our software, testing it with Lotus Notes. I was running through a pretty basic test suite, but I couldn’t get it to work properly, so every time I got an error I’d have to start over to see if I could reproduce it and file it as a bug. If I didn’t get an error, I’d try again anyway to see if it was a fluke. Getting through the test suite was killer, because I kept running into so many problems, but with the help of two of the programmers I was able to get past most of them and discover that a few others were problems with Pocket PCs and not our software. Anyhow, the repetitiveness of the work just screamed for lots of caffeine. I see now why programmers drink so much coffee and other caffeinated drinks. You start losing your interest in what you’re doing because it can get so frustrating, mostly. Today I’m going to revisit my test suite and try and get through yet another one, and hopefully the bustage (that’s right, BUSTAGE) of one aspect of our software will have been fixed by then. I’d go on, but I’m not sure if I should talk about the particular problems I’ve been experiencing, since that may cross a line that I shouldn’t cross at this still-tenuous stage of my employment.

Yesterday afternoon as I was just getting off work, my Dad called with a computer question, so instead of driving home I just headed on over to his house, picking up a six-pack on the way. I solved the problem fairly quickly, and so we had some beer then picked up a pizza for dinner. Mmmm…sausage, green pepper, and onion. Good times. Tonight I’m headed back over there, and I’m going to stay the night so that we can just leave from his house in the morning and head to Newport. I brought everything I’ll need: exercise clothing for after work, my iPod and FM transmitter for the car ride, my digital camera, my laptop so I can check mail and the like tonight, and I even brought my copy of Star Wars Galaxies. I’m going to see if A) I can get it to run on my laptop, and that failing B) get permission to run it on one of my Dad’s computers for the night so I can play for awhile if I’m up for it. You down with that, O Sister of Mine?

And so concludes my week.

Posted in Geekery, General