So, my wife and I have been thinking about replacing our old girl for awhile. That girl would happen to be our good ole reliable Chrysler LHS.
What we are looking for is a car that gets exceptional gas mileage, doesn’t have five hundred billion miles on it, and doesn’t cost ten million dollars.
Plus getting to that point, we have a few other stumbling blocks to consider.
We don’t want to start a payment plan and if we do, we don’t want it to tax our budget to its limits.
Also, we don’t have tens of thousands of dollars just lying around to throw at any car we want and pay for it in full.
That would be nice it just isn’t the reality that I live in.
So what is a thrifty couple to do?
I mean we could settle for an older model with some extra mileage on it. Then, of course, we have to hope and pray that it will last until Declan’s graduation. (He is 18 months old)
The other option is to go all in. Find the car of our dreams and try, somehow, to fit that car payment into our budget.
Of course, then all we are doing is, for the most part, paying out little for the actual car and more on interest itself.
That is fine and dandy but since the car loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot, that seems like a hard pill to swallow even though many people do just that every day.
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that those that get a car, get a loan, and pay for it with their hard earned money are doing anything wrong. I am just saying, for some of us, it just doesn’t work.
Plus Dave Ramsey would reach up from the photo below and slap me across the face for going against everything I learned at his conference that my wife and I attended a few years ago.
He, of course, would say buy something that runs and will get you from point A to point B that you can pay 100% for right now.
Then, while driving around in the car you settled for, you can put the money you would have been paying out towards another, more expensive car, into an interest earning account, or pay off your debt snowball, etc., etc.
Those that read this column on a weekly basis, for whom I am communicating with more and more (thank you all), know that I have a hard time waiting for new and shiny things.
Me in a car lot (or electronics department) is like Gollum from Lord of the Rings in a jewelry store. “My Precious”!
Plus there are so many good and honest dealerships in town, where do I even start?
It is a conundrum that wears on me with each passing moment.
Luckily I have a bright and caring woman taking care of most of the leg work on this situation. I don’t think I have seen a more devoted and dedicated researcher in my lifetime. It is actually pretty cute to see her go through all the pros and cons of every vehicle we even have a passing interest in.
So if you see me out on one of the lots in town, feel free to honk the horn or even stop in and give me your two cent opinion on anything and everything related to a car I am looking at or one that you recommend. Too much information is always better than not any at all.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Hey everybody, Star Wars is coming out...again, but in 3D!
So, after reading a friend’s column from this past week, I was struck with inspiration. I am going to talk Star Wars this week. Thanks Megan!
As most of you are probably aware, especially after the onslaught of trailers, Star Wars is being rereleased, again. Only this time in 3D.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3D opens up tomorrow as the onslaught begins.
So it made me wonder, how many of you out there are actually looking forward to it?
For me, I think it will be an interesting experience. Though I am still trying to decide whether or not my oldest child is old enough to go with me or not.
Since their release, a few of the diehards out there have panned Episode 1-3 as the “George Lucas has lost his mind and only wants money now” trilogy. It will be interesting to see what that sector of fandom will think a second time around.
Honestly, I really despised Phantom Menace when I first saw it. Jar Jar Binks really annoyed me and the movie seemed to move along at a snail’s pace.
And don’t get me started on the horrible representation of Yoda or “Stoner Yoda” as this interpretation of the Jedi Master has been refered to by some.
Then years later, I recently took out my old Phantom Menace DVD and rewatched it for the first time since my original movie-going experience.
I must admit, I actually enjoyed it. Maybe it was because I had no preconceived notion about how great it was going to be or maybe I am just getting softer in my old age.
Anyway...
Whether we like it again or not isn’t really the obvious question this time around. That should be: What will George Lucas change this time around?
Hopefully he will change the aforementioned Yoda to the crisp, well-animated Yoda from Episode’s 2 & 3.
That change right there would change my opinion of Episode 1.
Will he put in a ton of “extra” scenes that made their way to the cutting room floor during post-production like the Jabba the Hut scene in Episode 4? That would be an awesome bonus.
One part of Episode 1 that doesn’t need to be tampered with, messed with, or even minorly revamped is the lightsaber battle featuring Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul.
Oh man, that was AWESOME! The best Jedi vs. Sith fight scene ever!
If Lucas even, so much as, distorts that in any way, I will be disappointed. Like the scene where Obi-Wan (SPOILER ALERT) beats Darth Maul by cutting him in half, keep your hands off Lucas!
Much like the Han Solo vs. Greedo scene from Episode 4, some things are better off left alone.
But it is George Lucas and he just can’t seem to leave certain things untouched.
Either way, much like the rest of you, I will make my way to the theater with hopes of living out my glory days of geekdom on screen. Maybe I can even pass along a little of my joy of the Star Wars universe to the next generation of Darlings.
But if Liam ends up liking Jar Jar Binks, he and I will have to have a talk.
As most of you are probably aware, especially after the onslaught of trailers, Star Wars is being rereleased, again. Only this time in 3D.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3D opens up tomorrow as the onslaught begins.
So it made me wonder, how many of you out there are actually looking forward to it?
For me, I think it will be an interesting experience. Though I am still trying to decide whether or not my oldest child is old enough to go with me or not.
Since their release, a few of the diehards out there have panned Episode 1-3 as the “George Lucas has lost his mind and only wants money now” trilogy. It will be interesting to see what that sector of fandom will think a second time around.
Honestly, I really despised Phantom Menace when I first saw it. Jar Jar Binks really annoyed me and the movie seemed to move along at a snail’s pace.
And don’t get me started on the horrible representation of Yoda or “Stoner Yoda” as this interpretation of the Jedi Master has been refered to by some.
Then years later, I recently took out my old Phantom Menace DVD and rewatched it for the first time since my original movie-going experience.
I must admit, I actually enjoyed it. Maybe it was because I had no preconceived notion about how great it was going to be or maybe I am just getting softer in my old age.
Anyway...
Whether we like it again or not isn’t really the obvious question this time around. That should be: What will George Lucas change this time around?
Hopefully he will change the aforementioned Yoda to the crisp, well-animated Yoda from Episode’s 2 & 3.
That change right there would change my opinion of Episode 1.
Will he put in a ton of “extra” scenes that made their way to the cutting room floor during post-production like the Jabba the Hut scene in Episode 4? That would be an awesome bonus.
One part of Episode 1 that doesn’t need to be tampered with, messed with, or even minorly revamped is the lightsaber battle featuring Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul.
Oh man, that was AWESOME! The best Jedi vs. Sith fight scene ever!
If Lucas even, so much as, distorts that in any way, I will be disappointed. Like the scene where Obi-Wan (SPOILER ALERT) beats Darth Maul by cutting him in half, keep your hands off Lucas!
Much like the Han Solo vs. Greedo scene from Episode 4, some things are better off left alone.
But it is George Lucas and he just can’t seem to leave certain things untouched.
Either way, much like the rest of you, I will make my way to the theater with hopes of living out my glory days of geekdom on screen. Maybe I can even pass along a little of my joy of the Star Wars universe to the next generation of Darlings.
But if Liam ends up liking Jar Jar Binks, he and I will have to have a talk.
Friday, February 3, 2012
My first venture into the tablet world with Amazon’s Kindle Fire
It has been a few weeks since I wrote about anything tech related so back to it.
For those that read some of my earlier articles, I was one of those unlucky few that hadn’t ventured out into the tablet world just yet.
Try as I might I couldn’t justify plopping down a load of cash on something that I just felt I didn’t need. Wanted, yes, but need...well...
Then I ran into the problem of trying to do tech troubleshooting via my small 4 inch smart phone screen. So my wife and I talked about it and I was given a budget on finding something a little bit more practical for when I need to do some quick research. And do it without booting up the laptop or hogging the desktop.
Enter the Kindle Fire.
At $199 it fit right into the budget I was comfortable with in terms of want & need. Plus it left some money on said budget for a case and screen protection.
Also, it was big enough to be functional but not so big that I couldn’t shove it into the pockets of my cargo pants. Portability, for me, is a big selling point.
So price and functionality are just a couple of big benefits of the Kindle Fire tablet.
A few of the other features I like about the Kindle Fire are Amazon’s Cloud Drive and it’s free app of the day.
Let me get into the cloud storage first.
With the Kindle Fire you are given 8 Gigs of storage on the device. After the Operating System and preloaded apps, you are left with approximately 6 Gigs.
That doesn’t seem like a lot considering you can expand your storage on most Android based tablets.
That is where the Amazon Cloud Drive comes in.
You are given, anybody is, 5 Gigs of space to access through either the Amazon website or directly through your Kindle Fire. For a minimal fee you can quickly add an addition 20 gigs for another $20 a year. Plus you never have to worry about losing those pesky mini-SD cards.
Then there is the free-app-of-the-day program. Every day Amazon offers an app that you would usually pay for, for free. So just check the app site every morning and download that free app and store in your Cloud Drive or directly onto your Fire.
Now this device isn’t perfect. It doesn’t come with a camera or GPS. I know those are some major selling points for consumers out there. (For me, I get that in my smart phone and just didn’t need it in my tablet.)
Another issue is the limited amount of apps available through Amazon. You, the consumer, have access to only a smidgen of the hundreds of thousand apps available on the Android market.
Though it has some limitations, the Kindle Fire has a price point you just can’t beat and it is very easy to use. For those that are looking for a tablet that doesn’t have a steep learning curve, this may be the one for you.
For those that read some of my earlier articles, I was one of those unlucky few that hadn’t ventured out into the tablet world just yet.
Try as I might I couldn’t justify plopping down a load of cash on something that I just felt I didn’t need. Wanted, yes, but need...well...
Then I ran into the problem of trying to do tech troubleshooting via my small 4 inch smart phone screen. So my wife and I talked about it and I was given a budget on finding something a little bit more practical for when I need to do some quick research. And do it without booting up the laptop or hogging the desktop.
Enter the Kindle Fire.
At $199 it fit right into the budget I was comfortable with in terms of want & need. Plus it left some money on said budget for a case and screen protection.
Also, it was big enough to be functional but not so big that I couldn’t shove it into the pockets of my cargo pants. Portability, for me, is a big selling point.
So price and functionality are just a couple of big benefits of the Kindle Fire tablet.
A few of the other features I like about the Kindle Fire are Amazon’s Cloud Drive and it’s free app of the day.
Let me get into the cloud storage first.
With the Kindle Fire you are given 8 Gigs of storage on the device. After the Operating System and preloaded apps, you are left with approximately 6 Gigs.
That doesn’t seem like a lot considering you can expand your storage on most Android based tablets.
That is where the Amazon Cloud Drive comes in.
You are given, anybody is, 5 Gigs of space to access through either the Amazon website or directly through your Kindle Fire. For a minimal fee you can quickly add an addition 20 gigs for another $20 a year. Plus you never have to worry about losing those pesky mini-SD cards.
Then there is the free-app-of-the-day program. Every day Amazon offers an app that you would usually pay for, for free. So just check the app site every morning and download that free app and store in your Cloud Drive or directly onto your Fire.
Now this device isn’t perfect. It doesn’t come with a camera or GPS. I know those are some major selling points for consumers out there. (For me, I get that in my smart phone and just didn’t need it in my tablet.)
Another issue is the limited amount of apps available through Amazon. You, the consumer, have access to only a smidgen of the hundreds of thousand apps available on the Android market.
Though it has some limitations, the Kindle Fire has a price point you just can’t beat and it is very easy to use. For those that are looking for a tablet that doesn’t have a steep learning curve, this may be the one for you.
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