Reading and repairs

The number of books that I read to my son has now increased to a rotation of four. He lines them up on the floor, and when he decides to put them away he takes them, one at a time, to the bookshelf. We've been in the house a lot because the weather has been extremely cold. There's been a lot of reading.

Last week was only a two day school week with President's Day and two days cancelled due to cold. I'm sure next week will have at least one cold day. Temperatures have been below zero in the morning.

After swimming last week I was driving home in a light snow on a side street and hit a patch of ice. I was only doing about 15-20 miles per hour and slammed into the curb tire first. I knew I knocked the car out of alignment and managed to limp the short distance home. There I saw the tire had some chunks chopped out but it was not flat, yet. Limped to a repair shop that is open on Saturdays and hoped for the best, which did not quite happen. Needed a center arm and ball joint, which they could not get that day, in addition to the alignment so we had no car last weekend.

Picked up the car Monday afternoon, after waiting for the bus downtown in some freezing cold weather and was told the rim on the tire was bent, but they moved it to the rear so the car is drivable. Had to cancel a reading in Pittsburgh after getting the bill and have to make arrangements to get a new rim next week.

Today we had about half a foot of snow, which is equivalent to two feet in just about any other northern city. Roads were a mess. The temperature did get above freezing for most of the afternoon so the heat pump activated. I had to pour water on the blades to get some of the snow off as the fans were not moving. I also noticed this.



Steam freezes into interesting shapes, eh?

Quick update on the Sleep Chronicles.

Last night he got to bed around 11, woke up just after 2AM, fell asleep less than an hour later.

It did not really matter much as school was cancelled due to the weather. We had three inches of snow here and school was called off.

Let that sink in as you realize the North East is about to get 2-3 feet of snow.

A delegation from the Democratic National Committee was here today to continue evaluating the city's worthiness for the 2016 convention. Wonder what went through their heads when they saw all the chaos three inches of snow caused. I know the convention is in the summer, but heaven help us they see a local weather forecast of hyperbole and panic when there is a chance of a thunderstorm. That's how Columbus handles a crisis.

My son's also been bringing me Green Eggs and Ham to read. He hands me the book. Points at the words on the cover of the book and says, "Ham," when he gets to that word.

I also have him saying, "Sam-I-Am," at the appropriate moments - which he does do, but very quietly.

Now he's upstairs jumping on his bed.

The effect of lake effect

A driveway that I parked in a month ago is now under six feet of snow. Buffalo, New York gets picked on its weather but this week's storm has not given people around the country reason for mocking or ridicule, but respect.

The most snow I experienced was Super Bowl weekend of 1985 when three feet of snow fell in Fredonia, New York. It was impressive and more than a bit scary. College classes were delayed for several days as the semester was set to begin that week.

It is mind boggling for me to think about double that,

When roads were blocked and travel next to impossible I saw the people of Buffalo rally together and help people get to where they needed to go, or to a safe place.

Friends of mine still cannot get out of their homes, thankfully their power and heat remains on. They've shared stories and photographs. They've been trying to dig themselves out to get to work, to get to the store, to do something for a neighbor, to keep from going stir crazy and I have nothing but admiration for all of them. They have had a crazy few days and each one of them deserve all the rest and quality beverages they want when their driveways are cleared and the roads are passable.

Be safe, all of you.

March 29th 7:15pm

Nature does not give a crap about anything but nature. You cannot stop nature.

We are born
We suffer
We age
We die
Nature wins
Every time

Two hours later, four new tires

When you own a 21 year old car that is your daily driver, you rely a lot on faith. A belief that the car is going to start every morning (it has) that it will get you from point A to point B without breaking down (it has) and not being in the shop with any great frequency.

For the most part, that has been in the case. My Subaru has been a very good car during the three years I have owned it. The repairs, while on the pricey side, have been necessary and not the result of a bad purchasing decision.

But how much more cash and time in the shop do you want to put into a 21 year old car? Recently, the steering has been getting more and more unstable. This was not an unknown situation. My mechanic have mentioned that there was a lot of play in the steering wheel, and these parts do not get better. Do I really want to sink another couple of thousand into this car for a steering column, shocks and struts.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been doing research. Looking into local car dealerships, what they had used in stock for what I was willing to pay, and their reputation for being decent business people.

I made an appointment earlier this week for this morning. There were a couple of cars they had that I was interested in.

Yesterday we got about four inches of snow, and the roads were crap. Was wondering what I'd wake up to this morning and whether or not I'd be able to test drive any cars. The roads were not too bad, so I gathered up my title, brought the checkbook and headed to Hugh White Honda.

The salesman was not pushy, apologized for the weather, like it was his fault, and we walked down a row of cars on a chilly morning. He mentioned a couple of five speeds, but I have not driven a stick in over twenty years, and was not about to relearn on slushy roads. There was one car in particular I wanted to test drive, he got it scraped off while I took a look in the interior and trunk.



Sent this picture of to my wife and gave the description. She did not disapprove.

Took it on the road and it felt good. Needed to adjust the seat better, but it rides well. Since the dealership is right by 270 I gave it a good spin on the highway and it continued to drive well. Everything seems to function as it should, not sure about the air conditioning though. You worry about different noises when you have an unfamiliar engine in front of you, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

When I got back we discussed terms. My wife and I previously talked what we were willing to pay and how to finance the purchase, but I called her after the dealership's offer, which we felt was reasonable so I made the purchase.



A 2005 Hyundai Elantra that went to 118,000 miles as I was on the highway. My parents own a Sonata that I have driven and really liked. I've also rented a couple of Hyundais and felt comfortable with them. This morning, no cash was spent in exchange for three years of payments plus the Subaru as trade. There's a minor oversight that I and the salesman made that he is going to make good on next week. So I'm happy with this car and hope I made a purchase of a car that's going to be low cost to maintain for the next three years, at least. It's going to be weird not having a station wagon for the first time in five years, but I'm sure I can make the adjustment.