Froggy's week
Jul. 19th, 2007 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
infrogmationA New Car! Not for me though.
Beth asked me along for support and company as she bought a new car. She'd researched well, and was conflicted between getting the Honda Fit and the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Hybrid is significantly more expensive and smaller, but hey, it's a hybrid, which Beth found a strong inherent draw. The fact that she couldn't fit her bike in it was what finally made her decide to go for the Fit. She likes how it drives better as well. Beth has driven her 1990 Toyota Corolla which she bought new for 17 years; I said by the time she's ready for her next new car the hybrid technology should be more common and less expensive. She didn't seriously consider the Toyota Prius because of the high tech digital dashboard; if the computor goes out there, nothing works.
The new Fit seems well designed; I'd be tempted to get one were I in the market for a new car. I've never bought new; my Mazda is the first car I've had which dated from the current decade. --No wait, now I recall that's not quite true; for a short time in the late '70s I drove an early '70s AMC Gremlin. That was after an old lady plowed her Mercedes into my early '60s Chevy. They had to tow the Mercedes away; the Chevy looked like an accordion but still drove. Without major accident, I bet that early '60s Chevy would still be driving today-- but when was the last time you saw an AMC Gremlin on the road? Folks who wonder why the USA started gobbling up Japanese cars need look no further than the junk Detroit was turning out in the '70s.
Celebrations
This week I celebrated my birthday. Beth had suggested a pool get together, but as it was raining, I took a rain check and saw "Sicko" with Hollie, then Beth and Hollie treated me to dinner at Lebanon's Cafe. I felt very content on my birthday.
Bastille Day I went to Laurel Street Bakery and had quiche for breakfast. In the evening was the Bastille Day Tumble (illustrated in previous post). We honor the day by playing music going from bar to bar in the French Quarter, with a stop to play the Marseillaise at the statue of Joan of Arc.
Moving Day
Sunday I went to a friend's moving sale. Dana is another victim of rising post-K living costs. After almost 2 years of trying, she reluctantly now can't support herself adiquately on similar work to before the Federal Flood Disaster, so she was getting rid of pretty much everything that she can't fit in the car, with plans to drive out and try to find a better life somewhere else, location to be determined. Sorry to see her go. Good sangria at the moving sale.
Also
I dove into consumerism myself this week, and joined the iPod People. I also got a cable infotainment superhighway hookup.
Later today we may be redeeming the rain delayed pool splash.
Beth asked me along for support and company as she bought a new car. She'd researched well, and was conflicted between getting the Honda Fit and the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Hybrid is significantly more expensive and smaller, but hey, it's a hybrid, which Beth found a strong inherent draw. The fact that she couldn't fit her bike in it was what finally made her decide to go for the Fit. She likes how it drives better as well. Beth has driven her 1990 Toyota Corolla which she bought new for 17 years; I said by the time she's ready for her next new car the hybrid technology should be more common and less expensive. She didn't seriously consider the Toyota Prius because of the high tech digital dashboard; if the computor goes out there, nothing works.
The new Fit seems well designed; I'd be tempted to get one were I in the market for a new car. I've never bought new; my Mazda is the first car I've had which dated from the current decade. --No wait, now I recall that's not quite true; for a short time in the late '70s I drove an early '70s AMC Gremlin. That was after an old lady plowed her Mercedes into my early '60s Chevy. They had to tow the Mercedes away; the Chevy looked like an accordion but still drove. Without major accident, I bet that early '60s Chevy would still be driving today-- but when was the last time you saw an AMC Gremlin on the road? Folks who wonder why the USA started gobbling up Japanese cars need look no further than the junk Detroit was turning out in the '70s.
Celebrations
This week I celebrated my birthday. Beth had suggested a pool get together, but as it was raining, I took a rain check and saw "Sicko" with Hollie, then Beth and Hollie treated me to dinner at Lebanon's Cafe. I felt very content on my birthday.
Bastille Day I went to Laurel Street Bakery and had quiche for breakfast. In the evening was the Bastille Day Tumble (illustrated in previous post). We honor the day by playing music going from bar to bar in the French Quarter, with a stop to play the Marseillaise at the statue of Joan of Arc.
Moving Day
Sunday I went to a friend's moving sale. Dana is another victim of rising post-K living costs. After almost 2 years of trying, she reluctantly now can't support herself adiquately on similar work to before the Federal Flood Disaster, so she was getting rid of pretty much everything that she can't fit in the car, with plans to drive out and try to find a better life somewhere else, location to be determined. Sorry to see her go. Good sangria at the moving sale.
Also
I dove into consumerism myself this week, and joined the iPod People. I also got a cable infotainment superhighway hookup.
Later today we may be redeeming the rain delayed pool splash.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-19 09:58 pm (UTC)There is actually a sizable French community in the Bay Area. Supposedly the Bastille Day parties in San Francisco are pretty cool. I've always wanted to go but never had the chance.
Sorry to hear your friend packing up and moving away. That's a shame that living cost in NO is spiraling out of control.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-19 11:36 pm (UTC)Happy birthday!
Gremlin
Date: 2007-07-20 01:36 pm (UTC)Actually I had no major problems with my Gremlin, which I had only for a few months before selling due to a move.
I'm a participant on Wikimedia Commons project getting automobile photos. I've noted that it's been much easier spotting and photographing, for example, Plymouth Valiants, DeSotos, Packards, and even Model A, and other cars discountinued decades earlier than the Gremlin, suggesting to me that they all fell apart long ago.
At present we only have photos of AMC Gremlins (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:AMC_Gremlin), one of which was taken back in the '70s.
Three years driving from a $300 car sounds like a good deal.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-20 02:29 am (UTC)Sicko
Date: 2007-07-20 01:41 pm (UTC)While I think he certainly glosses over some points, I think quite valid the main thrust that US healthcare arranged with the financial insentive to minimize care to keep down expensies is seriously screwed up. And while I'm generally libertarian leaning, I don't doubt that the national health care systems of places like Canada, France, and the UK are in many ways less broken and more reasonable than ours.
Update
Date: 2007-07-20 01:44 pm (UTC)