20 September 2009
Changes on the Home Front
20/09/09 13:07
There have been some changes here in the last few months. Just for something different I'm going to tell you about them with mime:
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OK that didn't work. How about this; Logic problems.
Problem One.
Item 1: I have a Mini Cooper which I love driving around the twisty island roads, BUT Fixing the slightest thing on the Mini, even routine oil changes, costs many times what it does on other cars so I only drive it when I need to.
Item 2; The Mini is fantastic on dry summer roads, BUT I already wrote you about how BAD she is on ice and if I had to drive her all year for work, it wouldn't end well.
Item 3; The Mini looks great all polished up and clean, BUT when it comes to hauling lumber or cinder blocks or bags of mulch, something we are doing more and more of, she just doesn't cut it. She's not big enough and I just can't bring myself to get her all dirty.
Item 4; I keep her in the garage to protect her from the elements, BUT that side of the garage would be better used for exercise equipment, a workbench, storage of stuff to go into the house projects, and we could really use a second freezer.
So logically I (and I do mean I, there was no pressure from Marsh), decided that as fun as the Mini is we don't need a cute little sports car as much as we need a mid milage ratty mini pickup truck. Like a Ford Ranger with 80k-100k on it. Something I can throw lumber or yard waste in the the back and not care. Something I can leave parked in the driveway and not worry about tree sap messing up the paint. That's right I'm Cooperless. The Mini is gone. The funny thing is that I had put the Mini on the market, UsedVictoria, CraigsList, and elsewhere, and had a few nibbles but it hadn't gotten closet to selling it. This week I stopped by Galaxy Motors to see what they had in the way of a small pickup truck. They had nothing but as I was talking to the salesman it turned out that HE was craving a Mini Cooper. I sold it to him for what I was asking. Cool. Even better, it looks like I will only need to spend a third of what I got for the Mini to buy the truck.
Problem Two.
I have worn contact lenses for years, literally since I was about 13 years old. I have always had hard lenses and they worked great. I wore hard lenses through high school and college, the observatory, both planetariums to Africa, to Europe. I worked at the Engineering company, and the University wearing contacts. I was the poster child for wearing hard contacts. Now hard lenses last 2 or 3 years and mine came due for replacement early in the summer.
Item 1; I can't get hard lenses in Nanaimo. I'd have to go to Vancouver to get them but this would add ~$100 to each office visit, BUT I can get glasses and soft lenses right here.
Item 2; I did try soft lenses and I found that unlike hard lenses they tended to rotate so sometimes my vision was sharp and sometimes it was fuzzy (an effect of my astigmatism), BUT glasses always give me a sharp image.
Item 3; I have reached the point have to use reading glasses WITH my contacts, But as I mentioned before, with glasses if I need to see something close up, all I have to do was slide the glasses down a fraction of an inch and voile' close up vision. For very tiny things I just take them off completely.
So logically I gave up the contacts and now wear glasses full time. Unfortunately it took me a couple of months to realize all this. I paid for 6 months of disposable soft lenses, used a couple of pairs, and then during the Eclipse Trip this summer I gave up and put the rest in the cabinet.
This weekend Marsha is back in Minnesota. If she didn't visit you it's because it was a VERY quick trip. Out on Friday, our nephew Chris's wedding on Saturday, sleep off the partying Sunday, and fly back early Monday. Zip...zip...zip...zip. So this weekend it's just been the cats and I. The worst part though is that I sold the Mini and Marsha took the Prius with her and parked it at the airport (in Seattle), so I have no wheels. I'm stuck in the house. The salesman at Galaxy Motors said that they were going to have a Ford Ranger 'Edge' coming in on Saturday. But it didn't. Hopefully it will be in tomorrow. Otherwise I may be climbing the walls by the time Marsha gets home.
Have a good week
Doug and (not) Marsha
Marsha and Geiger taking a nap.
I mentioned last week how Geiger has been pushing the books off of the TV stand. He and the books have established an uncomfortable truce.
And finally here are two shots of the sunrise last Tuesday.
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...
…
OK that didn't work. How about this; Logic problems.
Problem One.
Item 1: I have a Mini Cooper which I love driving around the twisty island roads, BUT Fixing the slightest thing on the Mini, even routine oil changes, costs many times what it does on other cars so I only drive it when I need to.
Item 2; The Mini is fantastic on dry summer roads, BUT I already wrote you about how BAD she is on ice and if I had to drive her all year for work, it wouldn't end well.
Item 3; The Mini looks great all polished up and clean, BUT when it comes to hauling lumber or cinder blocks or bags of mulch, something we are doing more and more of, she just doesn't cut it. She's not big enough and I just can't bring myself to get her all dirty.
Item 4; I keep her in the garage to protect her from the elements, BUT that side of the garage would be better used for exercise equipment, a workbench, storage of stuff to go into the house projects, and we could really use a second freezer.
So logically I (and I do mean I, there was no pressure from Marsh), decided that as fun as the Mini is we don't need a cute little sports car as much as we need a mid milage ratty mini pickup truck. Like a Ford Ranger with 80k-100k on it. Something I can throw lumber or yard waste in the the back and not care. Something I can leave parked in the driveway and not worry about tree sap messing up the paint. That's right I'm Cooperless. The Mini is gone. The funny thing is that I had put the Mini on the market, UsedVictoria, CraigsList, and elsewhere, and had a few nibbles but it hadn't gotten closet to selling it. This week I stopped by Galaxy Motors to see what they had in the way of a small pickup truck. They had nothing but as I was talking to the salesman it turned out that HE was craving a Mini Cooper. I sold it to him for what I was asking. Cool. Even better, it looks like I will only need to spend a third of what I got for the Mini to buy the truck.
Problem Two.
I have worn contact lenses for years, literally since I was about 13 years old. I have always had hard lenses and they worked great. I wore hard lenses through high school and college, the observatory, both planetariums to Africa, to Europe. I worked at the Engineering company, and the University wearing contacts. I was the poster child for wearing hard contacts. Now hard lenses last 2 or 3 years and mine came due for replacement early in the summer.
Item 1; I can't get hard lenses in Nanaimo. I'd have to go to Vancouver to get them but this would add ~$100 to each office visit, BUT I can get glasses and soft lenses right here.
Item 2; I did try soft lenses and I found that unlike hard lenses they tended to rotate so sometimes my vision was sharp and sometimes it was fuzzy (an effect of my astigmatism), BUT glasses always give me a sharp image.
Item 3; I have reached the point have to use reading glasses WITH my contacts, But as I mentioned before, with glasses if I need to see something close up, all I have to do was slide the glasses down a fraction of an inch and voile' close up vision. For very tiny things I just take them off completely.
So logically I gave up the contacts and now wear glasses full time. Unfortunately it took me a couple of months to realize all this. I paid for 6 months of disposable soft lenses, used a couple of pairs, and then during the Eclipse Trip this summer I gave up and put the rest in the cabinet.
This weekend Marsha is back in Minnesota. If she didn't visit you it's because it was a VERY quick trip. Out on Friday, our nephew Chris's wedding on Saturday, sleep off the partying Sunday, and fly back early Monday. Zip...zip...zip...zip. So this weekend it's just been the cats and I. The worst part though is that I sold the Mini and Marsha took the Prius with her and parked it at the airport (in Seattle), so I have no wheels. I'm stuck in the house. The salesman at Galaxy Motors said that they were going to have a Ford Ranger 'Edge' coming in on Saturday. But it didn't. Hopefully it will be in tomorrow. Otherwise I may be climbing the walls by the time Marsha gets home.
Have a good week
Doug and (not) Marsha
Marsha and Geiger taking a nap.
I mentioned last week how Geiger has been pushing the books off of the TV stand. He and the books have established an uncomfortable truce.
And finally here are two shots of the sunrise last Tuesday.