Fun Sunday, Grace by Distraction

Last weekend we went to Clifton Mill, Clifton Gorge, and Young's Dairy Farm (for a pumpkin fair) with Amanda's family.  The scenery was breathtaking at both Clifton locations (check out the pictures from my phone), and it was great to be outside and walking around in the cool air.  

The Dairy Farm was fun too.  We had a tasty lunch at the restaurant there.  Lucas and I navigated through a corn maze (picture below).  The girls got to ride in a little airplane ride that was pulled by a tractor.  We also ate some ice cream and picked a pumpkin from the patch too.  

Because we knew we would be gone for the whole day, we utilized a coupon for a free day of boarding at PetSmart for our dog, Hope.  The only drawback to boarding her though was that we had to make sure we arrived back at PetSmart before they closed for the day.  

Well, we were in the middle of eating our ice cream when Amanda realized that it was 5pm, and we were approximately an hour drive away from PetSmart, which closed at 6pm.  So we loaded up in the minivan and raced against the clock to get there on time.  

Well, maybe "racing" wasn't the best idea, I realized as the blue and red lights flashed behind me.  How fast, you ask?  76 in a 55.  Yep, >20mph over.  Truth be told, I really didn't realize I was going that fast.  The happy ending to this story though, is that after collecting my license and returning to his car, he immediately and briskly walked back, handed me my license, and informed me that he's letting me off with a warning.  Then he briskly walked back to his car and sped off after someone else.  

I don't know if they were in the hundreds of mph range, or if it was just Amanda's prayer just before pulling over.  But whatever the reason, grace was given that day, and we gladly accepted it.

And we actually made it to PetSmart in time.  Right at 6pm.  On the nose.

Big Bummer

BAD -
As you can see from the pictures above - I wrecked my car last Friday.

It has been at least 10 years since my last accident, but I was hoping to make that record a bit longer (yes, I know most people go their whole lives without one).

Here's how it happened - I was driving in the rain and ended up breaking the back tires loose just after shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. That hasn't phased me in the past and I would normally just straighten it out without any problem. But the road wasn't straight (curved to the right), or even level (slightly uphill), so I guess I was already slightly steered to the right and the weight of the car just pulled it farther and faster than I could counter, or something like that. I wish I could replay it and really see what went wrong, but oh well.

Anyway - I ended up up jumping a curb and over a small ditch, Dukes of Hazzard style, then down an otherwise unseen muddy little access road (cue Dixie car horn).

The bottom line is that while I wasn't hot dogging or driving foolishly, I wasn't cautious enough either. It definitely could have been avoided if I had respected the wet roads a little more...

... or maybe if I had all-wheel-drive. Maybe that's the solution instead - an Audi, an Evo, or a WRX! Then I could drive with reckless abandon worry-free! (yeeee - haw!)

WORSE -
Now here comes the really sucky part of the story. When I called my insurance company to request a tow and to report the accident, they informed me that I don't have either tow coverage or collision coverage on that car - only liability. I was completely dumfounded. There I was, sitting in my car, on the side of the road, with my cell phone in my hand, staring blankly with my mouth open like a psyche patient gone catatonic.

"What are you talking about?" I finally managed to say. "I have the tow card right here in my hand with my policy number on it." "That's for the coverage on your other car" the lady explained.

After talking with them further, the best I can figure is that shortly after purchasing my car I had it on jackstands in the garage for about a year while I replaced the clutch, fuel injectors, and made some upgrades while I was at it. During that time I reported the car to the DMV as not being driven and also reduced my insurance coverage to the bare minimal. And when it was road-worthy again I did remember to restore my registration, but I guess I forgot to increase the insurance coverage.

So I had to pay $300 for the tow. And now I have to determine a) if the car is even repairable or if it's relished to junkyard/parts car status (the frame may be bent), and b) if it is repairable how much more will it cost me to be able to drive it again. And all out of pocket.

The one small sliver of good news is that I calculated that we have saved about $800 in insurance fees over the last 4 years. So when combining that with the $500 deductible, if the repairs cost less than $1300 then I will have actually saved money in the long haul.

Black Beauty

I recently went to our local Nissan dealership to look into ordering some parts for my 300ZX. As I pulled up, there was the usual flock of annoying salesmen circling around, like vultures over a dying beast. I walked toward the building, ready to reenact the scene from Airplane with Rex Kramer and the religious zealots.

After one of them greets me, I immediately state that I'm headed for the parts department. Then he says "You drive that Z, right? You might want to take the long way around", and points toward the front door of the dealership.

I take his advice, and as I round the corner I see a shiny black metallic glow and I'm pretty sure that I heard the hallelujah choir sing their high note. There it is - a brand new pitch black Nissan GT-R. All of the adrenaline and testosterone rush that my heart desires, right there in front of me! If I had that, I could not only be the ruler of the streets, but the whole world too! Mwuahahaha!

So I promptly decided to sell my 300Z, our house, the few retirement accounts we have, and possibly the kids into slavery too. As I was signing the papers though, I realized that I would probably miss my family, not to mention having a roof over my head. So I finally snapped out of it, proceeded to wipe the drool off of my chin with my sleeve, and returned on my path to the parts department.

When I was finished there, I sat back down in my 91' 300Z with 135k miles, started it up, and headed home. And I thanked God for the blessing that it is. Maybe, I thought, I'll keep the kids after all. And then I began thinking about what modifications I could do to make my Z an even faster blessing! Maybe eventually, with enough time and effort, I could even beat a GT-R! Mwuahahahah! Snort.

Escaped!

Well, we have finally sold our 2001 Ford Escape.

The selling process has been a long and annoying one. Long because we have been trying to sell either one of our two pre-minivan vehicles (whichever comes first) since July/August (when we bought our minivan). And annoying because of the flaky potential buyers that you come across on CraigsList.

Most of them can be categorized as low-ballers, asking $1000 or more below your listed price. We had an offer of $3600 when we were selling my Z for $6100. We had a $5000 offer on our Escape when we were selling it for over $7000. We have had numerous emails and phone calls that ask the following incredibly annoying question - "How low are you willing to go?"

If I tell you the answer, then I've just given away my hand, jerk off! Just make an offer and I'll either reject it, counter it, or accept it! That's how the buying/selling process works - at least as far as most normal people are concerned.

Now we are still considering selling my 300ZX as well, and I would either have to rely on car pooling, or the bus and my bike to get to work. There are many inconvieniences associated with this idea, but it's the only way that we can forsee in the nearby future to pay off both our credit card debt and the loan that we took out for the purchase of our Honda Odyssey.

Amanda with the Escape, soon after purchasing it in 2004.

Voting, Web Page, Supercar

Amanda and I have officially voted, via absentee ballot.

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Last week I finally posted a picture update to our family web page and posted the link in my previous blog. Unfortunately our domain name registration expired at about the same time. So if anyone tried to look at the pictures before but the web site was down, I have re-registered it and the link should work now.

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I was surfing through the videos on Jay Leno's Garage tonight, when I came across his review of the SSC Ultimate Aero. While I was familiar with the car before, and I knew it was the world record top speed holder, I didn't know that it was made in America, and I didn't realize how awesome it looked and sounded until watching this video.

It has now officially surpassed the Pagani Zonda, Koenigsegg CCX, Bugati Veyron, and maybe even the mighty McClaren F1 as my favorite car.

For more information on this incredible vehicle, check out the links below.
http://www.shelbysupercars.com/
http://www.supercars.net/cars/3621.html

Random

Hilarious pictures:
http://www.wintrest.com/if-celebs-moved-to-oklahoma/

The weirdest, creepiest story that I have ever heard/read:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/02/27/notes022708.DTL&nl=fix

In the preview for the new Fast and Furious 4, the car that is highlighted is a Buick Grand National (although they give it a V8 sound, instead of the correct V6 Turbo). I can't help but miss my old GN while watching it. Although my 300ZX is fun to drive (it certainly handles better), the raw acceleration and aesthetic attitude of my GN was top notch.

Back in the day - 15 years ago perhaps?

Rats - Failed Again!

For those that don't know - every two years, when the registration is due for renewal on a car, California requires us to take it in to a smog center to ensure that it passes the CA pollution requirements.

My 300ZX failed it the last time (about two years ago), but it ended up being due to a malfunctioning fuel injector.

I recently took it into a smog center to see if it would pass this time. Unfortunately, it failed again. However, I do have numerous things I can do in an attempt to remedy it, including:

• Change the oil.
• Change the spark plugs.
• Change the PCV valves (extremely difficult to get to on this car).
• Change the oxygen sensors ($150 for the both of them).
• Check the EGR sensor, clean it if necessary.
  
• Run fuel injector cleaner through the engine.
• Run Guaranteed to Pass through the engine.
• Finally, take it to the smog place when they are dead slow, so they can check it immediately after driving it there. This will allow the catalytic converter to be nice and hot. This is a big one, because the hotter the cat gets, the more pollutants that it eliminates.

I have one free retest at the smog center that I failed at the first time. After that I have to take it to a CA certified repair shop for them to try to fix what it needs in order to pass smog.

I'm a fan of clean air and having some guidelines for reducing exhaust gas pollution, but unfortunately it's a big pain in the rump too. At the very least though, it's a good incentive to eliminate unknown problems and get my car running in tip-top shape.

WARNING!

Since Amanda already posted about our new (well, by new I mean a 2003 with 100,000 miles) minivan, I'm going to post a picture of a sticker that was placed on the driver's side window before we bought it.

I only wish I'd seen it sooner. Then we would never have bought this vehicle. After all, it contains oil, fuel, and other dangerous fluids and substances!

Our taxpayer money hard at work.

Family Sports Car

Recently, Amanda reminded me of yet another reason why she dislikes my car. Because if we need to use it in a clinch or an emergency, we would be unable to transport the kids in it.

Well, last weekend we wanted to drop off our main family car (a red Ford Escape) at the dealership for some maintenance, but the friend that usually picks me up for things like this wasn't available.

So I decided that since we upgraded Emily's car seat not too long ago to one that can be secured with a shoulder belt , and since both kids' seats have been facing the front (not facing rearward) for a while now, and since there was also a need to use my car for this purpose - it was time to attempt to fit the two car seats in it.

And sure enough - viola!





Sure, we have to move the front seats up a little bit further than their normal position, but IT WORKS! We actually used my car for the whole weekend too.









In the last picture, you can see that I used the seats' tether straps too, just to make them extra secure.

Torture, and Accomplishing Automotive Impossibilities

I really appreciate and wholeheartedly agree with what Neal Boortz has to say about waterboarding, which is in the news again with the recent nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey for the position of attorney general:

I'm sorry but making someone think that they are drowning is not torture. And if it takes making a terrorist think he is drowning to save this country, then I don't see any reason why it should be stopped.

One more thing about torture ... just so there is no question of where I stand (as if it matters). If we know that there is a nuclear bomb in downtown Chicago set to go off in hours; and if we have somebody in our custody who can tell us where that bomb is, we can (you might not want to read this) drive bamboo shoots up under his fingernails, nails into his eyes, crush his knees, and then, for good measure, drive a glass rod up his bin Laden and break it into tiny pieces, and then cut off anything we don't' think this guy is ever going to need again in his entire miserable life just to get him to talk ... if that's what it takes. Let's stop this asinine moral exhibitionism on the issue of torture. If you wouldn't torture some worthless piece of human debris to save the live of someone you love .. .than step aside and let someone else do the job.

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Also, here is a very interesting article about a man who is accomplishing feats in the automotive world that are supposedly impossible - combining high performance and high gas mileage, all while using biodiesel fuel. And here is the longer, more detailed article.

Mine Is Probably Longer Than Yours

I'm talking about my list, and it's not one to be proud of either. It's a list of every one of the car accidents that I have been in, whether they were my own fault or not. So read it and weep (for me).

• Rear ended someone in my 77' Camaro on Tuskawilla Rd in Winter Park. They attempted to make a U-turn right in front of me after swerving to the far right side of the lane. I was in a hurry and, thinking that they were turning right, was in the process of swerving around them on their left side.
  
  
• Hit a Wal-Mart sign with my Camaro along 436 in Cassleberry. I was racing another car with my buddy Nathan, when I decided at the last minute to stick with the original purpose of the trip and tried unsuccessfully to negotiate the turn into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Amazingly, neither of us were hurt and I fixed the car from junk yard parts in a weekend.
  
  
• Rear ended someone in downtown Orlando (on Garland Ave) in my Camaro. It was raining and I hydroplaned helplessly (no anti-lock brakes) into another car.
  
  
• Was rear ended in my Camaro along Alafaya Trail in Oviedo while trying to turn into the church parking lot. The cop that showed up really liked the other guy's Toyota truck and decided to give us both tickets. My dad (also a cop, but for a different department) raised hell about it and got my ticket overturned.
  
  
• Was hit in the right front corner of my Dodge Daytona, along 436 in Casselberry. Traffic was thick and I was trying to turn left and cross 436, coming from the other direction. I was negotiating my way slowly through the cars and across the lanes to the far right turn lane. When I finally reached the lane, a car was driving down it to surpass the traffic and clipped my front end.
  
  
• T-boned on the right side of my Grand National, crossing Winter Park Dr in Casselberry. It was Valentines Day and I was exiting out of my subdivision. It was early morning and hazy out, a bit difficult to see. I looked both ways quickly and hastened across the intersection when SLAM! - I had somehow completely missed seeing the car on the right side. Maybe they didn't have their headlights on. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. Fortunately no one got hurt, but my car was very nearly totaled.
  
  
• Right front corner of my GN, at the corner of Chapman Rd and 426 (Aloma) in Oviedo. I was originally planning on going straight, but decided instead to turn left onto Chapman Rd. I could have sworn the arrow was green, but it must have just been a regular green light (to go straight). I turned left right into the path of an oncoming Mustang. I think she hit the brakes and swerved toward Chapman also, because her left front corner hit my right front corner. Again, no one was hurt, but my car was nearly totaled.
  
  
• Rear ended another car while in my dad's van, on Colonial Dr close to Alafaya Tr. Believe it or not, I had actually borrowed my dad's van while I waited for my GN to get fixed from the previous accident. I was on my way to my first day of work as an intern at Lockheed Martin. The light turned green and traffic started to move when I looked down to fiddle with the radio, then traffic stopped again. Not too serious, but still needed repairs and boy did it hurt to tell my dad that I wrecked his van after having just wrecked my own car. Not a good month, or six, or was it twelve...
  
  
• Rear ended in my Bronco II on Colonial Dr. I was driving along Colonial Dr in front of Wal-Mart (near UCF), when another car hit me from behind. Not much damage done to my car, just compressed the rear bumper inward.

So there you have it. It's been many years since my last accident, but I think I've had more than enough of my share to last a lifetime already. And I didn't even mention the numerous close calls.

Passion for Performance Promotes Impracticality

Amanda and I have been pondering selling my 300ZX. If and when this happens, then I would drive our Ford Escape and we would get a minivan for her to drive the kids around in.

Since our two kids both need to be in car seats, my Z currently only serves three purposes - 1) for me to drive to work in, 2) for either of us to use when accomplishing tasks by ourselves, and 3) to drive when we're on a date. Besides the limited use, if I get tempted to drive it too fast then tickets are freakin' expensive (I have only received one in it though).

So why do I hesitate to sell it, or why did I even buy it in the first place? I was thinking through this and coming up with various questions such as: Am I trying to maintain a last desperate death grip on a rapidly escaping youth? Do I have too much pride to drive an 'uncool' vehicle? Am I not responsible enough and/or dedicated enough to my family and wife to give up what might be typically considered as a bachelor's car?

The most accurate and honest answer that I can come up with though is this: Ever since I was old enough to make a "vrooom" sound with my mouth, I have been fascinated with cars. I played extensively with Matchbox Cars (and Hot Wheels of course). I built numerous plastic scale models of them. I made cars out of Legos. I loved TV shows and movies that featured some sort of car. I pretended to drive them fast, slow, jump them off ramps, and skid around turns. I have enjoyed all three The Fast and the Furious movies, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't because of the stellar plot. Hopefully, you get the picture by now.

I know other family men who have given up their aspirations of performance for a sensible sedan, SUV, or spacious minivan. But whenever I have seen it happen, I always feel sorry for them, especially if they're intense about their automotive appreciation. No, it's not the end of the world, but it's the end of a dream, and the day that your dreams die is a sad one indeed. So basically, even though it makes all of the sense in the world to sell my Z, it would mean giving up on one of my lifetime passions. And frankly, until I either see a need to part with it, or can afford a acceptable substitution for it (like maybe a Subaru WRX or a Mitsubishi Evo), I think I'll just hold steadfast to this hobby/project/passion of mine, as impractical as it may be.