The TravelEd $5k challenge

No...you can't win $5,000 from me :)

After things settle down a bit and I sell my Vancouver home, G and I will be in the market for another car. We are looking for a dedicated dog car to haul the pups around in, but something that could be used by friends or family when they come to visit. We've been doing some preliminary searching, but I thought it would be fun to open it up to other suggestions.

Here are the parameters that must be satisfied by your suggestion:

1. Budget of $5,000
2. Must be able to be parked in front of the house without embarrassment
3. Must be able to haul the dogs (2 medium and 1 small)
4. Must be reliable enough to let my parents drive
5. Must be within 500 miles of Atlanta, or you must account for transportation to Atlanta in your budget


This is open to all makes and models, as long as they meet the criteria listed above. So get your thinking caps on...and leave a comment with your suggestions!

GTI Woes

One crappy thing about Atlanta right now is the drought. It's rained a little bit, but we are still in the worst drought in over 100 years. Bad drought = Outside Watering Bad. Outside Watering Ban means no washing the car. No washing the car = Unhappy Ed. So the car has gone about 3 months without being washed, which is driving me nuts. Usually it got a bath about every 3 days...so this is way different.

I'm not particularly happy with the GTI right now. Actually, the car is still running fine, so I can't complain that much. But she's fallen off the pedestal with the "Wyoming" incident, the paint issue on the A pillar and being so dirty. And unfortunately these things seem to attract more bad news.

Last week I was riding around when an overwhelming odor wafted into the cabin. Not smoke, not coolant, not oil...something else. It reminded me of a ski shop for some reason. I looked over at my friend Casey who was riding with me, and his look confirmed that there was definitely something going on. He seemed to think it was electrical, and came up with a brilliant plan if smoke suddenly filled the cabin (Find an autoparts store, run in and grab a fire extinguisher while he explains to the clerk what was going on). We eventually parked and investigated, but couldn't locate the source. But something was for sure- my car wasn't smelling right.

The following day I got under the car as much as I could, and almost instantly located the source: I had run over a plastic grocery bag. It had somehow wrapped around the exhaust in the dead center of the car, completely out of reach. I could jack up the car, but of course the movers didn't pack the blocks I used to raise the car enough to get the floor jack underneath. So I had to wait until I had some time to not only run to Lowe's and by a 2x10, but also have enough light to work on the car.

Finally a week later, I found the time. Got the car jacked up, and sure enough the bag had wrapped around the entire pipe and proceeded to melt...making a two foot long section completely coated in plastic. So I climb under with a die grinder and some sandpaper...and went at it.

Oh...did I forget to mention it was snowing at the time!? Yeah...snowing in Atlanta, on the one day I really needed to be outside rolling around on the ground. And to cap it all off, since it was Saturday morning Car Talk(www.cartalk.com) was on the radio, and some guy had called in because of a funny smell coming from his car. And guess what they said the likely culprit was- a plastic grocery bag.

Someone is mocking me.

Ahhhh....Quiet Time!

It's amazing what can happen when you get some time to yourself and stop running around like crazy. For the last week or two, I've actually lived a fairly normal life- and it's been very nice. I've been able to turn my attention to getting settled in the house.

After only three weeks of bathing in front of a picture window, we finally have curtains in the master bedroom and bathroom. I'm sure the workers building the house next to us appreciate that very much, now that they don't have to look at me naked in the morning anymore.

It was an adventure getting them however. Gayle had picked some out in a Target, but of course they didn't have enough to fit our needs. So did we order more? Nooooooo....why do that when there are 3 Targets in a 5 mile radius of your house. So we started out in one Target with a plan, but insufficient hardware and draperies to complete it. We bought what we could and drove to Target #2, where we found more of the hardware, but no more draperies. On to Target #3, where we completed the hardware requirement but were still lacking on the draperies. So did we give up? Nooooo...purchased a different color, or at least as many as we could. Then back to Target #1 and #2 to get the rest in the new color.

I'm sure the guy at Visa that monitors my account activity was like 'WTF is he doing!?'. But screw him...I have curtains now!

I've also succeeded in clearing out all the boxes from the garage that don't belong there, and unpacking all but 3 or4 of the ones that contain garage stuff. I've cleared enough space to park one car in the garage, and after this weekend and a trip or two to Goodwill I should be able to park both car inside. That right there is a victory in my mind. Not too mention I dug out all my tools and got them organized- another victory. Plus I acquired a crappy fridge to keep in my newly uncluttered garage specifically for the storage of malty brews and fermented grapes. Once I fill it up, that will be a BIG victory! ;)

The inside of the house is starting to come along as well, with a few walls getting a few decorations and some clutter piles getting knocked out. Of course this means I have one room completely full of crap...but at least I know what crap is in there.