Not only did Jen and I go to Ikea today and fill up the van with build-it-yourself boxed Swedish furniture, but after we got back and unloaded the van, I went and bought a very swanky 2002 Volvo S80. I sent a picture to Flickr, but it hasn’t shown up yet… (so I just uploaded it.).\
Yes, I know that the S80 wasn’t on the list. I went to Don Beyer intending to get a lovely little blue S60. But, as soon as I got there, it came back into the lot with a very happy person who ended up buying it. So, as I was considering my options, I wandered through the lot, and what did I spy? A lovely grey luxury car priced well below blue book that fell right into my budget. So, I found my favorite sales person (her name is Namaste, and she’s very nice… if you go to Don Beyer Volvo in Sterling, ask for her) and asked if I could take it out. She handed me a key and a plate and off I went. Since no one’s around AOL on Saturdays, I took it and whipped around campus a couple times. Wow. It’s an incredible drive, and a lot nimbler than you’d expect a large sedan to be. It takes corners like a champ and has power to spare. I’m glad I got the bigger car. It’s roomier, faster, and handles better than the S60… and gets the same decent mileage.\
I’m sore from taking out the middle seat in the van and lugging boxes of furniture from store to car to home, but I’m happy. I can stop looking for a new car for at least another 8 years. Yay!\
The only problem? Jen says I’m a yuppie now that we own a Volvo. I tried to tell her that we were already yuppies because we own a minivan, but I don’t think she believes me.
Category: Kevin
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My Big Fat Swedish Day
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Up Early With Photo Booth
Fun With Photo Booth\
Sitting on an install call this morning, I couldn’t help playing with Photo Booth. -
Not Another Teen Show
Kevin edited the actual Veronica Mars promo into my post below to make it even easier and more tempting for you to watch. Isn’t he fabulous? What a nice husband.\
And now that you’ve all seen the promo, and I know you all have, you can believe me when I say: THIS ISN’T A MELODRAMATIC TEENY-BOPPER SHOW like Dawson’s Creek or 90210. I seriously think that having the lead character in high school (now she’s in college), made pimping this show that much harder. The masses have written it off without even seeing it. But you can become one of the enlightened! Say no to mass-ly writing-off this show. Watch it for yourself this Fall on Tuesdays on the new network, The CW.\
P.S. Hee, I got Tim interested through the promo. And his wife watches the show, so she should have been the one to talk him into watching it. Go internet! -
Mashup Camp: An Apology
I’m at Mashup Camp (well, I was earlier, now I’m trying to figure out just how early I can go to bed and not wake up at 3 AM), and I’m not all here. I feel really bad, but I’m just exhausted. I skipped the afternoon sessions because I didn’t think I could contribute, and there’s only so much that caffeine will do for you.\
I’ll try to be “present” tomorrow. I had a really good time this morning, but faded quickly. I think my body is just tired of traveling. It’s tired of adjusting to time zones weird beds, bad chairs and ridiculous rental cars.\
I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight and hopefully I won’t wake up at 5AM again (I’ve gotten about four hours of sleep the past two nights). If I met you today, I’m really sorry if I gave you the impression that I’m not passionate about what I do, or not interested in what you’re doing. I am, on both accounts. Mashup Camp is full of people doing extremely cool things. I’m just too worn out to see them right this minute. -
Test Drive Monday
Since AOL was nice enough to give us the day off today (well, I hope they did, because I’m not at the office), I decided to go test drive cars! Here’s what I drove and my impressions of each (in chronological order):
- 2002 Volvo S60: I loved it, roomy, comfortable, gorgeous ride and a great looking car. It’s a little older than I wanted, and a few more miles, but it’s in the price range and absolutely a joy to drive. The interior is amazing.
- 2006 Honda Civic EX: Not bad. It’s roomier than I’d been told, and pretty comfortable to drive. The ride is pretty rough and it feels under-powered. Interior’s not bad.
- 2006 Toyota Yaris: It’s cheap and feels like it. Totally underpowered, cheap interior, but oddly enough, a better ride than the Civic.
- 2006 Toyota Matrix: Nice ride, much nicer interior than Civic or Yaris, the right amount of power and a lot of interior room. I kind of drove this on a lark, but it was worth it. Better than either the Civic or Yaris.
- 2006 Volkswagen Rabbit 4-door: Loved it. Better interior than anything but the S60, great ride, peppy and a lot of fun to drive. Right in the price range too.
- 2006 VW GTi: I shouldn’t have driven this one, but I’d seen a great review on Top Gear last year that I had to try it for myself. I love this car. It’s got amazing amounts of low-speed torque and the paddle gear-shifting is way too much fun. The VW sales guy was really cool as well, and loved showing off all the neat touches in both cars. I’m hoping I can talk Jen into this one (it’s a little out of the budget and it’s only a two-door), but I’ll probably go with the Rabbit.\
So, it’s down to the G6, which I’m renting next week, an S60, a Rabbit or, if Jen goes for it, a GTi. I had a lot of fun today, and was really impressed by the attitudes at Don Beyer Volvo and Lindsey Volkswagen. All the dealers were friendly, but the folks at those two dealerships were better than the rest by far.\
I’m hoping to make a decision after I get back from Mashup Camp.
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Random
Brian fell in love with a grandma he met at the playground the other day. He literally followed her around and kept wanting to be picked up by her. They sat on the park bench together and he looked at her adoringly. Then they would go play for awhile. It was the cutest thing ever.\
Kevin made brownies for a work thing and actually took them to work. :(\
Seeing toddlers at church is amusing. The boys wear sandals, pants or shorts, and a collared shirt, while the girls wear fancy dresses with the prettiest little shoes and tights. What’s up with that? It’s like the kids aren’t even at the same place. It starts a trend that continues through adulthood where you’ll see a couple on a date at the movies and the girl is dressed like she’s going somewhere else and the guy looks like he just rolled out of bed.\
Apparently today is the Scooperbowl and I don’t have any good ice cream with which to celebrate.\
I was slightly sheepish while walking to the bus stop this morning in my new capri jammy pants until I saw a woman hoing in her jammies, then I didn’t feel so sheepish anymore. (She was not doing the wrong kind of hoing, she was hoing her yard. At 7:30 in the morning. In her jammies. Yea.) -
Long-ass life update
Brian has completely left babyhood and has entered toddlerville. He’s the big T-W-O now! He has tantrums, gets into all sorts of trouble, and tries to do please-let-me-have-my-way, puppy dog eyes. When it doesn’t work, he laughs sheepishly. So adorable. He watches Blues Clues, loves bubbles and drawing. He loves his blankets, but isn’t really into stuffed animals. At the end of the day, his feet stink-eww, the number one sign that he isn’t a baby anymore. He can say: ball, bubble, apple, moon, car, and sign more. That one sign was a huge wahoo! moment for us. Mostly he just points vigorously. Apparently I have watched too much Prison Break while Brian is around, because he sneaks into the dishwasher for a butter knife and then proceeds to slip it into the window casing. Silly kid. He is a great helper and assists with the dishes, laundry, and putting trash in the trash can. I know he will grow out of this soon, so I am taking advantage of it. I can’t put dishes into the dish washer when he is around though, because he keeps trying to “help” me by putting the dirty dishes away and then he cries in frustration. So I just wait until bedtime and then procrastinate doing them anyway. Heh.\
Max is a kid, no longer a baby or a toddler. A real kid. At six, he is one of the smartest people I know. (Which, I only know like four people, so take that for what it is worth.) He is very creative and lovable and tall and funny. He started soccer this Spring. He has been really enjoying it, but is really bad at it. I read somewhere there is a Fall league; I am going to sign him up for it too. I also want to get him into karate. Maybe take it with him, as a mom/son bonding activity. I don’t want to hit or kick blocks of wood though. Hmm, do you think he’d be embarrassed to take karate with me?\
Kindergarten finishes up in 2 weeks, then I am enrolling Max in summer camp. They have all sorts of cool activities and field trips planned. It sounds like a lot of fun. So only 2 more weeks of Max only having half-days away from me. Soon he’ll be spending as much time away from the home as he does at home, awake. Eep! I still have things to tell him: don’t eat before you swim, always wear sunscreen, and it’s okay to use some phrases ironically like “raise the roof” but when in doubt just don’t. Speaking of talks, I was giving Max a refresher about people not seeing/touching/showing private parts and penises and Max was all, “I know, Mom” with an eye-roll tone-of-voice.\
I am a mom of two real kids now. They interact like real people. I even have to seperate them sometimes! It’s odd and cool, at the same time.\
I am at home, as usual. Now that Brian is officially no longer a baby, I have been looking into doing some volunteer work. The local shelter doesn’t need any help right now. Isn’t that just bizarre and, I suppose, a good thing? The Red Cross is currently at the top of my list, but I am not sure what to do with Brian. I think I may have to put this off for a few more years. I can’t find a daycare place that will let me do a half-day. Their definition of part time is all day Tuesday and Thursday. Eh. I guess I could go that route, and then just pick up Brian early. We’ll see. Money is meant to be spent, right?\
I am also looking into joining a gym, one that has daycare attached. That way, I can sit in the locker room for an hour each morning and have some peace. Ha! I am going to make Kevin come with me. Ideally, I’d like someplace with an indoor track, but they seem to be in short supply.\
My biggest dream right now is to spend 24 hours in bed with Kevin, only getting up to answer the door for takeout and for the bathroom. I have been trying to finagle this for over a year now, since I stopped nursing Brian, but so far no luck. We’ll lie in bed together, watch movies, eat takeout, listen to music, take a nap, talk, and it will be marvelous. Ahhh. Doesn’t that sound nice?\
My BFF was telling me that a lot of her friends are constantly fighting with their husbands. I said “I’m not.” She said, “I know. You don’t have to convince me of that because I know.” Isn’t that a great compliment? I am not sure how or why I got so lucky with Kevin. We have a great marriage and I am so thankful for him. Maybe because we are sometimes laid-back about the same things (how to spend money, the house) and other times only one of us really cares about other things (where to vacation, what kind of car to buy). Whatever, it works. Viva la KevandJen!\
Most of my tv watching happens between 6am-10am when I am awake but don’t want to be and the brain isn’t functioning yet. Thank heavens for Tivo, so I don’t have to watch The Today Show. Tivo is also how I am able to provide you such witty and purposeful tv commentary like I sometimes do. I know you are all appreciative even if you don’t comment. Jerks. Hey, there is a new show starting in a couple of weeks called Wind Fall. I expect it to be bad, but since this is summer hiatus, I will take anything.\
Kevin has started traveling for work again. He didn’t finish his physical therapy before the travels kicked up. I am not sure whether he will start it again or not. He is supposed to be home most of the summer, so maybe that is something he will look into. He has been really busy, happy, and successful with work. So busy in fact, we haven’t had the time to buy the new-to-us car we’ve decided to get. Sad, isn’t it? Yea, I don’t know what else is going on with him. Read his blog to the right <———— to learn more. 🙂 -
Special delivery!
I ordered Chinese food for dinner tonight and when I opened the door to collect it, there was a bouquet of flowers waiting for me. They were sent by my husband’s work thanking me for lending him to them during all of those late nights and weekends.\
So thanks, husband’s work, for the flowers! It was very thoughtful and much appreciated. -
TV is cooler than real life
Studio 60 Preview looks awesome! Slide over, Grey’s Anatomy. You’ve got some competition headin’ your way. Too bad there are four decent things on Thursdays at 9pm. Can’t The Powers That Be spread out the good shows a little? Sheesh.\
The CW video montage looks like a big pile of teen cheese. (And can you believe they renewed 7th Heaven? What was with the big finale commercials I saw for a month?) Those 7th Heaven clips really don’t belong in there. But neither does Veronica Mars, which is actually a great show, nor Supernatural, which is just the right kind of awesome cheese (unlike One Tree Hill and Smallville). Honestly though, I think The CW will be the network I watch the most. Good thing I am not lactose intolerant! Hee. (I bet Kevin regrets ever deciding to work late those many years ago, which is when I discovered Dawson’s Creek on The WB.)\
Seeing The CW come together has been kind of interesting. I wonder how things will shake out this next year. -
I’m 31 going on 2!
I told Kevin “no” the other day, for what I think was the first time ever since we’ve been married. Turns out, he misstated some of the info, so my no was moot. I am really close to telling him no about something else and just now I told him no again. None of these issues or questions are really important, but it is interesting that they are all happening in the same week. I think I may be drunk on the power. Mwuhahaha!
