In an earlier post I talked about a new 2007 Camry we bought, which I then subsequently began to hate. I know hating things isn’t nice, but I think it’s ok to hate a car. And really, I hated it.

Selling a new car and losing money isn’t my first choice when it comes to car financing, but that’s the way it had to be. After driving Stacie’s Jetta for over 3k miles on our roadtrip, I decided to test drive a new Jetta. Thankfully it drove just as well, and I was excited. I test drove an Altima, a Civic, and they both drove similar to the Camry. The Jetta however drove completely different.

I’m happy to report the Camry is out of our lives, and I now have a car I can drive for 15 years and actually enjoy owning.

Isn’t it so cute that we both drive Jettas now? Yes, a little gay (is it offensive to insinuate that gay men tend to be effeminate? I did a lot of research on this during vacation, just watch HGTV. Or what if I add the word “could,” so that it doesn’t imply that all gay men are effeminate?). Yes, it could be gay. I might have to buy another one of these to put on the back. And I mean the punk rocker, not the gay butterfly (was that offensive too?).

I’m going to make a Jason Parx blog post now. Please set aside the next 3 hours of your life.

I’ll go in chronological order over interesting events from the last two weeks. First up is something that I’m very proud of.

Right before the 4th of July a hose on top of the water heater cracked and started spraying water. In my fear I called Mike Diamond plumber. They quoted me $321 to replace the hose, which I later learned was a $10 part and a 20 minute job to fix. Total they wanted over $2000 to replace the entire water heater. Luckily my dad has done that before. The next day we headed out to All-American and bought a new water heater and hoses all for only $462. A few hours later it was installed. That’s a quality savings of over $1500. Boo yah. Not only did we save money, but I got to spend time with my father and learn something from him. Who knew a broken water heater could be such a good thing.

A few days later I had the pleasure of hosting a bachelor party for my brother. It was a pretty mellow affair, but I think everyone had a good time. I was again blessed to spend time with my family and this time be able to do something special for them. The wedding is this Sunday and I’m looking forward to it. This is a picture from our rock-paper-scissors tournament.

This next entry is a frustrating one. The weekend of the bachelor party we purchased a new 2007 Camry.

You’re probably wondering how this could be frustrating. I’ll keep it short and post links for people that want more info, but the main idea is this: The car makes me motion sick. I get car sick very easily as a passenger, and this is due to unexpected accelerating and decellerating. I have never in my life though gotten sick while I was driving, because I can fully anticipate the motion of the car as I press the gas or brake pedals. Unfortunately the Camry has some peculiar behaviors that take away my ability to predict acceleration and decelleration. Unfortunately a 10 minute test drive didn’t make me nauseous, and I would never have thought it could be a problem. If you’d like to read more about these behaviors read here and here. I’ve driven the car 300 miles, and every time I drive it I end up nauseous. Ultimately it looks like we’ll be selling the car and finding something else. We’ll end up losing money, but that’s a better alternative than being motion sick every time I drive it for the next 10-15 years. The next challenge is finding something that doesn’t exhibit these behaviors.

On to more positive experiences, this last weekend we went to Seaworld with Stacie’s Girl Scout troop. The troop is dissolving and this was their last big trip. We got to spend the night in front of the Beluga Whale and Polar Bear exhibits. Super cool. Here’s my best picture from the trip.

And finally my last picture is the least exciting of the five, but it’s not my fault that it came last chronologically. We rented the Rug Doctor from Stater Bros. to clean our downstairs carpet. Every now and then the dog likes to pee on it, and over the last two years it’s built up a few spots. It did a super awesome job too.

That’s about it for now. I will be heading off to Taco Bell pretty soon here to eat with Luna, and I might visit a Honda dealer to test drive a Civic. I hope you’ve enjoyed my Jasso style post. I certainly have.