Today is the day I had to bring our leased Jeep back to the dealership.
I was not prepared for the emotional weight of the situation. They should have have warned me when I signed the papers that I’d take on a love for my car.
Also you have to pay a bunch of money if you have any deferred maintenance. Zoinks. That said, the folks at Willie Dodge made it pretty easy and affordable.
Coral and I got this Jeep when we found out she was pregnant. Before the Jeep I had a scooter and a Mazda Pickup Truck I got from my Aunt Brenda.
The pickup was pretty rad and Coral’s Mom drives it to this day! Coral and I probably only had the pickup for like… a few months? Three maybe? Wow. In that time we took some adventures. I remember that we drove from Victoria to Port Hardy and back in a day. That was pretty fun. It rained a ton, we saw bears and Eagles, got a flat tire in Woss. Good times like that.
Coral thought it would be best if we had a ride that had four doors and was a little more substantial for carting around soon-to-be-born Madelyn.
I love Jeeps, so Coral found a Jeep Patriot and that was a our car for the past 4 years.
Our car seat we got to match the interior. We were so into that!
ta-da! Coral did it all by herself. And it totally matches! Actually… it would match our new Honda too… you know, if we ever needed to bust this baby seat outta storage.
Huzzah, my Jeep is all fixed. It was bad battery so it ended up costing a little over $200 when it was all said and done.
I got lots of great advice and feedback on my Facebook from everyone the other day in regards to getting a new battery, so thank you if you took the time.
I do love my Jeep. This one is leased and the lease is up at the end of July. I’ll be sad when its gone.
Krystal’s blog is a financial blog and she is pretty hardcore so it was neat to read how she’d splurge but at the same time what a sane, responsible person would do. Since it is my goal to one day “be responsible” I enjoy her blog.
Before I write anything about it… I’d have to really think hard. One of the only things I might buy is a Jeep.
But then I really think about it, and I just like cars period. That’s not very Green party of me, but I do. A Jeep, a motorcycle maybe… and still yet, shit I’d have to invest the money quick… because I’d randomly buy cars!
Inspired by my friend Dave Sawchuk and a new afternoon show sponsor, Horus Bikes… I think I wanna get a bike to commute to work everyday!
So that means I am selling my Honda Jazz scooter. Which I love, but sadly I fear that if I bike to work everyday, the poor scooter will be neglected. I’d rather it went to a good home.
As you know from reading my blog (I hope), I LOVE scooter riding. If you think you might, or know someone who does, please have a look or share my Used Victoria ad with them.
Just got back from a quick trip to Coquitlam to visit my family and celebrate my brother Matt’s 27th birthday. Ran into some some old friends from High School which was kinda random. Its not like metro Vancouver is a small town or anything. Saw a friend named Lisa and her little 5 month old girl at Metrotown and ran into Jen on a first date!
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In other less exciting news…
No more Sasquatch trip for me because I’m an idiot and did this:
ugh. So ignorant. Generally I feel Coral is the crazier driver and I am the zen one. Coral stresses in traffic, speeds, tails people. I always figured she’d be the one totaling the Jeep. But ah, Murphy’s Law, the guy that scooters to work in the sun/rain/sleet/hail/wind everyday… takes the Jeep out on a Friday morning for some errands (dry cleaning FYI), backing up and run into a cement barrier.
It smashed into the side/rear of the jeep above and beside the bumper. I don’t know if the Jeep is made of out of paper mache, but it sounded like an IED went off as I gingerly backed into the metal capped cement corner. I thought I was in Afghanistan briefly. As I didn’t see the barrier at all and the parking lot was empty, it was a mighty surprise.
“what the fuck was that?!?”
I fly outta the Jeep and… oh, right… the giant cement barrier. Since I missed the bumper, the cement barrier cut into the Jeep like a Spartans spear and did some serious damage.
So I have to make a claim to ICBC and that little “uh-oh I forgot” will cost me $500. About what I planned on spending on booze/food in Washington. Assuming I could get a media pass. If I had to buy scalper tickets more. So instead I canceled my holiday and will stay home to DJ and make up the $500. Lame.
I have this Plants and Animals t-shirt that I love love love. Whenever I wear it out in public, people always come up to me and say, “Plant Sand Animals… ha ha, nice.” I just nod and smile, its not worth correcting them.
I had one of those magical weekends filled with family, friends, sun and lakes.
On Sunday, Coral and I packed Mads, her Mom and sister up in the Jeep and headed to her Uncle and Aunt’s place on the beach of Lake Cowichan.
Lake Cowichan reminds me so much of summer’s at Bob’s cabin at Christina Lake. For the hour and a bit drive from the city to Cowichan I quickly crafted a playlist. Here are some selected faves from the list.
Off to Cowichan
01) Phoenix – “Love Like a Sunset Part 1”
02) Phoenix – “Love Like a Sunset Part 2”
03) Phoenix – “1901”
04) Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – “Zero”
05) The Rural Alberta Advantage – “The Ballad of the RAA”
06) The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Four Night Rider”
07) Cage the Elephant – “Ain’t No Rest for The Wicked”
08) Foals – “Balloons”
09) Friendly Fires – “Jump in The Pool”
10) Hadoukan! – “Declaration of War (Whip Remix)”
The first ten tracks are a great illustration of what I’ve been feeling lately.
Phoenix have this epic instrumental cut on track 4 of their album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I always thought it would have sounded for more promising as the opening of the record, but hey, I’m not a French rock star. Its a very pretty slow jam and I think it lends itself well to the radio hit, “1901.”
“1901” is where we pick this show up and the design was, we’d be just climbing into the Jeep during our opening track, adjusting volumes, doling out the McDonald’s breakfast and getting the A/C set… by the time we were on the highway and feeling good, “1901” would be firing up and the drive could really begin.
After picking up Alyx we b-lined for the Douglas and headed north. Coral’s current obsession is the YYY’s “Zero.” She can’t hear it enough so it had to come with us.
I have the Rural Alberta Advantage in my head most days lately… I thought I better add a couple. I love to sing along to RAA at the top of my lungs and really strain to find the emotion in the songs.
Cage the Elephant is one of Coral’s Mom’s fave son the radio right now, neat.
Foals have that fine dancey rock beat going on, this would be a great example of something I’d fire up at The Clubhouse on a Thursday. Then some chick would fly upstairs because she can’t dance to it. I laugh (on the inside) apologize for have the audacity to play something interesting and quickly find something retarded that everyone knows the words to and the cycle continues. Whatever, its a small victory if I can get a few punchy ones in before the request for Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” comes in.
Friendly Fires and Hadoukan! are also what I call alternative dance songs… I think, if /when I become a better vinyl/serato DJ and look the part, you know… I’ll belt my jeans just below my bum and wear some sort of 80’s neon either on a t-shirt of fanny pack… I’ll be able to pull off spinning this music in a nightclub and not be bothered about it.
As it stands now, thou Hadoukan! should change any young lovers dancing world, it does not. To be honest, I didn’t get it the first couple listens either, but now the song “Declaration of War” lives in my brain. This song might make a gnarly workout track for you kids that actually… you know, work out.
I guess I better hit The Patch to find me something ironic to wear and practice my DJing.
This video is not the Whip remix, but a groovy video still.
I read a couple great blog posts today that I wanted to share.
One: Chris Anderson, the writer guy of the book “The Long Tail” and an editor for Wired Magazine, wrote a gem of an article. The dude just seems to understand life better than I do so I read and I learn from his blog.
Today (or the other day I guess) he raps about the economy and how it ain’t all scary.
When Corj and I got our hands on a Jeep, the beast came with a year subscription to Sirius. Pretty nice little luxury. Commercials on the radio generally don’t bbother me like the do many people, nor does the music mix. I get commercial radio and understand it. Sometimes, I actually like commercials. What I did love about Sirius was a couple things.
Sirius Hits One: Their top 40 channel. They played the hits, and thats it. Came in handy when desgning my playlist for Hugos and when Coral and I would drive the hinterlands of British Columbia.
Left of Center: Their KEXP wannabe station. I never understood why Sirius never cut a dela to just broadcast KEXP, they do it better, better music, better jocks, more passion… but the show got ‘er done.
Howard 100: LOVED IT.
Those three shows aren’t worth me me shelling out $12 a month for the service. But I do miss Howard Stern. I htink I will truely feel the impact next roadtrip Coral and I take where I’ll need ot pack CDs and and the iPod. I enjoy talk radio when I have along journey. helps me stay focused on driving and its entertaining.
Maybe one day I’ll make more money or something, then I’ll resign up… just for Howard.
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Lastly, I’ll leave you with some music news form the Green Day front. No getting aorund the fact that 2004’s American Idiot was a modern rocking phenom. EWhen you punch up the ocean and hear the robot voice track tee-up “Boulavard of Broken Dreams” you’ve hit critical mass.
The boys are back in the studio with Butch Vig and here is a little taste of what they are working on.
Coral and I got this Jeep when we found out she was pregnant. Before the Jeep I had a scooter and a Mazda Pickup Truck I got from my Aunt Brenda.
Coral thought it would be best if we had a ride that had four doors and was a little more substantial for carting around soon-to-be-born Madelyn.
The Morning After 
