We’ve already settled with GEICO, a surprisingly hassle-free process. I guess it could be said that rather than learning any new lessons about the fragility of life or suddenly sprouting a new appreciation for the people and things around me, I’ve managed to learn that my insurance company is pretty good. That’s not nothing. (more…)

My accident last week left me so physically unscathed that I haven’t learned anything valuable from it yet. I mean, it’s got me thinking and all that, but “don’t have deer run in front of you when you’re on the highway” probably won’t be the last lesson I glean from the experience. One thing I have figured out is that our car insurance may be surprisingly good. (more…)

So last night, I drove into town to pick up an amplifier I’d found on Craigslist, I was very excited because the owner is a famous musician and composer, kind of an idol, and the amp itself was better than pristine. And I got it at crackhead prices without it being stolen, all good. I stopped at Albertsons on the way back to fill up a big water bottle for our cooler, and told my wife over the phone that the amp was in such nice shape that it would be more beaten up by the drive home than anything that had happened to it in its whole life before. (more…)

A blog that I like called Kicking Tires had a post about a real compact pickup that an Indian company called Mahindra is trying to build in the US and sell here. It’s kinda on that ugly tip, if you know what I mean, but it’s as close to that ’80s mini-truckin’ ideal that I’ve seen in ages. The first model is supposed to have an economical 4 cylinder engine that gets about 35mpg on the highway, and a diesel hybrid with unknown specs is due out after that. It’s small, but if it’s halfway tough, I could use it on my little ranch pretty easily, don’t have to worry much about street cred when you’re hauling alfalfa. (more…)

I keep wanting to upgrade or sidegrade my busted Dodge pickup, and let me tell you, it’s not a great time for someone who thinks like me to buy a car. It’s really hard to find a family vehicle of any shape or size that gets even 30mpg on the highway; I haven’t actually kept a tally, but there probably aren’t even 10 vehicles on the market these days that can do it. When I was 17 years old, 30 or 35mpg was considered decent highway mileage, and the Chevy Sprint was getting close to 50 on the highway even then. So today, a very economical car (if you believe Kia and Toyota commercials) gets, well, 30mpg. 2 decades later, no improvement at all. My pickup has been averaging 15mpg, and there are still people out there who consider that pretty damned good for a truck. And to get close to 1988 Chevy Sprint mileage, you’ve got to cough up thousands of extra dollars for a hybrid and take on the added complexity of maintaining 2 separate drivetrains and whatever long-term liability the batteries impose. To be fair, there hasn’t been much drama about Prius or Civic Hybrid reliability, and to be even more fair, when the new diesel VWs come out this year, they’re rumored to get well into the 50s with just a normal diesel powertrain. But as fast as everything else in the world in every other area of technology is changing, fuel economy remains basically static in the US. (more…)

I bought a pickup last year; it was a brand new 2006 and I bought it well into 2007 so I got a great deal. It gets icy in the winter here, and we’re on dirt roads and hauling stuff for working on the house, so it seemed like a good idea. Only 2 problems: first, I bought it in Colorado, not my own state of New Mexico, and second, it’s a Dodge.   (more…)