12:28 AM

Work & Bball Updates; Advice Question

favorite question i got today at b&n's children section: "i'm looking for books that babies can chew on." and yes, she was serious. i did have some such books, but isn't that a weird question?

today was mindnumbingly drudgery once they sent me back to "zone," but i did get two visits - one from my dad and one from my dear friend tiffany, who brought her two little boys with her. i must say - they were MUCH more well-behaved than most of the kids that come through there. it is such a mess most of the time because parents don't make their kids clean up after themselves. weird with a beard if you ask me.

i got to see the bug (that would be my brother) play a basketball game tonight - he was fabulous - scored 8 points and stuffed a few people a lot of times. and i love cheering loud. if only he liked to play baseball... oh well. you can't have everything. he has another ball game tomorrow night at 9.

i'm not so tired today as i have been - i think i'm getting used to the intensity of a "real job." my extroversion has been reaffirmed, as work that involves people i love and find invigorating (i LOVE helping customers), but zoning nearly led to brain-deadness.

i'm off tomorrow (and every sunday, thank God), so i will hopefully be able to dig into some of the fun stuff from summer conference on here tomorrow.

well, the mavs just lost. 7th game here we come. and can i just say i have loads of respect for michael finley, even if he did leave the mavs for the spurs? the man is phenomenal. mark cuban, on the other hand, is SO weird.

since this blog is, at least from what i can tell, frequented relatively heavily by men, i thought i would ask an advice question about cars. now i know that being male does not make you a car-freak, and that being female does not preclude you from being such a one, but odds are better that you guys know about this stuff. so here's my question: i have a 2001 nissan pathfinder that i love dearly but already as 71000 miles on it. i have the opportunity to get my grandfather's 2002 toyota avalon which has a very very very scanty number of miles wracked up on it. it's dented and scratched something fierce though. so what should i do?

4 comments:

iconoclasm said...

It depends on what is most important to you. (these don't include pecuniary considerations)

option #1 You never want to have a car in the shop and you're not too attached to the pathfinder. You don't want to have to buy another car for a while. Get body work done on the avalon and sell the pathfinder.

option #2 The pathfinder makes you feel cool like a big girl and you wouldn't mind ocassional maintenance. It will last a while longer and you don't have that much more school. Japanese parts and labor are more expensive though and if you are planning to get a new car after graduation or getting a real job why get a car that will last a long time?

option #3
mary rich guy. get beemer.

Anonymous said...

I get pretty attatched to my vehicles so, depending on what you mean by "love dearly," I would definitely not let a mere 71,000 miles end such a relationship.

Unless the Avalon is free. Then I'd take it and dump the Pathfinder. Just say, "It's not you, it's me."

Darren said...

I recently had to do a bunch of research on cars because my old Ford Ranger just broke down and I've looked into a lot of cars. Both vehicles are pretty reliable and received very good reviews from Consumer Reports. So, in my opinion, it really comes down to what you want. Do you want the utility and sentimentality of your Pathfinder, or do you prefer the better fuel milage and the lower miles of the Avalon? Both cars should get you somewhere between 150,000 - 200,000 miles relatively maintenance-free as long as they are taken care of. Personally, I would probably go with the Avalon. Breaking-up is hard to do but eventually he'll find another driver. You'll fall in love again and everybody will be better off.

Unknown said...

I drove my first Jeep from 20k until 200k+ (the odometer broke)--for a total of 13 years, before finally retiring her to the family farm, where she spends her last days being used gently and respectfully as a utility vehicle. I bought another Jeep, but it's just not the same. I miss my Nikita (named thusly because in her latter days starting up was like playing Russian roulette--never sure if I'd survive).

So, my advice is: keep the Pathfinder. There will be hard times, but relationships take work. If you don't, at least put her away honorably. There's a lot to be said for loyalty...