We Finally Bought a New Car

I'm sorry to say, but for everyone who was thinking about getting us the BMW Z4, it's too late. We decided to go out and get a car ourselves. And so we bought a nicely previously owned vehicle that takes practicality to a whole new level. We bought a Dodge Grand Caravan. I still can't believe it.

Neither Kara nor myself ever thought that we would be the owners of a minivan. But as we started looking, somehow we stumbled on one and took it for a test drive. It was roomy. "This thing would be great on a road trip," we thought. Then I saw the whole "stow 'n' go" seating and I was hooked. We have finally admitted to ourselves that we're no longer 20-somethingers who need a sports car to go out and impress people. It has finally sunk in that it's ok for us to have a "family" car since we are in fact a family. We don't have to worry about getting anything sportier for another fifteen years or so when one of us goes through a mid-life crisis.

So now, my primary car has gone from a Saturn coupe to a minivan. Kara has decided that she can't quite adopt the minivan as quickly, and so she's going to be driving the little black car for awhile.

What this all means now is that we have a '98 Chrysler Sebring convertible for sale if anyone wants one. It's in great condition with just a few miles on it. We'll accept offers at any time.

Last Chance

Being a one car family is beginning to take its toll on our lifestyle.  Now that we live out in the boonies, without a second car, Kasia and I are stranded at home.  

I've offered before that if anyone wants to help us out by donating their old car to us, we would greatly appreciate it.  Though, if there's some rich philanthropist out there who just wants to buy us a new one, that would be great too.  I've done my research, and the most practical family car for us is pictured below.  I think the car seat would fit into that just perfectly... especially with the top down.

Where Are the New Pictures?

If you're wondering why there haven't been any new pictures put up lately, it's mainly because there aren't any.  We're working on getting some good photos of our lovely daughter, but the little booger just isn't cooperating.  Hopefully one day soon we'll have some more to share with everyone.

Rest In Peace

We always said that we would driver our cars until they died.  Well, that day has finally arrived.  After 155,000 miles and 10 years, the Chrysler Sebring convertible has finally decided to call it quits.  Once it was Kara's pride and joy and now it's pushing up daisies. 

In all fairness, it's quite remarkable to have gone this far.  Whenever we tell a mechanic that we have a Chrysler with almost 160,000 miles on it, jaws seem to always hit the floor.  The really sad part is that with the exception of a few things under the hood (a few expensive things) the car is in really good condition.

So right now, we're a one car family.  Kasia and I are finding new ways to entertain ourselves at home while Kara is at work.  Hopefully we'll get a new car soon, but I think we're really holding out in the hopes that somebody will just give us one.  If there's anyone out there with an extra car that you'd like to donate, please feel free to call us.  We're not all that picky.

By the way, we've also now truly acclimated to living in North Carolina.  We have a broke down car sitting in the driveway that won't go anywhere.  Later today I'm thinking about taking the tires off and just have it sit on cinder blocks.  That will give our house the good Southern charm that we've always wanted.

Where There's Smoke, There's Smoke

Just before we went to bed last night, we saw on the news that all the high winds we'd been suffering through all day had apparently turned some brush fires into what are known as "major brush fires." Moyock is on fire. Well, not just Moyock, as there are a number of fires that were started all along the Virginia/North Carolina border.

What does that mean for us? It means that it's very foggy outside right now, except that it isn't fog. It's very reminiscent of when I lived in Orlando during the forest fires of 1998. Everything smells like smoke. It's like you're standing next to a campfire but there's no way to avoid having the smoke get in your eyes.

Maybe we need to move even further south.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I hope that everyone managed to have a great Groundhog Day last saturday. Unfortunately for all of us, good old Phil up in Punxsutawney, PA did see his shadow. Here's the official report:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weather eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

Who knew that a groundhog would speak in rhyme? Regardless, things aren't looking so hot for the globally warming country of ours. As most people in the midwest are now discovering, winter is here with a vengeance... and it's all because of a groundhog named Phil.

We here at the Gruetzmacher compound had a great Groundhog Day. Shawn came over in the morning and helped us install the stairs for our attic. Then in the evening, we grilled some hog on the grill and watched the movie Groundhog Day. If there's one thing that I've learned from watching the movie umpteen times, it's that there are two basic ways to celebrate this wonderful holiday. One is to over indulge in the pleasures of life as though it were your only day to live. Eat sweets. Have a drink or two. Have fun. The other way to celebrate the day is to do something that betters yourself. Read a book. Learn something new. Play the piano.

People always ask why I have such an affinity toward this obscure holiday. The movie was good, but was it really that good? The beginning goes back to high school. My first job was working at a Blockbuster video, and the manager I would constantly work with loved the movie. Every shift, he would play it non-stop. That would be three times a shift, three times a week... and you so you could say that I became very familiar with the movie. The thing is, the more I watched it, the more I enjoyed it. I really liked how it touched on the concept of enjoying the here and now as opposed to always thinking about where you're going to be.

The groundhog is famous for being able to predict the future of winter. While he's doing that, maybe the rest of us should just enjoy the weather we have now. And in North Carolina, that weather is spectacular!

I'm Sooooooo Sorry

How could I have been so rude. As it has been pointed out to me in the comments for one of my posts, I learned that I completely failed to mention that on December 26th, we went to Pat and Stacy's house for a really nice holiday get together. I was just going to blow this off, but then the phone calls started. One after another, I was being bombarded on why I hadn't mentioned the partY.

So now I mention it. We went to your party. Are you happy? Does that satisfy you now Patrick? I played Guitar Hero for the first time and I really really stunk at it. Then of course Pat picks up the guitar and aces some song just to belittle me. Thanks a lot buddy. You could have at least pretended that it was harder for you just to make me feel better about my poor performance.

It was also really nice to be able to sit down and chat with Stacy's parents for awhile. We never really got the chance to talk with them during the wedding.

So, everyone knows now about the party, right? It was on December 26th, 2007. I guess I just glazed right over it when writing about Christmas because it was near the end of January when I wrote the post, and I just really, really wanted to get past the holidays. But it was a lot of fun.