Hybrid vs. The Almightily SUV + My Car History

(a.k.a. this reads almost like a Toyota Hybrid commercial [you have been warned]) With the price of gas soaring off the charts lately I can't fathom why SUVs are still selling. Even trucks are gulping up $75.00 per tank of the cheap fuel. I will admit that this price increase has also stimulated the increase in Hybrid sales. SUVs are even slowly turning into Hybrids for a pretty penny. So if you have to buy a SUV, why not buy the Hybrid version? Ultimately I am a Toyota fan to the core. For years my family has owned at least one Toyota if not two at a time. They have been dependable and I can attest to the fact that I have lived through three collisions in these finely built automobiles. I hope not to have to test that with my Prius though. Now your probably thinking three collisions! Why are you still driving? Well let me share with you the background and sidetrack my objective for a brief time. My Vehicle History: 1st Vehicle - White 1992 Toyota Privia (yes a mini van) - I drove this vehicle for a while. I drove mainly to my two jobs, band practice, occasionally to school, and on the weekends. While backing out of a parking spot one day after having had my license for a few months (doing everything you are supposed to do while backing up - looking behind you regularly and going slowly) a woman in a smaller vehicle decided to try to go around the woman waiting for my space and rammed into my back bumper. Argh! 2nd Vehicle - Grey 1986 Cadillac Cimmeron (not as big as you might think) - I drove this my senior year of high school through most of my sophomore year of college. It was not the best; the horn didn't work for ages - hence the accident that occurred with this vehicle. A stupid truck stopped in the middle of a two-lane road and then proceeded to back into my vehicle and then instead of getting out to see if my passenger and I were ok, drove off. Argh! 3rd Vehicle - Gold 1996 Toyota Camry - I loved this car! It had a six CD changer and lots of room. I only had it for about a year and a half. I, against the rules my parents had set, allowed someone else to drive the vehicle. I was in the passengers seat at the time of the accident and of the three vehicles involved I was the only one injured. I got a eye injuty from the airbag deploing, overall I was ok. Could have been dead though we were going 50 something when we hit and the car was totaled. The accident was his fault. Argh, for bad judgment! 4th Vehilce - Red 1993 Buick Century (a.k.a. the granny boat) - No AC, lots of issues with this a few summers ago when is was extremely hot and I had to drive it on the beltway every day. I drove this car for two years without any major mishaps. Alas I had had enough with my first car, you see all the others were owned by my parents. So in July 2003 I traded it in. 5th Vehicle - 2004 Silver Toyota Corolla CE - Sadly I was not able to afford exactly what I wanted so I settled for the Corolla CE. I still really liked the car, however sadly this year while driving home from work at the HCC on a snowy Saturday in February I slid into a Chevy Trailblazer at 10 mph and pretty much totaled my car. I struggled in my mind on if I could afford a new car or keep this one. There was not true reason to sell the Corolla because the vehicle was repaired to almost brand new. I had only put about 21,000 miles on it when I traded it in for my current car. 6th Vehicle - Red 2005 Toyota Prius - Fully Loaded! I LOVE THIS CAR! I got it because I saw the trend of gas prices increasing substantially. I really want the Highlander Hybrid, but since I make next to nothing a year I figure I will wait a few years for that vehicle. Mom drives a White 2003 Prius and swears by it, as do I with my Red one. I have had this car since 04/28/05 and have put 4220 miles on it to this date and I have only filled up 9 times so far. It takes about 11 gallons. The most I have had to put into the car is 10.645 gallons. The longest I have gone without filling up was 20 days. And the most miles I have gotten out of one tank were 500. So that is why I scratch my head at people buying SUVs. My car easily seats 5 people. And with the seats folded down I can fit loads of cargo. Most people ask if it has any get-up-and-go and I gladly say yes. It has its trouble spots, like hills - esp. if it is packed with cargo, but overall I get close to 50 miles to the gallon. As you can see I would gladly become a Toyota hybrid sponsor. :) So I will get off my soapbox now. But I just ask you to ponder this for me. Why buy and SUV if you could own a Hybrid? Sorry honey, I know you love your new Jeep Liberty. Side note: On average people will own up to 8 cars in their lifetime.

East Cost Reception - The Aftermath

Yes, the party was crazy, with a ton of friends and family there, which was fantastic. Since we hosting we didn't spend a lot of time sitting, and this was the only picture I could find from the party of us together. If you want to see who else was there, you should check out the rest of the photos or the movie. You may have noticed Ginger drooling over a Mac earlier, this is a good news/bad news thing for me. It all started when she went to an Adobe conference in DC a couple of months ago, she came back converted and now she wants to get a mac. This is the good news, I love my PowerBook (ok, so technically it is my employers PowerBook) and wouldn't mind replacing my aging eMachine desktop with something like a nice Mac Mini or even the still relatively inexpensive iMac. This is where the bad news comes in however. She already knows exactly which one she wants... She wants a Dual PowerMac G5 with a 30" Cinema HD Display. Together that comes to around $6000. Throw in a $1200 copy of Adobe CreativeSuite 2 (I've been informed I either need to get her CS2 or a puppy) and we are up to $7200, at least until the other day when she had this idea that maybe a pair of Cinema displays would be better than just one. Oi, I may need to get another job. I wonder if it's too late to get involved in a professional sport of some kind that would pay me a few million a year.

East Coast Reception

"To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world." - Anonymous

Jason's favorite quote for me is now imprinted into the movie he created of our Wedding Pictures and Wedding Video. We chose to have two of Josh Groban's songs determine the length of our Wedding movie. 8:11. We should have it up and running for any of you whom would like to see it again, or for the first time. And, special thanks go out to June for scanning in some older pics of Jason for us to use on such short notice. Maybe technology isn't as scary anymore? So we finished the movie around 3AM on Saturday and needed to get iLife in order to complete the DVD process. So after much deliberation and pressure from me we took an early morning jaunt to the MAC store in Tysons II. Dangerous place folks if you like MACs - think MAC candy store = heaven. Perhaps we may have two 30" monitor systems some day. If I beg Jason enough maybe? :)_ _ (Me drooling ;).) Yea for toys! Anyway . . . getting way off track. We upload iLife on the way to my folks house and stop for much needed foodage. Yummy Bagels. At my folks house decorations were up and pictures of Jason and I were posted in some interesting places. Mom & Dad with the help of Aunt Jen had also put together some really nice white rose vases. They also had a cute frame of our printed out vows. Dad was out with Nathan getting the keg. And Jen and Mom were headed out the door to get the cake when Jason and I pulled up. Jason remembered that we forgot to bring the extra seating so he too left in short order while I got to watch the "cutie." As everyone met back up we all did a little last minute setting up and then the rest of the family began to show up. The food catered through American Tap Room showed up and then the rest of the guests. We had a great time. I think I was more worn out by the end of the party than even my mom and dad who worked their butts off to make everything come together. (As well as Jen and Nate- who decided that they were going to head back to Atlanta last night). After all the guests departed, with the exception of my Uncle Rich and his clan. We had a quick 04' Christmas gift exchange and then Jason and I opened our gifts from all our guests. Sadly most of the gifts will be in storage for the next year or so until we find a new home. However, gift cards are now stacked an inch high on our dining room table to be used in the near future? :) Yea for gift cards! Not sure why but I am still extremely tired. So check out our Homemade Wedding Movie and/or our East Coast Reception Pictures.

My New Jeep

My New Jeep
Originally uploaded by Jason Kohles.

Finally got rid of my huge truck (and its exorbitant interest rate loan) and got something easier to park that doesn't hurt so much at the gas station (and with a shiny new 4.65% loan, thanks to NorthWest Federal Credit Union.)

Progress Report:

The kitchen is now repainted. Humorously enough in a color called Bon Voyage. Much better than its dark and dreary predecessor of (for lack of remembering the name) Dark Purpley-Blue.

We interrupt this report to bring saddening news! We would owe the IRS full capital gains taxes if we sold before February. Can we wait 6 more months to sell? It could be anywhere from $10,000-12,000 we owe them. Personally I could, but really don't want to. Dilemmas Dilemmas! The decision is to wait. So 192 days until we can sell without getting taxed for selling before owning for two years. This is saddening that we can't move yet, but will give us that much more time to squeeze every penny we can out in reselling. Right? We now return you to the Progress Report still in progress.

. . . ordered. Not to mention that we placed our order for the cabinets and the patio door. Then we moved, moved, and then moved some more. Lots of heavy heavy pieces. Wrapping that in to prepping for the East Coast Reception this Saturday. So that should sum things up - we are not moving, yet. Unless - Jason informs me we have twins before the time period is up, which would be some kind of miracle, or one of us gets moved more than 50 miles from here due to job related relocation (not going to happen). So we are going to continue fixing up the place. Try to bring down our debt. And wait out the stupid Two Year IRS rule! Take that IRS goons!

Let the Craziness Begin . . .

We are in the process of prepping the home for selling. Replacing the rug in a 737 square foot condo means everything needs to be removed - what a headache. Then there is the Kitchen cabinets - they all need new fronts and one of the drawers needs to be replaced. Also the flooring needs to be redone. We really hate and will not miss this kitchen. We will also need to replace the door leading to the patio. Along with all of these items we need to pack up everything we can live without for a short period of time and put a fresh coat of paint on some of the walls. Sounds like we live in a really crappy place. Hoping that someone will bid higher than our asking price once all is said and done. So there you have it, let the fun begin!