It’s been 30 days since I bid my trusty truck farewell as she made her way to that Junkyard in the Sky. Although I’ve moved through each phase of the grieving process and finally accepted I must buy a new truck, I’ve recently been awash with a new feeling: frustration.
I’ve test-driven vehicles, set up Internet searches and purchased online title history services. I’ve shaken hands with too many dealership sales reps to remember and my coat pockets are about to burst with their business cards. But the question remains: Why am I not driving a new-to-me used vehicle yet?
I’m too picky. I take the consumer savvy that most Angie’s List members practice to its ultimate high when purchasing a vehicle. I quiz the dealer or owner about every aspect of the vehicle’s history including whether or not they’ve ever eaten French fries in it. I go for multiple test drives, putting the prospective vehicle through every condition imaginable and feasible. I even have my family friend, a former mechanic, thoroughly inspect anything I’m considering purchasing. I refuse to be suckered into overpaying, so I obsessively research retail values. One of my greatest fears in life (other than clowns) is buying a vehicle that later I’ll regret. I refuse to buy something I’m only lukewarm about, and I won’t pay more than a certain amount per month. It took six months of searching to find my last vehicle, and much to my wife’s dismay (she’s unwillingly sharing her car for the time being), it looks like it may take that long again. My mantra is “I’d rather be patient than foolish.”
Thankfully, my List membership has helped guide me along the way. If I see a vehicle I like at a dealer, I check their ratings to see what other members say about their experiences. Being well informed is the only way to buy a car, new or used, and Angie’s List is just another way to stay on top of my car-buying game.
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
A couple of days ago, I experienced what most people avoid and fear — an auto accident. I’ll spare you the details, but the end result is this: My pride and joy, my ever loyal and faithful partner, my trusty friend, my truck is gone. As a result of the impact, my 1999 GMC Sonoma was reduced to a wretched visage of its former self, with a twisted, smashed and broken front end, and it began its journey to that Elysium Junkyard in the Sky.
I consider myself lucky. Unlike Paul’s very scary and traumatic collision, I and the other drivers involved left the the scene of the accident without injury and all three of us were covered by insurance. My insurance company, in particular, has some of the best claims service I’ve ever experienced. Three business days after the accident, my truck has been inspected, declared a total loss, and I have a check to go toward the purchase of a new vehicle in hand. These factors will lead me to rate them highly when I fill out an Angie’s List report about their services.
But as I face the prospect of buying a new vehicle, most likely another truck, I’m sentimental for all the memories I made with Mabeliene (the never-spoken name I gave her when we first met). All the moving we helped my friends with; all the furniture we hauled together; the motorcycles we picked up and transported from places like Chicago, Cincinnati and Cicero, Ind., back to Indianapolis; and the road trips to Brown County State Park, Edinburgh, Ind., and Chicago and Michigan — in all, we spent 40,000 beautiful miles together. Most of all, I’ll miss the daily drives to and from work — though she had her minor problems like a leaky power-steering unit and misaligned driver’s side door, she was dependable and never let me down.
When I collected my personal possessions from the smashed and deformed shell of my beloved friend, I thanked her for doing her job of always getting where I needed to be and ultimately keeping me safe from danger.
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
This Halloween marks the fourth week of my marriage to my beautiful bride (that’s a photo of me at the wedding when she gave me my precious ring — somehow I lost my tux before the ceremony). What have I learned in my first four weeks? 1) I’m always wrong. Period. And 2) A new life together takes a lot of work.
First up on the to-do list: new shared bank accounts and closing the old personal ones. We got that done this weekend and it was surprisingly easy (I’m of the belief that the List should rate banks, as I’d rate my new financial institution highly, but that’s for another post). Next up: filling out reports for all the service companies we hired for our wedding ceremony. I’ll be rating and reviewing the reception hall, the florist, the photographer and the DJ. I should have done this weeks ago, but hey, I just got married — I do what I want (if it’s OK with the wife).
What else? For the long term, we need to find a home to purchase in the next two years; figure out a shared financial investment strategy (with the economy, I’m thinking of buying stock in the manufacturers of Ramen and refrigerator boxes); determine how to reduce our now shared debt; and decide on whose medical insurance we’ll use. I’ve got the feeling my Angie’s List membership will definitely come in handy in the future.
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I’m a big fan of motorcycles. This weekend was probably the pinnacle of motorcycle fandom, as our fair city’s beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the first-ever Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the fates also decided that Indy would also play host to the remnants of Hurricane Ike, making for quite an interesting race. Continue reading ‘A weekend at the races: the Red Bull Indianapolis GP’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
As my apartment-dwelling colleagues Mike and Matthew well know, our house-dwelling co-workers sometimes seem to have the upper hand in many respects. My biggest apartment complaints usually have to do with my neighbors. Continue reading ‘Howdy, neighbor!’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
My baby died. Actually, I killed her. I delivered a fatal 12-volt shock directly to her brain with jumper cables attached to a car battery. My god, what have I done?
First, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet (the Blue House Blog being the exception, of course). Even if you read on more than 10 websites that it’s OK to use a car battery to jump your motorcycle’s discharged battery, don’t do it. If you do, you may end up like me: a normally cautious, reasonably skilled, amateur mechanic with reduced transportation options. Continue reading ‘And on the third day…’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
Alright. I’m hoping this is the last high-price-gas-related post I’ll ever write and you, loyal reader, will ever have to read (yeah right). If you’re like me, you’re fed up with news reports and articles that reiterate the same well-known thing over and over…and over.
Man In La-Z-Boy Watching Television: Honey, check this out — did you hear about this? The six o’clock news is saying gas prices are high! Have you heard ’bout that? They’ve even got a reporter at a gas station interviewing normal, everyday people about how they feel about these so-called high gas prices!
Man’s Wife In Kitchen: Dear — as you well know, I’ve just returned to our home after living under a giant igneous rock for the past two years, subsisting on a diet of rain water and pill bugs — so, no, I haven’t heard about these so-called “high” gas prices.
[Man’s Wife In Kitchen places pill bug in mouth and chews thoughtfully] Continue reading ‘25 Days Later’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
As you, the observant and frequent reader of the Blue House Blog, may know, the Angie’s List campus offers the excellent benefit of an on-site, fully equipped gym, replete with personal trainer. In an effort to improve my overall health, as of late I’ve been taking full advantage of this benefit by working out about three times a week. To tell the truth, I’m not really doing it to improve my health. I’m not even working out on a regular basis to get big, rippled muscles. Truth is, I want to be the guy who kicks sand in the face of the minuscule weeny on the beach. Continue reading ‘Getting stronger’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
I love summer. The weather’s warm, the beer’s cold, and there are lots of parties and things to do. First, I get a high percentage of days I can ride my motorcycle. I ride to work, take pleasure cruises with my fiancee around town on Sundays, and take longer three- to four-hour excursions through southern Indiana’s beautiful hills and curvy country roads with a group of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts. Continue reading ‘Summertime fun’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
Like Matthew, I’m also turning to two-wheeled transportation in an effort to alleviate some of the sting of the price at the pump. However, I prefer my two-wheeled transport with a little more horsepower.
My motorcycle-riding season has been on since about mid-March, when the first inkling of good spring and summer riding weather first arrived. At the time, the thought of ponying up my first-born child (or the future deed to my firstborn, as I have no children (that I know of)) to pay for gas hadn’t occurred to me — I just wanted to ride like the wind. But now, the thought of averaging 50 miles per gallon on my motorbike versus the 25 miles per gallon my compact pickup provides only sweetens the deal (if it’s not raining, at least). Continue reading ‘Get my motor runnin’…’
Josh is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. He has two dogs, Simon and Clem, and likes Thai food, Portland, Ore., and riding his motorcycle. For the low price of $1.00 US, he will give you his sincere and succinct opinion about anything.
