Some people go through a lot of toilet paper, some go through a lot of milk... We go through a lot of cars. Since we have been together (January 2006) we have gone through 12 cars. Yup! And no, we do not always turn a profit...

When I met my wife, I had a 1997 Dodge Stratus (the White Stallion), and she had a little 2000 Chevy Cavalier named Martin. We mostly drove my car, because I drove everywhere. We sold that Stratus in March 06 so we could afford to get married. Everyone kept telling us that we only needed one car once we were married. Unfortunately we believed them.

White Stallion

Martin

In July 2006 we traded in Martin for Elizabeth, a 2000 VW Jetta. We wanted a car with 4 doors in the event we had children.

Elizabeth

A month or two after we bought the Jetta, we realized the engine might have some issues. Plus we felt guilty having a nice car like that while we were poor college students, so we sold it. We also decided we needed two cars instead of one nice one. Thence came Brandon and Rachel (the cars, not the kids!)

Brandon

Brandon was a 1991 Toyota Truck. What a beloved member of the family! Rachel was a 1994 Honda Accord.

Rachel, Christmas Day, 2006.
We came home from a couple of days away and the Scotts had lovingly decorated it with snow...

On August 28, 2006 we found out we were expecting the real Rachel Brooke.We decided we had gone a little overboard getting something not as fancy, so we put both cars up for sale. The truck sold first (unfortunately) so we kept the Honda. I went off to Pocatello and brought home Fran, our 2000 Oldsmobile Alero.

Fran

Fran was good to us, and brought home Rachel to us. While I has been satisfied with many other cars since, Michelle still longs for the days of good old Fran.

In the June of 2007, we decided to trade Fran in. The transmission was starting to slip, and that worried us (no, the idea of just fixing a car never occurred to us!). So we traded it in and bought a 2003 Mazda 6 which we called Roxy. She was one of my favorites!

Roxy

And then the snow fell, and the car slid all over the place. Again, it never occurred to us to get snow tires... So In October 2007 we traded Roxy in, to my great dismay. I still talks of Roxy to this day...

By that time we were expecting Brandon, and were worried about having enough room to travel, so we bought a 2003 Kia Sedona named Paddington.

Paddington

We bought it on Saturday, and by Monday went back to the dealership. I just didn't feel right about it, so we traded it in and got a 2006 Dodge Stratus. We call it Zak.

Zak

We moved in with Ben's grandparents in March 2008. It was fine at first, until the driveway suddenly became a lake... Apparently Zak can't swim, so he got stuck. See any contrast between the two pictures?

After we got our tax rebate for 2007, we had an opportunity come up that we couldn't pass up, so along came our 1999 Oldsmobile Alero. We figured we had already bought our 2nd Stratus, so why not our 2nd Alero? Poor thing... he never got named.

The unnamed 99 Alero

After Brandon came, we decided that we could use the money rather than having two cars (moving is expensive!) so we sold our unnamed friend.

After I got his job at Thrifty, we decided to get a 2nd car. With me in Spokane with the car every day, it was a tough act to juggle when doctor appointments and whatever came along. So, after an extended amount of searching, we came home with Jedediah, our 2002 VW Jetta.

Jedediah the Jetta

So, I'm noticing a pattern in our Jettas... This one turned out to have some major issues, so we canceled the deal two days after purchase and got our check back. We went to my work and bought a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, named Colbie.

Colbie the Cobalt

Colbie is great. We get 44 MPG on the freeway (in the 60 MPH zone) and 38 when going 75MPH. With my commute being a half hour each way, we've seen a huge drop in our gas bill.

Now you can see why we're proud of ourselves that we've had Zak the Stratus for a whole year now!

Of course, all that will change in January...

Love and War

I was reading a classmate's post, and came across this video (thanks, Leslie!). It really hit me, and I wanted to share it with you.



Overall, really, I felt the clip was very well done.

I had to laugh as I was reading some comments people made about the video. The top complaints were probably about the language and the animals. I thought the animals were weird at first, but heck, we watch movies about animals all the time!

When I was watching the clip, the language barrier was not an issue. No, I don't speak Italian. Perhaps that's whats so great about it; I had to improvise my own words. The story was well guided enough, and I knew what was happening and the gist of the situations. But it became a little more personal for me because I was able to have the characters say in my mind what I wanted them to.

There were some comments also about how predictable the whole thing was. Okay, yeah, so it's this war movie, captain falls in love and goes off to war. So what? Do we always have to have some sort of twist to the plot, some unexpected scenario? Instead, can't we focus on the morals of the story, on how this applies to us? Of course we have seen this story before- it's taken out of history! Let's take a moment and appreciate and learn from what happened.

I find that there's this inner black hole that we get stuck in sometimes, where everything is focused on ourselves. I've been thinking more and more lately about how I need to focus more on others than myself. It's not easy to do, but I feel that it is a change that needs to happen in all of us.

So what does this have to do with the video? I guess this brought out the point out all the more. There are some tough things that happen, and if we open our eyes a little more we can see it. This poor bunny lost her partner, who gave his life for his country. Okay, yeah, this is a cartoon; that doesn't make it any less real that this really happens today. I have a good friend down the street who lost his leg and has terminal cancer. My manager at work has been in and out of the hospital over the last month because of thyroid and heart problems. Do we see these things happening around us? If so, what are we doing about it? It's time to pull out of our selfish black hole and start making a difference. God intended it to be that way. He has asked us to step up and be His hands; I hope I can do a better job of it.

Communities, Chat, and News

I definitely believe that it is possible to form an online community. This class is perfect evidence to me of that! I have had a great time getting to know my classmates, and just like any scene, I know some fairly well and others not at all. The smaller class size definitely helps too. I find that the online communities are just like real life- it is real easy to be reclusive and not get to know anyone. On the other hand, with a little bit of work, you can get to know more people and really enjoy it!

I had a fun chat with Mary Pyefinch. We had been in a class before, but I didn't get the chance to know her very well, so this was a good experience. I felt bad because a) I have had very little experience in the chat rooms and b) my only experience with British Humor is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Oops, sorry Mary! It was a good experience though- in a discussion forum the focus is on the matter at hand. In a chat situation, however, it's easy to ask a couple of quick questions and get to know what you really want to know. Thanks for the experience Mary- sorry I had to leave so quick! We'll have to chat some more later.

News and media... I know that they are somewhat controlled, but I'm okay with that. Lately I've really been into talk radio. I am a definite Glenn Beck fan, although I can't always catch his program. Is his "news" biased? Yeah. But I as a listener want that. Don't we all want to hear the things that support our views, so we seek out the news and media to support it.

I really appreciate Romano's question he posed when we're reading or hearing news: "If my life depended on proving the claims I've just read, how could I or anyone else do it?" While I'm enjoying a news program or checking out MSNBC, I need to ask myself that a little more often. Are the arguments being made sound? Does it all check out? If not, why am I reading it?

Saturday Afternoon Fever

So, it's my first Saturday Afternoon at work, and let's just say there's not much to do! Time to update my blog...

It's been an interesting week. I usually get really sick once a year; well, it's happening now! I haven't felt right for about a week now. On Tuesday I left early because I was running a fever, which continued off and on through Thursday. A nasty cough developed too, which is no fun at all.

Michelle also went down this week- guess who has mono? I feel so bad for her; she's had something major going on health-wise for quite some time now. Shortly after we got married we found out she had a thyroid condition. Then she was pregnant with Rachel, then Brandon three months later. Just when she was starting to feel good again, she broke her foot, and now mono... All she wants to do is exercise every day, but it looks like it won't be that simple!

I guess with Michelle and I not feeling well, the kids felt they needed to join in on the fun. Rachel has been doing some major teething, with at least three coming in, probably four. Let's just say that while she is an absolute sweetheart, she has had some grumpy moments lately! She had a fever of 101 on Sunday, meaning she probably had something else that was making her life miserable.

Brandon has been great- except he had some shots on Thursday, and felt he had to join the fever party. He ran a really high fever which didn't break until yesterday evening, and now it comes and goes. He was pretty miserable, and Michelle had a long day yesterday taking care of him. He's a little touchy now, but overall is pretty happy and well.

It's been interesting to see how the kids have handled the sickness. Rachel just wants to be held all the time, which is very different from her active lifestyle of running all around our home. It has been difficult to calm Brandon down- he just screams and screams. He decided to scream for over 40 minutes last night, not just the baby cry, but a real, pitiful cry. It's very frustrating! We ran out of Motrin, and the Tylenol just doesn't touch it. Needless to say, we went and bought some Motrin this morning- this time the big bottle.

Through these times I have learned a little more what an amazing woman I have married. Although she feels downright awful a lot of the time, Michelle does such a great job taking care of the kids. She spent most of the night on the couch last night with Brandon, and just does anything to take care of these little ones. I'm trying to dote on her a little more today so that she has some time to herself. We'll see if it helps.

Back in action

I originally created this blog back in 2006 for a class. However, I forgot my username and password when I ended the class. I finally figured it out (after remembering I even have a blog..) and here I am again!

Except, I have homework to do, so I'm not going to post anything!