Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Leaving the Gilroy Garlic Festival
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Memories of the Cadillac
Sold the Cadillac today. It was a big deal. Back in 2009, I noticed it wasn't running as smoothly. I took it to our mechanic in Mountain View, Ed, and asked him to do a once-over and get a quote for repairing the air conditioning and windshield fluid pump. He listed about six things wrong with the car, and recommended fixing about half of them. The AC would have cost more than the car was worth, and the power steering was going to matter eventually, but "as it starts to moan and groan, you'll notice. It won't fail overnight."
Well, this year, it started to moan and groan. Suddenly, on one particular trip to work, turning the wheel began to violently shake the car. I thought "CRAP", as I'd been wanting to sell the car but hadn't gotten around to it.
So I parked the car on the street and left it there... procrastination at its finest.
Then my car registration was coming due ($120), insurance was due ($200), and we're looking at moving, so I decided it was time to sell the car ASAP.
Some folks on Craigslist were interested, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the power steering alone.
So I took it to a mechanic across from the office, who quoted a $1100 repair, and I wasn't inclined to sink 50% of the blue book value of the car into repairs. :/ Luckily, California has a program where they'll give you $1000 for a car that meets some simple requirements, like "has at least one glass window", "at least one bumper", "can drive 10 yards under its own power". I told the mechanic, "sorry, I'm going to sell to California rather than fix it..." which made him and his wife sad. They were looking at the car "It's so beautiful! It doesn't have a scratch! Northstar V8 4.6 L engine..." and finally they said "OK, we'll buy it for $1000 if you want."
Given we just wanted it sold, I accepted on the spot. We did the title exchange, mailed the paperwork to the DMV, and done! All in the course of a few hours.
So now it's time for some Cadillac memories:
The 32 valve Northstar V8, 4.6 Liter, had POWER. Passing Nate in Palo Alto after a party one night, I put the pedal to the floor. The car literally lept and rocketed forward. He laughed, but I never did that again.
Said engine consumed oil pretty aggressively. I wasn't the best at keeping the oil topped up and clean, and the first time I went to get an oil change, they asked "You know this engine takes 8 quarts instead of 4, right?" OOPS. Once I even bought a gas station out of that type of motor oil.
For the last year or so, the front right tire has had a slow leak. I've been pumping it with a bike pump, once a week or so. Even though I had free tire replacement service from a place down the road, I was too lazy to take it there...
A tow truck ran me off the road into a curb late one night. The car seemed fine on the way home, but later that night, it was sitting on its rim. Learned how to put on the spare and discovered that a smashed sidewall means you need an entirely new tire.
My parents gave it to me before I moved out to California. My dad drove it with us while Laura and I manned the Penske. Because both of our cars were gifts, we've never had a car payment.
Its turning radius is DEFINITELY not suited for California. I've even missed U-turns in decent-sized intersections. We called it the boat.
When Alan and Gaoder visited in 2006, Alan noticed the suspension was suspiciously soft. He said it was similar to driving a marshmallow. He also managed to successfully take it down the windy roads into Muir Woods.
Laura hated driving it.
I had a cassette-to-audio-jack adapter for my iPod, and listened to podcasts on the way to and from work. Our Honda doesn't have an aux jack, so I'm thinking of putting a new stereo in it... Certainly before the next road trip.
Fancy car, lots of things to break. Stuff that broke: auto-dimming driver's side mirror. Air conditioning and heat. Windshield fluid. Speaker covers popped out. Chunk of plastic broke out of the console between the seats.
When Modestas visited from Lithuania, the first thing he did in the parking lot was exclaim "NICE WHEELS!!!" Then he promptly opened the door right into the car next to us. >_< In his defense, he'd been up for dozens of hours...
It has an automatic trunk latch, so you're really not supposed to slam the trunk shut. You should softly close it, and it will pull itself tight. Of course nobody knows this. I dropped off Enno once and reminded him: "Enno, don't slam the trunk. Enno, don't slam the trunk. Enno! Don't slam the trunk! ENNO!" *SLAM* "What did you say, Chad?"
I took Andy to Ikea shortly after he moved to California. He bought this giant bookcase which we thought would fit in the giant Cadillac, but didn't. To get the trunk partially shut, I grabbed some of the netting in the back and looped it around said automatic latch, which I should have noticed was a small piece of plastic. Halfway home, I heard a snap and the trunk flew open. The bookcase was fine, and fortunately the broken latch landed in the trunk. A bit of superglue later, it was as good as new!
We took Enno to Fry's to buy a TV, and he decided to buy a 40" because we know the box would fit in the car. Indeed it did, and there were a few inches on each side to spare... So when I went TV shopping, I bought a 46", and it fit EXACTLY across the back seat. Perfect!
The only question I failed on my written driver's test was related to selling your car. >_<
It's been a good six years, Cadillac! I hope you find a good new owner!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Iowa Children's Museum
Today, we took Cecilia to the Iowa Children's Museum in Coralville, IA. We went with Grammy and Great-Aunt Janey, who has just got here on a visit from North Carolina. Cecilia seemed to have a blast today, and I'm sure that she will continue to enjoy it as she grows up, because there is just so much to do there. Plus when she is a little bit bigger, the other kids won't almost run into her as much!
We started out by playing in the little play supermarket that they have there. Cecilia was in heaven because there were thing to take off of the shelves and out of the bins and put into your cart. Her cart kept mysteriously getting empty every time she turned her back to it though...
Next we went to look at a little play hospital, but didn't stay there long. Then, we went into a room with all kinds of balls and cars to race on tracks and a little train set, but the only thing Cecilia could really play with on her own was the little slide. She had fun climbing up the steps and then making faces at Janey through the glass window at the top of the slide.
The next area was all about air. Cecilia got a chance to sit in a little plane and pretend to fly it. She looked really cute in there! Then, Cecilia had fun watching the ping pong balls and beach ball floating on streams of air. At one point, Grammy even put Cecilia on the air nozzle, but she didn't float up like the balls. :)
Next, we went upstairs to the area for little kids. Cecilia had fun running around and playing with all of the stuff there and we didn't have to worry (as much) about bigger kids coming and knocking her down. Cecilia was handing out flowers, went into the little house to get food, and went down both of the slides, including the big one!
Right before we left the mall, Grammy took Cecilia on a ride on the carousel. She really seems to enjoy carousels and had a lot of fun. All in all, it was a great day!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The flight into Denver
Eating ramen at Ryowa
Nom nom ramen.
A day at the park
Today, we went down to City Park in Iowa City with my mom. Cecilia
fell asleep on the way there and slept in the stroller for awhile
while we were there. This picture is soon after she woke up.
Later, we went to the little playground. Cecilia enjoyed the tunnel on
the play structure, swinging on the swings and waving to the little
train going by.
Here is Grammy and Cecilia riding the little train. Cecilia really
enjoyed it and was waving at people as we went by. She also was having
fun saying "choo choo"!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Back in San Jose
I'm back in San Jose, work tomorrow... Smooth flight, but I wish I'd been able to spend more time with more people. C'est la vie.
Sent from my iPhone
Cecilia "talks" on the phone already
Cecilia uses one of our old iPhones to watch videos when she's feeling grumpy, but she's recently started imitating us talking on the phone. Grandpa started a trend: if you say "Hello!" to her, she lifts her phone to her ear and "talks" on it. It's the cutest thing.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Linn county fair!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Finally sleeping...
hours, pretty much non-stop Cecilia's finally sleeping on our way to
Target.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Daddy and Cecilia enjoy the beach!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
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