Archive for May, 2007

Nissan Versa - I Bought an Economy Car

Monday, May 7th, 2007

I know, I know. I just posted 2 weeks ago how I was not Nissan Versagoing to spend the money on an economy car. As a recap the main reason for not getting a car with better gas mileage was that I could not get anything with less then 50K mikes on it for the $8k that my Xterra was worth.

I was going round and round in my mind trying to figure out what I as going to do while I saw the gas prices going higher and higher. In talking with my wife we finally came to the conclusion that trying to get a car with 50K miles on it for $8 was not going to happen. With that we decided that we needed to spend more and take on a payment. Also, if we were going to take on a payment then we might as well get something that is pretty new that was we can keep it for a while. Our online parameter was we wanted to stay under $200/month for a car payment.

Previously my heart had been set on a Scion XB but the while looking for a used one I remembered that Nissan, Toyota, and Honda had recently come out with some very fuel efficient baseline cars. I started searching and discovered the Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris, and the Honda Fit. All these cars started around $12k for the base line models and went up from there. I decided right then that I would rather have one of these cars - brand new - instead of a used Scion.

The wife and I went to look at cars. (more…)

De La Hoya vs Mayweather - A Disappointment

Sunday, May 6th, 2007

I had not planned on watching the fight. I had not even heard of the fight up until a week ago but I had several people at my house for my son’s birthday party and I decided to buy it.

I had seen De La Hoya fight several times in the past and while I never considered him spectacular he is still a good boxer. I have never seen Mayweather before.

Going into the fight I thought Oscar would take it because Mayweather seemed to be too cocky. As the fight progressed Oscar gave a good show but that’s all it was. All of his combo flurries looked good and got a reaction from the crowd but they did not really do anything the Mayweather.

Mayweather on the other hand really didn’t do anything the entire fight except make Oscar chase him around the ring. He didn’t do anything spectacular except for one square jab to the face right around the 8th round.

Was it worth the money? Not really. I don’t even know how much it cost but it was not an exciting match. Even the two matches before the fight where boring. Oh well, at least I wasn’t one of the people that paid thousands of dollars to be ringside.

Oh I miss the days when Tyson was a normal boxer and would knock someone out in the first round. I would have taken woman boxing at this point. At least they really duke it out in the ring. Sigh…  

The Best Shoes I Have Ever Had - Doc Marten’s

Thursday, May 3rd, 2007

 I have had the same pair of shoes going on 5 years now. The shoes are the most comfortable shoes that I have ever owned.

They are a pair of Doc Marten’s boots.

Doc Marten's ShoesThese are not the standard yellow thread around the sole type that you usually see. These have a black thread and have a very defined squared off toe. I bought them 5 years ago this summer as a replacement for a pair of Sketchers that had just started to crack at the sole. It was my second pair of Sketchers in 12 months.

At the time it was hard to justify spending double the money for a similar style of shoes but I had heard really good things about Doc Marten’s so I decided to try them - I’m glad that I did. In the five years that I have had them I would have had to purchase 8-10 pairs of Sketchers. That would have added up to around $500. So in essence I saved about $400.

(more…)