(no subject)

Taking some time to post after a pretty busy week... just gonna hit the highlights of the week since I'm gonna zonk out pretty much as soon as this is done.

On Monday I put in an order for my prescription glasses with the Transitions lenses. I've got 3 free pairs since military members get one pair free a year. But you're very limited with the available styles, and you can't get any tinting on the freebie pair. Then again, they ARE free, so I can't complain.

I ended up getting the glasses from Costco... they were far cheaper than getting them elsewhere. The frame was actually relatively cheap... a flex-titanium frame for about $100. That means they may not be all that durable, so I'll have to really take good care of 'em. Adding the lenses plus a few extra features brought the total to about $270... still WAY cheaper than if I'd bought them through the Hickam BX. (The NEX didn't have the flex-titanium frames I was considering.)

On Wednesday I helped out at church during an all-worship service... wanted to learn the sound mixing board, but found out I was needed to help with the stage, so that's what I ended up doing. Not much to write about here other than that I enjoyed being there, though the intensity level at the midweek services is much higher than on the weekends.

Thursday night I dreamt about one of my cats that I grew up with.  His name was Tiger and he pretty much looked like the 9-Lives cat Morris.  I hadn't dreamt about Tiger in a while, so I was wondering what could have caused it.  Then I remembered that I'd been reading a National Geographic article about invasive species... and one of the photos was of several kittens (feral cats being an invasive species), all with the exact same fur color (yellow-orange stripes) as Tiger.  Sometimes I wish I had more dreams like that... those are nice and peaceful, the kind you don't want to wake up from....

Yesterday (Friday as I write this) I ended my filling-in for the Army and returned a cell phone and turned in an access badge. The normal guy that did this had gone on an exercise (plus leave) in the Philippines, and I was the natural second choice considering that he had originally been my replacement before I got my humanitarian reassignment. In any case, I can now concentrate fully on being over at JTWC Pearl Harbor and not shuttling back and forth between PH and Ft Shafter.

I'm also pondering getting a new car.

What's wrong with the old one, you may ask, as well you may?

Actually, nothing. But I'm starting to get really tired of having limited cargo space and, more importantly, the car bottoming out when I go over bumps with a full load of passengers. And that was despite having replaced all of the struts on the car last year. Not only that, rising gas prices are forcing me to consider a hybrid vehicle, which would give better mileage.

After seeing what hybrids are available, I've narrowed down my choices to three: the Toyota Prius , the Ford Escape Hybrid and the Honda Accord Hybrid. Interestingly enough, all use the Prius' technology.

Of those three, the one I'm leaning the most toward is the Ford Escape Hybrid. It seems to give me the biggest bang for the buck... pricewise it's between the Prius and the Accord and fully loaded would probably run me around $31K-$32K. Given 5 years I'd have no problems paying it off.

I've also heard the Escape isn't all that popular here in Hawaii but it's pretty common up in the Mainland.

The only question, though, is if I get a new car, what do I do with the old one? I'm tempted to sell it but am not sure how much I'd get for it... then again I could probably use postpig.com (which has been pretty heavily advertised locally).

Of course, this is all contingent on "if"... I'm not sure yet if I want to do this but I think right now is probably the best opportunity I've got.

Robots, Escape, Prius

Saw Robots today. In a nutshell... this movie ROCKED! Lots of fun, some pretty good gags, and interestingly enough I've heard this movie was done via Linux.

And hopefully not spoiling this for anyone who hasn't seen it.... remember Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from Ice Age?

On the car shopping front... went with technocollie to take a look at the Toyota Prius and the Ford Escape. I was actually seriously considering getting the Escape, or even getting the Toyota Highlander Hybrid when it comes out. But it appears as though I get the biggest bang for my buck if I get the Prius... which I'm very much inclined to do.

The price differential is for starters: the Prius runs around $25K (up to $28K-$29K after everything has been added), while the Escape starts around $31K or so and the Highlander around $36K-$37K. That means I'd be looking at roughly a $6K-$8K price difference between the Prius and Escape and a $10K-$11k difference for the Highlander.

technocollie also suggested I get the Prius now, then later, when the newer hybrids come out and most of the bugs have been worked out, consider upgrading. I'm still thinking an SUV -- even a small one -- would be useful for me, though such a vehicle would probably be a waste since I'm neither married nor have a family. I could also consider leasing, but there would be additional red tape involved when I ship the car, so I think I would be better off buying the car then paying it off.

In a few days I plan to test-drive the Prius.... then perhaps for $#!+$ and giggles I might try the Highlander, just to see how it rides. I'm not fully sure I'm sold on the Prius just yet... not all that crazy about the outer body style, but the inside is pretty nice and it's quiet.

In any case, I'm on the waiting list for a Prius now... apparently it'll be 4 months or so before the car comes in anyway, so it's not like I'm in a big rush to buy it or anything. Might try to add a few more items to the total if I can get 'em though... mostly stuff like splash guards and perhaps even tinted windows. Everything else is already covered by option package #7, which doesn't include the navigation system (since you can't get that in Hawaii).