Care and Maintenance

 
As far as my cars are concerned, my primary function is to take them in for maintenance as often as possible. My mechanic shares their viewpoint, except he also sees me as the guy who pays for that maintenance. If I could figure out some way to extract myself from the middle of [...]

Road Trippin’

Maybe it’s a bad case of nostalgia; or maybe it’s the fact that my kids are getting older; or maybe it’s because I can’t afford the gas to drive to the edge of town. Whatever the reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about road trips lately.
A road trip is an express ticket out of [...]

Division of Motor Violence

When I got a note in the mail saying I needed to renew my driver’s license, I wasn’t worried.  After all, I’ve been driving since I was sixteen.  All I had to do was take a quick written exam, get a bad picture taken, and I’d be done.  Right?
When I got to the DMV, my [...]

Parking Mad

If you lived through the eighties, you probably remember the highly instructive Mad Max film series in which Mel Gibson played an enigmatic loner who traveled a post-apocalyptic wasteland trying to find a parking space.  Just kidding.  He was traveling the post-apocalyptic wasteland looking for gas so he could drive his car long enough to [...]

Relationship Shopping

I recently started an exciting new long-term relationship.  I made promises and if I renege, it’s going to cost me a bundle and could ruin my life.  As you’ve probably already guessed, I bought a car on credit.
Sealing the deal involved an hour-long meeting with the credit manager during which I had to “sign here [...]