4th of July Weekend

I can't think of anything remotely creative for the title...sorry.I'll start my first photo post with a picture I took about two weeks ago on my mobile. I won't explain it...because in this case, I feel that a picture is worth at least 1057 words. I will point out that Aenoles apparently have no discretion in "matters of the heart" as it were. But enought about weird lizards and such.

4th of July weekend was pretty good, as was the week leading up to it. My sister-in-law and her husband were in from Monteray Cali. I had never met Don before, but he gets my thumbs up. He went to the Ray's game and got that hat. I also have a hat very similar. We wore them literally all week. I would like to point out, that because of that, the Rays be the Bo-Sox (clearly that is the reason they swept, and it has nothing to do with team talent).

That said, we did quite a few other things too. My sister-in-law sleeps alot...so I guess we didn't do too much.

Wednesday Bridget and I started our 5 week Dance lessons. It is at a quaint little ballroom over in South Tampa. We are taking lessons with a bunch of Bridget's friends from work. Classes are for Swing, Salsa, and Merengue. We pretty much have the swing down (as that is how we met in college all those years ago), but it is an opportunity to perfect our technique. I expect to be on Dancing with the Stars in fairly short order. I can't really Salsa though, or Merengue for that matter...and those steps (from what i see the teacher doing) actually should be easier. Perhaps it is because I don't have those latin sway hips and all that Machismo?

Thursday was pretty low key. Actually, the 4th, we didn't do much either...went to the beach during the day (it was packed). The water was a balmy 88°. No sharks, no sting rays. Just warm sun and sand. Sadly, I didn't even get a tan or burn, despite putting on SPF 30, and then running immediately into the water and washing it all off. It must be a sign that I am a true Floridian now. We eventually got around to eating dinner at about 8:00 which was "elegant hors d'ouvres" as my sister-in-law Kristen and I called them. We steamed 4#s of crab legs...then about 10 mins after we started eating, her boyfriend called and said they cut him at work...so he was free...I told him to pick up another 2#s and I'd steam them for him...well he walked in the door with 6#s...and we ate crab legs all night...they ended up being "second elegant hors d'ouvres". Man did we eat good.

Yesterday, was actually our "big" 4th of July party (on the 5th). We went to our friends who have a pool at their house, and had a BBQ. Dave, Chris, James and I played a round of horse shoes. Names don't matter here...what does is this pic. Notice all 4 of these are "leaners". I was blue (with Dave) and Chis and (British)James were tan. They were down 11-14 before they threw the leaners...which made it 15-14, and then out of the blue (no pun intended) Dave throws these two singles to win the game for us 16-15. Man was that exciting! I hope you felt the excitement too as you read that. Dave and I promptly got trounced the last two games so ended up losing overall.

It is now sunday, and I am procrastinating from cleaning the house. I think Bridget and I will go to Old Navy then...that will help with some more procrastinating.

Another TGIF!

Well, I am glad Friday is finally here. I guess I get to say that 52 times a year, but I never get tired of it. Actually, I think i like friday better than saturday...I am not sure why...Sunday doesn't feel like the weekend to me, because I know the next day will be work...but I digress...



So, I got to go to two Tampa Bay Rays games this week. I went to the Rays/Marlins 3rd series game on Sunday, and I went to watch them beat the Cubbies one Wendesday. The Rays/Cubs game was good. I took a few phone pics of the Rays/Marlins game. My sister-in-law took me since I did the brakes on her car. We had fun, and she got great seats...
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Yea, I know...where's Bridget...she had to work. The people in the background are apparently way into the game. I have to confess, that though I am not a huge fan of watching the game on TV, I really enjoy going to the games and seeing them in person...




Here's an "action" shot...I am sure at this point they were losing, but it was still fun.
All I have to say about this is... $8-OUCH!

So that was Sundays game (Fathersday) I didn't get pics of Wednesays game :( I hope to go to another game very soon.

Update on Calculating your car mileage/payoff time Period

Well, I left one thing out, but since it is related to taxes, I didn't ignore it so much as I didn't count it. You can get a "rebate" of sorts for owning/buying a hybrid/environmentally conscious vehichle...however, I don't know what all the prequalifications on any givens tax forms are, so I can't count that discount towards the payoff period. If you do get the tax benefit, you can basically subtract that from your sticker price, and run the calcs that way.

The Economy of buying a Hybrid car

I am going to look at today, the discussion I had with my brother the other day. For the sake of argument, I will only look at three cars. The Civic Hybrid Sedan, the Nissan Sentra SE-R, and the Nissan Sentra.
The Civic Hybrid:

Ave. EPA Milage- 42 mpg
Engine size and Power - 1.4 Liter @ 110 hp
Transmission - CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission-think snowmobile Transmission)
Sticker Price - $22,600 (we'll leave the spoiler and doo-dads off)
It looks like....


And we have the Nissan Sentra SE-R:
Ave. EPA Milage- 25 mpg (personal experience-its my car)
Engine size and Power - 2.5 Liter @ 177 hp
Transmission - CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission-think snowmobile Transmission)
Sticker Price - $21,400 (It came with the keyless ignition)
It looks like....

And of course, we'll compare it to the regular Nissan Sentra,which is condsidred in the same catgory as the regular Civic (LX) Sedan, and Toyota Corolla (and even Chevy Cobalt if you want to go there:
Ave. EPA Milage- 30 mpg (Averaging out the 25/33 base on my habits)
Engine size and Power - 2.o Liter @ 140 hp (Exactly same as normal 1.8 L Civic)
Transmission - CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission-think snowmobile Transmission)or 6 speed Manual but they get the same mileage
Sticker Price - $16,270 (2.0S model-middle of the line)
It looks like....

So, here we have our three contenders. Lets lay down some other constants.
Gas: $4.25/gal
Annual Miles (we look at two numbers) :12,000 & 30,000 miles annually
Assume all cars are 5 year loans with the same interest rate. We put down enough on any one car so that all we finance is the actual sticker price.

Let's do some number crunching now.

First how much Gas will each car burn in 12,000 miles?
Civic: 12,000 mile/42 mpg = 286 gals for a total cost of $1,215.50 annually
SE-R: 12,000/25 = 480 gals for $2040.00 annually
2.0S: 12,000/30 = 400 gals for $1700.00 annually

Okay, so now what? We compare our cost of each car to the price differenc in gasoline...
Civic to SE-R: $22,600-21,400 = $1200 Differnce and my annual gas cost difference is $2040-$1215.50 = $824.50.
Too find how long before my gas benefit kicks in we divide $1200/$824.50 and find it will be at least 18 months before I see my pay off

Doing the same math with the Civic and the 2.0S we find the retail price difference is $6330 and the fuel cost difference is $484.50. That means my payback time is 13 years...in other words, I won't have even recouped half of my cost in gas savings by the time the car is payed off.

Lets do the exercise for 30,000 miles annually (a target I will most likely hit).
Civic to SE-R: Payback period is 7 months
Civic to 2.0S: Payback period is 5 years & 2 months

One thing I would like to point out that as the price of gas rises, obviously that faster your pay off. Currently, I pay $3.89/gal, but I see the price going up, so I projected a little...if for some reason, rationality strikes OPEC and the future's traders, and gas comes down, then your payback period increases. What do we get out of this? Well, unless you plan on driving either a sporty-sport compact, or a whole lotta miles annually (and the point of a hybrid is good city mileage in many aspects), then you probably won't see a payback by buying a hybrid.

There aren't many SE-Rs on the road, but a lot of cars that are getting right around 30 mpg (civics, corollas, sentras, ions, cobalts, focuses) so for the vast majority of people, the only reason to spend the extra dough, is just to "save the environment". The amount you save in gas, most likely won't be offset by your higher monthly payment on your hybrid.

Oh yea, I forgot to add one thing...don't forget to add the maintenance cost of getting the Hybrid's battery changed after about 5 years or so. I hear that can run well over $1000.00 (consider all your other maintenance costs to be similar across the board though)!

A new Concept-the Man*MPG

So, I said I would get back to this. We all here about how we need to drive "greener" cars, and how vehichles need to be more fuel efficient, but I think that is half the problem. I think as drivers, we are being just plain inefficient in moving around. Think about it. I have a car, my wife has a car. My brother has a car, and his wife has a car. My Dad has a car, my mom has her own car. My little brother and his wifeeach have a car. So there you have it, out of 8 people there are 8 cars.

On top of that, we drive them daily, each to a different place. But here's the problem, I am not using my cars full potential. I think that is why it should be important to track and monitor Man*MPGs. Essentially, each person you have in the car is a "man" (or woman). If I drive my car to work, I get 25 MPG...which oddly enough, is 25 Man*MPG. However, if I were to drive my wife and I to work, I would get 50 Man*MPG. I can put up to 5 people in my car (6 if everyone in the back seat is less than 100 #s). That means, if I am being truly efficient, I should be getting 125 Man*MPG, and thats in the city, on the highway, I would be closer to 140 Man*MPG. My brother and his civic could get up to 190 Man*MPG.

Basically, if you want people to be greener you need to give them incentive. You can easily measure Man*MPGs with very little modifciation to your car (I won't spell it out, but I am sure Honda, Toyota, GM and the like could figure out how to do it for only pennies on your monthly payment). You should be able to track this, and at the end of the year, go to the DMV and have an official reading taken, and you could enter it on your tax form...it would be no different than getting a tax break for driving a hybrid and/or buying one. This would encourage car pooling which I think would greatly decrease emissions as well as traffic, and we all hate traffic. NOw the key here, is that you don't get penalized if you don't use the system, you just benefit more from using it.

I think even business that haul frieght and cargo could benefit from a system like this. Heck, right now, the railroad conglomerate CSX is boasting how they can hall 100 tons of freight 1 mile on 1 gallon of diesel...its the same thing...only different!

Hey, it's just a thought.

Some thoughts at the start of the week...

1) I went to a friends birthday party...we played poker, I ended up winning the $20 pot...and I came back with only 4 chips at one point.

2) In the near future, I need to blog about man*mpgs...it's a new concept I am formulating in my head...just what are they you may ask?

3) Is it really cheaper to own a hybrid vs a standard car? This question, and many more to be answered in the next few days I hope...this was all prompted by a car than can go in the HOV lane with no passengers and an hour long conversation on the phone with my brother on the way home from the office...

Quick Update

Wow, I can't believe it has been a year and a half since I last posted. Lot's has happened and I won't even tell you about most of it. I live in Tampa now. Bridget is working hard at Tampa General Hospital as a Dr. of Physical Therapy, and I am the Engineering Manager at Custom Components Company in Oldsmar, FL.

I'll get around to posting some pictures in a few days hopefully...I am sure I'll have some after memorial day. Just some quick notes, thoughts and other stuff I'll list here.

1) I still haven't gone kiteboarding...I have a 3 meter trainer, but I haven't done the real deal!

2) I brought my mountain bike down...while it is okay, the hills arent' hills...I shoulda brought my old school KHS road bike.

3)My littler brother is married and we got to go to Seattle for the wedding...it was awesome.

4) Indiana Jones came out two days ago, and I still haven't seen it...what am I, crazy?

5) I traded the Honda in for a Nissan Sentra SE-R on Labor Day '07