Author: matthew

For those of you concerned about your investments in this era of very low returns in the stock market, Jon Brusco has some sound advice on how to lose less money.

So last week we came up with the bright idea of heading up to Idaho on New Year’s Day so that we could check out my brother-in-law’s new sleds (note: “sled” == “snowmobile”). He bought four, and three are in working condition. Apparently, they are pretty fast. Anyway, I wanted to just drive up there in my Insight (Hey, there and back again on a single tank of gas isn’t bad), but Christy impressed upon me the necessity of taking all the children with me if I went. She’s eight months pregnant, having fairly regular contractions, and did not want to worry about delivering a child while three other children panicked around her.

Well, the idea was sound, except for the fact that it decided to blizzard on our way up there. Sixty mile per hour crosswinds. Five to fifteen feet of visibility. Horrible stuff. We made it as far as Pocatello (at least an hour later in our trip than usual) before we took a break because they’d closed the freeway.

The freeway remained closed.

We waited three hours, then gave up, turned around, and headed back home. There was some negotiation on the phone with the in-laws about taking back roads until the manager of the Subway we were hanging out at, who lives on the aforementioned back road we would have used, informed us that there were three-to-four foot snowdrifts on that road. Practically impassable.

The options at that point were to rent a room, wait it out, or head home. I decided to head home. Scary trip back, really — the snow hadn’t gotten shallower behind us — but within twenty miles after Malad Pass was behind us (two hours after leaving the Subway when it normally takes about forty-five minutes), the snow slacked off to rain, then to nothing but wind for the last two hours of our trip home.

Talk about a wasted day. A wasted tank of gas. It basically turned out to be a nine-hour round trip to go eat out at Subway. At least my low-carb Turkey & Bacon wrap was good.

I was grateful that Elijah slept much of the way up and back since he was up very late last night. He was downright cordial when he was awake, too — an unusual state for this nearly-two-year-old tornado. The other kids entertained themselves on my wife’s old Palm M500, and my current one, playing Bejeweled. We liked that game enough to buy it, it rocks, and our kids really enjoy playing it.

So anyway, here it is, over nine hours after leaving the house to try to make what’s usually a four-hour trip, back at home. That’s just a bummer. But it beats wrecking ourselves in the middle-of-nowhere Idaho wilderness.

John Olsen is a published author and mega-computer-geek, with a similarly geeky wife and wonderfully geeky children. He’s written hit computer games that have sold millions of copies. He’s the kind of geek other geeks look up to.

He enjoys over-engineered solutions to common household problems. The problem here: how do you set up an impressive display of timed fireworks using only commonly-available, Utah-legal fireworks? I mean, my family usually follows the tried-and-true approach of “set up three fountains, and try to get the last one lit before the first one burns your hand off”. Not John! To the right is his July 24th (Pioneer Day in Utah, a big celebration similar to Independence Day elsewhere in the U.S.) automated conflagration setup — and below, his setup for tonight’s festivities. Regarding this arrangement, John says, “last July 24th where I was going more for duration than intensity. This new one is relatively small in comparison. The box said to light one at a time, so I redefined one.”

What do you think? Could you do better?

Here’s the latest on life, in summary form:

• Ditched Qwest wireless service in favor of Sprint. They are very nearly equivalent, but Sprint offers nationwide service without roaming if we want/need it, cooler phones, and data service. We’re getting a couple months of free “Vision” service, which will let us take pictures with the nifty phones we picked up, and transmit them to other phones or email addresses. Not sure if we’ll keep the Vision portion of the service (it’s an extra $30 between the two phones, ugh!) — I just liked the small, high-tech phones more than the stock old Nokia ones they offer for free.
• My new Honda Insight has been performing fairly well even in bitterly cold, snowy, iced-in weather. We had to get to the doctor’s office yesterday for my wife’s OB appointment. The snow was drifted up to two feet. We had a bit of a problem with traction going uphill after being stopped on an exit ramp when in a foot and a half of snow, but we got through it. I put on chains eventually (ugh, I don’t want to do that again soon), then found that most of the pavement was dry and I almost hit a guy trying to stop (anti-lock brakes + snow chains on dry or icy pavement = very LOOONG stops). I took the chains off, deflated the tires a bit, and was satisfied with the performance of the tires in snow/slush/ice at 38 PSI per corner. Time to buy snow tires, though, I think. These Bridgestone Potenza low-rolling-resistance tires feel a bit like Matchbox plastic wheels on the ice.
• My weight hit an all-time low this morning: 220.5 lbs! I have not been this weight since 1995; it feels good. Another twenty pounds, and I’ll be roughly around the weight (180-200 lbs) I fluctuated between in my early college days. Rather than a strict low-carb approach, I actually prefer to follow a “weighted average” of my weight, using the “Eat Watch” program created by John Walker as part of The Hacker’s Diet. I’ve found that, for me, the combination of low-carbing (following the Atkins recommendations for gradually increasing carb intake), plus watching the calories, has been very effective at helping me maintain a consistent 750-calorie deficit per day over the last two months. My goal is steady weight loss, not really fast weight loss. The problem I have with calories while on Atkins, really, is making sure I eat enough every day! If I don’t maintain at least 2000-2400 calories per day, my body kicks into famine mode, and the weight loss slows way, way down (I’m a six-footer that used to be six-foot-one before a car accident). So far I’ve been averaging around 2200-2400 kcal/day, as long as I track what I eat via FitDay. When I don’t track, it’s easy to not eat enough; I really want to avoid weight-loss stalls due to famine-mode metabolism. It does mean that I have to occasionally force myself to choke down some more filet mignon, or have a second or third helping of barbequed chicken, but that’s a burden I’m willing to bear.
• I start my new contracting job January 5. I’m excited and nervous. The most frustrating thing, though, is figuring out insurance… COBRA will cost us $612 a month. I’d rather have that money in our pockets and pay our expenses as we go, you know? Over a year, that would pay for a pretty major surgery. But if we go without insurance, and then I eventually get a job that provides insurance, that new insurance company will end up insisting many health problems are pre-existing conditions and deny coverage. Been there, done that, it’s terrifically obnoxious; even if a condition was undiagnosed, insurance companies like to call it “pre-existing” if it’s not an injury due to accident. The cheapest coverage we can find, independently, is Intermountain Health Care, at about $280 a month. Even that feels like highway robbery. I think we’re just going to do without — except Christy and the new baby, whom we’ll cover with COBRA through February to cover newborn health problems and pre/post-natal care. (Spending around $400 for the two of them for two months seems totally OK since that money will be basically sucking up around $2000 in hospital bills).

Ahh, life is grand!

Sorry to not post many interesting, insightful blog entries lately. We’re snowed into about two and a half feet of the white stuff, and I’m simply exhausted, mentally and physically, from all the snow shoveling.

All things considered, though, I’d rather shovel the snow myself than buy a snowblower. Snowblowers are expensive, take up a lot of garage space (which is in very short supply in our little townhouse), and only get used a few times per year. A snow shovel takes up much less space, and at over 400 calories burned per half-hour, although shoveling may be exhausting, it may well be one of the most calorie-intensive commonplace activities on the planet.

So now I’m shoveling my neighbor’s driveway, too!

We enjoyed a fabulous Christmas celebration with some good friends. We feasted on freshly-baked turkey, honey-glazed ham, fantastic sausage stuffing, breads, veggies, jello, and all the trimmings.

All the while watching the snow pile higher and deeper throughout Christmas day.

Yep, over the last eight hours we’ve gotten nearly a foot of snow, with much more to come, it looks like. The National Weather Service has this to say:

…NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT-SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS- SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- 1000 PM MST THU DEC 25 2003

… HEAVY SNOW WARNING THROUGH FRIDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE THE HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR ALL OF THE WASATCH FRONT THROUGH FRIDAY. THIS INCLUDES THE AREAS FROM IDAHO BORDER SOUTH TO NEPHI… AS WELL AS THE TOOELE VALLEY.

SNOW… HEAVY AT TIMES… WILL CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY. STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH FRIDAY ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 5-12 INCHES NORTH OF SALT LAKE AND 6-14 INCHES TO THE SOUTH.

Merry Christmas to me! We planned on putting a humongous bow on my new Insight Christmas morning, but were precluded by snow on the car.

Now I guess I better reconsider my plan to not get those snow tires to replace my Potenzas for the next four months… then again, I don’t think the Insight can even get through more than 6 inches of snow due to low ground clearance!

In case you wonder about the ground clearance question, here’s a picture. This is on the lee of the house (the side away from the wind) so where the Insight is parked, with snow partially cleared off, is about four inches shallower than the rest of the snow past the house where our van is parked…

Here’s Salt Lake compared to the rest of the nation on Christmas Day, and my Insight around 1 AM after getting back from our Christmas party:

It wasn’t bad for our van to plow through the slush, but it will be interesting driving if this continues nicely through the winter as we hope it will (we badly need the water). Ahh, the fun! Too bad I won’t get to drive my baby for a day or two — except out of the driveway to shovel!

If you’ve got a Happy Holidays comment, leave it here! From me to everybody else, have a Happy Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, New Year, Winter Solstice, or whatever.

This year we told our kids the truth about Santa Claus — that we are Santa Claus, but we enjoy pretending such a being exists. When asked an honest question, I gave an honest answer 🙂 They were mildly curious about it, and kind of get a kick out of the idea that there wasn’t some magical man in a red suit that brought them presents. They asked us if they could help put the unwrapped “Santa Gifts” under the tree this year, since they already know, but we drew the line at spoiling the surprise that way…

So here’s my posting on my trip home in my Insight. Other than eating breakfast and dinner at a couple of decrepit cafes, it wasn’t terrifically exciting, but it was fun learning the car!

So, I finally got it. After four years of reading about the Insight, the price on used models after the “work out the bugs” 2000 model year dropped to the point I could afford it.

Picked it up last night in Spokane, WA, for a 784-mile trip back home to Tooele, Utah. Spent the night in a hotel, wishing I could already be on the road, but I was tired from the flight up. I’d effectively purchased this one “sight unseen”, except lots of pictures and my pointed questions. The folks up at Soupy’s Auto Sales in Post Falls, Idaho (right across the river from Spokane, Washington) were exceptionally helpful the entire time.

The car cost $10,895 used. With taxes, I took out a loan for $11,700, which is still less than the insurance company would pay if I were in an accident (“good” condition Kelly Blue Book plus options is what GEICO goes by). The 2001 was originally sold in April of 2002, driven for 18 months and 25,000 miles, then when the Honda dealer couldn’t sell it for two months, they put it up at auction. Soupy’s got it, listed it, I had a plane ticket to get it two days later 🙂

Anyway, the next morning (this morning), I woke up, eage to get on my way on my long drive. Here’s the relevant info:

Total miles driven: 784

The first leg of the trip (about 350 miles) was between Spokane and Butte, Montana. Temps ranged from a high of about 38 near Spokane, to a low of -10 Farenheit in a town near a pass in Montana. Snow was mostly cleared off the road, piled higher than my head in the Insight… it gave the feeling of driving in a video game at times.

Tire pressure: 38 front, 35 rear.

Anyway, I only got 44.1 MPG on that leg, averaging around 73-78 mph. MANY mountain passes, lots of assist, and even with the CVT, the battery frequently got quite low and forced a 3-4 bar charge from time to time on uphills. Only one lane was plowed in many spots, so I felt the need to keep up with traffic rather than allow myself to slow — it felt really, really dangerous passing in the unplowed icy lane. The Insight handled it a couple of times fairly well, and was quite responsive, but the stock tires definitely don’t handle icy, slushy passes as well as the all-seasons on our van. I’m not sure yet if I need to bother with snow tires for my daily commute, but I’m guessing that if there’s snow on the ground, I’ll be asking my carpool partner if we can use his car instead.

Once I hit Butte, it was dry roads, sunny, and only about 10 degrees below freezing. I made it all the way to Idaho Falls (over 500 miles) on that first tank of gas, though I was a little concerned as I was getting closer and down to about 4 bars of gas. The little car made it fine, though, as I worked to keep my speed down, drafted a little here and there, and generally tried to keep my instantaneous MPG above 55 rather than going for “a fun ride” like I did in the snowy portion of the trip. A little better on this stretch; despite a stiff headwind of about 15 mph, I still managed to eke out 48 mpg in sub-freezing temperatures on a stock Insight CVT running 75-80 miles per hour on mostly level terrain with two multiple-mile uphills.

Once I reached Idaho Falls, I stopped for gas and food, and decided to take the tires to 50 PSI. There was no headwind for this last 150-mile run, traffic was heavy, and the speed limit wasn’t 75 the whole way. I decided to try to “let the road drive me”, and slow down a bit on the uphills to maintain my MPG. It was not quite possible, with one steep pass (Malad pass) and a couple of other ones… I gave into temptation, hit the “S” button, and sailed past the minivans and tractor-trailers laboring along in the right-hand lane. I’d learned to try to avoid getting the Assist involved on longer hills by this point so I didn’t get hit with a recharge, and it seemed to do better.

Overall mileage on the last leg: 53.5 miles per gallon, running 60-75 miles per hour.

What I learned: 50 PSI in all four tires on dry pavement, plus a disciplined right foot, makes a huge difference. Even in the dead of winter here on this Washington/Idaho/Montana/Idaho/Utah run, the Insight stretches the gas tank nicely when considerately driven. I purchased a 12 volt air pump and locking pressure gauge so that, if I found myself in less ideal conditions, I could reduce pressure down to 30 psi in each tire for improved traction, but found I didn’t need to after the first leg.

Not bad for my first day, I think. The Insight proved really comfortable, but my main complaints:

* At 50psi, road noise nearly overpowers the radio * I now know why people think the radio isn’t very good — bass at certain frequencies causes higher frequencies to “waffle” terribly, and while recducing the bass level diminishes the problem, then it sounds a bit like a tin can. * I learned what people mean by the Potenza tires “tracking every gouge in the pavement” — there were a couple of times, on uneven pavement, that I nearly overcorrected for a really hard jerk on the car going over the edge. * Mud and spray severely limit the brightness of the front lights. They seem to collect dirt much more easily than other vehicles I’ve driven. She got a nice whole-body wash once I got home 🙂 * The stock tires, while almost passable in snow/ice at factory pressures, are totally inadequate for icy conditions, really, which is amplified at higher pressures. Underinflated, they are dramatically better on the ice & snow (tooling around town around 32 psi per corner was just fine on icy surfaces). * No floor mats. Ugh. * No rubber/steel stop for the driver’s left foot — I seem to remember someone on this forum mentioning they had some to sell at one point?

All that said, though, the sides of my face hurt from smiling all the way home. The car accelerates like a dream, gets amazing gas mileage even at lead-footed interstate speeds, has a very comfortable seat that does fine for long drives, has plenty of cargo room despite the lack of a back seat, and attracts looks & questions on the road and off.

On my way home, some unique things happened due to the car: 1. By a gas station attendant: “What kind of car is that?” 2. By a fellow driver, motioning me to rol down the window, shouting “Nice Insight!” (it was extremely muddy from top to bottom at this point from the Idaho rock-slush road treatments) 3. By another driver, honking and giving me a big thumbs-up. 4. I spoke to another Insight owner that happened to be sitting next to me on the plane trip up; she was very nice, and loved her 2001 Blue Insight CVT. She mentioned, though, that she was disappointed that it “only” went 109 mph when she pushed it 🙂

All in all, I’m excited beyond belief. My wife is putting a big bow on my car on Christmas day. I’ve been wanting an Insight for five years; only now did income meet opportunity!

I’m flying up to Spokane, Washington, to pick up my new-to-me Honda Insight tomorrow night! I’m pretty excited. I needed a new commuter vehicle to be able to make it to my new job that I’m starting January 5. Why did I choose this Insight?

* CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) gas mileage: 57mpg highway. * Really comfortable to drive. It’s definitely an econo-box, but drives like a really sporty one. * Cool technology. Hybrids rock. * Very unique body styling. * I like the “arrest me” red. * Great deal.

My 2001 Insight costs $10,895 for a CVT model with air conditioning, and power everything. No CD changer or cruise, but I aim to correct that. It only has 25,000 miles, and was only driven for 18 months. It’s just 20 months old now! The same car, new, was nearly $23,000 MSRP. Mine is also Honda Certified, which is a nice little bonus that extends the powertrain warranty.

I looked into the Toyota Prius, but aside from it holding its value better in the used market than the Insight (hey, I’m honest, the Insight drops value like a rock mostly due to being a two-seater with very low demand), well, I just thought it was ugly. It drives nicely, and has nifty features (particularly the all-electric drive at city speeds), but I decided it wasn’t for me after driving the Insight. The Insight drives like a pocket sports car, while the Prius drives more like, well, a sedate family vehicle. The Prius has great speed off the line, comparable to the Insight (no mean feat at 800 more pounds), but doesn’t corner nearly as well. The Insight comes loaded with power-everything by default at a relatively low price, and is a lot more comfortable to drive (IMHO, as far as having a spacious front seat is concerned). Power windows, doors, heated rearview mirrors, intermittent wipers, rear wiper, remote keyless entry, the works — you pay quite a bit more for all of that on the Prius. The only things the Prius really has over the Insight are a back seat, more cargo area, slightly higher safety rating with some options (canopy airbags), less road noise, and a good stereo. Insight beats it hands-down on gas mileage, lower price (fully-loaded insight is about the same price as a stripped-down Prius), cornering, consistent gas tank size (Prius’ gas “bladder” is quite a bit smaller in winter), and some other things. I think, though, like most car decisions once price is out of the way, it really boils down to an emotional decision. I really like how the Insight looks and handles compared to the Prius, though I like the Prius’ gadget screen and ability to run in electric-only mode better.

The 2004 Prius, though, seems to have corrected many of these deficiencies: better gas mileage, better styling, faster off the line, etc. It’s a real second-generation hybrid. But, unfortunately, I’m in the market for a used car, not new, and can’t really afford a $400/month car payment over five years right now 🙂

Unfortunately, in trying to haggle with a local dealership over the price of a similar Insight, knowing what it’s going for at wholesale volume auction ($5,000-$7,000), I offered $8,000 to counter their sticker price of $14,450. I was thrown out of the joint rather rudely — a topic for another blog, I think. I thought haggling was the art of negotiating, not the art of “the dealer sets the price and refuses to budge”. Eh, well. If I were to do it again, I would probably just pick the price I were willing to pay, rather than doing math in my head to figure out if we both give-and-take equally where we’ll end up.

Anyway, the one I’m getting is in even better condition than the one at the local dealership (which was Las Vegas-owned, 29,000 miles, a little over 2 years old). This one for which I have a cashier’s check in my hot little hand, only had a single owner, in Washington State. In case you’re unfamiliar with the Insight, as a hybrid electric/gasoline vehicle, it uses a battery pack to store power generated by the gas motor for the electric motor to use to assist when heavy acceleration is necessary. Unfortunately, Nickel Metal Hydride batteries rapidly deteriorate in temperatures higher than 140 degrees Farenheit. If you’re in a southern region, like Nevada, Texas, or Florida, it’s easy to reach 170+ on the inside of a vehicle, which dramatically shortens battery life.

So it’s been kept in a cool climate, and the lifetime miles-per-gallon on it reads 56.1 MPG. That means it was driven VERY carefully by the previous owner! It’s 51 city / 57 highway rated by the EPA, and on the CVT model, the lack of “lean burn” which you can achieve on the manual stops it from getting the absolutely stratospheric mileage some Insight owners achieve. I figure I’ll be really happy with over 600 miles per 11-gallon tank of gas, though.

I’m thinking I may be willing to sacrifice some MPG for better traction in the snowy winter about to set upon us. Snow tires are pretty expensive, and will destroy my miles-per-gallon, but safety is more important than economy in my humble opinion. At least I’m consoled in the knowledge that no matter what sort of car I’m driving, they’ll be similarly impacted at the gas pump by the addition of snow tires.

If any of you loyal readers ever get out near Tooele, UT, give me a holler and I’ll give you a ride. It’s a neat little car, and Sunday through Monday I get to come to know it intimately on a 750-mile drive back home from Spokane. Insights are low-production (only 4,000 per year in the U.S.), they look really unique, and they are a lot of fun to drive. Glad I found one so cheap, and had such a positive experience with the dealer over long distance.

For those interested, click here for the pictures of it on the lot up at Soupy’s Auto Sales in Post Falls, Idaho (a bedroom community for Spokane).

Check out this Department of Defense Requisition list for the twelve days of Christmas…