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At the risk of turning this into Ben's seldom updated car blog, I'm starting adjust to this whole having a nice (ish) car thing. I took it down to Winter Park on Saturday, had terrible roads for almost half the drive, and still managed to enjoy the drive. The fact that i was averaging high 30 MPG for the trip helped.

It was Winter Park's closing weekend, and I just had to try out the new skis at least once before I put them away for the summer. They're pretty great. I found a guy on Ebay selling those Rossignol's I demo'd last month in a 170, which is a little shorter than the 178 I had demo'd. As sidecuts have only gotten more radical since the introduction of so-called parabolic skiis 10-15 years ago, the effective edge of these 170s is probably only a little shorter than my old 188 El Caminos. 6 or inches of fresh meant I spent all day pounding out short turns. Which these 170's were way better at than the 178s. That lack of 8cm doesn't seem like it should have made that much difference, but I think it did. What I wansn't able to check out was how they would hold for big fast GS turns. To much crud to really try it. Speaking of which, Rossi ain't kidding when they talk about the crud busting capabilities of their AmpTech flex pattern. I'm a fan.

Yesterday I tried fitting my bikes in the car. I'm not sure i want to put my bike rack on. 1. I don't really feel like buying the new towers i would have to buy, and 2. I like the fuel economy I'm getting. I think a roof rack would probably wreck it. I wasn't able to fit the mountain bike in the back seat like Honda shows in their promotional materials. But my 29er is a little bigger than your average mountain bike. I did have to drop the seats, but I managed to get two bikes in with room for other stuff. What you can't see, is that the rear tires of both bikes are poking into the front seat area. Not enough that I'm going to bumping into it while trying to shift, but somebody getting in the passenger seat might have some manuvering to get around that 29" rear wheel. I'm ok with that.

For what it's worth. I think you were long overdue for a newer car.  It's to your credit that you waited as long as you did.

I'm not sure why, but that djikstra quote just made me think of one of my Comp Sci profs who always said undergrad Computer Science majors shouldn't even touch a computer until 3rd or 4th year. But he was a computing theory guy, so he was probably a little biased.

So I bought a new car yesterday. And now, as I usually do after making almost any non-grocery purchase, I'm going through some serious buyer's remorse. Amplified by the huge amount I just put myself further in debt. I mean, I know I can afford the payments. Even with this, I'm still living well within my means. But I keep thinking do I want to make  car payments? And should I have been a little more patient for a used 5 speed Impreza to show up somewhere? Should I have at least waited to check out one of those new Ford Fiestas everyone is raving about? I mean, the Fit was one of the three cars in my shortlist. And I got it in a color I like, and with the options I wanted. But I still can't escape the feeling I somehow rushed the decision. Despite the fact that I've been saying for years that I need to get a new car. I mean, I've been watching Fits since I went back to "real" work four years ago. And should I have put more money down? Logically, I know it's kind of a wash. I got .9% financing from Honda. So I can leave that down payment in the bank, (which earns about that much interest) and leave myself with a little more cash on hand for emergencies.

But I keep thinking about that car payment. Well within my means or not, I'm obsessing about it. Again, logically I know I can afford it, and it's just going to mean less money to throw away on junk every month. Since, let's be honest, I haven't been investing anything like I know I should be anyway. But still, I could be using that money to pay down my student loan faster. Or take a trip somewhere. Or just see how many months of emergency funds I can sock away.

Yeah, I know. White people's problems...

Oh what about the car? I like it. It's not exactly a powerhouse, but it's sure quieter on the highway than my old Accord. I also keep feeling a little sorry for that old Accord, summarily abandoning it to the Honda dealer like that after so many years of faithful service. I feel like I need a nice swedish guy to tell me i'm being crazy.

Maybe I just need to be a little less neurotic.