to volvo or not to volvo...

Since my blogs are getting fewer and further between I must rewind a little more each time in order to explain the sequence of events which bring me to the random nonsense I feel so compelled to ramble on over.

So now that someone has quit they felt more urgency to make certain that I receive my training in the blood bank at my new job (hard to believe it's been nearly 5 months already). I was astonished they chose to do it so soon since that was the only thing my last employer never got around to training me in. It seems I had good reason to believe things might be the same here, but more on that later.

For now let it suffice to say that they quickly altered the already posted schedule to slide me in this week and next for a grand total of seven days of training on day shift. Pardon me while I contain my excitement over working during the lovely daylight hours because there is so much to tell besides how nicely the sun appears reflecting off the brick, glass, lawn and trees.

Anyway, today was merely my fourth day of training and I must say getting up at 5 am is no simple task on my part, yet amazingly I managed to clock in on time every day this week--partly due to my Richard Petty skills and my superfluous SUV.

However, twice this week I nearly got into an accident--well two consecutive days in fact!

So the first one was Thursday morning as I zipped over the Narrows Bridge and merged onto I5 north for the 2 miles before catching River Road. I obviously found it urgent to use the far left lane for my long stretch down I5 and then as my exit was coming near I planned my merging carefully. I followed the car in front of me until passing the large truck (I'm not talking Ford people) in the nearest lane. There wasn't a whole lot of room between this truck and the car in front of him and we're going downhill mind-you.

So I check and as the gap is starting to widen I decide to make my move. Just as I'm merging this OTHER car from the lane opposite the one we both want is heading right for me. We came within inches of kissing and I guarantee my kiss has bite to it and the truck behind us would've laid a big wet one on both of us!

So I jerked back into my lane and whoever was in the tan sedan just kept coming! Now what is important about noting here is that some impatient moron was tailgating me during all of this. Seeing my signal and the gap he decided it was now time for him to take opportunity to pass me even before I had finished merging away. Now I not only have a car cutting off my merge but another one cutting off my evasive maneuver!

Well needless to say I didn't get hit by either. Then I decided to take a detour last night instead of heading straight home. I landed in Fifedom to browse the car dealers we don't have in Puyallup, Spanaway or South Tacoma. I was looking for VOLVO after all, not the best deal on a Kia or Susuki.

After going to the wrong location and then getting lost I finally stumbled upon the new Volvo dealership location nestled among Land Rovers, Jaguars and other snobbery. I chatted it up with a sales manager while looking at a few models and drove off with some brochures in my front seat so I could decide just how Volvo to go; S40, S60, S80 or suv style (already having one I am definitely leaning away from it this time around, I'll settle for AWD, four doors and a trunk only Superman can spy on).

So twice today I had to slam on my breaks for yellow lights (when driving to work at night the lights rarely change and when they do it's much less urgent to respond to their interference) knocking my brochures onto the floorboards. Then after getting off HWY 16 and heading toward the Purdy bridge I hear my "celly blowing up" and reach over to check it out. The light is still green and I am making a left turn behind the car I let in a couple blocks earlier (this time of day you can wait for hours before the traffic stops coming off of 16-no need to pat me on the back, I already did it, twice) is also making the left turn.

Suddenly I notice he has stopped just past the intersection as I am coming around the corner. This isn't the first time I've seen someone try to turn into the gas station on this corner during the worst possible time of day to attempt such a maneuver, but this is the first time in a long time and given my momentary distraction I found myself unable to go around him. So I slammed on my breaks for a third time today and fortunately the car behind me who ran a yellow to make the turn toward the bridge didn't hit me either.

So this might not seem that unusual to you so I will paint another picture. This gas station shares a gravel parking lot with several businesses next door which collectively have at least three entrances the LAST of which was the spot where this guy decided to make his stand and attempt a left turn across traffic which backs up from the light over the bridge and half a mile across the spit.

Anyway, with the light green for us to make that left turn he easily could've crossed traffic before the intersection to get into the gas station there so you might now see why I felt he was such an idiot for doing what he ultimately chose to do.

So to Volvo or not to Volvo. That is the question now.

I've all but decided not to buy a house right now after all. I keep reading that prices continue to rise in spite of longer overall time on market and higher inventory than anytime in recent years. Not to mention while interest rates remain low, many sub-prime banks are announcing that they are out of the business for good. Apparently this means that tension in the subprime market (which some are saying essentially no longer exists, but is a slight exaggeration) tends to tighten the slack through the other categories and even affects prime lending.

The short and dirty of it? While my credit isn't stellar it isn't bad either, but my expectation that I would be able to buy a home with zero down may no longer be the case, even if merely temporarily.

So I am amidst double-checking the facts with my friends at the Vancouver brokerage I still work with and when I find out exactly what is going on you all will be the first to know!

The only reason I mention that though is that it seems now that I don't need to worry about buying a new car since I will probably have to hold off on buying a house for another year anyway and that is the only real reason I was going to put off buying a car to replace my rapidly-growing-wary, gas-guzzling SUV.

If any of you feel like you have special insight into the latest generation of automobiles, perhaps you will impart this knowledge on me so I might be less clueless when I visit the next dealership. This guy started steering me toward the S60 without listening to much of what I had to say at all. Come to find out many of the coolest safety features Volvo has to offer are only available on the S80 (until the other two models undergo redesign in the next few years).

One final update. It is raining so I am thinking of staying in and catching up on sleep.

Peace and carbon neutrality!

b