The Fit is Go

Today Kit Kat, Momomoko, and I went to another Honda dealership. We took a look at the Vortex Blue we thought was hot. Turns out it looks more like purple. Then we took a liking to the Milano Red color. But they only had it in a more expensive trim. They tried to talk us into taking a subpar color or pay extra. That was not optimal. So we had to roll.

Later Momoko considered paying extra for the higher trim. She then wondered whether we should go higher to another model such as the Honda Civic. We went to the local Honda dealership. It turns out that I don't quite fit in the back seat of a Civic. Now we know. Right now Momoko is checking with other dealers to see if they can lower the price of the Milano Red option. She may have a good lead right now.

No Fiesta For Ford

We had one more small car to see before we made out final decision for the new car. This was the Ford Fiesta. The local dealer final got in some Fiestas. Before work, the family visited the dealership. The first car we checked out was the Fiesta hatchback. I knew we were in trouble when Little Kat got in the back seat and those it was tight.

Next we took a look at the Fiesta sedan. It had more room. But the back seat was still too small. I could fit in the front seat if I moved it back and all the way down. However that was no good. We need a new car that the whole family can sit in. That means we were down to either a Honda Fit that Momoko would buy, or a Chevy pickup truck that I would buy (and let Kit Kat use my car).

I thought about all our goals during the work day. The truck was okay. It was automatic transmission so Kit Kat or Momoko could drive it in a pinch. It also had a nice long 8 foot bed to haul long items. But I was not ready to drive this thing every day. It did not have any options at all. Too basic. The price was right. But it was not the right truck. The right truck costs just too much for us now.

So now we are down to just the Honda Fit. Momoko is making plans on how to get the right trim and color at the right price. If all goes well, we should have the car in a couple days. I am still a little hesitant to get a brand new car that costs what I think is a lot of money. But we have the need.

Going Trucking

We have been looking for a new car that Kit Kat can drive. There was another option. I could get a new truck. Then Kit Kat could drive my car. The weekend paper had some steals advertised on trucks. Today Momoko did my Target shopping so I could go truck shopping.

The dealerships were 30 minutes away. I drove to the Ford. They sold out the super deal on their small truck. That's okay. I took a look at another small Ford. It did not have the room in the cabin that I needed. Their big truck was impressive. It had a V8 engine. It also had a long 8 foot bed, and lot of room behind the seat. However the suspension seemed raised high. I had trouble getting into the truck. They also required me to finance the thing with them to get one of the discounts.

Next I went to Chevy. I got a rookie salesperson. He could not find the truck I wanted to see. He had to run back in and ask his manager for help. We found the truck. It was nice because it has a lowered suspension. Perfect for Momoko and Kit Kat. It was also cheaper than the Ford. The truck is really stripped down. There is not power windows, power locks, CD player, or anything. But you can't beat the price.

I am going to sleep on this and see how I feel about the truck in the morning.

Adventures in Babysitting

I was the first one awake this morning. This will probably continue throughout the summer. So I went to work before anyone woke up. Momoko had scheduled to see Bad Teacher at the movies with some other teachers. One colleague had a young boy. Kit Kat agreed to babysit the little one during the movie.

Apparently the lil guy was 4 years old. I think he spilled Momoko's coke that she left out of the table. And Momoko was talking to the kids about child proofing the house. The lil guy got a kick out of our fish and gerbils. I thought the gerbils were most impressive. But he was interested in our big Dojo fish, which has been swimming a lot around our new bigger tank.

By the time I got home, the movie and babysitting was over. Kit Kat made some cash. That is good because she has not found a summer job yet. Little Kat scheduled a sleep over with his buddy. He had already left by the time I got home. And I thought I left work at a decent hour. I guess when you are off for the summer, you have all kinds of options.

Super Sick

On Tuesday they whole family was watching The Nine Lives of Chloe King on TV. Towards the end of the show I felt a strong need to go to the bathroom. I went upstairs and found myself very sick. I lept into bed and pulled all the covers on. But I was freezing. A bad fever had come over me. I needed some more blankets.

My hope was that somebody would come upstairs and check on me since I left TV time early. I lay shivering in bed for a few hours. Finally Momoko came up. I told her I was really sick. I could not get much sleep that night because I was so cold. The next day I took off from work.

I stayed in bed the whole day. I only got out of bed once to grab a new drink. Since I was terribly sick, I did not eat anything. But my stomach hurt. So I had a few crackers. The next day I realized that we had missed our time to pick up Little Kat's matress we ordered on Monday. So we brought the truck today to pick it up. I was fine until I had to carry his mattress. Then I felt weak and needed to get back to bed. The good news is that Little Kat loves his new mattress.

Good Night's Sleep

Momoko has decided that Little Kat needs a bed that is closer to the floor. He currently has a loft bed which is high up in the air. After some deliberation, Momoko and Little Kat decided we would get a new matress to put under Little Kat's loft bed. He plans to construct a makeshift bunk bed.

Today the family went to Momoko's classroom to finish packing up for the summer. We only spent about an hour of hard work and the thing was done. Little Kat and I went home. Momoko and Kit Kat waited for the principal to check the classroom. Of course it was up to par and then some.

At home Little Kat thought it was a good time to get his new matress. We found an advertisement from the Sunday paper. Luckily they had a store in our city. We brought the truck to buy and bring home a matrees. It was pretty desolate at the matress store shopping center. We sat on a few matresses that were on sale from the ad. They were okay. The sales guy said he could match the ad prices with some other matresses.

After deliberating and hopping from matress to matress, Little Kat chose one. It was more ritzy than the ones in the ad. However it was the same low price. They did not have it immediately in stock. We are scheduled to return in 2 days to pick the thing up. Good luck Little Kat.

Taking a Tour

Today we visited the local Hyundai dealer to look at cars. I drove us there because Kit Kat was tired. Most of the entry level vehicles were too small. I could not fit in the back seat. However Momoko heard that their Elanta Touring Edition was a cool car.

The Elantra Touring is essentially a small station wagon. There was plenty of room in the back seat. Kit Kat and I took it for a ride while Momoko and Little Kat sat in the dealership. The car did not have as zippy of an acceleration as I was expecting.

When we got back to the dealership, Momoko and Little Kat had already become interested in the Mazda dealer next door. We took a look at the Mazda 2 and Mazda 3. They were both way too small. The selling point of the Mazda 2 was the nice green exterior paint. Still it was just too darn small.

Next step is most likely going to be Honda.

Day of Hard Work

I took the day off from work to help Momoko pack up her classroom. When I woke up, Little Kat was still at home watching TV. He told Momoko he did not feel well early in the morning. However he wanted to come with me to help Momoko.

Little Kat and I picked up lunch for the whole family at our favorite Chinese food restaurant. We then went to his school. I wanted to check in at the front office. But there was a long line. We proceeded to Momoko's classroom. It was locked. A kind lady with a key let us in. After lunch we got down to work.

First I cleaned out all the student desks. Then Little Kat, Kit Kat, and I stacked all the desks up at the end of the room. They were heavy. Little Kat and I proceeded to pack up all the stuff in the classroom into Momoko's closet. We threw out a bunch of trash. Kit Kat sealed up the bookshelf with paper to prevent theft. Finally we turned off the freezer and left it thaw out.

By the end of the day I was beat. We shall return on Monday for the final touches.

A Sick Cat

Last night I stayed up very late working on my computer program. Little Kat got sick. He came down the stairs looking for Momoko. I told him she already went to bed. So he went upstairs and pounded on her door to tell her he was sick. Eventually Momoko woke up and told Little Kat to go to bed.

I woke up late for work and rushed out the door. By the time I came home, which was also late, I had a message from Momoko. Apparently Little Kat had stayed home from school today. I never even noticed. He was still up in his bedroom late in the afternoon. He ended up drinking some soup and 7up.

Kit Kat skipped school today. Momoko asked that she do it to come help Momoko tear down her classroom for the summer. Kit Kat is skipping school again tomorrow to help some more. I am taking the next two days off work to help Momoko as well. My job tomorrow is to bring some Chinese food lunch for us to eat. Then I have to move all the heavy stuff into the closet in Momoko's classroom. Fun stuff.

The Bike Solution

Momoko signed the family up for membership at the local pool. Kit Kat and her friends usually walk there. It is not too far away. However the last time Little Kat tagged along, he complained that the walk was too much for him.

Little Kat proposed that he be allowed to ride his bike to the pool. Sounds like a good solution to me. Little Kat told me he needed a few items to make this happen. We did some shopping last weekend to hook him up.

First Little Kat needed a lock to secure his bike at the pool. Check. Next Little Kat said he needed a replacement helmet as his old one fell apart. Check. Finally Little Kat said his bike seat was too small and hard. We tried to buy him a replacement seat. But he was concerned he could not attach it easily to his bike. We bought him a "seat cover" that provides extra cushion.

Now we are all set up for swimming this summer.

Fiesta Fail

Today we visited our local Ford dealer to look at their Fiesta model. Kit Kat drove us there. Momoko had her take a twisty back road. The road felt like a roller coaster. Kit Kat has driven on it before. So she hit the gas, making the ride quite a thrill.

There was a lot of traffic on the main road where the dealer was located. Kit Kat eventually made it in. A salesman met us outside the store room. He broke us the bad news that their last Fiesta had been sold. He showed us the Focus which was a distant second choice. It seemed a bit cramped. The cost of the car was high too.

I asked the sales guy to see if he could find us a Fiesta to check out. Kit Kat did not like the Focus. The guy called me back already and left a message. Let's see what he has to say. Next up is Hyundai I think.

A Busy Saturday

This morning Kit Kat and Momoko went grocery shopping. They had to get it done. Kit Kat is doing the Relay For Life and will be walking all night long. Literally. Next we went to see cars at Toyota. I thought there would be one that we might like. Kit Kat favored the Yaris. It was too small for me and Momoko's tastes.

Momoko tried to salvage the trip by having us sit in a Scion. I generally like Scion. I drive one. But this one was too cramped as well. Kit Kat and I ended up test driving the Yaris. It looks like we are going to pass. In other news, my bro and I saw True Grit today. I chose it for Jeff Bridges. However the young girl stole the show.

Mighty Cat

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire Mighty Cat.

Had a Bad Day

This was a tough week. I was sick but had to work. There was a very complex large problem that I needed to solve. I spent 12 hours working on Tuesday. Other people on my team had severe trouble with their work, so they needed help from me. I was hoping that today would be a quiet Friday.

By the time I woke up, I had a lot of phone messages. I could not listen to them because my home phone and cell phone were ringing. Those team members that needed help before were stuck. Their fix did not work and the customer was pissed.

I wanted to go into work and help out the team. My boss told me we did not have time for that. I had to log in from home and figure out what was up. Eventually I discovered what was wrong. By then I had missed breakfast and lunch. Epic work fail. This was not even my work. The peeps on my team had fallen down and could not get up.

Testing out the Versa

The temperature was up around 100 degrees today. We still went though with a test drive of the 2011 Nissan Versa. The had the "S" model in the lot. Kit Kat and I decided to take it out for a spin with the sales guy. As I left the dealer lot, I realized the thing had no gas in it. Our sales guy had us drive to the back lot. We got another red Versa.

I tried to take the car on the highway and drive fast. But it was rush hour. We did not get any faster than 30mph. The car we tested did not have keyless entry. It did have power locks, doors, and mirrors. The power was good enough for it to be zippy. The main trouble was that the sticker price was $16,860. Ouch.

In other sad news, one of our old fish died during a tank transfer. We upgraded to a bigger 20 gallon tank. It was a good time since the old tank water was getting murky. The old tank is going to be our incubator tank to grow very small fish. Right now Little Kat and Kit Kat are putting together the new stand for the incubator tank.

New Arrivals

I stayed home today. Momoko had a new iPad being delivered. And we can have the delivery guy leave that on the front step. The delivery truck came around lunch time. Luckily I did not go out for lunch.

I worked a really long day from home today. Little Kat and Momoko stayed lare at school. I was still working when they came home. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Little Kat carrying in a bish fish tank looking cage. It had three active gerbils in it.

Little Kat gave them some paper towels cardboard rolls. Two out of the three gerbils were going to town playing with the rolls, and chewing them up.

They third gerbil was a bit sluggish. I thought she might be ill. No. She was just a bit tired. Later on she went crazy cleaning one of the other gerbils. Then she was busy creating a bed in their cage.

Striking Oil

Today Little Kat and Momoko assembled our new lawn mower. One of the tasks was to put the oil into the mower. Momoko asked when was the last time we checked the oil on our old mower. Never.

Kit Kat pulled out the dip stick and found the old mower had no oil. Doh. Momoko instructed the family to not use the old mower until we got some oil. That put a damper in the plan to use 2 mowers and get the lawn done twice as fast.

Kit Kat and Momoko drove to the gas station to find some lawn mower oil. No luck. Little Kat and I went to Target. They did not have any there either. Luckily Wallyworld came to the rescue. Walmsrt sells lawn mowers and lawn mower oil.

Next week we plan to be very effective using 2 lawn mowers. We will need to be. Kit Kat is doing some charity walk all night on the weekend. She will be in no shape to help us cut the grass the next day.

Warehouse Pickup

Today I planned to pick up our new dishwasher at the store's warehouse. My sales associate gave me printed directions on how to get to the store. I was going to drop by the warehouse at lunch. But a meeting ran late through lunch time.

Next I figured I would go after work to pick up the washer. Guess what? Another meeting was running late. Luckily my meetings are all using conference calls over the phone. I participated in the meeting, but then just dropped off after about an hour. Let's hope they don't miss me.

I was thinking ahead and brought my truck to work. I followed the instructions on the paper. It had me following a road through many turns. I got to one stoplight and realized I needed to make a right turn. Good thing there was no traffic because I made that right turn from the middle lane.

Then I took a drive and my instincts told me I needed to go right. I could not find any street signs at the intersections. I decided to trust my spider sense and turned around. Yep. I had missed a critical turn. Once I got to the warehouse, it was very easy to get my big package. Now let's get this thing installed. That's a story for another time though.

Demanding Good Service

Yesterday I went shopping for a second lawnmower. I chose the least expensive one that was on sale. It was a mid-range model by cost. The bag in the back that holds clippings was easy to remove and attach. I decided to buy it.

My truck was ready to transport the lawn mower. I waited 10 minutes before I saw anyone in the pick up department. I chatted with some other guys waiting for pick up. When I finally got my lawn mower, I asked for a $5 off coupon you get if they take more than 5 minutes.

The joker working pick up could only find an expired coupon. No way. He could not find me a manager in his department. So I got sent upstairs to see the big boss.In the end, a manager took 5 bucks off my purchase price. Let's hope the product itself is good quality.