The Geeky Brit

So I decided to buy a Mazda 6.

I got the Grand Touring edition, with the 4 cylinder engine. I really wanted the V6, but with the amount of miles I do, and the rising gas prices, I figured the sensible thing to do was to go for a more fuel efficient model.

I have to admit tho, it is still rather sporty, and the dealership surprised me by adding the V6 badge to assuage my vanity. That made me laugh.

I had a great time negotiating. I did a lot of research on edmunds.com and vehix.com, and knew exactly what car I wanted, and what I should expect to pay for it. In the end I visited 3 dealerships, and got them to quote the exact same car – I found a model I wanted in port, so they could all claim it if they wanted. Armed with the VIN of the vehicle, and the Invoice price I went to work shuttling between dealerships.

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So a new version of Zend was just release. I have written before about Zend, and I have to say I love it.

Those php peeps really know how to make a nice framework. The down side is, php still feels like the worst of perl and C combined…

So over the past year I have shelled out a lot of moola on my trusty old Toyota Corolla. It seemed to be going through a phase where everything needed fixing at some point or another. After the last visit to the service center and a quote for $500 to fix a few things, I decided to get a second and third opinion – yet these opinions matched the original. I worked it out that I was spending $350 a month on maintenance, as well as my car payment. I spoke to Toyota about this a few months ago, and they said this car will last me a long time… When I pointed out my exuberant payments on maintenance, they assured me this was a passing phase. Well, $2000 later, I feel like a sucker.

I drive 30000 miles per year, and I cannot afford the type of maintenance schedule my Corolla seems to need. I asked Toyota if it was best to buy a new car… And they said no. I did the math, and figured out it would be, as I had some additional very expensive maintenance items due (Breaks and Strut replacement). Toyota lost out on a car sale because they were too kean to take my money for maintenance. Now I know the dealerships make more money in the service centers than selling a car but still…

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It turns out is is a year since I started this weblog. Wow, don’t the years fly by when you get old.

It has been an interesting time sharing my thoughts and ideas with you all, dear readers, especially when it came to vacation time in November.

Sometimes my posts have been few and far between, but being a coder, I go through phases at work where I am exceptionally busy. At these times, I lose the way, and choose not to spend any more time in front of my PC than is necessary….