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Next weekend's Hamiltonning has taken shape, more or less. The plane ticket price actually went down 20 bucks by the time I booked it today, but I will be up at Ass-Crack a week from today for a 7 a.m. flight from Buffalo to LaGuardia. I picked the early one so that if it gets snowed or colded out, I'll still have time to bail on the plane and drive (I can do door-to-door in seven hours if needed, and I'll have eight). The matinee is at 3, and I'll find someone or ones for a meetup before heading to JFK for a 10 p.m.-ish return flight. (There's a school of thought saying the Last Flight Out gives you the best chance of picking up a voucher for a free future flight if you volunteer to be bumped.)
The downside of this is I will not get to spend any time at my sister's this time round- but hopefully once Eleanor's stress fracture has healed and the miniscus-fixus is decided, I can make more time for that. We're not the only hurting turkeys in the vicinity: my favorite trainer where I work out was on the mend for a few weeks after shoulder surgery. She came back today, but a bit earlier than she probably should have (she couldn't demo the exercises with her right arm because her range of motion on that side is about an inch above shoulder height), but she wound up subbing for someone with an even bigger problem. Part of the trainer's job is to collect "treadmill cards" that are handed out, first-come-first-serve, to the roughly half the class that begins on those machines. The lucky 14 lay them at the bottom of the tread rail. One of the class members didn't see or hear the trainer coming behind them to collect the card, and next thing she knew, she took a foot to the head and is in concussion protocol. I'm sure she's sad and scared about it, but knowing the people in this place, I'm sure the Accidental Footist is totally mortified about it.
Problems aren't the only things that are getting bigger, though,....
----
Eleanor's all-electric Smart car goes off lease in a few months, and the "early reminder" contacts about that have begun. Last time, it was a smooth transition from an Iggy (class of '13) to an almost identical Ziggy (class of '16), but there are no class of '19 Smarts of any kind matriculating around here. Mercedes no longer makes the gas-only kind that I drive (also a '16, but I bought it rather than leased it), and their local dealer no longer sells either version (the closest US dealer is in Albany, we're told). And, frankly, their servicing of both of our Smarts has been Stupid the last few times I've gone in there. So we've been checking on other models- Teslas are probably beyond us, but VWs and Volts and Bolts and who knows what else....
Would you believe, Hyundai?
Our friend Ann had checked out their options when her aging Honda was coming up for inspection this past fall. Hyundai makes three versions of their Ioniq model: mainly-gas-hybrid, all-electric, but also a plug-in hybrid version. Hel-lo!
That's lighter (we drove a grayish one) and older (2018) than the one Ann asked about - and the 2019 plug-in Ioniq finally came into the dealership this week. Unfortunately, that was a month or so after her prior Honda got totaled and she wound up buying a VW Jetta. So for fun, she went over to test drive it anyway, and I came with, in case she didn't (and probably won't) wind up buying it. I mostly kept my mouth shut, and was impressed that the salesman talked the whole time to her and not to her Not Husband. He didn't even ask for my name, even though we told him we might be interested in the car.
In terms of room, ride, general design, it reminded me a LOT of the Honda hybrid I drove for a couple of years after Emily and Cameron's Chevy was totaled and I gave them our 2005 Ford Fuckus. Once that car reached the end of its life, Kermit the Hybrid went to them and I acquired the gas Smart I still drive. But Kermit had things we occasionally miss: a back seat, for one. Room for more than one breathing life form. Ability to visit the kids with the dog and luggage and room to breathe. And, as a plug-in, the Ioniq qualifies for various federal and state rebates that would make Cheeto pay for most of the above-market cost. Hyundai warranties the battery for life (Smart, instead, makes you rent it) and has a 100,000 mile power train warranty (double what is about to run out on JARVIS). It's got heated seats, yo! (Also, a switch to turn them on and off.)
So she gets first dibs, but then we'll see what we can work out.
----
Tonight, we're due to get halfway through our re-binge of the Harry Potter saga. The fourth of the eighth films is cued up. Three remain that we own; the final, Deathly Hallows II: Electric Voldermoo, I'll have to pick up sometime this week. It's been amazing watching how the main three grew up in our sight- and this fourth one is the one where Daniel Radcliffe really becomes his future self in both actor and character.
I wonder if we'll hear him fart.
The downside of this is I will not get to spend any time at my sister's this time round- but hopefully once Eleanor's stress fracture has healed and the miniscus-fixus is decided, I can make more time for that. We're not the only hurting turkeys in the vicinity: my favorite trainer where I work out was on the mend for a few weeks after shoulder surgery. She came back today, but a bit earlier than she probably should have (she couldn't demo the exercises with her right arm because her range of motion on that side is about an inch above shoulder height), but she wound up subbing for someone with an even bigger problem. Part of the trainer's job is to collect "treadmill cards" that are handed out, first-come-first-serve, to the roughly half the class that begins on those machines. The lucky 14 lay them at the bottom of the tread rail. One of the class members didn't see or hear the trainer coming behind them to collect the card, and next thing she knew, she took a foot to the head and is in concussion protocol. I'm sure she's sad and scared about it, but knowing the people in this place, I'm sure the Accidental Footist is totally mortified about it.
Problems aren't the only things that are getting bigger, though,....
----
Eleanor's all-electric Smart car goes off lease in a few months, and the "early reminder" contacts about that have begun. Last time, it was a smooth transition from an Iggy (class of '13) to an almost identical Ziggy (class of '16), but there are no class of '19 Smarts of any kind matriculating around here. Mercedes no longer makes the gas-only kind that I drive (also a '16, but I bought it rather than leased it), and their local dealer no longer sells either version (the closest US dealer is in Albany, we're told). And, frankly, their servicing of both of our Smarts has been Stupid the last few times I've gone in there. So we've been checking on other models- Teslas are probably beyond us, but VWs and Volts and Bolts and who knows what else....
Would you believe, Hyundai?
Our friend Ann had checked out their options when her aging Honda was coming up for inspection this past fall. Hyundai makes three versions of their Ioniq model: mainly-gas-hybrid, all-electric, but also a plug-in hybrid version. Hel-lo!
That's lighter (we drove a grayish one) and older (2018) than the one Ann asked about - and the 2019 plug-in Ioniq finally came into the dealership this week. Unfortunately, that was a month or so after her prior Honda got totaled and she wound up buying a VW Jetta. So for fun, she went over to test drive it anyway, and I came with, in case she didn't (and probably won't) wind up buying it. I mostly kept my mouth shut, and was impressed that the salesman talked the whole time to her and not to her Not Husband. He didn't even ask for my name, even though we told him we might be interested in the car.
In terms of room, ride, general design, it reminded me a LOT of the Honda hybrid I drove for a couple of years after Emily and Cameron's Chevy was totaled and I gave them our 2005 Ford Fuckus. Once that car reached the end of its life, Kermit the Hybrid went to them and I acquired the gas Smart I still drive. But Kermit had things we occasionally miss: a back seat, for one. Room for more than one breathing life form. Ability to visit the kids with the dog and luggage and room to breathe. And, as a plug-in, the Ioniq qualifies for various federal and state rebates that would make Cheeto pay for most of the above-market cost. Hyundai warranties the battery for life (Smart, instead, makes you rent it) and has a 100,000 mile power train warranty (double what is about to run out on JARVIS). It's got heated seats, yo! (Also, a switch to turn them on and off.)
So she gets first dibs, but then we'll see what we can work out.
----
Tonight, we're due to get halfway through our re-binge of the Harry Potter saga. The fourth of the eighth films is cued up. Three remain that we own; the final, Deathly Hallows II: Electric Voldermoo, I'll have to pick up sometime this week. It's been amazing watching how the main three grew up in our sight- and this fourth one is the one where Daniel Radcliffe really becomes his future self in both actor and character.
I wonder if we'll hear him fart.