Saturday night, we had Easter at Nana’s house. There were so many eggs in their front room. The kids had a great time finding them and mostly eating them. Jonathan, Marissa, Brendan, Savanna and Miles all hunted for eggs.
So I read an interesting bit this morning on the iPad and it struck me as pretty much spot on.
If you take a moment to read it you’ll probably find it interesting if you have any interest in software, computers, digital media, etc. Basically the gist of it is this: buying products like the iPad and even the iPhone/iPod is bad for open software development and open distribtution of content/information.
Basically the arguement is that as Apple tightens the screws on who can develop and distribute what and how on their very successful hardware platforms, people lose the ability to truly choose how they use the devices and software they buy, and since Apple even controls what applications are allowed to be developed and distributed on the iPhone/iPod/iPad, they can keep you from ever even having a chance to install a program you want, or even keep it from ever existing in any usable fashion.
To me that is a bit over the top really.
Oh, in case you are wondering, this is Cory Doctorow.
After 9+ years of faithful trasportation from my old 1995 Toyota Corolla, I finally pulled the trigger on a new car purchase at the end of 2009. On the morning of December 31st I purchased a 2010 Kia Forte.
The fact that Forte means strong in Italian was probably no small factor in my interest in this car, but after it caught my attention initially with the name and the following commercial, I really liked the features and price of the car:
Eventually, after some research and waffling on whether I wanted to really spend money on a new car when my old one was still sort of limping along, I decided to go for it.
I tried going to a dealership back in October and I got to do a test drive in a Forte base model and really liked it but they didn’t have one with the options I wanted (the 5-speed automatic Fuel Efficiency Package in a White EX model) and the sales person I talked to was a bit more keen on selling me a Kia Soul instead, it seemed. I wanted the Forte not the Soul (the Soul is a bit weird and doesn’t have near the mileage of the Forte). So I gave up for a bit.
When I realized that there was a 2009 tax incentive that was about to expire in December, I got motivated to get back on the horse and emailed a couple of dealerships to ask for what I wanted. None of them had it but one came back quickly and said they could get it if I were serious. I told them I was pretty much ready to buy if they would meet my price. I gave them a price a bit lower than the Edmunds.com TruePrice or whatever they say people are paying for the car and they took it. A few days later they had my car ready to go and I went in to sign everything and pick it up.
The purchase went smoothly and everything was above board. They tried to sell me on the extended warranty but this thing already has a pretty crazy warranty and I’m not interested in the fabric protectors and crud they sell for only $600 extra! 
So, a couple months later, here it is:
And from the back:
So far I am loving it. It is faster than my old car, surprisingly so for a car that promises to get up to 36 MPG (some people report more with the Fuel Economy package). It is bigger a bit as well which was my main complaint with my old car. Even with all the weight I have lost over the last couple years, the Corolla always felt very small inside and it had virtually no leg room for people in the back. This car can easily seat 2 adults and a child, maybe 3 medium adults, in the back seat.
One of my favorite things so far is the stereo, surprisingly. It has a USB port for a memory stick or iPod. I just use an 8GB memory stick full of the music I want to listen to and it works great. The sound is really very good too. I’m pretty blown away by it.
The trunk is pretty cavernous as well and I am finding little things about the inside of the car that I really like too. The sunglasses holder and interior lights are well thought out and very effective. The drink holders and stuff are great too if you are into beverages in the car, I am not.
So I am back to having a car payment again. The only down side. 
I could have just barely paid it in full but they had a 0% interest for 36 months offer so I took them up on that. I’d rather make a small amount of interest and keep my money as long as possible, so I made a large down payment and there was $1000 cash back on the car which also went to the down payment.
About 2 weeks later I had sold my old car as well, for more than I thought I would get. I put it on the classifieds at ksl.com and I had a pretty amazing response. A couple of wierdos but the guy who bought it showed up and did a test drive, offered to bring me cash for what I was asking the next night and then my old friend was gone. It was really pretty quick and easy, thankfully. I was sort of dreading a long and difficult process selling my old car.
So, all told, I am very happy with my new car and the process of buying it. 
Update time. I got a few free minutes today so I figured it was time for a little update. Not much has changed, oh except a new layout/theme on the site and a new site icon I made!
It’s a shovel icon with the Japanese kanji character for ‘fist’ overlayed on top. I like it.
Technically it should say ‘拳法‘ because that is how you write Kenpo in Japanese kanji (the equivalent, more or less, of KungFu). But I think stylistically it looks better with just the fist kanji.
Strictly translated 拳法 means ‘way of the fist’, for anyone interested.
Our new little girl was born on Friday Feb. 19th at 1:01pm. She was 7 lbs 11 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. The labor was pretty fast and easy. Thank you so much to all the family and friends who helped us out taking care of the other kids and bringing food and supplies. With three kids to take care of now, this is as much as I can write! 
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I can’t believe my baby is 4! We had a small birthday party with family. Savanna had been talking about a pinata for months so we did that, had cake and ice cream and let her be the center of attention, which is actually not out of the ordinary for her! Four years ago my life changed in a way that only having a baby can do. She is my joy and I love her so much.
the books i make ar CAPTIN SAMUEL and other wones too my sooper hero i love
This year my goal was to have a stress free holiday season, and I am happy to say, we made it work! We set a very small budget for James and I and the kids, and instead of buying gifts for every family member and friend we know, our family decided to do service. We made meals for The Food and Care Coalition, tied a quilt for the Womens Crisis Center and adopted an angel from the Angel Tree. We stayed close to home and even had tater tot casserole for Christmas dinner, making everything as simple as possible. After doing this I will never do Christmas another way again. It was so peaceful and calm and James and I got to enjoy being with each other and the kids, it was wonderful. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of our savior, nothing more, nothing less, this is how I want it to always be.
