possible new wheels

i recall the year beginning & talking about selling some things. we did sell the audi, which was by far the most important & significant of items we need to sell. at the same time, kristin & i are both looking for new wheels.

actually, i’ve been looking for a new tri bike & the B12 finally came in so i picked it up yesterday from J&As after breakfast at casa with kristin. then we headed out to the toyota dealership to turn my 4runner in for any maintenance it may need (1st shop visit since we bought it – turned out it just needed a tire rotation & the brake fluid flushed – so much cheaper than maintaining an audi!). while, there we decided to do an oil change on kristin’s 4runner & sit down for cup of free starbucks joe. our sitting didn’t last long – intrigued by the new “smart” cars kristin & i started looking at the matrix, the yaris (very cool story about how this car got its name), & the prius. given the price tag & economic sense of owning a yaris ($14K - $16K w/ options, 30+ MPG, & super toyota quality) we hopped in one for a test drive. knowing that kristin set out this year to reduce her carbon footprint, i told her that if she wanted it we’d get it today.

we ended up taking a real liking to our salesman (this guy & his/our story deserve it’s own blog post) & it didn’t even fill like we were shopping & that he was selling us a vehicle. 3-hours later & kristin made a smart move & said let me take it home for a couple of days (an extended test drive) to ensure she was ready for such a smart, simple, & economical vehicle. we are less than 24-hours into & i think she may be sold on it.

after getting home with the yaris yesterday we took it by J&As to pick up my tri-bike shoes (i left them there earlier that morning & would need them to in order to test ride the B12). we even took payton in the back & he fit just fine & better yet he could actually jump in/out by himself whereas with either 4runner we still have to pick him up – we hope as he get’s older/stronger he’ll be able to manage by himself. anyhow, kristin took the yaris back out last night to meet some girlfriends for drinks, she drove me downtown this morning for the start of the AT&T austin marathon, & now she’s swinging by central market for groceries. i can only assume that if the grocery shopping goes well today then she’ll be exchanging her SUV (4runner) for the yaris.

while we are shopping for new toys, the best part is that our expenses will actually reduce – well the bike doesn’t actually count :) but the yaris car payment, gas, up-keep, etc. will be significantly less than her 4runner. i’m loving ’08! kristin & i are rocking, we both have our health, our families are well, we got a awesome dog, we are both getting new toys while reducing our expenses, we are expanding our education (kristin’s getting her real estate license & i am getting my business analyst certificate), i’ve got some new rocking friends & getting closer to some friends from my past, work is exciting, we are both for the 1st time ever looking to vote for a democrat (go obama), & we are doing it all in austin, TX!