I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
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June 29, 2008
Pursuit of Less Continues
Filed under: Abare News
I really don't like cars.
When I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in March of 2000, I arrived in a 1987 Honda Civic. It had been given to me a few months earlier after my previous vehicle was stolen (long story). The Civic had a manual transmission without air conditioning and came nicely loaded with 225,000 miles. Had it existed then, I would have been looking real good in the Junky Car Club!
The Civic was definitely meant to be a temporary car since it needed tons of work, not to mention being able to pass California smog inspections. With Jamaica meeting up with me in California after a year in England, she was going to need a car too (we were not yet married). I bought a used Chrysler Sebring with a convertible top--a request of the lady friend (soon to be fiance). Between the Civic and the Sebring, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for many years to come.
Until the Civic died out on us 18 months after we got married. Frustrated with unreliable cars all our lives, we bought a new Toyota Matrix. Good gas mileage, decently priced and the perfect car to last a couple hundred thousand miles. Between the Matrix and the Sebring, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for plenty of years.
Until one of my younger brothers--who was living with us at the time--borrowed the Sebring and completely totaled it in a car accident. Fortunately no one was injured! My dream car up until this time had been a BMW, so I thought this might be the perfect excuse to start test driving. After several months of shopping, I settled for an Acura. Not quite a BMW but it was a nice car for a great price. Between the Acura and the Matrix, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for a lifetime.
Until we moved to downtown Los Angeles. Not only did we not need two nice cars, we didn't need two cars period. Although Jamaica has to commute 25+ miles for her job, I live just three miles from the office. That's walking/biking distance people. So began our quest to sell the Acura--the more expensive of the two cars. As of this past week, I am happy to say we are now a one car family! Between the Matrix and my two feet, we'll be able to get along just fine in SoCal.
It feels good to continue living on less. Having one less car will mean mucho money savings, better stewardship of the environment, increased exercise and more exposure to people.
Here we go!
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Comments
thanks for putting me in bold.
Posted by: the younger brother at June 30, 2008 10:59 PM