Who Picked Out the Letters?

Honesty in a vanity plate, as seen at the grocery store parking lot entrance.

At first I was impressed with the way they worked their religious bent into their business. After all, we are living in the bible belt. So here is Christian Realty. That name itself should appeal to a lot of the people in these parts.

And they have a clever tag in their domain name as advertised on the back end of the SUV: The ONE way home dot com. Very clever.

But now notice the letters on the license plate: BAD DRVR.

At least they are honest.

Cobalt Commercial

Funny commercial on the History Channel tonight was for the new Chevy Cobalt. The scene starts with a car parked at the gas pump. The pump hose disengages itself, reaches down and deflates the rear tire of the car. Then the words, “Gas Pumps Hate Us” show on the screen. The car’s owner comes out of the convenience store with chips and drink and goe sto get into his car when he notices the flat tire. Then the words “Chevy Cobalt . . 36 MPG” come on the screen.

Makes you stop and think, could I downsize to a Cobalt for the sake of the better MPGs?

Ice Road Truckers

Tried to get all the honey-do chores done today in time to catch the “Ice Road Truckers” on the History Channel tonight. At 7:00 is a re-broadcast of last week’s season premiere, and then at 8:00 is the new show of the series.

I’m totally hooked on this show. I am fascinated that these men take their lives in their hands to drive trucks over the frozen rivers and frozen ocean in the Arctic. They are modern cowboys with true grit.

Road Rage Linked to Bumper Stickers

Read a cool article in the Washington Post yesterday about a study that has linked drivers that have a problem with road rage to their use of bumper stickers on their cars.

A recent study by Colorado State University social psychologist William Szlemko concluded that:

Drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other “territorial markers” not only get mad when someone cuts into their lane or is slow to respond to a traffic light, they also are far more likely than others to use their vehicles to express rage —by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior.

And you may be interested to know that I do not have any bumper stickers on any of my cars. I think they look trashy. But I have seen a few that made me laugh. Last week I saw this one on an old Humpty:

“If you are going to ride my ass . . .
. . . at least pull my hair.”

Emergency Cash

My step daughter had borrowed one of my cars for the past week as hers was broken down for some unexplained mechanical problem. I don’t mind letting her borrow the car for short periods, but she makes it very difficult to keep my resolve to close down the “Daddy ATM.” Her mother and I decided at the first of the year that we must stop shelling out hundreds of dollars each month to “help out” as long as she continues to choose this path down the wrong road.

As I was cleaning out the car upon it’s return, I noticed a paper stuck between the seats and the console. It was a paper receipt for a payday loan. I was shocked and dismayed that she is resorting to using payday loans, but then again, since we told her in no uncertain terms that the cash handouts from our wallets are over, I suppose she thinks she has no choice but to use those types of cash advances to tide her over.

The problem with this is that she never seems to have enough money to pay the loan off and she ends up renewing the loan, putting herself farther behind. This is exactly the type of behavior that we are trying to discourage and she must be even more hard headed than I thought if she is not learning this important financial and independent lifestyle lesson.

Payday loans are a great tool for a one time emergency cash advance. It is supposed to be used for things like emergency car repairs and emergency medical expenses, with the key words being “emergency.”

Now I know I just said that her car was broken down, but I’m not sure I believe her. The car was in excellent condition when we bought it for her last year. I check it over once in a while to make sure the oil is changed and the fluids are OK, the tires are OK, etc. I hadn’t noticed anything going wrong so I have to wonder what the emergency repair was for and she has managed to not share that information with us. If it is true, I hope she is going to handle this payday loan as a responsible adult and pay it off with her very next paycheck.