About 2 weeks ago I posted about a cryptic message from the Acura dealer insuinuating that they wouldn’t be able to get me a manual integra. I followed up with a call and what I learned was, Acura was sending some manuals, but not blue ones. And apparently a red one was on the lot so I told them to move my deposit over and find me a roof rack.

In the end they gave me $1,000 off msrp between the long wait and that I was coming from a competing brand.

I was a little worried to sit in it and drive it after waiting this long- that maybe it wouldn’t hold up to my memory. But that faded the moment I got in it- the shifter is fantastic, the interior feels so nice, and the engine has just the right punch. Its exactly the car I wanted and couldn’t be happier to have brought it home.

Have a good weekend y’all, I know I will!

A year ago Oppos may recall a couple of posts I made; they were about a job I applied for, was offered, and ultimately turned down. Well, I decided to keep on the lookout but not to shift so dramatically from what I’ve been doing. 6 months after I turned down the other job, another firm posted a job of the same title as mine and an old co-worker(different department, an acquaintance) gave me the in. 2 months later I was offered the job and in 10 days I start. I’ve liked a lot of the things about my current job but at the end of the day; my boss drove me nuts.

My boss’ boss though? Very good guy with an EQ like Einsteins IQ. Also a bit of a gear head but we didn’t talk shop as much as we should have quite honestly. He knows I have a Porsche 911 and that my daughter and I like playing legos.

What did I find on my desk from him earlier this week as a going away gift? One of the best Lego sets out there as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s to a new opportunity with a new boss and new challenges, and new things to learn.

After the test drive, the family was on board with the integra and the driving experience was just as good on the second drive for me. The dealer has a red one that’s unclaimed that’s being built in the next month but she said the blues are harder to come by; and I thought I was on the fence but with my actual cash money on the line I can hear my heart whispering to go blue(and my daughter yelling to go blue); so I will place an order; but that should only be a 2-3 months wait most likely.

I will say the car gets flack for its power but it feels like it’s got more than advertised, and a pull from second through third doesn’t leave me wanting for a lot more speed. The steering is good. The seating position and shifter are just right. The clutch engagement felt pretty second nature on this drive. They’ve reduced rev hang and it’s effects but I think saying it’s not noticeable would be too generous.

The biggest(and pretty much only) fault we could find with the car, is that my wife at 6’1” does not comfortably fit in the back seat. I’m fine at 5’9” but I think anyone over 5’11” would be slouching to fit. Leg room in the back seat is generous, head room; not so much. Lucky for us, my wife couldn’t remember the last time she rode in the back seat of our cars period do not a big issue.

All in all though, it is just such a well balanced, wonderful car. I’m truly excited.

18 months ago my department hired a new #2 in the org chart. And #2 really runs the day to day- #1 is mostly working on organization wide stuff.

I’m not crazy about the new #2. Don’t get me wrong, he is fine but I’ve had some rough spots with my job and he isn’t helping. He isn’t results oriented, he’s task oriented- he loves it when people do stuff; effective or ineffective- who cares, they did stuff! It results in a department driven to do stuff and less focused on results. And we have no shortage of stuff we could do. I’m always baffled that I’m the only one talking priority and ROI.

As a result, I’ve been applying to jobs. But I’m doing so with a healthy dose of caution and patience. Only jobs I truly want. I’m going to take a 25% pay hit no matter what but my wife and I could get by pretty happily if I took a 66% pay cut so my wife is hesitant but I’m not- we’ve scraped by in the past and the positions I’m applying for aren’t scraping- they just aren’t high paying. If I can be happier, even if it means less money, that’s fine.

I haven’t gotten much response on applications but today I lined up a phone interview. It feels like a weight was lifted even though it’s just a first step.

The job though is one that in the past I have described to others as a “dream job”. I didn’t think I’d ever get a shot at it as although I have an advanced degree; but it’s not the usual requirement for the position(usually list under “preferred” in addition to the degree I don’t have). It’s a Perfect fit for my personality and my interests.

But even if I don’t get this one; getting this phone interview makes it feel like I can probably get other interest as I look around.

In the ultimate stroke of irony- my job has improved in the past 3 months more than at any time lately but I like the idea of having options.

Wish me luck Oppo.

Well, after what has felt like a discombobulating year (wife and I have both changed jobs, wife's car breaks in dumb way that led to us selling and sitting on backorder for 6 months , fridge went out and took a week to get a new one, and the fender bender on my birthday which is still getting sorted and will be for another month probably); life decided to take off the gloves and get serious.

Our sewer line broke and unfortunately not even in the place that we expected; so in the interest of some economy it makes sense to fix most of it. It’s so expensive.

We are now living at my in laws for the next week and a half. How fun. Almost as much fun as paying a good part of your savings on a tube that moves waste from your house to the city sewer.

I will now cease new car day dreaming for the remainder of the year.

About 2 months ago I posted about a first interview on what is close to a dream job for me. Flash forward and I have now gone through a second Zoom interview and a 5 hour in person deluge of meetings including a presentation. I’m supposed to hear on their final decision this week.

The potential new job was always expected to be a cut in pay but I won’t know how much if/when I get the offer. It’s been really stressful because there’s a chance, albeit a small one, where they offer below my floor and I end up having to decline. I hope, and my wife pretty strongly believes, that they’ll find the middle ground with me but it’s still stressful.

It’s a less impressive job on paper but it would be more fulfilling. And it would actually offer me some flexibility to explore other things. My current job is 45-50 hours per week and I feel like I’m failing because I should be doing 55. This one is 35-40.

So with the extra 5-10 hours I can invest in life or professional development, or even follow up on some contract work I was offered in the past. But before I make all those plans I need an acceptable offer and to get through a really awkward month.

I said it last time I posted about my job search and I’ll say it again. Wish me luck oppo. Thanks for listening to my rambling on life.

My daughter; a sweet, kind, funny, bright 7 year old; approaches life in a certain way. She sits back, watches, learns and once she figures it out she joins in. She almost never jumps into something. I’ve heard it’s a bit of a conundrum more common with only children. But our daughter is also very good at lots of things once she takes the leap.

Some things can be executed pretty well with this approach- when we got her a 7 foot basketball hoop she knew the basics and only had a few real doozies before she started getting close and then making baskets. The sky is the limit on basketball skill but she could feel like she was doing it almost from the get-go. And that first glint of independent success was its own reward.

Some things in life aren’t learned by watching though, not even remotely; and downhill skiing is high on the list. We started taking our daughter skiing maybe 2 years ago- first with her in between our legs and holding our poles; then out front holding our poles; and most recently with her in a climbing harness and with some tethers we could pull if she started losing control. We’ve done lots of bunny hill time but never gotten her to completely ski without some nearby/holding/helping, until yesterday. Things got really strained a month ago when we called it a day on our first run at a really popular local hill that just overwhelmed her. But we went back out again 2 weeks later and my wife used her magic to get our daughter going again with some confidence and fun and patience.

We went out again and skied a bunch yesterday and our daughter was almost never pulling on the harness on the long shallow greens and bunny hills; in that territory she just didn’t really need it.

Over a well earned cookie I convinced her to ditch the tethers and give the bunny hill a shot all on her own. And she didn’t just ski down the bunny hill. She drew S’es in the snow all the way down. As she did more runs and got more comfortable she narrowed them out and went a little quicker. She went up the tow rope and back down on her own for an hour. I got choked up a couple of times. I’ve always told her I’m not necessarily proud of you for being good at something- I’m very proud of you for trying hard and getting back up after failing and working at getting better. And yesterday she conquered a big fear of hers- overcame more than a couple of failures; and it had a huge reward, she skied til she was exhausted. It was incredible.

Well almost 3 months to the day after I applied for a job; I received a job offer. I had been keeping my eye out for similar opportunities to this one for a few years and have thought the type of position could be a possible dream job. But in the end I declined.

As a person married for over a decade, I make few(or no) life decisions without my wife. And my wife and I had talked very little about this life change pre-offer because it’s a bit of a loaded conversation. Lots of moving pieces. But before I even got a chance to talk to my wife, at her recommendation; I laid out the pros, the cons, and some unknowns on my own. By the time I was done writing the list, something was apparent to me- the job wasn’t right. I mean the position is one I think I’d really enjoy with the right employer, and in the right time but this one had some warning signs and as much as I’m not particularly motivated by pay, it wasn’t clear to me that we could easily make our lives fit to the pay of this new job.

The first challenge was that I wasn’t sure how I’d get along with my boss. He tried to “pitch” me before their offer on taking the job and it was almost worrying in it’s lack of clarity about what success looked like in his mind- but also it sounded like he had some specific expectations. Lots of back and forth on two sides. He seemed nice but I’ve found over time that I resonate with some bosses and don’t with others and he just seemed like someone I’d struggle to work with. In our 3-4 conversations I wasn’t sure what the relationship would look like and it would have been a job with a lot of collaboration so I would have noticed this day in and day out I think.

The second was perceived opportunity for longevity. If I leave my current employer of 4 years it’s going to be for somewhere I can be there for at least as long and preferably longer. This reason is harder to explain but I started foreseeing it as a job with a honeymoon, “isn’t this great” phase, and a different long term outlook. They’ve strugggled to keep people at this organization in these roles long term from what I gathered.

The third was pay. Pay really wasn’t the deciding factor but it also didn’t let me hedge my concerns for points #1 and #2 above, which if they had been in my range, it might have. Tough to say. We had one kind of awkward, tough conversation about pay and I felt like they hid the ball a little and I think they thought I was being difficult. What struck me in the end is that the position didn’t have a range- it had a number and that’s very different than when I’ve hired in the past- because obviously someone with the minimum experience might get paid less than someone with, oh I don’t know, 8 years of experience. They disagreed; they were going to pay whoever wanted the job the same amount. I dunno; I suspect this plays a part in why they can’t retain people.

Anyways the good news is that my current job hasn’t been as hard(mentally) lately. And saying “no” to this pending 3 month question lifted mental barriers in some ways. So back to the grind. With any luck I’ll continue to get in a groove at my current job and be able to stick around for a few more years. Generally speaking I like the people and the work on good days so it’s just a matter of trying everyday to do the things I like.

I got lots of good vibes from people here on Oppo when I posted before, so thank you all.

Some of you may recall that about 6 months ago my wife’s C-Max got sidelined for an unknown amount of time due to a broken part that wasn’t being produced any longer and two shops not being able to get a used one to work.

With a sweet sweet Carmax offer in hand for the broken CMax we decided to sell that car and for the first time in our lives buy a new car because of state of the used car market. My wife drove a RAV4 hybrid and looked at the CR-V hybrid and based off of mostly looks, decided on the Toyota. We wanted over 65 cubic feet of storage space with seats down and over 30mpg combined, with a sticker around $35k or less, so there weren’t a ton of players in the area.

We spec’d a RAV4 to our liking, sent them $500 and then proceeded to wait 5 months. My wife told me she was tired of waiting and open to other cars. We were willing to bend a little on size but hybrid was still a must for her. Since we placed the RAV4 order, Hyundai and Kia have started delivering the hybrid Santa Fe and Sorento but both are suffering long waits and most of the dealer cars being delivered are over $40k; and the Venda being a small fancy RAV4 seems to be slightly more available. My wife though said that her first pick would be the CR-V. As luck would have it, with 2023 CR-Vs getting close, 2022 availability us good. We found my wife a blue CR-V hybrid with heated seats and no dealer markup that will be delivered in less than 3 weeks. The 2023 looks good but it will be more expensive and it is going to be slow to hit lots initially. My wife did even find as we went through the process that she preferred the CRV interior- it feels slightly nicer.

All in all it’s a win win. My wife’s getting a new car as promised; it’s a Honda so it should be worry free; and it hits all of our original wants. My wife kept her CMax for over 5 years and the plan is to keep the CRV for the same or longer. We will likely take delivery late next week. I’ll post an update when it gets here.

I swung by the Acura dealer today to give a 6mt Integra a go. I handed them my ID and insurance and they handed me the keys. I took it for a 15 mile spin around the north twin cities.

First off, it was drastically different from the 996; so just learning the car had a little curve, the throttle clutch shift timing was all more different than I expected. First and second gear are short on the integra and you can drive around the rev hang but my first few shifts weren’t super smooth.

Let me say though, the car drives very well. It’s one of those cars that just feels right and cohesive. The steering was great, the power was right for around town, the vehicle is pretty “right sized” it didn’t feel big but has enough space to be practical; it felt nice and well put together on the inside, the technology was good. The package was better than the sum of its parts on the spec sheet in terms of my expectations.

The shifter felt good, but clutch bite point was a bit vague.

After the first couple of pulls; the shortness of the gears, the throttle, and the clutch came together very well in terms of fun. I chirped the tires and had a little wheel spin here and there. I actually think the car is better with the lsd.

And it got 29mpg on my jaunt around town. That’s nuts.

It’s a good car and they are selling for sticker at the dealer I went to with about a 2-3 month lead time.

The tricky part is that the Civic Sport Touring hatchback can be had for $32k with comparable quality/specs except the LSD and the adjustable settings, and for 2023 comes in a sweet boost blue. The other tricky part is that I can’t really test drive a 6mt civic hatch because they are super rare. And the Civic SI is a whole 8k cheaper(although the dealers I asked about these had slight markups and I really really prefer a hatchback).Realistically, a 6MT integra in a lower trim would be much more compelling.

Not to mention the broader competition. The pending Corolla GR is not much more money and more race car; albeit who knows when I could get one and for what price and it does not quite check my boxes quite as much from a livability perspective(size, niceties, and mpg). And the GTI is a very comparable car on paper and starts a bit cheaper but I’m less excited about that and it’s a little apples to oranges.

I’ve spent a lot of time debating on if the Integra is $37k good before driving it. I will say after driving it; I’m leaning more towards yes. Part of me is a little bitter that Honda/Acura is holding the hatchback/6mt/lsd hostage at a bit of a premium but I could probably get over it to get the car that feels right.

@nth256

Suzuki SX4 for the new driver - $6000-8000

Subaru Forester manual - $10000-15000

How about that?

@MidEngine I’m jealous. We are in the Midwest and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to get to a spot with more than 700ft in elevation change this year.

How’s the snow hold up there when it’s that warm?

As we like to say in my family “grip it and rip it!”

@Snakesm13 also congrats!

@Snakesm13 our daughter was about that age when we went with my in-laws. You are exactly right to target one park per day. Our daughter liked the rides but the big thing for her at that age was meeting the characters and getting autographs; so get the book I’d say.

We had a hotel just outside the park as I recall and it was super basic but we essentially got there every night and passed out. Amenities didn’t really matter.

I’ll give it more thought on recommendations.

@drVanTraveler as others mentioned you can avoid any further engaging but sellers/buyers may be suspicious.

@eaeaerick milder tune but only have to use regular so that’s a decent compromise. I was so tempted by a boost blue sport touring(and a type r if I coulda found one…)

@RacinBob rpm highway cruising was around 2500 I think.

After 75 miles of about 1/3 city street driving and some 1/3 50mph country roads with occasional stops and 1/3 highway interstate it’s almost exactly 30mpg. Tank is 12 miles. I think if you were highway driving you could easily plan on 300-350 between tanks.

@MUSASHI66 thanks, so far no really clear scam type outreach. 2 people asked reasonable questions by phone. Only real challenge at this point is the first person who asked to come see it hasn’t confirmed the time and now 3 others are waiting for me to say when they can see it.

I listed my X1 on Facebook and Craigslist yesterday. I received 7 inquiries on facebook(3-5 of which look serious-ish) and 1 on Craigslist from a dude who sounds very serious but a little rude and 3 hours away. Shoulda saved my $5.

Also, apparently a fairly well maintained 10 year old, AWD car for less than $10k makes you very popular. That’s more inquiries than I’ve ever gotten on a car In The first day, legit or otherwise.

Also, 3 people have reached out about getting a car for their kid- oh sure, this 300hp car is a great first choice.

So far I haven’t had to send this to anyone though so that’s a win

https://i.postimg.cc/HkrbF55s/AFD015-B8-79-DA-439-D-A1-D9-50-A0224-F302-A.png

@ash78 love the Taycan, not in that color, not with witty vanity plates.