Historically we've been focused on how many miles per gallon you can drive. It's an interesting exercise to take a slightly different view and look at miles per dollar. [via Digg] This takes into account local gas prices and your MPG. It would be slightly more interesting if they factored in typical maintenance costs for your car, but this is a good start. My Mustang gets 5.86 MP$ and my motorcycle is 14.41 MP$. That means it costs me about $3.50 more in gas to take my car to work than my motorcycle.
Some of you know that I'm in the market for a new car. I have a specific one in mind but I'll leave that off the blog for now. I'm curious which car you would pick based on my requirements.
- Seat four adults "comfortably." That is in quotes because comfort is a relative term. This requirement basically means four doors.
- Full or part time four wheel drive (or all wheel drive.) This is a ski vehicle so I don't want to be afraid of snow.
- 25+ miles per gallon. I'm usually on the low end of the city/hwy MPG range.
- Room for four people on a ski or camping trip. I'm open to roof cargo carriers. If I don't have a cargo carrier, I'll have a roof ski rack.
Those are the filters I have been applying to lists of cars. What would you pick based on those requirements? Are my filters flawed? I'm open to feedback.
If I've told you what vehicle I'm leaning towards, please don't post it in the comments.
So why do I have a photo of a burger on a post about a motorcycle ride? That's no ordinary burger. That's a Logger Burger from a restaurant in Packwood, WA. It had 1/2 pound of beef, ham, onions, eggs, lettuce, tomato, and thousand island dressing. I caught some flack for photographing my burger. If they'd known me a little better they would have known that I've photographed more than a few burgers in my day. I was a bit unsure how the egg would fit into the mix but it was outstanding. I maybe have to attempt it here at the house. I'm still in search of a burger that matches up to our Big Boy Burgers, but this one gave it a run for it's money.
Everything I own fits in 96 boxes. The movers dropped them all off yesterday at the condo. (Side note: I find myself wondering whether I should say "house" or "condo.") As soon as the movers were done I ran down to the garage and fired up 
I'd like to congratulate Aubry on his recent purchase of what may be the 
It's funny how some of my strongest memories are stupid things I've said and done. For example, I remember riding in the car with Mrs. Hintz around this time when I was probably 11 or 12. We were sitting at the intersection of Hickory and Cleveland in their old brown minivan. “So Ben, do you have spring fever?” … “Nope, I feel fine. I know a lot of people are getting sick though.” At least we were the only two people in the car for that one. It wasn't nearly as embarrassing as my answer to Mrs. A's “So Ben, have you ever had a yard sale?“ question on the trip from Boston to Harrison in a car full of people I didn't know very well yet. I think the recurring theme here is that I'm a moron.
It's Friday. The engineers have shunned their tan khakis in favor of jeans that are a little too tight and ditched the brown shoes for the velcro sneaks. It's like a fashion runway at a bingo tournament.
2006 Year In Review
I'm writing this from Washington state. Sometimes I have to stop and remember that. I'm in Washington. Last year I complained a bit about nothing noteworthy happening. Maybe I was just gearing up for all the changes that took place this year.
The move from Jersey to Washington was the biggest part of my year. A few people weren't happy with me leaving while others were excited for the opportunities I had out here. The one common sentiment was "Wow, I don't think I could do that." I'm not the kind of person to randomly quit my job and move across the country. I put a lot of thought into it, and these are the top two reasons that I left.
Those were the positive reasons for the move. The negatives were harder to stomach. I've never had a group of friends like the ones I had/have in Jersey. I've always had a friends in other places I've lived, but we had a huge group in Jersey. I made friends there that I'll have for the rest of my life regardless of where we end up. I knew it would be hard/impossible to recreate that experience anywhere else. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, and it takes me a while to make good friends. I was NOT excited about finding a new social circle. That one reason alone delayed my job search for about 6 months.
I do feel like a bit of a hypocrite. Last year I wrote about how there weren't any major events, but the year was defined by good times with friends. So what did I do a few months later? I ditched my great group of friends and headed west for a job that I wanted. I still haven't figured out how that makes sense.
It was a tough decision, and I spent countless days in prayer about it. I had previously been nervous about the move from Indiana to Jersey and from Jersey to Minnesota, and look at what God provided for me during those moves. It was foolish to doubt that He'd be just as generous if Seattle was where He wanted me to be. He opened so many doors in the process of moving out here that the choice was pretty obvious.
So in May the movers came and packed up everything I owned. I attended a great party with all my friends and said my goodbyes. And then I took off on my one way trip to the great unknown in Seattle.
This is the third cross country move I've made. It's not easy, but it's intriguing to see the similarities and differences between them all. The first few weeks are insanely boring. I don't know anyone. I don't have anything to do. And even if I had something to do, I don't know where it is. But this time was a little different for two reasons. First of all, I was set on putting an end to rent checks. I spent the first three weeks talking to mortgage companies, looking at tons of houses online and in person, and having long chats with my realtor about interest rates, housing market fluctuations, and future plans for the Seattle area. Secondly, I had family here. I'd only met them once at Rachel and Luke's wedding, but it was a place to start. Thankfully they're not too crazy, and they've all quickly become great friends. My transition would be entirely different without their warm hearts.
But that's enough about the move. I did other things this year too! I discovered the Melting Pot, almost got tossed out of a Phillies game, spent a couple good nights at Chain's house, bought a house, attended the NASCAR race in Michigan, went to my first Mariners game, hiked and rode to some amazing scenery, flew back to Jersey for Jay's bachelor party, spent a few nights in a tent with great food, showed my parents the sights of Seattle, stood up at Jay and Juliet's wedding, spent Thanksgiving in Spokane, and kicked off the ski season with a bang.
I won't even begin to speculate about what might happen next year, but I do have a few goals:
You'll notice those are pretty small goals. There's nothing too life-changing in there. That's because I'm finally feeling like I've planted myself in a good place. I'm here for the forseeable future. I might try to make the leap to a house with a yard at some point, but that's the only move I could see myself making and that won't happen for years. But who am I to predict the future? I've been wrong a hundred times before… and that's the exciting part.
Previous Years in Review: 2005, 2004, 2003