Test Your Automotive Valuation Skills!

Sentimental value aside, what would you think the asking price for the "dear friend" (a 1988 Chevy Nova with 86,000 miles) would be?

A. $0-$399
B. $400-799
C. $800-$1199
D. $1200-$1599
E. $1600-$1999

We have driven by the lot and seen the asking price on the windshield. What's your guess?

A dear friend of the family is lost to us...

The Nova, after 18 long years and 86 thousand miles of service, has passed on to a different stage of ownership. In its early days the Nova brought many of us happy memories of driving to various destinations with Grandma or perhaps going on a fishing trip with Grandpa. Later in life, I was graced with the opportunity to command its mighty engine, to sit in the hallowed driver's seat. It took me anywhere I wished to go in Lafayette, it took me often to Indianapolis last summer, and on one legendary occasion it even took me to Ann Arbor, Michigan at up to 85 miles an hour.

Gone are the days of pumping the gas pedal so its engine will start. Gone are the days of starting its engine, putting it in drive, having the engine die, putting it back into park, starting the engine again, putting it in drive, and we're off!--oops, no lost it again, back into park, start the engine, into drive, and away we go! Gone are the days of listening to tapes through the one good speaker that the Nova had left. Gone are the days of idling at a traffic light only to find that the engine has suddenly died. Those days are gone, but they will never be forgotten.

We can only pray that any future owners treat it with the respect and admiration it deserves. Below are some pictures of the Nova in its final moments, without a doubt the diamond in the rough of Firestone Auto Sales.

But let's not dwell on the past. Let's dwell on my new truck:

A 2000 Ford Ranger XLT. It's a stick shift, which I had never driven before. Dad took me to the stadium (which I'm sure has a name, and I'm sure I should know what it is, but it's eluding me) parking lot and had me practice there. I'm learning pretty quick, but still having trouble starting from a stop and shifting from 1st to 2nd at the right time.

It's got 96,000 miles on it already, which is a little worrisome, but it seems to have suffered little wear. It's not exactly loaded...power nothing, no extended cab, but it has a CD player which is a luxury I've been without for far too long. I wanted a small truck with a small engine (it's a 4-cylinder) because I still wanted pretty decent gas mileage and I don't plan on moving anything huge with it. It's also Flex-fuel capable, which we don't have in Lafayette yet, but I'm expecting Flex-fuel gas stations to sweep the nation any time now. It's nothing flashy but I'm really happy with it so far.

New Eddy Family Links Added

For your Eddy family Net surfing convenience, we have added three new links to the "Eddy Family Links" sidebar. These are Sarah's Florida blog, W. Max's blog, and E. Max's spaghetti recipe (parts one and two). If anyone knows of other family links, let Mike know and they'll be added.

Math Wizards

This week's Time magazine (2/20/06: Can We Trust Google with Our Secrets?) has an article that inspires my kids to learn math. It was a feature article on the company Google, including a description of what it was like to work for them at their world headquarters. It showed pictures of the employees getting gourmet meals (3/day), swimming in a lap pool, playing with Star Wars toys including a life size R2D2, bringing their dogs to work and more. "I want to work there," was the breakfast chorus.

One way they recruited employees was with a math problem on a billboard that if you could solve, would give you the secret webpage address for Google human resources. I don't have the skill/time to scan the article, but here is a link that has a picture of the billboard and the solution.

Rob

A Valentine's Romance

If you've been keeping up with the business news lately you may have heard about this corporate deal appropriate for Valentine's Day (yes, I'm a day late). NASCAR and Harlequin Romances have teamed up to produce a series of NASCAR-based romances. (Yes, I know this sounds like the set up for a joke, but it's real news, folks.) NASCAR figured out that 40 percent of race fans are women, and that they are some of the most avid fans. And Harlequin knows how to sell romances to women, so it was a match made in heaven, or perhaps at Daytona? I guess this gives a new meaning to the idea of the "racy novel."

I'm starting to warm up to this concept, actually. How about Love in a Pitstop--Four seconds was enough for his crew to gas him up, change his tires, and break his heart!

Stuck in the Florida Mud

Sarah has a good story about getting her truck stuck in the mud and a variety of mishaps in trying to get it out. It's on her blogsite here.

Max, My new IMac captured this picture of my receding hairline!

Bigger Is Better: Spaghetti Recipe Cards Enlarged!

For those of you who actually wanted to read Grandpa Eddy's spaghetti recipe, Rob has provided the full-size photos of the recipe cards and Phillip posted them on his web space. So here they are in all their now legible glory:

Here is page one.
Here are pages two and three.

Engineering in her DNA?

Julia spent a few days building a balloon popper, inspired by the picture in a book. It's kind of a "Mouse Trap"-style contraption. She used a marble track, some spoons, a ball, rulers, a Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train, some dominoes, K'Nex, and most importantly, a thumb tack. You can check out the video of her final triumph here.

Continuing on the topic of Eddy history...

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I believe that's two years in a row I've remembered your birthday without outside influence. I'm getting better at this. Unless this is the wrong date, in which case it's Sarah's fault.

I hope it's a good one.

G'Pa Eddy's Spaghetti Recipe

This is from 1985. Here it is...

Help Preserve a Piece of Eddy History

We've had a request from the younger generation for a recipe for Dad's spagetti sauce. Anybody got one they'd be prepared to post? Lisa, if someone posts this recipe, you may not want to read it, given the unfortunate effect this sauce can have on you.