Tax Rebate: Spent!

Hopefully it will arrive soon...

Back in August, we were contemplating taking the TSX on our trip to Utah rather than the Pilot. The day before leaving, I got an oil change and was told there was a nail in my tire. The Auto Doctor told me to go to a tire place and they would patch it. After we got back from the trip, I went to Discount Tire, and, surprising to me, the patch is a free service.

Two weeks ago, another nail in the tire was found (this time by me), so I go to DT to get it fixed. But this time the nail is too close to the sidewall, so the tire has to be replaced. Since the tire wasn't leaking much, I got the quote on a tire replacement and pondered my options.

The TSX has ~37,000 miles on it and the tires still had some useful tread, but not enough to deal with the inconvenience of mismatched tires, so I got Joanne's OK to get a set of new tires.

Previously, whenever I got tires, the purchase process involved going into a tire store, asking what the options are, and making some determination based on mileage warranty versus price. But that wasn't to be the case this time!

All the time I spent researching our vehicle purchases also led me to forums and sites about our cars with specific product reviews/discussions about our cars. Admittedly, these are enthusiasts who are much more into their cars than we are. In the case of my car, the posters at AcuraZine generally viewed the stock tires with disdain and the consensus best tire was the Yokahama AVID V4S.

Since the Discount was nice enough to fix my tire, I checked their prices--about $680 installed! 17" tires ain't cheap. In my "car" phase, I found a lot of people used Tire Rack, not just for research, but to purchase as well. TR ships tires to certain installers, so you get internet pricing on the tires and just pay the car place for installations. That worked out to about $580. Called Discount Tire for a price match, which they did without any real haggling. In fact, they beat it by $5.

So how are the new tires? Do they live up to their reputation? Honestly, I don't know. I think they're a little quieter. Joanne noted acceleration and braking are better. And I haven't really pushed them in the turns yet. I just don't think I'm in tune with the car enough to make be wowed by these marginal differences that may have more to do with the extra tread than the tire itself. But my point isn't so much about the outcome, as it is the process of planned replacement of something that may catastrophically fail.

Spreading FUD

FUD is Fear, uncertainty and doubt, three feelings any new/expecting parent face. Today's FUD topic is the danger of polycarbonate bottles for babies, since we got two packs last night at the shower, both of which contain the Bisphenol A, the potentially dangerous ingredient that's in a lot of things we use. Time had a recent story on the debate surrounding baby bottles:

When the bottles were heated to 175 degrees F (80 degrees C), every one of them leached bisphenol A at about 5 to 7 parts per billion. The report also suggested that because of the chemical makeup of bisphenol A, it may leach more in fatty or acidic liquids, such as milk or apple juice, than in water.

It's a parent's nightmare. But before you panic, consider this: U.S. and E.U. health and environment authorities still stand behind polycarbonate plastic, putting the safe level of daily bisphenol A exposure at more than 25 times the levels found in baby bottles.

The danger is at exposure to high temps, but the human body expels it differently that animals used in testing (excreted quickly, as opposed to it entering the blood stream in rats). So it may be a case of overprotection. Still, my instinct is to hedge/pay it safe in which concentrate on glass and/or polyethelyne bottles. But we'll have to see what LBA likes as well as how it coordinates with other paraphernalia.

T minus 8 weeks (or so)

We haven't been great about taking pictures of LBA from the outside--really it's this one taken this past weekend and one slightly questionable one New Year's Eve day.

But we're a third of the way to have the three most important things--the crib and mattress being the first part (thanks Mom and Dad!), but still no car seat or diapers in the house. Yet.

Next to the crib, you may notice a fashionably color coordinated rocker glider. It's another Craig's List success story. Joanne said she was OK with using our Poang as the rocker. It has a fairly small rock and a low seating position, so despite my appreciation for her frugality, I wasn't quite sure that was the best option. A couple of weeks ago there were 3-4 ads on CL for Dutailier glider rockers. The blue one was the most expensive, but it came with a second set of pads and it was blue. I called the number, spoke with Dan and he said he would send me some more pictures since they were in North Scottsdale. Got the pics the next morning, and shockingly, they were from a top ten ranked Sudoku player's sister (unrelated, said Sudoku player is on the squad this year in Goa, India). That was a surprise.

Birthing classes start in two weeks, and run 4 weeks, so LBA better not be a Little Bit of an early Arriver. Joanne may or may not agree with that sentiment by the end of March though...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!