There is much to mock...

[elfs]

I took Yamaraashi-chan malling today, because she wanted to, and I, having limited computing resources and little else to do, decided that it sounded like fun. We could have some father-daughter time together, and the mall is always good of fun things to mock.

First on the mocker list: FYE, or "For Your Entertainment," a retail store that sells CDs and DVDs. I mock them because their idea of "world music" consists of half a dozen reggae albums, half a dozen celtic albums, and a few compliations of "The Best of Senegal," "The Best of Morocco," "The Best of Italy," as if one 72-minute CD could hold anything meaningful about an entire country's entire history.

Second on the mocker list: A woman wearing a t-shirt that read, "Every Time You Wipe Your Butt, A Tree Dies." I mean, isn't that taking environmentalism a little too far? Unless this is an advertisement for the bidet-- a revolution in toiletry of which I whole-heartedly approve!-- it's just disgusting.

Third on the mocker list: the guy at the car dealership who took one look at me, decided "You aren't really going to buy a car anytime soon," and walked away. More fool him; I've got plenty of money for a down-payment and yes, I am, in fact, in the market for a new car. And the Saturn Outlook he was selling? Looks sweet. Too bad I won't be buying from him anytime soon.

Yamaraashi-chan and I did one big circuit of the mall, had a good time hanging out, talked a lot about "getting things done" (she, like me, has a problem figuring out what to do next with her life, but unlike me, she doesn't have much in the way of ambitions yet). It was a fun afternoon.

Comments

Re: Cars

[shunra.livejournal.com]

Allow me to honk for the new Honda Civic Hybrid. I ended up buying it because the combination of the loan they offered being lower than inflation (2.99%; if inflation rises anywhere over 3%, they're paying us to own it) and the mileage (our average since March is just over 41 mpg - it rises over long drives, hangs around the 36-37 after we've been driving around town for a while) made it irresistible.

And it's Not-A-Prius. Priuses are becoming something of a pestilence, aren't they?

Re: Cars

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

My housemate likes her Honda. She had a Hyundai prior to that and says she would be fine with either one.

Re: Cars

[gromm.livejournal.com]

if inflation rises anywhere over 3%, they're paying us to own it

Aside from the fact that we're due for a good bout of 70's style inflation, it's worth noting that depreciation of 30-40% in the first year (actually the moment you take it off the lot) can be expected for most any car. Which utterly destroys your "they're paying us to won it" hypothesis.

People never factor in depreciation in the cost of owning a car, because they hardly think of it as an investment. As a result, they just don't see this hidden cost, which is one of the largest of car ownership.

Re: Cars

[shunra.livejournal.com]

I actually did factor in depreciation. This seems to work a little differently for hybrids (based on the prices for used models at the time when I made the purchase).

FWIW, I had never intended to buy a new car. My plan had been to buy a pre-owned 2-yr old and drive it into the ground, in order to maximize my safely-driven-mile-per-dollar benefit. In March, when I made this purchase, the numbers pointed to "buy new, enjoy sales tax benefit, enjoy interest rate benefit, and buy a hybrid because gas is going to go up".

So sorry to disappoint in terms of your assumption that you're so much cleverer than "people".