When is the "right time" to buy a car?

I know I need a new car - or do I?

This is a question that has been bugging me for over a year now. I drive a 1997 Subaru with about 280,000 km (175,000 mi) on it. The car runs fine, is comfortable, is great on gas and gets me through snow like you would not believe.

Sure, for an 8 year old, high-mileage car you can expect some quirks. The most annoying thing is that there is a problem with one of the sensors in the engine that I almost always have the "Check Engine" light on. The mechanics have replaced the sensor and short of ripping the wires out and replacing them, I don't really know what would solve this problem.

So do I replace this car or not? If I do, should I go new or used again (I bought this one when it was three years old and just off lease)?

I drive about 40,000km (or 25,000mi) annually so I can't really lease unless I fully intended to buy out the lease at the end. So it's really buy a new car or buy a used car. A new car would cost a lot of money monthly to finance. I have been looking at used, but for the cars I want, the prices still seem to be too high.

Sigh. So that is my dilemma. I'm sure within the next year I will break down and get rid of the car I have now. I only hope whatever I get will be as reliable and last as long as my current car.

So, what do you do for a living?

It's really a simple question. However it can be a very hard one to answer.

It's a question I dread when I am in a social situation meeting people who are not familiar with my particular specialty in the technology field. But it always comes up:

So Mike, What is it that you do?

Sigh

I'm a sales engineer.

Interested look

Oh, what do you sell?

Gulp.

I design and sell network solutions for customers.

Blank stare.

Uh huh.

Oh-oh.

I deal with the parts that connect all the computers together.

Look of realization.

Oh, you work with computers!

Resignation (on my part).

Kind of.

The conversation topic usually changes at this point.

I guess that's what you get when you get into a high level of abstraction in any field. Unless you are in the networking field, networks are hard to understand (and pretty boring for most normal people). And when you start to add wireless, telephony and security on top of plain old routing and switching into the conversation, most people will find somewhere else (anywhere) to be.

So, I long ago resigned myself that unless I am with people in the same line of work I should never try to talk about what I do in anything but very abstract terms (usually an analogy to plumbing). I have family that work in cosmetic manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, utilities, and even a University biology lab. They can hold people enthralled by stories of their work and what they have to do.

Me, I can talk about current events, politics the latest jokes, gardening, sports - whatever - and I can hold up my side of a conversation. But if I try to talk about work to someone not intimately familiar with the internetworking field I start to hear the crickets chirping.

So I smile and say:

Yeah, I work with computers.

Now that's what I call gone.

Talking about how I got rid of the previous content of this blog reminded me of a recent exchange with my son. Now, for those of you who have not read my wife Karen's blog, we have a 9 year old son named Ben. I find that every day with Ben is an adventure in seeing the development of a very unique mind.

This particular situation stemmed from an assignment he had to do for his Karate school. Ben's sensei believes in developing the whole person so every month they get assignments on different subject such as respect, humility, etc.

Well, Ben was having problems completing the assignment. I reminded him that at his last Karate class the whole class discussed the assignment and got answers to all of the questions. All he had to do was write them down.

Ben, in his particular style, told me:

Well, I forgot most of it. The part that is left was shredded, minced, burned, recycled, turned into toilet paper, used and then flushed.

In other words, there wasn't really much of it left.

After Karen and I both stopped laughing, we gave him the direction he needed to find the answers again.

Starting Over...

I took a look at how my original post to this blog were progressing and I wasn't really happy with the way it looked. I mean, I am a disorganized person, but when I read the postings they didn't sound like me.

So, they're gone.

Deleted.

Wiped out.

Instead, I will post whatever strikes me as postable material. This could be things about the world, my life or my family. We'll see if this approach stands the test of time.