Cycling: Winter clothes that work. I never used to ride in the cold. Now I'm a rain and cold weather no problem guy.

Non-cycling: Bacon and eggs. If they'd cost a ton they'd be considered one of the all time great treats. People would write songs.

Nope. The circuit board fried. The repair guy told me that it was so old that they couldn't get replacements anymore. It's a brand that's no longer available so I tend to believe him. $415 bought me a new belt drive door lift that's much quieter.

As my teenage Daughter's 15th year was coming to an end, discussions of "a car" for her to use became frequent. She ranged from fantasies of an old VW Bus (covered with flowers of course) to various other old cars that looked "cool". Aside from safety concerns, I wasn't keen on the maintenance required to keep 30+ year old vehicles running in the hands of a new driver.

At the time I was driving a 1998 Pontiac I had purchased from my Mother-In-Law that had well over 100k miles on the clock. While it was comfortable and everything worked, it was, by definition, a "Grandma Car". It even "smelled" like Grandma, so, please.

After making it plain she wasn't getting an old bus or a 1958 Belvedere, she acquiesced and said she would be happy with anything she got as long at it wasn't a "stick-shift".



I shopped around for about 5 months until I came across a 2003 Cavalier that hadn't moved off the lot because, you guessed it, it was a stick. It had everything else: cruise, AC, tilt, CD player, electric windows, keyless remote, the works, and only about 50k on the clock. I thought, "Hey, I would like to drive this; and it gets 36 mpg on the highway." I pulled out the AMEX and the Wife followed me home in my car with her eyes rolling all the way.

I parked the cute little white two-door in the driveway and waited. You should have seen the excitement! Right up until she ran around to the Driver side and looked at the console. It was the sight of "Christmas Morning Joy" falling to crushing despair in an instant. "Awwwwww DAD!?".

"If you don't want to drive that car, the Bonneville is right over there." (and you can hardly see the hail damage and broken grille over at the curb) "I'll just drive the stick". Oh No!

So the Father/Daughter bonding continued in the Junior High parking lot. After a couple of sessions we ventured out onto lightly traved roads on the weekends (she was still on a learner's permit). By the time she turned 16 she was doing pretty good.

She passed 17 three months ago and has become a full blown stick shift bigot. If you can't drive a stick, you don't know how to drive yet. Anybody can sit and steer and push the GO pedal to GO and the STOP pedal to STOP. And she's not bashful about rubbing the little boys' noses in it. She's had no wrecks, no tickets, no problems (knocks on head).

The "Old Man's" BONUS list:

* Her car doesn't get borrowed by friends "because they can't drive a stick".

* Texting while driving is "Impossible" (her words)

* And no matter what the circumstances are, if a drivable vehicle is available, she can drive it.

Maybe someday I'll arrange for her to take a drive in a real sports car to cement her commitment, but for now it's enough to see her scoot around town in her 5 speed 4 banger.

Now,you do what my Dad did to all of us,take her out to a level parking lot,preferably near a coffe /pie shop and teach/walk her through changing a flat.Then while she is changing the tires back to where they belong you can have a piece of pie and a cup of coffe while you reflect on teaching your daughter a skill that she hopefully wont need to use but in case of emergency has up her sleeve.

I still do my own yard work in the summer, and for me it has to be the electric string trimmer. I don't know how many hours it has saved me in this life, all of which were converted to time on my bike.

torgrot

We must be twin Sons of different Mothers.

We did the flat drill in the garage with home made treats, but we went through the whole process.

And when the brake pads needed to be replaced we did a 4 wheel brake job and rotated the tires.

When the oil change interval comes up we do that.

We did the severe service transmission fluid change. (She *was* a bit grindy a few times there at first)

We/she change her wiper blade refills.

I think her rear struts need to be pulled out and looked at, they're a little clunky.

She may never pick up another wrench after she leaves home, but she won't be a complete know-nothing either. Importantly to me, even if she pays somebody else to do the hard, dirty work for her, is that she have an appreciation for the value of the work and that she isn't entitled to whatever she wants without working for it.

And maybe she'll take it just a little bit easier on the equipment since she realizes that if she breaks it; it'll be another weekend in the garage with Pop putting it back together.

I remember when those came out. I was working in a small engine shop after school (mowers, edgers, chainsaws, etc). The Salesman came through and sold The Boss (Owner) and we were in the Weed Eater business.

Before that, edgers/trimmers were steel blades, sparks and cement/wood/brick chips flying in all directions.

I imagine we were quite a sight taking turns edging around the shop. The place was a miniature junk yard, but it was trimmed up real neat around the edges!

An under-appreciated luxury:

ATM and debit cards. No need to carry enough cash to get through the weekend; no need to cash a check at the grocery store just to get spending money.

Hey, I still only have 3 channels. Two networks and a movie channel. All are fuzzy and static filled.

The only channels I have are Y, Pb and Pr. Haven't lived in a house with regular TV since I was four or five years old. TV is a totally OVER appreciated luxury.

Air Conditioning... If you're an asthmatic, you understand completely.
I've rolled back into the lot after finding myself on a ride downwind of a farmer spraying pesticide and I have to tell ya, the AC with HEPA in the Ranger was a Godsend.
It's also a Godsend on those days one rolls back in after 45-60 miles in 90 degree heat and 60% humidity.

Touch-tone phones; I grew up with a wall-mounted, oak, hand crank phone on a 17 member party line. A private line is great.
Since we don't have a garage, hence no garage door; I can't see how you could overestimate the luxery of an attached garage.
A sump pump; again we don't have one and it is a constant source of anxiety if we have to leave when it is raining. Do we trust the floor sucker to shut off if not needed or will it burn itself out? At least we have a house and a basement where I can hang my bikes from the rafters.

Airplanes. Sick of the cold, dark winter? Hop ona plane and in just a few hours you're transported to summer. Always amazes me especially if your destination is someplace like Hawaii

Replacement parts for 27-year-old refrigerators, stoves, etc that you can order by clicking on an exploded view of that item that went down a long-long cancelled production run. Mind, the store you got it from has been out of business for 25 years and the drone who sold it to you has graduated law school 20 years ago. Some small outfit in Bangalore is making a living out of cataloguing, posting, and stocking BILLIONS [and BILLIONS] of odd-ball parts just so Billy Bones can sit in his briefs at 10 PM with a beer, order parts, and fix his own stuff. THAT'S luxury!

Hot water. . .whenever we want it.

Reliable car tires.

No more adjusting spark plug gaps.

Luggage that comes half way across the planet and is spat out at your feet!

Water softeners!!!!!!!!

More to follow. . .

I can't get by without my jetpack and flying car. The commute is so easy now.

That's a new way to be car-free.

I got a loan from the Navy Federal Credit Union in 1974 for $100 to buy A Texas Instruments calculator that would come in a Cracker Jack box today.

When I was calculating the multivariate regression analysis for my doctoral dissertation in 1974, I bought a 32 step programmable calculator. It was a major purchase at the time for a grad student with a family living on the GI Bill and a research assistantship - I believe it was over $100.

However, in terms of saving me calculating time, it was worth it.

At that time, statistics were just becoming available on computers, but I certainly did not have access to a mainframe computer.

How about cordless drills? Remember running out of power cord before you got to the top of the ladder.

Trained home security cats and automatic watering systems... could not live without them.

The Ipod, I have over 9,000 songs on mine and can take my whole music collection anywhere............sweet.

Our cat does that too. What is it about sinks that cats find absolutely fascinating? She will climb in and sit there for hours.

torgrot

Oh yeah! That's a good one. Sometimes it took longer to string the power cord than it did to do the job. Even better is a cordless drill with a spare battery.