Friends in Boxes

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says housing were up .6% in November 2006 . What their report leaves out is pricing, a critical data element. One could easily see that if housing sales sunk for several months (as they have) and the inventory of available houses rose (as it has) due to more homes 'sitting' on the market longer, sellers would be inclined to drop their prices. And if the prices drop enough, then people will be inclined to buy. So how much have prices dropped to cause a mere .6% increase? Well according to the NAR, prices were 3.1% lower this November than last (for the median priced home). These numbers should be suspect however, since the Housing Price Index , produced by the US government to track housing prices, only includes single family detached homes that sold for $417,000 or less. A single family home does not include town homes or condos. In Northern Virginia, I can't imagine how many single family detached homes sell for $417,000

After what my friends and family say has been a grueling experience for them (I kind of enjoyed it), I have purchased my new vehicle. And the winner is: The Toyota RAV4 Sport 4 CYL 4X4 I picked the RAV4 after almost buying a CR-V. I had to disqualify the CR-V because of the unresolved issues regarding the A/C compressor and Honda's uneven response in dealing with customers . Toyota has the second best reliability in the car market (second only to their own Lexus brand), and I find that somewhat comforting.......I'll try to remember that as I'm making the bigger car payments. My 1998 Mazda Protege is gone. And I am somewhat sad about that. It was a great car and gave me no trouble. Farewell old car.

Ok, since my homies over at the Productopia are having a difficult time getting a post up, I'd like to comment on the Swiffer Sweep +Vac . I bought one of these after looking for a lightweight sweeper (and after my brother found this one for me). I paid about $28 for it, and I must say it appears to work very well. Rechargeable. My only concern is this; If/when this product fades away, how am I going to get the sock-like filters that it uses? Eh...anyway, I'd say get one if you need a decent, inexpensive electric sweeper!

*See the Rav4 update here . Ok, so I've been looking for a mini-suv and I've narrowed it down to the (3) choices above. Here are the Pros/Cons I've found while looking and test driving these over the last few weeks: CRV Pro: Conventional suv styling . Nothing outrageous;likely to stay in-style for a long time Sunroof and side impact airbags are standard on the EX trim Edmunds lists it as #1 as the lowest True Cost to Own SUV for 2006 Constistanly wins Edmund's top awards in champion like fashion Con: Stereo kind of sucks. They have a tape deck in there...this is 2006 you know. A/C compressors seem to be blowing up on a regular basis , right out of warranty (and Honda makes you play Customer Relations Roulette to see if they're going to cover the $2,000 repair). Arm rests are thin, short and pathetic. They're too high to be comfortable (this can be remedied by the armrest console upgrade ). Element Pro: Best stereo of the lot. XM Satellite radio, 270

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs "If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road . CFLs provide high-quality light, smart technology, and design, requiring less energy while lasting longer than typical incandescent bulbs. " It's true...and you can buy them now for about $2 each. Go out and get some. The newer ones produce a light that looks just like incandencent light bulbs. You can even get bulbs that produce a more natural "sunlight" type light (5000 K). Ikea has them cheap too.

While Mr. Nick is preparing to unload some heavy stuff on you, I'd like to mention that I rediscovered the perfect food. Whipped Cream. I had a Frappachino today with whip. And I realized that the best part was the whipped cream. I think I'm going to come up with a whipped cream diet. Low carb, high in fun. I'm pretty sure the reason why we're all getting older is that we're not eating enough whipped cream. Go get some now. You have permission. [Image courtesy of Minato under the Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0) license]

Yeah, I know that sounds crazy. Radical maybe. Led Zeppelin is clearly up there. But with certainty, this is the greatest rock album of the 1990's. You probably haven't heard it because you were too busy listening to Nirvana. I like Nirvana...but they're in a different genre. This is old school rock & roll. Obviously influenced by LedZep. The drums and guitars are flawless. The lyrics are sometimes light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek and at other times mystical and melancholy. Do yourselves a favor and buy this one for your collection .

What if I told you it was a Pontiac ? Well it is. It's the Pontiac Solstice. I saw one the other day and I admit I did a doubletake. It was difficult to see what the manufacturer was but the icon on side looked strangely familiar. Turns out, it was grandma's car I was thinking of. Well, in looks, I'd give it a 9. They should fire the designer of the Aztec and hire more of this designer's friends. At a base price of $21,000 it looks very nice. Not sure how the rest of it shakes out. If they could only change the maker name...... We'll Saturn has a variant as well. Why don't they get together and come up with a new, third brand (in the fashion of Scion)? That just might help sales. It would at least rid it of the stigma . (Solstice interior photo courtesy of Brad Dougherty under Creative Commons License )

http://www.worksafevideos.com/music_videos/ I think they've got just about everything.