If you are wondering if your Toyota vehicle is listed under all the new recalls try the Toyota recall finder tool.  It uses your VIN to do an official lookup.  Also check out the official statement from the COO of Toyota USA.

As a father of four, I would love to own a 2010 Nissan Armada.  They look great, and I love the idea of having a brand new vehicle, though my wallet hates it.  I won't ever be able to afford this vehicle, but maybe you can.  I may pick up the 2010 in 2025 when I can handle the sticker.  The Nissan Armada features towing and hauling ability, a powerful standard V8, a long driving range, and a long list of standard luxury and convenience features.  Enjoy the video!

 

Recently a friend and I took our boys to see a monster truck rally.  I went with expectations stemming from my naive experiences with monster trucks as a child.  I left with my entire worldview shattered.  It was a bit like returning to your elementary school and being shocked by how small it is.  Here are some observations:

1.  The Arena: The arena was about the size of a high school gym (see picture), and 8 monster trucks were crammed in there.  Have you ever seen teenagers playing on a kids playground at the mall?  Its pretty awkward isn't it?  That is exactly how I would describe the setting.  There was hardly any room for the trucks to manouver. I realized then that the arena was small because the market is small.  There are only so many males out there with 5 year old sons.  

2.  The Return of Big Foot: I'm not sure where he went, but this event supposedly marked Big Foot's return to the circuit.  Big Foot (the truck) has an almost mythical quality in the mind of every American male.  It seemed that the entire event was rigged to perpetuate this very idea.  Big Foot won the awkward 20 yard dash over 4 cars, and the driver gave a rehearsed speech talking about how well all the trucks were running and how privileged he was to be among all of the great drivers out there.  He also had a power mullet.  Of course he did!  

3.  Exhibition: For some naive reason I thought that monster truck racing was like NASCAR, with standings and points and so on.  I'm not sure why I thought this.  As it turns out, it appears to be nothing more than Harlam Globetrotters in huge, loud trucks.  An exhibition if you will.  That's okay of course, but I felt like I'd discovered that Santa Claus didn't really exist, all over again.  These guys are just trying to make a buck!  Again, nothing wrong with that.  It was just a jarring discovery for some reason.  

4.  Marketing: While I was disappointed, I came to the shocking realization that I am now 32 years old, and that while some appeal to watching alcholol fueled trucks run over unsuspecting cars remains, I am not the demographic they are marketing to.  My son absolutely loved it.  He loved the fire coming out from the exhaust.  He loved that he had to wear ear muffs to pretect his ears.  He loved that one of the trucks blew out a tire when he almost flipped over.  He loved the crushing of the 1992 Isuzu Rodeo.  He loved talking about the possibility of machine gun mounted monster trucks when we got home. They hit their mark with my boy, and if he is happy, (most of the time) I'm happy.  

All in all it was a good time.  If you get a chance to take your kid to a monster truck rally, and you have the means, it will be a memorable experience.  Just don't go with any naive assumptions like I did.  Remember you are not 5 years old anymore.  Your kid is.  Big Foot, like the mythical creature, is a name and a legend.  That is all your kid really cares about anyways.  He doesn't care about points, standings, and so on.  He wants action, and that is what he will get.  

I have to tell you we were elated when we bought a Suburban.  It has plenty of seating room for our 4 kids.  In fact, we could fit 2 more in there if space was all there was to take into consideration.  But since we've had our youngest, we have come to discover that there is one glaring weakness with our purchase.  The bench seat.  Yes thats right.  Some people deal with starvation, war torn countries, or soul-crushing diseases.  We have to deal with a bench seat.  There are a few things that happen each family outing that is making the bench seat a life force draining affair.  Allow me to paint a picture for you:

1. As I said, we have 4 kids now, the two least'uns being in car seats.  The other two aren't.  We have the two car seats in the middle row.  If you know anything about car seats, they are a nightmare from hell to buckle in, especially when they are right next to each other, and especially when the seat belt buckles always get stuck in the cracks of the seat, becoming next to impossible to get out with my fat hands.  SERENITY NOW!
2. This means there is an open spot between the two car seats...one that has become highly coveted among the two eldest.  The politicking and jockeying for this spot has become a force of nature in our family.
3. Its 110 degrees in Texas during the summer. 
   
4. Inevitably, each time we get in the car, there is a fight over who gets to sit by the baby, forcing me to put both of them in the back, which leads to more fighting and statements like, "you never let us do anything," or "I'm not going to play with you anymore."  These are directed at me, the evil despot who rules his Chevy Suburban with an iron fist. 
   
5. Then, there is the dramatic climb over the bench seat, which is always such an over the top dramatic affair accompanied by weeping and gnashing of teeth.  
6. Getting out is much more fun.  The near kicks to the baby's head are always a good time.  God forbid in all His mercy that our two kids wait the extra 15 seconds it takes for us to extract their defenseless brother.  
7. Its 110 degrees in Texas durig the summer.
8. These shenanagins happen at least 2 more times each outing, as we are forced to lump our torture sessions together to minimize mental trauma. 

Upon returning home, my wife and I look at each other, and after an understanding embrace and a vow not to kill our children, we go about our business.  This repeated bludgeoning has led us to lament the bench seat and dream of a paradise where Captain's seats are a reality, providing a nice and easy pass through where the children have no choice but to get in the back.  We all have our crosses to bear.  I would spare you from this one if you have the choice.  

Road trips have an allure about them, at least in my possibly distorted view of things, that put me in the same frame of mind as the snow day.  Snow days and road trips, while existing in this dimension, seem to exist far enough outside of the reality that is my day to day schedule that not only is a break from the norm a fair possibility, but is downright expected!  This is particularly the case with food.  On a snow day (I live in Texas, so they happen twice a year: once when it actually ices over, and another when everyone thinks its going to ice over but because no one wants to work, they shut down the entire state), all bets are off when it comes to any scheduled meals.  We simply fire up the dvd player and eat popcorn, poptarts, and sugar pops all day long.  Road trips are no different.  The temptation for us is to stop every 2-3 hours and let the kids out of the cage to run around, which inevitably includes a small "snack," while at meal times engaging in the favorite American pastime of gorging on fast food.  This is not good.  Of course its a wee bit convenient, but the drawbacks bury any positives deep into the shady truckstop/fast food restaurant trashcan.  Sure the road trip needs to be fun, but that doesn't have to mean being unhealthy the entire way.  Here are two articles with suggestions for eating healthy when on the road.  We actually implemented some of these last summer when we drove cross-country, and not only did we eat better, but we saved some dough in the process.  And when we did plan on stopping at a fast food joint, we were able to treat it like a big event, which went a long way in keeping the kids in line.  Now if we can only work on being healthy on the snow days...

Here are the articles: article 1, article 2

Man I wish I would have watched this video before driving cross country with a van load of squidlings.  Great tips for those about to launch out this summer. 

With a growing family and a minivan about to explode from sheer age, I figured it was time to go a hunting for two vehicles.  The first one we bought was a 2000 Suburban with low mileage.  It's a nice vehicle and seats about 24 (its huge!!!).  Our second purchase was a 2001 Land Rover Discovery.  Of course we all know that Land Rovers are expensive luxury SUV's when they are bought brand new.  But buying it used doesn't remove the stigma, at least in my own mind.  People will come up to me and say, "wow man you must be rolling in the dough to afford that!"  Of course nothing could be further from the truth, but in my zeal to appear poor I quickly throw down a list of why such a purchase doesn't mean I am wealthy, including: 

  - How little I paid for the vehicle
  - How my payments haven't gone up
  - How old the vehicle is
  - Pointing out other cosmetic and mechanical defects

Why do I want people to think I am poor?  Where does this insecurity come from?  Could it be that I place such a high value on my own image, and that poor has become the new rich in some circles?  Is there an inherent nobility to being broke?  In reality, no.  But that doesn't remove the temptation to appear more noble in the eyes of those around me.  I guess I should have thought of that before making the purchase.  But alas I am happy with it, and the kids dig the sunroofs.  Thats a win in my book.  Now I need to grow up myself and simply enjoy the fact that I was able to get a nice vehicle for a good price, no matter what other people think.  Here's to insecurity!

In my search for the perfect family vehicle, I ran across the VW Routan.  Nice looking car.  What got us even more pumped was the fact that it was Volkswagen, home of superior German engineering and craftsmanship.  Then we read this article, and now we aren't so sure.  As it turns out, the VW is not German after all.  From the article:

The 2009 Routan isn’t engineered by Germans, unless you count the ones who used to work for DaimlerChrysler. It is merely a rebadged, slightly rebodied, mildly retuned Chrysler minivan.

Volkswagen changed only the exterior lights, rear glass, front grille, select parts of the interior and some settings for the suspension and steering. And yet, as if to obscure further the Routan’s provenance, VW exhorts Web users to “have a virtual baby for German engineering” at a dedicated minisite: vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/.  Yikes!

 

Yikes indeed.  More like Zoiks!  What do we make of this sleight of hand?  I guess the world of minivans will remain uncool and unGerman.  Thats okay.  After two weeks with my kids marking on it with sharpies it wouldn't look cool anyway.  

The Washington Post released an article entitled Car Seats Save Young Lives.  This may seem obvious, but such an article is important, not because we are unaware that car seats save young lives, but because of the fact that our children are so precious to us that we can never hear enough of this kind of thing.  It is good to be reminded.