Posted inCars

Meet my end-of-life crisis car: a 2026 Tesla Model Y Premium

I'm too old to have a mid-life crisis. So I'm calling my just-leased Tesla Model Y my end-of-life crisis car. While it isn't a red convertible with a beautiful blonde sitting in the passenger seat, I can check two of those three boxes: the Tesla is red and my beautiful wife of 36 years , Laurel, is blonde. (Note: 36 years is how long we've been married, not her age.) Here I am with the car in our driveway. We picked up the 2026 Model Y Premium from the Salem dealership two days ago, May 27. The car arrived more…
No Comments
Posted inCars

Goodbye BMW iX3. Hello Tesla Model Y. I’ve decided who I love the most.

A test drive made a heck of a lot of difference. On May 6 I wrote "I’m one step closer to having a 2027 BMW iX3. Sadly, it’s a small step." That was when I put down $1,000 on a reservation deposit for BMW's new electric vehicle with 434 miles of range and fast charging. I wasn't wild about the styling or color choices, but was fine with silver. After paying the $1,000, I figured it made sense to check out the main competition to the iX3 in my mind, Tesla's Model Y. I'd never even sat in one, much…
No Comments
Posted inCars Current affairs Uncategorized

Loving Tesla doesn’t mean I love Elon Musk. Loving Washington Post doesn’t mean I love Jeff Bezos.

I usually don't read comments on Facebook posts where I've shared a link to one of my blog posts. It isn't that I don't care what people think about what I've written. It's more that after I write something, I feel good that I've expressed how I feel about some subject, and now others are free to express how they feel about what I felt. Today I made an exception. My wife was driving us back to Salem from Eugene, where we'd visited our granddaughter, Evelyn, who is finishing her first year at the University of Oregon. Entertaining myself with…
No Comments
Posted inCars

Driving a Tesla around Salem with Full Self-Driving, I was super impressed

Amazingly, I had never ridden in a Tesla until today, after I'd made an appointment to try out Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which for me is the main reason I'd choose a Tesla over other electric cars. So not only was I able to ride in a Tesla, after Rylan, the general manager (hopefully I recall his name correctly), took me for a demonstration ride with him in the driver's seat, when we returned to the dealership on Mission Street I was given the opportunity to take out the Model Y on my own. I came away really impressed with FSD.…
No Comments
Posted inGrowing older Home life

When it comes to friends, quality is more important than quantity

It's been a while since I've heard the proverb, two's company, three's a crowd.  But it fits with an important conclusion in a story I came across in the May 11, 2026 issue of TIME magazine, "The Myth of the Adult Friend Group." Here's a PDF version of the story in case that link doesn't work for you. The Myth of the Adult Friend Group The author, Meehika Barua, speaks of chasing the fantasy of TV shows like Friends and Sex and the City where a tight-knit group of close friends hang out daily, sharing the ups and downs of…
No Comments
Posted inCars

I’m one step closer to having a 2027 BMW iX3. Sadly, it’s a small step.

In late March of this year I wrote, "With Tesla easing out of the car-making business, the BMW iX3 looks appealing." Excerpt: For my next car, I’d like to either get a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric vehicle. Rumor has it that the 2027 Hyundai Tucson PHEV will have 62 miles of electric range, up from 33 miles in the current model. That would beat the RAV 4 PHEV. So I’m keeping my eyes open for news about the 2027 Tucson, which will feature a major redesign. As long as I’m car window-shopping, the recently released (in Europe) BMW iX3…
No Comments