Seen on the way into D.C. today, motoring on 295 at a comfortable 75mph: a Citroen DS 2.1, or déesse (goddess). They are famed for their hydropneumatic suspensions, which erase any bump in the road, advanced engineering, and futuristic design. I suspect this one was being ferried somewhere, as there was a large inventory sticker on the passenger window.

My grandfather drove one of these in the early 70’s (I had an English-made Matchbox of this car and was aware enough of its shape to recognize his) along with an enormous black Cadillac, a Saab 900, and a host of other exotic foreign cars.

Date posted: December 6, 2023 | Filed under cars | Leave a Comment »

For years Jen and I have been walking across the street to a Christmas tree stand set up by the local Boy Scouts for our tree; along with being super convenient we were always happy to support the local troop. Usually we were over there in the evening when it was hard to see the trees without the aid of a flashlight, but we got lucky with our choices and for the most part were happy with what we were able to find. This year our advent calendar had us buying a tree on Saturday so we figured we’d buck our trend and buy in the daylight. As it turned out I’m glad we did, because all of the choices across the street were pretty spindly—and costly, as well. Like, the pricing jumped $30 or more per tree since last year, which was a shock. After looking through the selections, we decided to bail on the Scouts and hit some of the other local stands. After checking one stand and being faced with a $200 tree right at the entrance, we hit another one and found a beautiful Frazier Fir for a reasonable price that was a full 3′ taller than anything at the Scout stand. We strapped it to the roof of the truck and headed home.

Back in the driveway I put it in the stand and shook it out with a broom before carrying it inside, and we broke out the decorations Sunday evening to decorate. The house is now filled with the lovely smell of pine, and it feels much cheerier in here.  

Date posted: December 4, 2023 | Filed under family | Leave a Comment »

Friday evening we had the Morrises over to see the Cirque de Soleil production of Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was as amazing—and as French—as you might imagine.

Date posted: December 4, 2023 | Filed under entertainment, family | Leave a Comment »

I mailed off the title and other release information for the Accord this afternoon, and once that’s been received and filed, we should be getting an electronic deposit from the insurance company for the value of the vehicle. While digging through my records for the proper paperwork I came across the original CarMax listing for it, as well as the original loan paperwork. We bought it with 25,000 miles back in 2012 and hit the deer at 102,939, for an average of ~7,080 miles a year. I’m sure COVID had a huge impact on this number, but even if I subtract three full years, that’s still a little less than 10K per year. With the ending valuation from USAA, the Accord only depreciated $636/year in the 11 years we owned it. The other interesting thing is that our APR in 2012 was 4%; right now USAA is at 6%. We were able to pay it off in 2017 a few years ahead of schedule due to some well-timed freelance checks coming in, and I hope we can do the same with whatever we wind up buying this year. I updated the research chart with some new numbers and a down payment of $12,000.

After some miscommunication with USAA and Enterprise regarding the wildly overpriced rental we were given in New York, I finally got an excellent CSR on the phone and she straightened everything out. One thing I learned is that our rental will only be covered until next Wednesday, and we’ll have to return it then or pay to extend it. We can get by with one car for a while with some careful oversight of our complicated calendars, but it will be good to have two foul-weather cars on the road as soon as we can.

Date posted: December 1, 2023 | Filed under cars, honda | Leave a Comment »

Happy to see my boss (and one of our former leads of the WRI Climate program) getting lots of excellent press from COP28 this morning; our media and comms teams are firing on all cylinders. I’m also happy to see they’re holding this year’s COP President to account for trying to use the conference to secure new oil and gas deals.

Date posted: December 1, 2023 | Filed under politics, WRI | Leave a Comment »