I am genuinely curious to know, on average, how many people a person knows (basically friends and family) that have committed suicide? Personally, I believe I only know of one person. I say believe because I have a very good ability to block out many harmful events. I only know of one person that committed suicide at my high school during the four years I was there and I didn't actually know the person, so they aren't on my list. There was a discussion I saw online and some people knew upwards of nine people that had ended their lives. I guess that high of a number just made me think. I'm still thinking.

Car hunt update: I got to ride along on two test drives today. I say ride along since I had Jeff drive them for me! I suck at manual so I didn't feel like embarrassing myself. First was the '89 Mitsubishi Colt. The exterior was decent with just a few bit of rust along the faded paint. The interior, on the other hand, was well aged. Not well aged like a wine, cheese, or whiskey, but well aged like that a high school cafeteria mom. Bits of plastic were broken in just about every spot, including the turn indicator. It was so broken that Jeff could barely get it to work at all. The engine was in pretty good shape, but the clutch was really soft.

Next up was the '92 Camaro. The owner was about 10 minutes late, but all was forgiven when I saw the quality of this car. There is a slight dent just behind the driver side door that is starting to rust and there is a modicum of rust above the rear passenger wheel well. Other than that, the vehicle looked practically new! The interior was a bit worn, but no damage. The clutch was in good shape, the stereo is brand new, the tires are new, the battery is new and most of the suspension was new. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed. It was only an RS, which means that it has 140 HP but 180 lb-ft of torque (and still better than the 130 HP and 135 lb-ft in my Focus!). Since the car is in such good shape, I really doubt that I will be able to talk him down from the $2,000 price.

Considering how impressed I was with the car, I called up my insurance agent. If I add a second car to my policy, it will drop the price on the Focus from $672 to $637. Full coverage on the Camaro would be $298 and just the basics will get run me $198. Not that bad at all! I was originally considering paying for a parking spot in a lot near my apartment, but then I realized that I should be able to park at work. As long as I swap cars at least once a week and move the cars around every other day, I shouldn't get in trouble from security. As soon as they say something, I will pay for the lot ($50/month).

If I don't think of anything I've forgotten and no one else says this is a dumb idea, I think I'm going to buy it on Monday. I'd love to have it for the weekend, especially while Kat is gone, but I really shouldn't make a rash decision.

The fourth FloorBurn game was last night. We improved our record to 2-2! Lee and I were back on a line again, but we just weren't in sync. I was playing too far away from him and he wasn't able to get the puck up to me. No matter what, I stole the puck deep in their end, deked the goalie and got my fourth goal of the season. We ended up winning 4-1 and team morale was much higher than any other night. It's possible that our practice last week really did help, but we shall see.

Ok, more updates to the use car hunt. I totally forgot that Microsoft has its own classified ads! I have contacted four more sellers and I already have two replies! I cannot link to the cars since they are on an internal site, but I can tell you that one is a '92 Camaro and the other is an '83 Supra! It would be cool to say that I owned a Supra, no matter what model year it is. Both are in fairly decent shape, at least from what I was told. The Supra needs a muffler, but that can't be more than $200 to replace. I should be able to test drive both of them this week. Maybe I will end up buying a car this week!

I'm looking for a used car! No, even with all of the problems with the Focus, (which I've since named Sanchez, since the car was made in Mexico and now I can make all sorts of "Dirty Sanchez" jokes) I am not thinking of replacing it for a used car. I'm actually looking for an old manual car so that I can get better with an MT before I get a real car. I figure, why not spend upwards of $2,000 on a used car, practice driving a manual, then sell it off for upwards of $1,500 rather than spending $1,200 on clutch replacement for a new car? There is a parking lot a block away from my apartment where I can get a space for only $50/month. I will put the least amount of insurance on it, so it shouldn't be too expensive of a proposition.

Here are the cars I've shown an interest in so far:

1995 Saturn SL 2
1989 Honda Civic
1987 Honda Accord

Possible license plates (all currently available in WA):

• For a turbo car:
  • BOOSTER
  • BOOSTME
  • MOBOOST
  • SLO4CYL
• For a WRX:
  • NOTSTI
  • NOTASTI (but that looks like NO TASTI)
  • QWKWRX
• For a STi:
  • EVOEATR
• For anything:
  • FASTER
  • FASTAR
  • OMGHI2U
  • NABISCO
  • IDHITIT
  • OH NO

Just so I don't forget it again, my AAdvantage (American Airlines frequent flyer account) number is V23M670.

NASIOC Forums - 2005 Impreza changes: Did I just figure out what my next car will be?

Ok, this sucks. Someone stole my inline girdle after our second game. Honestly, it is my own fault since I didn't take inventory after the game. Lets see, for each game this is the equipment I need:

• Girdle (w/ cup)
• Shin guard x2
• Inline pants
• Elbow pad x2
• Skates x2
• Jersey
• Gloves x2
• Helmet
• Stick

I purchased my hockey skates (image) last year when Eric and I decided to get back into inline hockey. The wheels that the skates came with weren't bad (Labeda Shooters) and the bearings were satisfactory (ABEC 3 rated, the lowest rating but there are worse bearings out there that aren't even rated!). I had used the wheels quite a bit playing outdoor inline, so they were quite worn down:

The first two games of the indoor inline season were played on those wheels. Needless to say, I fell a handful of times. It took a few weeks of online bargain hunting, but finally I picked up a new set of wheels and bearings.
Out with the old:


...and in with the new:


Don't the new wheels just look so much better, especially on the blue chassis?