Well, Alex and I have been working hard on his blog. He’s been working hard on the writing, and I’ve been working hard on the marketing and SEO side. For awhile, all of his reviews were kind of dry, but his latest review of the new Simple Plan album marks, I think, a turning point. While it was released on the first day that we had zero hits, I really enjoyed the review. It caught me at the beginning, and had me reading until the end. Granted, it’s not perfect, but it’s a good start.

I worked on dressing up the design a bit, added some black around the sides, and got rid of the graphic up at the title. I think it’s a good look for a rock review blog that doesn’t feel the need to come across as dark and edgy.

Check it out.

Two weeks ago I purchased a 1999 Honda Prelude. It has 145,000 miles on it but is still running pretty well. I had been looking for a car for several months while I was in Taiwan, and also during my break afterwards. I browsed craigslist, autotrader, and cars.com.

I created a list of cars that I was interested in. I called up a lot of people. I had several VW Jettas on my to-look at list, a Jeep Wrangler, and a Toyota Corolla. I took a look at one of the Jettas, applied for a bank loan, and went home for the weekend.

My bank loan didn’t come through.
The Jetta was in pretty lousy shape body-wise. The mechanics all seemed to be working properly, but it was a true eyesore.

Just as I was starting to get desperate, I rode past a dealership near my neighborhood. I had looked through this lot a month before or so, but didn’t see anything I was interested in. This dealership accepts all of the older high-mileage cars that are traded in from the big Subaru dealer across the street. I spotted the Prelude, and took a look.

The exterior was in flawless condition. I’ve seen cars five years newer with much worse paint jobs. There’s only a couple of tiny dings in the hood. Nothing else.

The interior is spotless. The driver’s seat fabric is slightly lighter in color than the passengers, and I guess that it’s because it’s been used more, but it really isn’t noticeable. Really, the biggest complaint I had about the car was the buttons on the radio were worn.

I signed a loan and started the three hour drive back to State College. The Check Engine Light went on. I took it to the dealership and they charged me $70 to tell me it was the catalytic converter, and that I should take it back if the light comes back on again. I was upset that it would cost so much for them to do nothing, but I drove it home.

And the light came back on. So now I have to take it back to the dealership… again. At least I have a warranty.

Anyway, I have a photo album at my site www.earcaraxe.com.