Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas is near and...

my favorite blogger Lund Fisker decided to quit and took up a job.  He passed on the torch to Mr. Money Mustache and while at first I was skeptical and quite frankly disappointed I am now becoming really impressed with MMM!  I seem to be following a similar path to his except that my IT income has been MUCH lower than his and only for a short four years it approached something reasonable but still not anywhere close to what some software engineers make.  I love MMM's article on are you a complainypants :-).
So this post is very informal and kind of easy going as I will be on vacation in a couple of days.  The 2001 Golf has now 202,000 miles!  Until now I have never been to a mechanic with the Golf (except for tire installations and alignment) but despite my mechanical skills we are a one car household:  I am a bit "scared" of the clutch starting to slip within the next couple of years.  A local mechanic said he can change the clutch for $500 - but it's more than just about the money for me.  I have some ego invested in this car and I am afraid to be seen as  a "failure" if I let someone else do it :-).  I am half joking and I may need to swallow my pride at some point.  Other than that things seem reasonably smooth.  Rentals are at a 100% occupancy rate until February.  There are always projects to do on the rentals but most of the time it's fun.  The least fun aspect of repairs is locating the right replacement parts such as a bathtub spout I'm trying to locate now.
Other than that, Merry Christmas!