car shopping

Paul and I are in the market for a car. So, we've begun to do our homework - deciding what we can afford, what type of vehicle we would like to buy, etc. For the past two years, we have been a one car family. This has rarely posed huge frustrations and headaches because we normally go just about everywhere together...work, church, grocery store, coffee shop, etc. We do go places by ourselves, but usually that happens when the other person is staying at home or is out of town or something. Sometimes we do have to get creative when we both need to be someplace different at the same time. But, with Paul's new job NOT being near my job, we are going to need to get a second car. Yesterday, we ventured out to take a gander at what our options might be. Now this isn't my first time to buy a car...I've been around the block a time or two, and some things just never change. Here are a few observations from my recent car-buying experience:
1. Your car (the one you are currently in) is your fortress of solitude...they can't get you while in it. You may wish to take up the "Maney Technique" of doing a drive-by before getting out of your car to look. This way, you don't have to deal with salespeople unnecessarily.
2. Should you choose to get out of your fortress of solitude, NEVER, I mean NEVER get separated from the person with whom you are buying the car. That is their strategy...pull you away from the pack and then take their prey.
3. ALWAYS say you are not looking to buy today - that will minimize the amount of "knowledge" you have to give up. Like - do you have a trade-in, how much are looking to spend, etc.
4. Speaking of knowledge - that is one of your only lines of defense...use it wisely.
5. Don't be mean to the salesperson (after all they are trying to earn a living), but you do have the right to look around without being followed.
6. We haven't gotten to this point yet. But, when you are ready to buy, KNOW your stuff...the internet holds a wealth of information that you can and should use.

I think we have ultimately decided to buy something fairly cheap that we can pay cash for. We want to move and would rather spend money each month on a bigger place than a car. This second car will be used for the sole purpose of Paul getting to and from work.

Paul & Sarah go to Washington

We realize that you have been anxiously awaiting THE post on our vacation to Washington DC. Well, here it is. We had a great time seeing stuff we'd only read about in History books as well as spending time with our friends, Seth and Kristen Kolb! It was one of those vacations where we got home needing a vacation from our vacation, but it was so fun none the less. Upon setting out to DC, we made a list of all the things we wanted to do while there. And, I am happy to say that we got to most things on our list - Yay us! I think all in all, we probably walked a total of like 40 miles during the entire week that we were there. Here's a list of everything we got see:

- White House (yes, we had a tour of the INSIDE). On the way out, we saw a secret service agent. Kristen mentioned to him that we were supposed to have breakfast with the President. The secret service guy played along and couldn't believe that George didn't honor that commitment. Then, I opened my big mouth and said that we would've taken the First Lady...you don't say things like that at the White House.
- Capitol - another tour set up by our Congressman
- Library of Congress
- Supreme Court Building
- Air & Space Museum, American Art and Portraiture Museums - part of the Smithsonian Institute
- National Holocaust Museum
- Washington Monument
- Lincoln Memorial
- Arlington Cemetery and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- Mt. Vernon - George Washington's house and tomb
- International Spy Museum - we are well trained to spot spies among us!
- Vietnam Memorial
- Union Station
- Old Town Alexandria
- Folger's Shakespeare Museum
- Ford Theater and house where Lincoln died

We also got to eat lots of really good food...I guess the perk of being in an international city. This is something we really miss living in Lubbock!

As with any trip, there were a few antics along the way.
1) on the day that we toured the Capitol, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress, we forgot the camera...we bought a disposable one. We were pretty sad not to have our camera this day!

2) on our last night, we decided to see The Mall all lit up. We had been out and walking around for the entire day and wanted to eat dinner then walk around The Mall. So, we went up this one street looking for a place to eat. The menu of this one Mexican eatery looked good and affordable, so we went in. Now, we had been outside all day, but we still didn't look disgusting. The hostess told us that their bar served their entire menu, so we could just take a seat there! I asked her how long before a table would be available, and she sat us immediately. We knew what that was about. We were pretty upset to have been treated that way...this places prices did not warrant snootiness. We went ahead and ordered, and our food came - it was bite size servings! We dropped $30 on dinner, Paul talked to the manager about the hostess, and we got pizza later that night.

3) for the last two nights of our trip, we stayed in a hotel near the Capitol. It was a little warm in our room, so Paul turned on the air. It sounded like a car that needed some work, and no cold air came out. The next morning, we told the front desk. They said they'd fix it...but of course didn't. So, we sweated as it was unseasonably warm in DC.

4) Upon returning to Lubbock, we stood at baggage claim patiently waiting for our bags that never came. Somehow through all the plane changes that we made on our way home (four total), our bags got lost. Thank goodness they showed up later that night, and Southwest delivered them to our house.

Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Some thoughts on leaving

So as many of you know I work for InterVarsity as a campus staff worker... training students, discipling, etc. Most of you also know that this is my last year to be working for InterVarsity. I feel like God has given me other gifts and abilities that I want to explore using. Anyway, this past Thursday I told my fellowship that I wont be here next year. It was an interesting experience because on one hand I want there to be weeping and gnashing of teeth when I leave, because I want to feel important and missed... everyone does. However I felt an even more satisfying emotion when one of my leaders said basically (paraphrasing) "whether or not there is another staff worker here next year to take your place, I feel like we'll be OK because you have given us the tools necessary to make it on our own." That felt good. I think it will be hard to let go because I see the fellowship being on the verge of some really big and amazing things. But, i must exit so that when God does do those things, he is the only one people will see.


By the way, the DVD burning worked great. Although, apparently there is a limit for the maximum length of the filepath for the files you burn to a DVD. Also, Windows doesn't have built in support for burning DVD's like it does CD's... you have to use 3rd party software.

check it out!

I was very excited to see that one of the articles I wrote for Urbana.org was published. http://www.urbana.org/_articles.cfm?RecordId=1049. Enjoy!

and that's LUBBOCK for you

Today, we awoke to the hissing sound of violent wind. Upon looking outside, we soon found not only violent wind, but a pink sky. We wanted to go to a coffee shop for a bit this morning. Just leaving the house was an ordeal...you gotta make sure there is absolutely nothing on your lips that dirt will stick to then you gotta put on your shades (event though it isn't sunny outside) because you do, in fact, run the risk of something flying into your eye at 40 mph...who would want that to be the reason they went blind. Then you gotta get out the door and run really fast to get into your car. Now this can sometimes be challenging because the gale-force winds can make it very difficult for one to get the door to the house locked and then the car door opened without something going terribly wrong...like your car door flying off. One must keep their head about them, staying focused during all aspects of the procedure. If all goes well, you can reach your car with minimal dirt caked to your lips or in yours eyes and nose, your car door still attached to the car, and still resembling what you looked liked when you last looked in the mirror.

By the way, we made it to the coffee shop and had an enjoyable time listening to some great live jazz. If you ever come visit us, we will take you to our coffee shop...and hopefully you will not have to experience a Lubbock dust storm.

Hello World!

Ahem... SO... You may be asking yourself, "Self, I wonder why the Maney's blog says 'Paul and Sarah' when Sarah is the only one that posts"? Well wonder no longer. He I am world.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of blogging, and I've had plenty of subjects over the past several weeks that I thought about posting on, but you know how it is, it just didnt happen. So as the weeks rolled by and the comments in jest about me be being a dead-beat blogger husband began to pile up, the pressure only mounted. I thought long and hard about my first post. It had to be good. Funny, insightful, unique. But then the more I though about it, the more I realized if the first post made the heavens part and the angels sing, I'd have nowhere to go but down. So I decided to set the bar low. It's like I always say, if you set the bar low enough you're bound to trip over it sooner or later ;) Are you ready? Brace yourself. I recommend sitting down. Here it is:

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I went and bought some blank DVD's today to back up all of our digital pictures. I have to admit, I've never burned a DVD before and in a weird way I'm kind of excited about it. Will it work? How long will it take to burn a whole DVD of pictures? Is it just like burning a CD? Ack!!! The suspense, the excitement! I'll let you know.

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By the way, official congratulations to: Holly (your review), Seth& Kristen (your post/assignment), and Ludlows (becoming parents, & Charissa on becoming an author)

The Day of LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day!
Paul and I decided not to give each other presents this year - for a few reasons:
1. we FINALLY had our engagement photo professionally framed (it is ready today and we are about to go pick it up...maybe a post later), and that wasn't cheap.
2. You can buy the same chocolates, balloons, and flowers for a fraction of the price on February 13 and 15. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoy getting flowers. But, now that it comes from the same bank account, I don't need them on Valentine's Day
3. We would honestly rather spend the money we would have spent on gifts doing something fun together.

I think it is important to celebrate those that we love and care deeply about. So, you may be thinking, "How do Paul and Sarah do that?". Well, I got up extra early to make pancakes for breakfast. We had lunch together. It has been snowing all day, therefore, we think we are going to order in some of our favorite food (and I do mean some...from several different places) and probably get some coffee. We got engaged on Valentine's day, so we like to return to the place of our engagement - Sugar Brown's Coffee. It would be fun to drink some good wine with dinner, but I don't think we want to drive out to get it...we live in a dry county.

Here's to Valentine's Day. I hope you have all been celebrated today.