Of Test Drives, Movies, & Gym Memberships

Last week while visiting my friend Heather in Redwood City I got the great idea to go test driving! I've been contemplating recently on what kind of car will be my Accord's successor. And while I'm not planning to buy in the very near future, I'd still like to have an idea of what kind of car will suit me for the next stage of my life. I'd narrowed down the category to small SUV/crossover. I'd been telling Heather about the which cars I'd had my eye on when she told me she was looking at the same ones! And so we went test driving. First we stopped by the Honda dealership to checkout the '09 CR-V's. Nice enough, OK cargo space, and drives nice to be a 4-cyl. Second stop was the Nissan dealership to checkout the Rogue and the Murano and to gauge their differences. Murano is slightly bigger and is a 6-cyl. It rides like a dream! Only drawback was that it was too big for what I need. The Rogue would suit me perfectly-if it rode half as smooth as the Murano, which it doesn't. On to the Toyota dealership. I'd seen the Toyota Venza in the movie theater parking lot last week when I went to go see My Life in Ruins and thought I'd like to see it up close. It is so nice! Ladies & gentlemen, I've found my next car! it has a ton of cargo and passenger room. It has push to start ignition and it effectively utilizes the center console space. I loves it! Since 2009 is it's debut model year, I have to wait until they unveil the 2010's to see the changes and be able to accurately compare it against my other options. And I still have yet to test drive the Mazda CX-7 which is also on my list. but as of right now, here's how they're ranking:

1. Toyota Venza
2. Nissan Murano
   
3. Honda CR-V
   
4. Mazda Cx-7

Before our test driving adventure Heather and I went to see Away We Go with John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. It was a cute movie that was quirky and off-beat. Just the type of indie flick that's right up my alley. This Wednesday Transformers 2 comes out! I'll be catching a matinee to see that one-and a couple others ;)

Last week I received a 30-day free membership pass for the local gym, In Shape Fitness, and decided to go check it out. Of course the guy, Steve I think his name was, was trying to sell me a membership right there. I'd told him that I'd had 2 gym memberships previously and that I canceled my most recent one because I was paying, but I wasn't going. And I am not in the business of donating money to gyms! He launches in about how it's a mental thing, really committing yourself to going regularly and yadda, yadda, yadda. I wanted to say "look, I'm just here to redeem my free 30 days, man. Skip the spiel," but of course I didn't. I should've. So after some back and forth and some numbers crunching on his part, I finally shut him down and tell him that I want to use the 30 days membership to see how truly committed I am to coming regularly because I don't want to be making $54 donations to In Shape Fitness! With that, he told me how to check-in as a guest and sent me on my way. I think I'll go tonight.