Some thoughts about this car buying video

 

The guy in this video bought almost exactly the same car I did in March, 2025- A 2011 Honda Civic with a cracked windshield.  Only difference is that mine is a Coupe.  Also, in my area a dealership can't sell a car that doesn't pass state inspection, and a car with a cracked windshield doesn't pass inspection, so I had to wait until the windshield was replaced (at their expense) before I could drive off.  Does ANY state motor vehicle department allow dealerships to sell cars that won't pass inspection?

This guy paid a lot less for his car than I did for mine, but my odometer was (is) really low and I'm not told how many miles were on HIS Honda.  Mine doesn't make weird noises and the AC works fine and- again- the windshield was brand new.  18 months after purchase, I don't need new brake pads either.  

(That unfixed crack in the windshield continues to bother me.  In my state, a police officer will eventually pull you over and cite you for that.  You can't just "ignore" a cracked windshield.)

Because this is the United States, a person faced with a $2000 repair bill v. four years of $340 a month for a new car is an easy choice- the new car.  Because I think I'm a Stranger in a Strange Land, I pay the repair bill and keep my old Honda for another several  years.  It's a no brainer- which ought to make it obvious even to Americans.

This guy did three dumb things.  The first one was not getting that cracked windshield replaced, which certainly would have resulted in a fine.  The second was buying Pria a car.  She's smoking hot, but jeesh.  Let her buy her own car.  The third was paying off his younger brother's car.  Why would anyone do this?  What does kid brother's debts have to do with him? That's money that could be going into investments.  Kid brother is going to pay this guy back by just getting into debt again.  Probably by signing up for a new car.

Overall, this guy is really smart, besides having a girlfriend who was probably way too good for him when the relationship started (did anyone else think that he was going to end up with that other girl he met at the elevator?)  He made some odd missteps, but everyone does.  I'd take his advice.  

I don't have a car fund.  I have an emergency fund that will become a vacation fund assuming that there's no emergency.  If it's up to me, the car I currently own will be the last one I EVER own, because once it's paid off- in three months, more than 2 years in advance- I will NOT miss making those payments.)

Xocova Commercial: Paging Dr. Son

 

There is SO MUCH STUPID in this ad....

First, the son calls his mom to warn her that he's been diagnosed with COVID, which means he exposed her to the disease on his last visit.  Fair enough- that's exactly what he should do.

But then, two almost laughable dumb things happen:  Mom abruptly interrupts to announce that she's calling her doctor RIGHT NOW instead of, you know, thanking her kid for warning her, telling him that she'll make an appointment immediately, and asking him to call him back (or maybe NOT acting like she just severed an artery and having a conversation for a few minutes before organically ending the call and then calling the doctor.  I mean, come on.)  Then, son TELLS his mother to ask her doctor about Xocova and stays on the line as she talks to the guy who actually went through medical school and maybe actually keeps up with the latest treatments even more than this obnoxious kid does.

Mom dutifully parrots whatever son says to the doctor, and at this point I wonder why she just doesn't have son talk to the doctor directly.  No sooner does she get reassurance that son's Will Shall Be Done than she turns the phone over to dad- or dad uses his own phone, this is getting dumber by the second- and gets HIS marching orders from Son to demand a particular drug that I guess Son knows everything there is to know about which makes me wonder why the kid isn't his parents' official doctor.

So I guess the urgency comes from the fact that Xocova is only effective if it's used within three days or so of first infection- ok, but still.  A few minutes was not going to make a difference.  I'm much more disturbed (and amused) by the son's total control over his parents' drug regimen. Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense for the son to say something like "please call your doctor right away, tell him you've been exposed to COVID, and ask about treatments? I heard that there's this  new drug out there that can be effective if taken soon after exposure, it's called Xocava."  You know, instead of acting like HE'S prescribing Xocava and is just using the doctor as an annoyingly necessary middleman?  

Another Bridge to Nowhere

 What's the truly horrifying thing about this and all Quick Payday Loan ads?  Is it

A)  That the people in them are so economically unstable that they feel the need to open an app and borrow money at absolutely horrific interest because they are incapable of budgeting? Or

B)  Are so thrilled at the Non-Solution that is Payday Loans that they actually start dancing (in every commercial. They ALWAYS dance) at the "good news" that they've successfully taken on another debt that in reality will just be another headache added on to the mountain of stress they seem determined to die on?

Pick Both?  Yeah, I thought so.

These Quick Cash Ads are all equally depressing

 

It's very simple- if you can't afford to attend a wedding, just say you can't attend the wedding.  It's a win-win- you get to keep your money, AND you get to avoid going to a wedding.  With my sage wisdom I've saved you from a lost weekend and debt regret.

Or you can go to DebtHappens.com or Dave.com or whatever the hell this is I don't even want to check again and grab a scummy payday loan at an insane interest rate so you can continue to live in denial and show well for your idiot friends, one of which thinks its perfectly ok to make her guests spend serious money to help her "celebrate" her "perfect day."  Gag. 

So glad I have no friends.

Xfinity Customers and Zombies. It just works.

 

So I guess the idea is that Xfinity is so reliable that it will continue to function even after the fall of civilization at the hands of the zombie hordes...or that the zombie hordes are so dedicated to remaining addicted to their stupid phones, they'll work to keep 5G up and running as they devastate everything else on the planet?

This guy is trying to escape zombies but when offered a choice between having whatever is left of his brains being eaten by the zombie apocalypse and having to endure a train ride without engaging in brain rot with his phone...he makes sure he can download a movie before jumping on that train.  Because nothing, NOTHING is going to force him to be alone with his thoughts for a few hours. 

Seriously, dude.  Just let the other zombies have your brain.  You aren't using it. 

Hyundai Commercial: Yeah, she's trapped all right....

 

"That's my car."

Me:  "Oooh...um, good luck with that."

"Not a problem- look, I can push a button on my key fob and my Hyundai will just roll right out to me. I don't need to be able to squeeze in."

Me: "Um, that's not what I meant by 'good luck with that.'  I meant that you bought a brand-new Hyundai which is already worth 20 percent less than what you paid, and which you are certainly overpaying for anyway, probably over four or five years, too.  Good luck with the payments, not to mention the maintenance bills.  These things are notoriously unreliable."

"Shut up, that's why!  Watch, it parks itself too!"

Jeep, Patriotism and Emergency Room Visits just go together

 

Jeep is "America's most patriotic automobile brand" despite being owned by an Italian car company better known for producing buggy, unreliable junk since the 1990s.  

But I can see how Jeep and Patriotism still go together.  Being Patriotic has always been about sacrifice.  During World Wars I and II, Americans were asked to limit their consumption of meat, grow their own food in Victory Gardens, recycle grease, tin cans and paper, and take that vacation fund and use it to buy War Bonds instead.

During World War II sugar was highly rationed and good luck trying to buy a new set of tires for the family car (which you were NOT going to be taking for Sunday drives until the Nazis were put down once and for all.)  You were supposed to carpool and even the ladies were expected to Do Their Part in the munitions factories.  Again- it was all about Sacrifice.

Well, buying a Jeep certainly allows the modern generation to share that sense of sacrifice.  When you buy a Jeep, you'll be sacrificing a large chunk of your paycheck to the local mechanic.  You'll be sacrificing hours of your life to sitting in that mechanic's waiting room, hoping this time the drain on your wallet is only MILDLY Patriotic (you need a new battery) rather than Uber, Huge Flag-Waving Patriotic (you need a new transmission on your Stellantis Crapbox despite the fact that it's still under 50,000 on the odometer.)  

If you're really lucky, the Jeep won't force you to experience some of that Patriotism when you're trying to get your child, who has just lost three fingers having fun with the Almost As Patriotic Firework Pack included, to the emergency room.  Maybe this time it WON'T Patriotically conk out on the highway while she's keeping pressure on the stump to keep from bleeding to death.  If it doesn't, well, you'll have plenty of time to demonstrate your sense of Patriotism later- maybe by flying a huge American flag from the truck bed as you drive through a shallow creek, or something.  You can pretend you're hitting the beach at Normandy to ramp up the Patriotism Factor as your child provides the blood to bring the experience to life.