An Unsolicited Observation...

Vindication was on the menu his morning. If I cared, that is. Allow me to explain. A couple of years ago when I was shopping for a new car the manager of my office at that time advised me to get the all wheel drive option. And this wasn’t some kind of passing mention either. This guy was adamant and even belligerent about it. When I first received the unsolicited advice I thanked the person for it and tried to move the conversation on from there. Of course, this guy wasn’t done. He went on and on about how he knew everything about driving in weather because he was from the northeast part of the country or some such place. I basically discarded the advice because while I’m not from the northeast, I am from this part of New Mexico, and since I still live here figured my experience was more relevant. And that experience is that we just don’t get a lot of bad weather here. If it’s bad enough I’d rather just stay in.

Anyway, I bought the car, with rear wheel drive, in early fall 2009 and in a year and a half of ownership it hasn’t really met inclement weather. Until today, of course. The city of Albuquerque woke up this morning to roads of ice and sleet with precipitation and fog limiting visibility. While I could have stayed home and it was tempting to do so, I decided to head in to the office. Taking it slow I made it into work without much issue at about 6:30 in the morning. My traction control came on more than a few times and ensured that my car remained in the direction I intended. That’s why I feel vindicated.

Could the all wheel drive option have made my drive in easier? Probably. And would I enjoy the speedier 0-60 time that AWD has? Likely. But, would I even notice that slightly faster acceleration and would I like a heavier car that gets slightly worse gas mileage. No, I would not.

The entire reason I mentioned all of this was to bring up an observation. And that is it seems every single gentleman of at least middle age and older who moved to Albuquerque from the northeastern part of the country believes that they know everything about everything and like to share it with everyone. Seriously, I was driving with an older gentleman from Chicago recently and they were an even worse back-seat driver than me. Every turn he would tell me to turn AS I WAS TURNING. Every time I would accelerate I WAS GOING TOO FAST. He explained to me MY CULTURE and why things are the way they are, NO MATTER IF IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF ALL OF KNOWN NM HISTORY and AS IF I KNOW NOTHING.

But I digress. If you don’t believe me, hang out with an older dude from the northeastern part of the country sometime. You’ll be cringing in no time. I guarantee it, double your money back.