A new (family) car!

We finished up our car shopping this past weekend. Not necessarily on purpose, but it happened anyway. We start by looking at the Rav4, which we didn't like enough inside to actually test drive. Just up the street, we popped into Wentworth Chevrolet. We were both a little (or a lot) skeptical about American cars. It is kind of a disappointing thing really, but in our vehicle class there has not been much to consider. They were most notable for shoddy interior quality and a track record of poor reliability. Somehow in the last few years they figured out this wasn't a reliable business plan and started to improve matters.

Those improvements led us to test driving the Chevy Equinox. It was not as large as the CR-V, but somewhat nicer inside. Plus, it was a very quiet cabin with a lot of upmarket features. However, we weren't looking to buy anything.............which of course does little to explain how we ended up driving it home. It was, and remains, a hard thing to wrap my head around. Not the small SUV part, because I have always liked them, but buying an American made car. I wish it weren't the case, but they have often not even been on my radar and most professional automotive sites would agree. But, dammit, it was the best one we looked at and they trotted out a lease deal we couldn't refuse. Plus Tia got them to install heated seats as well.

Leasing will hopefully prove a wise decision, though I won't necessarily hold my breath. I have heard both horror stories and of people who have had no problems just dropping off their car after the lease was up and walked away. The lease price was less than half the monthly payment though, and didn't change our current out of pocket, which is something we were really focused on. Plus now we have room for the little bugger and whatever accouterments come along with.

One minor work update: Seems like we will finally be getting a meeting with the execs this coming week. They will, at least in theory, explain to us exactly who our boss is and what they see as far as the direction of our department moving forward. Should be enlightening. As for the clinic, not much clarity there. Lots of, "well, I don't know, maybe we can try just being open on alternate Tuesdays and Leap day" instead of the more practical, in my mind, just shutting it down or offering a modicum of resources to make it remotely workable. I feel like closing it almost entirely will accomplish the same thing anyway..........just much more slowly.

Speaking of work. I spent a lot of the past week at different sites. Gresham was relatively pleasant and, while I like the people at the Park, the patients they see are WILDLY inappropriate for an outpatient clinic. People should be able to ambulate in and out and to self toilet. Not a stringent set of requirements really, but one they tend to ignore in scheduling down there. Makes for a VERY fragile work environment and one that feels always on the precipice of being unsafe. Evidently this will not rectified so long as the person in charge there remains so. The bummer is I think I will be there more often now.

More to come as always.