By ahmil | March 22nd, 2009
I was doing my Friday morning reading when I came across an article titled, “10 Cars That Get More Than 40 mpg“. This was an interesting list of cars. The first 2 listed were hybrids. The first named (of course) was the Toyota Prius and the second (my kind of car) was the Honda Civic Hybrid and they were the only two that are available in the US. The rest of them are not available for sale in the US. Three of them are not diesel while the rest of the five are not sold in the US because they are diesels. Guess who is the maker of two of these fuel efficient cars … FORD!!!! One is the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic that I mentioned in one of my articles and the other is the Ford Ka.
So it seems to me that Ford could save itself without all this bail out. Maybe we are putting some of these bail out money in the wrong place. Are we really too stupid to learn about the new cleaner diesel fuel? Don’t you think that we will buy one of them if they show the same product quality, fuel efficiency and greener. I am driving a Honda Civic Hybrid. I am driving it because it’s reliable, more fuel efficient and greener. Not just because it’s a Honda!
By ahmil | March 14th, 2009
It’s been a while since the last entry. So a quick word about why the absence.
The 3rd week of January (week of the 18th) was spent in New York. It was a cold greeting from New York. I arrived at NY and as soon as I settled into the cab, my phone beeped telling me that I had voice mail. It was from my brother telling me to head over to my parents’ apartment to meet up with my Mom then head over to the hospital. Dad was admitted into ICU the night before. That trip to NY was meant to help out taking care of my Dad who just got out of the hospital the week before.
Machines beeping and IVs dripping but he was stable. My Mom and I stayed till 7:30pm when visiting hours was over. It snowed that first night!
Home from Downtown Hospital.
My brother went back at 8:30pm to stay with Dad over night. So that was the schedule every day. My Mom and I were there during the day and my brother the night. The hospital was just around the corner, so we just had at walk to get there. So it was a very short daily commute.
Second trip to New York on the 24th of Jan. I took 2 weeks off from work so I don’t have to keep flying back every week. Similar kind of schedule as the first trip was planned even after Dad was transferred back to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was discharged from the first time. It was a longer commute and in the subway. I had mixed feelings whether I could handle this kind of daily commute. Private or public commute? Which is better? Both have it’s pro’s and con’s. A couple of the ICU nurses had told me that they would never pick CA over NY. Surprised me a bit since so many people seemed to be migrating to CA all the time. But then maybe it was just that CA superior feeling because we have better weather. Hard not to feel that way … it was freezing in NY.
View from Mt. Sinai Waiting Room
Dad’s condition did not seem to be getting better and he was eating less. We were all very concerned. My brother called around 3:00am Feb 3rd. My Mom and I got ready ASAP and took a cab to the hospital. By morning, we called my other brother to come. We were all there with him. Dad passed away last afternoon.
Leaving Mt. Sinai
It was snowing on the way to the subway when we left the hospital. The snow … strange conincidence … Leaving the hospital that night was hard … felt like I was abandoning him. I have always understood why people needed religion. I think I understand.
Note: Just noticed that I had started this post last week. Finally finished it.
