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I love this time of year because there are so many new car models that make their way to showroom floors. Before I talk about my favorite cars in the 2008 line-up, I want to highlight two strong vehicles that came out late for 2007: the Wrangler Unlimited and the Dodge Nitro.

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Everybody loves the Jeep Wrangler. Seriously, you may never meet a person in your life who doesn’t like Jeep’s drop-top icon. But even with its universal fan base, owning a Wrangler only makes sense if you are young and single. The cool factor helps you ignore the obvious problems with the Jeep: poor gas mileage, zero cargo room, and small back seats that get heavy wind that brutalize your passengers once the top goes down. The Wrangler Unlimited may still get bad gas mileage, but you have enough room for some cargo and your friends don’t have to get wind-whipped on the way to the lake.

4 doors = Bigger Party

2007 Dodge Nitro

People don’t get too excited about SUVs anymore, and it’s a shame. The Dodge Nitro has the visual DNA of the earliest SUVs. It is tall, lean, and rugged. It reminds me of the earliest Jeep Willies. You can’t beat that aggressive snout.

It’s lean body shares many design cues from the super-bad M80 Concept truck that circulated the 2002 auto shows.

1. Cowl and windshield angles
2. Cross-bar grill
3. Pronounced fenders and front air dam (beneath the grill)
4. Side vents
5. Wheels

Although I’d prefer the M80 to the Nitro, I’m happy to see that Dodge didn’t forget what they had right with the M80 concept.

The 2007 Dodge Nitro (top) and the 2002 Dodge M80 Concept truck (bottom)

They thinned out the visual mass of the Nitro by painting the C-pillars black, essentially removing the harsh lines that typically define the window for the rear seats. Typically, a car manufacturer will paint all 4 pillars that support the roof: the A-pillar near the windshield, the B-pillar that separates the front and back seat, the C-pillar that separates the back seat from the cargo space, and the D-pillar that finishes off the back of the SUV. What you end up with is three tinted boxes that define the different quadrants of the cabin. It also looks a lot like a school bus.

Is the H2 just a shortbus?

Audi TT, Audi R-8

Before I talk about the second-generation Audi TT, I have to share the car’s unique history.

When I was 16 (around 1995) my friend’s dad Dale gave me all of his car magazines once he was finished reading them. Although I was a bag boy and couldn’t afford a new car, I was fascinated to see the future through concept cars. Audi was making an outrageously styled car with a ridiculous name: the TT. Every other car was a streamlined piece of sheet metal that looked like a bar of soap. The TT was smooth, but it had bold curves and almost robotic-looking dimensions.

I lost track of the car for a couple years until I became a freshman in college. It was 1997, and Audi released that car and shocked the world. I was studying Industrial Design, and the whole department was buzzing with the outrageous success of this bold new car. We were excited that the auto world could be going in a new direction.

The ad campaign for Kobe’s shoe included the TT.

This first-generation TT was so popular that two years later in 1999, Adidas approached the Audi design team to help them design a shoe for Kobe Bryant, the young superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers. Imagine that: I shoe company outsourcing their design to a car company. You can see the similarities between the TT and the Kobe shoe.

The car, the shoe.

So it’s been 10 years since the first TT shook up the car world, and now Audi’s back with a bigger, refined second-generation car. I was a little skeptical of the new sheet metal wrapping the car, but I can see that Audi was sure to draw visual connections with their new mid-engine super car, the R-8.

The 2008 Audi TT (top) and the 2008 Audi R-8

I would write something about the R-8, but it’s as untouchable as private jet. I like bold, cool cars for ordinary people because that’s what we all end up looking at anyway. You might see one car worth more than $100,000 each day, but most of the scenery on the streets of life are purchased by working class people with families. Which leads me to the most bad@ss car on the streets today…

The 2008 Dodge Magnum

Anyone who knows me or reads my journal knows I think the Magnum is one of the top three coolest cars on the street, a car destined to become a classic for this generation.

When I heard that Dodge was going to update the car for this year, I was afraid they’d mess up a good thing. But they did it right: small changes to the grill and headlights, and a new hood scoop to remind people this car is mean. If you still one of the few people who don’t respect the Magnum, walk down the toy isle and notice how many little Magnums are hanging on the shelf. After that, go to player’s parking lot of your favorite sports team, and you’ll see the $30,000 Magnum parked proudly next to the $300,000 Bentley.

Bad to the bone.

The 200? Maybach Exelero

Okay, take back all that I said about liking ordinary cars for ordinary people. Sometimes I make exceptions, and this time it’s for the Maybach Exelero. I saw this mysterious car in a Jay-Z video earlier this year.

Jay-Z, I have your homework: Find words that rhyme with Exelero. Get back to me on your next album.

Apparently it’s a one-off car that cost $8,000,000 to build. Right now, everyone in the media is saying that this car will never be mass-produced, but I don’t believe it.

If they had no intention of creating a super-car and luxury-car, why would they let Jay-Z drive their eight million dollar baby? Mercedes resurrected the Maybach brand earlier this decade, and they put out the word out to the media mouths that they only expected pop stars and celebrities to own their cars. Now they’re skipping the papers. Jay-Z will do all the talking.

This car would look at home on the streets of Gotham.

The 2008 Ford Super-Duty

I don’t know much about the big trucks, but I know what looks cool. And Ford’s new Super Duty is as tough as you get. That 10-foot tall grill is enough to stare down any Japanese pickup, even a pack of ugly-as-hell Toyota Tundras.

Steppin’ tall.

The 2008 Volvo C30

This Volvo’s first hatchback in America about 40 years. I would quote specific numbers, but the thought of doing research on old Volvo’s bores me to death. All I know is that I’ve seen a couple old Volvo hatchbacks with big rear windows around the country. I’m sure the designers remembered those early hatches when designing the new C-30. It has a vintage vibe to it, don’t you think?

Why are all advertized European cars silver? And why are they always photographed on cloudy days?

Although I like the C-30′s clean, sporty lines, I doubt they’ll sell many of these cars in America. If you are in the market for a hatchback, the C-30 is too much money. If your in the market for a Volvo but don’t have a lot of cash, then the C-30 is just what you want.

This is why they’ll be purchased by young urban professionals (y.u.p.s.) or by parents who want their soon-to-be yups to drive one to high school. In ten years, these C-30s will be scattered around liberal college towns along with other recent lux hatchbacks or small wagons from Mercedes and BMW. Except they’ll be a little beat up and have dozens of activist bumper stickers. In other words, this photo is as good as the C-30 will ever look. It’s a shame too.

The 2008 Cadillac BLS Wagon

Rumor has it that the Cadillac BLS Wagon is going to Europe. Cadillac promises an alternative, bio-ethanol-fuel engine for the BLS Sedan and Wagon. That’s cool and all, but isn’t it cooler that Cadillac is actually making a wagon? I know there are some bizarre Caddy wagons floating around the Internet, and maybe Cadillac made some of those years ago. But in my lifetime, Cadillac has been all about big cars and bigSUVs. If this nifty little wagon does well in Europe, we might see it stateside in a couple years.

Cadillac’s first wagon?

Nope. Lowered Escalade = Cadillac Wagon

Other favorites coming out in 2008 are the Scion Xb and the Honda Element SC. Wow. This journal took me a lot longer to write than I thought. I’m actually tired of cars now.

A few days ago my parents got in a car wreck on their drive back from New York. They were in Dad’s pickup truck pulling a camper. They hydroplaned, spun around 3 times through oncoming traffic and finally slid into a ditch.

The camper was filled with things they were bringing south to my grandmother.

Neither Mom or Dad were injured, but their truck and camper are in bad shape. They are both now safely back in Georgia trying to sort out what to do with insurance and all of that. Dad has had some horrible nightmares, but those are passing.

I am very thankful they are both okay. Really, the last two days have been the best days of my life. It’s the worst feeling in the world to imagine that you could lose someone you love. Every time I hear a siren, I pray for the people who need that ambulance or firetruck.;

I mean, that ambulance could be going to help Candyce. More than anything, praying for people like this keeps me from getting so self-consumed that I forget that there are real people, real families who are in pain. I also make an effort never to be captivated by tragedy on the news without forgetting the hearts of the people who are directly effected.

It’s only fair. I don’t want anyone to be entertained at my death, so why should I be entertained with theirs?

I rode my bike through the motor mile in Carlsbad to investigate the 2008 cars. I’ll probably write a journal about my favorites some time next month, but I have to write about the new Honda Element SC. This is basically the Element I was trying to make when I bought mine 2 years ago. Something more street and less off-road. The big difference here is that all the body panels are painted, the suspension is lower (just a little!) and the more angular, agressive rims. Well done Honda!

I am beginning to realize that all life is is a series of problems. Even when things go right, you’ll still have problems. Don’t mistake what I’m saying for Murphy’s Law, which projects: “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

This adage is popular in entrepreneurial America today, because at one time or another, every person will be in a bad situation where you are left discouraged, helpless, and pitiful. I don’t know, maybe when you are on the bottom, it feels good to know that it was destined to happen anyway. That you did all you could, but the deck was stacked against you.

Or more likely, it’s just good to know that you’re not alone, that others have failed just like you, so much that they wrote it down. Maybe Murphy’s Law gets more credit than it deserves. After all, his laws are always recited to an attentive crowd–a bewildered bunch with nothing else to do but listen. Laws of success written for successful people will never be read by successful people because they are too busy out succeeding.

For whatever reason we like this law, somehow having “failure” defined soothes the sting:

1. If anything can go wrong, it will.
2. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
3. If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
4. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
5. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
7. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw
8. Whatever has happened wrong, is bound to happen again …. maybe even worse.

These laws can make your life miserable if they drive you to being pessimistic or jaded. Defeatists are no fun to be around. But for idealists like me, it’s a healthy to be confronted with the reality that failure is possible, that things won’t always go as I hope. Knowing this, I can choose a positive attitude so that I know how to deal with adversity as it comes. Otherwise, life will be a series of problems and disappointments, and life will be become miserable.

As an example, consider my life since December 27, 2006…

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The December Payment Saga

I’ve spent the last 206 days trying to help my mortgage company remember that they cashed my December payment, but they forgot to credit my account.

It’s like your friend loans you $10 and you pay him right back. But he pesters you for the next 7 months asking you when you’re going to pay you the $10 back. This starts out as a friendly misunderstanding, but it turns into “What’s wrong with you? Do you not remember that we talked about this two hours ago?”

But the December Payment Saga is more complicated that a misunderstanding between friends. I have been inundated with letters in the mail, random bullies calling me, and even an automated computer voice that calls my home and my work. I didn’t know this happened to people who made their monthly payments on time.

Each time I got a real human on the phone, I told them the same story. I recited this story so many times that I had dates, account numbers, and check numbers memorized. “Yes, I’ll fax over records…no, I already have your fax number.” Every time I thought it would be my last phone call.

Since I knew I was correct the whole time, I always spoke with a calm confidence, like this whole dilemma was beneath me, but I was kind enough to take time to help the person on the phone get their bearings. Beginning month number 3, I adopted the persona of an outraged male who was insulted by the corporate irresponsibility. You know the “I’ll take my business elsewhere.” I was condescending and short. This felt kind of cool, like I was the undisputed world champion of the phone call, but I felt bad for the people on the other end of the call. More importantly, this didn’t bring any results.

Beginning month number 4, I became a new man, a kind man amused by the ridiculous situation. I would receive their aggressive tone with giggly skepticism. “Oh really, you don’t see the computer showing my payment? (pause) Did you read the notes about my account on the computer? (pause) I’ll give you a few minutes to catch up.” I’d continue eating my burrito until they were ready. I wasn’t sarcastic, just patient and chill.

Around month 5, maybe month 6, I was absolutely blunt with the guy on the phone. I was a man who was about to break down:

“Sir, I have no idea what I can tell you guys so that you’ll quit calling me. I’ve tried everything. I could be mad at you, threaten to call the Better Business Bureau, or ask to speak to your manager. But that hasn’t worked. I would recite my story of what brought us to this point, but like everyone else who’s called me, you’ll forget to write any of this down. I’ll get another call tomorrow, and I’ll tell the same story. It’s probably best if you just hang up and call someone else.”

I spent so many hours on the phone with these people that I actually got to know most of the people in their call center. I could recognize their voices, like family members in another state. I even affirmed a new guy: “You have done a great job. You must be new. I’ve received a lot more help the last few times I’ve called. Please tell your manager I appreciated all of your help.” He replied, “Actually, we recently overhauled our entire customer service department. Almost all of us are new on staff.” So I’ve had this same problem through an entire turnover of this division. It was 206 days of hell.

That is until last yesterday (Friday) when I got my final phone call:

“Mr. Smith, we’re very sorry. We did in fact receive your December payment. Your account is now current and on schedule. Your credit report has been cleared. All late fees have been reimbursed. You will receive no more letters or phone calls. But we will be sending you a letter of apology in the mail.”

I was so happy that I just chit-chatted with Jessica for a few minutes. The call could’ve been brief, less than 20 seconds, about as long as it would take you to read the paragraph above. But I realized that I was in the final scene of a really long, boring chapter of my life, and it would be unjust to not make it more climactic.

So Jessica and I chit-chatted, repeating the same good news back to each other for almost five minutes. It’s all over? Yes it’s all over. You mean, it’s really all over? Yes, it’s really…

I thanked her and gave her some interesting facts about my past that might make her weekend a little more interesting. I clapped my phone shut and asked Candyce to go on a date with me for lunch. We went to lunch at Pipe’s Cafe overlooking the ocean to celebrate.

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Life = Problems = LifeI realize that this journal entry may end up sounding like a poorly-crafted chapter from a self-help book. I would try to re-write this chapter to make it better, I don’t have it all figured out yet. I can’t lace this up tight.

One thing is for sure: Problems = Life. There’s no blissful existence on earth waiting for me if you can just get through this one problem. There are other problems waiting for me tomorrow that I’ll have to deal with too. When I look into the future and see the adversity waiting for me, I get overwhelmed and I feel defeated.

The good news is that it can’t come all at you at once. Last week I sat on the tailgate of my Element on a bluff overlooking the ocean. I spent an hour in prayer, reading the Bible and quieting me heart. I came across this scripture that helped me out:

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of it’s own. Today’s trouble is enough.” – Matthew 6:34

These are the people who I hung with last week. I’m not in the picture b/c I was on my way to the airport.

I just got back from an 11-day trip to Georgia to Arizona, and now back in California. It was really exciting to be back in my hometown with Mom and Dad. I love helping them around the house with random projects. I know how discouraging it can get when a project stalls because it’s too difficult or complicated.

Dad and I woke up early a couple mornings and hiked up the mountain. It was fun coming back home for the first time as a married man because it gave me something new in common with my father. It’s a profound change in my life. It was so much fun cooking and grilling with Mom and Dad, bringing in new flavors and food that I’ve learned since I graduated high school. There’s something sacred about the family dinner table. Mom and Dad are such extraordinary people, so just being around them is inspiring and healing for me.

Bizarre News

One of the most bizarre realization that is worth capitalizing: MY HOME TOWN HIP. Hip as in cool, a nice town to visit. I can’t even believe I am writing this. I mean my home town has become a cute, classy lakeside community in the mountains. The kind of town people in Atlanta love to brag about visiting or owning a summer home.

When I left 10 years ago, it was a sleepy hick town insulated from the outside world. It was as boring as you get. Not anymore. The storefronts on Main Street have been redone and look fantastic. There are fashionable boutiques, a coffee shop, classy antiques shops, and a hip restaurant. That’s right: A. Hip. Restaurant.

The homes surrounding the lake are well made and beautiful. There’s lakeside townhouses, yacht clubs, and bars. I am jealous! Why didn’t I see this coming? It’s about to become a town that becomes too expensive for people to live in.

Camp is Fun

It was exciting to be at Covecrest again this summer. I realize that I now have a different perspective than in years past. I guess I realize how much I’ve grown up, and my life is so different than that of the teenagers who come to camp. I forgot how vulnerable and insecure you feel in high school, how difficult it is to make new friends. I also know what it’s like to feel like to not “feel anything” at church and to think it’s a waste of time. It hit me how that for many of the teenagers at camp, itmight’ve been the first time they felt completely accepted by their peers. That’s something they’ll never forget. Anyway, here are few photos from the week.

 

Here’s me leading a goofy dance.

 

The mud pit is a highlight of the week. Some people manage not to get dirty.

 

The groups on the left are actually teenagers going to confession. It was a beautiful scene.

 

What could be more fun than whitewater rafting?

Steubenville West

For most of the past several  years, I’ve been obsessed with how many people come to our events. I want to see a revolution, and it can’t happen if there aren’t any more people this year than there were last year. I realize now that I take for granted the fact that people show up at all.

As I stood on stage on Saturday and looked out at 2100 people, I realized how much I have to be thankful for. This was a big event/party that my friends organized and hosted. How cool is it that 2100 people re-arranged their life to spend a weekend with us? I’m not some college kid that picks up the microphone and talks from the stage for 30 minutes. I’ve become one of the grownups who lead events like this. I know the people who hang the lights from the ceiling, the musicians who play in the band, the people who order the food at the end of the day.

We actually did this, and we did it together. The fact that this event happens at all is a sign of success.