Biden, Sparkplugs and Change

It has been a rather intense week in our household, and although I am relieved to have the weekend upon us, I think I will feel better once we come up with a solution to the hand we were dealt this week.

However - to recap the going-ons that made this week altogether unique:

1. We attended the Congressional Fire Services Institute's National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner last night at the Washington Hilton. I have attended before, and I have heard (then) Senator Joe Biden speak before, but oddly enough, when a senator become Vice-President, it is amazing how much difference a title makes. There were more than 2000 people in attendance, and when the Vice-President spoke, there was not one word being spoken by anyone other than him.

That being said, the entire time he was speaking, there were cellphones and cameras raised all over the room, snapping pictures and recording the sound of his voice. It was rather comical, actually, seeing the evident respect and admiration for him while watching men in full dress uniforms try to peer into their phone's screens to be sure they have the right shot.

2. Also this week brought a significant change to our household in that I will be taking on a new job later this month. Changing over from working for a locality to working for the state should prove interesting and challenging, to say the least. One major perk: I will be able to work from a home office, and while that presents challenges of its own, it will offer flexibility that our family of six desperately requires.

3. Last, our family truckster, which is six years olds and was recently paid off, spit out another sparkplug (this made five in the last 15 months), but this time, the sparkplug stripped the chamber. What this means to you and me is this:
Choose from the following 3 options:

1. spend $3XXX for a new cylinder head
2. spend $7XXX for a new engine
3. or go into auto loan debt all over again with a new car

Sometimes having choices does not necessarily mean any one of those choices is GOOD.

Anyone with any knowledge of the apparently known problem of 1995-2003 Ford 5.4 liter Triton engines spitting out sparkplugs, please feel free to leave me a comment with any potentially helpful advice!

Lastly, I am reading a book worth recommending: American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. I will put up a link to Amazon later, but for now - I highly recommend it as a not-so-lightweight read. Excellent writing by an author I already liked.

Now I get to go find out just how much option 3 from above will really cost us...