The Chronic Consumer

We’re going to take delivery of our new van in just a couple of weeks, and my husband is understandably excited by that. In fact, he has been checking out ways to customize his new ride, and ended up convincing me that we needed to spend $600 on black wheels to replace the stock ones.

He’s now talking about maybe getting a billet grille as well, but I think I’m going to draw the line right there. After all, this is a family van, not a rock star’s ride!

We’re big motocross and supercross fans in this household, so a lot of our casual clothes feature logos from brands that are popular in those sports. Jerry in particular wears a lot of MX-related shirts, jackets, and hats, and One Industries is his favorite brand by far.

The latest item that Jerry wants is this One Industries Monster Energy Hoody (pictured above). It’s a very cool looking hoody, and has the following features:

• Embroidered logos
• Heavyweight fleece
• 100% cotton
• Full front zipper
• Chest and side pockets

Unfortunately, as with most One Industries Monster Energy products, this hoody is extremely overpriced. The MSRP is $60, and I’ve seen it at some places for as low as $53 and some change. However, that’s still way too expensive for a hooded sweatshirt, IMO.

I’m going to keep an eye on this hoody and will likely buy it for Jerry if the price dips down into the $40 range; but as of now, we simply can’t justify the expense.

Wine is definitely “in” right now, as more and more people are becoming interested in tastings and vineyard tours. Plus, I’ve noticed that even good wines are pretty affordable these days, which makes them accessible to the general public as well as to hardcore aficionados.

In addition, wine of the month clubs are becoming a very popular way for people to sample choice wines that they might not otherwise come across. For example, members of the Gold Medal Wine Club receive two bottles of small-production, award-winning wines from premium family-owned California vineyards every single month. These are the kinds of wines that you wouldn’t typically find at the local liquor store, so that definitely makes club membership worthwhile.

Don’t forget that a wine of the month club membership makes a great gift, so keep Gold Medal Wine in mind for that next special occasion!

Although we have every major gaming console available on the market today (except for the PS3), my husband most definitely prefers the Xbox 360. He feels the graphics, titles, and seamless online playing features elevate this system heads and shoulders above the rest, so it’s no surprise that whenever he buys a new game, he buys one for this platform.

His most recent acquisition was a game called Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, the sixth installment of the celebrated Ace Combat series, but the first that my husband has ever played. He purchased this game mostly because of recommendations from friends and the extremely high review scores that the title received from respected websites like GameSpot. My husband likes war/fighting games anyway, so I was expecting him to get into this series at some point. I’m just surprised it took this long!

Backstory: From what I gather, two fictional countries, Emmeria and Estovakia, are at war with each other. The player is on the Emmerian side, and is a fighter pilot for that air force. The war begins because the Estovakian Air Force invaded the Emmerian capital city, so the Emmerians have no choice to retaliate and defend themselves. The player is a squadron leader (callsign “Talisman”) and has a wingman who flies under the callsign “Shamrock”.

As gameplay progresses, there are transitional scenes that provide additional backstories about what’s happening to some random Emmerian civilians while the war is going on. For example, there’s a mother searching for a lost child, a young woman searching for a missing boyfriend, etc. My husband felt these scenes added a lot to the game; but from an observer’s perspective (mine) they seemed kind of cheesy.

Gameplay: The gameplay is the strongest part of Ace Combat 6. The flight controls are very easy to get used to, and can even be changed to a “novice” setting for those who have trouble with the default arrangement. There’s a nice variety of aircraft for the player to choose from (including several real models), and the planes are very responsive to the controls.

The first part of the game is relatively easy, so my husband was able to cruise through the early levels without any problems even though he’d never played any of the previous Ace Combat games before. However, the levels do get progressively more difficult, and by the final stages, things looked and sounded pretty hectic during the combat scenes.

The background scenery and peripherals are fantastic, which just serves to round out the whole experience. Moreover, there’s a constant stream of radio chatter that helps make it sound like the player is really in a wartime combat situation.

Reaction: My husband thinks that Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation rates as one of the best games he’s ever played. The makers thought of every facet of the gaming experience, and have really put a fantastic product out there. This title is highly recommended for anyone who likes realistic war/flying/fighting games!

The more I think about what to get my husband for Christmas, the more I’m convinced that I need to go with a nice tool box. He always works on his motocross bikes in the garage, and over the years has built up a pretty sizable collection of tools. But he only has a small box to keep them in, which means a lot of his expensive tools are just lying around on the ground. I know that proper tool storage is important in order to keep everything in good shape, so I don’t mind spending a lot of money on this present.

The “mobile work station” in this photo is exactly the kind of thing I would like to buy for my husband. It would be perfect or his needs, and I like the fact that he can wheel it out of the way when he’s not working on the bikes. And hey, if I get this, maybe we’ll even be able to park our cars in the garage sometime soon!

A little while back, I wrote how I’ve already created Christmas shopping lists for most of my immediate family members and several close friends, which should make my life a whole lot easier when the holiday season rolls around. The only person I had trouble coming up with ideas for was my husband, so for the last week and a half, I’ve been scouring the Internet looking for suitable gifts for him.

During my many web wanderings, I came across a great site called CarGuyGarage.com that has a bunch of potential gifts that I’m sure my husband would love. As you know, my husband is a rabid motocross racer, and uses our garage space to store his equipment and tools, as well as to wrench on his bikes. The place is a mess right now, so he sure could use a new storage cabinet, toolbox, or metal pegboard to keep everything organized.

Yes, I think I’ve finally hit on some Christmas gift ideas that are perfect for my very hard-to-shop-for husband! I recommend that you check out CarGuyGarage.com for yourself if you’re having similar problems shopping for the man in your life.

As I wrote yesterday, I’m already in the process of creating a Christmas list for immediate family members. I was trying to think about things that I can get for my husband, which is definitely not an easy task. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t really buy too many things for himself. And when he does want something, he just goes out and gets it without making a big deal out of it. So it’s not like he has a whole laundry list of things that he would be happy to get for Christmas.

But on the bright side, I’m sure he’ll appreciate whatever I end up buying for him, whether it’s a couple of X-box games, some motocross gear, or one of those Luminox watches that the Navy SEALs wear.

Even so, I would of course like to get him some presents that he’ll actually enjoy, something different than what I usually get him (video games and MX stuff). But I’m stuck for ideas and could use a few suggestions, so feel free to pitch in!

I’m well past the days of buying aftermarket modifications for my vehicles. My husband and I own a big van that we use for family road trips and a smaller economy car that gets good gas mileage. Neither of these are the kinds of cars that anyone would bother to upgrade.

But about 10 years ago I drove a brand-new Pontiac Firebird. It was a beautiful ride that got me lots of compliments (and speeding tickets) everywhere I went. A friend of mine convinced me to make several mods to it, including chrome wheels, a custom car spoiler, dual exhaust, and a few under-the-hood adjustments.

All of those parts cost quite a bit of money because I didn’t know about discount websites back then, but I’d have to say the result was well worth it. Maybe when I go through my midlife crisis and buy another sports car, I’ll check into car mods again!

My husband and I both tend to drive over the speed limit, especially when we’re using the highway. We don’t go dangerously fast; just 10-15 miles over the limit — which is enough to get a sizable ticket these days.

We’ve both received several speeding tickets over the past few years, so I think it’s time to invest in a radar detector. I’ve been doing a lot of research into these products and see that the units are all over the spectrum in terms of price, features, and performance. Since I believe it would be rather silly to go for the low-end models in this particular case (because of the potential for disastrous consequences), I’ve been focusing my energy on comparing the top-of-the-line units.

After checking out several different brands, I’ve concluded that the Escort Passport 9500i would be the best choice for us. It has innovative features such as GPS positioning, TrueLock, Mark Location, and more. Plus, every time the alarm sounds, the unit displays your actual speed so you know exactly how fast you’re going and how much you have to slow down. Pretty cool!

I’ve talked to my husband about the Passport 9500i, and he thinks it sounds great too, so we’ll probably end up buying it sometime in the near future. As of now, it’s officially on my Wish List!

My cousin is really into cars and is currently studying to be a mechanic. Even though he’s just 21 years old, he already has a massive collection of body shop supplies and automotive tools to help him keep his ride in tip-top shape. He has spent a lot of money on his tools, but the investment will pay off in the future, as it’ll help him get a good job and also help him save money on his own car repairs.

I know my cousin usually buys these types of products from local hardware stores or specialty supply stores, which probably means that he’s paying a lot more than he has to. I know of several discount websites, such as HandsonTools.com, that offer a huge selection of body shop supplies at great prices.

I keep forwarding links to my cousin, but I’m not sure how much he follows up with them. I’ll just have to keep trying to convert him into an online shopper and hope that he sees the light soon!