Vibrams and a stick shift

Good news! We got our car back from the repair shop yesterday! It took two trips. The first time, we noticed that there was still some air whipping between the door and the frame. So we took it back, waited a few hours and then picked it up again. For almost two weeks I have been driving a Chevy HHR. It was an automatic and I did not enjoy it at all.

• After mashing the gas pedal, the car would then decide when it wanted to speed up.
• Putting the car in "Park". This is an unnecessary step in a stick.
• The car was constantly locking it's doors without my knowledge.
  
• What is my left foot supposed to do?!?! I nearly threw myself through the windshield several times.
• The car also decided when to turn off the radio. There is a secret combination of key, ignition, and door position.
• Daytime running lights. WTF?! My lights aren't really on?!

Now the benefits of my base model, manual transmission Honda.

• I down shift to pass a truck before my lane ends.
• Roll into the drive way, kill the car. That's it. No "Park". (However, you should NEVER forget the e brake. See below for why.)
• I lock the doors!
• An occupied left foot.
• I turn the radio off. Or I turn the car off... whatever.
• Only two types of lights. On, and Off. (and high beams)
  

I feel like similar arguments can be made of high tech running shoes vs minimalist running shoes. The high tech shoes do many things for me that I could just as well do myself. Here's what I love about the Vibrams so far

• I land on my mid foot every time
• Pinky toes are now separated from the #4's. Usually they are bent up underneath the #4's causing #4's to lose circulation and go numb.
  
• My feet don't slide off the edges of the traditional shoes platform. My feet always slide toward the outside edge of my shoe.
• No knee pain. (But I didn't have any knee pain running in the Free's either)

Always use your emergency brake
When we were in high school Shanon had an awesome (not awesome, hilarious!) Pontiac sunbird. One fateful day, she pulled into work at Old America as usual. Being a manual transmission, she left the car in gear and fulfilled the call of duty within the craft giant. At some point whilst ringing up patriotic wreaths, she noticed her car to be missing. Of course! I'm sure there were tons of people who were after the bird. Wrong. The sunbird was in the ditch at the edge of the Old America parking lot. About a 12' ditch that was overlooked by the main "drag" back in those days. Shanon was a bit embarrassed. She wanted to consider it a final resting place and just hitch a ride home. What's amazing is that it rolled through a parking lot full of cars and managed to not hit anything. And so lives the legend of the Sunbird.
I found this picture online, but I think this is what hers looked like.