My oldest daughter spent last spring studying abroad. She had a strict budget for both the trip and any side excursions. she made the choice to visit Paris over her spring break, but that left her short for a flight back from Boston to Kansas City on her return. So she made the choice to take a bus instead. …

Ah, but does is have the mini donut spare?

One minor mistake...

I bought my 360 in 2014 when Walmart had them for $99. I’ve added a larger drive and enjoyed shopping for used games at my local game store. Last January I bought an Xbox One for $299 and didn’t buy my first new game until Dishonored 2 came out. This fall I picked up a used PS3 and 5 games for the Uncharted series…

I’ve been playing on an Xbox One since release day and haven’t noticed any technical woes...

And Murphy’s Law will now take effect, and my next session will crash spectacularly....

I started on the puzzle, making notes, but not getting very far. And I prefer to try and find literally everything, so I dropped my attempt and moved on to taking out all of the Howlers and the Overseers.

I’m playing as Emily and found the Domino power to be very invaluable for taking out the Overseers. I’d sit on…

I currently have an Xbox 360, PS3 and Xbox One in use, with games for each. I don’t care about exclusive periods, since I typically only buy used games (well there was Dishonored 2 and the annual Walmart Black Friday binge...) Honestly my collection of physical Xbox One games is my smallest. I have somewhere…

Since she’s had a number of VAG models, lets keep it in the family. You can get a late model Jetta GLI, like this Certified 2016 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0T GLI SEL for $25,000.

Not to say that these are my dream cars, but I’ve had the same disappointment after driving some of my “maybe my next” or my “oh I wish I had gotten one of those back in the day” cars.

I will say, I’ve had some issue in the past with a turbo charged car (XR4Ti) and this time around when we replaced my Jetta with a Passat and the wife’s Suburban with a Jetta, we did look specifically for the 2.5 over the 1.8T.

Oh... the car had it’s issues... The baffles in the climate control system dry rotted, the heater core sprung a leak, the A/C compressor STB after 7 years, the freaking cheap ass plastic clips that connected window regulator to the glass fell apart over time, the cruise died after 10 years, 4th gear decided to…

My last VW lasted 16 years, 300,000 miles and 25 states. (And only 1 dealer servicing...)

You should be able to “build” a bag big enough for a whole turkey. It just takes some patience and trial and error. I’ve made a number of double sized bags for a 13 lb ham. Start with the extra-wide roll, cut two bags long enough to fit your turkey. Slit one side on each, and then seal them together. Take your…

It can be enabled on (at least) some VW’s with a VAGCOM.

We now have our third VW (the ‘97 from my avatar, a ‘09 Jetta and a ‘12 Passat). They’re been very reliable. We sold the ‘97 this summer with over 300,000 miles on it, and I’ve already put 100,000 on my Passat. I would tell you to stay away from the latest VW Van, it’s just a rebadged Dodge Caravan, with all of…

There are occasions where a Suburban is not the answer. Say... Moving an upright piano. One of the few cases were a minivan wins.

Eh. I had an 05 ‘burb (1500 LS RWD) with 187,000 when I sold it, and it was fairly decent.

Repairs were a leaking T valve for the rear Heat and Air, a thermostat, I had to clean the driver’s side window button contacts, a rear ABS sensor and one stepper motor for the speedometer.

Not to bad for a truck we put 130K…

11. Learn how to safely tow!

I’ve always like the exterior styling of the Crossfire. Recently I had the chance to test drive one at the local “high end” used lot. And it was a real letdown on the inside. The interior wasn’t bad, like the 80's Pontiac Fiero’s interior, but it was just as cramped. (I know it’s a small car, but my Nissan Pulsar…

The standard rules of unmarked identification still apply...