Nothing New Day 4 -- Coffee and Cars

We are now half way through day 4 of our "nothing new" experiment, and we have only just encountered our first real trial.  On the first day we rented a movie, on the second we didn't buy anything at all, and the third day we made a brief stop at the grocery store, no rules broken.  First thing this morning I was having two consecutive conflicting thoughts: first, maybe a month was not ambitious enough, maybe this will be too easy; and second, how the heck am I going to fix up the Honda to sell it without buying anything new this weekend?

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Then life threw us a curve ball; our french press coffee maker broke.  Anyone who has ever owned, operated, or even looked sideways at a french press should not be surprised by this at all.  They break easily.  In fact, I think that they are designed to break.  There might even be a manufacturers guarantee on the box: "guaranteed to break within one year of purchase or your money back!"  Now, the wife and I will not be going coffee-less, as we have a cheapo little drip coffee maker that we have owned since moving in together, but french press coffee is so much better.

For us, this is a real (if garden variety) dilemma: I really hate the idea of owning something that is designed to break (or might as well be), but I really love the flavor of french press coffee.  Courtney is currently looking up options for finding replacement beakers used.  Meanwhile this is has already spurred a brief debate about why we are doing this in the first place.  What is more important, that we accomplish this task without feeling deprived, or that we make some sacrifices to change the way we consume?  No concensus has been reached yet, but I will be sure to post the resolution to this dilemma as it arises.

The next big hurdle: today I am tackling the Honda Prelude that has been weighing down our parking lot for the better part of a year.  Last week I got it running and adjusted the idle (only new purchase: an extra long screwdriver to open the dash).  This week, I have to find out why the battery is not holding a charge.  First step is to determine if the fluid level is low, and clean the terminals.  If that doesn't work, I may have to replace the fluid entirely, but then I don't know what to do with the old fluid.  Well, either way, I will be sure to take pics and keep you all updated.  That is it for now.