Our Needs:

We needed a car for our family with:

1. Sufficient seating for all of us.
2. Above average back support.
3. Decent fuel economy.
4. Plenty of room for sports equipment, groceries, kids and pets.
5. Room for our family to grow.
6. Long range comfort and a smooth ride.

Our Nice To Haves:

Nice to haves for the long term investment any car ends up being included:

1. Heated front seats.
2. Air conditioning (dual or tri-zone if possible).
3. Easy access into the rear most seats.
4. Remote entry & remote start
5. Blue tooth in the vehicle so we don’t have to keep track of and charge Bluetooth headsets anymore.
6. High quality service which instills a belief that when we have issues, the dealership won’t try to rip us off.

What We Got:

We purchased the 2012 Chevrolet Traverse, with the 1LT trim option, in an 8 seat configuration.  The base 1LT model comes with the following standard features which were of note to us:

• Ultrasonic Parking Assist:  I prefer to back into parking spots whenever possible, with a beast like the Traverse (and I mean that in a positive way), this is almost a must.
• Remote Keyless Entry (RKE)
• Child safety locks
• Cruise Control (driving 100+ km every day for work = necessity for me)
• Driver Information Centre (including oil life, trip track, fuel efficiency tracker, tire pressure tracker, etc.)
• Dual zone climate control
• Power drivers seat with lumbar support
• AM/FM/XM radio with CD/MP3 player and auxiliary in for iPhone / iPod support
• Heated side mirrors (no more scraping them in winter)

In addition, we added the following options to round out our experience:

• Rear view camera:  A definite assist for parking, especially in tight spots, or backing out anywhere that kids might be.
• Convenience package (remote start, universal garage remote)
• Heated driver and front passenger seats (definitely a plus in normal Canadian winters

 First Impressions:

After having driven the vehicle over 500 km so far, we are thus far incredibly happy with the Traverse.  It easily fits our entire family, with plenty of trunk space and spare space for people sitting in the back of the vehicle.  It is quick to respond on acceleration, even with close to 1000 lbs of family and equipment, etc. in it and maneuvers very easily and quickly when required.  The remote start feature is awesome for ensuring the engine is warmed up and ready to go once we get out to the car, assuming we start it approximately five minutes before heading out.  The overall ride is quite smooth, with plenty of headroom even for a 6′ teen riding in the middle row.  The Traverse is definitely a bit heavier on the gas side, weighing in at $95.00 for 65L of gas after four days (500+ km driven), but it is forgiveable for the added comfort and ability to transport everyone without having to shuttle bus back and forth.

All in all, the ride is impressive, the comfort level is high and the ability to move a large family with little to no difficulty makes this one of our best purchases thus far.  I’d have to give the vehicle a solid 8.5/10 for our family.

The Problem:

Once upon a time, it was theorized that bullies are bullies due to low self esteem and that victims are victims due to low self esteem (I’ll let that theory stand on its own for the purposes of this post). Further, it was noted that after losing at sports, a persons self esteem often takes an incremental dip, while winning at sports caused an incremental increase in self esteem. Therefore, it was thought that by providing a fun atmosphere for kids to play sports in, with no fear of losing, the negative feelings would be removed and replaced by the positive feelings of winning.

The Reality:

People are not stupid, in general. We understand inherently the concept between winning and losing. Watch any game kids make up to play on their own. There is always a winner and one or more losers. Look at a series of applicants for a job, again there is aleays a winner and at least one loser. The harsh reality of the world is that losing sucks, being on the short end of the stick sucks, but it is going to happen to all of us. Not a single person will go through life winning at everything. Therefore, does it not make sense at a young age to learn to deal with the disappoinent of defeat? Should we not develop coping strategies to help us with these disappointments?

I can understand completely, and support the teaching of basic skills for various sports, competitions, etc. bedore introducing the harsh realities of winning and losing. However, “everybody wins, isn’t that great?!” in any grade above three is ridiculous. We inherently know if we’ve won or lost. The everybody wins patronization just adds insult to the sting of defeat, and starts a dangerous road of entitlement. The thought process of “Well whether I win or lose I always win, so why bother busting my hump to get better. Everything is coming to me anyway.”

This sense of entitlement is creeping into the adult world now, slowly but surely. With these dangerous lessons having been learned early and often, it is increasingly hard to spot self motivated improvement or truly well adjusted individuals. The foundation of what helped North American society become one of the leaders in the world is being eroded. Not from external forces, but from imternal cries of “Won’t somebody please think of the children!” expecting the reality of the world to change to their delicate sensibilities.

I am now asking: Won’t somebody please, truly, think of the children, their world and their future? Before it’s too late, let us save them from our misguided attempts to help them. Let them fail, learn they can overcome failure and through that learn to survive, succeed and thrive.

To be fair, this could simply be a case of Ovi is hurting and needs the time to rest so he can best help his team out down the stretch in the playoff hunt.  Perhaps his style of play has banged his body up, and he wouldn’t be able to perform to his best at the All-Star game and feels he would be letting the fans down, and as he points out he doesn’t deserve to be there this year. If this is the case, then thank you Ovi for being humble, and showing humility and class as well as a desire to help your team rather than yourself.

Conversely, perhaps this is simply a poor choice born of a bad personality trait.  I don’t know Ovi personally, so this is purely speculation, however could he be afraid of Phil Kessel taking his picture after the “fantasy draft” from All Star players?  Is it possible that Ovi is upset about having been suspended by the NHL for three games for yet another dangerous, irresponsible and disgusting hit on one of his fellow players?  If this is the case, then thank you Ovi for removing a spoiled prima donna from the show case for hockey talent and class.

I don’t mean only the simple easy things (recycle more, make less garbage, drive less), but things which will hopefully cause some thought rather than just blind yes / no answers.  If you do have a yes or no feeling, please feel free to comment and state why.  Respectful, thought out responses / rebuttals will be made visible, while trolling, spamming, etc. will simply be ignored.

Without further ado, on with the blog.