Yugo vs. Camaro

Be patient. The title of this article will make sense, eventually. But, first, here’s the usual update on puzzle assembly. 

Today’s a landmark day for the Krueger’s. We completed the 1000-piece Ravensburger puzzle (photo) in less than 5 days. Now we wait for the latest puzzle purchase to arrive. We strongly recommend buying only the highest consumer rated puzzles i.e. Ravensburger. As I delve, more and more, into the world of puzzling, (I was delving this morning) mostly through internet searches, I found an article in The Daily Beast, https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-best-jigsaw-puzzles, touting the value of puzzling in our socially distant environment. Although this author’s awareness of the therapeutic value of jigsaw puzzles comes a little late to the party, it’s encouraging to see more people catching on. He too raves about Ravensburger. So much for puzzling (the verb).

Today’s thought puzzle is: Why do I do the things I do? I recently made a really bad choice in our state’s Presidential primary election. In less than a week, I regretted it. That got me thinking about so many other poor choices and bad ideas I’ve had over the years. Many years ago I had just moved the family from Connecticut to Kansas. Our son, Jeff, had just graduated high school and needed his own vehicle to pursue employment.

The name, Yugo, refers to the car’s origin, Yugoslavia – – – not exactly a hotbed of automotive genius. I was paying for the car, so economy/cheap was priority No. 1. Despite all the publicity about the Yugo’s poor quality, I forged ahead.

My son and I tracked down a used Yugo and set out on a test drive. We never made it off of the car lot. Just a 100-yard test drive convinced me what a mistake this would be. We moved on and “upgraded” to actually buying a used bright red Ford Pinto, and quickly learned that, in terms of quality, the Pinto was probably a 2nd cousin of the Yugo.

Now I was 0 for 2. I needed a home run.

An economy car is cruel and unusual punishment for an 18 year old. When I told Jeff that I was going to replace the Pinto, he looked very worried. I shocked him (and his Mother) by redeeming myself with the purchase of a 400 horsepower, silver blue, 1967 classic camaro convertible. Whatever drove me to even imagine that the Yugo should be considered puzzles me to this day.