Today, I had the honor of meeting with a retired car salesman, Dennis, who happens to be my coach's neighbor, and I had a brief lesson on how to maintain your car in tip-top condition. "If you do a good job of maintaing it, a good car's gonna last you for at least 10 years," said Dennis, before we started with the "lesson".

"You've gotta change your car's oil every 3,000 miles/30 hundred miles," advises Dennis. That's a good point there, and obviously, you don't want your car to run on dried-up, dirty oil during it's "stint" as your transport vehicle do ya? Well, not that it'll be that long of a period if you do, anyway.

First, he laid down and climbed under the car, which I followed suit. He then showed me the tools and the location of the oil knobs/oil plugs..I can't remember the exact words, but when he unscrewed the plug, oil started pouring. Black, dark, highly viscous oil so black that it seemed like sewage water mixed with black ink. That's right, you can't see anything PAST that black liquid. Take note not to dirty your hands though, so you've gotta wear a pair of gloves. Dennis wore a glove, not a pair, just 1 glove on his right hand, and did his job of both explaining and changing his car's oil. A challenging task, I would say, as you have to focus on NOT staining your hands with the filthy oil. He made it seem so easy. I was impressed.

(5 minutes passed)

The oil took some time to clear, so we had spare time to discuss about cars. He boasted how his Subaru and another old car lasted more than 10 years, and each of them had mileages ranging well above the 100-mile milestone. His secret? Well, you guessed it. Change the car oil every 3,000 miles.

(Another 5 minutes passed while Dennis continued his talk about cars)

"That's all for Lesson 101 on car maintenance," said Dennis before we concluded the day. It was a very informative session with him, and I learned a lot. 1 thing he taught me that I'll remember is, you can't trust German cars. Haha.. Yup, he said, in his words, "You can't trust German cars." (I'm basically relaying what he said, word by word) I'm not paraphrasing or anything, he just said it straight. There you go, no more Benz, no more BMWs. Strictly Fords, Subarus, Hondas, Toyotas, Ferraris....etc...

That's the end folks! Tune in next time to Lesson 102: Car Smashing..If there is a lesson like that...haha..