It's not lost on me that my "regularly scheduled" posts on our car and my teeth aren't here. Consider this, then, a two-fer.

Our 2003 Honda Element at the Nearly 10 Month Mark

We love this car.

Two problems cropped up fairly recently. Back in September, we had the driver's seat bushings replaced - an infamous Element design flaw which caused the seat to rock ever so slightly now and then. I've noticed this is starting to come back a bit; we'll probably take it in for this within a few weeks.

The other issue was a nasty noise when turning in reverse at slow (parking lot) speeds. A sometimes loud clunking seemed to emanate from the rear of the car. It seemed worse after a rain, too. Two dealers checked this out and found nothing, suggesting that the sound was from normal movement of the brake pads. Given we've had two places look at it I'm mostly satisfied with this explanation and, as a bonus, the sound's been AWOL for a while now. We also chose to have the rear differential fluid replaced at this time given it apparently wasn't done yet.

Our HondaCare warranty expires in two months! Time to get everything fixed.

Other than these issues we think the Element is swell. It's comfortable, very roomy, and has a lot of personality.

My White Teeth

I whitened my teeth using Crest WhiteStrips back in February. The package claimed the results would last up to 6 months. I am here to tell you that this is not true for me.

My teeth are still a bit whiter, but drinking coffee daily has taken its toll and they're nowhere near as white as they were when I finished the 2 weeks of applications. They were never a gleaming white but were definitely, noticeably whiter and looked better.

I'm going to pin this one moreso on the coffee, for now, but it's a little disappointing. If I were to do this again (and I might) I'd seek out something that specifically addressed coffee drinkers like me.

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Today is the fourth day of Crest Whitestrips. My goal, as noted in a previous post, is to appear shallow and have whiter teeth. I've never had yellow icky teeth; rather my teeth have always been a tinge too yellow for my personal tastes (thanks, coffee and soda!)

I've been finding that the strips are easy to get used to. I won't miss them when the 14 days are up but they're definitely tolerable. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: photographic evidence.

Whitestrips0-4

Both images were taken under the same lighting conditions with the same white balance, aperture, and exposure.

I was a little surprised when I saw this because the change has been only subtly noticeable in real life - but it's been noticeable. On the left my front teeth appear a little grey/yellow and washed out; on the right you can tell I still have a couple of weird stains (ewww!) but they're quite a bit whiter. The other benefit, probably a side one, is that the whiteness/brightness is more uniform.

So far so good. I don't expect I'll have stupidly/oddly bright teeth when this is all said and done, but I'm well on my way to #ffffff.

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Since it's one below zero out, I figured the best thing to do today (besides the Super Bowl) would be to try Crest Whitestrips.

It's funny, you know, every time I go to the dentist I'm told that I have "beautiful" teeth. But they're not exactly what I'd like to see in the mirror every day and thus, I bought Whitestrips. The problems of living in a first-world country, I tell ya.

The first application went down ten minutes ago. Here's what I can tell you.

I'd read that the things were hard to put on but, to me, this wasn't the case so long as you didn't get the gooey gel side on your fingers. That shit is sticky. I can envision more than a couple of people trying it out and accidentally folding the thing in on itself, which would be impossible from which to recover.

I'd also read that the goo didn't taste very good. This is true but it's not in line with the typical dental flavoring (that is, a faux mint with alcoholic notes) - it has a slight sweetness but doesn't taste like it's destroying the inside of my mouth. Awesome!

The application process itself was, again, not difficult. Jeani claimed that from a distance they were invisible which is nice, so I think I might actually truly do this on the way to work. I mean, it's Metra - no one's looking at your teeth, right?

Naturally I'll be documenting the progress of these things with photos. Stay tuned.

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