Car Raid

Investigating the car of a college student isn't an easy job, nor is it a safe one. I chose to raid the car of Jonathan Hinds, who drives a 2003 Toyota Camry, which ended up to be quite an interesting decision. As I entered the car, the first thing I noticed was the music, 94.7 came on just as we turned on the car. Meaning it was playing during his previous ride in the vehicle. The fact that he chose the "Today's Best Music" Channel, leads me to believe he likes to listen to the music that everyone else is listening to as well, maybe he is somebody who wants to fit in. After collecting my thoughts about the music, I asked him a series of questions. The first of which was whether or not he was enjoyed and satisfied with his car. His response was

"I feel like I got a really good deal on my used car, and it has performed very well. There haven't been any problems so far, so yeah I would say I am definitely satisfied with my car, especially since I had to pay for half of it."

Then I asked Hinds what about his car he could relate to and that he felt applied to himself as an individual. With a quick response to the question Hinds said

"The steering wheel in my car is super squeaky and needs to be fixed. Every time I drive someone around, they yell at me to get it fixed, but personally I like it. I find the brokenness to be calming since its a representation to me how nothing is perfect, and that if its not truly broken, why would you fix it?"

His response was a bit inspiring to say the least, and it showed me that even though he hasn't had his car for very long, these thoughts had already been going through his mind. Hinds seems to be a philosophical person that tries to find inspirational themes in every part of his life. My third question for hinds was asking what his most prized possession in the car is. He then quietly opened up his glove box, pulled out his cds of the narrated version of J.K Rowling's Harry Potter. Hinds then inserted the deathly hollows into his cd player and sat back in confidence. His quiet response served to show how he is a man that prefers knowledge, and spending his time furthering his literary skills, and finding more philosophical questions to ask himself, even from listening to harry potter. I then asked him if I was allowed to search around his car for anything in particular that stood out to me. Reaching under my seat, I found a long crowbar like device, called "the club". Hinds explained to me that the device locks his steering wheel in place, so that if someone tries to break in and steal his car, they can't drive away.

"I have the club because I have to park my car in downtown Austin for weeks while I am in school. The reason I use it is not from a lack of trust in other people, but rather its from a confidence that I know there are people out there that will steal cars," Hinds lectured.

All in all, the interview with Jonathan in his car, ended up being quite interesting, and I learned some new things about him and his vehicle. I just wonder if everyone has this deep of a connection with their car, or if Jonathan is just a crazy college student.