McCain's camp is mocking Barack Obama's suggestion that people need to inflate their tires to save fuel.

It's not like the senator from Illinois said let them eat cake. It's actually good advice.

The eternal debate, once someone starts on the road to paying off (or at least reducing) debt is short, simple and sounds innocent enough: Which one first?

In fact, when I started down this road, a friend and I talked about it at length. (I won't mention his name but he can speak up if he wishes.)

This week, my wife and I drove to the bank and signed some papers initiating a wire transfer to our mortgage company.

Yesterday, I had the satisfaction of logging into the mortgage company's web site, clicking on my account, and seeing the words "paid in full."

I moved into this house in October 2002. Five years and eight months later, I own it outright. Between the house and our cars, my wife and I have paid off nearly $180,000 in debt in those five-plus years.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of renting a car. The insurance company was paying--the pleasure came courtesy of the 81-year-old woman who rear-ended my wife and son as they sat at a stop sign--but I learned a lot about rental company tactics.

So the expensive Toro mower I bought a year ago decided to go on strike. Unfortunately, Toro's "Guarantee to Start" is only as good as the place that looks at it.

In my case, the authorized service center charges a $62 bench fee, did its best to convince me the problem isn't covered under warranty (they can't nail Toro for a $62 bench fee, of course), AND they won't look at it for 3 1/2 weeks.

So what do I do when I have a jungle growing in the front yard and the neighbors are getting irritated?

Say hello to Mr. Reel Mower.

I think I'm going to take the train to work tomorrow.

It won't save me any time, although with some creativity I could save five minutes some days (but lose five on others). I do figure it can save me some money.

The pitch sounded too good to be true. While most bank accounts in the United States are paying a piddly 4% interest, and rates are more likely to go down than up, there's another country whose economy is booming, is one of the safest places in the world for your money, and routinely pays 9, 10, or even 14 percent interest on three-month CDs.

I clicked the banner ad. I read what the guy had to say. But I didn't sign on the dotted line. Here's why.

I've had a number of people tell me I'm making a mistake paying my mortgage off early. If all goes well, my wife and I will be rid of that debt sometime this year.

I can understand the logic behind keeping that "good debt." But that's idealistic. I have lots of reasons for getting rid of that as soon as possible.

Although a lot of people, including money saver types, recommend against buying anything at all on the day after Thanksgiving, I rolled out of bed and fought the crowds early this morning.

I think I came out ahead.

So it looks like someone in Kansas is building diesel-electric hybrids. Just not really from scratch.

Johnathan Goodwin converts vehicles, new and old, to diesel-electric hybrids. His clients include Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger and Neil Young.