I bought a new car last weekend. An actual new car with the new car smell and the new car financing. It's both smaller and more agile than my last car. I'd been driving an Acura TL which was a fun car to drive but high insurance and maintenance costs did not make me happy. I've had good experiences with Toyotas, so that was the first place I looked. I went to the dealer here in Phoenix and was intending to look for a Camry. Which none of the models I saw fell into the price range I was looking for. And it drove very bland. So I test drove the sporty Corolla-S. I found that it gives me the illusion that I have a sports sedan without the sticker shock. And I loved it. The only thing missing was a sunroof. There are certain things that I want in a car and one of the big ones is a sunroof.

So I start wheeling and dealing with the salesman and the "business manager". We start out far apart. They tell me the sunroof will cost $1500 to add. I say no, no more than $1000. Then they want to offer me $3K less on the trade-in because they think that I HAVE to trade the car in and will accept anything they give me. In this, they were mistaken. I had done some research and figured how much my trade-in should net me and I also figured out how I could "float" the trade-in value of the car and therefore avoid financing my gamble right away. Reading that now, of course, made no sense whatsoever. Basically, I used my credit card as the trade-in value. And only ended up financing about 50% of the new car. All in all, it worked out, they added the sunroof and knocked $2K of the purchase price of the car. I know I'm not the best car shopper but I didn't think I was fleeced either.

So without further ado, here's my magazine cover photo for the car:

It's a hoot to drive and I already installed the SIRIUS satellite radio*. I even got a FM modulator adapter for my anti-iPod MP3 player so that I can pipe in both the satellite signal and the MP3 player. My MP3 is once again the cat's pajamas...it can record FM, which means I can record the SIRIUS signal. Can your iPod do that?!?...*pause*...So what, big deal: you can watch "Desperate Housewives" on your iPod...*rolls eyes*...go take your "click-wheel" to someone who cares... ;-)

...I am such a techno-geek. I love this stuff.

So because I didn't sell the Acura to the dealer, I now had two cars with me here in Phoenix. It's been an awkward week getting cars here and there. I first had to get the Acura from the Toyota dealer back to my house. My cousins Dandy & Creeky assisted me there. Then I had to get the Toyota back to the dealer to get the sunroof installed. Metro assisted me getting me back to the dealer to pick up. Then I had to get the Acura to the repair shop to get an oil change and again Metro provided an assist. So it was a busy week just moving the cars around.

Finally I had to sell the Acura. I toyed with the idea of selling it myself via AutoTrader or Craigslist.org. But I decided to pursue the path of least resistance and sell my car to CarMax, who claim,"We'll buy your car even if you don't buy ours." I've used CarMax before and they gave me a good deal on the last car I sold. So, I had to locate a CarMax dealer...the closest one being in Las Vegas....where fortunately, I have a place to stay at my parents. My dad likes to tell me that, "Because you're family, I'll cut the room rate to only 0 / day...And that's a steal in Vegas!" I've noticed when dealing with family, it's best not to bargain with them...that affects the annual Christmas present haul, ya know?

So Friday morning, I cleaned out the Acura and zipped it up to Las Vegas. One last hurrah in the zoom-zoom before I traded it in for a full-time zoooooooooooom. I got it all cleaned up for sale and presented it to Carmax. They gave me the K that the dealer wasn't going to and I drove rode away a happy camper.

So while I was waiting at CarMax to finish up the financial paperwork, I noticed this device of ambrosia:

This is a Good Humor Ice Cream machine and it belongs in my house and probably theoffice too.

It was a masterpiece of machinery. It was like a combination vending machine/Toy Crane-Claw game (those quarter arcades where you drop the claw to pick up a stuffed toy). You put your dollar in and select your ice-cream and the cooler door pops open and the "claw" descends and the vacuum unit on the end of the claw sucks the wrapper to grab it. It then drops your prize by turning off the pump and it loses suction until it falls into the waiting bin. It is a beautiful piece of machinery. I was kinda surprised Carmax didn't plaster a "Buy it Now" sticker on it. Because I might have bought it. Not that I have an addiction to:

A) ice cream or
B) cool machines

I spent the remainder of the weekend hanging out with MyBrother and Dear old Mom & Dad. MyBrother and I didn't get a chance to hang out by ourselves much until I was asked to help him with his CAD (Computer-Aided Drafting, for the unwashed masses) homework. The set up was beautiful: I walk into the room and he's sitting at the computer but not at the keyboard (more to the right, as in "co-pilot"). I chuckle and say,"I ain't doing your homework, hop in the pilot's chair." He grumbles and sits down. We get to step 10 of 30 before I feel I can leave him alone. I step away and inside of ten minutes I hear the AOL Instant Messenger piping up. I roll my eyes and go check it out and he says,"That was a good start, I'll finish it later." So bear that in mind, kids. I'm smart but I'm not a very persistent teacher. I'm pretty sure he took CAD just to see a glimpse of what it is I do but I don't think he wants to do it anymore. Which is fine with me, I have minions co-workers to stroke my capacious ego. :)

My Mom, Dad, Grandma and I went to see the new Nicolas Cage movie,"The Weatherman". I'm not going to link to it because I didn't really like it all that much. It wasn't really that funny and it wasn't that satisfying of a drama. I don't mean satisfying as in "Nick Cage wins the girl and a $100 million" because I liked the movie "Sideways" alot because it didn't take itself so seriously. Anyway, enough of my junior movie critic career...I don't have the chops to pull off movie reviews.

One last thought...since I've acquired the new vehicle, I've become intrigued as to how I could "tune" the car. There's a whole website dedicated to customizing Toyota Corollas. Wheels & tires, superchargers, turbochargers, springs & suspension, sway-bars, lighting configurations, to say nothing of the audio/visual equipment options...the list goes on. I was just impressed that I was able to hide the Sirius satellite antenna cable under the door sills and without ripping anything out. A quick aside: For those contemplating satellite radio service, I say it's worth it if only to save your mind on a commute. It's not always great but the no-commercials on the music channels and the extensive programming is difficult to beat.

And no, I'm not going to get a custom Arizona plate on the new car that says: TX18366.

So that's what I've been up to for the last week or so. Go tell your friends. Captivate them with the most amusing stories on the web. Watch as I amaze your friends and family with wild leaps of intellect and descents into Loony-ville. It'll be fun and an adventure.

Cheers, TX18366