a recap of recent happenings

So the last post was about replacing the oil breather hose on our 2001 VW jetta 1.8T.  The very next morning after fixing this hose I had the car in the shop for 1. oil change 2. tires.  My brother had been over seas studyign and having just returned home to the states I was going to take him out to lunch.  So we piled into the Jetta and I took him into the city.  

In the middle lane on Marion on a sunny day at 11:30am, an early 2000s silverado pickup heading the opposite direction cut in front of us to enter I94 East bound.  Thus clipping the corner of the jetta, and continuing onto the Highway.

So the police come by and we fill out a report, and we tried to match the plate I read to the truck that hit us.  Not so much luck.

So we took the car to Superior Collision in Eagan and they did a great job replacing the fender, the hood, bumper, and rehanging the passenger door. The paint is perfect.

And then AAA sent the check to the wrong address. dammit.

Memorial day weekend was a blast, as we went out to Maryland to see the new nephew and my sister's other kids (and obviously my sister and her husband), and some old friends that live outside Charlotte who drove all the way up so we could hang out. 

We went to Annapolis, we went into DC, we drank in a micro brewery.  We had an awesome time. pictures to follow.

Then this past Saturday we went to see Gogol Bordello at the Cabooze.  Which was awesome.  And then we played Settlers of Catan till 1am. And when we got home finally, I hopped onto Craigslist.  And some guy was listing his Surly Instigator for less than the cost of buying the frame. 

So, after sleeping on it, today I bought another bike.

Anyone want to buy a Murray three speed?

Lunds screwed the pooch

if you send a pooch grocery shopping that is.

We were on our way home from the Big Bang Bookclub and decided to pick up some stuff to  make lunches.

One jar of Sunbutter (Sungold foods) $4.79

Two russet potatoes (99c/#) $1.40

One loaf of "a toast to bread" wheat sandwich bread $5.99

We spent $12.18 on four things.  And there was more expensive bread.

Every single one of these items is available cheaper at the co-op, and loaves from a toast to bread were $6 for three last summer at the farmer's market.

where is a salve my ass hurts

Rar is Toyota and the Honda didn't leave us feeling civil

So the salesman at the toyota dealer was nicer than the guy at the Nissan dealer.  And the guy at the Honda dealership had conflicting stories (which is it: did you buy an Avalanche as a second car or do you only have one car?!?!?).  Interesting how when a sale is drawn out over a few days how a story can change.

The Toyota was very nice.  But it didn't have the tachometer, and only had the 4 speed transmission.  And we really were looking for 5 speeds.

We test drove an '06 Civic which was awesome.  accept for a few things

1. why was the car in every 6k miles according to Carfax.  but didn't mention the sale to a dealership?

2. why was the battery replaced at 50k miles?  Why was the entire right tail lamp replaced when it was traded in?  

3. why was there a tic-tac-toe game scratched into the hood?!?

But this is not what killed the sale.

First off, the sticker price on this Civic was a little high.  Not by too much, but enough to give pause.  Second, why didn't the salesman change the pitch when we mentioned that the price was a bit high.

So why not a jetta.

We know the current owner.  We know the quality of maintenance it has received.  And the price is well below what the car is actually worth to a dealership.

All I have to do is  be a quick study for a standard transmission.

Zoidberg

To be clear, we really liked the Versa.  But something that really seems to have pissed off the guy at the dealership is this:

We don't rush decisions.

The car did most of what we want in a car, however, we haven't test driven any other cars yet.  How could we tell if we like chocolate more than vanilla if we never tried the vanilla.  What about Neapolitan? 

So it was the end of the day.  So we drove two cars and seemed to like on more than the other.

But what really killed the sale was when he said "So you like the car and the price, why am I not filling out the paperwork."

wa wah.

Clearly we wanted to think about the decision.  The car is going to cost almost as much as a year of college and he wanted us to buy without thinking.  

Even if the car was a steal there needs to be some time to think.  The sandwich heavy portfolio doesn't always win.