Note: There's nowhere to eat in Bedford, PA

The adventure is semi-over! My new Beetle Convertible is in my driveway (I have to clear out some space to make room for it in the garage!) after 8+ hours of being on the road. It's been a long day, so I'll leave the stories for another post and simply provide pictures:


Look at Ray drive away in my car!


Ahhh... home at last.


Out with the old and in with the new

The adventure begins!

So... in about 20 minutes DH and I are leaving for our 4 hour drive to Pittsburgh to either pick up the New Beetle or run away at the smell of a scam. It's going to be very interesting, to say the least. No money has changed hands yet - and frankly, I'll leave that part to the very end when I am sure I am about to drive away with the car. I'm totally freaking out... I don't have the impending feeling of doom or anything that would make me just shut the deal down, but I'm nervous. I called VW Credit last night and they confirmed that he did have an account (more than I have ever gotten out of them before) that he had requested a payoff package and that he was selling the car to a third party. They noted my name for record too - so that seems like it's on the up and up.

If you don't hear from me by 10pm tonight (by which I mean if I haven't posted the results of this boondoggle on my blog) call the authorities!

Times they are a changin'

I didn't realize it before, but it seems the majority of my minor and major life changing events happen between May and August. Graduations, birthday, marriage, job changes... today is one of those days. Sadly it is my last day on rotation in my dream office. Happily, the dream office is still my dream office; the work is incredible, the people are an absolute trip to work with, and there is a lot of potential in the work of the office itself for personal career growth. Unfortunately there are no spots open, but hopefully I've made myself an invaluable enough that that will change at the first opportunity.

So the next few weeks will be full of changes: new car (new to me, anyway, and hopefully), new responsibilities at my old job, vacation. July is going to be over in a flash! And June isn't even over yet.

Of all the crazy things I've done, this might be the craziest

Which, if you know me, means a whole lot.

I've just bought a car off eBay.

Seriously.

I bought an $18,500 car sight unseen. Off eBay.

There are more details that I'll share later about the sale (I don't want to disclose them yet, because I don't want to jinx things, but believe me when I say they are juicy!). I think it's a good deal. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

You can see the listing here.

Manic Saturday

So close, yet so far away

It feels great to get so much accomplished so early in the weekend. I had my car reinspected this morning for emissions - and I PASSED! Woot! That's a relief. So the car is good for another 2 years - emissions-wise that is.

I bought the paint for the living room and have one wall done. It looks wonderful - I am so pleased and it's only the first coat (it'll need two). Just three more walls (and one is barely a wall) and I've got 1/2 my painting requirement done!.

DH got both the front and back lawns mowed, and I got an out-of-control weed situation back under control. I've been emailing back and forth with a VW dealer for a Salsa Red convertible that he says he's selling me for $100 over invoice - but I can see plainly via Google and like 100 million websites that he's overstating his invoice by about $450. And he's padding the back end (taxes and all that) pretty well too. It amazes me that an "internet manager" would think that someone using the "internet" to buy a car couldn't instantly check out such statements. I mean, if he simply told me he could sell me the car at X price, with Y being the total for taxes, tags, etc, then I could respect him. But trying to tell me that he's giving me a "deal" by selling $100 over invoice. What. ever. Not only that, but I told him that I didn't need the car - I just wanted it, but only if the price was right.

This guy was no Bob Barker.

Two more weeks!

Until we go on vacation that is. To pass the interim time, I'm:

- dreaming about my New Beetle Convertible, trying to decide if I should maybe try and find a used Turbo to satisfy my need for speed or take the safer road and buy new (since VW's long term reliability is less than stellar).

- trying to get through a project at work that I am totally burnt out on.

- working on the deck; progress on which has been stymied by rain on the last two/four nights.

I still have to get my car to pass emissions inspection, paint the kitchen and living room, and hang curtains in the den. But it's so hard to wait for my new bug - I want it to look like this:

When's that vacation again?

Oh. my. gosh. I am so tired. Today was non-stop action. Haircut, more paint quarts to test in the kitchen and the living room, DECK CONSTRUCTION, finally approval of the paint color (after 7 test quarts!), then primer on the walls in the living room in preparation for the new yellow!

Everything hurts, we've just started making significant progress on the deck and in the living room, and tomorrow we've got to go to DH's parents' house for Father's Day and the MIL's B-day. And to hear all about the bay-bay. Ugh.

I'd rather be working on the deck/painting the kitchen/anything.

... but the saga continues

This postsecret postcard is a scene from one of my favorite commercials of all time (is it weird to have favorite commercials?). Matter of fact, VW has one of the best ad companies out there, because I love and remember a lot of their commercials. I must fit their target demo completely.

Case in point - before I went to test drive a VW Bug - they gave me a DVD for the New Beetle convertible. Yesterday morning, over chocolate-chip muffins and coffee, DH and I watched the DVD for shits and giggles.

It was like watching a snapshot of our own lives.

Well, maybe not exactly, but way close. It featured this couple on a road trip in a gorgeous red New Beetle convertible (tan interior, black ragtop, I'm totally in love with it) from somewhere near Boston to Washington Square, NYC with a stop in Woodstock along the way. They love diners, small harbor towns, and love coffee from small independent coffee shops. There were half a dozen moments when I looked at DH and laughed, because whatever was going on onscreen was totally something we a)have done or b) would do. The magnetic big daisy decals she puts on the car when they get to Woodstock - I COVET them.

It was frightening how exactly we appear to fit into the NBC's target demo.

Now it may be the case that they have an assortment of these DVDs - one for teen girls, one for recently divorced forty-year-old women, etc so that you feel like you fit the "target demo" or something, but regardless, it was funny. Actually, it really was quite entertaining, despite being a naked marketing tool.

Here's a quick snippet of the DVD movie.

And the results are in...

So I dropped by my local VW dealership tonight, DH in tow, to finally test drive a New Beetle Convertible. I drove an automatic, triple white convertible; sticker was 26k as I recall.

I knew I wanted to drive my daily route to work, because one of the roads I take is a twisty, windy backroad that in my little Saturn is an awful lot of fun to speed along. The Bug was a slug, no body roll or sporty feel to it. The pick-up was terrible too. DH's Jetta has no pick-up either, so I don't know why I was expecting anything different. Once I was up to speed the Bug was pretty responsive, and we went from 30-65 at a very peppy pace.

Eh... it wasn't a dream ride. I've had my car for 9+ years. so I know I have become habituated to its peculiarities. I was pretty disappointed my dream car was such a slug.

I'll have to test drive a Mini, I guess.

Notes and tidbits

Just a number of little things I've come across lately:

- My FIL just announced last night that my BIL and his wife are having a baby! Yeah! I'm free from the pressure from my MIL! Hooray!

- Wondering if any of the 2008 Presidental candidates actually have views similar to your own? Check out On the Issues and their 2008 Presidential Match Quiz to see. I can't believe it, but on my most recent quiz... my best match was Hilary Clinton. Un-freakin-believable. It wasn't a good match (and more for my "personal/social" beliefs rather than the economic policy) but it was the best out of the pack of what - 20 current candidates. They didn't include any third-party folk though, who I bet I'd have a better match with.

- DH and I finally solidified the last bit of our plans for our vacation in July. We're going to Captiva, Florida, for a sailing class, then to Grand Cayman for a week of relaxation and diving with the folks who did our open water certification. Flights are booked, deposits are paid, and we've got exactly one month to go!

More to come...