1/21/08

Bum bum bum, bum-dee-dum, bum-dee-dum. What does the Imperial March from Star Wars have to do with anything? Well, I'll get to it. Here’s what has happened since we last spoke. I never heard back from the lady at the credit onion before leaving work so I just went there. I waited for a little bit and she came to talk to me. We discussed my options for the loan and she worked up a deal I thought I could live with. She printed a letter which basically said to Thornhill Nissan, “Give him the car; you’ll get your money.” Bo called while I was talking to her so he knew I had that letter. He assumed I was headed that way. I decided to sleep on it one more night. Unfortunately I didn’t mention that to Bo. Oops. I went home and discussed it some more with mom. She wasn’t opposed to it, but also wasn’t totally on board either. I mentioned the Versa option again and she reiterated her preference for that over the Altima. I was online trying to see what insuring that car was going to do to me when John called. Boy, did I miss the boat on my assumption there? He expressed the fact that he was not on board with the Altima at all. At first I bristled at having my car choice “dissed” like that but the more he spoke the more reasonable not buying it seemed. We discussed Marty becoming my daily driver and I came to a decision. I would go to the dealer in the morning. I would look at the Versas on the lot to see if there was a black six-speed. If there was a black six-speed I would talk to Bo about it. If the price looked right I would bow out on the Altima. If there wasn’t a black six-speed I would look at the Altima some more and really have a stern talk with myself about it. If the love of the coupe didn’t swoon me to the point where I had to have it I'd walk. That is what I told John and mom. John asked if I wanted him to come with me in the morning. I said I'd love to have him there so he could see the Altima and have a better feel for what I was saying about it. We agreed on 0930 h to meet at my house. He showed up and we rolled to the dealer in Fifi. I pulled into the side lot to look over the Versas parked there. We stopped in front of a black one. It had a charcoal interior. It was beautiful. It was an automatic. “Damn,” I said. “So close.” We saw another black car with charcoal interior further down the line. We approached with some trepidation “knowing” it was going to be another slush-box. It was a six-speed. “I’m buying this car,” I said to John. “Let’s go inside.” We drove on around to the front and had a quick look at the Altimas in front where John said something positive about them. He was less not on board with the coupe now. We looked at the rest of the Versas in front but the only black one was an automatic with tan interior. Just then Bo walked up. I said to him, “Bo, I'm not going to make your general manager happy, but I am going to make you happy.” He looked puzzled so I told him, “I’m not buying the Altima but I will buy the black six-speed Versa you have on the side lot.” “I didn’t even know we had one,” he said. We went in and he got to work on sending the car to make-ready and getting the paperwork started. He came back with a page containing a final number, a payment range, and an “X_______________” for me to sign. I looked at the payment number and scribbled my John Hancock. Yep, I rolled right over and bought it on their first offer. Enrique is going to kill me. I could have done better on the price probably, but I didn’t. Sue me. We waited a bit and I was called to the finance dude’s office. He crunched some numbers, “threw in” some warrantee and protective coating stuff, and came up with a final payment. I agreed to it and signed the papers. Yep, I rolled right over and took the first offer. Enrique will figure out a way to resurrect me so he can kill me again. Again, I probably could have done better but I didn’t. Get over it. I asked the dude if he had a shredder because I sure didn’t want someone else buying that Altima on my credit. He allowed me to shed the letter, shook my hand, and congratulated me on my purchase. Yeah, it was more like “Thanks for letting us boink you in the ass like that. Cab fare? Hells no, drive your own skanky ass home, beeotch!” When the car was ready in the Delivery Area, we met with Captain Obvious who went over the car’s workings and stuff. The only things he had to ‘splain to me were the keyless entry and starting and the Blue-tool phone system. He wanted to take “our” picture with “our” new car but we declined. I wanted to tell him John and I weren’t a couple [ I get secret joy every time someone does that, and I don't know why... - SM ] but decided to let it go. When we walked up to Captain Obvious’ area and saw the car looking all sexy and sleek and black and sexy and menacing and sexy and all, the first thing that popped into my head was the car’s new name. Just as we were leaving, John asked what I was going to call it. I said, in Emperor Palpatine’s voice, “Darth Versa!” John asked if that just came to me or had I been thinking of it for a while. I made the “little bit” hand sign and said, “Just a little.” We took off back to my house to drop off Fifi and show Darth Versa to mom, after which John and I went to Arlington to buy some Datsun parts. I had no cash so John floated me the money for a 1200 starter and, I think, an intake manifold. Thing is, I'm not sure if he’s buying it for himself or for me. I think it was for me, but I already said that. Anyhoo, we toss them in the back of Darth Versa and head back west. We stop at Genghis Grille and have mongoloid, er, I mean Mongolian barbeque. It was very tasty and since he did me the solid with the car parts, I bought. Not to mention I always like to buy when I make someone try something out of their comfort zone for the first time. He seemed to like it well enough though. [ No, I loved it. It was to die for. Should have not got the second bowl though... - SM ] So we head back to my house where he hops into his 510 and goes, I assume, home. I take mom to dinner at Chicken Express. It was disappointing but the ride in Darth Versa was cool. Saturday night the air card crashed one too many times and got broken. The laptop survived though so I planned to go see the AT&T folks when they opened Sunday. I texted John and said, “If AT&T doesn’t make this air card work; I'm just about ready to cancel all of these phones.” He called Sunday morning and I ‘splained the issue. I told mom where I was going and went to see them. They downloaded another Vista patch but they couldn’t give me a new air card. We did discuss the fact that part of the problem is when the card goes from a “G3” signal to a “regular cellular” signal, it will drop the connection altogether. “It will drop the connection.” Did y'all say it with me just then? Oh well. Ok, so while I'm at the AT&T store, mom calls to tell me my brother, Bruce, is there and ask if I'll stop in at Red Hot & Blue for some pulled pig sammiches. I say I will and we hang up. I call RH&B and place an order. We finish with the computer and they give me the number of the warrantee/insurance place I need to call to get the air card replaced. Oh, I did call while sitting there waiting for the Vista patch to load but the place was closed. I guess I need to try again today. Anyhoo, I stop off at RH&B, pick up the sammiches, and go home. We eat and my other brother, Ted, shows up to spearhead the cleaning of the garage. We put a mighty dent in it by dark and call it a day. Bruce goes home but Ted is staying the night. We watch the Vin Diesel movie “The Pacifier” on TNT or some channel then surf until I find “Corner Gas.” I watch it but Ted goes to bed. I hit the sheets right after it was over. This morning I came to work while Ted, my sister Linda, and mom’s cleaning lady Becky helped finish the garage. Gregg called around 1000 h and asked what I was up to. I told him I was working but I could probably meet him for lunch. We decide on Genghis Grille at 1130 h. I meet him and he says, “Big Dave is joining us.” I say cool and we go inside. Oh, we looked Darth Versa over a little first of course. We wait for Dave then get our first bowls. It was damned tasty but I think I may have over-spiced myself. I'm going to have hot-hole something fierce later. My second bowl was a little more tame. With our bellies full, we headed our separate ways. After parking Darth Versa, I noticed a car with a BNSF license plate ring. I stopped in at the company store and bought a couple. I'm not sure if I'll use them, but they are nice souvenirs. Now I think I'm going to go to the internot and look up the XM satellite radio channel lineup so I can program the presets in Darth Versa. Oh, did I mention it has XM satellite radio? Yeah, and the blue-tool thing for the phone. And a sunroof. And a six-speed. And it’s black with a charcoal interior. I'm so friggin’ cool. Ok, ok, I will be cool when the lowering springs and wheels are on it. It is rather tippy-toe right now. The big conundrum is whether it is going to be all blacked out or “John Player Special” black with gold wheels and trim. I went ahead and bought a set of black “Altezza” style taillights for it while buying springs and a cold-air intake. I just need to finger out how I'm going to pay for the wheels John has/knows about. I'm sure something will come up. We’ll see. Well, I think I'm about talked out for today. I'll be back in touch tomorrow.