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sarea
Dad's visit - the new car
Okay, so the whole point of my dad's visit was for him to help me make a new purchase/lease on a new car, because I'm crap at haggling/dealing with car sales people, etc. I'm fine at the outset, but once they start getting into the nitty gritty of the terms and moving things around and using terminology I'm not familiar with, I get lost. And then I feel really flustered and uncomfortable and hating the whole situation, because it makes me feel like I'm being taken for a ride without knowing it.
Well, no one could have predicted what ended up happening. It just wasn't meant to be, I guess!
First, some backstory. On my 30th birthday 3 years ago, I decided to mark the occasion by getting myself a Lexus. Well the trouble with this is that I have become addicted to the wonderfulness of my car and all the little luxuries that come standard on every Lexus vehicle -- little things that you wouldn't think would be a big deal, but that speak to how much care/attention they pay to the conveniences that make driving that much more enjoyable. Anyway, the point of saying all that is that I've decided that I would like to keep driving a Lexus. I can either buy mine, or get into a new one. I've had my eye on the Lexus HS 250h, their first hybrid sedan. It doesn't have the power of my IS 250, but I'm not really a power driver anyway. I'm more interested in driving a hybrid to save on gas consumption, but with the luxuries I'm used to.
On Thursday, my dad went to the dealership where I usually go to get my car serviced. I love it there because it's very nice, with an espresso bar and a barista who will make you free espresso drinks while you wait, they bake fresh cookies there, there's complimentary bottles of water and fruit, etc. The sales woman I'd been dealing with through email was busy, and my dad ended up talking to this guy who was on his second day on the job, and he came away not being very impressed or feeling good about the deal we wanted to make. On Friday, we instead went to the Lexus dealership in Bellevue. Oh. my. God. The dealership is ridiculously beautiful/luxurious. I can't do justice to it in words. It was like a high-class hotel -- quiet, understated luxury everywhere, from the front desk, to the cafe, to the bank of computers for guest use, to the aquarium in the leather-seated waiting area, to the escalators taking you from one level to the next... it was enormous and spacious. I mean, even my dad was impressed and he is very difficult to impress. He was like, "How do they justify this kind of expense for a car dealership?!"
Anyway. Back to the car deal. So I test drove the HS with a sales man who I liked pretty well. We sat down and I gave him the terms I wanted, for both a lease and a purchase. He went to talk to the numbers guy. He came back and gave us the news that that morning, Toyota had issued a stop sale on all HSes, due to some government test that showed it leaked too much fuel when rear ended. THAT MORNING. If the guy from yesterday had been better, we would have signed a deal on the car. Either I am the luckiest person in the world or I have the worst luck. It's still unclear right now. I'm trying to think positive. Either I've had a narrow escape, OR they'll fix it/find that it was an anomaly, but due to the resulting bad press I'll be able to get a great deal on it. Frankly I'm just not all that fussed about all the supposed safety issues Toyota's had... I've never had a problem with any Toyota and I still think they're safe and reliable.
The Pets
Jaime/Talis: They're still not best friends or anything, but by this point they definitely tolerate each other's company, and from time to time, even enjoy it, I think. Sometimes Jaime will deliberately bat at Talis playfully, or flirtatously run by in order to provoke Talis into running after him, or nip at Talis's tail when he walks by. They constantly sniff at each other, and the other is better and better about letting the sniffing go on for longer and longer periods of time without complaining.
Then! Yesterday! They were both on the bed with me, Jaime was sleeping on the left edge of the foot of the bed, where Talis normally likes to be. Talis was next to me, got up to go to "his" spot, saw Jaime there, and instead of chasing him away or whining until I did something about it, he just flopped down just below him! And when he moved again, it was to sleep right next to Jaime, and their tails even touched! At one point Jaime woke up and meowed when he felt Talis on his tail, but he didn't seem overly concerned and didn't leave, just went back to sleep!
Photo evidence!
This was the first time Talis moved...
The second time, even closer! Look, their tails are touching!
Close up of the tail friendship! It's tail love!
This was tonight, I just think it's so cute. :D
TV Meme
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
There were several contenders for this one, but in the end I have to go with Friends. I was never as obsessed with Friends as I've been with other shows, never wrote fanfic, wasn't completely invested in any one storyline for very long. For the most part I was content to go where they led. There were episodes that were hysterically funny and episodes that made me cry. It was probably the show my friends and I quoted the most from, and made us crack up every time. Almost every episode is memorable in some way, which is saying something considering it was on the air for 10 years. On rewatch you can jump into any episode from any season and enjoy it without having to watch everything that came before. It never fails to bring a smile to my face or make me laugh, which is a big deal on days when I find it hard to do either.
Okay, so the whole point of my dad's visit was for him to help me make a new purchase/lease on a new car, because I'm crap at haggling/dealing with car sales people, etc. I'm fine at the outset, but once they start getting into the nitty gritty of the terms and moving things around and using terminology I'm not familiar with, I get lost. And then I feel really flustered and uncomfortable and hating the whole situation, because it makes me feel like I'm being taken for a ride without knowing it.
Well, no one could have predicted what ended up happening. It just wasn't meant to be, I guess!
First, some backstory. On my 30th birthday 3 years ago, I decided to mark the occasion by getting myself a Lexus. Well the trouble with this is that I have become addicted to the wonderfulness of my car and all the little luxuries that come standard on every Lexus vehicle -- little things that you wouldn't think would be a big deal, but that speak to how much care/attention they pay to the conveniences that make driving that much more enjoyable. Anyway, the point of saying all that is that I've decided that I would like to keep driving a Lexus. I can either buy mine, or get into a new one. I've had my eye on the Lexus HS 250h, their first hybrid sedan. It doesn't have the power of my IS 250, but I'm not really a power driver anyway. I'm more interested in driving a hybrid to save on gas consumption, but with the luxuries I'm used to.
On Thursday, my dad went to the dealership where I usually go to get my car serviced. I love it there because it's very nice, with an espresso bar and a barista who will make you free espresso drinks while you wait, they bake fresh cookies there, there's complimentary bottles of water and fruit, etc. The sales woman I'd been dealing with through email was busy, and my dad ended up talking to this guy who was on his second day on the job, and he came away not being very impressed or feeling good about the deal we wanted to make. On Friday, we instead went to the Lexus dealership in Bellevue. Oh. my. God. The dealership is ridiculously beautiful/luxurious. I can't do justice to it in words. It was like a high-class hotel -- quiet, understated luxury everywhere, from the front desk, to the cafe, to the bank of computers for guest use, to the aquarium in the leather-seated waiting area, to the escalators taking you from one level to the next... it was enormous and spacious. I mean, even my dad was impressed and he is very difficult to impress. He was like, "How do they justify this kind of expense for a car dealership?!"
Anyway. Back to the car deal. So I test drove the HS with a sales man who I liked pretty well. We sat down and I gave him the terms I wanted, for both a lease and a purchase. He went to talk to the numbers guy. He came back and gave us the news that that morning, Toyota had issued a stop sale on all HSes, due to some government test that showed it leaked too much fuel when rear ended. THAT MORNING. If the guy from yesterday had been better, we would have signed a deal on the car. Either I am the luckiest person in the world or I have the worst luck. It's still unclear right now. I'm trying to think positive. Either I've had a narrow escape, OR they'll fix it/find that it was an anomaly, but due to the resulting bad press I'll be able to get a great deal on it. Frankly I'm just not all that fussed about all the supposed safety issues Toyota's had... I've never had a problem with any Toyota and I still think they're safe and reliable.
The Pets
Jaime/Talis: They're still not best friends or anything, but by this point they definitely tolerate each other's company, and from time to time, even enjoy it, I think. Sometimes Jaime will deliberately bat at Talis playfully, or flirtatously run by in order to provoke Talis into running after him, or nip at Talis's tail when he walks by. They constantly sniff at each other, and the other is better and better about letting the sniffing go on for longer and longer periods of time without complaining.
Then! Yesterday! They were both on the bed with me, Jaime was sleeping on the left edge of the foot of the bed, where Talis normally likes to be. Talis was next to me, got up to go to "his" spot, saw Jaime there, and instead of chasing him away or whining until I did something about it, he just flopped down just below him! And when he moved again, it was to sleep right next to Jaime, and their tails even touched! At one point Jaime woke up and meowed when he felt Talis on his tail, but he didn't seem overly concerned and didn't leave, just went back to sleep!
Photo evidence!
This was the first time Talis moved...
The second time, even closer! Look, their tails are touching!
Close up of the tail friendship! It's tail love!
This was tonight, I just think it's so cute. :D
TV Meme
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
There were several contenders for this one, but in the end I have to go with Friends. I was never as obsessed with Friends as I've been with other shows, never wrote fanfic, wasn't completely invested in any one storyline for very long. For the most part I was content to go where they led. There were episodes that were hysterically funny and episodes that made me cry. It was probably the show my friends and I quoted the most from, and made us crack up every time. Almost every episode is memorable in some way, which is saying something considering it was on the air for 10 years. On rewatch you can jump into any episode from any season and enjoy it without having to watch everything that came before. It never fails to bring a smile to my face or make me laugh, which is a big deal on days when I find it hard to do either.
