New Car

For the first time in my life, I purchased a brand new car. For some of you this may be a regular occurrence every few years, but for me this has been a once in a lifetime thing (so far!). Almost a year ago, I walked into a Chevrolet dealer near where I work sign some paperwork for my ex-wife. She finally traded in the car we had when we were married, and she needed my signature on the title. As I was walking through the show room I saw a cool looking car, and since I had a few moments, I stopped to admire it. Of course the first thing I looked at was the sticker price, which I found was very reasonable. After a very few moments, I realize I must have been drooling, because it didn't take very long at all for a salesperson to stop and talk to me. I told him I had never seen a car like this, and I asked him if it was new? He said "Yep, brand new, we just got it in, and we haven't even sold one yet." Well, I was more than intrigued, so I asked a bunch of questions, and I liked all of the answers. I finally asked if I could take it for a test drive. He arranged it, and away I went. I have never been one of those people who "love" a car... To me it's always been just a piece of machinery to get me places. But car was different, I really liked this car... I wanted it. Spurred on by the fact that my ex-wife just got a new vehicle, and that I hated my current car, I started the process of purchasing the car. I was excited when the salesperson told me that I could trade in my current car, purchase this new one, without much difference in my monthly payments! I was in heaven. Well, the pull of gravity from my credit history brought be back down to Earth. After he did the credit check, he found he could not get me in the car for the price I wanted, it would cost me much more a month, well out of my price range... (sob)... I left the dealership with a sad feeling, but hopeful that some day soon, I would be able to "turn that frown upside down"... (My Stuart Smalley quip of the day) I talked with people at work, friends, and family, and most of them had never heard of the car. I looked it up on the Internet, and found a few sites about it, and one that had setup a "Fan club" for the car. Now, before I reveal the car, let me just say, this isn't a sports car, or some other "power-mobile" like a Mustang GT or a Hummer. In otherwords it's not the "must have" car of 2006/07, but it has become one for me. It's been available for almost year since I first spotted it in the dealership showroom. You have most likely seen one or two of them on the road. You might even think it is a PT Cruiser at first glance. When I point it out to my girlfriend says it reminds her of a "hearse". I am not sure how she gets that.... I mean I know the car is long, and it is a station wagon, but do you think it looks like a hearse?

Well, this past Tuesday, after many months of waiting for the right time, I was finally able to do it. I now own a 2006 Chevrolet HHR LS model. Actually, I share ownership with the bank, but I get to drive it! Because it has a retro Chevy Suburban body style, it reminds people of the PT Cruiser. It's bigger than the PT, but not it's not a full SUV size. I got the 5-speed stick shift with the "sport red" body. To keep the costs down, I did not get any of the addons (spoiler, luggage rack, running boards, foglights). I drove it off the lot with the odometer reading "000005", and when the odometer read "000006" it's value had gone down by about $3,000 according to Edmunds.

I won't be able to eat lunch for the next 5 years, but I can go outside instead and enjoy my new car. It's one way to go on a diet.

Nail Clipping

I know this particular topic has been discussed in other blogs, and forums... I know this because I actually looked for it. But if you would be so kind, please let me vent a little here on this topic... Besides, it is MY blog afterall right? I work at a small branch office of a pretty good sized company. The my desk is in a closed room, that holds 7 cubicles, of which, 5 are in use. The sound is muffled slightly by the cubicle walls, but there is still quite a bit of sound that carries throughout the room. Most of that sound is usually one person talking to another over the cube walls... Which is usually ok, but sometimes it gets a little lengthy and loud, and distracting to those who are trying to work... However that's not the topic at hand. The sound that carries the most (my opinion), and is the most annoying (again my opinion) is the little repeative "clip", "clip", "clip" sounds of a fellow co-working chopping his fingernails with a little metal fingernail clipper! Now I know it's not as bad as if he was passing gas all day, belching, or sniffling, but that sound is absolutely horrid. To me, it's like fingernails on a chalk board. What's worse is that it's not one or two clips, it's about 20 to 30 clips... He must clip each nail 2 or 3 times! Or he is doing his toe nails as well.

I have to give the guy credit, at least he is clipping his nails instead of sitting in meetings with us, and biting them off, which to me is even more disgusting to watch, but quieter! It's the sound that gets me, not the fact that little bits of nail are flying all around his cube. (I expect he aims for the trash can)

Of course, I could just go over and politely tell him to QUIT! However, to keep the peace, I just grit my teeth, silently, and leave the room for 10 minutes!

Loss...

My great aunt, Mary Carnegie Thompson passed away yesterday after a lengthy illness. She had been staying in a local nursing home since January. She was a "constant" at the farm where I grew up. She grew up on the same farm and lived in the same house her entire life. When I was young her and my grandfather shared an office in her home, where they ran an insurance agency. The agency still named after my grandfather, is now being run by my cousin in his home. I enjoyed going to visit Aunt Mary when I was young because her house was always nice, cool, and full of cool "old" things. She also had an old upright piano that was out of tune, but we still loved to sit in front of and poke at the keys. She had a ton of old photos on the shelves and walls and as you walked by the eyes followed... I found an interest in postage stamps from hanging out at the office at my aunt's place, and looking at all of the mail that went in and out of the office. I used to save the old envelopes from the trash can, and I learned how to remove the stamps without damaging them. And as my interest in stamps moved beyond the occassional new stamp that came in the office mail, Aunt Mary invited me upstairs to her attic to look through some old letters and postcards she had kept. She let me have the stamps from her "memories".

Aunt Mary was my typist before I learned to type. When I was just starting high school, she would help me create a newsletter for my church youth group. I remember she got quite a kick out of typing something other than work correspondence, especially when my newsletter contained the words "zip", "zap", "zoom", "zowie", and other words she didn't get to type often! :-) Her electric typewriter had the ability to type in either red or black ink at the shift of a key. She used to make little rows "army" men by combining letters, and symbols on top of one another, and shifted slightly... Before there were ASCII drawings, she was doing art with her typewriter. I never did learn how she did that . When we worked on the farm during the hot summer days bailing the hay, she would always show up with her large red and white jug full of delicious ice cold water. Drinking from the little metal spout from the thermos was the highlight of the day when we were hot and tired. Her yard had a large pear tree, and a decent sized grape vine of which I snuck fruit off of every year. The grapes were sour, and the pears a little hard, but we always thought it was delicious because we were sneaking the forbidden fruit! ;-) We used to throw the really hard pears at an old "spring house", trying to get the pears through the window. When I graduated from high school I moved away from home, and I didn't come back very often, and when I did, I didn't stop and visit my aunt. We saw each other only once or twice a year when our family would get together for a holiday such as Memorial day and we would go to the farm, and have a cookout, or a hayride. My last visit with her was at the nursing home. Before I left, I told her I loved her, and I kissed her on her cheek. Even though she was very ill and drifting in and out of sleep, when I kissed, her eyes cleared, and she looked right at me with recognition and smiled... Peace Aunt Mary... Peace and Rest... You will be missed.