Nearly 16 years ago, my sister Jamie married the man she fell in love with - Clif. They've weathered a lot through their marriage, including Hurricane Katrina, and yet their love for each other is as strong as it was in the beginning. They've got two great boys, Christian (my godson) and Nicholas and as a family, they're teriffic.
As I'm writing this, Clif is in surgery. He took a very bold step this year - he opted to have a lap band procedure to reduce his weight.
I have to say I admire Clif for deciding to do the surgery. I should consider following his lead and doing it, but I'm such a chicken. Jamie has been telling me about all the things he had to do to prepare for the procedure and I know I'm not ready for it. Things like lose 25 pounds before the surgery (umm, hello doctor? I've been trying to lose 5 pounds forever and they won't come off, what makes you think I can lose 25 before the surgery?) And a liquid diet for 5 days before the procedure, and 2 weeks after it's over. Yikes. I like to chew too much.
So, Clif, I'm pulling for you today! I hope the surgery is going well and that your recovery time will be short. And before too long, your life-long nickname of "Peanut" will be appropriate once again! I admire your courage and support you in your efforts to get healthy for yourself, my sister and those great boys of yours.
Until next time,
Kel
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The New Car Nightmare - Part 2
I started my quest for a new car with a visit to Edmunds.com. They've got some great research on vehicles, both new and used. You can find out MSRP's, dealer invoice prices, online reviews. There's also a section to do side-by-side comparisons of vehicles. Cool.
From what I read, I narrowed down my choices to the Honda CR-V, the Mazda CX7 and the Saturn VUE Greenline. I was able to request quotes from local dealers through the website, which I thought would make my life easy. On each of the forms, I requested to be contacted via e-mail only.
That was great. The Honda internet sales manager did just that - answered my inquiry by e-mail and sent me a quote to get the ball rolling, inviting me to come by the dealership at any time to check out the car in person. Cool!
The Saturn guy was just as nice. Didn't call, e-mailed only, but unfortunately, couldn't write a complete sentence to save his life. But at least I didn't have to talk to him.
The Mazda guy was the worst. 3 messages on my answering machine the same day I filled out the request. Not an e-mail in sight. I kept thinking, 'what part of e-mail contact only did you not understand?' So of course, when I received an e-mail about customer satisfaction from the dealership a few days later, I ripped off a really great nasty gram to them about how they couldn't follow directions and no, I hadn't received any useful information from them yet. Not surprisingly, that same afternoon, an e-mail arrived from the sales person with an invitation to call him to discuss my upcoming purchase. Hello? Where the heck is the info to make me want to purchase the car from you? Dork.
I exchanged e-mails with all 3 for about two weeks. They all understood that I was not interested in talking to them until I could get in there to test drive, and that I would continue to contact them only through e-mails. That seemed to go well.
Next installment: The Test Drives.
Until then,
Kel
From what I read, I narrowed down my choices to the Honda CR-V, the Mazda CX7 and the Saturn VUE Greenline. I was able to request quotes from local dealers through the website, which I thought would make my life easy. On each of the forms, I requested to be contacted via e-mail only.
That was great. The Honda internet sales manager did just that - answered my inquiry by e-mail and sent me a quote to get the ball rolling, inviting me to come by the dealership at any time to check out the car in person. Cool!
The Saturn guy was just as nice. Didn't call, e-mailed only, but unfortunately, couldn't write a complete sentence to save his life. But at least I didn't have to talk to him.
The Mazda guy was the worst. 3 messages on my answering machine the same day I filled out the request. Not an e-mail in sight. I kept thinking, 'what part of e-mail contact only did you not understand?' So of course, when I received an e-mail about customer satisfaction from the dealership a few days later, I ripped off a really great nasty gram to them about how they couldn't follow directions and no, I hadn't received any useful information from them yet. Not surprisingly, that same afternoon, an e-mail arrived from the sales person with an invitation to call him to discuss my upcoming purchase. Hello? Where the heck is the info to make me want to purchase the car from you? Dork.
I exchanged e-mails with all 3 for about two weeks. They all understood that I was not interested in talking to them until I could get in there to test drive, and that I would continue to contact them only through e-mails. That seemed to go well.
Next installment: The Test Drives.
Until then,
Kel
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The New Car Nightmare, Part 1
I love my car. I've loved every car I've ever owned - 3 in all. But there comes a time when you have to decide if you want to sink money into your transportation partner or start a new relationship. I'm at the point that I need to start a new relationship.
The very first car I bought when I first started working was a 1982 Chevy Cavalier hatchback. Hatches were big in the early 80's. That little sucker was as bright red as they came. Of course, I fell in love with it right away. I was 20 years old, working for one of the most prestigious law firms in New Orleans and had a boyfriend who preferred old Mustangs to food. Red definitely fit my personality. The Cav and I went through a lot together, but by 1989, my life had changed, I felt I had matured, and I felt I needed something a little more sophisticated.
Old Blue came into my life. Man, that thing was a boat. A 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL - the 'sports' model of the Cutlass. Glittery blue paint. CD player! Big enough to take a hit, but smaller than most sedans at the time. I bought it thinking it would be easier for my elderly Aunt and Uncle and Grandmother to get in and out of, since I spent a lot of time with them. Much to everyone's surprise, 6 weeks after I drove it off the lot, I drove it cross-country from Louisiana to California. Old Blue had a good life once we moved here. I was like the little old lady who drove it to church on Sundays. She lived under a carport during the week because I could take the bus to my job in San Francisco right in front of my apartment building. Every once in a while, if I was running late, I'd take Old Blue and park her on the street further into the bus route and I'd catch the bus there. That got us into some serious trouble one day in 1998. I returned from work that night to find her covered in some sort of white residue, with a business card on the front windshield from the fire department. When I looked at her front end, she was like burnt toast. Her front bumper had melted and dripped into piles of blue goo on the street in front of her. According to the fire department and policeman who had done the report, apparently, my car was a target of either a gang initiation or some retaliation against me. Well, I couldn't imagine who could possibly have anything to retaliate against me for, we figured my car was just an easy target because it was the first one on the row of other commuter cars.
Old Blue got repaired and looked just as good as new, thanks to my co-worker's husband who owned his own body shop. She and I continued our love affair for another three years.
In 2001, Blue started needing some work. $200 here, $600 there. By July, with an $1800 repair facing me, I decided it was time to put her out to pasture and look for a new set of wheels to begin a new love affair. I found it - a 2001 Toyota RAV 4. It was cute. It was sporty. It was perky on the road. It was black and I had to have it! So, after what seemed like an all-day affair, I finally signed the papers and RAVie was mine. The hardest thing was saying goodbye to Old Blue. After all, she and I had been through a lot in 12 years and 79,000 miles. When it came time to hand the keys over to the Toyota salesman, I stood there looking at Old Blue, crying, feeling like I had betrayed one of my best friends. I walked over, hugged her front end and told her goodbye for the last time. I handed the keys to Elias, the salesman, and hopped into the RAVie and didn't look back.
Now the RAVie and I have been good buddies since we first met. I love sitting up higher than most cars (but not as high as some of those monster SUVs); it holds a lot of cargo, which is important for me on National Scrapbook Day and Croptoberfest day (my 2 big scrapbooking days of the year); most importantly, Aero likes it. I've always heard that if you feed and care for Toyotas regularly, they'll run forever. I believe it. To date, the only money I've spent on RAVie is for tires, one brake job and regular maintenance. RAVie's got 91,000 miles on her!
But, I think it's time to move on. I've got the 7 year car itch again and am ready to take the plunge. I'm looking at 3 models right now - the Saturn VUE Greenline (hybrid), the Mazda CX-7 and the Honda CR-V.
In the next installment, I'll tell you what a nightmare being a single woman trying to buy a new car can be...
Until then,
Kel
The very first car I bought when I first started working was a 1982 Chevy Cavalier hatchback. Hatches were big in the early 80's. That little sucker was as bright red as they came. Of course, I fell in love with it right away. I was 20 years old, working for one of the most prestigious law firms in New Orleans and had a boyfriend who preferred old Mustangs to food. Red definitely fit my personality. The Cav and I went through a lot together, but by 1989, my life had changed, I felt I had matured, and I felt I needed something a little more sophisticated.
Old Blue came into my life. Man, that thing was a boat. A 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme SL - the 'sports' model of the Cutlass. Glittery blue paint. CD player! Big enough to take a hit, but smaller than most sedans at the time. I bought it thinking it would be easier for my elderly Aunt and Uncle and Grandmother to get in and out of, since I spent a lot of time with them. Much to everyone's surprise, 6 weeks after I drove it off the lot, I drove it cross-country from Louisiana to California. Old Blue had a good life once we moved here. I was like the little old lady who drove it to church on Sundays. She lived under a carport during the week because I could take the bus to my job in San Francisco right in front of my apartment building. Every once in a while, if I was running late, I'd take Old Blue and park her on the street further into the bus route and I'd catch the bus there. That got us into some serious trouble one day in 1998. I returned from work that night to find her covered in some sort of white residue, with a business card on the front windshield from the fire department. When I looked at her front end, she was like burnt toast. Her front bumper had melted and dripped into piles of blue goo on the street in front of her. According to the fire department and policeman who had done the report, apparently, my car was a target of either a gang initiation or some retaliation against me. Well, I couldn't imagine who could possibly have anything to retaliate against me for, we figured my car was just an easy target because it was the first one on the row of other commuter cars.
Old Blue got repaired and looked just as good as new, thanks to my co-worker's husband who owned his own body shop. She and I continued our love affair for another three years.
In 2001, Blue started needing some work. $200 here, $600 there. By July, with an $1800 repair facing me, I decided it was time to put her out to pasture and look for a new set of wheels to begin a new love affair. I found it - a 2001 Toyota RAV 4. It was cute. It was sporty. It was perky on the road. It was black and I had to have it! So, after what seemed like an all-day affair, I finally signed the papers and RAVie was mine. The hardest thing was saying goodbye to Old Blue. After all, she and I had been through a lot in 12 years and 79,000 miles. When it came time to hand the keys over to the Toyota salesman, I stood there looking at Old Blue, crying, feeling like I had betrayed one of my best friends. I walked over, hugged her front end and told her goodbye for the last time. I handed the keys to Elias, the salesman, and hopped into the RAVie and didn't look back.
Now the RAVie and I have been good buddies since we first met. I love sitting up higher than most cars (but not as high as some of those monster SUVs); it holds a lot of cargo, which is important for me on National Scrapbook Day and Croptoberfest day (my 2 big scrapbooking days of the year); most importantly, Aero likes it. I've always heard that if you feed and care for Toyotas regularly, they'll run forever. I believe it. To date, the only money I've spent on RAVie is for tires, one brake job and regular maintenance. RAVie's got 91,000 miles on her!
But, I think it's time to move on. I've got the 7 year car itch again and am ready to take the plunge. I'm looking at 3 models right now - the Saturn VUE Greenline (hybrid), the Mazda CX-7 and the Honda CR-V.
In the next installment, I'll tell you what a nightmare being a single woman trying to buy a new car can be...
Until then,
Kel
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