Deceiving Smiles

The car time line and a little Nelson Mazda review from me.

• Friday 4/9/10: We went to Nelson Mazda and test drove a Mazda5. Not bad (besides having the windows down in the back). We talked with the salesman and said we'd think about it some.
• Saturday 4/10/10: After too many hours at the Mazda dealer talking with the salesman and with a finance guy, we were told about 5% interest, then actually given 5.49% so we were gonna walk out (about 11:30 pm now). But that made them lower it to 5%. Even though it was only about 4-5$ per month difference in payments, it is the principle. We were told it would be close to 5%, maybe +/- .2%. But 5.49% was not close. So we signed the papers and spent just under 19K for a 2010 Mazda5. We are getting a blue one, so they are driving it in from Norman, OK. Also, the salesman said he'd get us a cargo net for no charge.
  
• Tuesday 4/13/10: Call from the salesman, the drivers are running late and the car won't be in until late Tuesday night. He'd rather not rush it, so we decide to wait until Wednesday to get it.
• Wednesday 4/14/10: Call from the salesman. The car has a 1.5" scratch on the passenger sliding door. They are going to get it professionally fixed and it should be ready on Friday.
• Friday 4/16/10: No call, but we go in after work. The scratch is completely gone and the outside of the car looks great. However, the inside is dirty. In some places (like the 2nd row passenger side seat), it's completely filthy. I mean, excessively dirty, even for a used car. And this one is brand new! So, they are going to clean it and then the salesman will drive it to us Saturday morning. Oh, and it has 189 miles, which was good (Norman is about 130 miles away).
• Saturday 4/17/10: Around noon, the salesman calls and says he's on his way. When he gets to our place, the seats are MUCH cleaner, and we finally have our car*. Still a little spot, but I'll just get it out myself. We ask the keys to drive him back. But he's only got one of the two. The other one (with the manual) was sent to some other dealer by accident and it's being overnighted to Nelson Mazda. The salesman said he'd drop it by Monday. We drove him back, came home, parked in the garage, and noticed we had no temporary tag. Called the salesman again and he said he'd drop it by that day.

• Monday 4/18/10: Still no key and still no temporary tag. I called Nelson Mazda, but our salesman was out. So, I spoke with his boss. Apparently the key had not been overnighted, because they didn't have it. So, it should be in Tuesday. He said they'd see about having someone bring it by our work. I finally got my tag (it still took about 15 minutes from when I walked it to when I left to get a sheet of paper that has a date that is over 1 week ago on it).

And that brings us to today. Still waiting for word on our other key and our manual and, well, that cargo net is probably never going to happen.

It has been 10 days since we signed the papers for our car and we still don't have everything taken care of. This has been a mess. Yes, I like the car (I've only driven it for about 12 miles so far, though) and it was a decent price (about MSRP, nothing special). But really, delivering a brand new car with a scratch and then a filthy interior and then not all the things it needs (like keys, manual, and tags) are not acceptable.

I've never bought a new car before, so I can't compare. But I would say that this experience has not been pleasant and I would not recommend going to Nelson Mazda.

*It was raining that day. When the water fell on the door arm rest it made a bunch of smiley faces.

Still Waiting

No new car to pick up yet. Tuesday evening we were planning to go get it after work. But the salesman called and said it wouldn't be in till late and that they'd rather not rush it that night. Since I had to teach, it worked out okay. We only would have had from 6:00 to 6:30 to check it out and finish the deal.

So then Wednesday (yesterday) the salesman called again. "Good thing we didn't rush it last night" he says. "There's a 1.5" scratch in the passenger side sliding door." Great. They didn't want to fix it in house, because it wouldn't look good enough. They were getting it professionally done. So he estimated Friday evening. So again, we wait.

Hopefully when we actually get to see our car on Friday it is in better than great condition. It better be spotless inside and outside, have all the pieces in place, have a cargo net, and have low mileage. I keep asking him what the mileage is and he keeps forgetting to check. Good thing is, if it's too high, we can say "Nope, not new to us" and they have to get us a new one.

But really, buying a car should not be this hard. Stupid car dealers.

Another Lack of Pictures

I really need to take more pictures. Dave and Rhonda were here this weekend, and I took not a single picture! Dave came and nothing to document it! But I can document my plants. I planted the seeds Monday the 5th and my Thursday, we had seedlings.

This is the basil and dill on Saturday. Below it is the tarragon. We planted basil, dill, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, and cilantro.


Dave and Rhonda arrived Friday and when we got home, they were milling around outside because we never gave Rhonda the key we thought we gave her. That evening we gave Dave a tour of the house (as he's never been before) and then we headed over to Nelson Mazda to check out the Mazda5.
After a test drive and some chatting with the salesman, we headed to Red Lobster for dinner and chatting. We ordered a lot of crab legs, 3.5 pounds I believe. We ate almost all of them too.

Saturday, Shannon's birthday, we hung around a little, starting drying some bananas in the food dehydrator and then eventually headed over to First Watch for brunch. Oh, but before that we stopped by the post office so I could mail 3 statistical distribution burp cloths off to Texas. Sweet!

Now, back to the Mazda dealer. We spent a lot of time there on Saturday, and it did end in us buying a new car. We will get it this week (they are driving it in from somewhere in the color we wanted, blue). It's a 2010 Mazda5. I'm pretty excited. :) No pictures yet, but they'll come later.

Sunday Dave and Rhonda left for GC. Shannon and I chilled around the house. I sewed some and Shannon played Civ IV some. Overall it was a nice lazy day. One of the things I sewed was this newborn dress using fabric I had lying around (from Nikki's 1st birthday dress) and a free internet pattern. I did make a few changes, but overall, it's basically the dress she made.

Riverdance and Timing Belts Part 2

Back to the car. (That is Shannon and the car with the hood up.)

So, after enjoying the second half of Riverdance (which we greatly did), we headed down south to deal with our car.

Our plan is this. Jump-start our car and then go, no more stopping. If we get on the highway, we wouldn't need to stop until we got to Manhattan, which is a better place to leave the car to get fixed than Topeka. Jenette and Chris pulled their car up, we attached the cables, let her go and.. nothing.

Tried it again... and nothing. No luck. So I called State Farm's 24 hour number. I waited on hold for about 15 minutes for a person. Then finally got someone, told her of our situation, and she started to look for a tow truck. I waited on hold another 15 minutes while she called about 8 places and then finally got one to answer! Shawnee Auto Towing.

They wouldn't be able to get there for another 1.5 hours (which means at about 1:00 am) AND we'd need to pay cash since it's after hours. Jeepers. The six of us didn't have the necessary cash. Luckily there was a Wal-mart about 1 minute aways. So we drove there to get the cash. While walking it, Shawneed Auto Towing called and said they had a call cancel and they could come get us in about 15-20 minutes! Sweet. So we got cash, went back to the car anda bout 5 minutes later, the truck was there.

We watched him put the bed down, then he got in the car, tried to start it and said "Timing belt." He didn't even think, he just said it. That is actually good news for us. This summer we were told it would need to be fixed, but we haven't been able to bring our only car in to the shop. So, hoped the tow guy was right.

Okay, car on truck. Truck to Ford dealer's service shop. Paid for tow. Said bye to Newgen. Went to Steak and Shake. mmm...


The service shop wasn't open Sunday, so we drove Jenette and Chris' second car back to Tulsa on Sunday. Then Monday, the service shop called and said it was indeed the timing belt and it would be 600.27$ (parts, labor, and tax) to repair it. We said "do it." Then they called around 4:00pm said it was done, and now our car is all better. Granted it's in Kansas and we are in Oklahoma, but Jenette and Chris are gonna bring it down for Thanksgiving and we'll trade cars back.

So, we are going to get a new car. We don't want to have to keep dealing with these issues. This is the third time this year we've had a problem with our car. It's only 10 years old, but I think she's about done. We'll keep it for a second car, but we will likely be buying a larger more reliable mobile in the nearish future. Sounds expensive...

But for an ironic twist... Jenette and Chris were going to pick up our car in Topeka after work Monday and then bring their new car to a different shop because parts they needed to get fixed were in. Well, their car died! So since we had their second car and they hadn't got ours yet, they had no car! I feel SO bad! Luckily, Shannon said they dealer gave them a car to use. I think he also said they are gonna get a different new car because that Kia they just got has had a great deal of problems since they got it. That sucks.

Riverdance and Timing Belts Part 1

Saturday, after class, Shannon and I packed up the car and drove up to Topeka. We had tickets to go watch Riverdance (like the actual Riverdance!!) with Jenette and Chris and Newgen and Andrea. The plan was to meet at Red Lobster for a nice dinner, then head over to the show.

Well, Shannon and I payed the 8.10$ toll (jeepers) at the south end of Topeka, and then we tried to leave. But no, our car just died on us, at the toll booth. It just wouldn't start. So, Shannon pushed the car to the toll booth parking lot while the attendant stopped traffic. Then we called Jenette and Chris, they were about 8 minutes away. They came and picked us up and we headed to Red Lobster.

After finally finding a parking spot, we actually got seated pretty quick. But, still we've just taken over 15 minutes away from an already pretty tight schedule. Shortly, Newgen and Andrea arrived and we had the fastest trip to Red Lobster ever, about 45 minutes total.

Now, off to Riverdance! We got there about 8 minutes before the show started and walked very briskly into the center. Jenette and I peed, and then the six of us when up to our seats in the balcony. We got there, sat down and were immediately disappointed.

I mean immediately!

You could only see like 30% of the stage! No lie! There was this giant wall for the level below us overing more than half the stage! So, the 6 of us tried to move down and ovet to get a better view. Which helped a little, now we could see about 50% of the stage, still absolutely ridiculous! After the show started, but during one act, Chris when to to tell them how lousy it was and get our seats fixed. They said they couldn't

Then a little later, during the show, Jenette (I should add, the entire reason for this trip is because it's a Christmas present for Jenette from Chris) went to tell them about it, and it may have been the tears and runny make-up, but she recieved a different outcome. They told her that they couldn't reseat us during the show. But we could move seats now and then come down during intermission and they would try to move us to a better location. So, we all squished down and over some more. Jenette, Chris, and I got seats to see about 75% of the stage. Newgen and Andrea sat in the aisle to see more of it. It was crummy, and for 50$ a ticket it was just wrong.

The dancing was great. It's really impressive what they can do with their feet. But there was one act where all we could see was the projector and hear some music. Then a violin player appeared. Apparently he'd been playing the entire time, we just couldn't see him! Geez.

Then intermission came. The six of us wandered down to find the woman Jenette was told to meet. She was polite and worked with some other workers and they found us new seats! For the second half of the show, Shannon, Newgen, Andrea, and I sat in the second row right in front on the floor! Jenette and Chris were about 2 rows behind us. WOW! What a difference!

You could see the entire stage, you could see the looks on the dancers faces, you could see all of the red dancer. And you know what, there was live music! In that corner that we couldn't see there were about 6 musicians playing wonderful music the entire time! It was even more amazing.

So, it ended okay, but is sucks that Jenette and Chris had to deal with that...

Well, now that the show is over, we still have the issue of our car. But this post is really long already, so I'll have to write it up later.

A Disgusted Customer!

When we first moved to Tulsa a I saw a car with this same magnetic sign. I don't think this is the same mobile, but it might be. I can't find my other picture to check. Anyway, I still think this is a really good way to get back at someone who I assume has done a crummy job at building your house.

Escalade!

Yeah. This car is sweet.

I like counting.

Our car turned 123456 miles this morning. How cute.

Ensy Weensy Car

Maria makes us all laugh sometimes. Like this time. We were in Dillon's Marketplace (it's a new idea by Kroger to be more like Super Target). They had this car attached to the front of a wagon and Nicole was in it alone, most of the time.

Maria wanted to know if she could fit, so she kicked Nicole out, squoze in, and then partied with Nicole again. It was good time.

Mad Libs

For Christmas Shannon bought me a Mad Libs daily calendar. Sometimes their funny, sometimes their not. Here are two good ones.

Newspaper Ads

FOR SALE: This crunchy car is in sweet condition. It was formerly owned by a small schoolteacher who always drove it quickly. There is a cinnamon food in the back seat and a chrome bowl on the hood.

I put the words I actually chose in italics. It is kinda fun when it somewhat works out. Here's another one.

Moving

Once, I was thinking about moving, but I was moving. Then a gray friend told me that "an expiring stone gathers no team," and then I realized that it was a fast idea.

You can play with Mad Libs on-line here and here.

Postpone the Soup

So, our car has been having issues with its front driver's side tire. We have to put air in it about once every 2 weeks. We said we would get a new tire sometime, but that time wasn't now. Or was it? Yesterday we filled 'er up, she was quite low. Today, well, this morning at 7:30, I went to go to school and the car drove kinda funny, so I stopped, parked in the nearest spot, and sure enough, the tire was flat. Not just low, but flat. I grumbled a little (it was about 12 degrees) and then went back to get my hat, a scarf, and leg warmers (thank goodness for those things!). I proceeded to walk to school and continue with my day.

After we got home around 5, Shannon and I checked to see if we could just use some fix-a-flat and be on our way to the new tire world. But this is gonna need a spare. Dang it all. I'll have to walk to class again tomorrow!

What is that a picture of?

Last night, Shannon, Chris, Jenette, and I went to La Fiesta, a new Mexican restaurant in Manhattan. It was pretty good. Very colorful inside.

Well, when I tried to park, the first spot I chose wasn't a spot at all. I noticed because the car I was parking behind, had a car parked in front of it. So, that means I would have boxed the truck in. Upon further inspection, I saw that the two rows were already in existence and I would have formed a third. So moved and we went to eat.

Coming out, I could not find the car. I knew I was in the nearer row and about where the car should be. But no luck. I was thoroughly confused. Then I noticed something (what you are supposed to see in this picture). The rows had moved. The row I had tried forming, was now a legitamate row! My car now was in the far row, and there was indeed a poor boxed in truck. You can't tell in the picture, but it is supposed to be of the line of 3 cars in the row parking.

Crazy.