Last year I started the tradition of taking off from work on my birthday. That is something I got from my mom who has not worked on her birthday for as long as I can remember. I also started a tradition of test driving a car on my birthday. Last year I thought I would eventually get an Infiniti G35 coupe, so I test drove a pre-owned one. It was great. I had not driven a stick in a long time, and it felt great. The car was fast a fun to drive. I had no intention of getting one that day, and didn’t.

This year I decided to test drive the new Infiniti G35 sedan. In the past year I decided that a coupe was not practical, and I needed to consider a sedan. The plan was to wait until the 2009 Acura TL came out and decide which car I liked better. That would give me plenty of time to pay off my car and save up for a few months before I got a new car. Sounds like a great plan, right?

Well, like all great plans, it changed. I still test drove a 2007 G35, and it was cool. I liked the car, it drove well, and it was a definite possibility. After the drive, I started talking to my fiancee, and she brought up the possibility of getting the car. I was content walking out the door of the dealership, but now that this has been brought up, we might as well talk about it. Provided we could get a good deal, we would trade her car, pay off mine next year and both pay on the new car. This would allow us to pay off the new car sooner and speed up the time when we could get her a new car. We figure we can afford more together that we could individually.

We decided to go for it. We would go to the credit union, get out finances together, and bring back her car to see what they would give us for a trade. The credit union was easy. We went, decided how much we were willing to pay, and got a check in that amount. Then we had a brilliant idea, we would go to Carmax and see how much they would give us for her car. We knew how much NADA and Kelly Blue Book said the car was worth, but we wanted to see what we could really get for the car. Carmax was quite reasonable. It was right on par with what we found online. Great, we were good to go… as long as the dealership was a generous as Carmax.

So we got back to the dealership, and sat down to talk money. Uh oh, trouble in paradise. The first problem was with the amount of the trade-in. They offered a significant amount less that Carmax, and they were not trying to budge. They basically told us that if we did not want to accept their offer, we could go to Carmax. We should have left then. We didn’t. Instead we decided to stay and see what they had to offer for the car. They had nothing. They were not trying to budge on the price of the car either. Instead of the sales woman coming back with a counter offer, she came back and offered another car. She didn’t even make an attempt to work with us. We knew then it was all bad. Well, after we did not want the second car, the saleswoman brought back our keys (with an attitude, I might add) and basically told us that we could come back if we wanted to meet their terms. On the way out, she didn’t even shake our hand. You would think they would be trying harder to get rid of the 2007s. I would not recommend that dealership to anyone.

Well now I had the new car bug, and it isn’t being fulfilled. Enter my friend the internet. Time to search other local dealerships and see what they had to offer. As I was coming to terms with the fact that I was back to the original plan and would have my car for the next few years, I found a dealership with some good deals 2007s. I called to check the prices I saw, and they they were legit. I made plans to go by the dealership to see what they had. We (my fiancee and I) went by there and she drove the car this time. We both still liked it, so we decided to see what they were willing to offer.

To make a long story short, we had an excellent experience and drove out in a 2008 (for less than the other dealership was willing to sell us the 2007 for). The salesman was great, and he worked with us on both the trade in and the cost of the car. We got the car we wanted at a price we were comfortable with. If you are ever in the market for an Infiniti, let me know, I will direct you to that dealership.

I wanted to drive to the first dealership in the new car and rub it in the saleswoman’s face… I still might. One thing I can guarantee is that next year, my test drive will be just that… no new cars for several years.

My car has been assaulted again. Again I was sitting still and again I have been hit. I was at a light (again) and the driver behind me was paying attention to the light and not the car in front of her (me). It was a low speed impact, so there is not a lot of damage, but the the estimate tells another story. There are two notches scraped from the bumper by the license plate screws and a few other minor scratches. Looking at the price of the estimate, you would think I was getting a whole new bumper. Ah well… not to sound insensitive, but I am not paying for it. I just want my car fixed (again).

My mom said that all of these accidents are my college “mishaps” coming back on me. Whatever it is, I hope it stops by the time I get a new car. Life has about two more years to finish this payback… I don’t want this to carry over to whatever I get next. Of course, this is assuming someone does not total my car before then. Pray for me.

I saw the LARGEST bug in life last week. I am convinced its not native to Earth. I think it escaped from Area 51 or something… and it had a friend.

The morning started as any other… I was on my way to work, and I needed to get gas. Being creatures of habit, of course, I went to my normal gas station. Little did I know I was driving into a sci-fi flick. I pulled along the pump, and everything seemed normal. I got out… still normal. So, sometime between when I got out of my car and when I needed to press the button to select my gas things became not normal.

That bug was the size of a Volkswagen… ok, maybe not that big, but still big. I am not one who is afraid of bugs (that’s my fiance, lol) but this one made me take a double take. It was perched on the pump beside the button I needed to press. I thought maybe it was sleeping, and I could be sneaky and press the button… nope. It woke up with a vengeance and attacked me! It few in my face and tried to get my eye with its pincher. Then it went for my neck… it was horrible. Ok, that didn’t really happen… It barely moved when I hit the button, but it could have happened… my eyes were at risk. There was another one chillin’ on the ground in front of the pump. I think it was the first one’s bodyguard in case something popped off. I would have taken that one out too. Anyway, here is a picture of the culprit.

There is a specific road that I take a lot, both to and from work, and on weekends. This particular road is only two lanes, one in each direction. In addition, its has some sections that are quite twisty, and you can experience some great ups and downs. In short, this is a great road to drive when there is not anyone in front of you, and you are in a car with great suspension that you know intimately.

The worst is either when I want to “have fun” or have somewhere to be, and there is someone in front of me who obviously either does not know this road, or is just afraid of it. There are countless times I have just wanted to enjoy driving, only to be impeded by someone out for a Sunday stroll. Now, I can understand some people wanting to take their time in the mostly straight and flat sections, because there are some absolutely amazing houses in those areas. Multi-million dollar estates. What really gets under my skin is when people are driving in the curvy (fun) areas going 15 miles an hour. There is nothing to see but trees. Keep you eyes on the road and your foot on the gas. If you are afraid to drive, get off of the road.

I am sure there are roads like this all over, and I am sure many people have similar experiences to mine. Just know tht you are not alone, and that feeling of wanting to turbo boost (Knight Rider reference) past the slow poke is natural. I am sure many of you actually have much more vivid, imaginative (and violent) things you would like to do to those people, but I refuse to condone violence on my blog… no how fun rolling over them in a monster truck would be.

I just picked up my car, WOO HOO… and, I almost got into another accident. You know that whole “bridges and ramps freeze before roadways” phrase? Its true.

Its like 31° degrees, and its snowing. The road is kinda slushy, and I know the danger of ice is there. I was traveling back home, and saw people braking ahead, so I slowed. I changed lanes to one that was moving a bit better, but I saw brakes there too. I slowed some more. “Hmm… that car is braking funny, kinda swervy.” Then, I felt the ABS kick in… “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…” I realize I am on a bridge, it has obviously frozen before the roadway, and my car is semi-stopping/semi-sliding. Fortunately, the car in front of me is still moving, and I am still a safe distance away. As I slide my way along the bridge, I see a pick-up truck perpendicular to traffic, and a civic missing a bumper. “Damn, looks like they learned about the frozen bridge the heard way.”

As my heart beat starts to approach a normal rate again, I take comfort in the fact that I was in my car, and not the ABS-less Kia. Yet another reason why I don’t want to get Kia on my blog.

So I have a Kia for a rental car. At first, I was like, “eew, I’m gonna get Kia on me.” But its really not that bad. Don’t get me wrong, I am not about to go and trade in my car for a Kia, but as a rental for a little while, not too bad. It could be worse, it could be a Chevy Aveo. You know they aren’t real cars, Chevrolet didn’t even give they their whole name.

The Kia has power windows, locks, etc., keyless entry, even steering wheel controls for the radio. Not too bad for a Kia. Unfortunately, you wont see any pictures of it on here, though. I don’t wanna get Kia all over my blog.