What a hellish week. Up & down, all the time just feeling like I’m being pulled in a million directions at once.
On Friday I stopped by Ron Bouchard’s to talk to a saleman there who had been calling us all day. At first my intention was to look at a used (Program) Mitsubishi Outlander, but it turned out my fears were correct - they don’t come with ABS unless you get them with the “sun & sound” or “luxury” package. And this used one didn’t have those features. So he showed me the one car he did have on the lot which had those features - all of them, it turned out. It was soooo nice, it was brand-new too! I took it for a nice long test drive (no salesman coming along from this place, which I like). I picked up Amanda and she came back to the dealership and we haggled over price. They were going to give us a great deal, but the price was still the sticking point - the car cost $24,000, and although they gave me a great price for my truck as a trade in, and they even knocked a bit off of the price… the monthly payments would’ve been $499 - which was too much. They let us use the car overnight while they kept the truck and tried to bring the payments down, but in the morning we said “goodbye” to the nice car (it was silver and looked soooo cool). They tried once again to nab us, but I went by myself, so I had the excuse that without Amanda there to decide on price issues, I couldn’t agree to anything. Eventually I just said (basically) “no, thanks, and goodbye for now.” They said they would call us, but they didn’t - I think they finally knew they had lost the sale. So, we were a little bummed, but mostly because it’s easy to get caught up in a new car - I mean, it is really nice.
So, we’ve narrowed our search parameters back down to where they were before - something $15,000 or less (preferrably less). This narrows our market somewhat, and knocks off the Outlander and the Matrix (which are both too new to have used cars for that price or less). However, there is hope still sometime in the future. I’ve thought of getting a full-size Blazer from 2000 or 2001, which would put us right around that price - and would keep our payments basically the same as well. The downside of course is that a Blazer comes with a V6, and guzzles gas quite a bit more than the truck. And with gas prices up at $1.73 per gallon even here in Fitchburg, that could hurt us - although saving the money we would have otherwise spent on the repairs of the truck which are undoutably just around the corner might offset that. So, we are once again “looking”, but not too hard. It’s just too traumatic to keep finding cars we like but can’t afford.
Yesterday (which would be Saturday) was a good day, except for the returning of the car. My dad had us over for a cookout, but we couldn’t stay very long - Amanda had to work at 3, so we had to leave early. And Pj was back in town and I wanted to see him before he leaves on Friday, so after dropping Amanda off at work I went down to Sutton to hang out at Pj’s house for a bit. We cleaned out his Dad’s house a bit (his dad is even more of a pack-rat than I am, if you can believe that’s possible), and then decided to have an “adventure.” We started driving south looking for the ocean - and after some random turns and quick decisions, we found it! But at that point we had to turn around and come back, it was getting late and I had to pick up Amanda at 9. So we came back to Sutton, grabbed a popcicle from my Mom’s house (she wasn’t there), and after I dropped Pj back home, I headed back to good ‘ol Ghettoburg - errr I mean Fitchburg. Once I got to Amanda’s work, she decided to take off with a friend from work and go to a party of some sort - so my rushing back to Fitchburg was really unneeded. But I didn’t mind, I just went home and vegitated on the couch for a bit. When she finally got home we ordered some pizza from Domino’s (with buffalo kickers - yum!), ate the pizza so fast we were going to be sick, and then went to bed. Yay!
Now we’re about to head off to my friend Tom’s dog’s “Bark-Mizfah” or something like that - basically, his dog Churchill is turning 2. You can tell someone loves their dog when they throw him a birthday party - complete with presents and cake!
Well that brings life up to date for the moment. I’m SO glad that I don’t have to work on Monday, let me tell you. I need a break, that’s for sure.
Until next time,
-Keithius
Cars and Trucks, personal | 
Keithius | August 31, 2003
