CAR!!!
As of about 4:30pm today, I am the proud owner of a black 2018 Toyota Camry LE. :DDD
There is only about... .5 of a used car dealership in Ithaca that is not part of the Maguire conglomeration of car dealerships (Pritchard Automotive, still fighting the good fight five generations on -- they used to deal new cars, but the 2008 Great Recession was a bad time), so we went to Maguire Hyundai/Subaru, which contrary to Earth logic had more used Toyotas on their lot than the actual Toyota dealership.
I test-drove the 2018 Camry LE, a 2019 Camry SE (which I liked a little better, but not $7,000 better), and a 2018 Corolla, which, while it had a back seat without a weird hump in the floor, was a noticeably less smooth drive and also the seat was kind of weird. So I went with the 2018 Camry.
We were done with the shopping part by 11ish (having started at 8:15am), so we decided on an early lunch. Then I went to work for about two hours (1pm-3pm) before the car inspection, cleaning, and title request were in hand and I needed to go back to the dealership and sign umpitty zillion papers.
We decided to go with a car loan even though we could have paid cash up front, because it turns out having a car loan (and therefore carrying and paying down a debt in regular intervals) is counter-intuitively better for one's credit score than faithfully paying off two credit cards in full every month for years on end. *sigh* The finance sector may be necessary, but ye gods it seems to run on black magic and spite sometimes.
Anyway, I'm going to hit up my bank on Tuesday and establish a new and separate account solely for the car loan, and then set up an autopay somewhat higher than my monthly repayment rate so I get credit for carrying the loan but don't actually have to swallow all the baked-in interest, you know?
...
I have the actual license plates already -- no need for temporaries, which is helpful! Unfortunately the letter combination sparked a terrible association in my brain.
Someone tell me not to name my new car Kraven the Huntress. Please?
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In tangentially related news, Mom, Dad, and I ate out at Simeon's for lunch and Antlers for dinner. I am now going to record what we ordered, against the inevitable day when Mom asks me to remember our food choices. *wry*
At Simeon's, Dad got the soup of the day and a plain bistro salad. Mom got a bistro salad with added grilled chicken. And I got the butcher's blend burger, hold the tomato, with a greens on the side. They each had a glass of white wine and I had a glass of Coke because I was heading to work.
At Antlers, Dad and I both got the filet mignon (he held the gorgonzola and had rice as a side; I had garlic mashed potatoes as my side and enthusiastically welcomed the gorgonzola), and Mom had the baked scrod. Mom had a Black Russian to start off, I had a whiskey sour, and Dad had a glass of red. We then each had a glass of wine with our entrees. And we split a vanilla cheesecake with mixed fruit compote three ways for dessert -- it was decadent and wonderful. ♥
I also now have about 1/3 of a burger and 1/3 of my fillet mignon, plus a dinner roll, sitting in my fridge for Saturday dinner. :D If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)
There is only about... .5 of a used car dealership in Ithaca that is not part of the Maguire conglomeration of car dealerships (Pritchard Automotive, still fighting the good fight five generations on -- they used to deal new cars, but the 2008 Great Recession was a bad time), so we went to Maguire Hyundai/Subaru, which contrary to Earth logic had more used Toyotas on their lot than the actual Toyota dealership.
I test-drove the 2018 Camry LE, a 2019 Camry SE (which I liked a little better, but not $7,000 better), and a 2018 Corolla, which, while it had a back seat without a weird hump in the floor, was a noticeably less smooth drive and also the seat was kind of weird. So I went with the 2018 Camry.
We were done with the shopping part by 11ish (having started at 8:15am), so we decided on an early lunch. Then I went to work for about two hours (1pm-3pm) before the car inspection, cleaning, and title request were in hand and I needed to go back to the dealership and sign umpitty zillion papers.
We decided to go with a car loan even though we could have paid cash up front, because it turns out having a car loan (and therefore carrying and paying down a debt in regular intervals) is counter-intuitively better for one's credit score than faithfully paying off two credit cards in full every month for years on end. *sigh* The finance sector may be necessary, but ye gods it seems to run on black magic and spite sometimes.
Anyway, I'm going to hit up my bank on Tuesday and establish a new and separate account solely for the car loan, and then set up an autopay somewhat higher than my monthly repayment rate so I get credit for carrying the loan but don't actually have to swallow all the baked-in interest, you know?
...
I have the actual license plates already -- no need for temporaries, which is helpful! Unfortunately the letter combination sparked a terrible association in my brain.
Someone tell me not to name my new car Kraven the Huntress. Please?
---------------
In tangentially related news, Mom, Dad, and I ate out at Simeon's for lunch and Antlers for dinner. I am now going to record what we ordered, against the inevitable day when Mom asks me to remember our food choices. *wry*
At Simeon's, Dad got the soup of the day and a plain bistro salad. Mom got a bistro salad with added grilled chicken. And I got the butcher's blend burger, hold the tomato, with a greens on the side. They each had a glass of white wine and I had a glass of Coke because I was heading to work.
At Antlers, Dad and I both got the filet mignon (he held the gorgonzola and had rice as a side; I had garlic mashed potatoes as my side and enthusiastically welcomed the gorgonzola), and Mom had the baked scrod. Mom had a Black Russian to start off, I had a whiskey sour, and Dad had a glass of red. We then each had a glass of wine with our entrees. And we split a vanilla cheesecake with mixed fruit compote three ways for dessert -- it was decadent and wonderful. ♥
I also now have about 1/3 of a burger and 1/3 of my fillet mignon, plus a dinner roll, sitting in my fridge for Saturday dinner. :D If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)