concerning cars, women, and the future
First off, I didn't get the BMW.
It turns out that the MP3 wasn't as badly damaged as everyone originally thought. They had to replace the 24" rail on the passanger rear side up to the crumple zone (still behind the rear axle), replace the trunk pan, trunk lid, bumper, bumper cover & skirt, passanger side tail light, and the rear section of the exhaust (including the muffler). They were able to get everything new and match the paint perfectly. The only problem was the muffler. It turns out that Racing Beat, who manufactured the original muffler for the car, is out of business. After two failed attempts at getting muffler in (the first was a standard protege muffler, the second they don't even know what it was or what it was for) they finally settled on a MazdaSpeed Protege muffler. It works great but didn't quite fit right, so they had me bring it to a local exhaust specialist and they were able to custom mount it. So everything is good!
The car still handles like a dream (Amanda learned that last weekend when I took a right-hand 10 degree banked corner at 45-55 mph--45 going in, 55 coming out) and purrs like the kitten she is. I'm actually very happy with the results. After posting here asking for some insight I realized that since I never intended to re-sell her it is irrelevant how much her value drops; as long as she still drives the same (she does) I'm happy keeping her.
So the Beamer will have to wait.
In other news: Amanda and I are now offically enganged!!
I gave her the ring two weeks ago after we resolved a scheduling conflict without getting mad. Basically, I'm obligated to be in a wedding on Saturday 10/28; and she recently learned that Sunday 10/29 is her little sisters confirmation (a very big deal in her family). That alone wouldn't be so bad; but the wedding is in Indiana and the Confirmation is in North Dakota...about 15 hours from the wedding. It was looking like we'd have to go seperate ways, which means we would both have felt guilty and been pretty miserable with the whole deal. Then we figured out that since it is a 9AM wedding we can actually get out of South Bend by 1-2PM, get back to Alexandria by 1-2 AM, catch a few hours sleep, get up, get the kids, drive the three hours to Jamestown and be there in time for the 1PM confirmation. We'll kill ourselves doing it, but it was more important that we spend the time together and that both of us be happy than we go the "easy" way and each go to our respective ceremony. I thought that realatoin and compromise was a fitting enough symbol of our relationship to give the ring, so I did!
We are looking at putting off the wedding itself until 2008. Her sister is getting married next summer and we don't want to make it too hard on her family to run around to two weddings in one year. Ideally, we'd like a late summer/early fall wedding. We are actually looking at having a Sunday wedding, 8/24/2008...that day will be--WARNING:SAPPINESS FOLLOWS--the tenth anniversary of the day we first met. =)
Well, that's that.
BTW: Tony (Pengo), if you still check this, drop me a line sometime... detsudachiATyahooDOTcom.
It turns out that the MP3 wasn't as badly damaged as everyone originally thought. They had to replace the 24" rail on the passanger rear side up to the crumple zone (still behind the rear axle), replace the trunk pan, trunk lid, bumper, bumper cover & skirt, passanger side tail light, and the rear section of the exhaust (including the muffler). They were able to get everything new and match the paint perfectly. The only problem was the muffler. It turns out that Racing Beat, who manufactured the original muffler for the car, is out of business. After two failed attempts at getting muffler in (the first was a standard protege muffler, the second they don't even know what it was or what it was for) they finally settled on a MazdaSpeed Protege muffler. It works great but didn't quite fit right, so they had me bring it to a local exhaust specialist and they were able to custom mount it. So everything is good!
The car still handles like a dream (Amanda learned that last weekend when I took a right-hand 10 degree banked corner at 45-55 mph--45 going in, 55 coming out) and purrs like the kitten she is. I'm actually very happy with the results. After posting here asking for some insight I realized that since I never intended to re-sell her it is irrelevant how much her value drops; as long as she still drives the same (she does) I'm happy keeping her.
So the Beamer will have to wait.
In other news: Amanda and I are now offically enganged!!
I gave her the ring two weeks ago after we resolved a scheduling conflict without getting mad. Basically, I'm obligated to be in a wedding on Saturday 10/28; and she recently learned that Sunday 10/29 is her little sisters confirmation (a very big deal in her family). That alone wouldn't be so bad; but the wedding is in Indiana and the Confirmation is in North Dakota...about 15 hours from the wedding. It was looking like we'd have to go seperate ways, which means we would both have felt guilty and been pretty miserable with the whole deal. Then we figured out that since it is a 9AM wedding we can actually get out of South Bend by 1-2PM, get back to Alexandria by 1-2 AM, catch a few hours sleep, get up, get the kids, drive the three hours to Jamestown and be there in time for the 1PM confirmation. We'll kill ourselves doing it, but it was more important that we spend the time together and that both of us be happy than we go the "easy" way and each go to our respective ceremony. I thought that realatoin and compromise was a fitting enough symbol of our relationship to give the ring, so I did!
We are looking at putting off the wedding itself until 2008. Her sister is getting married next summer and we don't want to make it too hard on her family to run around to two weddings in one year. Ideally, we'd like a late summer/early fall wedding. We are actually looking at having a Sunday wedding, 8/24/2008...that day will be--WARNING:SAPPINESS FOLLOWS--the tenth anniversary of the day we first met. =)
Well, that's that.
BTW: Tony (Pengo), if you still check this, drop me a line sometime... detsudachiATyahooDOTcom.