Woo hoo, woo hoo hoo...
Woke up this morning, after hitting the snooze a healthy nine times. Within 2 minutes, the dealer called, informing me he had not gotten the faxes I'd asked my insurance company to send over to prove I was insured, that the car had not been delivered before they opened to the public as was supposed to happen, and that all the managers (who were required to do some paperwork to allow me to sign my portions and leave) were in some multi-hour meeting. He recommended I call work and inform them I was probably going to be showing up later than scheduled. Luckily my foresight is fairly good, and I'd already called the previous night with that information.
I killed off the morning and early afternoon hours with a very gory, very gorgeous to look at anime made by my favourite production company. For all .5 people who both read my journal and have any interest in anime, the series is called Gantz. Eventually the dealer calls me and tells me he'll be at my apartment to pick me up in about 30 minutes. 45 minutes later, I see his car pull up. I hop in and we expediate back to the dealership, where all the signatures and such go off without a hitch. I see the car in the parking lot, ludicrously deep shining black perfectly contrasting the clear plastic lens cover of my headlights and the silver plastic housing. The only downside of my initial inspection is of the very base-model-looking hubcap pseudo-rims.
Finally we head back out, speak our final bits, shake hands several times, and I just sit in awe for a minute or two, adjusting seats, mirrors, and posture positions. I turn the key in the ignition, wrap my palm on top of the perfectly spherical shift knob, drop the rectangular E-brake, hit the power on the radio, and head out of the dealership lot.
Realizing I'm already going to be late for work, and wanting to avoid getting on nerves with the shop my old car is sitting in, dead engine and all, I decide to sign over the title and have them scrap the car for free. It seems a downright shame that I get literally nothing for my car, but it's actually happened with every other car that I've had.. tow it away for free; the cost of the tow is covered by the money the tower gets for the car.
I clean out my car before turning things over to the shop and find several surprises. I'd forgotten exactly how much stuff I had managed to retain in my glove compartment. I find a large box of fuses (to which I add the all-but-impossible-to-find-in-quantity 7.5 from my own car.. after buying several multi-packs solely for the damned 7.5 amp fuse, I'm now pretty fucking set on fuses for anything), the car information book, various legal documents for/from the DMV, various oil change and shop receipts, a photo booth printout and entire book of photos from the vacation I had with Edmonia last July, and a pair of condoms. Also from last July, I'd never removed the boogie board I bought at the Jersey shore.
Finally, I pack everything into my new Cobalt, and head... back to the apartment, where I remember to change the registered vehicles for my EZ-Pass. For some reason, I forget to go to the bank before work (and actually.. typing this out reminded me, which explains why it's currently 2 hours later than when I had first started typing). On this drive, I decide to push some of the buttons, and found some very interesting gadgets in my new car.
Just below my speedometer is a small digital area that can display:
-Trip A mileage in tenths of a mile
-Trip B mileage in tenths of a mile
-Range of the vehicle with the amount of gasoline remaining in the tank
-Oil life in percentage
-Engine coolant in degrees of fahrenheit
-External thermometer beside total odometer reading in miles
-Notification that Cruise Control is active in text
There is a small sensor on the dash that guages the quantity of lumens of illumination, and under a certain threshold will automatically engage the headlights. There is also a nifty sensor that turns the passenger airbag off until (I'm speculating here, being that I've solely driven alone, so far) the seatbelt is buckled.
The car came with a nice CD player, with standard bass/treble/fade/balance equalizer controls, and a fairly large digital readout, which to my astonishment displays the name of the song playing on the radio via scrolling text.
After closing at work, I get to experience the automatic lights for the first time. I also notice that my car's tachometer contains all white numbers and dashes until the redline, at which point all the afforementioned is a vibrant red, which matches the sharp red needles almost perfectly. Additionally, upon arriving home, I notice that shutting off the engine does not kill the radio or CD being played. Instead, the car actually waits for the door to open to kill the radio.. a suprisingly useful trick. I also discover that the headlights remain on until the door is closed, and then shut off automatically roughly 5-10 seconds after the door is closed. The internal light gradually fades to black another 5-10 seconds after the headlights.
Now while all cars brag about features, options, et al... I find myself very pleasantly surprised, as I merely realized I needed a car ASAP, one that was also as little as possible. To my delight, I find that my new car has cruise control, anti-lock brakes, a 5-speed transmission, a relatively zippy motor, the deeply reflective and polished-looking black I've wanted in a car for a long time, and all the little electronic gadgets I mentioned earlier.
At the moment, I'm still rather excited about the new car. It complements my new gorgeous and spacious apartment, my new top-of-the-line 50" HDTV, and my gradually-filling-out physique very nicely. The only downer comes when I remember that two bad paychecks means I can't eat or buy any gas after the bills come and take it all away.
Hmmm... I think it's time to Gantz until I pass out.
Cheers, you loyal legions.
I killed off the morning and early afternoon hours with a very gory, very gorgeous to look at anime made by my favourite production company. For all .5 people who both read my journal and have any interest in anime, the series is called Gantz. Eventually the dealer calls me and tells me he'll be at my apartment to pick me up in about 30 minutes. 45 minutes later, I see his car pull up. I hop in and we expediate back to the dealership, where all the signatures and such go off without a hitch. I see the car in the parking lot, ludicrously deep shining black perfectly contrasting the clear plastic lens cover of my headlights and the silver plastic housing. The only downside of my initial inspection is of the very base-model-looking hubcap pseudo-rims.
Finally we head back out, speak our final bits, shake hands several times, and I just sit in awe for a minute or two, adjusting seats, mirrors, and posture positions. I turn the key in the ignition, wrap my palm on top of the perfectly spherical shift knob, drop the rectangular E-brake, hit the power on the radio, and head out of the dealership lot.
Realizing I'm already going to be late for work, and wanting to avoid getting on nerves with the shop my old car is sitting in, dead engine and all, I decide to sign over the title and have them scrap the car for free. It seems a downright shame that I get literally nothing for my car, but it's actually happened with every other car that I've had.. tow it away for free; the cost of the tow is covered by the money the tower gets for the car.
I clean out my car before turning things over to the shop and find several surprises. I'd forgotten exactly how much stuff I had managed to retain in my glove compartment. I find a large box of fuses (to which I add the all-but-impossible-to-find-in-quantity 7.5 from my own car.. after buying several multi-packs solely for the damned 7.5 amp fuse, I'm now pretty fucking set on fuses for anything), the car information book, various legal documents for/from the DMV, various oil change and shop receipts, a photo booth printout and entire book of photos from the vacation I had with Edmonia last July, and a pair of condoms. Also from last July, I'd never removed the boogie board I bought at the Jersey shore.
Finally, I pack everything into my new Cobalt, and head... back to the apartment, where I remember to change the registered vehicles for my EZ-Pass. For some reason, I forget to go to the bank before work (and actually.. typing this out reminded me, which explains why it's currently 2 hours later than when I had first started typing). On this drive, I decide to push some of the buttons, and found some very interesting gadgets in my new car.
Just below my speedometer is a small digital area that can display:
-Trip A mileage in tenths of a mile
-Trip B mileage in tenths of a mile
-Range of the vehicle with the amount of gasoline remaining in the tank
-Oil life in percentage
-Engine coolant in degrees of fahrenheit
-External thermometer beside total odometer reading in miles
-Notification that Cruise Control is active in text
There is a small sensor on the dash that guages the quantity of lumens of illumination, and under a certain threshold will automatically engage the headlights. There is also a nifty sensor that turns the passenger airbag off until (I'm speculating here, being that I've solely driven alone, so far) the seatbelt is buckled.
The car came with a nice CD player, with standard bass/treble/fade/balance equalizer controls, and a fairly large digital readout, which to my astonishment displays the name of the song playing on the radio via scrolling text.
After closing at work, I get to experience the automatic lights for the first time. I also notice that my car's tachometer contains all white numbers and dashes until the redline, at which point all the afforementioned is a vibrant red, which matches the sharp red needles almost perfectly. Additionally, upon arriving home, I notice that shutting off the engine does not kill the radio or CD being played. Instead, the car actually waits for the door to open to kill the radio.. a suprisingly useful trick. I also discover that the headlights remain on until the door is closed, and then shut off automatically roughly 5-10 seconds after the door is closed. The internal light gradually fades to black another 5-10 seconds after the headlights.
Now while all cars brag about features, options, et al... I find myself very pleasantly surprised, as I merely realized I needed a car ASAP, one that was also as little as possible. To my delight, I find that my new car has cruise control, anti-lock brakes, a 5-speed transmission, a relatively zippy motor, the deeply reflective and polished-looking black I've wanted in a car for a long time, and all the little electronic gadgets I mentioned earlier.
At the moment, I'm still rather excited about the new car. It complements my new gorgeous and spacious apartment, my new top-of-the-line 50" HDTV, and my gradually-filling-out physique very nicely. The only downer comes when I remember that two bad paychecks means I can't eat or buy any gas after the bills come and take it all away.
Hmmm... I think it's time to Gantz until I pass out.
Cheers, you loyal legions.