One Shot One Kill No Remorse I Decide
That's a military sniper's motto, brought to my attention by a minor news item about a student group that got questioned over its support of 'adoptasniper.org' (see the Dog Tags at http://americansnipers.org/products.htm). How does it fit into what's been happening with me? Follow along for a minute.
Last week I got called in to take a typing test and interview with a trucking company, for a clerk position. It's second shift, but it pays better than Radio Shack and they want me ASAP. I spoke with my mom on the phone, to sound her out about just what I could expect regarding help with getting my car. She at first offered to pay it off for me after closing the sale of the house, up to $3000. Then in an email later that night, she backed off:
"We may modify our $3k outright offer of money. We may offer you our Chrysler 94 LeBaron FREE to you, instead; that is our perrogative [sic]- we want to do the wisest thing/investment for us, moneywise, and for you, right now, as you have no money, and a not-yet-steady-sure-thing-job - which is very important for trying to maintain a car. Sure, it's not your first choice in wheels, but, hey, if it were free to you, that's a pretty good deal, wouldn't you say?"
Knowing that this car has crapped out on my dad at least twice in the last year, I don't quite agree. I replied that she hadn't been so optimistic about the value and reliability of that car a few months ago when I suggested they could do just that.. and that I was concerned it could turn into a money pit. I also expressed my disappointment and made clear that I felt her offers of assistance were highly inconsistent, so I might have to go ahead and do what I could strictly with my own resources.
I was hoping to buy Ticia's old MR2, but after finding that it would take too long to ship here (I need something within 1 to 2 weeks from today) and she's busy for the next four weeks... and that it's going to need its engine rebuilt within a few thousand miles, that became impractical for the moment (though I still intend to give it a fine home in the future when I can afford the extra work. I want to make a project out of turning it into an autocross car with Matt's help).
I started hunting for a simple cash car again - something between $500 and $2500 - using the classifieds, cars.com, and Ebay Motors. I marked, bookmarked, considered locations, prices, conditions, narrowed down results, then went back and included more models in my searches, than narrowed the results again. By Friday I had lined up 2 or 3 cars on Ebay that I liked, within easy travel distance for pickup. Fortunately, the timing was such that the one I was most interested in - an '89 240sx - ended first on Saturday. Since I knew there was a fencing tournament Saturday that Matt would like my help with, I placed my bid of $1,001.99 Friday night.
But Matt in his planning brilliance was motorcycle-riding Friday evening, and left his car out at his mom's house while riding the bike home, so it ended up that he could not take me or find anyone else to give me a ride to the tournament. If I had known I would be available to monitor the auction Saturday, I would not have bid early; I'd have waited until the final 5 minutes to make a run at it. Saturday morning I got notice that I'd been outbid (by a clueless ebay n00b who seemed to be frequently pushing his max up even though he was already winning). After some more searching and careful consideration, I decided that I was sick of all the runaround and reverses I've had trying to get my car, and that I would wait until the final minute of the auction to put in a new bid of $1525 max. So that's just what I did. Ticia was listening on my cell headset as I sat here refreshing the auction page raptly for the final few minutes, until the timer showed less than one. I punched it in, submitted, it got in on time, and the result showed me to be the high bidder at $1220. I held my breath until the timer expired and I WON!
5N1P3D! 0WN3D!!
The auction info, for the curious, will be up for a few more days at http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4542402079&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
We're going up to Cincinnati tomorrow night to pick up the car. Only if it seems the seller was trying to hide a significant issue will I walk away. Otherwise, things are looking up. I'll probably have Matt take a pic of me with it Wednesday. :)
Told Dad about it last night when he called to see how things were going. He said, "Sounds dangerous." I told him there's no way I'll afford or even want the mods to make it as dangerous as the 240 I've used to beat him in Need for Speed Underground :P The extent of my plans for it at the moment: tuneup, stop and eliminate rust spots, save money for a few months and eventually replace suspension.
Last week I got called in to take a typing test and interview with a trucking company, for a clerk position. It's second shift, but it pays better than Radio Shack and they want me ASAP. I spoke with my mom on the phone, to sound her out about just what I could expect regarding help with getting my car. She at first offered to pay it off for me after closing the sale of the house, up to $3000. Then in an email later that night, she backed off:
"We may modify our $3k outright offer of money. We may offer you our Chrysler 94 LeBaron FREE to you, instead; that is our perrogative [sic]- we want to do the wisest thing/investment for us, moneywise, and for you, right now, as you have no money, and a not-yet-steady-sure-thing-job - which is very important for trying to maintain a car. Sure, it's not your first choice in wheels, but, hey, if it were free to you, that's a pretty good deal, wouldn't you say?"
Knowing that this car has crapped out on my dad at least twice in the last year, I don't quite agree. I replied that she hadn't been so optimistic about the value and reliability of that car a few months ago when I suggested they could do just that.. and that I was concerned it could turn into a money pit. I also expressed my disappointment and made clear that I felt her offers of assistance were highly inconsistent, so I might have to go ahead and do what I could strictly with my own resources.
I was hoping to buy Ticia's old MR2, but after finding that it would take too long to ship here (I need something within 1 to 2 weeks from today) and she's busy for the next four weeks... and that it's going to need its engine rebuilt within a few thousand miles, that became impractical for the moment (though I still intend to give it a fine home in the future when I can afford the extra work. I want to make a project out of turning it into an autocross car with Matt's help).
I started hunting for a simple cash car again - something between $500 and $2500 - using the classifieds, cars.com, and Ebay Motors. I marked, bookmarked, considered locations, prices, conditions, narrowed down results, then went back and included more models in my searches, than narrowed the results again. By Friday I had lined up 2 or 3 cars on Ebay that I liked, within easy travel distance for pickup. Fortunately, the timing was such that the one I was most interested in - an '89 240sx - ended first on Saturday. Since I knew there was a fencing tournament Saturday that Matt would like my help with, I placed my bid of $1,001.99 Friday night.
But Matt in his planning brilliance was motorcycle-riding Friday evening, and left his car out at his mom's house while riding the bike home, so it ended up that he could not take me or find anyone else to give me a ride to the tournament. If I had known I would be available to monitor the auction Saturday, I would not have bid early; I'd have waited until the final 5 minutes to make a run at it. Saturday morning I got notice that I'd been outbid (by a clueless ebay n00b who seemed to be frequently pushing his max up even though he was already winning). After some more searching and careful consideration, I decided that I was sick of all the runaround and reverses I've had trying to get my car, and that I would wait until the final minute of the auction to put in a new bid of $1525 max. So that's just what I did. Ticia was listening on my cell headset as I sat here refreshing the auction page raptly for the final few minutes, until the timer showed less than one. I punched it in, submitted, it got in on time, and the result showed me to be the high bidder at $1220. I held my breath until the timer expired and I WON!
5N1P3D! 0WN3D!!
The auction info, for the curious, will be up for a few more days at http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4542402079&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
We're going up to Cincinnati tomorrow night to pick up the car. Only if it seems the seller was trying to hide a significant issue will I walk away. Otherwise, things are looking up. I'll probably have Matt take a pic of me with it Wednesday. :)
Told Dad about it last night when he called to see how things were going. He said, "Sounds dangerous." I told him there's no way I'll afford or even want the mods to make it as dangerous as the 240 I've used to beat him in Need for Speed Underground :P The extent of my plans for it at the moment: tuneup, stop and eliminate rust spots, save money for a few months and eventually replace suspension.