The Caffeinated Penguin

Posted By matt on October 28, 2004

Hey folks…

Have some time to update this because I'm home sick these past couple days. Spending time sleeping, reading, playing video games, drinking Vitaminized OJ (the Tropicana Immunity Defense stuff) and eating chicken soup (Liz brought me the OJ and soup; she's so good to me.)

I was going to start playing Max Payne 2, except the silly men at Gamestop put Max Payne 1 in the Max Payne 2 Box! Of course, I bought the thing 6 months ago, so there's no way I can go exchange it. The best I can do is sell the disc back and buy Max Payne 2. So, I'm fiddling with Grand Theft Auto 3 again. The new one looks nifty..

In other news, some important bit on my Chrysler decided to sieze up on me. It's not one of the things connected via the main drive/timing belt; it's stuff connected by the smaller belt which runs a bunch of pumps and compressors, by the looks of it, and is normally turned on and off while the engine runs. Problem is, something is stuck, so the belt just squeals and slips and smokes. Need to have it towed to the mechanic and fixed. Of course, I'm sick, so this is not going to happen right away.

So, I called the VW dealer, and he said that my car is still not built (it's been 2 months), but he did get a bulletin about them not building cars with the Electronic Stability Package right now. If I wanted to change the order, it probably would be here much sooner. I explained the situation with the Chrysler, and asked what he had on the lot. He has 2 TDI Golfs, both GLS models (I was going for the lower-end GL), both with the cold weather package (heated washer nozzles and heated seats), and the standard GLS stuff (sunroof, alloy wheels, etc.) The choices are Anthracite Blue (basically a Blue-Grey) or Silver. I was going to go for the Blue.

I made an appointment to go see him tonight, but, again, I'm sick. I'll see how I feel tonight. Problem is, if I don't move on it, it'll get sold, but if I barf on the man's desk, that's no good either. On the other hand, I'm hoping that my usual sickness pattern holds. See, I usually end up feeling pretty okay around supper time, and plan on going to work. Then I go to sleep for the night, wake up, and feel like crap again. Go back to sleep until noon, take it easy until 5, and then I generally feel well enough to function. So, if the pattern holds, I might try to go up to test drive and haggle over the car tonight. (Not much of a haggle. He quoted me $21k. I was going to do $19k for the GL. I asked if we could meet in the middle at $20k. He said that was tough, because that's the invoice. Ignoring dealer holdback and the fact that they can sell it at invoice and still make money, if I compare GL MSRP to quote, he's giving me 4% off the GL's MSRP. Applying that same 4% to the GLS MSRP, it comes to just shy of $20.5k. So, that's what I want to pay, and he throws in the mud flaps ($100) for free. Otherwise he can take the ESP off my GL order (so that it actually gets built) and I'll wait for it. )

Category: LJ Import
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