Crazy weekend;

Good morning!

I had a pretty interesting weekend. Friday night, as I said before, we went to my friend's house for a cookout to celebrate his wife becoming an American citizen. That's big news. She was very excited and had lots of friends and family around celebrating with her. It was really good. Really really good, actually. We had brats, hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, baked beans, potato chips, apple pie (as American as can be), and even a US Flag cake. Soda and beer as well. Great food, great company.

Saturday we had simple errands planned. Nothing major, but things that needed to be done. First we had an appointment at 10am to get Amanda's oil changed at the Ford dealership right down the road from our house. This is where our day fell apart. We got there, got her oil changed but then decided to look at new cars on our way out. We were excitedly greeted by a car salesman, which was fine because I was interested in asking about there "lease pull ahead" program. Amanda and I both had leased cars and had both had them for two years, so I thought the information would be useful. It was.

We walked around looking at all the cars Ford has to offer and then decided to "run the numbers" on purchasing a new car. The numbers looked good. It was a little more than we were hoping, but we decided to buy Amanda a new car! We traded in her leased car and bought a brand new 2008 Ford Focus. It's shiny and black. It looks awesome. A really beautiful car. New features including satellite radio and a auxiliary port in the dash for plugging in an ipod. Nice interior, cool redesigned exterior and a monthly payment that was only a little more than her leased. On top of that, we own the car now, instead of it being a lease.

This is where the day gets interesting. We then got the crazy idea that I should buy a new car too. I hate my Toyota Yaris. Big time. I loved it when I first got it, but I had so many problems with it, it was more of a headache than a blessing. Plus it was time to get it fixed, lots of door dings and scratches on the side...which is terribly frustrating, but that rant is beyond the scope of this post. Anyway...I hadn't even thought of the possibility of actually selling my leased car and buying a new car of my own, but after going through it with Amanda's car, it was fairly straightforward. After calling Geico (I love geico, way more than Toyota) and adding Amanda's new car to the insurance policy, we got back into the car and headed back to the Ford dealership! Amanda had bought one of the last two Focus's's's they had on the lot (the coolest one as well, in my opinion) but I wasn't in the market for a focus anyway. I really liked the Ford Edge, but at a cost of about $40k, it was out of my price range. I test drove an Escape and really enjoyed it! It was bigger, more powerful, tons more room, safer, more features, and on top of everything else, it was "way cooler". :) The biggest problem, the increased price tag and lower fuel economy. After running the numbers, they were going to purchase my leased car from me for almost exactly what I owed on it, which was good, I wasn't about to go upside down in a new car to be rid of the yaris, even though I would have liked to. All the discounts and incentives totaled much more than the difference in the value of the Yaris and the amount owed, so I decided to move forward. I'm the proud owner of a 2008 Silver Ford Escape. I love it.

The Yaris was fine for what it was, but I was ready to move on to bigger and better things. I make a lot more money than I did when I first started so I'm able to make the increased monthly payment. The gas economy isn't that much worse (well, about 33% worst, but still, I can afford 33% more in gas cost). On top of it all, I own it. It's mine (ours). I'm no longer leasing the car. They took the broken Yaris off my hands and gave me the keys to my new escape! I'm ecstatic. Another good thing about the new car; the car insurance is lower. In fact, I don't pay all that much more per month to own this new and nicer car, because of the offset of car insurance. :) All in all, great weekend.

Sadly, we spent about 9 hours at the car dealership on Saturday, which means we didn't get to do the other errands we had planned, but that's ok. We can do them next Saturday, and we'll be doing them in our new cars! :)

I'm at work now, so I don't have my camera, but we'll definitely take pictures of both new cars and post them this week.

Until then;

John

:)

Hey there!

It's been a while and for that I apologize. It seems that I've been slacking on my posting for the last two months. Sadly, that's mostly because nothing has been happening.

Our July 4th celebration was minimal. We saw the movie Wanted and got dinner at our favorite Tex Mex restaurant, Austin Grill. The movie was entertaining but won't be winning any Oscars. :) Austin Grill was disappointing, which is far from the norm. The chips and salsa they serve before dinner was sub-par, as the chips tasted burnt. It was odd. The drinks didn't taste normal either. We're not generally the type of people to complain and send food back, and this was no different. We suffered through our chips and drinks, luckily the entrees were as delicious as ever.

Last weekend we painted Amanda's bathroom. That was grueling but ended up looking very nice. We have a three bedroom, two bathroom townhouse, so we each have claimed our own bathroom. It may seem a little excessive, but it's nice having the space. She gets up before I do and as she's in the other bathroom, her showering and getting ready never disturbs me. Anyway, I don't recall the name of the color, but it's a golden brown type that contrasts very well with the green shower curtain we got from our wedding registry. Looks good.

Tomorrow night we're going to a cookout at my buddy's place. That will be very fun. His wife got her American citizenship today, so it's a big celebration! We're all very happy for her. It was a long process (over six years) but I'm sure it was well worth it. It's good to be American. :)

Work has been going well. I'm swamped with work, as always, but it's getting easier all the time.

We saw the new Batman movie on Tuesday as well. It was a decent movie, but I think it's been overly hyped. It was just as dark as the previous installment (Batman Begins), or maybe even darker. Everyone is praising Heath Ledgers (spelling?) performance and it's easy to see why. His portrayal of the Joker was outstanding. I'm also a big Christan Bale fan, so I enjoy his performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman as well. The movie was long, at about an hour and a half, and there were definite portions that could have been cut down. I'd give it about an 8 (out of 10, naturally) and would recommend it to others.

We've been cooking dinner more lately, which makes me feel better. Eating fast food or something similar every night gets boring after a while. It's nice to take a break from that same old things, even if it's as simple as sloppy joes...in fact it was as simple as sloppy joes, as that's what we ate last night! :) I love Sloppy Joes.

Two of my friends at work have quit in the last month. We all went through training together and all made it two years, but now they seem to be dropping like flies. One of them is simply switching to another IP firm, which is located about two blocks away, so I'm sure we'll still see him everyday. The other has moved back to NYC, so I doubt we'll see her as much.

I'm still slacking on writing out a detailed account of the wedding and honeymoon, but I'll get to it eventually. I'm very busy with work, but I do want to write it out before I forget some of the details. I took simple notes during the trip, to remember where we ate and when, and the wineries we visited. That should come in handy, assuming I can find them! :)

I hope everyone reading this is doing well and enjoying their summer.

Until next time!