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My uncle says to my mom today on the phone “after work, come by the dealership ’cause I think you’ll get a kick out of this surprise“. (He owns several car dealerships.) So when she got off work at his one car dealership, she drove down to his other car dealership and there was this brand new 2005 Mercury Sable with a BIG RED BOW on it. She was beside herself excited! She hasn’t had a brand new car of her own since 1971.

After my brother died (the second child my mom was to lose) my uncle bought her a condo. Then their only brother died about a year ago, and now he gave her a brand new car AND is going to pay the difference in car insurance for a year.

I’m so grateful that he is doing these things for her.

So then M and I had a little fun w/ her tonight. M had not seen the car yet, so I told him that K-mart has stick-on flames and bullet holes for cars. So we went and got her a frog steering wheel cover (she HATES frogs so much she screams even if she sees a picture of one!), a pair of fuzzy dice, and then we snuck on the bullet holes and when she took M out to see her new car, she saw them and just DIED LAUGHING! I had to hold her up she was laughing so hard!

We skipped on the flames cuz they weren’t temporary and were $13. So I’m surfing the web for removabe stick-on flames. We’ll put flames on her car next and then when we get a copy of her car key, we’re going to put these car seat covers on while she’s at work, but I can’t find them online to show a pic, they’re tree-frog car seat covers but unlike the kmart ones, they have a huge frog on top as though a huge-ass frog is sitting on the top of your car seat! I saw them at Advantage Auto Parts, but they’re not on their website either.

It was fun messing w/ mom and her new car. We all laughed our asses off. She’s keeping the pair ‘o dice!

And car manufacturers don’t use accurate colors on their websites or in their catalogs.

This is how subaru.com shows “Atlantic Blue” but it looks nothing like that
in real life.

I made a sad discovery today, the back door of my new car is not metal, so magnets won’t stick to it.

I like to put magnets on the back of my car since my mood changes from day to day and since I don’t like to ruin the paint of my car. (Even magnets will ruin the paint if you leave them in one place long enough, especially down here where it’s so damned hot.)

So I have my favorite ribbon magnet and was all set to put a series of emblem fish on, but now I can’t.

I don’t want to stick them on permanently.

I’ll have to come up w/ some solution.

Home Safe.

Drove to Miami and back on 4 hours sleep (3 for M). He napped in the car on the way over, I napped in the car on the way home.

We got the car detailed and some minor scratches fixed (we finalized the deal after the dealership closed the other night).

See moblog for pix from our day trip.

This car is WAY fun. Fun to drive, nice and new.

Two pix of the dashboard, showing how it’s all in one, making it hard for car stereo adapter / install kit makers to come up w/ a solution:

..::ONE::..

..::TWO::..

(Note that it is 97 freaking degrees at almost 7pm!)

I kinda want to do this w/ the back of my car:

(click for larger)

Going out to dinner now, trying to think were we can go that’s far so that I can drive my new car.

After I went to bed last night I couldn’t sleep and laid awake for an hour. It’s like I was too tired to sleep! After sleeping half of today away, I feel like there are weights on my head, arms and legs, my eyes are puffy and I can’t wake up, even with coffee.

Trying to find an ipod solution for this car. The first thing I did yesterday morning was go to my trusty car audio place. When the guy saw the dashboard he was surprised at how it’s all in one, the whole dashboard is like one piece. He went to his book of… what are they called, adapters? mounting kits? and saw nothing for the ’05 outback wagon. So then he called his supplier and they told him that they had nothing yet but were currently working of making one for the ’05 Outback but couldn’t give me an ETA. So it looks like somday “soon” there’ll be a way to put in an upgraded stereo. So I guess I’ll just call the guy every month! In the meantime I have to use the fm transmitter which sounds like complete and total shit on a stick.

4 hours sleep. Miami and back last night, road daze.

Tired.

Just almost choked to f*cking death on a sleeping pill. Think that’s a sign?

Pix of my new car:
..::one::..

..::two::..

going to bed.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! I got it! =:D

We just got back from the other coast w/ our new Subaru Outback! I’m so psyched. It drives really nice, is a sport shift so I can easily put in a remote start and shift when I want yet slide into auto during traffic jams… it’s all wheel drive, has room for the dogs, the bikes, the telescope, camera gear (if I ever get my lighting kits and backdrops)… I can drive when come which means *I* can open the windows WHEN (not IF) they fart in the car and I won’t fall asleep at the wheel and slam on my brakes at green lights like M’s dad does… I can drive around w/ more than one passenger (mom, friends, etc.). They even had the color I wanted. We got a STEAL too. There was one that was only a month old and then returned by the owner so it was like new but mega-discounted- but they sold it after we talked to them about it so they offered us pretty much the same price on a brand spankin’ new one. The new one I was looking at was $30k, the sticker on this one was over $26k, and we got it for $21. I’m psyched. Seems weird not to have a sports car: my first car was a mustang and then two eclipses. But we also have the Nissan 350Z and down the road we plan to look for a used eclipse or MR2. Anyway, it’s really nice and am looking forward to tooling all around town in it tomorrow. Will prob head right over to the car stereo place to see if they can put an aux cord in so I can listen to my ipod.

I’m working on making a folder of my very best photos. I have SO many photos online that when I want to show a new person my photography, I’m not sure where to send them. I’ve sent people to my online galleries and had them say “oh, there were just SO many photos, I didn’t look at that many“, so they may have missed my very best photos. So I’m sorting and making one difinitive collection to send people to if they want just a quick look.

Today I met w/ a lady from the Unitarian Church again. She’s really nice. Down here in Florida you have to get along with all ages or you’ll find yourself alone. Some 73 year olds are really with it! This lady has a camera even more complex than mine and she’s doing really well with it. My mom is 73 and uses a Palm Pilot, a computer, downloads music (rock n roll no less!), emails, surfs, you name it.

Went to Olive Garden tonight. M and I always make fun of it but they have this dish that is to DIE for, the Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo Pasta which has steak in it which is as tender as freakin’ filet mignon and has this FLAVOR that I just can’t place. It’s so good (and so fattening).

I’m keeping up w/ the news and talking about it alot w/ _M_, but by the time I get around to blogging it’s old news, and I hate being one of those bloggers that talks about yesterday’s news.

I’m searching for a Subaru Outback wagon. I love that car, I always have. That and the Eclipse are my favorite car. If I replace my eclipse w/ an Outback, I’ll eventually get a used Eclipse since I really love the older body style better than the newer body style anyway [although the newEST body style is awesome!]. That, or M might get a used MR2. But either way we’ll keep the Z cuz that’s like, the ultimate.

Anyway, the Outback I want new is like $30k. But I’d be ok w/ like a 2 year old one, but we found a couple new ones at a discount cuz they were probably Dealer Demos or something. Those are the best if you can find them (my family is in the car business, too bad they don’t sell Mitsus or Subarus).

Why an Outback? I hate sport utes and I want 4 wheel drive and the ability to put people in the back seat. Sometimes we drive my mom around and M’s Z has no back seat and my back seat is a death trap. Your head is about touching the glass and metal above. I knew a girl in high school who was asleep in the back of a jeep and the jeep hit a bump or something. She got slammed against the roll bar above her head and she died. That’s nuts!!! So when I got in my back seat recently, I realized it’s REALLY tight. So sometimes we drive my mom around, but ALSO… duhhhh du dun dun duuuuunnnnnnn!!!!!!!!

See, when they come down, which is usually about 4x a year, they have to drive because we effectively have no back seats. So they drive the rental and they can’t work all the buttons and usually the windows are LOCKED and the FART in the car with the WINDOWS SHUT. Also, the dad in law falls asleep at the wheel, crosses the line into oncoming traffic and slams on his brakes at green lights… EVERY VISIT.

So, I’ve wanted a car that’ll handle passengers for a long time. I hate sport utes and gas guzzlers. The small sport utes are cute but they’re a dime a f*cking dozen. If I see one more of these I’m going to freaking scream! I don’t want to be a sheep. The 4wd wagon is 4wd, takes passengers (moms and inlaws), telescopes, photography equipment, the dogs, won’t get stuck in the sand when geocaching, etc.

Idunno, it’s late, I’m babbling.

Ok, since beginning this post, I’ve finished my Portfolio of best photos: ..::PHOTOS::..

I really love the two-tone Subaru Wagons, the Outback or Impreza. We want to get a 4 wheel drive car that has a bigger back seat than my Eclipse, is a wagon (we hate sport utes), and depending on whether we get an older one used as a third car or replace my Eclipse w/ a new one, we want a stick or sport-shift and at least 200hp. If it’s going to be my every day car it has to be a stick or sports shift and has to be at least 200hp. But if it’s an older used car as our third car, those features are not as important.

We got the Z stuck in shallow sand last time we went geocaching and needed fellow geocachers to push us out. That’s why we want 4 wheel drive.

M’s Z has no back seat and while my Eclipse does, I feel it’s a death trap, too small, head too close to cieling/glass. We like to take mom around and when M’s parents come to town, they always have to drive (the rental) because we don’t really have backseats and M’s dad falls asleep at the wheel, drives into oncoming traffic and slams on his brakes at GREEN lights.

So we’re on the hunt for a Subaru wagon. I’ve always liked the car. I can’t really wrap my head around not having an Eclipse as my every day car, so if we find a decent used one that’ll be our third car… or we’ll get a nice new Subaru and then maybe down the road get me a used Eclipse.

I just like sportiness and NEED power/speed.

Think Eclipses are popular on my street?

We got the Z! We got the Z! We got the Z!

EEEEE!

So M and I went car shopping yesterday. (see moblog) M’s car is great but is now out of warranty, and we’re eyeing the Nissan 350z.

We’re also looking at the Mazda RX-8.

I think we both like the Z better, but my Uncle owns the Mazda dealership so we know we won’t get screwed going there. But we really like the Z but to get the Z we have to go to my Uncle’s competitor who most likely is not honest.

Not sure if we’ll buy at all. It seems as though we really want the Z, but if we can’t get the price down (and if we can’t avoid last-minute sneak-in fees) we’ll probably just skip it for now.