Life Story Part I

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Expensive Weekend

Well the weekend has passed and at an alarming rate. I don't know if it's the way the planets are aligned or what, but I just haven't been able to contact my friends lately. No one has been online, or emailing. When calls come through I miss them. Augh!!!

Oh well, this weekend was busy anyway. made a little purchase. (tee, hee) I guess I deserve it. Why do I always feel guilty whenever I do anything for me? Geez!!

Anyway, there was a problem with our little 1996 Toyota Tacoma. First problem in the year and a half we've had it. We bought it below 100k miles and have since then of course, pushed it past the hundred thousand mile mark, which I guess is auto-ese for "okay, something break now, the warranty's over and done with".

I took it to Auto-Zone, who can check the reason your check engine light goes off, and they said ERG valve. To which of course I replied, "What the heck is it? What does it do? And how much does it cost?"

Now for anyone who isn't familiar with the Toyota brand, part of the reason we got Toyota is that it's very reliable. Very rarely does it have a problem, but hoo boy when it does, it's tad bit on the expensive side.

So the mechinic replied, "The ERG valve is essentially the valve that controls your emmissions. If you took it in to get emission tested right now, they wouldn't even let you drive off the lot." (Thank goodness I took it to auto-zone and not the emissions place, because there was no way in heck I was going to stop driving my truck because of a little emissions.) "And the part alone costs close to $200." Yikes.

So I figured, I couldn't replace it on my own, best to get it done by a professional. I took it to the dealer. Okay, now wait, even I'm smarter than that but I figured I'd get a qoute from them and if it was too expensive I'd take it elsewhere.

So I took it in, $98 just for diagnosis. Awww, geez. Oh well. The guy informed me it was going to take about an hour and a half, "so we'll just call you when we find out what's wrong with it. And should we look up to see if your still covered under warranty?" Nah, I would much rather pay about $400, because I was just gonna spend that on gas and electricity anyway, thanks! ;-)

So I figured, hour and a half, I could walk down to Starbucks, get a coffee, walk around. No biggie. But apparently their familiar with the Starbucks urge because between here and there is the new cars.

Now I know you can see where this is going. Let me shorten the story down.

Saleman: "Hey lady, wanna look? No pressure."

Me: "Sure why not? Show me a Rav4"

Saleman: "Test drive?"

Me: "Cool! How much?"

Saleman: "20k. Want to buy?"

Me: "Nah, husband would sh--."

Saleman: "You sure?"

Me: "Well lemme give him a call. Honey, ???"

Husband: "I knew this was gonna happen. Go ahead, you deserve it."

Me: "Schweet!!"

So now we're happily tooling around in our new rav4. Our first new car, and we're happy. How do those salespeople do it?

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Moved - 2005-07-25
New Job - 2005-07-25
Idiots in the News and Mom Update - 2005-07-21
Parents! (sigh) - 2005-07-21
More of the Same - 2005-07-19

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