Rid of the shoe, but gained a kill count...

I rid myself of the shoe this afternoon. It was a pretty busy, exciting, stressful (in a good way) day. I left work earlier in the afternoon so I could take care of all arrangements regarding transportation. Dad came up to help me with everything. He followed me out to one of State Farm's locations in Omaha and I signed the title of my Nissan over to them and they handed me a fairly significant sized check. You always hope it's more, but it was what my dad called "on the low side of reasonable." My car was 10 years old though, so I couldn't have expected anything too enormous. Of course, they don't factor sentimental value into the equation. If they did, I'm sure my premiums would be a lot higher. I immediately deposited the check in my account. It made me a little nervous having an un-cashed check in my possession that was the largest single check I'd ever been written.

After we were done at the bank, I returned the shoe! It was so nice to say "Goodbye, shoe." and know that I don't have to see it anymore. I was happy to encounter a different sales person than the one I dealt with. He was much more friendly and helpful without being invasive or pushy. I was even more entertained by the fact that the guy I dealt with was at the location, but in the back on the phone. I think the person who helped us was irritated with him because it sounded like it was a personal call and the person helping us made a motion to him to wrap up his phone call several times because they had other customers who needed help. I was glad to know that they had recognized that he has room for improvement regarding his job.

I said my last goodbyes (not that they were long) to the shoe and hopped in Dad's car to go to the dealership to get my new car. We spent awhile filling out paperwork. We were doing some small talk with the guy handling all the paperwork and when I asked who I make the check for the down payment out to he told me to make it to the dealership because I could make it out to him, but his boss would say he's gotten enough big checks this year and he'd have to sign it over to the dealership. He went on to say that he had won the small jackpot lottery this year. It was a fluke win because he wasn't supposed to be at work that day, but he came in because someone was out and then he happened to have $10 on him and had never played the lottery so he thought "What the hell..." and he bought a ticket. At first he thought he'd won $50,000, but then when his wife looked at it they realized they'd won $200,000. He said that they saved part of it for his daughter's college fund and then did a few other things with it like house payments, etc. He said he only missed a single day of work. I know I would have taken a little time off at least. But hey, that's me. I just thought it was cool to actually meet someone who won the lottery. You always hear about it, but that's stuff that happens to people you don't know (or at least to people I don't know). Everyone was very nice at the dealership and I came away very happy with my purchase.

I got a brand new Honda Civic 2-door coupe, 2007. I'll have to take some pictures and post about it soon. But I love the car. However, I did get a stick shift (yes, I can drive one). I actually learned to drive on a stick shift because both my parents' cars were sticks until I was 15. I was actually supposed to inherit my mother's car, and she was planning to get a new one when I turned 16. Anyway, I haven't driven a stick shift in over two years (besides the few test drives I took on a few cars this weekend), so I was understandably nervous about driving one everyday again. However, they do get better gas mileage and I remember them being a lot more fun to drive, so that's what I got.

Well, I killed it once on the way back to my apartment from the dealership. Fortunately, my dad was behind me and he doesn't pull too close. Then, I killed it again heading to John's place. I was at the top of a hill and I accidentally had it in 3rd gear instead of 1st gear. The lady behind me was pretty pissed about it. She threw up her hands at me and yelled something I can only guess was an obscenity. Dad was nice enough to take John and me out to dinner. Of course, I drove. :-) We went to P.F. Chang's by Westroads. To get into the parking lot, you turn left and go up a steep driveway to drive into the lot. I killed it twice more there. I'm always worried that I'll give it too much gas and then I don't give it enough gas. The trip back to my apartment and then to John's apartment went just fine, but then on my way home, I killed it on a hill again. I have a feeling that hills will be the bane of my existence for the next few days till I get used to the car. So, I got rid of the shoe, but picked up a kill count. The kill count for today was 5. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...