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...

Well, today showed some improvement in the kill count for the day. I only killed my car twice today. It was on a hill (stupid hills) and I killed it twice before making it through the light. While, it's still not what I'd prefer to be doing, it's definitely better than 5 times.

I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet because the sun goes down so early and I didn't make it back to the apartment in time to take some good pictures before it was too dark. Hopefully I'll be able to do that this evening. I should do it before the car gets too dirty due to the snow and all the stuff on the roads...

The weekend was a little better on the kill count front. Friday I managed not to kill it at all. Saturday, however, I killed the car twice -- once because I slowed down too much for the gear I was in and once on a hill. Sunday was much better and I didn't kill it at all. However, today I killed it twice again. Once on the ramp going up to the parking garage and once when I was in reverse trying to parallel park. However, I do see it as progress, but we might need to graph this when I've finally stopped killing it on a regular basis. However, it is becoming much more fun to drive and less stressful when I kill it because my response time is faster. All in all, I'd say we're making progress. I did take pictures of the car and I hope to post those soon, I just haven't had time to upload all of them.

First things first, I didn't kill the car today. Given the snow I was very proud of that, but I do have to admit that it was in for the "scotch guard" treatment to prevent stains, so I didn't drive it to and from work, just to and from the dealership. However, there were many more stops and starts than my commute to work.

Finally, pictures of the new car. My first car still holds a special place in my heart, given that it's the first car ever. I bought a brand new 2007 Honda Civic. The color, according to Honda is "Atomic Blue." I'm not sure if I'd describe it as "atomic" but hey, it's still a pretty cool color in my opinion.

I really like the fact that the speedometer is directly under the windshield which is in your peripheral vision when you're driving. The bad part is that if a cop is driving next to you, they can probably see how fast your car tells you it's going.

As mentioned before, I did get a stick shift. Pretty sweet, huh? Also, the parking break is different than any other parking break I've seen. It's a lot of fun to drive now that I don't have to worry so much about killing the car. I'd recommend that you learn to drive one if you can't. You never know when it will come in handy.

The radio in the car is pretty awesome. It has an auxiliary jack so you can plug your iPod or mp3 player into the radio and listen to your playlists. It also supports mp3 CD's. I'll probably never listen to the radio again!

Even the cup holders are pretty cool. Yes, I think the cup holders are cool. They have the little "grabby" nubs so your cup won't fall over if it's smaller than the hole. Ha!

In general, I love the car because it seems like it was designed by people who actually drive cars and pay attention to the things that bug you the most. They even put extra tint on the wind shield right above the rear-view mirror which is the one spot the sun always gets through because it's the one spot the visors don't block. On top of that, they realized that the radio isn't always great, so they make your media accessible in your car. They also offer satellite radio, but I didn't get that option. I didn't see a need for it. I also like that the center console is very large so you can toss your sunglasses in it along with all your CD's and still have room for your phone. It's a fun car to drive and the best part is that it's rated 30 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway.