The Jays are playing .500 baseball again. They might have a chance to win, place or show in this years lineup. That would be nice, but not what I’m writing about right now.
Simone and I saw “Matrix Reloaded” on the Thursday night that it opened. The format was sort of what I expected it to be: Lots of speeches and neo-philosophy (pun intended) interspersed with jaw-dropping fight scenes blending traditional Eastern wire–based acrobatics with modern high-budget CG.
Going in with that expectation, I was not disappointed. And even the stuff that I knew about made me gasp as I watched it executed on the screen in front of me and in the room around me.
(Quick note: When you go, stay until after the credits have run… about 10 minutes. There is a one minute teaser of the third movie, “Matrix Revolutions”.)
That’s not what I’m going to write about here.
Two Monday’s ago, the car was showing definite signs that it needs serious work done. The brakes are weak in emergency-braking situations, there’s a nail in one tire that needs to be patched, and the “Check Engine” light turns on as the engine is warming up. After getting a surprising tax return resulting from some unused tuition tax credits, I had to make a decision what to do with the money I now had.
I could either spend $1000-1500 fixing up the old Escort, and wait around until the next thing goes, or just use the money in buying a new (used) car. I decided on the latter.
What I was looking for was a late-90’s Ford Escort ZX2 (the sport coupe model) with under 100,000K, automatic, A/C and either a tape-deck or CD player. Toronto radio stations - while plentiful - usually suck balls when it comes to content.
All things considered, it went really fast. Over the weekend I made the decision, on Monday I saw only a couple of cars I was interested in on AutoTrader’s site. On Wednesday, Simone and I drove to Kitchener to look at the best looking car I could find in the listings. The dealership is located across the road from RegNSara’s, so we went out to dinner with them.
I bought the car then and there. They kept it for a couple of days to buff out some scratches and give it one last check before delivering it to me. Much of Thursday afternoon was shopping around for Insurance, and once finding that best-rate, signing up.
Friday night, they drove the car out from Kitchener in order to deliver it to me. We finalized the paperwork, and the car is now mine. I still have to take it back to Kitchener for a weekday in order to get the CD player installed (they didn’t have all the parts needed, and I wanted to get my hands on my new Sweet Ride).
It’s been a busy week, but I’ve already put over 600 km on it since Friday. Another topic to note is how much I did on the Internet in order to speed up the process.
All research on which car I should choose came from Internet web sites, as did looking up dealers with cars that I wanted, checking the dealer with the Better Business Bureau, finding Insurance quotes, and checking the ratings for different Insurance companies.
I even had the option of buying the car directly through the dealer’s web site and having it delivered to my front door! However, as much of a geek as I am, I wasn’t going to go that far. I think the most expensive thing I’ve bought online would have to be a $250 hard drive from Future Shop…. and second to that would be the Samurai Pizza Cats Pizza Parlor Playset that I got on eBay for around $80.
So that’s it. I’ve got a new car.
1999 Ford Escort ZX2 (2-door coupe)
2.0L DOHC Zetec 4-cylinder engine
130 HP @ 5750 rpm
4 speed automatic
26 mpg city / 33 mpg highway
Dark Green exterior, kind of a charcoal black interior.
…oh, and I have considered moving Murdoch into my new Sweet Ride.
