The Week from Hell

Last week was definitely a PITA (pain in the ass). Monday rolled around as usual, and all was well. I stayed home from work to do run some long-overdue errands and just have a relaxing day to myself. It was also the early Christmas I had hoped for, with my new 18" wheels for my truck arriving, and then later the new tonneau for the truck as well. The only problem I had was that the tonneau was the for the wrong model, and didn't fit, so I have to return it.

Now comes the horrible part. I woke up around 3:30AM on Tuesday morning to a feeling of "something just isn't right". Wasn't sure what it was, but I figured it was just something I ate and it would soon pass. I decided to hit the bathroom, and thank god I did because as soon as I got in there, I started to vomit. It was pretty bad, and lasted almost 10 minutes. However, when it was over, I definitely felt better. I brushed my teeth, washed up, and went back to sleep. All was well. Until I woke up again around 6AM and basically did the exact same thing. This time it was worse because my throat was already raw from the previous session. What makes it worse was that it happened a third time around 9AM. After that, I had nothing left in my stomach! The rest of the day I just slept and drank water (and ultimately peed out my ass because I didn't eat any solid foods).

Wednesday was better, luckily, as I wasn't getting sick any, and I was able to at least eat a little bit of food. I had some bread (I know, I'm venturing out on that one), some Jell-o and plenty of popsicles to at least get my blood sugar levels back to normal and make me less exhausted.

Thursday was a trip back down the road of shit-dom. I went out to dinner with my girlfriend thinking that all was basically back to normal. I've been wrong before, but this one takes the cake. We went to Red Robin, and I was debating between a Chicken Parmigiano and the Bacon Cheeseburger. Smart me decided that the burger was the best choice of a meal. I had like 5 bites, a few fries, and I was "full". Paid for dinner, stepped outside and I sat in my truck for a minute before I just said "I'm going to get sick", opened the door, and puked right there outside my door on the parking lot. I'm just glad that I was throwing up food and not stomach acid, because Tuesday's events burned my throat horribly.

So yeah, last week was a bitch. I hope it rots in hell and I never get sick like that again.

Ride the Whip!

So last Thursday I was driving home from work, and lo and behold, I see a white SVT Lightning at a local dealer. My immediate thought is "man, that's awesome, I wanna go look". I decide that I should just hold off, check some information online (aka listing price of it), and see if it's something I can even afford. So that night when I get home, I do my research. I can afford it. The list price is something I can negotiate. Now, I just need a loan. So I go online to my credit union's website, and fill out an auto loan app. Done, in, should hear back within 2 days.

So I go over during my lunch break on Friday to just look at the condition it's in. It's a 2001, and it's white. Overall it's not bad (not excellent condition, but good). Has a few paint chips, some rust in the truck bed, and the front grill is rusted. Easy fixes (and good price negotiation points). I figure I'll visit again on Saturday and talk business.

Saturday rolls around, and I haven't heard anything regarding my loan. I call my bank around 11AM, and they have nothing on record that I applied, apparently their online app is broken (doesn't submit). So the rep asks if I want to do it over the phone, and I say sure why not. So I get that all done, and I choose to do a local pickup of the paperwork. She says it can be ready today, but the bank closes at noon (at this point it's about 11:15, and the bank is about 20 minutes away). So I hop in my car, speed the hell over to the bank, and at about 11:50, I have preapproved check in hand, and I'm good to go.

So I go over to the dealer, and test drive again, the works, finally we sit down to talk numbers. He goes through this long BS routine of trying to pull credit (so they can try to beat my financing, unlikely). Finally when we get to prices, the list price is at $23,872, which is absurd for the condition and the year (blue book for 2001 in excellent condition is $19,000, which the truck was not in excellent condition). So we go back and forth for a while, I finally say I can do $18,500 driveaway right here right now, I've got 2 checks ready to be signed. He says "I can't do that, I'd be losing money." So no go. Oh well.

I go online looking for some other local Lightning's to check out, and see one at a Ford dealership. It's dark blue, 2002, and has about 7,000 less miles than the 2001, but is listed online for $19,999. I go over to check it out, give it a whirl, and it's beautiful. Just about everything I wanted and expected from a Lightning. Only problem is that since it was traded in, the guy who owned it before put 20" spinners on it (real thing, not Walmart ones). No biggie, they're just not my style.

So we go into talks, and I end up driving it away for $19,999 including tax, title, and license. Not too shabby, as it ended up selling for about the blue book value for that year and the mileage.

So now I've got me a new truck that'll eat just about anything that people around here will throw at it.

Yay!

Viciously stolen from a blog somewhere else, I decided to fill mine out too! Pretty funny stuff, try it!

1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name): Matthew Fincastle

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your dad's side and your favorite candy): Vincent Twix

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name): J-Pon

4. YOUR GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal): Red Moose

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in): Matthew San Diego

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of your pet's name): Pondernik

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards): Wehttam

8. PORN STAR NAME (first pet's name and the street you grew up on): Kuhli Seth Williams

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color and the automobile your mom drives): The Red Accord

10. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate: Walter Subway