First off, let me admit something: I’m a Joss Whedon fanboy. I resisted getting into Buffy and Angel for a long time, but after a couple episodes, I was hooked. That was good goddam TV.
And Firefly was great. I was one step from buying a brown trenchcoat and printing my own Blue Sun t-shirts when they cancelled it. So please keep all of that in mind for the next bit.
Serenity was the best movie I’ve seen all year.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was good. Don’t get me wrong - I liked it. But there were too many missing elements and flawed decisions. And I even managed to enjoy parts of Episode III. Parts. But Serenity was magnificent. I laughed out loud, I cringed in my seat, and I left the theater feeling amazing.
So here’s my question, world: what the hell is wrong with you people? $10.1 million? That’s the best you can do? I don’t want to hear your excuses. You sicken me. There’s only one way you can make this up to me.
Go see the movie.
Last year we bought a car for my wife. We had been planning on getting something small and cheap - you know, basic transportation. I had just landed a new job and we decided that we could afford a second car, as long as we didn’t get too greedy. Then my wife drove the Honda Element, and we went over budget. It all worked out fine, of course, and we love the car. But I feel like we got more than just a good car out of the deal: we got a good car salesman.
I know how crazy that sounds. Nobody likes their car salesman except people who get totally screwed, right? Well, judge for yourself.
This spring I started getting scared of my 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan. It was getting electrical problems, burning oil, losing coolant, lurching when shifting gears at highway speeds, and generally acting like a pain in the ass. Sometimes it would go into reverse when I put it into reverse, and sometimes it would stay in neutral. Occasionally the windshield wipers would turn on by themselves. The little display where it tells you your fuel efficiency would light up only every other time you started the car. And more.
I’m a very nervous person at heart, and I got more and more worried every time I drove the car. Kellie worked out the budget so that instead of paying off the car in a year and a half, we would pay it off in 6 months by scrimping and saving and doing without. And I started researching a new car.
In addition to being nervous, I’m also very thorough. I bought the Consumer Reports 2005 new car guide. I bought the 2005 Consumer Reports price guide. I read the Car and Driver, USA Today and Automobile magazine reviews of all of the mid-sized family cars. And I decided to go with their recommendation and buy the Honda Accord.
But I didn’t stop there. I ordered the Consumer Reports wholesale price guide for the Accord. I looked into incentives. I compared resale values for the 4-cylinder vs. the V6. I test drove several used models at CarMax, as well as a Toyota Camry at the same price point. I test drove the high end Civic and compared it to the lowe end Accord. And I figured out which model would be the safest, most economical, most comfortable and most affordable.
So when I went to the dealership, I was ready to haggle. In the past I’ve always been afraid of haggling because I felt like the salesman had more information, as well as an ability to shift the argument by adding and removing things like destination charges, or discussing the price in terms of different monthly costs with a variety of different interest rates and loan terms. But this time I was intent on being ready. I made a chart of the three models I was considering, the dealer cost with and without destination charges, with 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% markup and at various loan rates and lengths. Like I said: I was ready.
So I test drove the cars one more time, figured out which model was just right (Accord 4-cyl EX with no leather or nav), what color I wanted, and sat down to haggle. My salesman brought out the invoice, showed me how much each of the options cost, and quoted me a price that was just under 3% profit. (Consumer Reports says that anything between 4 and 8% profit is a fair price.) I was floored. I brought out my cheat sheet and looked it over and over. I decided that I hadn’t prepared that much for nothing, so I told him that the car had options I hadn’t asked for (accent stripe, wheel locks and mud flaps), so he gave me one for free and charged me the materials cost for the other two.
I told him, “This isn’t fair. I’ve spent all this time getting ready for a big fight, and you’re asking for less than my worst offer would have been.” And what he told me was that he makes a lot of his money off of repeat buyers like me, and that while he doesn’t intend to lose money on the deal, he wants to reward that kind of loyalty with the best deal he can make. And I believe him.
(Afterwards I looked at a bunch of sites where people list how much they spent on their new car, and I got a better deal on my Accord than any of them.)
So here’s my advice: if you’re buying a Honda in the Baltimore area, go to Brown’s Honda City and ask for Ken King. Actually, you might want to call ahead and schedule a test drive - he gets that many repeat customers. He’s fair, he’s low pressure, and he’ll make you wish you’d never shopped anywhere else.
Last night, because I really hate talking on the phone, I tried out the online ordering service at Papa John’s. The system, though not perfect, was adequate. But, at the end, it told me that I should expect an email from them with my credit card receipt and the time that my food would be ready to be picked up. I never got that email.
But that’s not really the problem. I’m a patient person (for computer’s, not people), and I sat there looking at my email for 30 minutes. At that point, I picked up the phone and called. I explained that I was looking to confirm my order, and because they make good use of caller ID, they did so immediately. So I asked them when it was going to be ready, since the web site never sent me any confirmation, and the woman on the other end of the line said, “It’s ready now. Do you know what carryout means?”
In fact, I do. It’s how I get my pizzas at Capri Pizza, since they don’t have delivery. Which, not coincidentally, is where I’ll be getting all of my pizzas from now on.