Adventures In Selling A Car

Kristin and I have been thinking about acquiring a new car. Both our cars are six years old. They both work. But they are requiring a little bit more in maintenance costs every year. Both would need new timing belts soon (or "training wheels," as Kristin calls them). So when all was said and done (car payment minus lower maintenance costs), it wouldn't be all that expensive to lease a new car. Plus, the joy of driving a brand new shiny automobile. But first, we'd need to see what my car would fetch.

On Sunday, I checked Kelley Blue Book, and the trade-in value of my car was $6700. This was a little disappointing, but not altogether unexpected. The private resale value was around $8-9k. This still wasn't what I wanted to get for it, but no big deal. I then went to the Infiniti dealership to look at the G35's. While talking to the salesman about my current car, he indicated that they could do a trade-in, but Carmax would give me a better deal, probably closer to the private-party resale value than the blue book value.

So after a little more car shopping that day, we went to Carmax. We went through the whole process, then waited while the appraiser did his thing. After an hour, the representative came back to the office where we were waiting and told us that the car was in great condition (great exterior, great interior, great structurally, great engine). So I expected a solid offer well above the $6700 quoted by KBB. He then proceeded to offer us $4000. I was appalled. Kristin was ready to throw something at someone's head.

Anyway, after getting an explanation from the appraiser, we left and drove to the Audi dealership. After talking with the salesman, and after he had "his guy" inspect my car, they came back and offered us only $2600 for it. Who knew I was driving such a jalopy?!?!?

(This isn't my actual jalopy, just a picture of one found on wikipedia. A picture of my car has not been included so as to protect its identity.)

Anyway, to commemorate my jalopy, please go here. This is an oldie but goody. It's uncensored, so if you don't like bad words, you shouldn't watch. If you do like bad words, you should watch multiple times.

To end, a decision has been made to keep my jalopy (I really like saying that word) for a little while longer and completely run it into the ground.

Kristin's One Post

There has been a lot of confusion about some remarks I've made about Kristin never having posted. Multiple readers have pointed out that Kristin did indeed post a single time. Actually, that was me.

I would hate for Kristin to be given credit for something she didn't do, and so would she.

Trying To Get More Parents To Read This Blog

Yesterday, we went to my cousin's daughter's baptism. Afterward, we saw Kristin's parents at their place in Newport. It was an excellent opportunity to re-advertise this blog to "the older generation."

At the baptism, I tried to convince my mom and my aunt that they should be reading the blog. My mom said she couldn't read the blog because she couldn't figure out how to find it. As I mentioned in last week's post, she wouldn't be able to figure out how to type in a simple URL. When I mentioned that she could just put it in her favorites, she had no clue what I was talking about. Then, to deflect criticism, she commented that I "must have too much time on my hands." Too predictable. As for my aunt, after she boasted that she indeed knew how to use the internet, she pretty much admitted that she didn't know how to use the internet when she mentioned that it would be too difficult for her to find.

At the Nunnelly residence, we pulled up the blog for Kristin's mother to read. Before, she indicated that it was just too hard for her to find on the internet. Anyway, she read through the blog and DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL. (Actually, she kind of enjoyed Cheryl's guest post, but she didn't much care for mine.) Can you imagine the disappointment and utter shame her relatively-new son-in-law must have felt because his mother-in-law didn't like his musings? At that moment, I considered shutting down the blog for good. I mean, I can understand my mom's reaction: she's an Italian woman, and all she does is yell and have a bad disposition. But Carol Nunnelly, come on!

Oh well, I will try to lift my spirits and summon the courage to keep going. Hopefully, this blog will continue its rich tradition of excellence in perpetuity. But if it does not, you can trace its demise back to yesterday, December 13, 2008. And if that happens, I apologize, but you know ultimately whom to blame.

Additional Award

Believe it or not, but we found additional dollars in the 2008 operating budget. Therefore, we can give out just one more award. So without further adieu:

Best (fill in the blank): Cheryl Freiburg

Congratulations, Cheryl, I always knew you could do it!

Not Happy About Not Winning

Guest Post by Cheryl Freiburg:


Hey everyone, Cheryl (Cabigas) Freiburg, guest-blogger of the day :) Now, for those of you who have read the previous post, you see that my mother has won an award. So not fair! I think the awards committee (Chris) has a preference for CPA's or something. That or he realizes that my mom now works for the "Man" and is trying to get in good with the IRS. Hmmmm....

So anyway, I was given a chance to indicate why I deserve an award. So let's get right down to it.

1) My mom is your best new reader. Without me she wouldn't even know about your blog (let alone what the word "blog" means!)

2) Loyal reader - yeah yeah yeah, you're all loyal readers. But is anyone else as big of a dork as I am to put a feed of Chris's bog on your iGoogle home page? I know, I should be embarrassed, but I'm not. I'm that dork.

3) Quality trumps quantity - so yeah, maybe other people comment more than I do (I'm talking to you Logan!), but I'm telling you it's all about quality of the comment over the quantity!

4) A little history for those of you who are not as big a dork as I am (reference #2 above)... So yesterday I notice that Chris has posted a blog that there is an official name change from "Chris & Kristin Pagano's Blog" to "Chris Pagano's Blog" - so of course like the loyal reader I am, I click on the link to see that the blog post has been removed! Later that day, I get the following email from Chris:

"Was my blog post today that Kristin made me delete bad? Should I have left it up? Thanks for your objective opinion."

So of course, I'm thinking, well, if my objective opinion is important enough to be sought, then obviously I am like the Mr. Miyagi to Chris's Daniel-san! This alone makes me worthy of some sort of award!

5) And this is really the most important - this blog was birthed because we put it in his head! Over a nice long dinner conversation about starting a baby blog for our impending arrival, Chris was inspired to begin this wonderful literary masterpiece known as Chris and Kristin Pagano's blog (ok, so a little ass kissing might help, right?). So the blog wouldn't even be here if we never had the discussion about it!

And seriously if I don't get some sort of award after this, well, Chris, I would sleep with one eye open. I know people who know people!

Your loyal reader,
Cheryl

More Awards To Give Out

Happy Friday everyone. I'm sitting here at my desk during lunch time, so I figured I'd do a quick post.

Now would be an excellent time to give out the second edition of my awards. However, we are now officially in a recession, and there's no money left in the budget to give anything other than a single award. What can I say, times are tight.

So I really put some effort into this, to try to determine who's most deserving. And after much thought, here's the award:

Best New Reader: Lynda Cabigas

Congratulations, Mrs. Cabigas, you have won a non-cash appreciation award from THE BEST BLOG EVER.

Thank you all for playing. As always, we appreciate your support.

Chris & Kristin

This is my second post today. The first one displeased Kristin. I was trying to exert some pressure on her to post, and I mentioned it in the post. And I changed the title of the blog (to exclude her name). Clearly, she was not pleased. She made some threats, and I blinked. That post was deleted.

Anyway, on to tonight's post. I am stealing the idea for this post from Jennifer's blog. (Who knows, that may even garner her another award at some point.)

Things You Should Know About Chris & Kristin:

1. Who's older: me (by three years)
2. Who's taller: tie (or Kristin when I don't stand up straight)
3. Who's smarter: Kristin (I can't remember anything anymore)
   
4. Who's the bigger dork: me
5. Who's the better driver: me
6. Who's the better Dyson vacuum cleaner operator: me
7. Who's the better cook: Kristin
8. Who makes better chocolate chip cookies: Kristin
9. Who makes better chocolate chip cookie dough: me
10. Who eats more: me
11. Who's the bigger fan of Kelly Clarkson: me
12. Who's masculinity is now in question: probably me
13. Who sings better: neither
14. Who's a fan of the Tennesse Titans even though she now wants them to lose because Vince Young isn't playing: Kristin
    
15. Who uses up 95% of the closet for her clothes while her husband gets two feet: Kristin
    
16. Who cleans: me
17. Who has more friends: Kristin (she always has about 15 more on facebook than i do, and i can't catch up)
18. Who looks more like McLovin: me
    
19. Who watches more crappy TV: Kristin (America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl)
    
20. Who's the better blogger: me
21. Who's "the best blog(ger) ever": me