voicemail

i got a message today:

"so i'm standing here, washing dishes, minding my own business ...

and flynn says,

'mom, if you would be christianna, you would have crazy hair.'

so ... apparently, good thing i'm not you."

thanks, bud.

it's here!

now i just gotta figure out how to drive two cars home ... suggestions?

(more to come)

(and pictures)

sitting, waiting, wishing ...

i have wanted one of these for a while ...

• 0 to 60 in 8.2 seconds

• 2.0 L

• 140 hp

• 236 lbs-ft torque

• in-line 4 cylinder turbocharged clean diesel engine with common rail direct injection (tdi)

my little sister texted me one day back in april, asking if i would sell reggie to her. in the midst of recovering from busy season, her text only served to stress me out ... but, the more i thought about it, i realized that this provided the perfect excuse to do some shopping!

• tdi

• manual transmission

• blue graphite exterior

• anthracite interior (who names these colors?)

• sunroof (if i can negotiate a good price)

http://www.vw.com/ is so much fun! try on different colors ... check out the rear spoiler ... add an ipod hookup ... (create a child) ...

okay. so my sister lives in utah. as such, one detail of the sale would need to address reggie's transport across 4 states. the most obvious solution was for me to drive him up there ... and since i'd be up there and car-less ... the most obvious solution to that situation would be for me to buy a new car there and drive him home. sounds pretty perfect, right?

what's even more perfect was the timing: my other little sister and family were going to be visiting in utah at the beginning of july. *aaand* some good college friends were putting together a rocking reunion over the 4^th of july weekend.

i was soon in the makings of a pretty perfect plan!

so i went about seeing what was possible. found a utah dealer. check.

now, to find a car ... well, the color i wanted, proved to cause much headache. apparently there were no blue graphite in the state of utah. so ... the utah dealer had to transport the car in from portland or vegas or somewhere. whatever, i don't really care!

we'd leave socal after work on thursday, july 2. drive up to utah. spend the weekend with friends and family. drive back to socal with my new car!

ba-da-boom. ba-da-bing!

so ... last thursday matti flew in from utah to drive up with me. she called me as soon as she landed -- super excited to be a soon-to-be-car-owner. and i was super excited for her. and for me!

about a half hour later, i got a call from the utah dealer:

"hi, christianna. the car just got in," he stated flatly. shouldn't he be excited? i was.

"great!" probably shoulda tried to hide a *little* bit of that enthusiasm.

"well, kinda ... it's an automatic."

-- wha- what?? --

"you're kidding." please be kidding ...

"um, no."

-- pause --

-- didn't include this in my calculations --

-- pause --

he continued, "so ... if you'd like to take the blue graphite automatic, it's here and ready for you. or i've got a manual in silver and red. or, i can see if i can get a manual in the blue graphite from the east coast; the shipping would just be more."

"but ... umm ... -- can i call you back in a few minutes?" too much to think about. too much.

"sure. just let me know what you want me to do."

i hung up and immediately called my mom. no answer. called again. no answer again. grr! where could she be at a time like this!!?

okay, deep breath. what to do?

i then dialed up 3 other car dealers i had spoken to previously. none of them answered. none. -- what kind of no-work-thursday vortex had i woken up in??! -- i dialed 3 car dealers. i left 3 messages.

then i called eden. she always knows what to do.

she listened to me whine. she offered advice.

the other 3 dealers started calling me back. so began the stressful day ... ...

by noon i still had no answers. i called the utah dealer back and asked him how long it would take to get the car from the east coast. he checked and it would take 7 business days. which would put the car in utah a full week *after* i was supposed to have left.

around 230 i spoke to a dealer here in california. he found 2 -- one was marked "sold", the other wouldn't be available for 3 weeks. oh, man. well, i told him to see what he could find out. at least it was something.

he finally called me back at 530. (half an hour after i was supposed to have been on the road out of town.) the one marked "sold" was actually sold. so the other one ... could be here in 3 weeks ...

so ...

3 weeks it is!

now, we wait.

(it's already been 1 week ... so ... 2 weeks left!)

but i know i have good things to look forward to. and i'm getting a better deal on this one than the utah dealer was giving me. for the exact same out-the-door price, i am getting upgraded mats and trunk liner ... and a *sunroof*. i *love* sunroofs! (err, uhh ... sunrooves?? whatever.)

7 ate 9

i am in utah on vacation. heading home in the morning. i'll post stuff and pictures then ...

enjoy the anticipation.