Red Robin (and other thoughts)

Four Random Thoughts

1. Melanie Names a Car
After purchasing the KIA Soul on Friday night, I was able to drive it off the lot... I love love love driving this car, no stinkin' joke.  Its such a great ride.  The issue was that Toni Rocki Honda was still sitting the garage of The Cabana. 

Red Robin's front end

The Lovely Steph Leann had a Creative Memories Open House on Saturday--by the way, have you seen the books that The Lovely Steph Leann does?  You give her pictures and an idea of what you want, she creates this incredible yearbook type book with your pics and your notes and memories.  Her email is StephDollarCM@gmail.com, so make sure you let her know you need her services....

...So, she was out of pocket.  I call upon someone who is always willing to help, that would be Melanie Z.  She agrees to drive with me out to Center Point to drop off Toni Rocki Honda, and get a few of my questions answered, that being "Where is the hood propper upper?", "Can I get some washer fluid?" and "The owners manual shows you need a special KIA adapter for the iPod auxiliary jack, so I need to get one of those."

Melanie Z and her oldest, Jay Z, arrive, and they both love the KIA Soul.  I give Melanie Z the directions to Serra KIA "Up 280, down 459, back on 59, right on Roebuck Parkway which becomes Center Point Parkway..." then I ask her, "Do you want to drive the Honda?"  The fact that she stared at me with a "Are you freakin' kidding me?" look and then proceeded to get into the vehicle itself told me that she was, in fact, driving the KIA Soul.  Then I called out, "Hey Jay Z, you wanna ride with me?" which was also answered by the fact he jumped into the passenger seat of the Soul.  Melanie Z laughed and said, "Uh... what do you think he wants to do?"

Red Robin's back end

We drive out to Center Point, and I get my questions answered, that being "the propper upper is on the underside of the hood, not the engine", "parts department is closed" and "no problem, we will get it ordered for you".  I gave over the key to Toni Rocki Honda to an older guy named David, and that was that.  I nodded my goodbye to Toni Rocki, and walked back to the KIA Soul, with Melanie Z still sitting in the driver's seat.

"Alright, time to go," says me.
"Okay, hop in," Melanie Z replies.
"Um..." I start, waiting for her to get out of the drivers seat. "You like the car?  Like driving the car?"
"Yeah, I love it!" she laughs.  "So, get in."
"I'm driving, Melanie," I say.
"Fine," she grunts.  As Jay Z starts to say, "Mom!  I'm riding in front!" Melanie Z cuts him off... "Get in the backseat!"
"Mooooom!!!!' he stammers, as he gets out and climbs in the back.

By the way, the KIA Soul didn't have a name yet... The Honda was, as I've oft mentioned, Toni Rocki Honda, named for a combination of Toni Braxton and Pulp Fiction, and the Mercury Sable before it was my 1999 Pezochit, named because it was... well, you get it.

I share this with Melanie Z on the way back, and how I had mentioned to The Lovely Steph Leann that I thought of "The Hamster", for the commericals... though I wasn't sold on calling my car "Hamster" for the next four or five years.  She pops up with, "What about... Red Robin?  You know, like the burger place.  Reeeeeed Robin!" 

And as soon as she says it, it clicks.  Red Robin it is.

2.  d$ Gets a Seatbelt
I guess I should share one last Toni Rocki Honda story.

On the way back from Starbucks last week, after working a 12 hour day and doing Christmas set up, which is always a major undertaking, I just wanted to get home.  I had my iPod, hooked onto my belt, and was just finishing Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (I zipped through Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows in the weeks leading up to the movie) and while driving, I was a bit irritated by the way the seatbelt buckle was sitting on the iPod on my waist.

First... I don't always wear my seatbelt.  Well, I didn't always wear it, now I do, but that's later.  I know, I know, you can give me a hundred stories of people who didn't want to wear their seatbelts and are now dead, paralyzed or have killer hangnails because of it.  I get it, its safety, its secure, its nothing you can tell me that The Lovely Steph Leann doesn't tell me a thousand times.  Cause she loves me, that one does.

So, I get it, don't innundate me reasons why I should always wear my seatbelt.

Anyway, that night, I WAS wearing it.  I pulled up to the red light, in the double turn lane from Hwy 280 to turn onto Valleydale Road.  I unbuckled my seatbelt, tossed off my shoulder strap, and then took the iPod off my belt, and placed it in the console.  I didn't see the police cruiser pull up beside me.

The light turned green, so I moved forward, and didn't buckle the belt.  I chose to wait until I was out of the turn of the major intersection, and when I was moving forward, straight onto Valleydale Road, I buckled my belt again... and thats when I saw the blue lights behind me. 

I quickly glanced down at my speedometer, and I was going about 35 in the 45, because I was still accelerating.  I thought quickly to things that had derailed me before, including my tag (it was fine), my license (I had it renewed three months ago) and any outstanding tickets (none, thankfully). 

There was a car ahead of me who I saw had immediately applied the brake lights.  The car turned onto  Inverness Center Drive, which is the road you travel down about a half mile to get to my subdivision, and I follwed.  The police pulled behind me, and as I pulled over, the cop did as well.  The car ahead of me floored it, and zoomed away.  I would have done the same.

I grabbed my license out of my pocket, and placed it on the dash.  The bright spotlight behind me kept me from seeing the officer approaching my car.  He shone his flashlight in my car, in my face, and asked for my license.  I reached up on the dash and handed it to him.

"Mr. d$, I don't know if you just put that belt on or what, but when I pulled up beside you, you didn't have it on."
"Yes sir," I sighed.  I opened my mouth to tell him that I had it on, and I had taken it off for a second, just long enough for him to pull up and see me with out it on, but I figured that's just like a speeder saying that he'd done the speed limit except for those 100 yards when he was doing 70. 
"Don't know if you were aware of it, but there was a major accident in Chelsea this weekend where three people were killed... two of them wasn't wearing their seatbelts, Mr d$."
"I didn't know that sir," I sighed.  Again, I opened my mouth to say something smart like, "Well was the third person wearing their seatbelt", but quickly closed it again.
"Can I see your insurance information?"
"Yes sir, its in my console here," I said, turning around and opening up the middle compartment, pulling out the little piece of paper and handing it to the officer.

He walked away and I just sat there waiting, in silence.  The officer came back, handing me a ticket, telling me that I had until December 15th to pay it... in Columbiana.  Its already been documented that I'm not a fan of The Glorious Road to Colombiana, so I had a feeling I would be sending this in, either by mail or online.  I asked him how much the ticket is, and he said, "Well, I know it was $10, but I think they recently raised it to $31". 

Of course they did.

So I got my ticket and drove about 200 feet to my subdivision's entrance. 

By the way, I totally wear my seatbelt now, in Red Robin, if for no other reason than that ding ding ding ding noise is really annoying when you start the car and don't buckle in.

3. The Laptop Gets a Cold
My laptop is down.  I'm using The Lovely Steph Leann's own laptop, and am cool with it for now, except I can't update my iPod, which is maddening. 

I've gone through three audiobooks--Harry Potter 5, 6 and 7--and have doubled back and am now listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkibahn.  Its a little strange, though, because I just got done hearing about the heroics of Sirius Black and how Harry dominates the Dementors, and in this book, Sirius is the villian and Harry cowers in front of the Azkibahn guards.

I hope my laptop gets better.  I really want to hear my podcasts.

4.  Starz Gets Some Color
Here's what I love about the channel Starz in Black... if you make a film that has like, one black dude in the background, your film is eligible for appearing on Starz in Black.  Right now, the Bruce Willis movie "Surrogates" is on.  There aren't a whole lot of black people in this film.  Coming up later tonight, a movie called "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt", starring Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn and Michael Douglas, three very white people.  Seems like Orlando Jones is representin'...

Of course, also coming up later, is a movie called "Life is Hot in Cracktown", and judging from the cast list, they are overcompensating.

Just Don't Tell Dave Ramsey

Toni Rocki Honda is showing her age. I guess its expected, as she's fifteen years old now--I've only had over a little over 2 years, and she's only got 123K on her, but at fifteen, part after part is needing to be replaced, little by little, she's costing us a fortune.

My air conditioner went out on me in late August, as I was driving home to Samson for the day. It was working fine until I got to somewhere past Clanton. I stopped at a Hardee's, and after getting my food and getting back in, I heard a small pop of some sort when I started the car. And suddenly, Toni Rocki Honda was just blowing... air. Not cold air. Not cool air. Just air.

Its going to cost close to a grand to get everything fixed in the air, the compressor, the hoses and belts, whatever else. So The Lovely Steph Leann and I have gone back and forth--do we get it fixed, and then hope nothing else breaks, or do we make a plunge and go ahead and get something else... I've never had a new car. Matter of fact, every car I've owned has been nothing but a mechanic's dream--lots of maintenance. I feel like I've had not just a lemon, but a grove.  A new car?  Wow, that would be amazing.

Anyway, the Mizzus was in Pensacola Thursday night, for work, her time of the month. For the trip, I mean. So I headed on my own to do some reconnaissance work at two places we had discussed... the local Kia dealership and the local Hyundai. I know, I know, there are some people out there now that who hear the word "KIA" and "HYUNDAI" and shiver, and automatically think I'm in the welfare line... they give me the guv'mint Land O'Lakes, the guv'mint Kraft slices and the guv'mint Honda... and ten years ago, absolutely.

I remember some retreat I was involved in around 99 or 2000, and the speaker told a joke that a KIA Sportage is a combo of "Sports" and "Garbage".... but I did some looking on the interweb and it seems that both cars are much more reliable now. Plus, I know people who have newer models of both, and they love them.

So I stopped at Riverchase KIA over on Highway 31, and walked around. After a few minutes, a pleasant guy named Ken came out, shook my hand, and we chatted for a while. He wasn't pushy, he wasn't invasive, he built up KIA while not trashing other brands, telling me that Hondas and Hyundais are good cars, but (of course) he thinks the KIAs are better deals. And one I really liked was the KIA Soul... its a far less gay version of the Mini-Cooper. It might be a little out of my price range, but still...

The 2011 Elantra Touring

I left Ken and KIA and drove over to Tameron Hyundai. Tameron is the dealership that sold The Lovely Steph Leann the Honda she drives, and though I've never had a problem with Tameron, and they have always been nice enough, I don't know that Tameron Honda is where I want to go--likewise, Tameron Hyundai isn't where I'll probably buy a car, but I did want to look at some models, like the Elantra, the Accent and the Santa Fe SUV. I was all about the Hyundai Elantra Touring, a station wagon, but much, much cooler looking. Again, probably out of my price range, but we shall see...

The point of this little anecdote, though, was that at KIA, the guy came out after about ten minutes, which was fine with me. At Tameron Hyundai, I was there over 30 minutes, and not one single person came out to talk to me. Its not that I wanted a bunch of pushy salesman around, but seriously, nobody?  Really? 

So Friday rolls around, and The Lovely Steph Leann and I make plans to head out to just east of Birmingham, to the Roebuck/Center Point area--not the safest place to travel once night falls, but it was early in the evening, just after five pm. 

Serra is a name attached to four or five dealerships along a stretch of Centerpoint Parkway, right next to each other--Serra Chevrolet, Serra Hyundai, Serra Kia, Serra everything else--and our plan was to go by Serra Hyundai.  We have both been hearing on the radio "NEW HYUNDAIS FOR $8,000!  WE HAVE TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE 2011s!  GET A NEW HYUNDAI ACCENT FOR $7000!  A NEW ELANTRA FOR $8000!" so we wanted to check it out... now, we are both realists, and we know that it cannot be quite simply "New Car for $8000", but it never hurts to investigate. 

Worst case scenario, we come home with no new car, just the paid for cars we already own.  Best cast scenario, we plop down $8 grand and I drive home with a brand new Hyunda Elantra.  Its possible, even probable, that they were base models, so I told The Lovely Steph Leann we'd have to spend a little more on a radio... what is important to me is an iPod auxiliary jack.  I want to be able to plug in my iPod or my iPhone and listen to it, be it a Harry Potter audiobook or Sara Bareilles' new CD, through the car speakers.  Yes, I could toss in the CD into the CD player, provided it has one, but that's not the point.

Let's keep in mind, I haven't eaten yet.  When I say that, I tell you that I've been at Starbucks at work from about 415am to about 130ish, and on my lunch break, I had to do two things--get tickets for Harry Potter (going the following night), get Melanie something (I told her I would grab her lunch) and get myself something.  I had 30 minutes.  I zipped down to Chick-fila to grab lunch, but realized I didn't have time to eat.  When I eat Chick-fila, I have to doctor up my own sandwich, which takes about five minutes, which I had no time to spare, so I grabbed Melanie's food and then zipped down to the Rave to get tickets, which I did.  And after I got off work, I had some errands to run and some other stuff to get done (Translation: I don't remember exactly what I did--it was two days ago) and when The Lovely Steph Leann got home, we jumped in the vehicle, her vehicle, and headed to Center Point.  She had a late lunch, so she's not hungry.  I'm getting kinda hungry.

Up 280, down I-450, onto I-59, then off to Roebuck Parkway, which turns into Center Point Parkway.  The median length forces us to drive past Serra Hyundai, Serra Chevy and Serra KIA, but as I turn around the median, I told The Lovely Steph Leann I wanted to pull into KIA.  She asked why, and I told her I wanted to look around.  I mentioned that we could walk down to the Hyundai dealership, which is still our original destination.  We stop, park, and start looking around.  The Forte, the Optima, the Sorrento, the Rio and... The KIA Soul.  A cherry red KIA Soul sitting on the end of the row.  There was a white one there too, but it was white.  And not red. 

Its the commercials with the hamsters.  Honestly, I remember the hamsters, but didn't connect it was a KIA commercial--or a car commercial, for that matter--until the sales guy mentioned in.  Just sayin'.

A salesman comes out, introduces himself as Gene, and begins to tell us whats on sale.  We do some looking around, ask some questions, answer some questions, and then the big question gets asked... whats our price range?  Ah, that is the query, isn't it.

We look at a KIA Rio, which is a small, tiny four door car that I kinda like, and will do if need be.  We take it for a test drive, it drives nice, but there are a few things I'm not excited about.  The arm rest for instance--there is no middle console armrest, one that has a lid that you can put stuff in.  There is an iPod auxiliary jack, but that's all the radio has to offer.  The car is tiny.  Of course, when we make it down to Serra Hyundai, the Accent and possibly the Elantra will be not much bigger, so I guess if I don't like the KIA Rio... well...

I will say the Rio drives fine.  Its a good little car, it picked up quickly, it was comfy and I'm okay with small cars, because good gas mileage is important to me.  With Toni Rocki Honda, I fill up once about every three weeks, though it helps that I live 3 miles from the store and also that we usually take The Lovely Steph Leann's Honda because its a more comfy ride. 

We pulled back in and Gene asked us to run some numbers.  He did the whole "Now, you don't have to commit to anything, I just want to see what I can do for you."  The Serra salesman sell cars across all three dealerships, so he filled us in on the Hyundai $8000 deal... you have to buy two.  And that was in the fine print, of course.   Yeah, he could have been feeding us some Bantha Poodoo, but makes sense.

Finally, I ask to test drive the KIA Soul.  He goes and gets the keys, and we pull out of the lot, a car with 31 miles on it.  Its... its just cool.  Its just fun.  Its bright red, a color that I usually associate with 21 year old guys in Mustangs or convertibles to pick up chicks, and higher insurance rates, so I ask about other colors, and am assured that if I want this car, they'll get me whatever color I want.  Of course they will, its a car dealership.

I've already done some research on the KIA Soul, and have liked what I'd seen... its quite safe, it holds appreciation well, its sporty, its not too expensive, its roomier than most cars of its kind and so on.  And in driving it... its fun.  I like this car.  And this is not good, because this thing is brand new!   This thing is costly!  There's no way we're going to be driving away with a KIA Soul.  The Lovely Steph Leann won't allow such a mockery of Dave Ramsey Justice!  Right?  Right?

I noticed something as we walked around a little afterwards... the KIA Rio is about $1200 more than the KIA Soul.  So... if we wanted to get the Rio, which The Lovely Steph Leann liked, then... wouldn't the Soul make more sense?  Its bigger... and cheaper?

Smashcut to a half hour later... we are sitting in Gene's little cubicle and he's in front of us, hands clasped, elbows on table, telling us that he wants us to drive off the lot in a new car.  Of course he does.  This is a car dealership.

The Lovely Steph Leann and I listen to his pitch, and both simply tell him, "No".  It was too much.  Too much down, too much in car payments, car payments that we were trying to avoid all together.  He had written down the details on a piece of paper, and they only would pay $500 for Toni Rocki Honda, which was a travesty in my own mind.  Sure, she needs a $1000 repair in air conditioning, but I am pretty sure I could get a grand for her on Craigslist or even the paper, but $500?

And I watch the car salesmen tricks unfold... "Okay, what if I do this?  What if [crossing out the number 500 and writing in pen] we give you a $1000 [writing the number 1-0-0-0] for your Honda?"  We say "No".  "Okay, well what if I say you don't have to put this much down [crosses out the amount down] and you only put this much down [writes down another number] and we say "No".

He says, "Okay, let me go run some more numbers", and runs off to do a credit check, leaving The Lovely Steph Leann and I alone.  We start chatting quietly about what we are going to do, and suddenly, getting a new car, the bright red KIA Soul, is a distinct possibility.  A real possibility.

The Lovely Steph Leann is the budgeter in our family, the "Nerd", is Ramsey speak.  I am the "Free Spirit", the one who spends a little more than he should, so I'm leaning on her, my wife, heavily to help me through this (isn't that the way it should be, really?).  She says one single "No way, we can't do this", then I'm not going to fight her for it.  I tell her straight up that there is a certain threshold of savings I want to keep in there, and no matter what, we don't go below that.  She tells me what the reality is of our budget. 

Gene comes back with another set of details and agreements.  I smile and simply say, "Okay, man, listen... this is a great deal.  We have talked about it, and we agree this is a great deal, but we just don't think we can do it.  We weren't looking for car payments, we don't want to kill our savings and really, if we have to say yes or no at this very moment, we'd have to say 'no'."  Gene tells us, "I understand.  But let me just tell ya, we haven't sold a car today.  I'm going to do what it takes to get you into this car."  He gets up and runs out.

Gene comes back in, with the same piece of paper, folded over, with words written in Sharpie at the top, saying "XMAS COMES EARLY HO HO HO", with some details on the bottom. And the details are great.  I ask Gene to give us a minute to discuss, and he agrees and leaves.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I then go to work.

The questions begin... "Can we do it?"... "Do we want to take on a car payment, even for just a little while?"... "We can do it, but do we want to do it?"... "How will this affect how we live?"... "What do we do about Disney World in February, and for that matter, in two weeks?"  We talk for about fifteen minutes or so, and The Lovely Steph Leann leans her head back, puts her hands in her hair and just say, "Aarrgghh... this is like buying the house all over again!"

I smile and say, "We either do it or we don't.  I like the car, quite a bit.  But I'm not bothered if we walk out of here without it.  We deal with my Honda for a while, and then we can decide how much money to put into it.  Or, we take the plunge, deal with it for a while, and have a reliable car for a long, long time.  What do you think?"

Again, she says, "Aaargghh!" and then laughs uncomfortably.  Gene comes back in and asks what we think, holding out the paper with a line on the bottom.  Without saying much, The Lovely Steph Leann just leans over and signs the paper. 

We just bought a car.  Its an awesome car.  Its a 2011 KIA Soul, complete with a bright red exterior, four doors, a hatchback, Sirius Radio, an iPod auxiliary jack, 31 miles when I drove it off the lot and, unfortunately, for the first time in over three years since we have been debt free, a car payment.  Just don't tell Dave Ramsey.

News of the World

Well, once again, its time for The Lovely Steph Leann and I to head to the Most Magical Place on Earth... we'll bug out tomorrow afternoon, leaving on a jet plane, don't do know when we'll be back again...

I wanted to blog something really quickly, so the Death of Swayze wouldn't be all you see for an entire week, and I actually have something on a word document that I was going to post last week, and I ended up discussing 9/11, then on Monday, I was going to post it, and then I found out of the passing of Patrick Swayze. Then, tonight, before I could sit down, do a simple copy and paste and say, "See ya soon", I heard/read some great information about Disney, Walt Disney World and so on, mostly news coming from the D23 Expo, with D23 being the Disney Fan Club and the Expo being a huge convention held this past weekend in Anaheim, California.

So, for the WDW fans out there, and for the Disney-in-General fan, here's some great information to chew on...

FANTASYLAND EXPANSION
--Apparently, there have been leaked blueprints online already about the expansion of Fantasyland in the coming years. I found the prints here, and I'm not sure of the exact validity of the plans, but I can tell you this... Toontown goes away.

--Toontown will be wiped out, taken over by the Fantasyland Expansion. Apparently, most of the princesses--Aurora, Belle, Cindy, etc--will get their own interactive Meet-n-Greet areas, and there will be a Beast's Castle themed restaurant put in as well. Hopefully, they'll have Roast Beast.

--The Toontown Barnstormer will remain, but it will be re-named and re-themed. The Toontown Train Station will become the Fantasyland Train Station, and Mickey & Minnie's houses will be re-located, though they haven't released where.

--Dumbo will be getting a remake as well. They are going to try and eliminate the hot queue that wraps around the Dumbo Flying Circle ride (that The Lovely Steph Leann insists we ride every time we go, which means Friday morning, I'll be riding Dumob) by making Dumbo into a bigger ride, and they have said that there will be a waiting queue room where guests will experience an "interactive circus type atmosphere", whatever that means. John Lasseter has said, "The smallest guests stand in the longest lines for the shortest rides", so there ya go.

--The Little Mermaid Ride that is in Disneyland will also be replicated in Fantasyland in Disney World.

--The construction starts in 2010, and should be completed by 2012, except for the new, expanded Pixie Hollow, which should be finished in 2013.

MOVIE NEWS
--Pirates 4 is a go! Johnny Depp made a surprise, unannounced (repetitive, repeating statement?) visit to D23 Expo to tell the world that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will be shooting next year, and will be released the Summer of 2011.



--Also coming the summer of 2011? National Treasure 3... personally, I think the first Natty Treasure is one of the best movies of this decade (I think I'll make that list later this year, since its the last three months of the entire decade, and NO ONE is talking about this!) but the second one left something to be desired.

--Nic Cage, who along with Samuel L. Jackson, has never seen an action script he didn't like, is also starring in a flick called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which has walking brooms and that famous hat, but beyond that, nothing really to do with "Fantasia".

--Winnie the Pooh is coming back to theaters... but Pooh is coming back, John Lasseter-style. Lasseter, CCO of Disney Animation, was one of the co-founders of Pixar, and says that he is bothered by the fact that the classic, beloved character of Pooh has been railroaded into a "toddler and infant" character, and feels that Winnie the Pooh should be brought back for all ages. The movie, tentatively released in 2011, will be done with classic 2-D animation and watercolors, throwing away the tripe that filled "Piglet's Big Movie" and "The Heffalump Movie" and such.

--"Rapunzel", on the other hand, is done in CG animation, and will be premiering in 3-D from Disney... I know, I know, this brings thoughts of "Chicken Little", which was good enough, but not classic like we were hoping... however, the early buzz is, despite the CG aspect, its going to be a very good film. Its styled like all the other Princess films, and Rapunzel will likely be pushed as a Disney Princess, sitting alongside Belle and Ariel.


Rapunzel will be voiced by Mandy Moore.

--Early reports on "The Princess & the Frog" are fantastic. Word is, this makes you think of the Disney Renaissance that took place from "The Little Mermaid" to "Tarzan" in the late 80s and 90s.



--"Cars 2" comes out in 2011, and has McQueen competing in a huge international race in Europe, taking with him all of his friends--we know Mater, but I'm guessing Sally, Ramone and a few others will join him. New character Fin McMissle, a car double agent, has been announced, and though casting has not been released, rumors are they are going after Sean Connery

RIDE RENOVATIONS
--Star Tours is being redone... FINALLY! That ride, while in concept is awesome, is just... well, old. And not as fun as you want it to be. But its coming, and its coming in 3-D.

--The MuppetVision 3-D is also getting a refurbishment, and again I say... FINALLY. I love the Muppet attraction in Hollywood Studios, but you can see the film itself and see how grainy, dated and old the movie is. Even in the end, when the "walls crash and you can see outside", the people just look like they are from 1993. And they might be. I didn't see word on when either of these will be renovated.

--And speaking of Muppets, there is a new Muppet movie in the works. The title? "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made". The title is a re-work of an old Jim Henson concept of Gonzo blowing the movie budget on the opening credits resulting in the remainder of the feature film being shot in the same back lot, clumsily redressed to look like different locations from around the world... report are that comedic writer/actor Jason Segel ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") will be penning the script, and probably won't follow Henson's concept.

TOY STORY 3
--First, don't forget Toy Story 1 & Toy Story 2 come back to theaters on October 2nd, as a double feature, in 3-D. Its a two week engagement, so make sure you catch it quickly.



--"Toy Story 3" basic plotline is that Andy has grown up, and is off to college. He leaves his toys at an adoption home, where Woody, Buzz, Potato Head, Rex, Hamm, Slinky and the gang are routinely abused by the children... and so they escape. And that's all I know.

And finally, for anyone my age who drools and almost wets themselves at the term "Light Cycle", there's this...

See you in a few.

Goodbye, Dear, Old, Undependable, Unreliable, Unfaithful Friend

I bought a car in 2000. Nine years later, I gave it away.

I wrote some general reference notes about my sad, sordid vehicular history, which includes three accidents, more than one (or two) tickets, an arrest (a tale that must finally be told... one day) and a whole lot of breakdowns.


The final day with The Sable... I would guess that many memories of me held by friends involve this red car

The 1999 Mercury Sable Pezochit lasted a lot longer than I ever thought it would, as I took it from 41K to 138K in the time I had it. I actually had this car longer than the Olds, the Buick, the other, cooler Olds and the Blazer put together...

Quite simply, I was driving a 1988 Chevy Blazer in 2000. It was a great vehicle, I was paying for a little at a time--the payments were reasonable, the truck was comfortable, it has character, lots of room and a few fun quirks, like when you plugged in a CD player into the lighter, the radio stopped working, leaving only the tape player. Or was it, the tape player stopped working, leaving only the radio? Who knows.

My issue with the Blazer was that the tires were bald (I remember sliding across a lane as I turned onto Lakeshore Parkway from the Parisian building) and the steering column moved. Literally, I could move the steering wheel up and down, and the entire column moved with it. Oh, and there was once when the truck wouldn't turn off. I drove it to the mechanic, and when they asked me where the keys were, I laughed and handed them over. Then he asked me, "Why is it still running, if I am holding the keys?" I smiled and replied, "And thats why I'm here."

I got a call from the dealership where I purchased the Blazer, telling me that if I wanted to upgrade in car, I could go see this guy named Carl at Jim Burke, and they would get me into something better. What should I have done? Said, "Yeah, no thanks. I'm going to pay off my truck, get it fixed somehow and be done with it." Granted, it would have cost me, I dunno, probably $1500 to get four tires and a steering column that stayed in place... but it was better than the alternative. Which is what I went with.

"Sure!" I said, thinking about upgrading in car. I'm thinking a Dodge Avenger, or a Honda Accord, or maybe not just a Chevy Blazer... but a Chevy TRAIL Blazer. Yee-ah boy! And somehow, I got roped and wrangled into a 1999 Mercury Sable. A family car. A four door. I can handle it, though, because it means less insurance money, right?

Yeah, I guess... but the payments were just too much. Of course, when you do the math with my salary at the time, it actually worked out. I wasn't on a budget though, so when you did the math with my salary, plus my eating out, plus my social life, plus my four credit card bills, plus my rent, plus my other things I'm having to pay for, there was nooooo way it was going to work. So what did I do? I signed the contract, bought the car.

It was about $13,000-ish, maybe a little more, a little less.

Random trivia... my first passengers? Jenn Then Pritchett Now Glenn, and Emily Etheridge, a mutual friend of mine and Amy Valdmanis (I love Valdmanis!).

It drove fine for a while. I made payments for a while. Of course, I was so broke, I couldn't afford to pay the much higher tag fees, so I had the "Jim Burke Auto" tag on my car for the first, I dunno, 7 months or so... which got me in trouble bigtime with Johnny Law. Once again... another story, another day.

But over the course of time, things began to wear down on the car... you know, after a few months. After a year. After another few months. Starters, alternators, fuel pumps, water pumps, headlights, batteries, brakes, brakepads, rotors, motor mounts, sparkplugs, oil leaks, pipes, cords, impounds, tow trucks, speeding tickets... before The Lovely Steph Leann, during our friendship stage, during our off and on and off stage, during our dating-then-seriously-dating stage, during our engagement stage, during the married stage... I feel like there was a breakdown for every stage of our relationship (thats the car, not our relationship).

I actually haven't had a working heater for over three years. It just crapped out. I always figured that Alabama winters aren't really too harsh, so I would survive, and I have, though not having heat in my defrost is pretty miserable when its cold. I would use cassette tape plastic covers to scrape ice, before I got an actual ice scraper, but it would still leave a thick layer of fog on the windshield that was impossible to get off. Many times I pulled off into a stray parking lot to wipe fog and frost off of the windshield.

It was also annoying that the driver side door lock didn't work. I had to go to the passenger side to unlock the car, which was worse when it was a cold January rain, because not only was I wet, when I got in, I had no heat, so I remained cold. Not good times.

Enter Dave Ramsey and FPU, ushering in a new era of fiscal resposibility for d$, with The Lovely Steph Leann playing more than a small part, and we started to saving, knowing that a car purchase was immenent. At what point does a car break down so much that you just have to say "pssshaw!" and do something else?

It broke down on the way home from Starbucks one afternoon... driving down Hwy 280, mid afternoon traffic... I felt it go... I knew it was going... you know how you just know. You know how you can just tell when you're on borrowed time when it comes to your car? Something isn't quite right... I spotted a National Tire & Battery, so I was hoping to make it there. I got into a turn lane, to turn onto the service road and drive on up to NTB. At least get out of this 4pm traffic... and it died, right there as I was about to turn left to the service road.

A Starbucks co-worker called me... "Hey dude, I just drove by and saw you... you need help?" I replied, "No, I just called Triple A. They are on their way. Until then, I will just sit here and blcok traffic", which is exactly what I did. A few minutes later, I get a call from my buddy Croyle, who said that Britlicious, his wife, had just called him... apparently she had also just passed by and had seen me--bear in mind this is one of the busiest roads in all of Alabama, so it wasn't as if anyone could easily pull of and assist... besides, what could they do? Well, Croyle came.

At a green arrow, we pushed the car, not realizing the slight incline that existed there, right as we came off of 280. We got it off the highway, though, thanks to a motorist that was in a nearby parking lot jumping out and giving us that final "umph". The tow truck came, got it jumped off, and I tried to get it down the road... and it died in the turning lane to actually turn into NTB. The tow truck gave me another quick jump, and I finally got it into the shop.

And Croyle? Just a testament to the good guy he his--he just said, "Dude, just drop me off, and borrow my piece of crap car. I'll drive Britlicious' car tomorrow." So I did.

Anyway, long story short (too late!), this past fall Toni Rocki Honda joined us at The Cabana, taking The Sable's spot in the garage, and putting The Sable outside on the curb. Since September.

A month or two back, I was driving it around as Toni Rocki Honda was in for a tune up, it completely shut down on me in the middle of turning left off of Valleydale Road onto Highway 31, a major intersection, one where you just don't want to freeze up. And yes, it was time to call someone.

The final straw came in the power of the Homeowners Association as they sent a "You'd better listen to this" kind of letter, saying "Hey, get that car out off our lovely Beaumont streets!". The Lovely Steph Leann finally turned to me and said, "We gotta call someone and get this car gone."

I did some research on the net, asked for some suggestions on Facebook, and finally, I called The Foundry. And a week or so ago, before I left for The Happiest Place in the Mall, they came by.



The Foundry is a ministry organization in the area that works with the homeless, the addicted and other people who just need help in certain areas. They take car donations, get them fixed, and those being ministered to use the cars to get them to their jobs, as they recover from what they've been dealing with.



It was weird letting go. I mean, yeah, its a car... but it had been with me for 9 years. Heck, I dated The Lovely Steph Leann in that car. And Leslie Cordell. That's a good batting average.



I had cleaned out the car already, as many of you might have seen my Facebook photoalbum, "Things I Found In My Car"... I took it to a nearby car wash, got it cleaned up, and as I vacuumed, I found a rubber chicken, over four bucks in change, a dry erase marker, four small stuffed animals, a keyboard, a mouse, a mini General Lee car, a coat hanger, a big thing of bubble wrap, two notebooks, an ESPN: The Magazine issue from 2005, three bags of coffee, a coat hanger, a whole buncha cassette tapes... and even more. And if you think I'm making any of this up for comedic effect, you'd be wrong.



They loaded up The Sable onto a flatbed, and just like that, the car was gone. And what's terrible slash funny about the whole thing is that the list price was $13,000. Because I had so much trouble with payments, and finance fees, and late payments and so on and so on, the price we ended up paying by the time it was all said and done? Around $22,000.

And we just gave it away. Yeah, we get a tax deduction... but not much. So hopefully it will help out whoever gets it, provided its working and the transmission had been fixed.

Thus ends a long vehicular chapter in the life of d$. Hopefully, my Honda auto be better.

My Car History

I figure this is a good reference. I'll refer to this from time to time. I probably should fill you in on my car history:

1992 to 1993... Oldsmobile Cutless Ciera. Drove it to Samson High School, despite living two blocks from the school (driving was truly the coolest thing). It was my dad's car, he let me use it. Result? Totaled in driving through Elba, Alabama, on my way back to Troy in October of '93. Three months after paying it off.

1993 to 1996... Buick Century. Drove it during my college years. Notable for the "bench" seat in the front, but also extremely easy to work on. Brian Wilbanks and I changed the alternator on it in about an hour at FarmHouse. Result? Four months after paying it off, it was totaled it coming back from an all night shift at WKMX one Saturday morning. Was supposed to take Heather Howell to see Beauty & the Beast at the Fox Theater in Atlanta the next night. That didn't happen.

1996 to 2000... Oldmobile Cutlass Supreme. Two door, bad a** car that drove well, but required constant maintenance. The alternator that cost $100 and one hour to replace on the Buick Century cost $400 and overnight to replace, because it required the services of a mechanic. Result? After paying it off three months prior, totaled when making an ill advised left turn, and hit by a Mercedes. While uninsured.

2000 to 2001... Chevy Blazer. Bought at Cars Alabama, the place downtown that says "you can get your down payment back if you make all your payments on time", which is a great coup for Cars Alabama, because if you are forced to go Cars Alabama to get a car, you probably aren't the type of person who will actually be paying your payments on time. (see: Dollar, David, circa 2000). I actually really, really liked this vehicle. It was from 1988, and I drove it for a year and a half. Result? After a while, I was riding on four bald tires and the entire steering column was loose, and moved. So, I traded it in for...

2001 to 2008... Mercury Sable, 1999. Purchased at Jim Burke Used Cars. Always look back and felt bullied into the car, as I had my eye on the small Toyota. It's a 9 year old car, and I've had it for 7 of those, now at 138,500+ miles on it. You want to know what I've dealt with this one?

• Replaced motor mounts, engine heads, oil parts, rack & pinion, and can now feel the transmission slipping.
• The heater doesn't work, so for three winters now, I've been kinda cold.
• The defrost doesn't work, so for three winters now, I've broken two different ice scrapers and destroyed about a dozen cassette tape cases.
• The driver side door doesn't unlock from the outside, so for two years, I've unlocked the car from the passenger side--this sucks in the rain.
• Replaced battery cables, when batteries kept dying