As Jarom, Amber and I were surfing the web, well youtube, really, we found a couple of things actually worth watching, here they are:
Top Secret Drum Corps Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2009
Honestly, it doesn't get really interesting until about 5:59, but the rest of it is pretty good, too. Except the cheesy narrator talking about all the drummers having day jobs and such.
Peep Microwave Disaster
I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It made me think of Becky and her love of peeps. And Ghostbusters. I feel like I need some peeps... (I have to admit, the second time wasn't nearly as funny. I already knew what was going to happen.)
BTW, David and I are on hiatus from our minivan search. Looks like Tim Dahle Nissan is still trying to sell the salvaged minivan we almost bought. Even after we told them about it. They're still trying to sell it for above the top NADA price for a Sienna in excellent condition that's never been in a wreck. Figures. I feel like turning them into the BBB, but you can't get much lower than and "F," can you?
And, did I tell you about the minivan we test drove on Monday that smelled like it had a dead animal in it? Turns out they detailed it and rolled up all the windows before the upholstery and carpet dried completely. Mildew. Ewwww...
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
All's Well that Ends Well
Last weekend was stressful, to say the least. After a week of researching minivans on the internet, David and I went out to test drive a few. With no intention of actually buying a minivan that day. We were just looking, that's all.
The first lot we went to was very low-key, no pressure. We test drove an '04 Odyssey and an '04 Sienna. David likes Odysseys better. I'm OK with either, but the seats in that Odyssey seemed very uncomfortable to me. And the interior was very, very light gray. I could just imagine it looking horrible all the time. The Sienna's seats were more comfortable and the interior slightly darker, but it had probably 20,000 more miles on it and was $2000 more.
The next lot we went to was little higher pressure, but they only had one Sienna and no Odysseys. The Sienna they had was an '03 and it had practically no legroom in the back. They must have redesigned the Sienna in '04 so it had more legroom.
The third lot we went to had a very nice '04 Sienna with 77,000 miles on it. David's not really crazy about Siennas, but somehow the salesmen twisted our arms into buying this one. They started out wanting $14,000 for it and we talked them down to $11,300. We did get a contingency that if our mechanic rejected it, we didn't have to buy it.
David drove the van home and I drove the Crown. I was too freaked out to drive it. I was happy, we've never had a car that nice before. We got home and wanted to take the kids on a test drive - see if they had enough legroom and all, since our 2 boys are almost 6 feet tall and the girls are not much shorter than I am. Meagan was at work, but Cameron and Amber came outside pretty quickly. Jarom had locked himself in the bathroom and didn't come out for another 20 minutes. Ah, teenagers.
Finally, we got everyone in the car and drove around a couple of blocks. Just after we got home and David was still sitting in the driver's seat with the engine idling, I looked over at the dashboard and noticed the check engine light was on. Great.
Then I went inside and was debating whether to pull a car fax on the car. But $30 a shot seemed pretty pricey. Fortunately, I found a free website (nicb.org) where I could look up the VIN number. What? The van was salvaged? It had been in a wreck last November? Great.
Then I looked up the car dealership on bbb.org. Guess what their rating was? An F. I could have sworn I looked up all the dealerships we were going to visit and they'd gotten a B+ or better. Not this one. Crap.
I didn't sleep very well Saturday night.
Sunday morning I got up early to go religion hopping with Cameron, Meagan and Becky. Not that I slept much Saturday night anyway. Becky was nice enough to chauffer us around town, since we only have one car and David needed it so he could give his High Council talk at 11:00.
Becky picked us up at about 7:30 and we drove to the Cathedral for Mass. It was as pretty as I remember it being when Meagan and I went there a couple of years ago. We had to leave Mass early because it dragged on and on. I thought mass was supposed to last only 1 hour? Maybe it was longer because it was Palm Sunday? We did each get a palm frond and we got holy water splashed on us. We sat on the bench directly in front of the ushers. I think they were annoyed we didn't know what was going on. We tried. The ushers did have nice singing voices, as did one of the priests. Becky and I think that must be a qualification to be a priest.
After that, we drove over to the Buddhist Temple, which was not very far away, just on the other side of the Salt Palace. When we disembarked from the car and walked around the corner, I smelled what I thought was smoke from a pipe. The temple looked traditional Japanese. I think Meagan said it was on Japan Street. Or something. We got there for the end of meditation, which didn't seem like meditation to me. More like an informal speech.
We sat near the back of the chapel (?) on one of several wooden benches. I was glad the seats were cushioned. Three large red and gold shrines lined the front wall. I liked the little golden chimes hanging from the roofs. Inside the shrines were pictures of people who I suppose are important in the Buddhist church?
After about 20 minutes of a cute, perky reverend, who must have grown up Catholic leading us in "meditation," Dharma school began. We attempted to sing along with their songs and repeat their chants and poems. They were all very lovely saying about peace and love and gratitude, so I was OK with repeating them. Most of it was in Japanese, but they had English translations in the book, so we knew what we were saying.
About the middle of the service, a jack-hammer started up outside. It was not terribly loud, just a little distracting. It reminded me of the yoga class I had where there was a karate class upstairs. The yoga instructor said something like, "The sounds around you will not distract you, you will focus on your breathing." I love yoga instructors. That's about the time I realized the smell was not pipe smoke, but incense. I could have done without the incense.
Near the end of the service, when everything was rather quiet, a big "bong" rang out through the room. I jumped. Then I realized it was the sound of "om." The next two times I was expecting the bong and I rather enjoyed the resonance of the sound.
After that, Becky drove us home. I got to show Becky the salvaged van in our driveway and how the check engine light was still coming on every time you started the car up. Sigh.
Then, we went to our own church and I wrangled Primary kids. I kept thinking about how weird it was to sort of be in charge at church after I'd been to other churches where I had little idea what was going on. Going to another church and having friendly people greet me always reminds me of how important it is to be friendly to people at my own church, whether I know them or not.
So, after stressing out about the stupid van all weekend, David and I took it to Autozone and Gines' around 7:00 am Monday morning to have it checked out. Yep, it had been in a wreck. Bad enough that the frame had to be welded back together and the driver's airbag had more than likely deployed. Gines' didn't even bother checking why the check engine light came on.
Somehow I made it through work, then David and I picked up my cousin John, a Hertz mechanic, to go to Tim Dahle Nissan with us, just in case they wouldn't take the van back. John knows Mark at Gines - they used to be in the same ward - Mark was John's bishop for awhile, so they teased each other and talked about Scouts.
Finally, after almost two days, we made it back to Tim Dahle. When David saw the salesman who sold us the car, he held out the keys to the van and said, "You can have it back." The salesman was stunned, but he got someone else who could help us (it was his second day on the sales floor, poor guy) - after about 15 minutes.
I was so relieved when the guy who did all the finance paperwork signed a form saying we were released from the contract. Whew. That was close. I'm glad that's over!
The first lot we went to was very low-key, no pressure. We test drove an '04 Odyssey and an '04 Sienna. David likes Odysseys better. I'm OK with either, but the seats in that Odyssey seemed very uncomfortable to me. And the interior was very, very light gray. I could just imagine it looking horrible all the time. The Sienna's seats were more comfortable and the interior slightly darker, but it had probably 20,000 more miles on it and was $2000 more.
The next lot we went to was little higher pressure, but they only had one Sienna and no Odysseys. The Sienna they had was an '03 and it had practically no legroom in the back. They must have redesigned the Sienna in '04 so it had more legroom.
The third lot we went to had a very nice '04 Sienna with 77,000 miles on it. David's not really crazy about Siennas, but somehow the salesmen twisted our arms into buying this one. They started out wanting $14,000 for it and we talked them down to $11,300. We did get a contingency that if our mechanic rejected it, we didn't have to buy it.
David drove the van home and I drove the Crown. I was too freaked out to drive it. I was happy, we've never had a car that nice before. We got home and wanted to take the kids on a test drive - see if they had enough legroom and all, since our 2 boys are almost 6 feet tall and the girls are not much shorter than I am. Meagan was at work, but Cameron and Amber came outside pretty quickly. Jarom had locked himself in the bathroom and didn't come out for another 20 minutes. Ah, teenagers.
Finally, we got everyone in the car and drove around a couple of blocks. Just after we got home and David was still sitting in the driver's seat with the engine idling, I looked over at the dashboard and noticed the check engine light was on. Great.
Then I went inside and was debating whether to pull a car fax on the car. But $30 a shot seemed pretty pricey. Fortunately, I found a free website (nicb.org) where I could look up the VIN number. What? The van was salvaged? It had been in a wreck last November? Great.
Then I looked up the car dealership on bbb.org. Guess what their rating was? An F. I could have sworn I looked up all the dealerships we were going to visit and they'd gotten a B+ or better. Not this one. Crap.
I didn't sleep very well Saturday night.
Sunday morning I got up early to go religion hopping with Cameron, Meagan and Becky. Not that I slept much Saturday night anyway. Becky was nice enough to chauffer us around town, since we only have one car and David needed it so he could give his High Council talk at 11:00.
Becky picked us up at about 7:30 and we drove to the Cathedral for Mass. It was as pretty as I remember it being when Meagan and I went there a couple of years ago. We had to leave Mass early because it dragged on and on. I thought mass was supposed to last only 1 hour? Maybe it was longer because it was Palm Sunday? We did each get a palm frond and we got holy water splashed on us. We sat on the bench directly in front of the ushers. I think they were annoyed we didn't know what was going on. We tried. The ushers did have nice singing voices, as did one of the priests. Becky and I think that must be a qualification to be a priest.
After that, we drove over to the Buddhist Temple, which was not very far away, just on the other side of the Salt Palace. When we disembarked from the car and walked around the corner, I smelled what I thought was smoke from a pipe. The temple looked traditional Japanese. I think Meagan said it was on Japan Street. Or something. We got there for the end of meditation, which didn't seem like meditation to me. More like an informal speech.
We sat near the back of the chapel (?) on one of several wooden benches. I was glad the seats were cushioned. Three large red and gold shrines lined the front wall. I liked the little golden chimes hanging from the roofs. Inside the shrines were pictures of people who I suppose are important in the Buddhist church?
After about 20 minutes of a cute, perky reverend, who must have grown up Catholic leading us in "meditation," Dharma school began. We attempted to sing along with their songs and repeat their chants and poems. They were all very lovely saying about peace and love and gratitude, so I was OK with repeating them. Most of it was in Japanese, but they had English translations in the book, so we knew what we were saying.
About the middle of the service, a jack-hammer started up outside. It was not terribly loud, just a little distracting. It reminded me of the yoga class I had where there was a karate class upstairs. The yoga instructor said something like, "The sounds around you will not distract you, you will focus on your breathing." I love yoga instructors. That's about the time I realized the smell was not pipe smoke, but incense. I could have done without the incense.
Near the end of the service, when everything was rather quiet, a big "bong" rang out through the room. I jumped. Then I realized it was the sound of "om." The next two times I was expecting the bong and I rather enjoyed the resonance of the sound.
After that, Becky drove us home. I got to show Becky the salvaged van in our driveway and how the check engine light was still coming on every time you started the car up. Sigh.
Then, we went to our own church and I wrangled Primary kids. I kept thinking about how weird it was to sort of be in charge at church after I'd been to other churches where I had little idea what was going on. Going to another church and having friendly people greet me always reminds me of how important it is to be friendly to people at my own church, whether I know them or not.
So, after stressing out about the stupid van all weekend, David and I took it to Autozone and Gines' around 7:00 am Monday morning to have it checked out. Yep, it had been in a wreck. Bad enough that the frame had to be welded back together and the driver's airbag had more than likely deployed. Gines' didn't even bother checking why the check engine light came on.
Somehow I made it through work, then David and I picked up my cousin John, a Hertz mechanic, to go to Tim Dahle Nissan with us, just in case they wouldn't take the van back. John knows Mark at Gines - they used to be in the same ward - Mark was John's bishop for awhile, so they teased each other and talked about Scouts.
Finally, after almost two days, we made it back to Tim Dahle. When David saw the salesman who sold us the car, he held out the keys to the van and said, "You can have it back." The salesman was stunned, but he got someone else who could help us (it was his second day on the sales floor, poor guy) - after about 15 minutes.
I was so relieved when the guy who did all the finance paperwork signed a form saying we were released from the contract. Whew. That was close. I'm glad that's over!
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