Decided to actually get out on my brief vacation, took a drive up to High Point State Park in NJ for some fresh air, breathtaking views, and a bit of hiking…
Hadn’t been there in a while, I think I’ll visit again when I get some time. The tower is open now, so if I feel like climbing a couple hundred steps, I’ll get to partake in one of the best views of this area I could hope to find.
So I get home tonight and there’s a letter in the mail from my credit card company… (link). Good news, the folks I ordered the intake for my old car from, and who refused to take my return, now have 45 days to credit my account or my credit card company will credit me for them. Yay!
Passed the 1 month mark with my VW, I am still completely pleased with the car. I’ve only had one problem with it (rear wiper nozzle was clogged) but I fixed that myself. Gas mileage has averaged at 28mpg with a low of 27 and a high of 30. I’m thoroughly amazed by the fit and finish of this car. I’m sorry, but I’ve driven Dodge since I first got my license, cars which ranged from $15K to $30K brand new, which didn’t even come close. It’s hard to explain silence, but that’s exactly what my car is whether I’m doing 30, 60, or 90+mph. Only the most high-pitched noises get in. No rattles, no buzzing, just the motor when I’m on it and the whoosh of the turbo as it spools up. The handling is second to none; I thought my Neon had Go-Kart handling until I drove the GTI. The handling is un-matched, and the power is more than enough to satisfy my need for speed. I should have bought one years ago.
Funny side note, apparently while driving my old car to the transfer lot, the head-gasket blew. That’s at least $1600 to repair… And sure, while the cost of repairing the old ride surely wouldn’t approach the amount I still owe on my VW… The fact I have no stress due to, and haven’t missed any work because of my ride have been worth the investment. What’s the point of spending money on something that doesn’t satisfy? Who knows, maybe this month I’ll pay off the credit card which still has a balance due to repairing the old ride…
How about those gas prices! Couple of quick notes:
#1 Releasing oil from our strategic reserves won’t solve a gasoline refinement and distribution problem.
#2 Bush is an idiot for satiating the idiot Libs like Chuck Schumer by releasing oil that won’t solve the problem.
#3 Environmentalists should be shot with recycled bullets for being the key reason that there haven’t been any new refineries built in the USA in the past 15+ years.
#4 Repeat #3 with emphasis on the Environmentalist morons who won’t let us drill for oil in ANWR. Dependence on foreign oil is a significant problem that won’t be solved by talk about alternative energy sources. They’re up and coming, but hindering progress by attempting to force the free-market is fucking moronic. My car runs on gas. Your car runs on gas. Maybe in 10 years they won’t, but as long as we all still drive cars which run on gas, we’ll fucking need it. Got a problem? Refer to #3. I’ll be glad to provide recycled bullets if you’ll shoot yourselves with them.
So last night I’m driving home from the mall, when I turn to get onto Route 23 there’s an older Jetta in front of me with a couple of kids in it. I pull out into the passing lane and get on the gas. So they proceed to try to keep up with me. I blew their doors off, but slowed once my needle got to around 80mph. I guess they figured they couldn’t get past me, but whatever. I saw no need at this point to do what they did. We get to Canistear road, I go under the train trestle, and then they proceed to stay no more than 1 car length off my rear bumper the entire time with their high beams on. On top of it, I was stuck behind 2 other cars. What the fuck? Why are the VW drivers I actually run into on the road such assholes? Were they pissed because their car is old and slow? I hadn’t set out to prove anything when the drive started, but these guys seriously pissed me off.
So we get up by Ames Rd, I pull off real quick and then back on, right behind them. At this point the kid in the rear of the car keeps looking at me. Not sure what exactly for, be he keeps looking at me. I stay no more than 1 car length off their rear bumper until they pull off somewhere by the Highland Lakes security office. Funny, once I was behind them they didn’t try to speed. They didn’t try to get away; they were the good little drivers.
Maybe they’ll think twice the next time someone has the audacity to pass their piece of shit red Jetta with a fart tip… But I doubt it.
Well I’ve officially written off this past weekend. Between several consecutive cases of bad timing and other stress, I was more than happy to be back behind a desk today.
Took a few minutes today and made my car payment over the phone to Volkswagen, was pretty easy to do. I prefer online payment but right now that’s not an option. I did do some math and came to the conclusion that in 2 years or $8,000 I’ll be buying out my lease with another 4 year loan. That way I’ll be making the same exact payments, but it’ll be for a car I own.
Ran into another GTI owner the other day who was raving about the performance upgrade. I’d love to check it out if not for the whole warranty voiding aspect of it… I heard a rumor that VW offers their own performance upgrades which don’t void the warranty. I may check those out. Either way, the car is capable of more, and while I’m thrilled with the performance at this point, who knows I may just want to bump it up a few ticks in the future. Good to know its just a laptop away.
So I get a call this evening, one of my users has 30K email. Super. What the fuck. This marks the 2nd DoS attack involving email on my network this week. The first involved emails being sent out with a pair of 2.5mb images attached from God only knows where… Zombie computers. Anyhow, the “sender” address was one of mine. So I get in and find my T1 pegged due to all the undeliverables being returned from Yahoo.
Now today, some peckerhead sends out 30K+ emails to random people originating from another one of my addresses. So in come all the damned undeliverable messages again, blasting both my email box and that of the other user which are forwards from an alias.
What the fuck?
So I block the yahoo servers. I disable the account. Now what. The fact this is twice in one week leads me to believe there’s likely a single solitary asshole at the cause of it. Frankly, I’d like to see if they could hold their ground in person. Yea, I’d be GLAD to knock this SOB out if I ever met them.
So Friday sucked, and tonight sucked. I’ve been working on this for at least 2 hours now… Thats it, beer o’clock.
So I end up behind a modded silver WRX last night on the way home. He’s got this grumbly exhaust, and a blowoff valve which sounded a little depressed…rims, huge wing… We get to the end of the 30mph zone and he guns it. Doesn’t get more than 2-3 carlengths away from me, suprised the hell out of me. He blipped the throttle when I pulled off, was a fun little run. I tell ya this thing suprises me more every day.
First car, 1992 Plymouth Acclaim, got it with about 170K on the odometer… First month it runs away from me into a tree.
Second car, 1995 Dodge Intrepid ES, got it with 50K on the odometer, first month it gets clipped by a landscaping trailer.
Third car, 2001 Dodge Neon ES, got it new, at 1000K on the odometer it takes $3,000 worth of damage from a deer.
Fourth car, 1986 Buick Regal T-Type, first month brakes fail.
Fifth car, 2000 Dodge Intrepid R/T, first month while backing out of a parking spot, both passenger side doors are crushed by a phone pole, $1800.
Now… I was hoping I’d make it a month with the VW…
But no…
Fate conspired…
Defiled my sacred little place on the Earth…
Damned washer nozzle on the rear window clogged. Took 5 minutes to clear the clog and fix it.
Bet ya thought something bad happened, ‘eh?
Yea so the intakes being returned due to ‘corrosion’ on the intake pipe and they say I should put a claim in to FedEx. Right. A big plastic pipe that is brand new is corroded. You know, a company is only as good as its service. The products could even suck, but if you’ve got outstanding customer service, they’ll make it work. This is a case of me spending $200 for something I wanted, waiting nearly 2 weeks for it to actually get to me, and then when I recieved it, not being satisfied and sending it back. They fucked me out of $200. So I’ll make it work.
Assholes.
Looks like CarDomain is going to make me eat what I paid for my damned CAI for the Intrepid. They say it is unsaleable. BS. I could bolt the thing right onto another 3.5 with no problem whatsoever. As such, it is for sale for $150. It’s a FIPK (Fuel Injection Performance Kit) by K&N for the 2nd gen Dodge 3.5l V6. Second thing up for sale is my old BASS rig for the Dodge. It’s a sealed enclosure, a pair of JL Audio W0’s and a 400w PlanetAudio amp. That’ll go for $400. Interested? Want pics? You know how to reach me.
