Where have you been all my life?

Have I mentioned yet that I love my new car? It's fun to drive, pretty peppy for it's size, and comfortable to ride in. My son enjoys the space in the back seat (or at least I enjoy that he's not kicking the passenger seat constantly during our car fides), my husband can drive and change the seat position and all I have to do is push a little button and the seat goes back to the way I like it, and I have great music at my fingertips with a 6-CD changer in the dash. All of these things are good. Really good. But what is even better is the NAVIGATION SYSTEM.

Where has this thing been all my life? My husband can attest to how badly I needed this. Prior to getting this car, I was a mapquest junkie. I would mapquest EVERYTHING, print out the directions, and then end up with a tree equivalent in my backseat since I never threw away what I had printed. Have I mentioned how dangerous reading while driving is? More than that, what happens when you make a wrong turn? Your paper instructions just can't adapt. The nav system I got (and use almost daily) updates when I take wrong turns! Woo-hoo! I've found new routes to work, lakes I didn't know existed, and shortcuts in my town that I also didn't know existed.

The other really cool thing about this nav system is that it can find things for you. Here's an example...I just started this new job in a town that is about 30 miles away and that I'm not really familiar with. I needed to go to a post office the other day and I had NO IDEA where to go. So, I get into my trusty new car, turn on the nav system, and have it look up the nearest post office for me. Just push the little point of interest button, push post office, and voila! directions to the post office. It was under a mile away, but I would have never found it without the nav system (without asking a local) because it was tucked away on a back street. What a wonder. Today I found an ATM the same way. I don't think I can go back to a car without a navigation system ever again!

What fun!

War of the Worlds

We watched War of the Worlds last night, and although nagged by the feeling that we could have gotten a little more out of it if we had seen it on the big screen (or at least on the big plasma screen TV that we don't own), I have to say that it was a very disappointing movie. You're all going to see my geeky side come out here... It was full of inconsistencies and the feeling of "been there, done that". One inconsistency, occurred at the very beginning, was that the aliens who were attacking earth emitted an electromagnetic pulse that stopped everything electronic from working. Yet, five minutes later, there is some interesting cinematography through the lens of a digital camcorder. I have to admit that the cinematography was a cool touch, but c'mon, be a little consistent Steve. Cars aren't working, watches aren't working, how in the world is this dude's camcorder working?

There was also the usual back-story: deadbeat dad alienated from his kids, mom has a new near-perfect life, kids are a little bizarre from their parents splitting, resentment abounds, dad redeems himself in the eyes of the bitter children, everyone lives happily ever after (or at least the people who weren't dessimated by the aliens. There was a pathetic attempt at trying to make the son appear a hero and inspire his dad, but I didn't buy it. I could go on and on about this movie, but the last thing that was really irksome was that the wife's family somehow survived completely unscathed. Their house was intact, they were all clean and well-dressed, and even though the rest of Boston was destroyed, they made it through...no worries.

I'm usually a fan of Steven Spielberg, and I think that War of the Worlds had a lot of potential, but someone dropped the ball on this one (tempted to blame Tom Cruise here, but I really don't think he's the one responsible for this fumble)! Oh, but one more thing...I think that bacteria being the downfall of aliens was a pretty cool touch. That's just the immunologist in me...

Number Games

There are some strange number associations in my family, the significance of which I am unable to ascertain (I'm open to suggestions if anyone is into numerology). There are six people in my immediate family, three of us have a birthday on the 21st of a month, two of us have a birthday on the 5th of a month, and the last has a birthday on the 16th of a month (this is 21 minus 5 if the obviousness escapes you). When my son was born, I went into labor very early (5:30) in the morning on the 20th of a month, and my father predicted that my son would hold out being born until the 21st of the month. Wouldn't you know it, he was born around 3am on the 21st. Creepy!

This baby was originally due on the 24th of August, but my due date has since been revised to the 19th of the month. So, anyone placing bets on whether I go overdue so that this baby can be born on the 21st of the month? I sincerely doubt it, but I do have to add that today is the 21st of a month, and I have been suffering from very significant baby-related pains (no, I'm not in labor). Now, I don't want to curse myself since the day is not quite over, but I have to say that more than once today I considered that these pains were leading up to an event that I wasn't sure I was prepared for (early labor), simply due to the significance of the number. Thankfully, I drank a ton of water this evening and have kept my feet up on the couch, and so far it seems like the pains are simply just baby growing pains and nothing else. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

So, here's hoping that this 21st of the month comes and goes baby-free... We'll have to see what the 21st (or 5th or 16th) of the next month brings!

New Car!

I finally did it! We had to go all the way to Quincy to do it, but I got a car yesterday! I don't think I was robbed too badly, but it certainly wasn't for lack of trying on the part of the dealership. Here's what happened...

I called my neighborhood Ford dealer last week and told him that I wanted to buy a 2006 Ford Freestyle, and what options I wanted. He said that he'd see what he could find for me, but didn't have anything in stock that matched what I wanted. He called me back later and said that he could only find one that was at another dealership, but it had MORE than what I wanted and that he wouldn't be able to get me as good of a deal on it as he could if I bought one that they had in stock already. Since I didn't want to pay for options that I didn't necessarily want, and I wanted the freedom to negotiate, I told him that I'd try to figure out something else. So, with the beauty of the internet, I went online and searched the inventory of all the Ford dealers in a 60-mile radius of our house, which is how we ended up going to Quincy.

At first, it was a relatively easy transaction. I asked for a quote online, and was responded to right away. He listed a very good price and so we decided to bring my car in for an appraisal. He said that if I brought my title, we could probably get the transaction done and bring the car home the same day to save us the trouble of having to get back to Quincy during the next week. So, yesterday morning, the family jumped into the car and headed on the trek to Quincy. When we got there, the dealer pulled around the car I was interested in so that my husband could see it (up to that point, he had pretty much been out of the loop!), and they took my registration to check out my Volvo. Here's where it gets pretty shady...they come back to me and say that my trade-in is worth $5600. This is $3800 less than what Edmunds said my car should be worth for trade-in (I'm glad I looked it up before I left!). I got REALLY mad and told him NO WAY, I know that I should get much more for my trade! He then comes back with this book that has trade-in prices listed (it wasn't Kelly's Blue Book, I have no idea what it was) and he opens it to this page that lists the Volvo S40, and he says, "see? this is our guide for trade-ins, and it says your car is worth $5600". I look in the stupid book, and while he's right, that's what it said, that was the price for the stripped-down basic model. I had the "loaded SE turbo" which conveniently wasn't listed in the book. This made me even angrier because I think he was trying to take advantage of the big, fat, poor pregnant woman. So I told him to go online, look up the costs of all of the options that I had on my car, and come back with a price that better. He said that he couldn't do that, but then he said, "we really want to make this happen for you today, but there's no way we'll be able to give you that price for your trade in. Give me a number we can work with". So, I said $8000 and he did the usual "I have to talk to my manager" and came back with $7000. I said, "thanks, but no thanks, I can do a lot better elsewhere" (my sister and her husband would be so proud) and we started to walk out. He came running back and said how about if we do $7500 and zero percent financing? I was tempted to just say no, but I also wanted it to be over, so we took the price and the financing, and voila! new car (and we got to take it home yesterday). I think we did pretty well. We got the car at just under invoice rather than list price, and then a relatively fair price on the trade-in. My husband said that if we had completely left, we probably could have gotten them up to a better trade-in price, but it wasn't worth the long trip back and forth.

Ultimately, I am pleased with the transaction. It wasn't pain-free, but I don't feel like I got taken to the cleaners. It made me realize how much I got ripped off when I bought my Jeep back in 1998. I had no idea that you could even try to get a car for less than sticker price, that they generally try to rip you off on the value of your trade in, and that you could cleverly finance so as not to spend twice as much money on a car than it's worth. I ended up getting a $18,000 (sticker price) car for about $25,000 when all was said and done. YIKES.

Drumroll please...here is my new car!
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A Quality State Trooper

In general, I don't really have anything bad to say about Massachusetts State Troopers. I think that they have a really thankless job, and they do their best to protect MA citizens and uphold our laws. You really couldn't pay me enough to do what they do for a living, and I respect the danger that they put themselves in every day for our benefit. This being said, I am not sure that all of them are the most savvy of individuals. Indeed, I saw a State Trooper today do something so moronic that I am preferring to believe was just having an off day...I was shocked to see what he did.

I was driving home from work this evening, on a three-lane highway (I guess technically it's a 6-lane highway, three lanes on each side) that has a 65 MPH speed limit. There was a trooper standing in the right breakdown lane of the highway, shooting his radar gun at oncoming traffic. This in itself is not shocking, although I think his safety may have been better served shooting the radar gun from within his vehicle. Nevertheless, that was what he was doing. What shocked me was that he targeted someone in the far-left lane (who I agree should have been pulled over, the guy was FLYING). Then the genius trooper stepped into oncoming traffic in the far right lane to get the attention of the driver in car he was trying to pull over. It wasn't just that he took one step into the lane, he walked halfway across it... The cars in both the middle lane and the right lane slammed on their brakes, because they weren't sure if he was going to stop, continue, or run back onto the shoulder! He nearly caused a multi-car accident, not to mention nearly losing his own life.

The trooper did get his man (and he had three other cars pulled over at the same time), but I think that the danger in which he put himself and the other drivers who were respecting the speed limit, was not worth the revenue that will come out of four measley little moving violations.

The F Bomb

I have really been trying to be a good mom. I try not to lose my temper too often, to understand where my son is coming from when he's throwing a tantrum and to play at least as much as I discipline. The inconsistencies that we have to deal with as parents are astounding... For example, we're trying to teach my son to share with others. For the most part, he's very good at it - as good as a 19-month-old can be. The problem is, that he's learned the word share, and therefore expects us to share with him as well. Food, no problem. Coffee, beer, wine...problem. So, we tell him that there are certain things that are only mommy and daddy things, things that little boys can't have. I'm sure he wants to know why there aren't certain things that are only his things, but he hasn't learned the words to vocalize this yet. Nevertheless, I can see it in his eyes. This is among the things we struggle with as parents.

Our son is also developing quite a vocabulary very rapidly. He is really a little ocular sponge, and often surprises us with the things he comes up with. This leads to the obvious conclusion that we really have to watch what we say! We really don't have potty-mouths, but even some topics of conversation are probably not appropriate, and we've been making a concerted effort to self-edit.

This brings us to this morning. I am very under the weather today, some kind of stomach bug that is also some form of temporary narcolepsy (not really, I'm just REALLY tired and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat...most likely a combination of the pregnancy and the illness). Bottom line...I was not in top form. Our son and I were playing on the floor with his building blocks, and I got tired and so laid my head down on the floor when *WHAM* he hits me in the head with a big wooden dog. Yowsa did it hurt - and before I could even think about it, I dropped the big F-bomb! I was horrified but also speechless with pain and tears in my eyes. I am not sure that my son even registered what I said, he was so startled by my reaction to what happened. He and his dad went and got me the boo-boo kitty out of the freezer, and I had a nasty headache. Our son said that he was sorry and kept checking too see that I was ok (but he was also crying because he couldn't have the boo-boo kitty too). He and his daddy went outside to play, and I'm pretty sure that he rapidly forgot about it as soon as he got on his bike. I think that I am much more traumatized.

What comes from all this? Probably not much, but next week when our son surprises his teachers at day care with the F-bomb, we all know who to hold responsible!

My Apologies...

I very clearly owe an apology to Dr. Gilbert, the author of a Time Magazine article on Father's Day that I took great offense to. A link to my original post is here. Today I received a comment from Dr. Gilbert that informed me that he DOES indeed have a son (and a grandchild). His comment was as follows:

why is it that you can't just disagree with an argument and say why. but must instead add a lot of personal insults to your otherwise interesting counter-argument?I'm not a sick, bitter person. I just have a different view on some matters. Name calling makes you look foolish instead of thoughtful.

And oh, my son and granddaughter were very surprised to find out that I have no children.

To my credit, I did make a sincere (but obviously not thorough enough) effort to find out if he had children before I made my comments. Unfortunately, the only biography that I could find on him only stated that he lived with his wife in Cambridge (which makes sense since his child is grown). Therefore, with hat in hand, I apologize to Dr. Gilbert for my misstatement about his inability to make an accurate assesment of fatherhood due to his lack of experience in the matter.

I still stand by most of my other comments, and ironically, the knowledge that Dr. Gilbert has a son makes the article even more heartbreaking to me. I wonder how his son felt after reading that he was more of a burden than blessing in his father's life?

My 15 Minutes of Not-So-Much Fame

There's a radio station in the Boston area called Mike FM, that is relatively new here. It's one of those open format, no DJ's, "we play anything" kind of stations; I really like it. Anyway, they have this gimmick where you can go on the internet and request your two favorite songs. If they can play them, they'll call you up and record you introducing them. It's called "Mike on Demand".

Well, apparently they don't play "anything" because they didn't have the two songs I requested. But, as a little consolation prize, they called me tonight and asked me if I wanted to record a promo for them to play tomorrow. They're going on the air commercial-free for the 4th of July, and they wanted people to make a big deal out of it. So I made something up that they recorded over the phone (and they're going to splice the heck out of it because I made a bunch of mistakes). It's going to play sometime during the 11am hour tomorrow!

So, if you're in the Boston area, tune in and listen for my loverly voice on the air! If you're not in the area, I am pretty sure it's streaming online. It's only going to be a few seconds so probably not worth going out of your way to listen (especially since they couldn't say when in the hour it was going to play), but it's fun for me nonetheless!

Evolution of Dance

My dad sent me a link to this web page last week, and I thought it was hysterical. It's a little long, but worth taking a look at.

I think he's missing the most recent dance style - it's called Krumping, and it looks to me like the people are having seizures or are just about to begin fighting or something. Not really up my alley, but definitely worth a parody! It probably just means that I'm getting old. Of course, in this description they liken krumping to mosh pits. I spent a bit of time in mosh pits in my day, and I'm not sure it's the same thing, but I understand the concept - kind of a form on non-violent self-expression - although I came home a little bruised from mosh pits from time to time!