What Gaston Blew In

Ender was telling me about how he missed the little caps of Chiriri’s adventures, so here are a few to whet the appetite:

– I swear these games are rigged…
– When it comes to saving outposts, sometimes you need a full alliance!
– Shiranae and Chiriri have a chance to meet God!
– Chiriri patiently signs autographs for all her adoring fans.
– Mom, look what I brought home. Can I keep him?

Not as Dishonest as I had Hoped

Over the weekend, I got a chance to visit the dealership where I think I’ll be picking up a new Scion xA. They had a reputation for having the best prices and an upfront, honest sales staff, so I decided to go take a look. This dealership was much nicer than the last one, but I was dismayed to learn that most dealerships aren’t really stocking 2004 xA’s, and so I won’t be able to save any money by getting last year’s model. Although the salesman we got was fairly scrupulous overall, there were still some rather sketchy moments. When Bunky mentioned the recent graduate rebate, our salesman pretended to have never heard of it, and denied that it existed. Too bad it was on the Scion website. In fact it was the only rebate posted on the Scion website. He even tried to click past the page with the rebate (pretending not to see it), but Bunky caught him red-handed. Later in discussions, it became clear that he actually knew all the details of the rebate, such as who it applied to, what conditions there were, etc. Of course we also got the speech about how there are barely any xA’s left (yeah right…), although it just so happens that if we pre-order today we will be able to get the color and options that we wanted. Hey, even an honest car salesman is still a car salesman. After about 30 minutes of this, I think he began to realize that we had done our research, and the communication became noticeably free of BS. The only thing I can think of is that we were being tested, and that they try to sell the cars in a very different way to unprepared customers. I’m still on my guard, however, since nothing he said was in writing; still, the price came out to be pretty close to what I thought it would be. The overhead charges were very low, and there were no expenses aside from the low processing fee and various tax, title, and registration fees (also very low). Unfortunately, this means there was not much to haggle about, which I found rather disappointing. It was definitely a life experience, and I left the dealership with my head spinning. I can see how people can make major mistakes at the dealership, and I was glad that we had decided not to buy the car on this visit before we even set foot on the dealership lot.

Speaking of good things with disappointments, I caught some of the MTV Video Music Awards yesterday night. I’m not worried about what I missed, as I’m sure MTV will continue to beat us over the head with replays of it. The most uncomfortable moment of the evening had to be when the Kerry daughters trotted out to talk about the importance of voting. The taller one was just awful! She kept shushing the crowd that was cheering for them, and treating them like unruly children she had gotten stuck with babysitting. I don’t think they understood that (although their message was important) people had come to the awards to have a good time and not to be lectured. I think they may have been booed off stage afterwards. The Bush daughters were noticeably less annoying. I don’t really like either of the candidates, but here is a little bit of advice for John Kerry: Do not let your daughters campaign for you!

The artists that performed did a good job overall. The only problem I had was when Chaka Khan came out and ruined Kanye West’s performance. I know that “Through the Wire” samples one of her hits, but my goodness her voice has deteriorated. The singing was absolutely terrible. Also very disappointing was Dave Chappel. I’d never seen him perform, but I had heard that he was very funny. This turned out to be completely untrue. I think even he realized he was mailing it in, because at one point he remarked that the audience would cheer for anything (except John Kerry’s daughters). Other than that, the show was pretty decent, and I know Bunky was pleased that Alicia Keys got an award. As a final note, I heard on the radio today that Britney Spears has never won an MTV VMA award. Crazy!

Ninja Air Combat

Everyone should brush up on their ninja air combat with this ultra-realistic game. It is the key to real ultimate power.

Getting Down

Bunky recently brought this crazy fluffy down blanket thing that is so amazing it defies logic. I’m not sure how it does it, but it seems to draw in air so that is always really poofy and soft. The whole thing just makes me want to yell “Mein Gott! Ich glaube, wie ich in einer weichen Wolke schlafe!”