Monday, December 06, 2004

Volvos Rock, Pats Roll!

Well, the new car is home! It's a 2001 Volvo S60 2.4T. The "T" is for turbo, and it rocks! We were going to buy a non-turbo in a cooler color, but opted for the turbo in "good-color-but-not-our-favorite." Good call. There is one issue, though (actually 2, since the floor mats stink!). The dealer let us take the car overnight so we could get a longer time to test it out, drive really fast on the highway, and show it off to some friends and family. Everything was great. So we went back the next day and bought it. Sweet! Everything went smoothly, he came down on the price a little. Then we left the dealer to go drop off our son. As we were leaving the house where we just dropped him off, a grinding noise came from the right front wheel!!!! WE JUST LEFT THE FLIPPIN' DEALER!!!!!! It didn't do this the night before, before we bought it. Maybe when the dealer double checked the VIN and mileage, he flipped a little switch that had masked the problem before we signed the papers. The car has made the noise about three more times, and on the left side, too! The car still runs well, and has warranty left, but I'm not sure if whatever is causing the noise is covered under it. It doesn't happen during braking, just wide turning at slow speeds. My lack of car knowledge again torments me. I'm calling the dealer today to let him know, and try to get it into the service guy who allegedly cleared the car before the sale.!Aarrggghh We still love the car, but WTF?!?!?!

It was a mixed sports weekend. The Patriots won big, but the Steelers squeaked one out! My college's football team got totally spanked in the second round of the Div IAA playoffs. Oh well, they overachieved this year, and should be proud of what they accomplished: the school's first playoff victory. As far as the rest of college football, I don't really care. I guess it's good that Oklahoma and USC are finally going to play each other, but I'm not a fan of either. If Ohio State's not playing in a big bowl game, I lose interest. I will be cheering for Utah, though. It's pretty exciting that they're in a BCS game, but disappointing that they're playing Pittsburgh! I hope they win, to partially justify their place in the top 6. Still no hockey. Sigh. I also didn't do my long training run this weekend. I'm a bum, I know, but it'll be 10 miles next weekend, I promise!

As for the rest of the weekend, my wife and I had a little time alone. So we spent it cold, miserable and physically exhausted! We built the new shed, which arrived early Saturday am. It's a Rubbermaid shed that you essentially click together. Sounds easy, right? Not so much, actually. First we had to "dig" up the frozen dirt to level the ground, because the walls weren't fitting together the first time we tried. It was more like strip mining, but without dynamite or heavy equipment. Then when we got all the walls up, the damn roof gable wasn't fitting! I had to lift the mostly-assembled shed numerous times while my wife put more dirt under this corner, or that one. Several nervous breakdowns, sore muscles and nicked fingers later, we squeezed that sum'bitch on! We made a valiant effort to get the roof on before dark, but the bastard wasn't cooperating, and we put it off until the next day. It's done now, and the doors don't close properly, but fuck it! As for the romantic evening we had planned, Johnny Depp speaking in a Scottish accent was romance enough, so we went to sleep and slept in late! Been a long time since we've been able to both do that, so it was nice. Now to call the dealer and be tough! "What kind of lemon did you sell us, jerkoff?" I can do that, sure I can.