New Wheels and another bachelor weekend

Darla is in Hawaii...working, she says. She flew in on Friday and had a Silpada party for her sister-in-law, Kirsten, last night. Kirsten is signing up to be a rep for Darla in Hawaii and already has one girlfriend who will sign up under her. Darla, Steve and Kirsten are at a Journey concert tonight. I couldn't figure out how the concert played into the whole working vacation, but they are out enjoying themselves. I talked to Darla this afternoon and they were at the beach. She flies home on the red eye Tuesday night and will be back in Sacramento at about 8:00 AM Wednesday after a stop in San Francisco.

As you can see, I did buy myself a new car. It is actually a 2007 Chrysler 300 Limited with 20,00 miles on it. It is barely broken in and came to the dealer by way of a bank repo. The car is absolutely mint condition with a Boston Acoustics premium sound system paired with a Nuvi Navigation system and a hands free phone system. The stereo has MP3 capability, so I can use my I-Phone's library of music. The car is midnight blue metallic with a light gray leather interior (it is so light, I'd call it tan). I decided to get a new car based on the amount of travel that I'm doing and the fact that I can't take a group out to lunch in the Mustang. The Chrysler is 4 doors and seats 5 (it has front bucket seats). The trunk is roomy but narrow behind the back seat. I can fit four sets of golf clubs in the trunk, but you have to remove the woods to get two of the clubs to sit in the far portion of the trunk. I could fit a grand total of one set in my Mustang. The impetus for the new car is a pending visit by our CEO, Alan. He has asked for me to pick him up Tuesday morning at his hotel and go to breakfast and then to the office. The company pays me a car allowance and I decided it was time to put the money to work and to buy a big boy car. The Mustang was my mid-life crisis and I'm over it now. It was definitely cheaper than a blue eyed blonde. I traded the Mustang in on the Chrysler. The Chrysler has 22 inch chrome wheels with low profile tires and a deep rim. The car is also completely decked out in window tinting, with a darker tint on the three rear windows and a lighter tint on the front and front side windows. The dealer that sold it to me accidentally cut the tint on the passenger side window when he was removing the specs and price sheet with a razor blade and he will have that repaired. The car only came with one set of keys, so I have to go to the dealer and buy a new key fob.

I spent only two days looking at cars and drove an Acura TL, a Dodge Charger and two Chrysler 300s. I looked at a 2008 Chrysler 300, but it was the low grade package with stock wheels and cloth seats. It was nice, but it didn't really grab me. Darla and I rented a 300 in Las Vegas and liked the ride and feel of the car. When Darla and I stopped at the dealer in downtown Roseville to look at the 300 Limited, we were both completely sold on the car immediately. The Navigation system, leather interior, heated front bucket seats, moon roof, the custom wheels and the 3.5L High Output Engine sold us. It is a six cylinder and gets 28 MPG on the highway, but has the turbocharger for extra power and speed. It sold new for $32,000 and I paid well under $20,000 for the car. I will miss the Mustang, the sound and the power of it, but the Chrysler drives like a dream and the feeling is pure luxury. As a manager of an insurance office, I needed to grow up and get a luxury car, and now I have it. Even on my beer budget. Hey, I've got two kids at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Do the math.

I set up a golf road trip on Saturday up to the new John Daly designed golf course in Corning, Sevillano links. I got a foursome and a dinner certificate in the steakhouse for $50. The boys met at the shopping enter by my house Saturday morning at 7:00 AM and we drove the hour and forty minutes up to the course via Interstate 5. The course is beautifully designed and maintained and has a wonderful practice facility with several putting greens, a chipping green and a large bunker with a green to practice sand shots. The driving range is expansive and the grass on the range is nicer than the fairway at Diamond. I shot pretty well, managing a 40+43=83 on the day. Boyd shot 78, Bob had an 86 and Neil shot 100. The course had tough native grasses and it was hard to find your ball if you got off the fairway and rough and into the native grass. I was actually even par after six holes, but struggled down the stretch and had an up and down back nine. It was a great day and we topped it off with dinner in the lounge (the steakhouse didn't open until 5 PM and we didn't want to wait. We were off the course by 3 PM). I had a great shaved prime rib dip sandwich and we all shared a dessert before piling in the car for the ride home. I took my turn at the wheel and we were home by 6 PM. The golf course is located on an Indian Reservation and there is the requisite casino. We weren't even temped by the tables and machines and left without spending any time in the casino.

The dealer told me a story about when he worked at one of the large dealerships in town. he was the sales manager and took in a car on trade. An older gentleman bought a Cadillac for cash and traded in his Lincoln Town car. THREE days later he called and said he needed to get something out of the car. It had already been detailed and wasn't back on the lot yet. He asked him what was in the car and the old man said he needed to get into the trunk. Again, the dealer asked him what he was missing. It turns out he had stashed a briefcase with $140,000 in cash in the well under the trunk where the spare is kept. It was his life's savings.

Tom, the dealer, jumped in his car and drove down to the detail shop and found the car. The trunk and well were empty. He asked if anyone had called in sick. They had and it happened to be the guy who'd worked on the Lincoln. Tom got in his car and drove to the worker's home. His wife answered the door and he asked to speak to Manuel. Manuel walked up with the briefcase, his hands shaking. He hadn't even told his wife about the money and was sick with remorse as a good Catholic should be. He kept his job and was docked pay for that day.

That reminds me of the story of the armored car in Killeen, Texas that left a bank and two sacks fell off the back of the truck. The guards had forgot to lock the money in the back. An illegal alien Mexican saw the bags fall out and grabbed them and took off after the truck waving. The truck sped off. He flagged down a car and had them follow the truck and returned the money. The owner of the Armored Car service was so impressed by his honesty that he supported the man with the INS and helped him get his citizenship. He also gave him a job working with his company. It sounds like he had some real boneheads working for him.

I went to church this morning expecting to see the boys, but they didn't show. They headed back to Cal Poly this afternoon after their Spring break. I spent part of the day cleaning the pool equipment, taking the pressure washer to the filters. I also used a solvent and cleaner on the pool stone and the deck in preparation for re staining the deck and putting a new coat of sealant on the stone. It was windy and nasty today after an 80 degree day yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow will return to calmer weather.

I hope you are all well. Jennifer's hearing went well this week and their custody is essentially unchanged. John is still pushing the issue. He has abandonment issues because his Mom up and left the family when he was in junior high school. They have reconciled and she is being a bit of a prig to Jennifer. Jennifer hasn't left her child, she just left John. Everyone needs to take a breath and look at what is in Samantha's best interest. Luckily the judge is doing just that. Ciao.