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  • Getting Rid of the Cube

    Well, I was easily able to return the cube to best buy.  However, ebgames doesn’t take returns on cube accessories that have been opened (broadband adapter and memory card).  Plus, I accidentally disposed of the reciept for Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2, so they wouldn’t take that back either.  Talk about a bummer.  Well, off to ebay to sell them, or so I thought.

    Aaron Binford recently started selling his cd’s on amazon.com, while undercutting all the other personally sellers on there.  Turns out he’s already made close to $300.  Well, what have I got to lose?  I throw up the game, broadband adapter, and memory card on Sunday.  Today, just an hour or so ago, PSO sold for $55 ($10 more than what I bought it for, but $10 cheaper than the cheapest other seller on amazon.com).  Hopefully the other items will sell just as nicely.  One can only hope.  Now I just need to get to the post office tomorrow and get it sent off. 

    This is way better than taking a huge loss, that’s for sure 🙂

  • Happy 4th!

    Wow, of all the posts I just made, I almost totally forgot this one! 

    From everyone here at rebelpeon.com, Happy 4th of July!  And remember to play and party safe.

  • Gamecube Mistake

    Well, I finally got a GameCube.  Granted, the only reason I got it was because of the $100 Gift Certificate to Best Buy I received from my credit card company.  So, I bought the broadband adapater, memory card, and Phantasy Star Online for it.  I got it all hooked up and I was able to stream some of the games to the gamecube.  Most of the games worked fine, but granted, it’s a wee bit more of a hack than on the xbox.

    Now, this morning, I’m questioning my decision.  The system was free for me (minus tax), however, the other 3 things added over $100.  I think I’m going to return everything and just use the $100 Best Buy gift card to buy cd’s instead.  The nice thing about the xbox, is that I can use it for other things (i.e. streaming music to my reciever and speakers from my server upstairs), but the GameCube can only be used for games and I don’t game that much.  Once the initial fun wears off, it will just sit around collecting dust.  Heck, the xbox does that enough on it’s own.  Thankfully the xbox is easy to repackage, and I’ll just return it to Best Buy.  The other stuff (minus the game) might be a little harder, since it’s some great packaging that you have to destroy to actually get the product out. 

    Hopefully EBGames will take them back, otherwise ebay here we come!

    I guess this marks the end for the gamecube category.

  • It’s Been Done

    Yesterday was the day I drove up to Lafayette, IN to talk to the guys up there.  Unfortunately, when I got there, I was informed that they didn’t have the car yet.  I was quite bummed about that, especially with the prospect that I’d have to drive back up there to get it later.  While I was there though, they checked out my truck to see how much the’d be willing to offer me.  They seemed much more competent about figuring out the trade in value.  Here in town, the first value they gave me, they didn’t even enter the car, the guy just walked around it.  Then, the second time, he drove it around the lot.  Well, up at Mike Raisor Imports, they actually took it into the mechanic and did a once over on it.  Of course, they found out that, yes, the cars as A/C, but in fact it doesn’t work.  It really hasn’t worked that well since the car was new, but oh well.  Mike Auth (the salesman I delt with), was straight up with me.  He said that they’d probably be able to get $1500 for it the way it is (broken windshield, a/c not working, etc).  However, since I was given a trade-in value here in town of $2330, it was obvious he didn’t want to just give me $1500.  In fact, after talking with his boss, he’s giving me a trade-in of $2500.  Plus, he can give me the car for less than sticker price.  This is the point, I’m thinking there’s no way I can go wrong. 

    So, I wait a bit to talk to the money people.  Actually, it was quite awhile, but that’s ok because Mike sat around and talked with me to pass the time.  Since I had talked to Mike earlier and given him all my info, they had already gotten me approved at various banks.  That definitely saved some time.  However, when I started talking to Jaquie, she was quoting me prices starting at over $400!  That was over $100 more than what I was going to pay here.  Granted, that was with all the extra slapped on, but even the base price of the car, without any extras, was still quite a bit higher than what I was told here.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why either.  I mean, the car was cheaper, the trade-in was for more, and the taxes were a quarter of a percent lower.  Well, it turns out she was using quotes from the local banks there, and their apr was 7.9%!  Obviously this was quite a bit higher than the 3.9% that I was given here in town.  Needless to say, I ask her why I wasn’t given quotes with the 3.9% that VW was offering.  Well, for what ever reason it required more paperwork, so she hadn’t even gone through that.  Well, I was very frank with her, if she couldn’t get it to the price that the place in town was, there was no way I was going to purchase from them.  Especially since by buying it out of state, I’d have to do more legwork after the purchase; I’d have to go to the DMV, and get setup and pay for the title, license, and pay the extra quarter percent of tax. 

    Needless to say, she wanted me to buy the car.  So, she priced it out with 4.9%, apparantly the best she could do, since I wanted 72 months (that way I didn’t have to worry about high payments, but can always pay more which I plan on doing).  She got the price below that of what was offered here, and then threw in some extras (like the extended warranty) to make up for the fact I have to stand in line at the DMV and pay extra then.  At that point, I really couldn’t say no.  The people there were way to nice, and they had beaten the price, which is what I wanted. 

    Unfortunately, like I said earlier, they didn’t have the car on the lot, so I couldn’t drive it home.  Instead, they are going to deliver it to me.  Actually, we’re going to meet half-way, because I’m such a nice guy 🙂  With everything that I delt with here in Champaign, I’m so glad that I happened to have called up there and talked to Mike Auth.  Talk about a great guy to deal with.  Heck, everybody that I talked to at Mike Raisor was great.  Unfortunately not all dealerships are like that, but as far as I’m concerned, they should be.  I’m almost tempted to have my service work (if I ever need any), done up there.  So, sometime this week, I’ll be driving a Spice Red Jetta GLS TDI.  I can’t wait!

  • So Close I Can Taste It

    Yesterday over my lunch I went by Obrien Automotive to talk to them about the TDI.  Tom (the guy that brought me on the testdrive) had actually called me and wanted to get me in and to talk to me.  I figured it wasn’t a big deal, and I wanted to wheel and deal with him anyways after the original quote was given to me.  I left work around 11:30 and drove home to get the paperwork that they had printed out for me on the original deal.  I then get to the dealer only to find Tom busy with another customer.  No big deal, how long could it take, right?  Well, and hour later, he’s still with the other customer.  He finally comes back and says he’s going to pass me on to another guy (Julian) to help me with this.  I walk over to the other building to talk to Julian.  When I get there he asks me what I want.  I tell him that I want to get the price down off sticker price.  He pretty much flat out tells me that it’s not going to happen.  He then says, he may be able to work with my trade-in however.  He drives it around and ups the trade-in value $500. 

    The reason that he won’t budge on the sticker price is because he doesn’t have anything comparable on the lot to trade with another dealer, so he’s going to have to get it from someplace else, and pay to have it delivered, etc.  So, naturally, I ask him, “Well, with that sort of thinking, wouldn’t it just be cheaper for me to go someplace else that has what I’m looking for, or something comparable to trade?”  Of course, I get some bs answer about how, no, it wouldn’t end up being cheaper.  I tell him I’ll think about it, and come back to the office.

    Now the great thing about the internet, is that many dealers have their stock online.  Makes it easy for me to find who’s got what.  So, I went to the VW Website, did a search for dealers within 200 miles of my zip code, and started looking.  Turns out in Lafayette, IN there’s a dealership that has something similar to what I want.  I give them a call, and find out exactly what the one they have has (the website only lists so many features).  Turns out it’s not really what I want, but the guy wants all my info anyways.  I give it to him, eventhough I know I shouldn’t have. 

    Forty-five minutes later, I get a call from him asking if there was anything else he could help me with.  I tell him that the reason I called is that I’m looking for a specific car, and that I was calling around trying to find it.  He asks if he could help by scanning the full midwest in one-fell-swoop.  I figure, what can I lose, and tell him I’m game.

    I get a call back about an hour or two later, saying that he’s found 1 in the midwest that fits what I want (spice red, black leather interior).  Unfortunately it’s currently on it’s way into the country, and he’s not sure if it’s been sold or not.  I told him I’d be interested in it, if he could infact beat the price that Obrien was trying to sell it to me for.  He got all the info on my truck for the trade in value, and said he’d give me a call later with details.

    Sure enough, I get a call later, and he’s excited to report that he should be able to beat Obrien’s price by “a bunch.”  However, he wasn’t able to get in touch with anyone at the Chicago that is receiving the car.  So, instead he wants to have a bit more of a commitment than me just saying I’ll be there.  Plus, there’s the fact that I can’t get out there till Saturday, and he can’t garauntee that his trade car will even be available until that time.  This is totally understandable since they’d be stuck with that car, and the price to get it there if I decided against it.  He also said he’d get all the paperwork set for when I get there.  They just wanted $100 deposit, which, if for whatever reason I then didn’t like the color or whatever, I could get back.  It also turns out that I still qualify for the recent grad discount (something that never came up at OBrien).  I’m not exactly sure what all it entails, but any little bit helps. 

    So, on Saturday I’ll be driving out to Lafayette, and hopefully returning in my new car 🙂

  • One Step Closer

    Last night, after work, I headed down to the VW Dealership.  I wanted to get some numbers straight from them.  Well, since I had been there previously and worked with a guy, the guy that Nick recommended me got me back in touch with him.  Actually, he wasn’t there, so I was given to someone else.  Talk about a tool.  I told him what I was looking for (knowing they didn’t have any), and he about walked off.  I asked him if they could trade with any other dealerships, and he said yeah.  I was definitely not happy with this guy, but I brought my truck around for him to look at and give me a trade-in price, and what the payments would look like.  Well, the Out the Door price he quoted me was actually above sticker price with the trade-in price he gave me.  Needless to say I left saying I’d think about it. 

    Now, I’m using carsdirect.com and trying to talk to another guy about the car.  The incentive deals that have right now are ok, but nothing special (3.9% for > 36 months).  However, these expire on the 6th of July.  I’m hoping that there is something better, but we’ll have to see.  I was quoted for $300/month for 72 months, but I’m looking at $300/month for 60 months.  If they can do that, then we’ve got a deal.  It out to be interesting to see what they can do for me.

  • Another Weekend Adventure

    This weekend was yet another weekend of climbing.  This time, instead of heading south, we went north to the Mississippi Palisades.  Talk about a huge difference between climbing down at Jackson.  The rock up at the Palisades is limestone, and since it’s been heavily used is very slippery.  Also, there is no sport routes.  It is completely trad (if you forgot what that means, read my previous entry).  That meant that I wasn’t leading anything, which isn’t really the norm.  Instead I was top-roping everything.  However, I did mock-lead one route (top roped it, but put gear in as I went).  That definitely helped me get more comfortable with how to place gear, and what can go where, etc. 

    The other totally different thing about the Palisades was that it’s crack climbing.  I’m used to face climbing (climbing up the face of the rock).  Now, with face climbing, you are looking for protruding features that you can hang on to, but with crack climbing, you are wedging your hands and feet into the crack.  There aren’t really any protrusions that you can grip onto, instead you have to slide your fist into the crack, and twist it.  You essentially want to lock your hand into the crack, and move up the crack.  You then twist your feet into the crack in a similar way, but you don’t slide it in deep like you do with your hand (if need be).  There are multiple different techniques of jams, but I won’t go into that here.

    Needless to say, it’s friggin hard, and quite painful.  The backs of my hands are very tender, and have multiple bruises.  However, it was quite fun, and I definitely want to get much better at it. 

    On another note, I went there with James and Cody.  We took Cody’s car, which happened to be a…VW Jetta TDI!  This was all totally unbeknownst to me until he pulled up at my apartment, and I heard the familiar diesel engine sound.  On the way up, we started talking about biodiesel, and he wants to get into it too!  I’m about 10 times more excited now.  I also got to drive it around a bit.  The roads at the Palisades were pretty steep, and it handled quite well.  Granted, it was an automatic, though, so it didn’t handle as nicely as the stick I test drove.  It was also the older, 90hp, engine, not the new, 100hp, one.  I’m definitely excited about a potential car purchase.

  • Zoom Zoom

    Well, lately I’ve been looking at new cars.  Why, you ask?  Well, I’m not really sure.  All I know is that I want something different (more sporty, and more efficient) than my truck.  I can’t imagine that gas prices are going to get any cheaper, and, currently, I’m getting a max of 20mpg.  Plus my truck is horrible for driving anywhere other than in town.  The A/C doesn’t really work (it probably needs a recharge), there’s no cruise control, and it’s just a pain.  Over the last year, I’ve looked a various different cars.  I’ve always wanted an Audi TT.  However, I’ve definitely gotten a lot more realistic over the last year.  Granted, I would still love to get a TT coupe, it’s definitely not in the cards.  So, I started looking at something like an Acura RSX Type S. 

    However, after going to the Telluride Film Festival that came through town, I’ve been infatuated with Biodiesel.  This has been furthered by the article I saw in wired (talked about in a previous article).  The wired article is really nice because it gives you multiple ways of making it.

    Well, this has gotten me thinking about a diesel engine.  In the US, that leaves 2 manufacturers: Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.  Needless to say, a Mercedes is a little out of my price range, and the problems that my Dad has with his, alone was enough for me to look elsewhere.  This left me with a VW with a TDI Engine. 

    I swung by the VW Dealer here in town last weekend looking to test drive a Jetta TDI.  Unfortunately, the only ones they had were still packaged up.  Apparently they had just gotten there Friday night, and hadn’t been touched.  The guy I was working with told me to swing by early in the week to take one for a spin.  Well, I never got around to it until today. 

    The only had 1 of the 2 that were still packaged left!  However, they did have a used one that someone had brought in.  It was a 2003 model, but nothing has changed between the 2003 and 2004 models, so I took it out.  I was very impressed with it.  The turbo is a nice change from my 4-cylinder truck, that’s for sure 🙂  It’s amazing how crappy my truck felt compared to it, but that really wouldn’t take much.  So, I brought it around the block, and onto the freeway.  I was easily able to get up to speed, and the cabin noise (which most reviews complain about) wasn’t bad at all.  It’s a little bit noisier than a regular car, but nothing really noticeable.  Even with the windows down, you could tell it wasn’t a regular unleaded car, but it didn’t growl at you, nor did it sound like a semi truck.  Plus the louder noise was only really noticeable when going from a stopped position. 

    All in all, I was very impressed.  Plus making biodiesel would be fun.  In a way, it’s a lot like when I modded my xbox.  It’s definitely the engineer coming out in me.  I gotta have something to tinker with.  The only thing, though, is that I really don’t want to give up my truck.  I do enjoy having it for when I want to move things.  Plus, if I were to make biodiesel, I’d need a way to get the used cooking grease from restaurants to my place.  I don’t think I’d want to stick it in the trunk of a jetta, but my truck would be perfect.  Plus, there’s the fact that I’d need a place to made the biodiesel.  Currently I don’t have anywhere. 

    I think I’m going to wait for awhile, though.  Currently my truck works fine, and I did just put a lot of money into it because of its recent problems.  Plus, this way I can wait until there’s some customer incentives, like 0% financing.  Hopefully by that time, I’ll have figured out if I really want to do this, plus I’ll know how much living without a roommate will put a damper on my finances.

  • I Feel Dirty

    Yesterday I had a meeting with the boss, and I found out exactly what’s going on.  I’ll be working half-time at both Architecture and EWS (I’ll save you the links for these, since I included them in the last post about this).  Apparantly at both depts I’ll be using my Group Policy and MSI mojo to make things run a little smoother.  Yes, that’s right, my GPO and MSI skills are being whored out to other DS run departments.

    I can see why this is done, but in all honesty, nothing that I’ve learned about GPO’s and MSI’s has been difficult.  The only true advance knowledge I have about the stuff is actually using them.  Otherwise, you could just as easily read a book and setup a test machine to play with.  I just find it funny. 

    I think I’d rather jump into something totally new, but this will be nice, especially at EWS, because they are essentially starting all over.  They used to use a Novell eDirectory and Zenworks, but they are now migrating to use AD and the free tools for machine administration and package deployment that come along with AD.  From what I gather they really don’t have any experience with AD stuff at all.  So, hopefully, I’ll be setting up what DIA is like from scratch there.  At Architecture, they have labs that they want fairly automated, like what we have here at DIA.  That shouldn’t be too hard, since everything can be done via GPO.

    I’m looking forward to the move, but as I’ve said before, I still have my reservations.

    **Update**
    The more I thought about this post, the more I sorta want to change my opinion.  I’ve sorta realized that this is indeed how businesses work.  It’s not really about knowing how to do something or not, it’s more about how you do it and that you’ve done it.  Like I said before, anybody can read about GPO’s and MSI’s and making their lives easier.  However, I’ve actually helped implement a system that uses these technologies fairly seamlessly.  I can see why someone would want me to come in and help.  It’s not that they can’t, it’s just that, since I’ve already done it, it will be easier for me and make the user experience better.

  • McDonald’s and the Fast Food Lifestyle

    I just got back from watching Super Size Me at the New Art Theatre.  Documentaries like that are insanely more fun to watch for me, then any of the big Hollywood films.  If you haven’t heard about it, or are too lazy to click the friggin link above, it’s about a guy that eats nothing but McDonald’s food for a month.  That’s right, 3 meals a day, plus snacks, etc from McDonald’s.  As if that’s not bad enough, he stops exercising.  He tries to become a “normal” person with respect to exercise, so he takes a cab everywhere (he’s in New York), and stops walking everywhere.  It’s actually quite revolting was becomes of him. 

    At first the doctor’s didn’t think anything was going to happen, but boy were they wrong.  He gained more than 20lbs in under a month, his cholesterol drastically increased, and his liver at one point was almost at the point of failure.  The doctors were quite worried about him, but according to his interview on The Daily Show, his brother encouraged him to complete the month even against the doctors advice. 

    The movie definitely shines a light on what you’re eating, and what you really shouldn’t be.  Now, I rarely eat fast food.  The last time was when Colleen and I went down to Jackson after a full weekend of climbing.  I don’t feel bad about eating in those types of situations just because I rarely eat when I’m climbing, so I need a larger influx of carbohydrates and fats.  Before that, I can’t remember the last time I’d been to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. 

    It’s just disgusting how horrible the American diet actually is.  Now, I’m not one to talk, because, frankly, I don’t eat that great all the time.  However, I don’t eat nearly as bad as most, and I work out at least three times a week.  Let’s just say, according the the movie, that’s about at least three times more than the average american 🙂

    The role that children are put into was equally digusting.  When I was in school, there were no soda dispensers.  All we had were water fountains.  Imagine this, we all lived too!  Now, it’s horrible how much soda children are sucking down a day.  There is absolutely nothing beneficial about it.  My mom would almost always make dinner too, which is hard to come by now.  Hell, even when I was in high school I’d have dinner with my parents, and my mom would prepare a healthy meal.  All my other friends in high school were on their own for dinner.  They would almost always end up at a fast food place.  My mom would also only buy diet soda.  Granted, it’s still not the greatest thing for you, it’s almost infinitely better than regular soda.  Ever since I’ve only had diet.  I actually dislike the taste of most regular soda’s because of how sugary they are.  They coat my teeth and I absolutely hate that.

    Oh well, I’m sure it won’t get better until the government somehow intervenes, just like cigarettes.  It seems as if us American’s can’t help ourselves until we’re almost forced.  As horrible as it sounds, it may be what lies in the future.