Ouch (PICS)

I finally got that sweet, little, new ride I bought registered today.  Oh, wait.  I don’t think I even wrote about that!  Well, as some of you may remember, I traded in my beloved Pontiac when I moved here to Colorado back in 2006.  That damn car was my baby, but quite frankly, it just didn’t go in the snow.  I swapped it for a used Nissan Xterra, and I hated that stupid SUV from the day I signed the paperwork.  However, I got a good deal on it, and it served its purpose getting me from point A to point B in the worst of weather.

Now that I’ve lived here awhile, I’ve come to realize that our winters, though I bitch and moan about them incessantly, are really not that severe.  Not to mention, I have grand plans of moving to a much warmer climate.  Almost three months ago and after much deliberation, I upgraded.  I’m now the proud owner of a 2008 Audi TT, and my god, do I love that car.  I’m still discovering new features — such as the mini wipers that clean my headlights and the fact that the window rolls down a quarter of an inch when you open the door — every day, and I swear I’ve washed it more times than I’ve put gas in it.  I’m making up for the payment increase in a lower gas bill alone.

That being said, I’ve had hell getting my contract and registration completed.  Now, when you purchase a $42,000 car from a higher quality dealership such as Audi, you have certain expectations of your service.  At the original contract signing, the dealership was having issues with their financial software.  Maybe I should go work for them.  But I digress.  When the paperwork printed out, several figures were incorrect.  The manager just crossed them out, initialed next to the changes, and had me do the same.  I signed, and thought everything was a-okay.

Fast forward about two months.  My temporary tag was about to expire, and I had yet to receive notice from the county clerk that I could come register my car.  Not to mention, I still hadn’t received my first statement, either.  I called the dealership, and they informed me that they had received my contract back from the financial office that morning.  Apparently, all the extra markings weren’t acceptable.  Doh!  I resigned the new, correct contract, picked up an extended temp tag, and went about my way.

A week later, the dealership called to let me know that the DMV had received my lien information, and that I could now register my car.  I was about to head out for a business trip, so two weeks later when I returned, I parked my ass in a hard, plastic chair in the county clerk’s office and waited.  And waited.  And waited still some more.  I waited for almost three hours before I finally got to the counter, only for them to tell me that… I’d waited for nothing.  The dealership sent the wrong loan paperwork, and they forgot to include the VIN.  Yeah, that’s kind of an important number.

Fast forward again to today.  I got a postcard in the mail yesterday, notifying me that the correct paperwork had finally reached the DMV.  I stopped in as soon as they opened this morning, and as the clerk was handing me my new stickers, she said, "Okay, that will be $770.75."

What?!

I’ve never lived in a state where they didn’t figure the first year’s property taxes in as part of your lien.  It’s not that I don’t have the money for it, but jesus, somebody could’ve warned me.  Hell, that’s deducting a good chunk from the moving fund I’ve been saving up!  It was just totally unexpected.

My day did, however, brighten up a bit around lunch.  One of my supervisors was asked to do a briefing for the III Corps G3 in, none other than, Ft. Hood, TX.  He IM’d me to ask how full my plate was next week, and although I’m already doomed to working overtime for the next two, I prodded.  He knows that Texas is my soft spot, so he offered the trip to me.  He said he’d thought I might like a free ticket to see my honey.  I’ll be flying down a week from today for, literally, a 30 minute demo on Thursday, and I’m staying through Sunday.  All on the company dime!

Man, there’s a huge firework show going on near my apartment.  I have no idea what we’re celebrating, but it just scared the bejeezus out of me.  Had to walk outside to see what all the commotion was.  I haven’t heard blasts like that in quite some time.  I think I just flashbacked to Baghdad.  Not cool.

Anyway, here’s some pics of the new car in front of my, oh, so lovely apartment complex.

Fully loaded!

Cheers,
Felina