Well, isn’t this efficient! Put out an ultimatum and things actually start to happen. I should do this more often… Now, the ultimatum still stands until something on my list is taken care of, but it’s nice to see that at least little things are going better. I want to reassure everyone, though (since I’ve gotten quite a few comments about it…), that these things on my list aren’t anything huge, grand, and impossible. They’re simple things. Things that should have happened once or twice over the past six years and just haven’t. It’s nothing like, “A) Let me conquer a small European country. B) Give me my $140,000 dream car for free. Or C) My $850,000 dream house in France.” Nope, nothing at all like that. Actually, none of the things on my list even have a price tag. *gasp* I know! :)
Oh, by the way, I’m writing this on Tuesday, not Wednesday. Well, technically it’s Wednesday, since it is past Midnight, but ignore that. It’s still Tuesday because I haven’t gone to sleep yet, and in my own little world, that’s how the dates are mandated.
Let’s recount the last few days. Yesterday (being Monday), my parents bought a car. That was something nice. Until later that night. We went to BMW of Fairfax, which is a bit of a drive from where I live, because they had a 2001 BMW 325i that was pretty reasonably priced and well-equipped. We bought it. Later that night – after driving it for a while – we realized it had some rather strange and unsettling problems. The reason we bought the car from a BMW dealership is because they certify their used cars. They’re supposed to be pristine. I even went through my usual BMW checklist, since BMWs and I are as one. I know these cars and I have *never* encountered this problem.
First off, Mom was the first to notice a really strange rumbling noise that becomes audible most recognizably from the rear right seat. After standing outside as my Dad drove back and forth, we realized it was actually coming from the front right side of the car, just underneath the bonnet. Fun. The car drives beautifully; I can steer it with my fingertips, brake with my big toe, and it does have that lovely purr that I usually listen carefully for. There’s just that weird rumble.
And, most disturbingly, the windows are obviously loose, since all four rattle and break the air seal, letting in wind noise. Something BMW prides itself on is making sure the inside of the car is silent, save for the purr of the engine. This car is so loud when going 65mph that you can’t talk from the back seat to someone in the front.
Worse still, if you put your fingers on the rear glass panel, it shakes, rattles, and very nearly rolls.
What’s most aggravating is that when we went on the test drive, none of this was apparent. Why? I still can’t believe I was so absent-minded to miss this… the salesman wouldn’t stop talking. Trust me, this is ultimately uncouth. How can you get a feel for the car if someone is constantly chattering? A test drive should have no more than two people in the car, one in the driver’s seat, and one that changes seats from time to time. Both people should be silent, save only to test the noise level in the car, to see if it’s easy to talk from the back to the front. This is all very important. Normally I pounce right away when the salesperson starts talking, but for some reason I didn’t notice it this time.
That’s just bad form on the salesman’s part. It’s distracting and deceptive. I’m very mad at the man, and trust me, he’ll pick up on that tomorrow if he gives me any crap at all. Because tomorrow, my Mom and I are taking the car into the dealer tomorrow so their mechanics can look over it and try to figure out what’s wrong with it. I doubt there’s anything they can really do, since having loose glass usually indicates a bad structural problem. That should not happen naturally to a 2001 BMW, that’s downright impossible - unless, of course, the car has been hit. That’s what I’m betting happened. Those cars are built too solidly for all of the windows to suddenly come loose and no longer fit perfectly between the door and the roof.
Bad form, bad form. If the dealership doesn’t take care of this to my satisfaction, you can bet I’m going to write to BMW. They need to keep me as a customer, since I fully plan on spending a great deal of money on their automobiles in the future (provided, of course, I conquer a small European country…) :) I mean, that $140,000 dream car I mentioned, is a BMW Alpina Roadster V8 (Vrooooom….). If they make me angry and don’t give this dealership their comeuppance for such bad form, I may just switch and fill my garage with Aston Martins instead. Trust me, that would make the Germans very angry.
Mwahaha. :) My parents warned the salesman not to mess with me, but did he listen? NoooOooo.
At least their promises so far are decent. When my Mom and I turn in the 325i tomorrow for servicing, they’ve promised to give us a Z4 as a loaner car. :-D If they follow through with that I’m going to be a very happy camper whilst driving around in that. That’s another one of my dream cars, one which I hope to own in the next year or so (provided, of course, I conquer a small South American country… It’s all about the five year plan, baby.) I’ve already picked out my driving outfit, complete with the oh-so-stylish driving scarf to protect my hair while the convertible top is down. I’ll have the full works – scarf, sunglasses, red lipstick, and a swanky outfit. It’ll be perfect, darling. To top all of that off, I’m meeting someone for a late lunch at P.F. Chang’s in Tysons Corner, a very hip restaurant in a very posh shopping area. To give you an idea, that area offers Neiman Marcus, Tiffany & Co., a Ferrari dealership, and that’s also where I got my ridiculously expensive haircut. Fun, fun, fun!
This will be very nice. I’ve been wanting to drive a Z4 for *ages*. Mmmm… I think I may spend all day driving tomorrow. Wanna come? :-D
As for today, I slept in ridiculously late because I didn’t feel too well at all. I watched The Cosby Show in the afternoon – I so want that show on DVD. It’s not out yet, can you believe that? It’d make a fortune… anyway. My parents came home from some social thing or something (don’t ask me) and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner at Sweet Water Tavern in Centreville (another long drive). Even though I didn’t feel too well I really wanted to go anyway because I got to drive, and because Sweet Water has *really* good root beer.
All the way through dinner I kept looking down the row of booths and for some reason my eye kept stopping at a particular table. I ate my steak in peace, though, not really thinking about it too much. But just before dessert came my eyes wandered back to the table, and the man sitting with his back to me adjusted his head so I could see who he was looking at. It was Robert Duvall! Two tables down from me was Robert Duvall, his wife, and his children. It was pretty cool, a third star sighting for me, the second random one. The first was Ziggy Marley – he sat next to me at Kennedy Airport in New York, waiting for a flight to Belgium. I was only twelve when that happened, and here comes this man with *really* long dreadlocks, who just sits down next to me and starts talking. He was very nice, but all I knew about him at the time was that he smelled really funny. Later, while in Italy, I saw him on a commercial for something and shouted at the TV, "I sat next to that guy!"
The second was Anthony Hopkins, but that wasn’t random. I was eating a hotdog outside the Air & Space Museum in DC one day with my friend Neil, when we overheard someone else talking about some filming going on near Union Station. All I heard was “Hannibal”, and I immediately pulled Neil up and dragged him onto a bus. We got over to Union Station and saw the film crew. We waited around for a while, then sure enough, Anthony Hopkins showed up with Julieanne Moore’s double. I got inside the station to get a picture, but all I could get was his backside. The man wouldn’t turn around. Oh well.
My parents kept asking me tonight if I was going to go ask Robert Duvall for his autograph, since he was in one of my all-time favorite movies ("To Kill a Mockingbird"). But, you know what? If I were him, out just to have a casual dinner with my family, I would hate to have some fan interrupt me right in the middle of my steak to beg me for an autograph. I’m sure he would have been very gracious and all, but it would have been an imposition. So I just smiled at him from across the room and didn’t bother him. It was fun to see him, though.
I’m rather psyched about tomorrow. It’ll be fun. A Z4, a lunch at P.F. Chang’s, and I get to meet a columnist from the Daily Prophet. That’s who I’m going to P.F. Chang’s with. Should be fun. He was a columnist a few months ago, then had to quit because he went off to college, but he just so happens to live about an hour away from me. How cool is that? It should be fun. :)
