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Joe and I at the VW dealership w/my new car!

My sales guy (Jeremy Heuss, if anyone is interested in buying a VW – go to Boardwalk in Richardson, ask for Jeremy and tell him I sent you!) was so excited to take pictures of us in front of my new car. It was almost like having my dad there!

We got there a little before 10 this morning and found Jeremy at his desk. Since we had done all the negotiating and ordering 3 months ago via email and phone calls, today was pretty much about making sure everything was perfect with the car and getting the papers signed and money exchanged. He had my car detailed and gassed up, ready to go. We popped everything open, took the car for a spin up and back on Central, and he showed me all the ins and out of my radio and dashboard functions. We got my cell phone hooked up via Bluetooth in the car, and that works nicely. I also have 6 months of free Sirius radio, although I think I’ll be enjoying my iPod connection much much more.

My little GTI has so many more bells and whistles than any other car I’ve driven before. It’s almost overwhelming! The ride is so smooth. And I have way more horsepower under my right foot than I’m used to. Sweet. Once we got through the ins and outs of the car and got everything set up, it was time for all the fun finance/paperwork stuff. Of course, they try to upsell you on extra packages, like sealant to protect the paint and tinting and splash guards, yada yada yada. And in the finance guy’s office, they try to upsell you even more on extended warranty and all that jazz. The only thing we went for was Gap insurance, but that gets refunded if we pay the car off early (which we plan to do).

Once the papers were signed, we got our picture taken, received a little goodie bag and were on our way! I took Mom and Dad on a little test drive around the block. They approve. Grandpa and Grandma got to go for a ride, and they like it too. They also said George should’ve gotten a car like mine since it’s so much more practical. Hahaha! Two door cars aren’t really comfortable for anyone trying to access or sit in the back seat, although I do have to say the Mini is still up a notch from Joe’s MR2, the most useless car of all. :oP

I did George’s list of things to “break in” the car. Hope it works. Beyond that, we’ve enjoyed a warm day in Dallas. Visited the Chius at lunch time. Patrick is so expressive now. He still doesn’t say much, but he points and makes faces and is so playful. He really loves patting his sister’s head. Brooke was awake enough in the last hour we were there. I fed her a couple bottles. I forget how tiny newborns are!

Then, we went to watch my Uncle Charles sing with the Formosa Chorus of Dallas. My dad was videotaping the event, and my Aunt Jenny was ushering. We sat with Michael, Grandma and Aunt Kathy. And just to keep in the Taiwanese spirit, check out this video to encourage fellow Taiwanese Americans to write in TAIWANESE on the 2010 Census. Sandy found where to order the t-shirts they’re wearing and is getting one for me. I love the mentions of “shioh bah-tsang”!

Been a good day.

Lately, whenever we’re just hanging out on the couch, Boo Boo likes to come over and shove his head under our legs. Once he pushes his way through, he comes back around and does it all over again.

Boo Boo peeking under Joe's legs

Making another pass

Shoving his way through

Tomorrow, we head for Dallas!!! I’m sooooo excited about my car; it’s making it really difficult to concentrate on anything. I’m just so stinking excited.

On Saturday, Joe and I got to experience the Austin Symphony at the Long Center – for free and purely by accident. I had originally won tickets to see Mary Stuart from KUT. The email said my tickets would be waiting at will call under my name. When we arrived at the Long Center, we went to the only windows that looked like the box office, and I found the will call line. With my luck, they didn’t have any tickets under my name. I told them I had won tickets and that the email said to go to will call. The kind woman ushered me to the next window, which was for sponsors. Same story, lots of confusion. In the end, they gave us two tickets from the Student Rush tickets line, and we were on our way. When I looked at the tickets, they said Austin Symphony – not Mary Stuart. Hmm… I’m still trying to figure out what went wrong. Was there a separate will call for the play? Was there a separate entrance for the theatre? Everything is located at the Long Center, so I’m not sure where else we would have needed to go.

In any case, we quite enjoyed the Symphony. The featured performer was pianist Barbara Nissman. To my surprise and delight, she performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concert No. 3 as made famous by the movie Shine. (Man, I haven’t watched this movie in forever. I need to find a copy.) It was so complex and amazing and moving. We were up in the balcony seats, but the sound was so crisp. You could hear the soft notes flutter and feel the music swell. I definitely want to go watch more performances in the future! Being enveloped in that environment and experiencing all the layered sounds make me want to bring my piano down from Dallas ASAP. Anyone want to pay for an extension of my home so there is room for it? :o)

The new Long Center was beautiful. I still remember when it was the old Coliseum. I was worried Joe would be bored; he was yawning in the first half of the performance, but a little bit of coffee and a giant cookie during the intermission helped. I always forget that not everyone knows how to play an instrument and therefore may not have the same understanding and appreciation for classical music.

I’m sad the Olympics are over. I guess we go back to life like normal and resume regular television programming. I’m looking forward to warmer weather this spring, my new car, our road trip and whatever else is in store this year. March got here way too fast.

Yesterday was a fun adventure. My manager and I ordered new cars from Volkwagon at about the same time, and he told me his was already in at the Georgetown dealership. I figured I hadn’t heard from my sales guy in about a month, so I sent him an email to check on the status. When he checked, he saw that it got there Thursday night! Hmm… this would’ve been a great weekend to go up to Dallas except that I hadn’t moved the money over from our savings to checking to pay the down payment. The good news is that the 1.9% APR offer is still good through the end of March, so I should be okay to qualify for that. We’re going to head up to Dallas next week, down payment in hand, ready to buy my new car!!! I am so. freaking. excited.

I have pretty good credit. I think my score puts me in the A+ range. I pay my bills in full each month. I don’t randomly open accounts for new credit cards. I’m not in any crazy amount of debt. But because of the way the system works and how they do the scores, I have this one credit card that I can’t close any time soon. It was one of the first when I was in college and started with a $500 or $1000 limit. It was my main card in college, which I used for the rare occasions of clothes shopping or ordering something online. Mostly, I think I used it to just buy hockey tickets the 4 times a year I used to go to Stars games. I also used it when I lived in San Francisco because Discover wasn’t accepted everywhere. But because it is the oldest credit card I own, I can’t close it unless I want a dent in my credit score. How do they figure this?

Usually, the first card you get is truly a starter card. Low limit. High interest rate. No real benefits except to get a line of credit going under your name.

I haven’t used this card since 2008. And the only reason I used it then was because I had a magazine subscription linked to that card, and it automatically charged it when my subscription was about to expire. I didn’t find out about the $30 charge until a month late (forgetting that something could be automatically charged to it) and ended up paying nearly $15 in interest. So really, it hasn’t seen a lot of action since about 2005.

Yesterday, I got an email saying my statement was ready. (I don’t usually get a notice unless there’s an actual dollar amount due for the statement.) I was worried the card number was stolen, and there was some fraudulent activity. Turns out there was no such thing. But they did put a security alert on my account since I hadn’t activated the last card they sent. I appreciate that kind of thinking. They were watching out for me in case the card got lost. I got home and activated the card. We put all of $9.73 on it just to get some activity so they wouldn’t close the account.

I go back to the website today and am trying to make sure all my information is updated. They ask a couple of security questions before I can access account preferences, and lo and behold… I can’t remember how I answered them. The first question asked for my boss’s first name at my first job. Hmm… did I put the boss I had at 16 or the boss I had at my first real adult job? Then the second question asked for the location of my wedding. Did I put the city, the city + state, the name of the venue? I couldn’t remember!!! It told me I didn’t answer the questions correctly (in whatever combination I tried), and on the 3rd attempt, it locked me out. So now what? There’s a 24 hour freeze on access to the online account. Grrr…

Once I get my new car and don’t have to worry about my credit score immediately, I think I’ll go ahead and close this account. It’s a bigger hassle for me to have to keep track of it, make sure it’s not hacked, remember how to access it, etc. The credit system just seems a bit screwy that it punishes you when you try as hard as you can to not be in debt or have extra accounts open in your name.