Advertisement photo of what would become my new wheels!

Well, I bought my first car yesterday, after weeks of research and phone calls. I learned this week that knowledge truly is power. I went from “being pretty sure I wanted an old Honda Civic” to saying

I’ll take a 2004 or 2005 Civic, or a Toyota Corolla or Hyundai Elantra between 2004-2006. They must have a manual transmission (preference), cruise (needed for Western Canadian highways, trust me), a/c, under 150,000 kms, have never been in any accidents at all and cost less than $12,500.

…and being able to explain why I made these choices.

I learned that the best value in vehicles lies in use between 5 years old and 10 years old. I looked up many makes and models, and for various reasons, the Civic, Corolla and Elantra have the best bang for your buck. In this, I factor in depreciation, maintenance, reliability and initial cost. I learned that AutoTrader was sketchy at best, and that Kijiji was my best friend. I learned to avoid 2006 Civics, because it’s the first model year of the new generation. That means there are still many kinks to work out. Not surprising, there are many 2006 Civics on the market as we speak.

You see, when I’m spending this kind of coin, I don’t screw around. I went from knowing very little about how to purchase a new or used vehicle to being able to kick ass at the dealership. I recognized and discovered so many traps that dealers set in order to take my money. It’s a good thing I was in Punta Cana a few weeks ago – the vendors there hardened me for what was to come.

I narrowed it down to 6 cars on Kijiji between Edmonton and Calgary, plus getting quotes for new cars at dealerships. I personally didn’t want a brand new car, but was somewhat coaxed in taking a look into it, given that 0% financing on a new car is much better than what my bank is killing me with for my current loan. But new cars are way overpriced, plus I had to pay GST at the dealership, as opposed to only PST in a private sale, which happens to be 0% in Alberta.

In the end, I went for my first choice out of the private sellers: a 2006 Corolla S, absolutely loaded, with, get this, only 24,500 km on the odometer. I learned to check the CARFAX of all private sale cars. to make sure nobody wrote it off in the past, or played with the odometer. The CARFAX came out clean. I asked the seller if it was worth my time to go if my bottom line was $1000 less than his asking price. He agreed and we met. I did everything The Internet told me to: how to check the body, signs of covering up damage, asking all the right questions to the seller, gauging their response. Test drove it, actually knowing what I’m looking to feel/see/hear. Took it to Canadian Tire for a pre-purchase inspection, offered $250 less than my stated max. He took it.

Just before I paid for the car, one of the Toyota dealers here gave me a call back. I told him what I was about to buy and what I was going to pay for it, and asked if he could beat it, which I knew he couldn’t. He said he didn’t trust my private sale car, and paid for a CARFAX of his own. He then made me a decent offer, because we learned that the CARFAX check showed my prospect car as having impeccable history. So buddy offers me this: (http://sherwoodparktoyota.com/vehicles/?action=pre) 2007 Corolla. Normally it goes for $18,000, and he offered me to take it for $13,500+tax+fees. Quite the drop, eh? Makes it good to know for the future… Regardless, I went for the private sale for four reasons: 1) it was initially cheaper 2) Even with financing, I’d have wound up paying more because I am first taxed 7% GST at a dealer, and then I’d have been paying 5.75% in financing…I’d have paid interest on tax! 3) there are 50,000 fewer kilometers on my 2006, 4) the  dealer’s car was an automatic.

It was a no-brainer. It also shows that the car I bought could fetch around $18k if a dealer were selling it. All that time I spent learning about Elantras, Civics and Corollas really gave me a boost in confidence in dealing with dealers. I mean, I got a guy to drop his price by $5000 over the phone! Being a specific about what I wanted, I was confident in saying “no” often.

When they didnt have what I wanted on the lot right there, they’d say: “So, would you like to take a walk around to find another vehicle you may like?”

“Nope. not really. You know what I’m looking for. I’m sure you can check your inventory and those of nearby Hyundai dealers. It’s far too cold outside!” Also knowing the fact that I can’t exactly see whats inside the car by looking at it from the outside, other than the color and transmission.

or they’d say something like: “Why would you buy used when you have the assured safety of a warranty with a brand new vehicle? What if the transmission of a used car with no more warranty went out on you?”

“I would HOPE to not need to use that warranty in the first few years of the car’s life. Are you saying that after 5-6 years, the transmission will go out on me if I buy your new car?”

“No! No! Not a Hyundai, but the others!”

“Let me get this straight, you’re telling me that a Honda Civic, or Toyota Corolla has a greater chance than your car at having a faulty transmission? With respect, sir, I don’t believe that.”

I also learned that being vague for budget and payments really worked in my favor. Telling them I could pay cash upfront for any used car, or that I’d choose 0% financing for a brand new car, tipped things my way. Telling them it depended on the year and mileage, my budget was flexible, but that I was only paying what I thought it was worth. It didn’t take me long to get them speaking in “price on the road” instead of “price per month”. Thus avoiding the situation: “In total, you car will be $19,300, which makes your payments at $439.54 per month for 48 months.” (That actually comes to $21,097.92.)

Anyway. I learned that doing my research has probably saved me between $5000 and $8000. Even though I went for a private sale, learning to tame a car dealer is probably what I’m most proud of. It was a fantastic experience and I wish everyone could experience it..

Oh, and I’m going to the Dominican Republic tomorrow. I intend to continue my internet hiatus until that week is over.

PS: A collective “Fuck you” to: CNN, Karl Rove & Rudy Guliani, Fox News, Stephen Harper and the city of Vancouver

Happy and safe holidays, everyone.

I was told by the recruiter to take a vacation between before I start work. Therefore, I think Heidi and I are going to spend a week somewhere near the equator, and then maybe making a detour to NYC, before I move away in February. She’ll join me about a month or two later. This company has a reputation for being demanding of its employees, and it’ll be a good idea to relax a bit.

Speaking of relaxing…I can’t sleep for the life of me.

Garde, ça fait 5 ans et demi. Chu su mon “victory lap” de mes études en génie. Please, juste donne moi mon bacc.

Jfais right on dans toutes mes cours jus’qu’à steur. Jget la matière, trust me. C’est une friggen de joke. J’ai déjà donnée mon rapport de Projet de fin d’études. la j’ai inque des bird course de reste (well, p’tête pas hydraulique, but jfais alright là étout). Chu juste tanné. Riiight tanné. Please, ayez un peu’d pitché pour un gars d’la place pis donne-lui son diplôme. Lets just get it over with. I swear j’dirais à personne.

For the love of Christ. Chu fucking tanné, la. Please juste vas dans la backroom pis fais cque t’as à faire pour printer ca out, pis change une couple de choses dans ton database pis thats it. Tu va rendre la whole vie à un autre homo sapien sapien friggin’ glorious. Donneras-tu 20$ à checkzun qui souffre pour 5.5 ans à l’hôpital? Welle juste quadruple la paye de ton I.T. guy pour faire c’q'y a de bezin pour que’j puisse spreader mes wings comme un awesome oiseau libre, pis ça sera la même chose.

Juste envoye-moi un p’tit email pis on a worker out les détails. Smooth pis toute. Fuck, j’te ferai même mes famous BBQ Chicken Nachos – pis I swear que ca serait all worth it pour toi une fois que tu goûte ça. Amazing, oui; but même pas comme une crotte as much que ça serais pour que tu me donnes inque mon bacc.

J’te beg, please, juste donne-moi mon godamn baccalauréat’d marde. Chu juste tanné.

Marci là,

Andrew

P.S.: J’te jure que c’est les best nachos que t’aurais ever mangé de ta vie. Trust me.

I’ll be writing again in no time!

Oh, I also got a second call back from Kiewit for a second interview. It seems like I may be moving to Calgary!

My blog has not been as much of priority as of late as it has in the past. I apologize, even though nobody’s reading anymore. I’m sure I’ll get back into really writing some day.

The difference is, I mean it. However, my final design project comes first, and I think I’ve gotten balder in the past days, just from stress and applying for jobs. It’s great fun.

So keep hitting F5, kids. I’ll brb.

I revamped my resumé. I’m looking for work all over the country. As much as I want to leave Moncton, which is a lot, I think I may hang around for a little longer to gain experience with some local contractors.

Man, there are so many paths to choose from right now. It’s hard to decide.

Now I know that if I run my half marathon, my spleen may explode. Great. I also lost 11 lbs. while I was sick, I’m guessing that was mostly muscle mass, because I went to the gym on Monday (before I got the result), and found that a once easy 180 lb. lift had now become a strenuous 80 lb. lift. I biked to uni yesterday and nearly had to walk my bike, as my legs were so tired.

At least there’s one activity I seem to be able to perform at length…but I just fall asleep afterward.

This afternoon, I decided I was craving something like wonton soup. In the end, it’s not what I made, but it was a pretty decent inspiration that turned into a small adventure in the kitchen this evening. I suddenly felt like Michael Smith…The catch was that I had already taken out a moose meat roast to defrost earlier this morning; my aunt always insists on giving me some of the meat, and I needed to clear some freezer space. I had to figure out how I could make the roast *and* something else so it wouldnt clash too much.

I’m going to start off on a tangent: Whenever I skin a carrot or potato, remove the outer layers of onions or garlic, have leftover broccoli stalks, celeri leaves, or break off the hard bits of asparagus, I always save those bits. I put them in Ziplocks and chuck em in the freezer instead of throwing away. When I got back from class this evening, I took out the two Ziplock bags of veggie residues I had, and dumped them in a pot of boiling water for a half hour. Meanwhile, I chopped my leftover red onion, my last green onions (aka scallions), my last yellow onion and that little baby bok choi and set them aside.

After a half hour, I took the veggie chunks from the pot, threw them out, and leftover was a nutrient-rich broth. Yummy! For good measure though, I added soy sauce and a bit of chicken stock. I knew the rest of this meal was going to have some asian in it, other than the roast.

Roast: I preheated the oven for the roast, and trimmed off about 75 grams (I’m just guessing here) of meat, that I sliced super thinly and put aside. I put the yellow onion chunks on the roast meat, with a ton of salt and pepper, and threw it in the preheated oven.

Rice: I took out about half the broth I prepared and put it in another pot to bring to a boil; this was going to be the best thing in which to cook some wild rice! I eventually added some of the scallions to the rice.

Soup: The meat I trimmed off of the roast went into a hot frying pan. Once the meat was fried, I threw it, the bok choi, the rest of the scallions and half the red onion into the main broth pot and brought to a simmer. Soup was on the way.

Stir-Fry: Stir-frys are the easiest thing to make. In my freezer, I also usually keep some frozen stir-fry veggies. It’s not nearly as good as fresh, but it requires zero prep and cooks in 15 minutes with a good wok. It’s almost a essential for a student. I threw those in my wok, added a ton of ginger, some garlic and the rest of my red onion. I put on a small pot of water to boil, and added some chinese noodles. after 5-10 mins, I transferred the noodles to the wok, along with a couple of eggs.

Meanwhile, I had a nice pot of green tea on the go, as I cooked and did dishes as they came along. It wasn’t long until I was enjoying a great asian meal. The soup was amazing, the moose meat being a surprisingly good fit to the bok choi. It wasn’t strong at all. The rice was probably the best I had ever made. Frig I’m proud of myself. I had always had a hard time making rice I enjoyed, because it is usually way too bland and boring. This stuff had great flavour thanks to the broth and the texture was just perfect. Stir-fry was average, texture was a little too mushy. I blame the frozen-ness of the veggies.

After the meal, The roast was done. I took it out and carved it up. I was already full, so I just took a couple of tiny slices before putting the rest  in a container to use for sandwiches. It was really tasty. Pretty moist for a moose roast. Here is where I was concious of making a HUGE mistake: All the bits of juice, fat and onions leftover on the bottom of my pan were thrown right into the garbage, instead of making the world’s greatest gravy. The reason? I only like gravy fresh, and I knew I wasnt going to use any, nor to I have a good enough seive (just a spaghetti strainer). So yeah, I’m guilty of tossing out what could have been the most flavour in everything I cooked tonight.

There are probably a thousand ways of taking everything I had, and making a way better meal. But you know what? I’m trying and I’m learning. After living alone for over a year, you may be surprised when you concoct something for someone else and receive an honest compliment on the food. The trick is that you can’t be afraid to screw up!