Two Dealers In Grapevine

Couldn’t decide if I wanted to start this with Love The Way You Lie, If Tomorrow Starts Without Me or When You Are Old – W. B. Yeats.

Couldn’t decide if tonight was the night I shut it all down and started over elsewhere or if I shared what I see and think.

Four minutes of reading here doesn’t tell you much about me but it gives a tiny bit of insight into some of what I am doing now.

Not enough to really know but enough to know I know about graduates becoming actuaries, and people roaming the same city as my great great Grandmother Raizel once did.

Maybe that sort of curiosity is shared or maybe it is not. Maybe some interests intersect and some fires burn so bright they never burn out.

Or maybe they do and only the imaginative believe otherwise. One never knows for certain when one can only guess. Maybe all one can do is be a voyeur.

Two Dealers In Grapevine

Made my way down 121 to Hall Johnson and hit the Subaru dealer first. Told the salesman that I was there for more than the $75 test drive incentive but added that didn’t hurt and flashed him a broad smile.

Test drove an Outback, talked about trim lines and figured out this time around it probably wasn’t going to work.

We shook hands and I offered my sincere thanks for him being human and not as obnoxious as some car salesman can be.

Rolled on down the road to the Honda dealer and gave the three guys who jumped on me my best thousand mile stare.

Almost told one the many reasons I don’t like Grapevine Honda start with feeling like I am being assaulted the moment I walk in.

But I held my tongue and looked for the guy I had emailed with and then proceeded to test drive two different Honda Passports.

For a brief time I thought I might have been wrong about the place and then they proved I am not. They took my keys to appraise my car and tried to grind me. The first offer they made was double what I had said I was interested in paying.

I reminded them I knew what the vehicle cost and told them their appraisal devalued my car and showed them the offer I got from Carmax for it.

“Mr Josh, you know they are not going to give you that. It’s a ploy to get your business.”

They got the attention of my Inner Orrie and I growled that hiding my keys was a good way to make me leave.

“No, you can have them whenever you want.”

“Ok, bring them now If you can’t meet my terms I am ready to leave. I don’t have to do anything today or tomorrow.”

Instead he brought his manager who figured out how to lower the payment by $200. Told them that wasn’t enough and I wanted to go which led another manager to engage me.

He found more savings and suddenly we were $120 away from where I wanted to be. They hemmed and hawed, told me I didn’t understand that I was looking at a car that was significantly more than the car I drive now.

I told them my math schools were fine and that calling me stupid wasn’t a good sales technique. “No boss, that is not what I said.”

I didn’t tell him I get irked by being called boss and that I have a name.

Instead I pulled out the first three offers they made and said they had figured out how to reduce things by 30 percent which made me question their integrity.

“It is the end of the month, if you want to move another car you know what I want.” Picked up my keys and said I am sure another dealer would be happy to work with me.

When I got home I took their best offer and emailed a couple of other dealers a note with my terms. Took me less than five minutes and now we’ll see what happens.

Maybe no one is willing to do meet me where I want to be and maybe someone is. The best part of it is I don’t have to do anything unless it makes sense.

Hit the road and listened to Paul and Art sing about looking for America.

Empty Glass In Hand

Somewhere around 10:30 P.M. I realized I was thirsty and headed to get a drink and then changed my mind.

Empty glass in hand I looked down and spoke to my 57 year-old prostate and asked if he would cooperate and let us sleep through the night.

Looked down and said if we wanted attention it might be better to have a conversation and put the glass down. I’m not that thirsty, I’ll survive until the morning.

Wandered into the bathroom because I needed to trim my beard and played around with shaving it all off.

Looked at the man in the mirror and told him it is time to get serious about some other things. “Can’t lie to yourself, that is our rule. You have work to do.”

He finished mimicking me and nodded his head.

Walked back into living room and sat down on two Yoga blocks so I could continue working on my squat. Shook my head at how much work needs to be done and smiled at how much has been accomplished.

That torn tendon really set some things back but then again it moved some stuff forward. One of the guys at the gym asked if it hurt and I said not really.

Felt a little bit like when I dislocated a finger. I rested it for a couple of days and went back to lifting. I only saw the surgeon because a week later I still felt some pain. He told me if I didn’t do the surgery I would lose 40 percent of my strength.

I tore it while curling 115 pounds. It was at the very end of a intense workout and it came through a relatively violent effort to close out a rep

So for a moment I really considered passing on the surgery. I figured if I still had 40 percent I would still be strong but then I worried about whether what I had would degrade. Worried about what would happen if I hurt my right arm too.

The surgery was conducted out of a preponderance of caution because the future is unknown.

And that is also why I am focused on yoga, balance and flexibility. Don’t know what the future holds so I am doing what I can to prepare.

Some of it is really hard but whining doesn’t change it so I do the best I can to just dig in and improve a little each day. Small victories add up.