Sunday, June 14, 2009

if I can get the price of this car down to $---, will you buy it?

Yesterday I went to look at cars. I've been driving a Chrysler 300 for about 10 months and I really miss the Jeep that I was driving before. So, I test drove another Jeep. It was great. I loved it. My salesman was doing just great. Then they did that tag team thing where another guy comes out. This new guy asked me, "If I can get the price of this car down to $---, will you buy it?" I answered, "Probably." That wasn't good enough. He talked for a few minutes, saying nothing that made any sense to me. Then he asked me the question again. I answered, "That is the price I am comfortable with, but I am not committing to a purchase until you actually offer it to me at that price." Again, that wasn't good enough. He started talking again - using a lot of car salesman language that made no sense to me. I looked at the original salesman and asked, "Why is it important for me to answer "yes" to this question?" He didn't answer. Instead, the new guy started talking again. I held up my hand. I said, "I don't understand why you are still sitting here talking instead of going to see if you can make this deal." He answered, "I need your committment first." I picked up my purse and stood up. I turned back to the original salesman and said, "I have plans tonight and I have to work tomorrow. If I'm going to buy a new car today, it will need to be in the next 90 minutes." Then I left.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

maggots

It never occurred to me that I would ever have "maggots" as a blog post, but a friend of mine called me tonight to tell me that he found maggots in his house. He then went on to say, "you'll probably blog about this and everyone who reads your blog will know it was me". Well, not everyone who reads my blog even KNOWS this friend, so I think that is a gross exaggeration, which is just typical of him! I promised that I would conceal his identity. So, for anyone reading this who knows my friends, this blog post is NOT about my friend who lives in Alaska with his two daughters. See, Frank? I can conceal identities just as well as the next blogger!

Now, about those maggots ... they just appeared in the house! There was no garbage left out and nothing rotting anywhere, but suddenly there were maggots everywhere. Now, I have found maggots in a house I lived in, but they were on a bag of garbage that I left sitting out. I think you only need to have that happen once before you become more careful about your garbage. Anyway, this wasn't the case with Frank. But, he had left doors and windows open when his window air conditioning unit suddenly quit on him. It was just too hot! That explains how the flies got in! And that explains the maggots.

So, I googled maggots to see what I could find. I skipped the obvious Wikipedia entry, which I knew would give me all sorts of clinical information that would probably make me throw up. Instead, I found the Missoula All-Maggots Rugby Club How cool is that? Check out the picture of these handsome lads. They were the Montana Rugby Union Champions of 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. Leave it to me to do a blog entry about maggots and populate it with a photo of some rugged, good-looking men! (I just adore their bus!) Theirs is a GREAT website - very entertaining!

Then I found Maggot Art. Here is the explanation from the website: "Maggot Art is a unique outreach program that combines art and science in an exciting and informative activity. Live maggots are dipped into non-toxic paint and allowed to crawl on paper, creating beautiful paintings." Okay! That sounds pretty gross. But isn't that painting beautiful? It is the work of maggot artist Rebecca O'Flaherty.

The best link of all is to another blog that I found called FYI:Science where I found a blog entry entitled "Throw another maggot on the barbie, mate". You just have to read it for yourself. You will thank me, I promise. Here is the link: http://fyiscience.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/throw-another-maggot-on-the-barbie-mate/

As for Frank, I have complete faith in his ability to solve his maggot problem. Although he is small of stature, he is a giant when it comes to finding solutions to problems! He reminds me of a couple of my other best friends. Come to think of it, most of my closest friends are pretty plucky people! I wonder if they see me the same way!!!