I shall ignore the fact that I haven't posted since July and renew my goal of posting something mind-blowingly riveting once a week. The best place to begin is to introduce you all to my new car Buster!
Buster is a 2009 Scion XB. Esther died about 6 weeks before I was graduating with my Master's. I was living in Claremont, which is about 30 miles east of LA. I know that doesn't sound far but with the crappy public transportation system in California no car for 6 weeks was terrible. I was holding off on getting a car because I had no clue what I was doing after graduation. I had put resumes out to lots of places and I was getting no feedback. On top of not having found a job I was faced with finding a new place to live and the sudden realization that my Cali adventures were looming to a close. So I did what any self respecting grad student would do, I went to bars and hung with my friends.
One particular Thursday night we all went out and decided that Long Island Iced Teas would be the drink of the night. Well, actually we decided that after starting off with a pitcher of beer. Needless to say when I woke up the next morning I had negative motivation. As I laid in bed (which also counted as my couch since I lived in a studio apartment) catching up on my tivo my phone rang. On the other line of that phone call was an employee at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They were working on a research project that they thought I would be interested in. I said I was. They said I would start Monday. Well, ok fine not exactly. I did get offered the job right on the spot but my start date was a point of contention due to some technicalities but I'm saving that for another post (I can't divulge all of my information now otherwise it'll be years before I post again).
The moral of the story is that I got an internship at JPL. Yep, not a job but an internship and on the heels of the internship offer I called up my good friend Briana and told her it was time. She picked me up the next day and we went car shopping. Car shopping was an entirely new world to me which is why Briana came along (by my last count she has facilitated the purchases of 4 new cars in the past 2 years). I had originally wanted the scion xd, it's smaller and looks more like a hatchback, but when we test drove it I felt that it was too small. The trunk was so small I couldn't even lay my beach chair flat and the thought of how many trips it would take to move all of my belongings with the xd really turned me off.
I didn't want to even look at the xb. I thought it was too big but Briana insisted I test drive it and (although it pains me to type this) she was right. Buster was big, but not too big. I could visualize all of my belongings cramming there way throughout Buster's roomy interior. I envisioned trips to Vegas where two people and a cooler could fit in the backseat. I played with the automatic windows and locks, reveling in the fact that I didn't have to re-learn the arm-outstretched-behind-the-back-backseat-window-rolldown. The air conditioner actually pumped out cold air within seconds--on low! My ipod hooked directly into the stereo so I could control all my music from my steering wheel buttons. It has a camry engine. I was sold.
Then began all of the paperwork and there was a lot of paperwork. I financed the car so I had to talk to there financing department who weren't entirely convinced that I had a job since I didn't have a paystub. But luckily every time I said I worked at JPL Briana chimed in that JPL was a part of NASA. Eventually we wowed them with saying JPL and NASA enough times that my financing was approved.
After about 4 hours on the lot I drive off with my first new car. When I got Buster he had 40 miles on him. Nine months later he's about to break 12,000. He's survived 3 trips to San Diego, 2 to Vegas, countless runs to Target, and bunches of trips to Claremont. I love my car and I love the fact that it was my gift to myself. Buster was the first big purchase of many purchases over the past couple of months but I'm saving those stories for later. For now, enjoy the pictures of me and Buster!
