Buying my First Car: 2003 Honda Civic

I've never bought a car on my own before, but it was time to do it. With the new job starting soon, I couldn't rely on the my 2000 Ford Contour any longer. It had everything wrong with it and was a liability with over 208,000 miles to it. In fact, it broke down on my on my way to pick up the new car!

Two weeks ago, Joe and I went down to Marietta, GA to look at this car we saw online. This was the 2003 Honda Civic. When we got down there, we test drove this other car though, not realizing that it was the one we wanted to see from the beginning. Instead of the 2003, we drove a 2000. They tried to get me financed, but my bank was closed because it was Sunday so we had to leave without the car then.

When I was online a couple of days later, I was looking at the car again and noticed that they didn't have the right information on the website. After several phone conversations, I realized that we test drove the wrong car and in fact, never even saw the 2003 Honda Civic I drove down there for!

On Wednesday, I decided that it was more important to get a reliable car than to worry about the $10/hour job I was about to retire from anyway. I called up Freddie to see if he could help me look at the car and to help me drive the extra car back. He canceled his plans and went to accomplish my goals.

When we arrived, we first went to see if I could get financed. This took a bit of time, but we finally finished to see the car. It was only $5,500, and it had about 92,000 miles on it already which is a terrific deal in its own. I was telling Freddie on the way down, "Man, I know we're gonna see this car and then find out that it's disgusting, doesn't work right, or something else wrong with it."

The dealer, Dan, had the car pulled out from being detailed and when we both saw it, we couldn't believe what we saw. The car had some nice rims and tint on it. After popping the hood, it even had a cool air intake. We got in there and turned it on and heard it's roar, again amazed, not realizing it also had those modifications. We test drove it, did some more paper work, and there I had it - my first purchased vehicle.

I knew this wasn't going to go over well with my father - whom I owe money for rent and utilities, but honestly had no choice than to get it for the new job. It was time for another car. I'm still getting used to the manual transmission, but it's something for me to learn and to get used to.

I calculated how many miles to the gallon it got, and it came out to be 33MPG. Hopefully after replacing the filters and doing some maintenance that it will get even higher MPG. For right now though, it should treat me well for several  years.

Last Day of Work at Library

Today is my last day on the job at the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System. I'm glad this day has finally come because I really can't stand some of the decisions that were made. Since my predecessor, I had been the only employee of the library system that actually knew how to keep everything running.

Needless to say, I am eager to begin my new career with Area203 Digital in Chattanooga. I'll be working with PPC (pay per click) campaigns, trying to get clients' ads the cheapest rates and most return on their investment. There is really a lot of growth opportunity there for me, as well as an opportunity to work with a respectful company for many years down the road. I expect it to be a great experience.

Speeding Ticket

To whoever has told me that pleading Nolo Contendre in court for a speeding ticket was a stupid move - you were, in fact, utterly wrong. There might be some long lines to get to that plea agreement stage, but it will save you so much money by going through with the process. It only took me about an hour and a half to complete everything.

It was about a month ago that I was pulled over doing 50 in a 35. It was only 15 over, but $93.00 is a lot of money to me to just fork over. When I visited the city solicitor this morning at court, I still had to pay the fine, but he took it off my record entirely. Therefore, my insurance won't even know about the incident (could mean hundreds of dollars in the long run), nor would it be taken into consideration should I ever get pulled over again.

Definitely paid off to do some research before going in there.