Sunday, January 25th, 2004 | 3:32 pm
Your sneer.
“Just a profiteer like the rest.”
I shudder, but not for an obvious reason.
Only by its untruthfulness could I ever take offense to the label.
Were only my hands unsuccessful, my will faltering, my intellect unresponsive,
Could I look upon your dictum as slander.
Should I look to the labor of others, or seek its fruit for my lot as a whole, you and I would have much in common.
Should I bend to the will of the givers, palm outstretched, deriving solace from charity, your jab would ring untrue.
But by my will, my strength, and my acumen, I am fed.
Body by toil, mind by challenge, soul by opportunity.
Gifts may only be given to ourselves,
for there is no motive without profit.
By your faults, your deception, and your inadequacy you should starve.
Your hunger is not an inevitability to your class, but your dependency rings true.
Profiteer? Sure.
But don’t act as if my lifeblood is a mortal sin.
For our inherent faults we are buried, and for our inherent strengths we are lifted up.
In which do you delight?
Thursday, January 22nd, 2004 | 10:18 am
The News:
- I got a monitor upgrade at work, so I can finally see everything on both screens.
- I got an office upgrade as well, so now I am next to a window and somewhat alone, rather than sealed in a windowless sauna of a room with another poor soul.
- Heather and I had an absolutely awful car experience. Here it goes:
Heather and I leased a car this weekend from a local dealership. We signed the lease form, which had their signature on it. They took a check from her with the first months payment, security deposit, and all. They gave her the keys and we left in her new car.
Yesterday, they called and told her she needs to come in and re-sign it because she left out her middle name. When she called me to tell me this, I smelled something fishy and knew there had to be some other problem. When I called up, one of their financing guys told me that she signed it wrong, without her middle name. I found this rather odd, considering that my signature is barely legible at times, though I am sure it is legally binding no matter what letters I leave out.
At any rate, once I asked about that, he mumbled something about “correcting the residuals”, so I made him clarify and he said that actually, the payments were calculated somewhat wrong on the lease and she would need to re-sign a new lease. (When I told him how underhanded he was being, trying to deceive my fiancinto signing a new form because of some phony name excuse, he claimed he found the payment problem AFTER the name thing.)
I called the salesman who arranged the deal, and he explained to me that they had calculated the payments wrong, and told me that the bank will not accept the terms as we put them on the lease. He admitted that it had been their mistake in using the wrong interest rate, but tried to claim to me that the contract was void because the APR was lower than the bank would allow for the vehicle.
We have a signed lease with clear payment terms on it, signed by both parties. Heather gave them a check for the first payment and the security deposit, which is duly marked on the lease agreement as paid. I know enough from Business Law to know that the contract is signed by both parties, we have the car, they have our money, and the lease agreement is a valid contract. There is nothing on the contract about it being a)subject to typographical errors or b)subject to approval by the bank (the bank already approved; thats how they calculated the payments).
Since Ive been arguing with them some on the phone, they faxed us a letter that says:
[Heather]:
Please be advised that you have 24 hours from the date of this letter to contact us in reference to the 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander with VIN # XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Failure to comply will result in charges as described in the bailment agreement you signed at the time of delivery, as well as a recovery fee. Please contact us as soon as possible to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
[Dealership Employee]
They are just trying to strongarm us here, and I am trying to figure out what to say to him if we do go meet with him. Theres no need to sign a new contract; all they are trying to do is get more money from us. Its $16 more per month on a 46 month lease, or $768 over the course of the lease.
Update: We went back in, and they offered $3 more than what our contract was, rather than $16 more. Since that was still a better deal than we could probably get elsewhere, we took it, but not without significant yelling and screaming.
- I have my first competitive tennis match of my lifetime on Saturday. I personally believe it will be the start of my whirlwind tour as the heaviest Grand Slam winner ever.
Monday, January 12th, 2004 | 6:45 pm
I wish there were a whole lot of news for me to report here, but not much is going on. I’ve got plenty of work to do, which is a good thing at this point. The new year has brought some change, but the latter part of the year will be much more to talk about.
The days fly by when you are working hard, but they go even faster when you have nothing to do and are enjoying it. The question really is: which goes faster? Busy time or beautiful, blissful free time?
Monday, January 12th, 2004 | 10:02 am
Hint:
Put the Coke in the glass before the ice and it won’t fizz over and you won’t have to pour it at 1 picoliter/minute, either.
