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Thursday, May 06, 2004 Car Dealers If I lived in a big city, I wouldn't have to think about it, but here I am, in the middle of nowhere, wondering where the hell I'm going to live next month and how the hell I'm going to get to lab every day. I don't understand why housing likes to end leases at critical times--which means smack dab in that particular week in June when I'm going to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off because of deadlines and presentations and qualifiers. It's not like first-year students will arrive any time before August anyway. The first step in trying to solve this problem is getting a car. Ooo, a car, you might think, why didn't you get one earlier? It would have solved all your transportation problems. Yeah, but a really good bus system could have solved that too. Do you know how much cars cost? Gas? Registration? Parking space? Insurance? Maintenance? Etc., etc., etc.? Yes, laugh all you want, but you're not living on a graduate student's stipend. I met three car salesmen today. I'm inherently distrustful of such people--always wary that they'll somehow convince me to throw all that I own away. The first guy made me think of Harry S. Truman--he even looked like him too--but such earnestness immediately triggers alarm bells. Follow an open face blindly and you'd realize too late that you're falling into a chasm. The second guy looked like he would turn into a rather oily Santa Claus in about twenty years or so. He was wearing a pink shirt with blue stripes, sleeves rolled up just before the elbows. Like a snake, you weren't quite sure when he would strike. He didn't today, but he did offer the tidbit that if you registered in New Hampshire, you wouldn't have to pay interest. Maybe he was more like the fisherman, bait the hook and reel 'em in. The third guy I liked least of all. He was the tall, affluent businessman who drives BMWs and wears gold watches from Switzerland. He's also the kind of man, I imagined, who would make short girls cry when trying to make a sale. Or maybe I've just heard too many horror stories from girls who easily cry when trying to buy cars. [posted by S. Y. Affolee on 6:34 PM : ]
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