So I finally came across some time to update my web site and there will be more updates to come. I had to trash tagboard tho because it got spammed to death by the penis-enlarging people but also only to find out the assholes have hacked the tagboard hosting site and it looks like the owner of tagboard has abandoned the site anyways; he hasn't posted anything since 2006. Even though I have deleted the tagboard and changed my tagboard password, they have managed to still spam it from the backend ~_~

Anywho nothing much has been going on. For those who care I am still playing WoW and so I'm in the midst of making a gaming section on the site. I have completed updating the blog, forums, and gallery, minus the addition of pictures, so I requested some information from Blizzard to facilitate creating my character bios.

Um ... Thinking

After that I am not sure what to add to my site; I will have to do more brainstorming. Or if anyone else has any ideas, that would be helpful too.

~Xen

So I finally did it ... sold he CRX. I'm not as sad about it as I thought I would be ... perhaps because I know deep in the back of my mind I'd never get it fixed up. lol. I thought about the money that I would dump into it and came to the conclusion, if I had the $3000 to put the B16 and new tranny in it and everything ... would I *Really* dump that much dough in this car or spend it on something else?

Knowing me, I'd rather spend it on something else. I posted it to Craiglist for $200 and it sold like in 5 minutes. Literally. No joke. Sold to a guy in Portsmouth. I got lots of phone calls and emails too so it would have eventually sold to someone. He said he worked on cars and would get it back on the road. That's what I want to hear. Very good car and I'll always remember it as my first car love.

A few weeks ago I was sitting at my PC as usual, surfin the web and then I heard *POP*! ... I thought they were gun shots (hey I live in a bad neighborhood), but the funny thing was it sounded like it was right beside me, so I paid it no mind ... until several days later when I tried to play WoW ... all of a sudden I couldnt. I was playin my Horde shadow priest Stighmata and then everything came to a halt; the sound started skipping for a few seconds, the screen froze and then everything returned back to normal. It started getting so bad I couldn't play WoW at all.

I have an EVGA e-GeForce 7600 video card. I thought maybe it came loose or something becaue it was freezing so much and thats when I noticed the capacitors ... they had popped open and leaking fluid. I went out and bought me a BFG GeForce 7300 thinking it would be as good since my 7600 rocked ... NOT. It couldnt even run the game without hitting 8 frames. So then I went out and got a GeForce 8400 ... boy was that a piece of shit. 10 frames at max res? Hell on my GeForce 7600 I could get 30 frames with video settings maxed out. So finally i took that piece of shit back to Bestbuy too and now here I sit with an exploded video card. It runs ... but it just wont run WoW.

I described my situation to a guildie and he said it was because of electritic capacitor leaking caused from incorrectly designed capacitors. I was like wtf. So I read up a little more and low and behold, I saw pictures of capacitors that blew up just like mine ... and then to see someone who said when they explode they sound like firecrackers ... I thought of the gun shots I thought I heard. Unreal.

So today I called up EVGA and told them about the capacitors popping and they said I had a 2 year warranty on it, and they setup an RMA request for replacement. WooHoo.

I took the car to the dealership for a wash and detailing ... I have to say the work they did kind of sucked because the guy said he couldnt get the bug shit off the front ~_~ how about a lil elbow grease man. And to top that off, I noticed a few scratches that I could have sworn were not there before too. Rule of thumb ... never let anyone wash your car, even if its the dealership ... especially if its black.

But on a brighter note, the salesman said they went down on the price of the car because the bank would not pay for the amount they were asking for it. So it went from $17k to $16k. Talk about awesome. Kelly Blue Book value of the car is $16,725 and that's exactly what my sales receipt says. Prior they were charging $17,175. Good job Capital One.

In addition, I got the windows tinted today. Looks great. I love it. I got 35% on the front windows (the darkest you can legally get in Virginia) and 20% on the back windows; can't see through the back windows at all. I love it. Theo says this car fits me perfectly and I agree; it looks like something I would drive.

In the upcoming weeks or months, I'll be adding a low profile spoiler.

So on Tuesday (1/22) got this strange letter today from Capital One Auto Finance that I was approved up to $30,000 for a vehicle from a local Ford dealer, $0 down. Skeptical? You're dam right I am. Nothing strange about it really, it's just that I've never received an offer of any type like that in the mail. I *have* been working on improving my credit rating; I've paid every balance on my credit report since last year so I I don't owe anyone a got dam thing. But never have I expected anything like this.

Out of curiosity I looked around the lot, they had mostly SUV's and minivans. Then I came around the corner and low and behold, one of my dream cars ... a Mustang. There were two red ones, a black and a blue one. So I inspected them. two were 2005, a 2003 and the black one was a 2007. After I looked over the whole lot, I went in to the showroom and showed them my certificate from Capital One, the guy took me into his office, he was quite sexy by the way, and asked for what I was looking for in a vehicle. The first and only thing that came out was "Mustang".

So he asked how much I could pay a month, yada yada same o. He said I didn't have to trade in my Honda. I told him I'd rather keep it and sell it myself. I told him I'd rather keep my payments $400 or below because I don't like paying for something a month that takes two paychecks. I asked him the price of the 2007 Mustang and he told me the MSRP is $19k but he said with my offer from Capital One, I am not going to pay that much; the finance manager will negotiate with CapOne. I said cool. I thought that was strange how that worked. So I handed over my paystub, phone bill, driver's license, and proof of insurance. About 15 minutes later the sexy sales guy says lets go for a ride while we wait. I said cool. The car was nice. Rolled smoothly, unfortunately it was a residential area with speed limit of 25 so I couldnt hit the gas like I wanted to but it was so nice.

We got back inside and the guy comes back and says, you want us to deliver this to you tonight and wash and detail it? I was like huh? I was like sure. So then the finance manager pulled me in this office and had the financing and stuff available. I asked him "so the car is mine"? he looked at me like a nut. He said yea. Then I asked are you sure? It was so easy and quick" and the finance manager said "this is how easy it is when you have it pre-approved through CapOne". ????
No way!!!

The car was $17k by the way. The Mustang usualy sells around $25k; $20k for the V6. No I didn't get the V8 GT if thats what you're wondering. I wanted to keep the payments affordable and not to stretch myself; after all I was skeptical and I still am. The V6 is awesome too.

They asked if I wanted to leave my Honda and pick it up in the morning. I told them I would come back to take it home.

So I drove off in my new 2007 Mustang. It *was* a used car but it's new to me. Based on the mileage it looks like it was owned by a rental car or some kind of business because the mileage was super high 28.8k but the interior and exterior were immaculate like it had never seen daylight. The factory covers were still in the back of the trunk. I even got the user's manuals and warranty!! Carfax reports it was bought by a business and I'm the original individual owner. I'd rather mileage be that high from a rental place and I know it's been taken care of as fas as maintenence than for it to be that high and it be owned by an individual. No accidents on its record. No lemon. The carpet looked brand new. The seat belts didnt look like they had even been stretched in the back. In the trunk the spare tire and cargo net looked like they had never been touched. There wasnt even any dust or dirt. IF you saw it, you would think it was brand spankin new. IT almost seems too perfect.

I read up on this offer from Capital One and it seems like its legit and some blank check deal where I choose what I want off the lot and the bank pays for the car and then I pay off the bank. The salesman did tell me though it's based off income somewhat still. Yea I probably could have gotten the GT but thats $25K and didnt want to go crazy even tho I could pick anything I wanted. Part of maintaining good credit is like gambling; knowing when to stop. Knowing when something is more than you can handle and to practice restraint. I think I did well on that.

On the other hand, I'm still skeptical of the offer. I still can't believe it. The salesman explained to me they await the check from Capital One which should arrive by Monday; the salesman assured me Capital One was a good lender and I shouldn't worry. BUT I DO! cuz I dont want it to be 2 weeks and then they call me asking for the car back. I've had that happen to me ya know when I tried to buy a Toyota Camry last year. Altho that was a whole different situation; my mom says that Toyota dealer was just trying to sell me a bad deal and that she doubts that Ford dealership is going to do the same thing. I'm just paranoid I guess. Problem was with that Toyota dealer is they let me drive off with the car without first finding me a lender. They couldn't so I drove the car for a week and a half only to find out they couldnt find a lender and they called me asking me to return it. I explained this to the salesman and he told me he would call me when the check from Capital One arrived. But he said that usually he would know something the very next day if the deal falls through but he said. He didnt sound like he was worried about it at all. Neither did the finance manager. So am I like being paranoid? No one seems to be worried about it but me.

I always look at the worst of things. I ALWAYS expect the worst and I dont like car salesmen. I try to be optimistic but it never works. The fact of realism always creeps in. I setup an appointment to have the windows tinted though. Its $139 to do the whole car. So I figure if they come calling asking for the car back it will be no big loss and I'm sure they would refund me the money; don't see why not. But if they dont, oh well. It wont be the first time I've bought a car and it was taken back. But who knows ... maybe I do get the car. I'll post pics later and probably put it in the Gallery.