I hit a pole while parking this morning. I am just so pissed at myself. It's painted the same color as the wall and only comes up to my hip which means it's RIGHT where you can't see it. My bumper is dented and my wheel cover has white paint on it. *sigh* Now I have to spend the weekend trying to get pricing at body shops. Considering my insurance has a $500 deductible I'm probably going to just pay for it myself. If it's over that I'm going to cry.

Wednesday I took my car in for a 15,000 mile tuneup. I was at 17,000 and it was running like shit. I arrived at 8:30am and was told they'd call me around 11am. Of course I forgot any reading material. After wandering around the new car section I ran across a really nice salesman ("N") and chatted with him for a bit. I was checking out the 2006 Rav4 Sport and he asked if I wanted to drive it. I figured what the hell and the journey began. I love my Matrix, but it's a tad loud for me. I swore my next car would be quieter. We drove the 4 cylinder first, which had a bit of difference in the sound. Then we went for the V6. Oh my G-d. I was in heaven. It purred. It glided. It went really, really fast. By the time we got back I was almost writing out the check. I called Jake who did some quick research and all sites gave it wonderful reviews. As we pulled into the dealership I got a call from the service area. They found some problems. We're talking over $600 worth of problems. "N" and I started laughing. I asked them to hold that thought and we went in to see what deal they could give. After checking the car they found frame damage from the accident, which I had suspected. I knew those fuckers should have totalled it. "N" still offered me bluebook value and a deal I couldn't pass up. The only hitch? I wanted a different color and there were only two other cars in the whole region. I had two colors to choose from: White or Barcelona Red. I went with the red. Now I had to wait for them to bring it from the dealership over 100 miles away.

Thursday finally arrived and I felt like an expectant father. I got updates at work throughout the day. When the guy finally left I was told he'd be back after 8pm. Jake and I arrived at the dealership and the signing process began. What's funny is that Hasan, who sold me the Matrix, got a promotion and was doing the financing. He was the sweetest guy. He still remembered how I asked if there was a way to wrap something around the engine to make it quieter. I'll never live that baby down. An hour later I hopped into my brand new car and drove home to go to bed.

Friday morning I hopped into the Rav4 and drove to work. I reached the onramp for the 405 South and noticed a semi pacing me as the lanes merged. I stepped on the gas to get in front and hit warp speed. I had to slow down and swerve to miss the cars in front. The truck driver must have thought I was insane. I can't believe how much power this car has. I still need to get used to it. I also need to get used to the fact that it's much larger than my Matrix. I tried parking in one of the usual spots at work and the parking attendant stopped me. He had this "Are you on crack?" look on his face. Nope, just blonde.