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Two things, first you know that little stick on the left of your steering wheel. Yes that one, the one that still has the shrink wrap on it. You can remove the shrink wrap from it. You won’t be charged more I promise, it comes standard on every car. What this does is operate the turn signal. If you are not sure what I am talking about please take a look at this link. This turn signal is used to indicate that you intend to change lanes. It also is used to signify when you plan to turn onto a different street. Why is this important? Unfortunately the rest of us are not omnipotent and cannot read your mind. So when you change lanes and seem surprised at the look of horror and possible heart attack it is because we had no idea that you were planning to do that. You nearly forced into oncoming traffic, a traffic barrier or possibly a person. This allow us to either slow down or change lanes when you are planning on slowing down to make a turn.

Second thing I need to bring up, is to all the people that drive MAVs, trucks, Hummers, semis, vans, buses etc. Basically anything taller or wider than your average sedan. Please take into account that those of us that are smaller than you cannot see through you. We don’t know when you are going to slow down because of a light. Normally this isn’t a problem if you slow down in normally, but when you slam on your brakes because you just noticed that the light turned red its near to impossible for us to make that same adjustment since we can’t see the cause beforehand. Also it would be a good idea to check your sideview mirror, rearview mirror and blindspots from time to time. This means that you should probably pack the car so that the rearview mirror is actually usable. I know that it may be inconvenient to repack the car with some stuff(IE groceries) between the seats, but it will be worth it. When you check those before changing lanes or deciding to pull a U-turn the other drivers will thank you. It’s much nicer to not be forced into oncoming traffic, another car, a pedestrian or concrete slab.

Another thought that just occurred to me, I know that no one can live without a cell phone these days, but please be smart about it. How can you possibly think you are driving very well if you have one hand holding your cell phone and the other jotting down a note. Unless you have three hands there is no possible way you still have a very good grip on the steering wheel and control of the car. You have no idea the number of contorted positions I’ve seen people in as they seem to be trying to drive with their feet. If I didn’t know better I might think that they were attempting yoga or something out of the Kama Sutra. If you need to talk on the phone at least have the common courtesy to use a hands-free device.

Just an update to my housing situation. I’ve finally had an offer accepted and am now going through all the hoops to get a mortgage and all the other fun stuff that needs to be done. So for now I won’t say that I am have a place!!! At least not til I have a key in my hand and my furniture moved in. It’s not that I’m entirely superstitious, but with something this big I won’t risk jinxing what is going on. I promise once I am all moved in there will be pictures of everything including the gorgeous view.

Until then I am keeping my fingers, toes and anything else crossed….just to be on the safe side.

So recently I wrote about my impressions of realestate as a first time home buyer. Now that this has been going on for a while I have a few stories to tell.

Shortly after that post I found a place and put in an offer. The seller dragged their feet and dragged their feet and then finally responded that they had accepted another offer, but the story doesn’t end there. I continued looking at other places and a week later the seller called back with a counter-offer to my original offer. It turns out that the other buyer had pulled out and they were desperate for another buyer. Little did I know I was about to get punished because the other buyer pulled out. We countered each other 3 or 4 times, which is an ordeal in and of itself. Anytime I submitted an counter-offer it was submitted/sent to the seller within a few hours. Unfortunately. it generally took 2-3 days before they would send anything back. Kind of odd behavior from a seller that claims they want to sell quickly. Finally we had agreed on everything except for the amount of earnest money. Out of the blue they countered wanting twice as much earnest money ($1000 vs $500 that was initally proposed). I could afford the $500 not the $1000, they apparently wanted this because the previous buyer had pulled out and thought that I might somehow do the same thing. I then countered with a slight increase and once again they dragged their feet for 3 days and guess what…….they accepted another offer. They wasted about 3 weeks with all of the delays only to go to someone else, but I’m not bitter….REALLY.

Last week I tried to look at another place that seemed like it would be perfect, if only I could have actually seen the inside of it. I attempted to go see it with my agent after rearranging my schedule a bit. Everything went great (once we got the lockbox open), we got into the complex, found the condo, unlocked the deadbolt and then were defeated. Apparently the selling realtor doesn’t have a key to the door knob itself, who knows why. She had warned my agent to bring a screw driver since it is generally habit to lock both the knob and the deadbolt after showing a place. Two screwdrivers and a pocket knife later we still could not get that door open. My agent called the other agent and arranged for her to get that door opened and I rearranged my schedule again to go and see the place. We got there and ALL of the lock boxes were missing, the previous day there were 4. That can’t be a good thing that some random thief has stolen and now has keys to 4 condos in that building. We gave up on that one and I might be getting a little bitter…..just a little.

Wish me luck I just submitted an offer on another property yesterday, hopefully I get this one. Otherwise the title above may become true!!!

So every once in a while when I am being lazy or just crave it I venture down to my local Taco Bell. You see I am hopefully addicted to their chicken quesadillas. But that is part of the problem, although I like quesadillas I hate tacos. Why is that a problem? The chicken quesadilla meal comes with a taco, so normally I just ask them to substitute out the taco for a bean burrito. It’s normally no problem since according to the menu a taco and a bean burrito cost the same amount($0.99).

Well yesterday I was feeling the urge to stop by and and get my usual meal. When the lady went to ring it up, it came out a dollar cheaper than it usually does. Now I’m an honest person and I questioned the lady on it and discovered something very interesting. Since I wanted a burrito instead of the taco; she rang up the drink, quesadilla and bean burrito separately instead of in a meal. Is this just a fluke or have I really overpaid a dollar every time I have gone to Taco Bell for the last 2 years?

I guess I’ll have to go back and find out what happens next time…

Anyone from Utah will surely know what a MAV is, but for those that don’t:

Another term for a station wagon, mini-van, or any other kind of vehicle that is targeted at the “family” demographic(also M.A.V.) and Any vehicle whose express purpose is carrying 8 or more children at the same time, with groceries.

Many Utahns have large families or are planning on large families so they have acquired these large vehicles, which I can fully understand. What I can’t understand is why they can’t learn to drive them accordingly. They still think they are driving their old beat-up little Civic, Corolla, Focus and Metro.

What does that mean to the rest of us? Expect close encounters when you are in the right lane and a MAV come barrelling in from the side along the shoulder to turn right. This may have been okay when they were driving a Small car that could fight almost anywhere, but now they have the ability to take out all the smaller cars without even noticing it. Be wary of shopping centers that have small parking places, because if you park in a spot where your small car can fit, but just barely. There is a good chance when you get back you will have at least one MAV wedged in next to your car. If you know gymnastics or yoga be prepared to use it in order to gain access to your car.

If your car is a MAV please, please forget about parallel parking. Unless there is room for two cars in that parking space, there is a good chance you will hit one of the other cars. Or hold up traffic for 15 minutes while you attempt to come into the parking spot from all angles. Just because your car is a MAV does not give you the right to force your way into a lane on the freeway. See all the other cars piling up behind you, it was caused by you forcing your way into a lane where the driver of the Metro had no chance. Last but not least, if you would have hesitated doing something in your old car don’t even think about it now! This includes tight parking spaces, driving on the shoulder, pulling a U-turn in the middle of ANY street.

Thank you in advance for following any of these guidelines. You may have just kept from flattening me and my Civic.

P.S. If you are in front of any of us smaller cars at a stoplight, please remember we most likely cannot see when the light is going to change, this is especially true of the left hand turning lane. Find some way to let us know the light is completely red that you are turning left on. Just because you can make it through doesn’t mean that we would survive the onslaught of cars that are now barrelling towards us.