Just about to pull out of here to head for Pleasanton with William. I’m looking forward to seeing my grandmother for a brief time tomorrow, but worried about the lack of sleep we face this weekend. It will be nice to get out somewhere new though. If all goes according to plan I should be back Monday night!

I’m excited because I just discovered that one of my favorite bands, Calexico, released a live session EP on iTunes recently. Their music is awesome, I’d describe it as an eclectic blend of rock and spaghetti western music, with surf and southwest sounds slapped on top. Much of their collection is available on emusic. I recommend checking them out.

Well, it’s a half road trip, as it’s for business. I volunteered to go up next weekend with my co-worker William to Pleasanton, CA (it’s near SF) to help move our server room up there. It’s about an hour away from my grandmother’s place, which I haven’t had a chance to visit yet. So we’ll leave Thursday, check into the hotel that night, and I’ll probably visit family on Friday. Then we start the big move at about 11pm. I hope it doesn’t kill us dead tired! But, it should be fun, and I’ll get to meet people from the company I haven’t bumped into yet.

So earlier I’d mentioned that my goal was to get my BJJ blue belt in the next year. Well, that goal has unceremoniously come and gone. I haven’t had a belt since I’ve gone back to class, as I couldn’t find my old ones. Well yesterday morning, my teacher flung a blue belt my way: “Murphy, you need your belt”. I was like, uh, I was a blue belt ten years ago, but don’t feel like one now. Well, once one always one I guess. Now I’m the blue belt who gets beat on by the white belts. There’s only shame in it if I let it bug me, though.

So now my new goal is to actually roll like a blue belt!

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I’ve decided that my new goal for the year is to gain (or is it regain?) my BJJ blue belt. Hopefully this will take me less than 12 months. I was pretty much one before, ten years ago, but quit right before it was official. Now I plan to make it official. This is, assuming my joints can take it!

I’ve been looking around at different dealerships to perhaps purchase a 2006 Mazda Miata. Fortunately, as I don’t need a new car, the experience is less stressful than it could be if I was in need of wheels. I have forgotten some of the depths to which the salesmen will go to try and pressure the consumer.

The most useless trick so far was for a salesperson to tell me, “look, I’m gonna tell you the truth about [so and so], so that you don’t have to look stupid in a dealership again”. Hah, oh no, I look stupid! Excuse me while I bow to your pressure and fold and buy right now.

I’ve also appreciated repeated calls from my “friend” Ron at another dealership. I think he’s left voicemail for me seven times since I visited the dealership. Now, while Ron may be working to induce some kind of guilt in me to come back and buy on his terms, it’s having the opposite effect. If the guy will call me that much, well, he must be desperate to sell. So Ron, don’t tell me you can’t get the number.

I’ve also enjoyed witnessing the transition from “I’m not in love with these cars, I’ll make you a great deal, I want to sell” to the opposite “I don’t care who buys this car, I want my money for it”. So, um, do you want to get the car off your lot today, or next week, or maybe never?

My personal favorite to date, however, was overemphasis on my last name. It’s Irish, and, the salesperson started by asking about my “rich” family history, and telling me about his great trip to Ireland. Then he launched into, “When I saw your lastname, I knew I had someone who knew his stuff”. Butter me up, uh huh.

So here is my open notification to the car salesmen I may encounter (none of which will ever actually read it). All I care about is the final price. I don’t care if you think you know me, or want to brownnose me, or that you pretend to educate me. In fact, I think the world would be a much happier place if you stopped doing this to everybody who steps in your door. I exaggerate, but, still.

Oh, and boys, you’re getting the ’07s on your lot. That’s trouble…for you!