2 posts tagged “darren kitchen”
So after my bike accident, and hearing from my insurance that it's totaled (cost of repair > value of vehicle), I decided it was time to get a nice, safe, reliable car to last me a few years. After a little shopping I ended up with a 2003 Volkswagen Passat. It's a really nice car, decked out with leather and sun roof, and a 1.8 liter turbo engine. Sadly it didn't come with an iPod dock. But I got it for a great price at $12k with only 65k miles. Not bad I figured.
Now if you know me, you understand that I'm not exactly made of money. Everything "extra" I have goes into the show. So when it came time to finance I had to make a choice about the warranty. The deal on the table was 2 years/24,000 miles for an additional $72/mo, or $5k over the course of the 5 year loan. So real quick I did some math and it turns out that 24,000 miles would only last me 1-1.5 years. (I drive to work in DC weekly, a 300 mile trip, plus all those visits to Toronto at 1400 miles each. Ouch!). So paying an extra 5 grand for a 1-1.5 year warranty didn't seem like such a wise investment, especially since I'd be paying for it well after it expired, and if I wasn't expecting to put more than $5k in work into the car in the first 1-1.5 years I'd come out on top, right?
Well, I'm not saying that I wish I had gotten the warranty. I still stand by my financial judgment. But I just wish I hadn't been struck by the bad luck faerie. First the finger, then the bike, and now, well... My new car died within the first tank of gas! I had been planning on taking a pretty picture of it and blogging about how happy I was, but now I'm back in the "Wess, can I borrow your car" boat. And though only semi related, Wess' car IS a boat (97 Crown Vic)!
So yesterday it got hauled off to the dealer, and hopefully they'll make it go again without costing me an arm, leg, or pinky. I like when things go.
So here's hoping my new broken car gets fixed, and that the insurance settlement money on my bike comes in soon. So what's your ride?
PS: Lego Star Wars is still shrinkwrapped. One of these days I tell you...
We just got back from our trip to Toronto, which was a blast. We had a little trouble getting through the border on the way up but aside from that the trip was a huge success. We shot 4 excellent segments on Call for Help and two for Hak5 episode 2x03. Amber's going away party was really fun. We'll miss her on Call for Help for sure. Sean Carruthers took some pics at the studio and at Amber's for the wrap party which can be found on his flickr.
Saturday we went to the Fan Expo and socially engineered some press passes. That was fun. Mad props to our Executive Producer "Mitch Albright" for forgetting to submit the press registration forms. Yeah. Right.
Saturday night was a blast meeting up with the crews from Pure Pwnage, Openalpha.tv, and Snowball's PC. And Sunday we shot an amazing segment for 2x03 with a friend of Pronobozo's which I can't wait to edit.
Oh, and though I ran out of percocet (which I've been taking to ease the pain from my finger) I was able to pick up some codeine from a nice pharmacist in Toronto. You just can't beat $9 for 100 caplets of over the counter Canadian candy. (Winners don't do drugs).
Releasing 2x02 very soon, then cocktail party on the 9th, then surgery on the 12th. Fun week ahead of me for sure. Oh, and I think I'll be buying a new car in the next week or so. My current one is falling apart. :(
Cheers!
