A Tale of Two Miatas

Wayne Mazda had two 2006 used Maitas on the lot. There was a gray one with approx. 60,000 miles and a blue one with approx. 30,000 miles. The gray one was priced at $15,000 and the blue one was priced at $17,000.

I requested a quote on the blue one and offered $15,000. They instead send me pricing for the gray one at $15,000. I called them up and let them know that it’s not the gray one I am interested in, but the blue one. They e-mailed me a quote of $15,595 on the blue one. I called up and said I will buy the car for $15,000. He said it was a deal, and I had him e-mail me the quote in writing. I confirmed that it was for the blue car and checked to stock numbers to make sure they matched.

I drove 45 minutes to the dealership, confirmed the price with the salesman and then took it for a test drive after thoroughly inspecting it. When I got back at the dealership to work up the papers I asked if they could fix a large scratch on the bumper or take another $100 off. At this point the salesman, who was very nice, went to the manager to talk things over. The salesman came back and said there must be a mistake, this must be the price is for the gray one. I showed him my e-mail, confirmed the stock numbers with him, and then printed it out. He brought it to his manager who came over to me and said that it was a mistake, but they can sell it for $15,995. He said they are losing money even at that price. I then left, angry and disappointed.

Moral of the story… Wayne Mazda is your typical sleazy car dealership when it comes to working the final numbers; its only redeeming quality was the great salesman. Yet car dealers wonder why they get such a bad rap?

P.S.: I am still going to the gym 4x a week and I'm making good progress. I swear I'll update that soon.

Week 7 Progress Report - A Tad Late

Hello all! (basically just me, haha)

Anyways, so I'm a little late getting the weekly progress report up, but I'm glad to say that I made it to the gym 4 times last week. I still missed the elliptical, but I hit the weights M-Th. On Thursday night I left for Atlantic City. I came home Friday night $200 lighter, but I had fun and I got carded 3 times, so that's good!

In other news, when I walking Maya up the road here on Thursday, it was hot and I had my shirt off. I turned my head to see what Maya was sniffing and some girl drove by and went "Daaamn". I suppose that's a good thing. I hope she didn't mean to say, "Damn, put a shirt on". I don't think she did, and at any rate it felt good. I know women supposedly don't like it when men do that to them, but who are they kidding it's an ego boost. I felt like a piece of meat and I loved it! Just wait 'till those ladies see me next summer.

Catch 'ya later!

On Liking Foods I Previously Hated

So part of my trying to buff up has also been a larger commitment to lead a healthier lifestyle. Both physically and mentally. Obviously I can't go to the gym 4x a week if I'm eating like crap and sulking. The positive will cancel out the negatives. Therefore, I've been trying to eat a lot healthier. Using the LoseIt! iPhone application has certainly helped in this area. I can't believe how many calories are in some foods. I used to go to McDonalds for lunch a couple of times a week and have an Angus bacon and cheese burger along with large fries. When I saw how many calories were in this "lunch" I knew I had to change that habit. Not only was my "lunch" consuming almost 2/3 of my calorie requirements for the day, but this was just not healthy. So while I still go to McDonalds I now have two 4-piece nuggets and small fries. (By the way, it costs less at my McDonalds to get two 4-piece nuggets than one 6-piece. I'm not the best at math, but even I know which is the better deal). I'm still not eating tofu and bean sprouts, but I'm doing much better.

Another thing I've been surprised by is how much I crave my daily salads now. When I was growing up I hated salad. My parents only ate romaine lettuce and I only ate the "crunchy" leaves. Essentially I avoided the leafy green leaves. My father used to tell me this is where all the nutrients were, and the "crunchy" leaves were like eating water. Whatever, I ate my salad... shut-up! As I got older I ate less and less salad, and when I did have salads I wanted iceberg, which was just water in leaf form too. Anyways, one day I picked up some romaine hearts from the store and told myself that I had to eat healthier and this would be a good start. Flash forward a few months later and I've been having a nice big salad every night and I love them! They are so crunchy and refreshing, even the green leaves! Of course, I don't just have the leaves my salad consists of romaine lettuce, olives, cucumber, croutons, bacon bits, and a hard boiled egg, with a drizzle of italian dressing... tasty! Another side bonus is that my main course is much smaller since the salad fills me up quite a bit.

I'm hoping that like I now enjoy my salad I can eventually add a bunch more fruits and vegetable to the mix!

Catch 'ya later!

Week 6 Progress Report

Another week at the gym done. This time I went 5 days. Also, I walked my dog, Maya, 4 days this week on my 2.5 mile loop. That means I walked 10 miles this week. That's pretty intense. I could definitely feel the burn in my thighs after those walks.

Today at the gym was biceps and triceps. I did a new routine called Biceps21. Basically you take half of what you normally curl and do 7 reps going halfway up, then you do 7 reps going from the top of the motion halfway down, then you do 7 complete reps. It was pretty intense, and I was told by others that it will really help me gain size in my biceps. I hope they are right! My biceps could use it.

On another note, it's kind of sad that it's getting darker out earlier. I'm missing the long summer days. I need to move closer to the equator.

Catch 'ya later.

Week 5 Progress Report - A Bit Late!

So it's a new month, and as such, it is time for new photos. Nothing special here as far as I can see. One day at a time, one weight at a time, eventually I'll get to the point where I'm as big as I want to be. Funny thing is whenever I look at myself in the mirror I look much more defined, but these pictures still make me look like stick man. Aargh!

This morning I was put-zing around with LoseIt on my iPhone and realized I had royally screwed up somehow when I put in the nutritional information for the Muscle Milk protein powder. I had it down for way too many calories. Thus I was always struggling to stay under my daily calorie budget. Now it's not so hard. The negative here is that I was also not getting as much protein as I originally thought. Oh well.

Tomorrow I think I will try the circuit training at the gym. I've never done that before. It should be good to mix it up a bit. I have set a new record though. I did 40 legs lifts on the roman chair! Next goal is 50.

Also, I'd like to report that I got my check from Oxford for $200! You can apply for gym reimbursement and get a $200 check every six months as long as you go 50 times in the 6 months. My gym only costs $60 for 6 months so essentially I am making $140 and getting healthier and looking better. Wins all around.

Catch 'ya later!

Back From Vacation!

I've been absent for a week and didn't do my end of the month photos progress report... well that's because I was in Massachusetts for the week. I went to Boston, Cape Cod, Plymouth, and Martha's Vineyard. I also took a detour to Mohegan Sun. I won $45. Of course that's not great, but I also won it while playing blackjack for 3 hours, so I consider that a win-win. Got some money, and played some blackjack!

At any rate, while on vacation I didn't work out. I went to the gym on Monday before I left, and considered using the hotel gym, but just never got up early enough. I did get a lot of exercise from all the walking that I did!

I'm not going to do my monthly progress until the end of this week since I didn't go to the gym much last week. I know it sounds petty, but I want a decent result! On the plus side, I weighed myself at work on Saturday and am now up to 140! Only 10 more pounds to go to my next goal of 150. I know it's going to be a slow journey, but I'll get there!

Catch ya' later!

Week 4 Progress Report - Staying Above The Crowd

So ends another week at the gym lifting heavy iron things and paying money to do so. It was a good week though and I'm actually not minding going to the gym much anymore. The more I go, the more results I see, the more results I see, the more I want to go. It's a very nice little cycle, that unfortunately works in the opposite direction as well. The less I go, the more mad at myself I get, the less I want to go.

At any rate, it was a good week. I went to a science museum on Sunday and was goofing around with a friend taking photos in gansta' poses and I really like the way my arm looked in the shot. It actually looks big-ish and defined! I've been looking at that photo too much since then. Of course other photos of me from the same trip show the skinnier truer self, but that one shot made my week. With my new found positive outlook I've been making an concerted effort to stay happy no matter how those around me are behaving. One snippy co-woerker's comment can ruin a day, but now I just concentrate on not caring so much about what other people act like. Only I can make myself happy, and relying on others to cheer me up never works long term. When I work out, eat well, and don't procrastinate and get stuff done, I'm above the crowd. Nothing anyone says bothers me much. So I've just got to keep up keeping it up.

Catch ya' later.