So we met up with a salesman, Mark, who reminded us of our pal Joe back in SoCal. We liked him immediately. We first had our eyes set on a used 2008 Toureg, but it turned out to be WAY too expensive for our taste. We wanted to look at other options and started to make our way down towards the Routan’s (VW’s mini van) and Katie started to lose it! She kept squeezing my hand and shaking her head… but I’m not getting it. I was warm on the idea, she wasn’t, so we moved on. Maybe after the second kid is born we’ll explore the mini van option, but until then, we’ll stick with the SUV range!

We finally made our way to Tiguan country, VW’s mini SUV line. Katie and I both were very fond of the Tiguan SE Wolfsburg Edition and started to wheel and deal. We couldn’t reach an agreement on Friday, so we left having no intention of pursuing a deal any further. We still had a very low mileage Jetta that was in great shape, nothing lost.

The next morning we go in for service and are met by the sales manager and finance manager as soon as we walk in the door. Before service begins, they want one last chance to see if we can strike a deal. For 30+ minutes options are thrown at us but until they can make a deal fit within our parameters, it isn’t going to happen. In the end, the sales manager works out a deal that not only puts our monthly payments below target, but also nets us a healthy amount for our trade in.

While the Tiguan (yet to be named by Katie) is being prepped, we said good bye to our reliable Jetta “Gretta”, cleaned her up and wished her luck with her new owner. We grew very attached to the Jetta, I mean it’s the car we drove to get married in. The vast majority of our Disneyland trips were made in her. Yes, we know it’s just a car but she’s been such a big part of our life.

Under $20 for a full tank

This morning I traveled down to the Shell station of Lyons avenue and saw what I thought was an error, 87 octane for $1.69. This Shell station is always the lowest on our side of town and this morning they didn’t disappoint! When I first moved to LA, gas was around $1.65/gal and that was back in ’01. When I was in high school, it was $1.25… if it ever hits that low again, I will seriously consider making my classic car a daily driver.

When you think of Thanksgiving, what comes to mind? Just a few that come to my mind: Family, turkey, pumpkin pie, pilgrims… and with Thanksgiving 08, I can add one more to the list: theft. My (Josh’s) mom is in town from England and went shopping on black Friday with Katie at the Grove. I had to work so Katie getting a shopping buddy that wasn’t me worked out perfectly. When I got home from work, we all headed over to Aunt Susan’s for a very nice family dinner. We returned home at about midnight and hit the rack shortly after.

When I woke up the next morning, I had planned to make a waffle breakfast, but needed a few supplies from the grocery. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. When I got down to the parking garage, I discovered that my passenger front window had been smashed in.

The truly ironic part, I had nothing of street value in my car. The thieves took my prescription sun glasses…. that’s it.

I went back upstairs to tell Katie and Mom what had happened and to call the Sheriff. Once the Sheriff was on their way, Katie came down to the garage to wait with me for the deputy to arrive. Katie’s car was parked once space away with a SUV separating our cars, so I couldn’t see her car. Katie went over to see if anyone else was hit.. then she saw her car. Her driver side front window had been smashed!

Katie ran upstairs to get her keys and wallet for the deputy, but she couldn’t find her wallet. The wallet was in the car! We figured that when Katie paid for parking at the Grove, her wallet missed the purse and fell in the crack between the seat and door. When the thieves smashed her window to get her sunglasses… they got an unexpected bonus. Once the officer took our statements and info, he ordered finger prints and split. Katie and I ran up stairs and started the process of canceling all our credit cards.

The thieves charged a healthy amount at a few local stores, but nothing extreme. Now, because they stole credit cards, this is considered a higher crime on the scale of what the police will investigate. They can now pull the surveillance tapes of all the shops the thieves visited.. which puts a face to the crime.

The finger print tech says that our area is being hit hard and they are out here weekly for break-ins. She also told us that our case will enable the Sheriff to go farther now that they have moved up to identity theft. Sting operations and bait cars are in the works… and we now have 4 detectives on the case. I sure hope they catch these jerks.

So… all in all.. not a very happy Thanksgiving, but at least it put alot of things in perspective for us. The rest of the photos of our cars can be found here.