A community I’m in here on LJ now has a Team Speak channel (voice chat application, if you’ve never heard of it), and I wanted to hop on. I unfortunately don’t have a microphone, so I went to Circuit Shitty today to pick one up. The only desk mic they had was a $20 Plantronics Audio 300, so I grabbed it (I hate boom-mic headsets). Got home, hooked it up, and I couldn’t get rid of this incessant popping sound that suddenly was coming through my speakers. And, every once in awhile, it’d start playing deafening static that I couldn’t get rid of until I unplugged it and plugged it back in. It’s going back to CC tomorrow afternoon.

So, I go to plan B, my old Dell mic. You’ve all seen them, it’s about half as long as a pencil, and shaped like a sadistic enema nozzle or something. I got it hooked up, and I had very little inexplicable static, but when I turned its volume up to anything above whisper-quiet, I’d get full-volume speaker feedback. So, scratch that one.

As I was about to go to Wal-Mart in frustration, I remembered that I own a perfectly good speaker-mic for my HAM radios, so I grabbed it and an extension cable to give it a try. Unfortunately, it too didn’t work out, even at full volume and gain I couldn’t get it above a whisper.

Then, I had a sudden flash of inspiration, the same type of pure unadulterated nerdiness that causes things like APRS to exist. Here I am, sitting mere inches from a HAM base radio that’s already hooked up to my sound card and adjusted properly, holding a handheld radio in my paws with an identical frequency range. So, I tuned my base radio to an FRS channel, turned the squelch to maximum, and transmitted with my handheld at extra-low power (500mw). Effectively giving me a ridiculously over-complicated short-range wireless mic

Fox and I have been re-organizing and cleaning the house, it’s looking quite nice. He’s kinda claimed the entire workshop area as his own so he can build some furniture, and he put up literally an entire wall of pegboard tonight

I’m slowing gathering things and preparing for Anthrocon, since we won’t be doing any other major conventions before that. Among other things, I’ll be getting a new HT (dual-receive, I’ll be able to get on the hamfurs talkaround this year), filters and a wide-angle lens for my camera, and other stuff. I’ve already gotten a set of rechargeable batteries and a nice smart-charger for them, those will be here tomorrow. And unlike previous years, I’m going to save up money for this con ASAP and commit myself to not spending it before then. Seems like every year I’m scrambling to be able to afford the con at the last minute, and this year I want to do it right.

Fox and I joined Gold’s Gym today, since they’re the only place in town that’s open late enough for me to actually take advantage of it. Their rates are pretty good (I guess, never had a gym membership before), and it looks like a pretty nice place. Plus, the owner/manager, who signed us up, is a lesbian, so they were more than happy to set us up with a family plan

So, if all goes well, I’ll be much better-looking by AC. Because of my bad ankle, about all I can really do on a regular basis is weight training, so if nothing else I’ll be as strong as an ox by then.

I’ve definitely decided that a fursuit is in my future, and dropping some weight is the first of four hurdles to pulling off the character I want. It’s probably at least a year off, possibly more, but joining the gym was the first thing I’ve done to actually set things in motion. So, my goal is to drop down to no more than 190 pounds by January 2008.

My mom is car shopping, and she saw a really nice ‘97 Nissan Pathfinder at Steven Toyota’s lot. We went there Wednesday, trying to trade the Rover as-is for it. Well, not such a good experience. The salesman was this tiny energetic guy who looked fresh out of college, and he was obviously new. And, having done our homework AND owned a nearly identical Pathfinder in the past, we knew far more about the vehicle than the salesman did. So, his attempts to make relevant comments during the test drive turned into “smells really clean in here” after he got tired of us correcting him.

After the test drive, we came back to the dealership to talk numbers. I forget the exact details, but basically, they only wanted to give us $500 for the Rover, and their banks wouldn’t approve her for a loan at all. She already had financing through another bank lined up, but they would only give her $3200 on that particular vehicle, leaving her about $1500 short of what she needed. The sales manager came by at that point, HUGE tribal-looking black guy with a Caribbean accent, and he said they could likely finance it if she put $2000 down on it, which she said no to, so they started trying to push her into getting some other vehicles, like an ‘03 Jeep Grand Cherokee. She and I both said “no” to this many times, and started leaving. The salesman, obviously desperate, took down some “characteristics” she was looking for in a vehicle. So, she said she wanted a mid-size SUV with 4 doors, 4WD, and not American-made. She also mentioned that it had to be pre-2000 for insurance, and with payments of no more than $175/month. So, with that, we left, and hadn’t heard back from him.

On Friday, mom figured out a way to make it work, so she called this salesman back and asked if they’d finance it if she’d put $1000 down. He said he’d check with his manager and get back to her. Called her back 15 minutes later, said the manager approved the deal, and they’d check with the banks on Saturday. So, she waited around all day Saturday for him to call, no response. Finally, after I got up, I suggested we go over there and meet with this guy in person. We got there, had him paged, and he finally came by the sales trailer (they’re remodelling). He said he was with someone else, but she was approved for financing, and he’d be with us in 10-15 minutes to discuss details. So, we told him we’d be in the lounge of their service area, and off we went. Nearly an hour later, he came over to the service area and said he had one last little thing to do, and he’d be right with us. Fine, whatever, they were busy. Right after him came the sales manager, who sat down with a folder and opened with “Alright then, we got you approved for a 3-year loan on that ‘03 Jeep, and the payments are going to be $309/month”. Wait, what? Mom’s first reaction was “Umm, I think you have the wrong folder there”, but he had her customer sheet and everything still in there from the other day. Apparently, this little twerp of a salesman had decided that the deal she pitched him on the Pathfinder meant that she ACTUALLY wanted this Jeep that was over 3x the price.

I got pissed off at that point and stood up to leave, but mom tried to reason with the sales manager some more, while he simultaneously apologized for the salesman’s fuckup and continued giving her details of the deal on the Jeep, as if she had said “Sure, that’s a great price, I’ll take it!”. Nevermind the fact that not only had she vehemently stated she didn’t want it at all, nor had she even seen it. Finally, I got tired of listening to her just taking the bullying and said “Come on, we have other cars to look at”. This time she followed, leaving the giant with the tacky trenchcoat sitting there with a WTF? look on his face. We went back to my car, and drove down the driveway to make a U-turn. While I was turning around, along comes Amos (our n00b salesman) with a rather confused look on his face, and he chased us and just about threw himself onto my car before I stopped and rolled down the window. He asked what was going on, and I said “You said you had financing for her on the Pathfinder, and then switched around on her with this bullshit about a Jeep. We’re done here.” He tried to explain himself, saying something about the Jeep being really nice, and other such BS. Mom again stated that she didn’t want it, didn’t want to look at it, and she couldn’t afford the insurance on it. His response? “Well, if you like, I can call your insurance company for you and find out how much of an impact it would be?” This just about threw mom over the edge, and struck my final nerve, so I said “Look, we came here to buy that Pathfinder, and your job was to sell it to us. If you can’t do that, fine, we’ll take our business elsewhere. But with this bullshit trick, not only did you lose the sale, but you and your company lost as much business as we can give to your competitors. Have a nice life.”

And with that, I floored it (police interceptor = impressive show when I’m pissed), nearly taking Amos’s hand with me, and left their lot for the last time in my life. Mom is writing a letter to the dealership owner to voice a complaint about this salesman, and I may do the same as well. And for anyone who lives in the Harrisonburg area and/or plans to buy a car here, make a point of avoiding Steven Toyota. Nothing but a bunch of bullies.