Evan Agee: Live from Richmond Indiana

I just returned from a week-long camp with Kristen and several girls from the youth group. I had never experienced a summer camp before, and I have to say that the movies have been pretty accurate in their portrayal of summer camps. It was everything I expected and more.

There were little junior high boys running around and getting into trouble, there was a lake for swimming, boating and other fun and there was even a dining hall where all of the campers would eat at the same time. It was a lot of fun.

The camp was actually a mission/work camp. The purpose of the week was for campers to go out into Evansville and work on fixing/repairing/improving various residential properties. It was nice to see a large group of teenagers genuinely care about helping others. Very soothing.

There was really too much that went on to write about here, it was something that you had to be there to appreciate. I met many great people and made lots of friends that I plan on keeping in touch with. We’re also planning on going again next year.

I’m back to work now and getting cought up. I have to admit that I’m pretty excited about getting back to my old schedule.

Well, after a long and somewhat disheartening process, I have a newer car!

I still can’t hardly believe it, but I now own a domestic car and it’s nice. It’s a 2001 Ford Taurus SES with around 56,000 miles on it and it runs great. It’s a very good mix between visual style and performance and I’m very happy with it so far. We also got a wonderful price on it, so I can’t complain at all.

We kept the car overnight the night before last and drove it some and we’re pretty happy with it overall. Our only concerns were the 6 cylinder engine and the 5.5 year loan term. But, we were able to get things angled our way a little more in the end. It was a great experience overall and tought us a lot about dealing with a salesman.

I’ve added some actual photos of the car from the dealer (where they were trying to sell it on AutoTrader.com). We ended up getting it for much less than what they were asking and that’s pretty good. Click on the thumbnails below to view a larger version.

We’re going today to get some of the insurance stuff sorted out and the dealer is also going to give the car a very good cleaning and fill up the tank for us! I can’t wait to see what it looks like after it has been detailed and all of the plastic covering is removed.

Here in the next month or so we’re going to be buying a new car for Kristen to help make her commute to Connersville a bit safer. Her car is all but dead and she needs something dependable. We’re probably going to get a new Civic for her since it will have great gas mileage and will be very affordable (you can get a brand new one for around $13,000).

Well, that’s it for now, keep checking back for updates!

I’ve been doing some work on EvanAgee.com lately and I thought that you might be interested in some of them. I’ve been going through a minimalist phase as far as web design. I’m starting to have a greater appreciation for a page that doesn’t have a ton of graphics but instead has lots of great color. Color can do a lot, and there are few things better in life than a nice white page with some nice color tones sprinkled throughout.

Take the front page of EvanAgee.com, it sort of reminds me of a t-shirt that someone has wiped their hands on after eating a bunch of Skittles. Very colorful, very simple. Also, when you keep the design simple, it tends to show off the content of the page a little more. Now, in my case that’s not-so-good because I don’t have a lot of content (right now). But, I like it anyway.

I still have some pretty big plans to redevelop this site and make it more of a consolidated place for all of my work and writing stuff. I’m not a great writer by any means, but I do enjoy doing it. Even if you guys don’t read it, I still have fun posting it on a medium that I think will be around for many, many years. It’s sort of a way of archiving your life. Minus a few very important items…

What is it about salesmen that keeps them from being able to give someone a good deal without trying to squeeze every penny out of them first? We went last night to a dealership to try and get a sense of what the prices are for different levels of cars only to find that most of the cars don’t have prices on them! It’s rediculous. This obvious inference is that the price is negotiable, but the salesmen don’t treat the price like it’s negotiable when they come out swinging. We just happen to know the salesman that we were talking with, and I thougt that would help him be a little more compassionate, but it didn’t.

I understand that they are trying to get as much out of the car for the betterment of themselves AND the lot, but when you know that someone wants to pay $150 a month NOT $160 and NOT $200, why don’t you work with them and try to get them something in their price range? It’s very counterproductive.

I was able to find a few cars that I like, but there will need to be some work done to try and get the price down to a range I can afford the payments for. I’m hoping that we can go tonight and find something that will be nice and affordable.

We also drove around to some other lots to get a sense of prices, but as you could have guessed, most of the others didn’t have prices either. We’re going tonight to drive a few and hopefully pick something out (if the price is right).

Part of my weekend was spent looking at cars at various lots around town. Friday morning if you would have asked me what kind of car I wanted I would have told you a 2002 VW Jetta. If you would have asked me Saturday Night, I would have told you a 2004 Honda Civic. If you asked me today what type of car I would like, I would tell you a 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible.

A big jump I know… But I’m starting to think that maybe there really isn’t that much difference betwee imported and domestic cars now. Yeah, sure the domestic cars may not last as long, but what if I’m just looking for something that will last a few years? Does it really matter?

When I was about the get my drivers license in 1996, Chrysler introduced a new car called the Sebring. There was something about the style that I really liked and I especially loved the idea of the convertible. However between then an now I’ve been under the impression that imported cars are much better than domestic cars for numerous reasons, but the most important being that they don’t have as many problems mechanically. Well, I’ve spent the last 3 years with a Mazda (which I now know was made by Ford…) that I’ve been fairly happy with. It also just happens to be the EXACT same car as the Ford Probe, which is a car that I’ve hated for as long as they’ve been in production… It’s ironic, but it’s also got me thinking that maybe I can save a little money and get something domestic that I really want. I’m a big guy, and though I like small Japanese cars as much as the next 23-year-old guy, I’d much rather have something larger, fancier and with more torque.

It’s possible that I’ll be going tomorrow night to try and trade in my car for something newer… and make the same payment every month that I’m already paying for my current car. I’m very excited and can’t wait to see what my options are. I need something newer.