How sad, no blogging for six days. I haven't been daily lately because of the new car and trying to get back on Pacific Standard Time. Well, I planned to give the Paris update this weekend, but I was working on a video for The Foundry. Remember the game, Clue, and then they made a movie of it. Well this one is a movie of the game, Mafia. It's a plug for our winter retreat. It's quite an undertaking. Normally, I'm the guy making the movie, but this time I'm only an actor. It took 3 days to film. One day before the holidays and Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend. I think my hair is a bit longer for the second period of filming so my hair is going to change lengths throughout the film. Oh well, ha ha. Anyways, it's exhausting to act. I really never thought much about it before. Three days was alot of work. I don't know how actors do it for months at a time day after day all day long. Anyways, the director used some of my ideas for the film so there will be plenty of silliness in there for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. My character is definitely very dynamic (maybe too dynamic). He ranges from serious to foolish to childish to cowardly. I play a med student.

On Sunday morning at about 5:30am, I woke up to the sound of a car alarm followed by alot of running and giggling outside. Normally, I ignore alarms because they only mean false alarms, but the running made me more suspicious. Then it occurred to me that I have no idea what the alarm on my new car sounds like. So I grabbed my keys to check it out. (Sidenote: I never cared what happened to my old car. The price of having something nice, sigh.) I could still hear the alarm in the elevator. The car was definitely close, but the alarm stopped before I got to the garage so I'm not totally sure if it came from the garage or if it was on the street. One check of my car revealed that all was well. All the doors were still locked and opening a door without a key is the only way to set my alarm off. So it must have been another car. After work on Monday, I decided to test my alarm to see what it sounded like. I had a little trouble setting it off since you pretty much have to jimmy the door to set it off. Using the key to open the armed door will still disarm the alarm. So I just used the panic button. It was the exact same alarm that I heard on Sunday. So I still don't know if it was my car or not. My guess is it was either a malfunction or it was another Acura nearby. Anyways, I thought I would do a little research on my car and theft and security. What I learned was not encouraging. Basically, there is no theft proof device anywhere. A professional thief can overcome any system in a matter of minutes. You think The Club is safe? Nope. Thieves will just cut your steering wheel with a hacksaw and slide it right off. It takes about 30 seconds. A Freon spray can also make the club very brittle and just takes one hit from a hammer to shatter it. My friend told me about a device called the Autolock that keeps the pedal from being pressed. It's Freon-proof, hacksaw proof, even bulletproof! I felt good about that until I saw a product called the Club Buster which can break a Club or Autolock in 30 seconds. It's supposed to be for locksmiths and repo men, but if they can get it, so can thieves. You got a nice alarm with sensors? Who cares? You can get these things called frequency scanners. They get your frequency by scanning your car or garage door, play it right back, and they are in. You can buy those on the internet too. But you think you're safe because your alarm has an immobilizer so the ignition won't start...nope. These systems are easily bypassed once the thief gets into your car. New cars are now coming out with transponders in the key (mine included) which makes it a little harder to bypass the system, but it turns out it doesn't take much effort to get the required documents needed to claim a key at the dealer. You can get a copy of a title and driver's license with just a little info and the internet. These systems can still be bypassed without the key as well. If that wasn't bad enough, I saw a few sites that not only tell you how to steal cars, but also how to make the tools! So what did I do? I bought an Autolock and some wheel locks for my rims. Not every thief is going to have a Club Buster and most thieves are looking for the easy job. If a professional wants my car, there is nothing I can do about it, but at least I can make it harder so the other thieves keep walking. I figure the cost of those items were marginal and I would be kicking myself for not doing it. One thing that is proven 95% successful is Lo-Jack which I'm considering alot more now. However, it's not much good if you don't realize your car has been stolen fairly soon otherwise it's all chopped up and on its way overseas or somewhere by the time the police track it. You can't worry too much about these things though. I think this says it all.

Tomorrow I'm getting the first dings in my car fixed. It's not as tragic as it sounds. I bought the car with dings in the hood and they promised to repair them for free. It was the only black one they had and I really wanted the car that night so I went for it. Yeah, I got it in writing too. These guys made a big stink about the extended warranty and said if my car was kept more than 6 minutes, they would give me a rental and I could go on with my day. I thought that was cool, but I was planning on getting the warranty already. Anyways, I thought that would really come in handy now that I had to get the hood fixed, but to my surprise on making the appointment, the tech rep informed me that I do not get a rental because this isn't covered by the warranty since it was something they agreed to pay for prior or some technicality like that.

So I said, "Ok, do you have a shuttle?"
"Yes, we have one way shuttle service." (This means I need to find my own ride back to the dealer from work. One of my friends was kind enough to do this for me.)

That same day I get a call from Acura with a survey about my buying experience...(insert devious "moo ha ha" here). I gave them good marks until the part about the delivery of the vehicle. I told them in my kindest manner...

"Yeah, the car had dings in the hood. They agreed to fix it though so I'm not too upset about that."
She asked, "Was there anything else?"
"Yeah, they made a big deal about getting a rental car if I was detained for too long, but when I asked about it they said I don't get one because it doesn't apply in this case. I have to work out my own transportation. I'm disappointed because I'm being inconvenienced even though the problem was the dealer's fault."

Heh heh, to say the least, it put egg all over Acura's face. I got a call today from the dealer. I got a rental car, ha ha. I think my sales rep got the heat for my complaint though which is kind of unfortunate because it wasn't him that told me I couldn't have a rental. He wanted to know who told me that. I told him, but I hope this doesn't turn into a huge deal. I just wanted a rental and it wasn't like I complained all irate or anything. I just told them what happened. No big deal. I am happy though that my complaint made a difference in my situation. I wish all companies dealt with their customers in this way. I would have expected a thank you for taking the survey and that would be the last I heard. Honda/Acura have always had good service though which is why I'll probably never buy any other car.

Phew, too much to tell this week. I haven't forgot about Europe...stay tuned.