I've been loving the GT-R, but it also brings with it something that I hadn't considered before I bought the car, I call them "GT-R moments". It's not unlike what someone would go through if they were a regular-Joe (not unlike Joe-the-Plumber) were dating a supermodel, and the sometimes unwanted attention that brings. With the limited production of GT-R's and the unique styling, they tend to stick out like a sore thumb, so you get a lot of attention.

Since getting the car there have been numerous times where other drivers have pulled alongside, or behind, the car and taken pictures. It happened several times when we drove back to Atlanta after picking it up, and a couple of times since. The other day a guy in an M5 BMW snapped a pic with his IPhone while we were stopped at a traffic light. I have to say that I was a bit flattered, as I've always coveted M-Series BMW's.

Then there are the people who stop you to talk about the car when you get out of it. A guy stopped me and chatted me up for about 20 minutes when I was out trying to do some shopping. It was flattering, but pretty weird.

The weirdest so far was a guy who chased me down until I reached my final destination. I could see him following me, but he didn't seem terribly threatening so I stopped anyway. He stayed in his car and talked to me and I was like "dude if you're going to chase me down you might as well get out and take a look". So he got out of his car and I opened it up for him to have a look and take some pics. He was a nice dude, and a fellow gamer, so I didn't mind.

I guess that I should have known that this would happen, but it has kind of caught me off guard a bit. I'm not the most outwardly social person with people that I don't know, so it will be something I have to get used to. There is a price to having a supermodel on your arm...

After months of patiently waiting, the day of the GT-R finally arrived. I've never had a car like this, and ordering it was quite an impulsive thing for me to do, so there was room for disappointment. But this car definitely doesn't disappoint.

When we pulled into the dealer, I caught a glimpse of it sitting up front and all of the sudden my stomach was filled with butterflies. It was kind of like going on a first date. There were a group of people standing around the car admiring it, and when one of them that happened to be a salesman asked if he could help me, I replied "I'm here for the GT-R.". That brought out the envy looks, and was the first of several times where the car made me feel like a rockstar;)

We were there for awhile doing the paperwork and going over the things I needed to know about the car. You can't drive one until you own one, so we had to do that first. The dealers are very protective of the cars, otherwise it would be covered in fingerprints and everyone would be begging for test drives. They do a great job of managing "lookies".

When all that was done, we took it out for the first drive and had some fun on a windy road. To be honest, I was a bit scared of the car to begin with. For one, I was afraid to do anything to hurt it, and second I knew it had enough power to hurt us. The moment you push the button and it fires up, you get the impression that it is just waiting for you to let it loose. In normal driving it is very sedate, patiently waiting for you to ask more of it. Definitely rides like a sports car, so you feel every little bump, but I expected that. The exhaust note is nice at low rpms, but much nicer when you hit it.

After finalizing everything, we headed back to Atlanta. The trip was fun, but with the car in break-in, I went very easy on it. One of the cool things was how people react to the car. Several cars full of people (chicks mainly) took pictures of the car as we went along. In a moment of being playful, I ran off from one of them and left them with just a tail shot;) When you're clipping along at highway speed with traffic, it is way too easy to have a "I'm going 100" moment and not even realize it. I won't have a full idea of the capabilities until break-in period is over though.

I bought the car from Hunt Nissan and the experience was top notch. With all of the shenanigans that other Nissan dealers were pulling with their GT-R allocations, the way I was treated at Hunt Nissan was a breath of fresh air. Ken Hunt was honest and direct on every point, responsive to every inquiry (even when I was bugging them), and all around nothing like a stereotypical car dealer. Chattanooga is a bit of a haul from Atlanta, but I'm going to get my car serviced at Hunt Nissan anyway. It's nice to find a place where you are treated like gold as a customer, and that is worth driving a bit for. Not that a road trip with an opportunity to stretch the cars legs will hurt my feelings;)

We took a bunch of pics and put them here.

I noticed that my blog had runneth empty again, so I figured a GT-R status update was in order.

Got my build date a few weeks back, and it is August with a late October/early November delivery.

In the last week or so, I've gotten two emails from dealers in Atlanta (who will remain unnamed) who previously said they'd sold all of their allocations for the year and magically they have a car to sell me. But the catch is they are doing bidding over MSRP, and the minimum bid is 20K over sticker. I'm declaring shenanigans on that, as it is very shady. I understand that this is a high interest car, with very few units shipping to the US, but be honest about how you do business. Don't lie to people and say you've sold your entire allocation, when really you've been holding back so that you can gouge people. Something to understand about the GT-R is that the intent of Nissan was to make a supercar that didn't carry a super price tag. When dealers start bidding wars to make more profit, they are violating that intent. Stories are going around about people who get allocations and then flip them for a profit. I heard a story of one buyer who flipped it and made 35k, for a car they never ended up owning. Personally I'm not interested in flipping mine for a buck. I want the car.

I received the disclosures form to sign, which tells you all of the things you need to know before getting a car like this, mainly about maintenance cost and frequency. Essentially it was "So you want to date a super-model? Well, here's what you need to know. She will be hot as hell and everyone will envy seeing her on your arm, but there is a price. That price is she is very high maintenance, and that isn't cheap. So be advised." They are doing it because of the low price of the car, which might lull someone into thinking it is like owning any other car. Truth is, it isn't like any other car. Tires wear out quicker than you're accustomed to, and they are pricey to replace. Same for brakes, when you replace them, you have to replace the whole ball of wax, and that ain't cheap either. But I knew those things when I ordered the car, and figure it goes with the territory.

Official Site
AskMen Article
Edmunds Review

I've officially gone off the deep end. I had been admiring the upcoming Nissan GT-R ever since finding out about them, but my admiration has taken a step into reality with me putting a deposit on one...

There are not going to be many sold in the US, and dealers have very limited allocations of them (most are taken already). Since they are going to be rare, dealers are asking for deposits and are charging a premium (some are quite steep). I was lucky enough to find one in Chattanooga that didn't have a terribly high deposit or premium. Mine should arrive between September and November, I'll have a better idea of when in a few weeks.

This will be my first real "sports car" and satisfy many of my childhood car fantasies;) I'll be sure to blog about it and post many pics when it arrives.

Official Site
AskMen Article
Edmunds Review

DRE* and I have finally gotten fed up with the pile of catalogs we get every month and have decided to do something about it. Came across some good resources (free and not-free).

41pounds.org (not free)

http://www.41pounds.org/

Impact facts from 41pounds.org

Stop Junk Mail — a Personal Nuisance & Environmental Hazard

Save trees. More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail. 42% of timber harvested nationwide becomes pulpwood for paper.

Reduce global warming. The energy used to produce and dispose of junk mail exceeds 2.8 million cars.

Save water. About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk each year.

Save time. You waste about 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.

Your Mailbox Today

The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in developed countries, and it’s the third-largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter (after the chemical and steel industries).

The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year (about 560 pieces). 44% goes to the landfill unopened.

On average, we receive 10.8 pieces of junk mail a week, compared to only 1.5 personal letters.

More than 62 billion pieces (4 million tons) of junk mail are produced each year.

The majority of household waste consists of junk mail.

40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste.

Junk mail inks have high concentrations of heavy metals, making the paper difficult to recycle.

$320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of junk mail each year.

California’s state and local governments spend $500,000 a year collecting and disposing of AOL’s direct mail disks alone.

Transporting junk mail costs $550 million a year.

Lists of names and addresses used in bulk mailings reside in mass data-collection networks. Your name is typically worth 3 to 20 cents each time it is sold.

Your Mailbox Tomorrow

41pounds.org eliminates 80-95% of junk mailings for you by contacting dozens of direct marketers on your behalf.

By reducing your junk mail for 5 years, you’ll conserve 1.7 trees and 700 gallons of water, and prevent 460 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere — and you’ll gain about 350 hours of free time!

By stopping credit card offers and other junk mail, you’ll help protect your identity from theft and fraud.

Catalog Choice (free)

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

Impact facts from Catalog Choice

Did you know?

Each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers.

What’s the impact?

Number of trees used – 53 million trees

Pounds of paper used – 3.6 million tons of paper

Energy used to produce this volume of paper – 38 trillion BTUs, enough to power 1.2 million homes per year

Contribution to global warming – 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to the annual emissions of two million cars

Waste water discharges from this volume of paper – 53 billion gallons of water, enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools

DRE* and I went to see Dave Chappelle at the Tabernacle on Saturday night. He's been one of my favorite stand-up comedians for a number of years, way before he acheived notoriety from "Chappelle's Show".

For those that might not know, Dave walked away from a $50 million dollar contract from Comedy Central early on in the production of season 3 of Chappelle's Show. It was a big to-do in the media and many negative (and untrue) things were said about his reasons for walking away. Dave spent a good bit of time in his show explaining his rationale in an attempt to get people to understand. Some of that part wasn't really funny, but I get where he's coming from. For those of us who have been fans before he was big, we'll stick with him anyway. The rest of his standup show definitely didn't disappoint. I'm sure that they'll put out a DVD from one of his stops on the tour, so I won't spoil any of his routine here. Be sure to watch for it coming out.

The big surprise of the evening was an appearance by Mos Def. He is a good friend of Dave's and was on the show several times and in the Block Party movie. He did 4 songs and was awesome. Very nice surprise indeed.

There is a Party in Hell scheduled today to celebrate 6/6/06. Hell, Michigan that is. I spent just over 4 years stationed in Michigan and the whole place is next to hell as far as I'm concerned;)

If you've lived in Georgia then you're aware of several "blue laws" that we have been (or still are) subject to. These include things like not being able to buy beer with over 6% alcohol, no shipments of wine via mail and not being able to buy booze (from a store) on Sunday (or in a restaurant until 12:30). In the last year, either on its own (Georgia Legislature) or through outside intervention ( Supreme Court Ruling), two of those hypocritical laws have went away. All that's left to get rid of is booze sales on Sunday.

We were finally able to take advantage of getting wine shipped from out of state when we visited Napa Valley last week. We'd ordered a few bottles and joined the wine club at Cosentino Winery. The box arrived from FedEx yesterday conspicuously marked "Box contains alcoholic beverages and requires an adult signature", but I wasn't home so they just left it. This opens up a wonderful world of wine which hasn't been available before. Typically west coast wineries ship only a small number of the wines that they produce to retail. All of the best stuff is available at restaurants or at the winery itself, so you end up missing out on the best ones. Now we can order direct and receive through the mail, that problem goes away. We have a case of wine from Cakebread Cellars that is supposed to arrive today. Prost!

This morning I got to wondering how long I'd been blogging for and realized that my blog turned 2 years old yesterday (though I've had a regular website since 1999). My, how the time flies... Hopefully I've been able to inform, educate, thrill, amuse and even offend my faithful (and not-so faithful) readers. I watch my server logs somewhat regularly and traffic has steadily increased over time. I know that people are visiting, but with the sparse comments, I may or may not know who you are. Don't be afraid to leave behind a comment, positive or negative. No promises about whether or not I'll bite... but that is the nature of the beast.

Lately I've discovered that several of my friends are hard-core allergy sufferers like I used to be. A couple of years ago it wasn't uncommon for me to have sinus infections every couple of weeks from my allergies. That lasted for almost a year until a doctor told me about the Netipot, also known as nasal saline irrigation or nasal washing . To sum it up quickly, nasal washing is simply running warm salt water through your sinus passages. I was very skeptical, not to mention grossed out, to begin with but the results made all that go away (and my allergy symptoms). Nasal washing works well for both allergies and colds. Since I've been nasal washing my allergies have become very manageable and I may get one cold and sinus infection per year (if that).

Originally I started out with a ceramic Jala Netipot which worked great but was very fragile. I progressed on to a stainless steel version which is quite sturdy for travel, then to a plastic one (Rhino Horn) which is lighter and sturdy for travel (DRE* carries it on the road). Now I've reached the nasal washing pinnacle, the Grossan Hydro-Pulse which looks like a WaterPik. It works to clear out even the most clogged sinuses, something that the other Netis don't do.

If you're suffering from allergies and the Claritin isn't quite doing it, check out nasal washing. It seems weird to start out with, but trust me you will become a convert.

SpikeTV is airing a new show called "Hey! Spring of Trivia" which is a dubbed version of "Trivia no Izumi (Fountain of Trivia)" - the number one show in Japan. The premise is pretty entertaining. Viewers submit bits of trivia which the show researches and documents. Then the show plays the clips to an eclectic panel of judges who give the vignettes "Hey!'s" of approval. Each Hey! is worth 100 Yen to the submitting viewer. Last night they revealed that Mozart wrote a song called "Lick My Ass." They showed the original German sheet music ("Leck mich im Arsch"), translated it to Japanese, and had opera singers perform it. And people think that classical music is stuffy. Think again.

I couldn't stand the private-party car selling process any longer and traded away the truckster for a 2005 Acura TL. It is Satin Silver Metallic with Ebony leather interior. Every feature you could imagine is included. Things like GPS navigation, integrated Bluetooth for hands-free phone, XM Satellite Radio, DVD Audio, etc etc.

I've finally broken down and put the truckster up for sale here, as a first step in getting another car. It is a super clean, low mile (16k), dark blue 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Sport. It is a great car, but SUV's just aren't for me. If you send me the referral that results in a sale, I'll make it worth your while.

DRE* and I always try to pick up unique items (and refrigerator magnets) on trips, and our visit to Sedona turned up something quite cool - a Megaplanet. They are glass planets made by the artist Josh Simpson. His bio on the website isn't quite as interesting as the one I got from the gallery, which tells the story of spending a winter living in a tee-pee in abject poverty while perfecting his craft. Then it proceeds to chronicle the struggle to regain his creativity after making money. Now he has found a balance between art, success and family. The whole thing reminds me of the Range Rover commercial where a college kid dreams of making dishes for a living until hitching a ride in a phat Rover with two wealthy Italians. The luxurious leather and snappy interior convince him that pottery is a better hobby than revenue generator. Go ahead kid, sell out!

Came across a funny site today which has a "30-Second Bunnies Theater". Now showing are The Exorcist, The Shining, Titanic and Alien. Check them out if you've got 120 seconds.

BBCi has a new animated Doctor Who done in Flash. Richard E. Grant stars as the new doctor. Very cool. Check it out here.