Today... Suuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been shopping for a nice clean, Mercedes 300te
wagon... for about 3 or 4 months now.
One popped up on Craigslist last night... A Mercedes mechanic
was selling his... I raced over to his shop first thing
this morning, in my Miata, which I only drive on sunny
days --- usually it's in the garage, and being it's kind
of a "girlie car" I don't drive it much at all.

On the way over to Bellevue, to check out the wagon, I
got pulled over by the Bellevue cops... "WHERE IS YOUR
FRONT LICENSE PLATE"???

...Uh, I dunno... Hmm, must have fallen off or maybe I
left it in my garage?

Can I see your license, registration and insurance card...?
Uhmmmm... hmmm had my registration here a while ago...
can't seem to find it... Uhmmm... don't have my insurance
card either, officer!

I had left the card and registration in my garage, because
I had removed my glove box to install a new heater core
a few weeks ago, and didn't put the glove box back yet.

I had also slapped the plate from my truck on the Miata
becuase the Miata tabs had expired... Cop said "Hey this
plate (the license on the back of the Miata -- which was
actually my Truck License)---doesn't match up with your
car"!!! I said yeah, well actually that is from my truck!
(Now I was actually sweating!!!) SH#T!!!!

He goes back to his squad car, and another squad car shows
up...

After I swear, about 20 minutes he comes back to me "No
insurance card $400.00" --- "Tampering with License, and
I forget what the hell else he said... oh yeah, no front
plate, or registration" $504.00... Total $904.00!!!

He even physically removes my license plate off my car
and keeps it...( Now I don't have a license plate for
my truck!) I almost got hauled off for using my truck
license on my Miata... The cop actually called in a "backup"
and they had a loooong conference on wheteher or not to
haul me in!

I, somehow or other was given the opportunity to "just
go back to Seattle" and get my tabs taken care of... (After
getting the ticket)... The cop was a real hard-ass too...

Well, that really shook me up... but the Mercedes wagon
was located about 2 miles from there, so I asked the
officer if I could go to look at the car... He scowled
and said sure, just be forewarned if you get pulled over
again you'll be fined again!

So, I drove over and looked at the wagon... It was just
what I've been looking for... I drove it around for a
while, and thouroughly quizzed the mechanic about it until
I could see he was getting a little impatient. I didn't
even "dicker" on the price...

...So I drove (the wagon - since IT was licensed properly),
to the bank, got a cashiers' check, paid the guy, did
the paperwork, and told him I'd leave my Miata there,
and drive the wagon home and get my Miata in a day or
two... He said fine.

The Wagon was running awesome... everything worked (all
the little wierd electrical devices and all that even
worked)...

...So I am on a busy Hi-Way (405)...heading back to my
home in Seattle - (in the Wagon), and the car just DIES
like it ran out of gas... I coast off to the shoulder
of the road... and after cranking it for a couple minutes
it starts up again... I go about 5 miles and it dies again!

...So I call "Frank" the mechanic who I bought it from...
He says..."Oh, that must be the gas pump relay...They
tend to short out sometimes, it never did it for me though...
Let the car cool down, (the relay will cool also), then
drive it back to the shop here and I'll get a new relay
because I am 95% certain that is the problem!"
I VERY nervously drive it back to the shop in rush hour
traffic. When I get there the shop is now closed... so
I drop the keys in the key drop with a note "Fix this
car, or the deal is off - Thank you"!

I can't drive my Miata back until I get the license stuff
straightened out, so I call my son, but can't get ahold
of him, so I call a friend to come rescue me.

So... my friend eventually gets there and I go home, and
in the driveway, is a HUGE puddle of oil!!! I jump out
of the my friends' car and inspect the puddle...It must
have been 3 quarts!!!
This is where I had parked my OTHER recent purchase...
a 300SE coupe... My son had it somewhere, and I needed
to contact him ASAP to tell him it was hemoraging oil!!!

My 18 year old has it (the other Benz) over at his friend's
house... I frantically try calling him over and over again...
no answer... Finally I text message him "Call your Dad
ASAP"!!! --Park the Car it is out of oil!!!

He calls... Paul where are you? DON"T DRIVE F#CKING THE
CAR... I race over in my Truck, (half way there, I remember
has no license plate, since the cop took it off my Miata
earlier, so now I'm all paranoid about getting pulled
over again and having to explain the situation to another
cop) to this friend's house where the car is... huge puddle
of oil under it... I crawl under with my flashlight...
a small crack in the front of the oil pan... (He bumped
one of those curb things in a parking lot)... He said
when it happened he got out and took a look, but didn't
see anything unusual at the time...

I check the oil dipstick... it is DRY... I replace 6 quarts...I
leave my truck there & drive home (5 miles) the 300SE...
now I am looking at having the oil pan replaced.
If my son had driven it any further, the engine would
have melted down.

Overall, a pretty stressful day...

Tomorrow I'll see what the mechanic has to say about the
wagon, and have to also shop around for a place to get
the oil pan repaired or replaced.

I DID however, get some new business today, and finished
up a prewire...

It's past my bedtime, but I'm still too tense from all
of the above to go to bed.

Still not sure how I escaped going to jail for the swapped
license plates, because the one cop that pulled me over
was really ticked off, like it was a huge deal, but his
"backup" partner who showed up was a little mellower,
and I think that he saved me from going to jail. (never
been to jail, never want to either)...

Tommorrow is a new day. Man, today sucked! But it could
have been worse:

My kid could have kept driving the car and burnt it up...

I could have gone to the pokey.

The Wagon will be repaired.

I can make payments on the ticket!

Goodnight.

Edit: FYI I am not talking about much money at all for
either of the Mercedes... They were both older models...
A lot less (combined) than a new van. I'm not trying
to make anyone think I am anywhere near a high roller!!!

Might even drive the Wagon to CEDIA for the hell of it!
8>)

Nice work, I hope you don't mind a suggestion. I see
a lot of pictures with this type of speaker setup. Don't
you think it would be better to place all the speakers
above, aligned in the horizontal plane, with drivers angled
towards the listening area, so that pans (sound moving
left to center to right etc.) sound correct? I do :-).
An added benefit is that it also looks nicer.

"techlicious."

Agreed

Litespeed - 1 comment - when painting the speakers/grills,
re use the fabric material after spraying cause we can
see the drivers begind the grills

First time caller, long time listener. Seriously, been
lurking for months and finally decided to post. These
are from about a month ago. Whole house via Audioaccess
with Audio Control amp and Stealth Acoustics speakers
in 10 rooms. Family room and theater include Arcam receiver
and DVD with MX850 remote. Pearl in theater with Screen
Research and Triad inwalls. Theater performance took
a back seat to interior design. Overall a great experience:
easy to install and use. Customer happy. Profitable.

i was in a depresed funk all day. basically walked around
my clients like a zombie....

joy!!!!!