{"id":605,"date":"2008-12-31T10:46:37","date_gmt":"2008-12-31T18:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/?p=605"},"modified":"2009-01-02T18:33:01","modified_gmt":"2009-01-03T02:33:01","slug":"happy-birthday-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/?p=605","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday to ME!"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last year I have been drooling over the Piaggio MP3<\/a> (NO this is not a music player). I learned they planned to make a hybrid version that would get 145 MPG! After more than a year of waiting, I needed to make a decision. I also have a friend that was getting her motorcycle license and the stars started to align….<\/p>\n

I decided I would get my license and start looking at the inventory and pricing for the MP3. I made a reservation with the DMV<\/a> for December 26th to go down and take my written test. I also started looking for safety classes. There is a place near our house that offers training. begin2ride.com<\/a> is the place. I called them and got a really bad vibe from the woman I talked to on the phone. She contradicted things on their web site, and did her best to convince me I should not take the class. She was helpful enough to refer me somewhere else.<\/p>\n

I found out that if you take the 15 hour class from: http:\/\/www.saferide4u.com\/<\/a> you don’t have to take the skills test at the DMV. I was all for that and signed up with my friend. I am scheduled to take the class next weekend.<\/p>\n

December 26th rolled around and I went to the DMV for my appointment. This is the first time since 1988 that I have been inside a DMV. Everything I have ever needed to do I could do via AAA<\/a>. I went to the line that said “START HERE”.\u00a0 I told them I had an appointment. I was handed a clip board and told fill it out and come back. Other than wanting my SSN it was a standard application form, I didn’t know that paying social security was a requirement to get a license? I then went back in line to turn in the form and she handed me a scrap of paper with a letter\/number on it. I then had to wait again. I waited almost 20 minutes. My number was then called and I went to see what the next step was. I handed the man my license and he did an eye exam. He then printed some papers and ask for my money. (good thing I had cash with me, as I forgot I needed $28 fee). He then told me to go somewhere else to wait in line.<\/p>\n

I got in the new line and waited almost 15 more minutes. They took my paperwork, a new photo, digital signature, thumb print and returned me “TWO!” tests. I had to take the class C test as well as the class M test. Fortunately, someone warned me about this so I did all the sample tests online. I spent a while on both tests because I wanted to make sure I did well. I can’t stand multiple choose tests, I always do bad. I finished both tests and returned the test and “waited” again for the test to be graded. Another 20 minutes later, I was called up and given my permit and told I passed.<\/p>\n

I was at the DMV for over 2.5 hours. What a frustrating time. When I got my car licenses way back, the permit\/driving skills test combined didn’t even take 2 hours. I wonder how long it would have taken without an appointment. Last time I visited the DMV with an appointment, I went to a special room and was in and out in 15 minutes. My, how things have changed.<\/p>\n

Ok, with permit in hand I decided it was time to go visit the Piaggio (Vespa) dealer. I went to Vespa of Poway<\/a>. I had a hard time trying to find the place because it’s not a separate building. Apparently they are part of a Mitsubishi dealership. I pulled into the lot and found the place closed <sigh>. There was a sign that told me to go to the main lobby. I popped into the showroom and spent some time chatting with the salesman there. I found him quite knowledgeable. I explained that I was interested in buying by the end of the year and asked if there were any specials or deals. He said there were not. I walked away disappointed because I would have been willing to purchase right then. But as I mentioned, the stars were aligned and it was a sign not to buy there.<\/p>\n

I spent the next few days doing a ton of research online and ran across the modern vespa boards<\/a> This was the single most helpful sight about Vespa’s and the MP3. I made a decision that I was not going to purchase from the Poway dealer. I didn’t get the warm fuzzies from them and several people pointed out to me they are a car dealer that has Vespa’s and not a real active business in the scooter community. I noticed on the vespa board several people highly recommending Vespa of Oceanside<\/a>, I even noticed some postings from people who work at the store.<\/p>\n

I shot an email to the Vespa of San Diego,<\/a> sister store to Oceanside as it was closest to me and asked them about deals on the Piaggio. I corresponded back and forth for a little while and we worked out a good deal. I was very impressed at how fast they replied and their willingness to deal, unlike Poway who would not extend their own special that just expired a few days earlier or seemed to care if they sold me a scooter or not.<\/p>\n

Other than the horrible parking down on University avenue (I ended up parking two blocks away and walking to save my sanity) the entire experience was quote pleasant. I arrived at the store, a small botique store on University, between 4th and 5th streets. When I arrived, my sales person Jyson was busy with someone else, so I browsed around the store. They had three MP3’s there. A 500 (all black) and two silver 400’s. (So anyone looking for some, hurry and get down there). I also saw a few really nice Vespa’s I would consider buying for Angie if she decides to get her motorcycle license and ride with me. I spent a little time trying to make my final decision on the 500 vs the 400. Ultimately, I settled back on my original decision to get the Passion Red MP3-500. I do this to myself all the time, but I feel I am making the right decision when I finally do decide. I think I tend to drive sales folks nuts because I come off as indecisive, but I am just trying to make sure I am making the best decision for myself. This has worked for me for over 30 years, as I rarely ever return anything or have buyers remorse after a large value purchase.<\/p>\n

We wrote up the sale, took care of my financing with USAA<\/a> and did a brief walk through of the 500 he had on the show room floor. I then scheduled delivery of my new scooter for Friday. I am really excited about this purchase. I feel the same way the first time I purchased a car. (and pretty close to the same price, LOL). I now need to clean out the garage so I can fit it in there.<\/p>\n

[update] I have posted photos in my gallery http:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/photogallery\/main.php?g2_itemId=2174<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last year I have been drooling over the Piaggio MP3 (NO this is not a music player). I learned they planned to make a hybrid version that would get 145 MPG! After more than a year of waiting, I needed to make a decision. I also have a friend that was getting her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-muggle-tech","category-mythical-creatures"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourservice.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}