Ipico

Last night at the board meeting for the running club we approved buying the Ipico timing rig. The approval signals the upcoming end to our relationship with DAG.  The DAG system has been a hassle for us due to unreliable reading of the chips.  The reliability problem has been exasperated by the horrible customer service experience trying to get help from the parent company in France. Good riddance.  Hopefully if all goes well I will be ready to use the Ipico system in the fall.

Initially the DAG system seemed like a great option.  Unfortunately all of the feedback we got on the system was from clubs using the V4 chips which boasted very good read rates.  Right after we purchased the system from a Tennessee based distributor DAG changed their technology and went to V6 chips that were supposedly technically superior.  Well instead they have proved to be far less reliable than the V4 chips.  In addition, several months after our purchase our USA based distributor got out of the DAG hardware business leaving us no choice but trying to deal with France directly.  It was a perfect storm of negative events that has resulted in far too many headaches for me.

Last night Ali and I were loosely talking about the Camaro thing.  She was saying how if we didn’t refinance, we would have to make all sorts of concessions, even stuff like WARCRAFT.  I immediately offered up that maybe even stuff like BALLET. Of course I would never expect Ali to give up ballet because it is such a big part of her life now.  My point was that WoW costs us $15-$30 a month depending on if I have both accounts active or not.  Ballet costs us WAAAAY more than that.    It was just another example of Ali zeroing in on the little things before the big things, a normal occurrence.

I tried to explain to Ali that I don’t expect  her to grant me a Camaro like it is my god given right.  I have already been trying to come up with ideas to generate some additional income on the side as well as making concerted efforts to dry up excessive, unnecessary spending.  My desire for the car isn’t enough to make me commit financial suicide to obtain one.  If I was 15 or 20 years younger it might be harder to control those urges.  However today I have a better grasp on the concept of priorities.  I am ok with putting in some grunt work, sacrifice  and patience into the ultimate goal. It will make it all the sweeter the first time I am rowing through the gears.

I went to a counter top place yesterday at lunch.  Man it was a 180 degrees from the experience I had at Home Depot.  I dealt with a woman that was very informative, very knowledgeable and very consultative.  She gave me lots of options.  I had my builders drawing of our cabinets handy.  She copied it and said she would get back to me with estimates on mid-level granite as well as Corian. 

While talking with her about the installation charges it became quickly apparent that I would save a bunch of dough by simply dealing direct with manufacturer such as themselves instead of going through a super store that adds on another layer of profit taking.  The numbers I got for removal of the old counters, installation of the sink and price of edges was dramatically less than what I got at HD.  There are a number of counter top/cabinet businesses in this area of town.  Unless I am blown away by the pricing I get, I will probably shop the number around.  The woman was so pleasant and helpful though that I really would like to give her the business.