Howell, I was afraid you wouldn't revist the Parakeet thread, so I started a new one....
Here's a true story about how I got my first mini-van:
I was needing a used mini van for my business, and knew exactly what I wanted, but was having trouble finding it. I wanted a Chevy Astro cargo van, and I had a list of all the options I wanted and didn't want. There seemed to be no place in Houston that sold used work vans, and I was having a devil of a time. Then I found a dealer in Fort Bend County (20 miles away) that specialized in used trucks and vans. I visited and told them what I wanted, and said I expected to have to wait 'til they found the right one, and I settled down to wait for their call.
Well, they never did. That turned out to be a good thing, because I later came to realize they didn't sell very good vehicles, and were literally a side-of-the-road sort of operation. No real office or car lot or anything, and definately no business sense or service.
So I was about to give up on actively searching. What I did was say, "I'm going to put this out to the Universe, to find me a van." So I sat down and wrote down on a piece of paper exactly what I wanted, the year, style, features (A/C and radio, but no power windows or power locks), price, that sort of thing. Then I said, "What the heck, I'll write down my favorite color, too." So I added the words "Color: Teal ," and set the paper aside, and went on with my life.
Well, not too long after, I was driving to Dallas, and a few miles up I-45, for some reason at a particular point in the road, I looked over to my left, and there alongside the highway service road was a car dealership that specialized in only used trucks and vans. !! So I copied down the name.
When I got back from vacation, I looked them up, and phoned the dealership and got a nice salesman. I explained to him what I was looking for, and said that I realized I would have to wait until the right van came in. The salesman said to me, "Well, I'm looking over my shoulder out the window, and I'm looking at a van exactly like that right now."
So I drove there immediately, and there was EXACTLY what I had wanted, with all the features I wanted, none that I did not want, and even some that I didn't realize I wanted (like a switch to over ride the dome light, which I didn't even know existed). And - guess what color it was... Right - TEAL! The price was right, too, they gave me a fair trade-in on my old Toyota, and so I went home with a new (used) van!
That turned out to be a good relationship, as I later bought my next two vans from them, and in turn, I did wallpaper jobs for the owner of the business, and several times worked for his son and daughter-in-law.
See? It WORKS!
Sorry about the long post. Next to Esther, I think I'm tops in lengthy posts. But, this story, you had to know all the parts.
