Yesterday morning I dropped my car off at Walser Mazda for a 30,000 mile “tune-up” which is part of the requirements for their “oil changes for life program”. The first time (15,000) it was only $169.99 and it ended up being a wash for the oil changes and this tune up. Whatever, stuff needs to be done on the car to keep it in shape. This time, however, the fucking thieves at Walser charged $369.99 for a bunch of stuff that’s unnecessary (like a radiator flush).

After dropping the car off, I spent the day caching with Chuck in several Three Rivers parks and numerous Lakeville, Burnsville, and Prior Lake parks. I got a call while out in Cleary Lake Regional that my tires were “unsafe” and that they would give me a special deal of $122/tire and even mount them for just under $100 more.

I spent the next 10 minutes berating the service tech asking how he could seriously say that they would charge another $100 on top of what I was already paying ($400 with tax) when I could take it anywhere else, probably pay less, and still get the same kind of service. I told him I’d rather pay to tow the car from there (they claimed I couldn’t leave they were so bald — uhh sure) and pay someone else to do it than give my money to them.

They ended up calling me back 15 minutes later to say that they’d mount the tires free. “Anything to be customer oriented.” Right.

$961 and change later, I had my tires (which are seriously fucking named “KUMHO” — they should be fired like Imus) and my car — both never to return to Walser Mazda in Burnsville for scheduled maintenance.

After getting home, getting a shower, and changing; Kim, Chris, Laura, Matt, Josh, and I went out to the Twins game vs the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last night. The Twinkies pulled it out and won 12-5. It was a fun game and we had a blast.

After leaving, Kim drove Josh and I over to Majors Sports Cafe in Apple Valley for some late night appetizers (the Twins tickets offered $5 off an order of $25 or more). We arrived at around 10:45 to a packed house with bouncers and all. I wasn’t aware that Majors was such a hopping “club” location after hours but apparently it is — especially if you like to smoke.

After leaving we went home and went to bed. I got a call at about 11:45 from a friend who had been pulled over by Lakeville police for DWI. Kim and I went to pick him up and he spent the night at our place before being able to get his car out of the impound lot today.

Apparently Lakeville cops are out in force today and are on a mission to be a royal pain in the ass. A cop situated in the median on Cedar looking for Northbound speeders supposedly ran my plates and the registered owner came back expired. After an argument with the cop (I thought he meant my tags were expired — he should have said my license was expired) I now understood what he meant and he wrote me a citation for driving on the expired license. Because the only other person in the vehicle was someone who just was stopped for DWI, I was permitted to drive the car.

The ticket was about $100 the cop said. I still want to know how the fuck he ran my plates (I wasn’t speeding, I was in traffic with 6 other cars all going nearly the same speed — well one guy was going at least 60 in a 50 but obviously I was more important to stop) and found that out. He must have really fast fingers to run all those plates.

In addition, I want to know why the State of MN doesn’t notify you by mail when your driver’s license is about to expire. How often do I look at my license to know when the expiration date is? Never, exactly — I only hand it over to cops looking to make a buck to help build the new Lakeville City Hall on an extended enforcement weekend.

Fuck you Lakeville. Fuck you Minnesota. Fuck you Walser. You all fucking suck.

Related posts:

1. What a Boob!
2. Another Grand in the Hole
3. Car Care
4. Driving in Minnesota Sucks
5. Busy Weekend and Eating at Redstone American Grill in Eden Prairie, MN