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since last thursday, it’s been a slow week. sadness was weighing heavily on my mind during this time, with the difficulties that lay ahead and the prospect of being long distance with katie once again. i itched for any diversion possible, and over the course of the past week i managed to find a few.

katie and i watched a couple of movies. we saw Taxi with jimmy falon and queen latifah. overall a semi-funny movie with some compelling car chase scenes. between the uberpimped crown vic and the sterling 760iL, i was entertained. you could tell there were definitely a couple of scenes that were inserted just based on the cast, scenes that exploiting fallon’s dorkyness or jennifer esposito/eva buchnan’s sex appeal for example. i find that when this happens in movies, it’s generally because the script is lacking, which is true for taxi. i’d recommend it if you are looking for a comedy at the local blockbuster and aren’t coming up with much in terms of recent comedies.

we also saw Dude, Where’s the Party? starring kal penn. yes, that kal penn from harold and kumar go to white castle. to be continued…

finally finishing up this post. anyway, kal penn’s movie wasn’t so good but it was cool to see a full brown cast in an american movie. there were lots of 1st/2nd gen jokes that i got a kick out of.

we also spent some time test driving. i’ve been in the market for a new car probably ever since i got tired of my accord’s sluggish performance. don’t get me wrong, the accord is overall a great car but i wanted something more fun and luxurious. i was in the market for a 30-40k sports sedan, so i was looking at the acura TL (and RL), infiniti 35, lexus is350, audi a4 and the bmw 330i. we test drove the acura RL, infiniti and lexus together to get a feel for cars in the class. wow, what a world of difference. these cars are all pretty amazing.

i was disappointed by the is350, which felt tiny and cramped. i had a hard time seeing over the front of the car, even with the seats all the way up. the ride was too soft, and even though the car had mighty straight line acceleration, you don’t feel much of it. the interior was pretty nice quality wise but there was almost zero rear seating space so the car was effectively a couple with 4 doors. the acura RL was also a bit disappointing. nicely decorated inside with a pretty cool console, but at 4000lbs, its hp output wasn’t there. the car needs a smooth, powerful v8 with lots of low-end torque. i was most impressed with the g35, which surprised me because i went in with a lot of skepticism. i kept hearing how the interior was lacking, but for ‘05-’06, it is much improved. the technology in the infiniti is pretty sweet too and it can all be had at a reasonable price. the lexus dealerships were so snotty about the is and its availability since it just came out. “oh, there’s no room for negotiation” from magnussen lexus in fremont, when i just wanted to find out sticker pricing.

now to find a good deal with the packages i want… =)