People say, oh that bed is so short at 6 3/4 feet on an extended cab SuperDuty. Well compared to the 8 foot beds and quad cabs, like the test trucks I drove, it is pretty small, as is the 6.8L gas engine on a SuperDuty. But let’s be honest, it’s still a SuperDuty, and the second largest gas engine currently in production. More importantly it’s a good fit for my needs, simple and reliable with halogen headlights and tailights – and a big block pushrod engine.
In many ways, it’s a profound statement to say this is last truck I will likely buy until my retirement circa 2040. 👴🏻 Hard to believe that is only 14 years away, less time then when I bought Big Red not that long ago. People point out there is no certainty in life – I could get into a crash or something catestrophic could happen or gas engines become unaffordable to drive before then. ⛽ But it’s like, I could have a heart attack or get run over by a car riding my bike to work. 🚲 Or get fired for being the jackass that I am on the internet, or in trouble with law for burning garbage or some bullshit like that.
I don’t really need a truck right now, 🤷♂️ and I don’t plan to start up the engine until at least Sunday at this point. 🌨️ I thought about going up to Partridge Run on Good Friday – but not going to be a real nice day – mostly to try out the hill descent control. This is a low-speed cruise control that let’s you go down steep mountain passes while maintaining a set speed. Great for heading down from a place like Dolly Sods without overheating your brakes. But I can wait, that feature isn’t going to disappear from the truck right this afternoon.
It was a super easy transaction 🤝 doing the car deal over the phone 📞 and remotely, putting everything on your own time schedule and not that of the dealer. Gives you a lot more leverage, and paying cash 💰 meant I could go to the bank, have them issue a big cashier’s check in 5 minutes, then basically it was 5 minutes to inspect the vehicle on delivery, 5 minutes in the Finance and Insurance office to sign the title and hand over the check, and 20 minutes while the old man Dan Marchese tried to explain how to use Android Auto and the Ford app. 🚗 Honestly at that point, I just wanted him to shut up and let me have the damn truck.
I went over to Peebles Island, 🚶 and went for a hike over to Waterford and then around the island. Starting to green up a bit around where the Mohawk reaches the Hudson, 🐸 spring peepers were happy last night. Hot walking around the island in my dress shirt. I drove from the south bridge, as I wasn’t sure if I could drive over the north bridge with the big truck, but apparently not. The SuperDuty is required to have commercial plates, so I won’t be able to drive on parkways even though I think my lifted Silverado half ton with passenger plates was a bigger truck. Backup camera 🎥 is fantastic as is the automatic parking brake that releases as soon as you hit the gas. Got 14.6 MPG driving from Peebles Island to home, which is reasonable noting that I sat at several traffic lights and drove through city traffic. I have a feeling this truck will get similar or better gas milage then my lifted truck. ⛽
Going to ride my bike into work today, 🚲 as the rain has stopped and should hold off until evening. I was originally planning to bus it in today, 🚌 but I think it will be fine to ride in today as it’s not ready. I am just glad no more dealing with stealerships for hopefully a long time. I will probably get the oil changed at DePaula and other work done there during at least the start of the warranty period, but also I think my independent local mechanic will be fine too. 🛠️ Shouldn’t need a lot of work at first. 💳 Need to replace my bus swiper card by Friday I believe, though I might just use my phone and CDTA app in the mean time, but I have to first add $20 in cash to that. But I think I prefer using the Swiper Card as you don’t have to worry about a dead phone battery or app not working.
I will probably have Good Friday off. 🐰 I don’t know they haven’t decided yet at work. Still it’s a relief 😌 that the truck thing is done, no more bargaining and war with the dealers. I was so jittery and nervous towards the end, until I gave them the check, plus $122 for the commercial plates, and they handed over the paperwork and title in F&I office. 🤝 It seemed like it all was just one big scam. I probably will just need Friday to recover from the stress of it all. 🐸 Maybe I’ll just ride my bike out to Five Rivers and enjoy nature. With gas prices these days – I saw them pushing them up to $4.20 a gallon on way to pick up the SuperDuty – all I could think about was parking the ginormous truck 🅿️ and having one toke over the line sweet Jesus on Good Friday, as I handed over the check for $59,160. And with that it’s done.
Life is full of trials and tribulations. ⚖️ and there is no guarantee for tomorrow or anything else. I was worried about hail storm last night, we had a severe thunderstorm, and the deductible on the new truck is $1,000 and I do not have GAP insurance as I paid cash. Do adjust the mirrors before leaving with a new truck, as I had some hairy moments on 787. And enjoy that song, about sitting downtown in a railway 🚂 station, one toke over the line. I tell you, in my 25 years working at the State Capitol at this point, I haven’t seen the shenanigans I had to deal with auto dealers. 🤝 Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, even if it involved a lot of caffeine ☕ and tokes to make it through the month that was. And now it’s April and trout season. 🎣 High water flows today, and I have to work today. Next step will be decide which truck cap to order, and maybe the weekend after next to put in the order. Then start wiring up the CB radio and get a cellphone booster for the truck. 📻 Although I will later until later for that, as cellphone booster may be mounted in the bed and on the cap. Honestly I am not in a real rush, I’ve done fine without a vehicle all winter, and while I do want to get back to wilderness and have a fire, 🔥 black fly season 🐜 bites, and honestly there still is a lot of summer and autumn ahead of us all. I may be playing rehearsals for retirement, but it still 14 years way before I am in my late 50s, and it’s time to build or buy that off-grid cabin. 🏡 The one with the burning barrels, no recycling bins, solar and wood power, and hogs grunting in mud out back.
Who is responsible for the mountain of garbage dumped on New York State land? New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) discovered the trash pictured below and, following an investigation, seem to have identified the culprits.
We aren't talking about one banana peel, can of beer, or cigarette butt, as gross as that would be too. We are talking 16,000 pounds of trash just dumped on a roadway in a State forest. That is bigger than an adult elephant, I think! As wrong as this was, there might be a logical explanation for what happened.
Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) in New York State, established in 1969 via the Industrial Development Agency Act, are public benefit corporations designed to promote local economic development by providing tax incentives to private companies. They aim to curb unemployment and improve economic welfare, with over 100 active agencies operating across counties and municipalities.
Key Historical Milestones
Creation (1969): Authorized by the NY State legislature, IDAs were created to compete with other states in attracting industrial and manufacturing development.
Purpose Expansion: Originally focused on manufacturing, IDA scope expanded to include a wider range of projects including commercial projects, renewable energy, and “civic facilities” (e.g., non-profit projects).
“Straight Lease” Transactions: The primary mechanism for development, where IDAs take title to land or improvements to exempt them from property tax, sales tax, and mortgage recording tax.
Regulatory Changes (1980s-90s): The definition of “civic facilities” evolved. A cap on project financing was removed in 1988, then later reinserted as a $20 million limit in 1999.
Transparency Focus: Recent history has seen increased scrutiny from the Authorities Budget Office (ABO) and the State Comptroller due to criticisms over transparency, improper spending, and high tax exemptions for projects with limited community benefits.
Current Landscape In 2022, nearly 110 active IDAs reported 390 new projects with a total value of $12 billion, focusing on a broad range of sectors including warehousing, retail, and energy.
So goes the game of negogiation over trucks. I am putting my final offer today on one of the trucks I’ve been negogating the past week over, but honestly I realizedit is much too big and long for my needs and I should walk in favor of one of the other deals or inventory, but like anything, it might work for me if the price is right.
I’ve learned a lot about negogiation this past week, 💭 constantly strageizing and working the numbers. Putting each argument in the favor of the other side – how my proposal can benefit the other side – and not being focused on yourself. Always being polite and professional, holding back, using the clock. So many times I wanted to tell the other side, you’re an asshole for trying to manipulate and mislead me, but instead just let silence do the talking. I’ve also learned about how the zone of possible agreement is constantly shifting, how even your own views and priorities can change over the process of negogiation.
I had wanted a SuperDuty with an long bed for extra room for camping, 🏕️ but when the avaliable truck that met all other needs came with a crew cab plus the extended cab, I realized I was looking at 22 foot boat, over 3 feet longer then my old red truck. Almost impossible to park anywhere, including at camp. Somehow I got distracted from that fundamental fact, in the fight for the best price before the end of the quarter. The negogiation had more value to me then actual thing I was buying. Negogiation fog is the term of art. It also meant so many sleepless nights, smoking weed to try to get at least a bit of sleep then pounding coffee ☕ in the morning to be somewhat functional at work, though I have been slacking at my job, making mistakes and over tired 😴 as I focus on the fight for the truck I don’t really want, even if it’s red and very, very big. There may be a reason why the truck hasn’t sold, and why it’s listed cheap and why I know I have so much leverage over the dealership which I know is desperate to get rid of it. But I guess 3′ longer then my old truck isn’t that much longer. 2′ is the long bed, the other foot is added to quad cab over the extended cab.
In some ways, I wish that March 31st was the hard deadline, 🪧 and no more trucks would be avaliable after that day. No more analysis, no more making your case, and standing still and ignoring the bloody nose 👃 your opponent just gave to you. But it’s not. Maybe my leverage is strongest now, however it’s not like I can’t pay more, and I don’t think gas-guzzling SuperDuty prices ⛽ are going to sky rocket at the same time. Truth is it would have been hard to get my insurance agent to open a new line of insurance, and for me to get to a check or a loan finalized by Tuesday 7 PM. And I think my ideal truck is evolving – I like the vinyl seats and real basic everything – but maybe not the long bed. Extended cab, short bed, FX4 really seems like a good alternative. The skid plates initially seemed good – those fuel tanks hang low on the SuperDuties – but actually what I really like about the FX4 is hill descent control, the low speed cruise-control for heading down long steep, rough mountain roads without physically riding the brakes or accidentally putting the truck into a slide by over torquing the brakes or accelerator.
Maybe I should have test drove trucks earlier, 🛻 figured out what I wanted earlier on. But I thought I had known. And it’s kind of hard to test drive cars without a vehicle. If I ask a buddy or my parents to give me a ride to a dealership, then I feel like they’ll be there pushing me into the truck that they think I should buy. And there will be a lot of pressure to buy that day, rather then negogiate for a fair price on the vehicle. I could also rent a car or use one of the CDTA Carshare vehicles that are $5 a hour, if I decide to go that way. I worry though about the pressure to buy while the clock is ticking, ⌛ but that also is an incentive not spend time in the dealership negogating.
Off to work, 🚲 after showering on the bike, and then I will put in that final bid. If anything the week of sleeplessness and mistakes has made me a lot more educated about negogating for future trucks I’ve looked at, and I won’t argue there were probably a few tactical mistakes I made (hinting I could do the deal either in that big nasty swear word of cash or with dealer finance) – but I also realize how bad dealers can actually be negogating (failing to put terms in perspective of the buyer) as most customers don’t actually negogate when buying a car, except maybe for a $500 off the sticker price or I don’t know one free car wash. 💰 I want a nice truck for traveling, but also want to a be a responsible stewart of money, so some day I can have that off-the-grid cabin 🏡 of the burn barrel 🛢️ and cattle 🐮 out back. Fuck plastics recycling, shit burns just fine even if it makes some smelly black smoke. Fuck big electric bills from coal fired plants, and buying mountains of junk food wrapped in plastic destine for the garbage mound on the outskirts of town.
