Anyone born in the 70s is far too young to be a grown up person, and there's nothing you can say to convince me.

I am in total agreement with you. I feel like I'm masquerading as a grown-up.

Oh, and did you all recently the news that it turns out the guy responsible for the "MMR vaccines cause autism" had faulty data?

He falsified his data, right?

Though once, we had to go to the high school to get a vaccination with A Special Instrument that wasn't supposed to hurt at all (they lied)

The swine flu air injector! Damn, that left a bruise.

I am in total agreement with you. I feel like I'm masquerading as a grown-up.

Whipper snapper.

I was born in '67 and didn't get the round scar from the polio vaccination. I remember my mom having one, though.

The swine flu air injector

I hated those things in boot camp. They used those for just about every type of vaccination. When you've got 80 people to do at once, needles don't cut it. Every couple of weeks they'd run us through the dispensary and there would be a corpsman on either side of you with those things. You'd have both sleeves rolled up and they'd get you in both arms at the same time. Ow.

Ehn. My '71 and '72 vintage brothers are arguably much more grown up than I am.

I just had an unexpected visit from Hec and Matilda! So delicious to see both of them in the middle of the workday, and Matilda was, as predicted, inundated with cosseting, cooing and juice boxes and graham crackers galore.

The only downside is that it makes the rest of the day even more dull than usual.

He falsified his data, right?

I think so. Memfault.

Advice sought:

I think I've decided on the car I want (from a dealer in town). A co-worker I very much like and respect believes I should go to a few more places to look around, including one (used car lot) owned by the family of a student of mine. They have no Web site, so I've got no way of getting a sense of their stock beforehand.

I'm exhausted with this whole process and want it over already. First question: do I suck it up and go look at their cars? If so, please to be sending motivation and courage. If not, second question: How do I politely say, "I feel safer dealing with a dealer and I know you think I'm wrong but I'm going to ignore your advice"?

Third question (moot if your answer to number one is yes): Do I go put money down on the car I think I want today? Have I forgotten to do something major? Do I have to haggle? It's a good car, it's a very nice dealer, and I'm willing to pay a certain amount in no-hassle, get-it-done tax (if you will). Can I just say to him "Can you give me a better price" without doing the "I must have this price or I'm walking!" song and dance?

First question: do I suck it up and go look at their cars?

If you really just want it over, then no. If you can bear it, it would at least be good to confirm your choice. I don't know how many other cars you've looked at besides the one you've chosen.

If not, second question: How do I politely say, "I feel safer dealing with a dealer and I know you think I'm wrong but I'm going to ignore your advice"?

You can thank him or her for the suggestion, but I think saying that you, personally, feel safer dealing with a dealer should be good enough.

Do I go put money down on the car I think I want today?

It's the end of the month, which is a great time to buy.

Can I just say to him "Can you give me a better price" without doing the "I must have this price or I'm walking!" song and dance?

Of course! They will like you more. Usually, if you just ask for a better price, they'll lower it. There's always something below their first offer.

Of course they'll like me more! But am I being a reprehensible rube who's making things harder for everyone else?

Aw hell, why should I care? I'm buying the damned car.

P-C, I mostly looked at new cars before this. It's true that I haven't looked around that much, but just at one lot I already felt overwhelmed with options. Too many choices! I really was able to choose this one because it's the cheapest of the 08's. Otherwise I think I'd be still gaping like a goldfish trying to choose between (to my eyes) absolutely equivalent cars.