#VW #PASSAT

As a follow-up to my previous post: http://caseycornett.blogspot.com/2011/08/will-i-what-yes-that-sounds-good-with.html

The Passat promotion was one of the coolest things I've ever been asked to do.

Once I had the Passat, I quickly forgot about my Civic and planned on running away and never going back to the Fowler lot to return it. "Thank you for the new car Fowler, I'll go test drive it for the next few years and let you know how it went."

We (Dad and older brother, Mike) took the car up to Chicago for the National Sports Card Convention and without this car, I would have complained the whole way. If we took any other car I would have tried to sleep the whole way...but that didn't happen. Thanks to the built-in satellite radio, we were able to listen to every one of the ESPN Radio stations (awesome) and occasionally flip it over to the comedy station and catch Mitch Hedberg spurt out his one-liners:
"I love blackjack. But I'm not addicted to gambling. I'm addicted to sitting in a semicircle."
"I'm an ice sculptor. Last night I made a cube."
"I find that a duck's opinion of me is very much influenced over whether or not I have bread."
http://youtu.be/2491LucLa1g

Other favorite stations: "80's on 8" and "90's on 9" (If we listened to "90's on 9" my dad had veto power).

I did, surprisingly enough, find out that on long car rides seat-heaters are awesome. I had the seat-heater on and my own temp gauge on my side of the car...very cool.

Also, I began (with Marek's help) begin to remake the 2011 Super Bowl commercial with the kid dressed up as Darth Vadar...that video is still in production.

Thanks again to Fowler VW for the opportunity to drive the 2012 VW Passat around for a week and take it to Chicago. The 700+ miles a tank was another road-trip delight.

I will gladly take 2013 Passat when it is ready...Just let me know. :)

My 'thank you' letter to Google+

Dear Google+,

Thank you for finally bringing a cohesiveness to all that Google offers. My mind was starting to spin out of control with all the products that Google has offered over the years and now that everything fits together so nicely on my profile page, a sigh of relief has come over me.

Google brought me YouTube, Google search, Gmail, Picasa, Google Docs, reader, Picnik, Google Earth, Google Maps, Blogspot and so much more. Before, I would go to all of those websites individually because I never really had a need to have a Google profile without a social media platform. Now, you have provided me Google+ and all has changed.

You offer all that Facebook does but without the mess. No more random "Top News". No more events from people you don't know. So many more privacy settings and so much more CONTROL over who can view what you post and which friends' post you want to view.

Applications allow me to have my photo automatically upload to a private folder so that I will never have to upload multiple photos at once or worry about losing my photos if my phone breaks/lost.

Facebook has business pages and this is something you promise will be delivered soon and we are all a little giddy to see the full product in use.

The platform is clean and easy to use, and for that, we say, "Thank you."

From one of your biggest fans,

Casey

P.S. How about putting some more work into that app of yours?

Will I what? Yes, that sounds good with me...

Last week I received an email that drove right on up to one of coolest emails I've received on record.

Fowler Volkswagen wanted to know if I'd be interested in test driving one of their not-yet-released 2012 Passats (for a week) and write about my experience online (yes, this is the car used in the famous Super Bowl commercial containing the 5-yr-old dressed as Darth Vader). I thought about the question for a few seconds...(would I rather drive this brand new car, fully equipped with the new-car-smell or just continue driving my eight-year-old Honda Civic Hybrid?) My conclusion: yes, I can do that.

When I picked up the car last Friday I talked with Jonathan Fowler about all the features this car has...
GPS touchscreen dash? yes.
40 MPGs? yes.
Keyless entry? yes.
Push-button start? yes.
Satellite radio? yes.
Hands-free bluetooth for my iPhone? yes.
Will that hands-free bluetooth play my music through my speakers wirelessly? yes.

I was also encouraged to take a road trip and test out the gas tank that is said to get up to 800 miles in one tank. 800 miles !! one tank!!

Well, Thursday we shall test that 800 mile-in-one-tank theory...I am heading to Chicago for the National Sports Collectors Card Show with my Dad and brother.

So, when you see my tweets that might have #FowlerVW, #Passat or just #VW, you will know what I mean.

Also, i think it is important to state that Fowler Volkswagon is NOT a client and I am not being paid. I will be giving honest assessments of my week with the car. Stick around. Should be fun.