Strike up the band! My salesman called me at lunch to tell me that he is ready to take my deposit.

I am interpreting this as car sales lingo for "your order has been placed". BIG MILESTONE. I told him that I would be in his neighborhood on Saturday and I would give him a check. Next task will be to squeeze an order number or delivery date out of him. This is actually MAJOR PROGRESS in my H3 purchasing saga. Dare I start to get excited? I sure hope that the order was correct. Hopefully I'll find out on Saturday.
