You know how once or twice a year, your local public radio and TV stations come to you and ask for money to help keep them going? And you sometimes pony up, either out of guilt or responsibility, and you feel that it cheapens the whole relationship, but you eventually get over it, because you value what they do and the respect that they discarded in favor of the almighty dollar, hydra-like, eventually grows back to lure you in once again?
Heh.
I need a new car, folks. The venerable gun-metal grey 1989 Oldsmobile Regency 98 is breathing its last. It has developed a new engine noise that sounds to me like a death rattle, and this is on top of it's raft of other problems: wreck damage from the Memorial Day altercation, one working headlight (and it point up), no A/C (for years), no gas gauges, no heat, a fried electrical system, busted wing mirror, questionable taillights, a brake line leak, leaky moonroof (like buckets on my fuckin' head), headliner falling in, flood damage, three operational windows, two broken locks, bad shocks, rust and corrosion from years in Wisconsin, paint scrapes from a Florida hurricane.
Don't get me wrong - I love this car. This is the car I bought for 2K from my Madison, WI mechanic after she maintained it for years. I'm only the 4th owner, and I've had it since early 2002. It's got only a little over 170 thousand miles on it. I have enjoyed this car more than any since my first car, the 1985 Pontiac 6000, Dentladenworthy. This is the car that tried to kill me in the driveway in Pensacola. This car used to take Kate to work in the mornings. This car missed two buses by inches rushing Jesse to the hospital in the snow. This car moved the contents out of the Pinnacle building, and moved a bunch of our stuff here to Nashville. It's the last car my cat rode in, and the only car of mine my son has ever known. This car was struck by lightning. And of course, there's this. We have history. But the time is coming.
Unfortunately, this is ill-timed. With C starting her new job right now, and Abby in day care, funds are a little tight, and two cars are needed. So, as much as I hate asking for your help, I'd hate not having a car more. I have set up a ChipIn widget over to the side there, just above my Flickr thing, and your contributions to the Squidbag's New Olds ('cause I'd buy the same car again if I could find it) fund will go straight into my PayPal. If I can raise 2 grand (my upper limit for what I will pay for a new vehicle), I will sell the 98 for whatever I can get for it, and I'd be open to suggestions for what to do with that money.
So - my digital hat is in my hand, or digital tentacle as it were.