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Sunday, September 14, 2003 Upgrade Complete! >
Monday, September 15, 2003
September 2003
9/30/03
Notes From All Over
9/30/03
Technological Dead-Ends
9/30/03
Movies On Demand
9/30/03
Just a Small Extra Charge
9/30/03
What Are They Saying?
9/29/03
Your Documents, Please
9/29/03
One Small Request
9/29/03
Insensate With Glee
9/29/03
Already?
9/29/03
The Coolest News Story of the Day
9/28/03
Gesundheit, Mr. President
9/28/03
Capitals in Your URLS
9/27/03
Cheese!
9/27/03
On Searching
9/26/03
Friday Fun!
9/26/03
Poverty and News Cycles
9/26/03
Friday Entertainment Notes
9/26/03
What? Another Debate?
9/26/03
Comment No-Nos
9/25/03
Food Glorious Food
9/25/03
My Teeth, Recapped (it's a pun!)
9/25/03
The Newlyweds, Recapped
9/25/03
All Around the World
9/25/03
The Debate -- Or TRON?
9/24/03
My Teef! My Teef!
9/24/03
Mmmm...Rising Stars
9/24/03
What They Said
9/24/03
Favorite Sites and Other Journals
9/24/03
Better Off?
9/23/03
Busy Busy Busy
9/23/03
Doom!
9/23/03
Mom at Work
9/23/03
The Tigers' Magic Number is 2
9/23/03
Finding Other Journals, Part II
9/22/03
Meow, Baby
9/22/03
Finding Other Journals, Part I
9/22/03
Sickness
9/22/03
The Emmys!
9/22/03
Music to Your Ears
9/21/03
You Are There
9/21/03
Fall, Sunday, Etc.
9/20/03
Goodbye Galileo
9/20/03
One Way of Doing It
9/19/03
Asking for Links
9/19/03
A Clean Slate?
9/19/03
Best. Rock Criticism. EVER.
9/19/03
A Good Reason to Move to England
9/19/03
Avast!
9/18/03
AOL Journalers On...
9/18/03
Go Vols!
9/18/03
Your Change, Sir
9/18/03
Good News
9/18/03
Arrr!
9/17/03
Criticism
9/17/03
Clark: I'm In. Who's Out?
9/17/03
Miscellaneous Links
9/17/03
Knock, Knock. Who's There?
9/17/03
Speel Chekk
9/17/03
Breakfast of Champions!
9/16/03
Good News for Bad Typists
9/16/03
Multiple Pictures
9/16/03
Can't Get No Satisfaction
9/16/03
Isabel's Impending Visit
9/15/03
Ooooh -- a contest.
9/15/03
Pictures in Your Journal -- A New Way
9/15/03
A Gray Day
9/15/03
Upgrade Complete!
9/15/03
Upgrade
9/14/03
Making Lists, Making Links
9/14/03
Film Theory
9/13/03
Control Your Comments
9/13/03
John Ritter
9/12/03
Fun With Perpetual Motion
9/12/03
Flash Mobs: Your 15 Minutes Are Up
9/12/03
Duh
9/12/03
He Walked the Line
9/12/03
Disappearing Comments?
9/11/03
Beautiful Ordinary Day
9/11/03
More 9/11 Thoughts
9/11/03
Lawns
9/11/03
In their Own Words
9/11/03
Remembering 9/11
9/10/03
Back at the Cottage
9/10/03
Coming up from AOL Journals
9/10/03
Two Things
9/10/03
Stern and the End of the World
9/10/03
Finding Your Archives
9/9/03
Cosmic Discovery in the Key of B Flat
9/9/03
Sending in Links and Other Stuff
9/9/03
One Word: Yay!
9/9/03
Money -- That's What I Want!
9/9/03
Leni Riefenstahl
9/8/03
One Small Thing...
9/8/03
Remembering 9/11
9/8/03
Weird Gurls, Cool Links
9/8/03
The Speech and Other News
9/8/03
Warren Zevon
9/7/03
Science Moves in Strange and Mysterious (and Drunken) Ways
9/7/03
AOL Journaler Links
9/6/03
Fall is Here
9/6/03
Obligatory Cat Picture
9/5/03
Insanely Fun
9/5/03
Appetite Shot Down
9/5/03
That's Entertainment!
9/5/03
Cover This
9/5/03
Big Brother with a Boombox
9/4/03
A Small, Small World
9/4/03
Thrown Out
9/4/03
Security Issues
9/4/03
The Hit Counter
9/4/03
Oooh! My first review!
9/3/03
Are You Ready For Some Football, Blah Blah Blah
9/3/03
Note to Self: You're Old
9/3/03
Bye Bye CDs
9/3/03
Making Links
9/3/03
More Sarcasm, Please
9/2/03
Overturned
9/2/03
You're Rich!
9/2/03
Change and Style
9/2/03
Pasting HTML
9/2/03
Look! In The Sky!
9/1/03
Going Home
« September 2003 Archive
Monday, September 15, 2003
6:37:00 AM EDT
Hearing My wife getting ready for work.

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Picture from Hometown

This is my Ford Escort, which I bought a dozen years ago when I was young and poor, and which I have proceeded to drive down to the grinding gears. The thing is literally falling apart, and I have supreme doubts that it will make it to its final destination -- which is a local car dealership at which I am trading the thing in, not some economy car heaven (I'm agnostic on the matter of automotive afterlives).

Provided the Escort makes it to the dealership -- as noted, a significant if -- I suspect I'll be spending a large chunk of the day making sure the car dealership doesn't try to slip an additional $30,000 in useless charges into my new car loan. What I'm saying is, until I get back home in my spiffy new ScalziMobile, updating will be slow to non-existent.

Yes, when I get the new car I'll put up a picture online. Promise. Until then, have a swell day.



Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry
This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)
  • #3 Comment from slacbacmac 
    9/16/03 4:00 PM | Permalink
    yes--them escorts were the dogs right out of the factory...hard steering, tank-like
    pedals, two cylindres devoted to the airco. My mom had an '82 that i could almost
    never start. Meanwhile i get along quite well with a '77 Dodge Diplomat that my
    grandma bought! Yet when i call the repair shops occasionally, i can swear i hear
    the mechanic's eyes Rolling back in his head.
  • #2 Comment from tenpinproduction 
    9/15/03 10:18 AM | Permalink
    John, PLEASE make sure to pay the $25 to Consumer Reports for their faxable complete report on whatever car it is you decide to buy.

    Once you have that in hand, you'll know what the invoice price is on the car, and can aggressively go after either invoice, 4%, or 8% over invoice.

    My car dealer for my Honda screwed me over so bad that I vowed revenge, and with Consumer Report's help, I got my wife's Honda for invoice. It's worth every penny.
  • #1 Comment from sixsigmamojo 
    9/15/03 8:58 AM | Permalink
    I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'd say that unlike Mr. Kaus and Mr. Reynolds, you are not a Car Guy. Clearly you're a 'car as appliance' person.

    But an Escort - and that generation of Escort - and for 12 years! Sweet cheeses, what an automotive hair shirt to inflict upon oneself. I hope that at least it was reliable.