Whew!

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks, and I hope your August wasn't as tough as mine and a few other's were.

I'm doing better, my anxiety is going way down.  I had an epiphany of sorts and something cracked inside me.  It was literally a *snap* or *pop* of some kind, and my stress level went to the floor.  I waited when it happened, sure I was going to have an aneurysm or srtoke, but I think it was the dam breaking.  My limit was reached and it went POP!  And I felt better.  It completely freaked me out, so now I'm stressed for completely different reasons.

I'm good though.  After the fiasco with the car, I needed to decide to keep it or let it go.  It's a great little car, but it's going to cost me more to maintain it every year I drive it.

So I let it go.  Now, what to buy?  I haven't had a serious bank note in over ten years, so I was a little worried about what my credit would look like.  I didn't want to be strapped to a huge payment every month and definitely did not want to pay the depreciation on a new car.  Used lease returns come at a premium and certified pre-owned are a bit pricey.  Private party or dealer?  Who do I go to for finance?  When do I get paid for the salvage?  Bunch of crap to deal with.

So I looked at the Scions and I liked it for a nifty little putter, but even with the new Camry engine in the 08 xBs I wasn't completely comfortable.  It is definitely an entry level ride.  I love the styling and utility it would have afforded but they haven't reached ten years on them.  I'm still waiting.  May be my next project car.

Sunday, I learned that a friend of my bro is a fleet sales guy for a HUGE dealership here in LA.  He told me that they could get me into an Accord for what I was looking to spend on a Scion Toaster.  Hells yeah! With the great life my little Civic had and the next model up, I'm all over it.  So I went Monday afternoon.

And drove home an 06 Accord LX mommymobile.  So I'll tint it and put some wheels on it and make it a little more macho.  Now, we're talkin'. 

4 door, 4 cylinder, Dark Blue with wheelcovers that are pretty ugly.  It has 20k miles, was a lease return and is in decent shape.  I still have 15k miles on the factory warranty, but I purchased the extended just in case.  With one car for primary transpo, I'm not taking chances.  No more transmission problems for me.  At least any that I'll have to pay for....

It has side impact airbags, 4 wheel ABS, and a nifty little overhead pocket for my pimp shades.  I'm getting LoJack installed next Wednesday. (It's LA, yo!) There's a lay down arm rest in the back seat with access to the trunk and if you mash the unlock button on the remote/key, all the windows roll down at once to air it out. Pimp!

Kinda.  Like I said, I gotta macho it up a bit.

Before you kick my ass for not getting a G-ride (Stang-JBF!), I'm going to be driving the wheels off the sucker.  The payments are low and it's on a simple interest loan so any excess I pay goes straight to the principal.  By the time my boy turns sixteen, he'll be able to drive an Accord that is super safe and hopefully cool.  Well, it'll be way cooler than my broken down 79 Ford Thunderbird I got for $600 when I turned 16.  So maybe he won't be the biggest dork at school.

So in the five year plan, my stocks will have matured, the boy will drive my commuter and I'll go buy me that G-ride.

Today I found out that my credit card company was willing to finance me for around $800 a month.  WTF would I need a car that's going to cost me that kind of cabbage?  Temptation is a nasty mofo, but luckily I like to eat.  We'd starve to death witha payment like that.  We'd have to live in the sucker! 

So now I have most of my life under control, and can buckle back down and get to work.  A few more bumps and unresolved issues aside, September is looking up.

Ain't nothin' to a G.