Jeannie’s car died over the weekend. The timing belt broke and caused a bunch of collateral damage to the engine. Our mechanic tried valiantly to fix it, but once it became clear we’d need to remove the head, which would mean pulling the engine, it was the end. The car had a good run and it’s time had come. It was a ’93 Subaru Legacy that was past 176,000 miles. We bought it in ’97 shortly after we moved to California and put about 125k of those mile on the car. Too bad though, because it has a full tank of gas and we just had it washed.
We’re gonna replace it with a Prius. Jeannie wants a 4-door hatchback or wagon, and we’ve looked around and there’s not alot of other small-to-midsize cars out there that we like. We have several friends who drive Priuses (Prii?) and they’re all very happy with them. I think its a pretty cool looking car too, at least in some of the colors. And the 50mpg thing is like a superpower from the future. No other car out there even comes close. They’re not even super expensive if you avoid the trim packages with all the silly electronic superflua. So we’ve been running around to Toyota dealers all week looking to find one in stock in a color we like (blue, tan, red or black). We’ll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile we’ve been sharing a car. Yesterday I brought my rollerblades into work, planning on skating home so Jeannie wouldn’t have come pick me up at the train station. But just before I left work there was a freak thunderstorm. I cam back to my office from a meeting at the end of that day, and the sky was black like nighttime. The storm hit the building like a wave crashing against a ship, and the building swayed and rocked. A half hour later it was clear and the sun came out. I found out later a tornado touched down on Queens, causing massive damage, mainly from trees falling down. We’ve had a few big windstorms up in our neck of the woods over the last few years, so I was glad that this time it missed us. Brought my skates again today; gonna try again. Right now at least the sun is out.