09-19-2003: Well, it's pretty much a done deal. Unless the Blazer shows up in Des Moines a smoldering, crumpled heap, it's mine. I'm pretty excited - I haven't had the pleasure of owning a newer car before, mostly because I've been poorer than dirt for quite a while.

So, it's a 2003 4-door. It's got 4WD (why the hell would you buy an SUV and not get 4WD?), and tinted windows, and all that good stuff. It has almost every option I was looking for except for the sunroof, but I can certainly live without that.

I pick it up on Monday. Must .. make .. it .. through .. the .. weekend.

09-09-2003: So, I'm about halfway through the process of buying a new set of wheels. And no, this isn't because of the hemorrhoid that gave my car a 22MPH bumper kiss. It's simply because my car is older (10 years) and it's starting to make those ugly "I'm about to cost you MAJOR money" sounds.

The transmission is starting to slip a little. That's $1500 I don't want to spend on a ten-year-old car. It's starting to not start again, after three tows and a $200+ battery cable harness. It's starting to miss on a cylinder here and there. It's just time to buy something new, you know what I mean?

Now, I've been gearing up for this for a while. I have some money earmarked for a down payment, and I'm ready to deal. Unfortunately, I do not have a pristine credit history. OK, so it's not even close to pristine. It's not "shoot 'im on sight, Zeke!" bad, but it might be "let's all get baseball bats and take a swing" sort of bad. Regardless, suffice to say I will not show up under the "qualified buyers" column for the 0% interest incentive.

So, I already know this is going to suck. I've found a couple of vehicles that I like, but the bank doesn't want to loan me too much money. So, I'm probably looking at a used vehicle for now. However, I did find a 2003 Blazer for a very reasonable price. I'll see what comes of that.

I'll keep you updated, for all three of you out there that are actually reading this.