Solar Eclipse

Supposedly, eclipses bring change, of the rattling your cage, slap you in the face kind. They make time move at warp speed and decisions that you've been putting off are sort of made for you with circumstance being dropped unceremoniously in your lap. Last week was just like that, leading up to the solar eclipse yesterday.

I found myself needing say good-bye to my car, my precious Katy! We had some great times and some pretty wild adventures! She went with me for my three month stint in NYC back in 2002 in the wake of 9-11. We could make it back home to South Jersey early on a Saturday morning in a little over an hour (and that was with stopping for bagels.) She lived in the 'hood with me when I moved to Philly in 2003, driving to all those crazy jobs: down to Wilmington, back up to King of Prussia, before coming home at the end of some very long days. Even taking a bullet for me (don't worry, it was overnight and I wasn't in the car at the time.) We've been down the shore, and to the dog park more times than I can count. We even took her on a road trip out to Long Island and then onto Newport, Rhode Island. Those were good times!

But last Saturday, after picking my mother up from her job working for an orchestral camp for a few weeks, on the ride home (luckily we were only a few minutes from home at the time) Katy's "check engine" light came on. It was Fourth of July weekend so we waited until Tuesday morning, then I drove her carefully to the dealership and let them take a look at her. They came back saying that one of her sensors was broken. It was the sensor that regulates how much gas is filtered into the motor, and would cost around $800 to fix. I suppose that wouldn't be a huge deal if I hadn't just spent $1100 in June and $500 back in March. The year's only half over and if I made this fix, I would have spent $2400. I already knew that the air conditioner needed to be fixed by going in through the dash, and some of the electrical things in the door that regulate the locking mechanism would also need to be fixed, the timing belt was coming due. These were some further big ticket items, and that didn't include the next maintenance that would be coming up. Finacially, it just wasn't looking good for Katy.

And so I made the decision to get a new car. I got the same VW golf as Katy, just the newer model. Luckily, I know the sales manager, so I was able to get a really good deal. Although I have the same tags, I decided there can only be one Katydid, so my new car I'm calling Gilbert, Gil or Gilly for short. He rides really smooth and has a CD player, bluetooth, and even seat warmers! I'm sure I'll appreciate them once I've finished mourning Katy.