whoo! i've got a dead alternator. no, wait. that shouldn't get a whoo. i take back the whoo. the whoo has left the building.

the new alternator is going to cost me $500+. cue long, resigned sigh. these car bills are absolutely kicking my financial ass. (my ass is made of dollar signs. yes, it does hurt when i sit on one of the pointy parts.) wayne thinks it should clear up the bucking problem as well. we can only hope.

the alternator was diagnosed on tuesday when i started to go out to the barn and got 15 blocks before the car died. restarted it, and it died again. this went on, the car dying every 1/2 block (no exaggeration) until it finally died for good on a busy road going up a hill. FABulous. but i calmly (me! calm in the face of crisis!) let the car roll back down the hill and around the corner onto the street i had just turned from. after a misunderstanding about who was meeting who (i thought wayne was sending someone, he thought i was bringing the key over) one of his mechanics arrived and jumped my car (battery dead from all the restarting i'd done). i started driving, but sho' nuff, the car died again 1/2 block later. so he pushed me. he has tires mounted on the front grill of his truck to provide a soft surface, and he just got behind my car and pushed it with his truck. whoo! it was fun! the light turns green and there i am, just sitting in my car, not putting my foot on the gas, and the car starts moving. all i gotta do is steer!