The Adnostic

About two weeks ago my monogamous relationship of 8 years with my Ford Explorer came to a screeching halt. Well, not really. It came more to a screeching I-was-stuck-in-the-Branes&Nobel-parking-lot-and-my-car-will-not-go-in-reverse-so-I-had-to-call-AAA-who-pushed-me-out-of-the-space-where-I-was-able-to-put-the-car-in-gear-and-drive-all-the-way-to-my-parents'-house-without-coming-out-of-second-gear-and-plant-it-in-their-driveway. The screeching was just my own disgusted voice.

Anyways, I called my parents' car buying agent, who has over the past fifteen years found all of my family's cars, and asked him what I should do. Sink more money into the SUV and get a new transmission or get a new car. He said getting a new transmission would be a waste of money and that he could sell the car for me as-is. Awesome. One less thing I have to worry about. I suggested some new cars I was willing to look at and he got busy trying to find what I wanted.

That's when I called Momiji Man and asked him about which model of the car company he works for I should get. He saved the day and further elevated himself in my eyes by inviting me to come down to his office to look at the retired fleet models they had available and hopefully buy a great, low mileage, used car for price below Blue Book. I knew he would come in handy.

Because I was between jobs again, I was able to come by the next day and meet Momiji Man for car shopping and a little lunch. We walked around the fleet lot, checked a few cars and he stopped in front of a sporty little dark gray number.

Momiji: I like this one. It's speaking to me.

Me: What's it saying?

We got the keys and I buckled up for a test drive only to find out that the previous owner was almost exactly my size. Omens don't get much better than that. I drove it around and admired the handling and the peppy engine. I don't think I've ever had a peppy engine. All my cars have always been slow and powerful. Pressing the gas and actually feeling a noticeable response was a nice change.

Momiji gave me an estimated price, which seemed really reasonable, and I agreed to buy the car. Momiji still holds his 100% close rate. Way to go! Quite the salesman for an engineer.

Me: What about an iPod hook up?

Momiji: We're working on it. We almost have it.

Me: And you're going to retrofit my car when you do, right?

Momiji: [sly smile] Yes, I'll retrofit your car when we do.

Now comes the hard part. The company is never in any hurry to part with their cars so I am still waiting to find out when I can buy it. It still needs to be processed and it's hard to tell how long that will take. In the mean time, I am renting a POS mobile with only two positive attributes - it runs and it was cheap.

I just hope the new car comes quickly. I am in dire need of reliable transportation and that rent-a-wreck could crap out on me at any moment.