Well, I spoke this morning with the dealership … they have approved my loan and want $NNNN in a down payment and they’ll be happy. I don’t have $NNNN to give them at present, because the claims process is moving about as swiftly as molasses in January in da UP. When I made the phone call on Sunday, the nice guy I spoke with on the phone thought we’d be done by Friday. Ha!

Okay, so I’ll admit that I’m antsy and want to go ahead and have the new vehicle now that it’s going to happen. I am patient about many things, but when it comes to driving a piece of crap Ford Focus with an automatic transmission as a rental car, this is not something that provides patience. Not in the bloody slightest!

I’m about to head out of here for the day and go drop off a $NNN check to hold the little WRX for the weekend so some ninny doesn’t come out and buy it away from me. If I knew how much the valuation of my dearly departed truck would be, I could give them an idea on that and maybe talk them into letting me drive off the lot with it today, but that’s not going to happen, because my insurance company doesn’t even have the knowledge yet that it will be a total loss. -grrr-

In other news, I found out that an old friend from high school [Willie Mauldin, for Rick's benefit] is working as a beat reporter mainly covering the NYPD for the New York Sun. Going into college, Willie and I were two of the biggest physics foofs of our class, and now we’re both in the liberal arts spectra. Go fig.