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10/26/2003 Entry: "On Saturns, colds, and missed birthdays..." Well, as I type this I have a cold. AH-choo! It's the one my son has, and my wife got but lost last night. Well, I'll get over it. On Friday, Christine and I drove to the Saturn dealership to look at the new Saturn VUE. Yes, an SUV. The very type of car I used to hate. We had been thinking about exchanging our old wagon and newer coupe for one car, for several reasons. First, we found we're ferrying people around a lot more for some reason (friends, our own family, the dogs, and whatnot), and if we have to travel with luggage, it was hard. That's why we rented a van when we went to the last few beach trips. Second, we don't fit very well in that car. Both are low to the ground, which makes me with long legs getting out difficult, and to drive it? Christine could fit, but our heads kept hitting the roof, and when I tried to drive, it was almost comical because the steering column was almost resting across my crotch, even with the seat far back. The VUE offered good gas mileage for an SUV (22/29), plus the room we needed for everyone, and their cargo. But we'd never test drove it. It's certainly very roomy, and we liked it very much. Now we have to figure out how to afford it. Right now, they are desperate to sell cars. The economy is pretty bad, and they have some 0% financing options, or some long 72-month financing, which normally I'd never recommend, but Saturns last a long time, I have a habit of paying off loans WAY before the end. And with the Saturn dealership, they don't play a lot of normal car dealership games. Friday night, I didn't feel so good, but my friend Brad invited us to his birthday party at the local Hama Sushi, which has consistently been the highest rated local Sushi place. The food was great, as always, but then my back started to hurt a lot, and I think I was just tired. We came back to my house and watched "Boondock Saints," but I was only able to watch about half an hour of it because my back hurt so bad. I took some pain medication, and went to bed. On Saturday, I felt terrible. CR still had a fever, but I was very icky. But I had to get up early and go to work. Yes, on a Saturday. Our internal computing department was shutting down the whole network, and when they do that, it can screw up our data real bad. So I had to babysit the whole thing, and thankfully, they didn't foul up as much as they usually do. Then we went out to get some parts to fix the Saturn Wagon (it hasn't started for months). Well, we got a new battery, some fix-a-flat, and whattia know, it started right up! I still can't figure out how we couldn't jump start it, but everyone told us to get a new battery, and they were right! Thank God, because I gave up, and was ready to call a repair place. That saved me quite a lot. Yay, my friends! And Yay Christine for helping me with the car. By the time all this was over, I was exhausted. I was invited to my friend Sean's party, but with CR being sick, me feeling terrible, I just knew I'd go and get all my friends sick. I really wanted to go, because I haven't seen him in ages, but he has three kids, and I didn't want them all to get sick, either. Sorry, Sean. I really wanted to see you off before your trip to Chile, too. :( Today I am going to try to get better, but thankfully, I have the rest of the week off. because I worked Saturday, I got next Monday off, too.