Going Out With A Bang, Literally - The Life Of Yolanda

   Recently, Yolanda came down with a terminal illness. In case you don't know who Yolanda is, she is my car - a '96 maroon Chevy blazer which I've had since high school. My car has always had issues in hot weather. The engine just can't seem to handle the heat, and if you turn on the AC, forget about it! Anyway, all of a sudden I started having more trouble than usual accelerating. I would press on the gas and the RPMs would go up, but I wouldn't go any faster. Let me tell you THAT was fun getting on the freeway. Anyway, I drove around like that all week, knowing it wasn't gonna be much longer before the end. It turns out I blew my transmission, which is an extremely expensive fix. Considering I spent over $1000 on routine maintenance, new brakes and new tires in the last year, I had an important choice to make. Do I keep sinking money into a dying cause, or do I pay a little more and start fresh?

   Ultimately, I decided to start fresh. Especially after I broke down halfway to my sister's high school graduation...  I feel like this is pretty common knowledge, but just in case you don't know, shopping for used cars is NOT FUN. Apparently because the economy is so bad, people are turning to buying used cars more often, so the demand is higher. Because of that, there was not a lot of selection and the prices were high! Especially for the most reliable, like Honda and Toyota. I eventually decided to take my changes on buying from a private seller to get more for my money.

Yolanda

Yolanda flatlining on me

   Meet Hans, my 2002 C70 Volvo. I know I know, Hans is a German name and Volvo is a Swedish car. I don't care! It just fits! Anyway, I'm super happy with it and definitely feel like I got a good deal for what I paid.  There's just something I really like about Volvos and everyone always laughs at me when I tell them it's my dream car.  I love my "new" car, but I can't wait to eventually get a NEW car.  *sigh* someday.....

   So now I have a car again, but I still need to figure out what to do with Yolanda.  I hope I can get at least some money for that car even though it needs a transmission.  Maybe I'll sell it on Craigslist?  

 Also, I bought my car from a young 20-something, skinny Turkish dude.  He was a pretty "typical" guy, you know, masculine and stuff.  Anyway, he left one of his CDs in the CD player (which to me means it's a free CD) and I can't stop laughing about which one it is.  It's Christina Aguilara - Stripped.  You know the one with "Durrty" on it?! HAHAHA awesome.  Guess you never know what people are into.