RIP, you Windstar

The van that made up most of yesterday’s rant will be put out of my misery today. We paid $4,000 for it 3 1/2 years ago. Since then it was beat to hell in the worst ice/hail storm I’ve ever been through, withstood the tornado that ripped up part of the house (taking a major new dent to remember the storm) and has hauled four kids and sometimes their friends all over the state. But today it will go away.

The mechanic said he couldn’t tell for sure until he tore into the transmission, but he estimated the repair cost would be between $1,300 and $2,200. Screw that. Not for a beat up van with some kind of electrical problem that keeps dashboard warning lights on, the passenger window up and sometimes makes the door alarm and dome light stay on all the time.

So I called a dealership in Norman and it looks like they’ll approve us for the financing to buy a new van. A 2005 Kia Sedona. Having rented a 2005 Kia car in Baltimore, I feel a little better about this than I would have a few weeks ago. We’ve had three Kias and, while they’ve been mechanically sound (so long as you do the recalls), the interior in all of them went to crap pretty fast. The rental car seemed to be a big improvement over the 1998 Sephia I drive, though.

Ugh. Car payments. It’s been several years since we’ve dealt with those.

In job news, I learned the other day that the state job I applied for contacted yet another of my references. They’ve talked to at least four now, that I know of. But so far they haven’t called me for an interview. My teaching tests are still slated for Sept. 17.

In writing news, I got a call from Nathan at Scrybe Press yesterday. This new edition of Shara is going to be really nice. I’ve already told you about Kirk Alberts‘ art and Gord Rollo‘s intro. Nathan told me he’s working on some interior graphics that will really be a nice touch, I think. Then he asked when I could have the manuscript for Ulrik to him. Uhhh. He said he’d like to publish it early next summer. So it looks like I may put aside The Puppet King yet again and work on more werewolf stuff. Ulrik promises to have a lot more action than Shara. I think it’s going to be a fun ride with Ulrik, Shara, Chris, Joey, Thomas McGrath and Kiona Brokentooth all coming together for the first time.