And here's another change, something that happened kind of fast over spring break:

I am almost certainly getting a new car.

My car (Eggbert) is over 10 years old. And while I've been very careful about maintenance, there are a few cosmetic issues. I think what precipitated the decision was my asking my dad if it seemed crazy to pay $600 for a repaint of the hood and the removal of a large dent in the driver-side door (acquired on our ice-day when I was backing out and hit my garbage can. The can is fine, FWIW). So he started talking up my getting a new car, and how he helped my brother and sister-in-law buy their last one, and how he'd help me.

And next thing I knew, we were up at a dealership test-driving cars and looking them over and all that. And then he called the dealer down here after getting a sample price, and finding that not only is it logistically easier, but it's not really any more expensive (especially factoring transport) to buy it here.

On the one hand, I'm kind of sad to get rid of Eggbert - he will be traded in* at the dealer (provided the price is OK). On the other hand, starting fresh with a new car, where it's still under warranty if anything goes kaflooey (that was my big concern: I'd happily keep Eggbert several more years but if something big failed, like, worth-more-than-the-car-is-now big, then I'd be stuck).

Eggbert was a good car. I guess trading him in while there's still some life in him means that maybe someone else, someone who can't afford a new car or even a very recent used car, will be able to have a reliable car that's had its guts well taken care of (I kept up with all the oil and filter changes, had the brakes rebuilt when it was time, the car has new-ish tires and a new-as-of-last-fall battery).

Still, I feel a little sad. Eggbert was the first car I owned and all, and there's a lot of history there. 

(*One oddity of Oklahoma car law: you leave your old plates/tags on the car when you give it up. I am not comfortable with that and am going to ask the dealer if I can keep the plate. I don't like the thought of my name still possibly being linked to that tag number in some infrequently-updated database. And I'm not just being paranoid: a colleague reports he got bills from those electronic toll roads (where they photograph your license plate and send a bill) for a number of months after selling his car.)

So I'm going to have to clear all the crap out of Eggbert (my rolling file cabinet) tonight, and then arrange to get the insurance changed, and get a new parking decal (and scrape the old one off before surrendering Eggbert lest someone try parking at the university without paying) and go to the tag office and all that.

And I'm going to have to learn to navigate with a new car. The good news is my choice (the Edge, and yeah, I know, it's not the most fuel-efficient car, but the way my time goes, many weeks I don't drive even 30 miles) drives a lot like my old car. I will have to relearn where to reach when I shift (to park, reverse, or shift to drive: this IS an automatic) because the gearshift is in the "wrong" place relative to where it is on Eggbert.

I have even tentatively named the car I want, provided they can swap out for the color I want. It's kind of a dumb name, so I will only share it if I actually wind up with the color it pertains to. (In the model I am getting, there are two colors I deemed acceptable, one being preferable to the other).