In all my blather about the wonders of popular music this morning, I forgot to mention that I did some Kelley Blue Book research on the state of the Snowball last night, and ... if the insurance doesn't total it, it'll be a freakin' miracle. Value for my '95 Corolla with 150,10-something miles on it? $,1935. Cost to repair it? $1,750. Yeeeeeeeah, I'm guessing NOT. So, what'd I do today? Headed on over to CarMax, like I said I wasn't going to be persuaded by Mother to do.

And I think we may have found the new ride: A '99 Camry. Cruise control (not important to me, but whatever); 49-ishK miles; power windows and locks; no CD player (again, not super-important); and big, sexy room in it. Drawbacks? It's white with tan interior, and I really didn't want to get another white car. Also, tan? Eh. Not crazy about it. However, it rides like BUTTAH for a 4-banger, and I've always LOVED the Camry, so I wouldn't be disappointed with that ride.

I do, however, have three other choices -- a maroon 2001 Saturn L200 that I liked but didn't test drive, a white 2001 Mazda 626 that looks like a Mercedes, and a silver 2003 Mitusbishi Galant that has only 11K, but is about a grand more than I could drop-dead afford. They're all pretty sweet.