Well here I am in the Sears Auto waiting area while Sears technicians slowly work to drain even more of my precious August budget.  Knock off another two weeks of confident budgeting in NYC.  I was on my way to Ellenton to trade a brand new desktop PC (which I will have no need for in NYC) in for a brand new laptop (which I will), when I stopped to check my post office box at Pak Mail.  After retrieving a brick of junk mail, I got back in the car only to find it wouldn't start.   Damn.

The Geico people arranged a quick jump for me, and I promptly reported back to the Sears shop I was just at last Saturday.  This time they are replacing the battery and the alternator belt which, they say, has cracks in it.  Is this how that ever too common trip from the dead battery to the starter to the altnernator to the complete re-wiring of the car starts?   Complete with that "we've never seen you in here before" look at each juncture.  How do they perfect that anyway?

I am getting more and more tempted to sell the car. I think I'd rather have the money and take my chances.  We'll see how the results from this visit go.