The time has come. I've had my Saturn for almost 10 years and 179,000 miles, and I'm told the engine is FAILING. Every day I drive to work is a day I may not make it! Well. In a reasonable amount of time anyway. I have never bought a car. All my cars have been hand-me-downs or, in this case, a graduation gift. I thought maybe some of you fine automobile owners might benefit me with your experience.

Basically, here's what I'm looking for, and I realize I won't get all of these things:

*good gas mileage - I am spoiled by the 33-35 the Saturn gets
*room for dogs/band equipment as well as people - so we're probably talking hatchback/station wagon
*NO SUVs
*money - I don't have much, and what I do have is supposed to be going to keeping us afloat with a reduced income
*a reasonable amount of assurance I won't be doing this again in a year or two

I'm not all that picky when it comes to cosmetics--my current car is liberally held together with Gorilla tape, which is the beauty of having a (black) plastic car. I just don't want to make my normal impatient mistake ("This will work, I'm done!") and regret it or have to do it again really soon.

Any advice?


And just a reminder, I've signed up for help_pakistan, if you're interested.

Nature
*First-of-its-kind narwhal footage. I dunno, whales with horns. It's cool.

Fic
*stefanie_bean has begun a Phantom-related WIP called Kristina: A Fantasy that is sort of AU and fantastic and detailed and realistic at the same time. I like what she's done with the characters so far, because they're not quite the figures you recognize, but you know who they are.

Randomness
*Jane Austen's Wii and Wonderment. Pride and Prejudice reimagined for the Wii. I kept forgetting this wasn't real, and getting upset when I remembered. Of course tkp, being tkp, has very good thoughts about what's wrong with the scenario, with which I agree, but I still think it is very cute and would play it.

*For Seattlites, Vintage Seattle, High-Res Blog Visualizing the Emerald City's Past. Curious about the fact that the Smith Tower was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi (until 1931) and the tallest building in Seattle until the Space Needle (1962), both of which are now dwarfed by the rest of the city, I went looking for old images. (Side note: All those photos of the Space Needle you see are taken from Queen Anne hill, with the Needle in the foreground, so it looks ENORMOUS but it's really not. Ask tkp where it is! She loves that!) Anyway, I enjoyed such posts as this 1907 panorama showing a city not too different in sprawl, but yet to rise. There are a lot of old colored postcards, too.

Advice
*Does anyone know how to do something lj-cut-like on Blogger? I've tried these instructions and can't get them to work. Eh, it's a long shot; I don't expect you to figure out what I'm missing. But it means I can't post my LTROI review, without spoiling.

*Last bit of advice for today: On MLK day, a friend and I watched Jesus of Nazareth all the way through, which was very long and very stupid of us despite the awesome sight of Ian McShane as Judas. What should we watch this upcoming bank holiday? I've considered the Wilson/Stephens Jane Eyre and North and South because she hasn't seen them, but what might I not have seen I should? We're talking mini-series, in the 3-5 hour range, I think, and I've seen P&P and Anne A LOT. Let me hear 'em; I know it's hard to tell what I've seen or not, but throw it at me and see what sticks.