I’d been hoping to get a few more posts in since returning from Europe, but life has been pretty stacked up.  There are a few papers that are suddenly going to be due in the next week or so, too, so posting here is a break more than anything.

Mathias had his fourth birthday party last weekend, a bit later than his actual birthday due to me being in Europe.  We’ve had birthday parties for him before, of course, but this one seemed to be a bit more legitimate due to the depth with which Mathias seemed to understand that this party was happening because he was getting older and/or bigger.  Anyway, it was a tremendously unorganized affair–we had snacks, but the kids basically could just go run anywhere whenever they wanted–which seemed to suit both the kids and parents just fine.

So, while last weekend was great, this one kind of sucked.  My Saturn blew its engine in central Wisconsin, and we’re now looking for a new car.

I have an irrational emotional attachment to my car.  Here’s what I posted about it on Facebook:

The car has scaled the Rockies; touched both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico; survived traffic in Los Angeles, Chicago and Manhattan; driven up Highway 1 and down Interstate 95; taken my wife on her first trip to the Badlands; taken my son on his first camping trip; and, of course, reliably carried me to work and school for over seven years. It now sits in Owen, Wisconsin.

I briefly looked at Saabs available in the Twin Cities, but there’s not much worth buying that doesn’t exceed my broke-grad-student debt tolerance.  The rental has to be returned to Wausau on Saturday, so it’s time to get looking.