You are not alone. I must be a few bricks shy of a full load myself. Dropped by a volkswagon dealer today and told them I was looking for a 2000-2003 low milage jetta tdi still in great shape. Could they help me? Last years I feel the car was practical in some ways. I wanted nothing newer they have and that is all they have. Why they have done what they did to anything newer. Is very simular to the simplicity of the 123 mercedes type in comparison to the much newer mercedes diesels only worse.

Also mentioning that normally they as a dealership do not want to allow anything for them. Or very little when this old. So thats why we are talking.

The sales guy immediatly said there was an older guy in with a 2002 a few days ago and the car was as I describe and want. It is very low milage and well maintained by their dealership. So we agreed for him to contact the guy as he wanted more for his old car than the dealer would allow on trade but it was still in a reasonable price range for me.

Air, cruise, sunroof, mag wheels. Manual transmission and the monsoon sound system plus under 100k miles. The salesman thought five grand would take it.

So I asked him to contact him and let me know as I understand you want it to go through the dealership to reduce taxes for him on the new one he is interested in. I have to pay the sales tax either way. I just knew he would not give me his name and address anyways. I can live with the price if it is as the salesman states. Will go through the car with a fine tooth comb before commiting though. Thats if and when the call comes. I suspect it may very well tomorrow or monday.

Everytime I have good news after surgery for cancer I tend to do things like this. Second childhood? Todays pathology reports discussed with the surgeon after the most recent operation a month ago do not get much better. I supected since he worked at two sites this time the cancer had spread out. Fortunatly it was a low grade shallow tumour occurance after twelve years at one site and the second sites pathology was not cancerous. So no follow up therapy required. They got it all once again it appears. If the pathology had shown cancerous activity at two sites it does not take a genius to figure the odds.

Reason to celibrate a little? Sure at least in my mind. The pathology report could have been much worse. No surgical complications of a regular nature either. Plus even at my advanced age I have adjusted to the new cost of living once again. Unfortunatly five thousand dollars is basically nothing today in the current economy. In my opinion even it's low current worth will be much further reduced.

I saved at least five thousand on the wifes new ride purchased a few days before christmas so the car if it comes to pass is free basically. Judging by my current fuel bills per month I would like something that is fairly cheap on fuel and reliable to pour the miles to. As I suggested earlier a few bricks short of a full load perhaps applies. But you still only live once as well. Not that long into the future it basically will not matter.

Actually it does not matter even today in my case. My wife is frequently on me about not spending enough money on myself. I tell her that with my good fortune in having her and everything else going our way over the years there is no need to. Our helping other people out is and has been a good comprimise over the years.

She even takes that load on. A lady of astute judgement and compasionate to say the least. If there ever was the complete package she has been and still is it. I have always respected her smarts. Plus many other abilities that are far from common. I will always wonder why she chose me and still seems happy with the choice. I have no compulsion to ask why and never have had. I have this feeling the answer may be less than flattering.

Technically without the superior skill of this surgeon and the guy he replaced. I would have probably departed some years ago. Our family doctor delayed things a little at the start as he told me he did not originally want to send me to an average surgeon. Explaining that over the years he had noticed a much better survival rate with the few guys that were at the top of their specialties when it came to cancer.

We are very close and have been extensivly involved for many years with our doctors family. There four boys see my wife as their grandmother for example. All those boys are extremely gifted as well. Aparently these things overall do make a differance. The world truly is far from a level playing field.