I don't mind the rat race but I could do with a little more cheese.

I saw fellow bike commuter at the Smith Switch/Waxpool/Farmwell intersection. Last summer there was a gent in a recumbant I passed a couple of times along Smith Switch, but this is the first commuter I've seen off the trail. Yay!

I need to ask the Women's Cycling Forum for a recommendation of a sports bra with enough padding in the cups so that my body doesn't announce to the world when I'm chilled. It's a fact of life, sure, but it's a fact of life that mortifies me beyond belief. I wear regular bras on casual and group rides, but I don't like sweating so much in them and ruining them for regular use. I suppose I could designate a couple of them as bike bras, but there's got to be a sports bra out there SOMEWHERE that will do what I want it to do.

In non-bikey news, I'm going to test drive a Jeep Patriot this weekend. I've whined and whined about how much I dislike my Highlander and how much I miss Jeepfink. Well, I checked out Kelly Blue Book and checked the payoff amount for the Highlander and discovered that I am well above water: the truck is worth way more than what I owe. The payments, though, are putting a serious cramp on my life. A Patriot with the options I want will cost significantly less than what I purchased the Highlander for AND will have lower monthly payments even if I accelerate the loan as 36 or 48 months.

On the other hand, I feel like one of those d-bags who buys a new car every other year. However, I got my first car (it was used) in high school and sold it six years later. My brand spankin' new Jeep was a faithful steed for thirteen years. My two year anniversary with the Highlander comes up next month which means I could still end up with a total of five years of car payments. That is seriously tempting. I have promised Hubbyfink that I will not purchase a Jeep this weekend and ONLY test drive. Next weekend is fair game, though.

Back to semi-bikey news: the Jeep dealership that I've picked for the test drive is just off the W&OD in Leesburg. If I get do get a Jeep and if I like the dealership, that means I could bike to and from there when the vehicle needs maintenance. Heh.

Bossman turned me loose early yesterday and Hubbyfink is usually home early on Fridays. Since we were both home, we decided to get a jump on car shopping and visited Carmax to see what kind of inventory they had and to get an appraisal on Jeepfink. While waiting for our salesguy, I noticed a 2006 Toyota Highlander in the building. It had everything I wanted minus 4WD and an iPod connection and was a fantastic price so I asked to test drive it.

Fell in love. Head over heels. Salesguy searched Carmax's inventory for a 2006-2010 4WD Highlander with tow package. There was one in Woodbridge and someone else had put a hold on it while we were out on the test drive. Bugger. On the upside, Carmax was going to give me better than bluebook value for the Jeep. Score!

This morning, Hubbyfink and I visited Ourisman Toyota, which is where Hubbyfink bought his Prius. They had only one used Highlander with tow package and 4WD and it was gold. Ugh. Seriously, ugh. It drove beautifully, but I just couldn't get past the color. Salesguy suggested a new one. I said I couldn't afford a new one and would keeping looking for another used one (of course, used Highlanders are about as rare as hen's teeth). He asked my maximum price and he wheeled and dealed to get me a new 2010 Highlander with 4WD, power everything, and tow package (and iPod connection!) for slightly more than the price of the 2007 gold monstrosity. Sweet! The zero percent financing, free maintenance, and bumper-to-bumper maintenance didn't hurt the deal, either. (Plus, I found out that my credit score has skyrocketed in the past year, which was pretty sweet.)

Hubbyfink drove Jeepfink home while I adjusted to my new ride. Good gracious is it spacious inside. It's a lot bigger than the Jeep but purrs along like a car. It's super peppy. We got home and I cleaned out all personal belongings from Jeepfink and pulled the title from my files. We headed over to Carmax to sell Jeepfink. Hubbyfink drove the Highlander so I could drive Jeepfink one last time. It was pretty bittersweet, but I barely managed not to cry. The selling process took about forty-five minutes or so; they gave me the GPFINK plates and a check and we were done.

( My new baby. )

I'm halfway through my fourth week of workouts and I think I've got tiny little biceps that pop up when I flex. Plus, my underarms aren't quite as flappy. I thought today's slacks felt a little looser in the waist, but that may be wishful thinking.

My beloved, geriatric Jeepfink is failing and I grow more aggravated with the vehicle every day. My ten (in the morning) and twenty (in the evening) minute commutes leave me frustrated and sometimes angry. I was seriously considering heading to a Toyota dealership this weekend to test drive a Rav4. After seeing this morning's news, that's off the schedule.* I'm back to researching a replacement vehicle.

School is going well. I thought this session's class was going to kick my butt, and it is time-consuming, but I am loving every assignment. Okay, the third assignment made me want to punch the computer, but that frustration was short-lived.

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*But melaniesuzanne, only the 2009 and 2010 models are affected. Why don't you buy a used car instead? My answer, Gentle Reader, is that if I go a decade or so between buying cars, I'm not going to begrudge myself purchasing a new one that has all the bells and whistles I want. However, I may see what Carmax has in the way of recent, non-Toyota vehicles.

Jeepfink has passed Virginia safety and emmissions inspections for another year. The sweet inspector guy asked, "You weren't worried were you?" after my abrupt "Oh thank goodness!" My poor Jeepfink is getting up in years, but inspector guy says his buddy has a similar vintage Jeep which has passed 200k miles and it's still running just fine. I guess mine's barely broken in at 120k.

Hubbyfink was an absolute saint. He not only ran an errand for me, he brought me my music books and renewal paperwork while I waited in line for inspection. He's so good to me; I think I'll keep him.

I finally got ahold of the church lady and will get the fellowship hall key on Friday so that Winter's Welcome Revel can be held indoors. One of my worst fears was coming to fruition, but it has been happily dashed. I shall retrieve decorative gear and signage one of these evenings and snag a site rental check from psalite tomorrow night. The various set-up and clean-up volunteer positions are all filled. At this point, I think all my autocrat Is and Ts are dotted and crossed, respectively.