Day 1326

I need help. Maybe you guys could help point me towards my next car. I love my Defender 90, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that keeping an eighteen year old car roadworthy and reliable is a losing proposition. The Defender has entered that phase of a car's life where is ceases to be transportation and becomes an expensive hobby instead. I'm getting tired of guessing which part is going to fall off next, but I can't find anything even remotely affordable that I would rather drive.

My taste in cars has always been rather eclectic. At one time or another I've owned an International Harvester Metro-Mite Van, a silver Citroën Maserati, a Citroën DS-21, a humongous diesel Ford F-350 dually crew cab pickup, a white Ford Bronco identical to the one OJ drove during the famous low speed chase, and of course the Defender 90. I've always been partial to cars that look like they could survive a Zombie apocalypse. I almost bought a Hummer H-1 once, although I hated the H-2 and H-3. I'm fond of the Mercedes Geländewagen as well, but this one is a bit pricy for someone like me. There just aren't many vehicles available that are built like a tank, have full time four wheel drive, and can carry a full size metal dog crate in the back. The Defender is perfect. I just wish Land Rover would bring some new ones back to the United States again while I'm still alive.

As you might guess, I'm still trying to find a new vibration damper for my aluminum V8 engine. By the time I eventually find this illusive part, it is almost inevitable that something else will have fallen off the car and need my attention. I'm tenacious though and made another trip to the Land Rover dealer this morning to get this issue resolved. This was only one of many errands on my list today. I also stopped by my doctor's office to get my blood tested, paid a visit to my equipment supplier to look for a mattebox, and got some weekend groceries at Central Market.

Like last week, I didn't make it to my favorite breakfast restaurant until almost noon. While I was waiting for my meal I listened to three guys at the next table talking about the George Zimmerman trial. As strange as it may seem, one guy was explaining the trial to the other two, who had never even heard about it. On the other side of me was a fat little girl wearing sunglasses who looked exactly like Honey Boo Boo. She had an entourage of adults sitting with her who were continually taking pictures of the kid with their cell phones. This probably wasn't really Honey Boo Boo though. I bet is was just a normal family who likes to post status updates of their grandchildren on Facebook every five minutes.

One of my clients asked me to take some companies who had gone out of business off his website customer list today. I probably ought to do the same thing with my own website. Quite a few of my customers have either gone out of business or been gobbled up by bigger companies over the years. A long list looks better than a short list though. Maybe I'll just leave things the way they are.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day