Chester and the Prius

So, Chester died. Well, at least, he had a heart attack... Chester is our 10yr old toyota, and at 190,000 miles, he cracked a rod, and gave up the ghost. It was either a new engine or a new car...please understand that when I say 'new' I actually mean 'old-but-hopefully-slightly-less-old-than-Chester." There is no way we can afford a new car right now, and we prefer a somewhat used one anyway since cars depreciate so fast.
After exploring the options, we concluded that the $1645 for a heart transplant (ie--new engine) was the best option. After all, Chester is only 10, gets REALLY good gas mileage, and probably has a lot of life left in him...if only he can have a new heart. The shop guarantees that the new engine will have less than 30,000 miles on it, so that's practically brand new for us!

While we were out and about, looking at alternatives, we concluded that what we really want is a Toyota Prius. Yup, the hybrid. It is SO COOL!!! It gets, oh, about 60mpg. In town. (It's actually slightly lower on highway, since it has to rely on more gas for longer distances and higher speeds). We had drooled over hybrid cars before, but I think we've now made a concrete goal: next time Chester dies, we will buy a Prius.
Probably a used one of course.

The only thing better would be a true electric car, but after creating one, GM stupidly withdrew it...stupid stupid stupid. That company is working so hard to refuse to make the kind of vehicles that the public wants and that the environment needs. I hate stupid people.

Now I think I need to go put a load of cloth diapers into my energy-star washing machine and maybe I'll change another lightbulb to a compact flourescent, just for good measure. Somebody has to save the planet.