ita, unfortunately it's either the check or the car. They will not let you keep the car if you plan on taking the money.

If you need any help with this, please let me know. I'll look into specs and see if I can't find you what the comparable vehicle is currently.

Oh, man, what a huge relief, smonster! Away from the slumlord and away from the lack of privacy/prickly roommate situation both! And with a good baguette to look forward to, too.

But goddamnit, ita ! I was hoping for better car news -- surely there's got to be some Buffista somewhere due for *good* car news for a change.

And continuing vibes to your DH and to you, Maria. In all the utter shittness of it, Hopkins is about the best possible place you could be. I just still so wish you didn't have to.

Looking out my window, I've got sunlight and steady drizzling rain at once, and if I listen just right I can hear the Blue Angels. It's all rather disconcerting.

I have no problem with legalizing dwarf tossing. Doesn't seem super different from stripping. Or pro wrestling. Or porn. What am I missing?

Re some of the earlier conversation... is the FB person also someone I know? Because I'm starting to think it is.

JZ (and everyone else), thanks for the well wishes. I will continue to hoarde them, hoping it eases some of his burden.

And yes, it's someone you know very well.

Perkins, are you around? Is your profile addy good?

ita, you could take the money and buy a used car, rather than fixing yours. Probably easier.

I'll add some more well-wishes in the hopes that the accumulating mass of ~ma breaks some kind of barrier between wishes and reality to do our bidding, Maria. For you and for everyone that is having such craptastical misfortune.

Maybe you could even find a used 2000 BMW whatever it is. The search could easily be offloaded to some underemployed Buffista (such as me, come Monday and the children are in school.)

Ugh. I was afraid it was the same person. Who has many, many issues, but also many good points, and who is basically one of my employers. I'm well aware of the issues and I do a fair amount of work to manage the personal and professional relationships without getting slammed by the issues, but still... it's a boss, and a person with whom I have built a careful but solid F2F relationship.

I'm not advocating for the person or wanting anyone else to change their minds; just... would it be possible to just keep it back-channel? I feel really uncomfortable and trapped; I'm abundantly aware of the person's big issues, but also abundantly aware that this is someone I have to work with almost daily, and someone who's giving me professional opportunities in a field I care about passionately, and someone with whom I've negotiated a decent set of intimacies and boundaries that work as a friendship. And so I feel like an asshole for working with this person who pisses other Buffistas off, and an asshole for not saying anything, and an asshole for saying anything. And I love Natter and the Natterers, even if I'm stuck lurking most of the time because the day job is eating my brain, and I hate feeling like not just a lurker but an asshole lurker.

If all of this is totally inappropriate for me to say and I need to suck it up and own my assholeitude, just say so. I just... I feel all idgy and weirdly dirty.