Cars, Cards, & Kids

My car, a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, has 188,000 miles and is still running strong. Ever since we became debt-free, I have been threatening to buy a newer model. Because my beautiful spouse works two jobs and refuses to buy name brand anything, I have been given the green light to upgrade my ride. I have my eye on a 2004 or 2005 model Interceptor. The suspension was upgraded in model year 2003 and the horsepower was raised to 250 in 2004. I think I can get my hands on a car with at least 100,000 less miles on it than mine for about $5,000. Bethany's niece Jessie is almost 17 and is needing a safe and cheap car, so after getting a thorough safety inspection, my current car will be hers. We both win!

Upon further discussion with my gainfully employed spouse, it became apparent that she isn't quite comfortable with the idea of my testing the professional poker player waters. I am a decent player and I've been studying more now than I ever did in college, but since she's throwing me a bone with a new car I have decided to put my poker plans on the back burner. Still, if we ever get our stimulus check, I'd like to have a little fun with some of the money.

We answered even more questions from our social worker yesterday in an effort to move the adoption process along. We are now waiting for Homeland Security to make an appointment for us to get re-fingerprinted for background checks and THEN, then we think we will be done with everything on our end. After that, we will wait to hear final word from China and within 6 to 8 weeks of that we will fly across the world to meet our son. We have read three baby name books and are still not sure what to name the little guy, so we welcome your suggestions. His Chinese name is Jiang Yizhan, but that's a bit of a mouthful so feel free to submit your ideas.