I�ve also been slacking on yoga. And kickboxing. All this, combined with my recent out-of-control eating habits, has spelled disaster. I feel pudgy.

I know what I need to do to get back on track. Exercise more, cut out the foods that make me irritable (starches and sugars), eat breakfast (strange but true phenomenon: as soon as I cut out breakfast, I started gaining weight), and keep my refrigerator stocked. Problem is, I can�t motivate myself to actually do it.

In other news, I�ve decided I�m going to color my hair. Since I�ve stopped plucking my grays, they�ve become much more noticeable. I thought it was wise to stop plucking them because once they start to grow back in, they are short and stubby and stick straight up from the top of my head, making them all the more noticeable.

I posted on craigslist yesterday, asking for recommendations for a good colorist. I now have several to choose from! Yay!

Now I just need to determine which route to go: redder, lighter, or darker? I really don�t want to spend a lot of money every month getting touch-ups, so I�m inclined to go with honey highlights in order to make the gray less visible. Then I�m guessing I won�t need touch-ups as often. I don�t know. Suggestions?

I had a traumatic day yesterday. The auto shop called with their �hot list� of safety-related items that need to be fixed ASAP. Basically, the entire brake system is shot. The remedy? Oh, about $1,600 worth of work. I was near tears.

Sure, I expected shell out money for the care and feeding of an old car, but not this much this soon. My debt, once nonexistent, is now back with a vengeance.

Problem is, the auto shop was having a hard time finding a replacement brake booster, the most important item of the brake system... and the thing that broke last Friday while I was driving it. He said that even if I got all the other brake stuff done, if he couldn�t find a brake booster, the car still wouldn�t be driveable. When Rod called me at 2 pm yesterday, he still hadn�t found a part, even though he�d been on the phone all morning trying to locate one.

I stewed for the next two hours about what to do. Do I authorize the shop to do all the work and hope that they find a brake booster in the meantime? Or do I tow it back to San Francisco and put it in storage and be car-less indefinitely? The latter was clearly too depressing. The way I saw it, I had no choice but to fix the entire brake system� and hunt down a brake booster.

I posted on the bimmer.org board with a plea for help. Several people came to my rescue. One guy said he found one at an auto wrecker for $20 from a Bavaria, one guy said Maximillian (who I�ve used before to order parts) on the East Coast may be able to refer me to someone, and one guy in Colorado said that he had a brand new 11� diameter one for $250. So it didn�t seem hopeless.

When I called him back at 5:30 pm, I was prepared to authorize him to do all the necessary work. He had some good news for me: he had found a used part for $250! Even better, he will have the part by tomorrow morning� meaning my car will be ready by tomorrow night! I was so relieved.

To curtail future surprises, I also asked Rod to do a full inspection, which I should have done before I bought the car.

So by Thursday, my car will have had the entire brake system replaced and will no longer be a death trap. Phew! I�ve had all the excitement I can handle for a month.

Next time on Loriville: calm seas.