The night before last Steffi and I bought a brand new Protege5, a Mazda from a dealer in Cary. Let me just say that the actual purchasing process was a harrowing experience. There were so many misunderstandings, so many misquoted prices, and temper flare-ups on my part that I am now happy that we managed to get through it and have a nifty new 2002 midnight blue automobile in our parking lot. (Thing is -- and I don't want to sound negative right from the outset -- I don't want a new car to be an excuse to obsess about its looks, not spilling stuff in the inside, etc. A new car should be a fun thing and not a source of more worry. Still, I may do my share of that until the first little ding...)