Today I bid a fond farewell to Barbie the Malibu. Carvana is coming to take her away (ha ha he he ho ho) and leave me a check for $6200. She has an intermittent wiring issue that prevents the brake lights from working. FOUR visits to the shop failed to fix it, so it's time for her to go to the farm and play in the fields with the other Malibus.

where basket weavers sit and twiddle their thumbs and toes?

T. A. Lowery - I see you know the place well, too!

I took a few glamor shots of Barbie, just for my archives. Farewell, kind, yet brainaddled lady!

I think she still looks pretty damn good for a 2014 car.

I did baby her during our time together! She's a university car (I bought her from MSU when they were updating the executive's job-provided cars) and my work commute was only 7 miles.

And after four years of owning her, I just sold her for only $2,000 less than I paid for her.

I need you in charge of my car purchases.

Just keep an eye on the MSU Surplus Store website, under the Automobile listings. I've bought 4 cars through that system and they've all been good cars at bargain prices.

If you need to finance though, make arrangements elsewhere in advance (we use our credit union if needed) because MSU needs full payment on the spot, no credit.

Yeah, I love municipal and institutional surplus. My CO prison surplus Jeep is likely still roaming free in the wilds of Alaska after a quarter million miles.

The MSU surplus store is insane. I went exploring a while back and was blown away. Have to see if they are open now!

We've gotten such random items from Surplus! A 1930s grey steel desk built like a tank, but very small. A mini-desk, which is now my crafting desk. Also a Knotts Berry Farm bent-wire syrup bottle holder. I did SAY random, right? Ken's bought a couple computers from there too for experimenting with other OS on, minimal payout in case he blows them up.

You should have seen the place when they had a TRAIN ENGINE up for sale. That was wild. I think it went for about $40,000?

Wow.

Do you buy meat from them?

Yep! Well, I was buying it directly from the Meat Lab (which sounds delightfully macabre) for many years. Their ground beef is very good, the bacon is incredible, and their sausages are very nice too. Now, they are limiting contact so shuttle it all down to Surplus to sell for them.

You should also be able to find honey at Surplus, made by industrious MSU bees.

I have been waiting anxiously for a chance to go in and shop!