My car may be dead!

I don't know yet. I was attempting to leave work early yesterday and it started bumping really badly, then the "Check Engine" light (which has been constantly on since I got that car four years ago) began to flicker on and off. So, I turned around and went back to work to bum a ride from Marilyn (my car won't get towed if I leave it at the parking lot at work). My dad is going to come have a look at it later.

It's odd. I had no trouble at all on the drive to work, but it started bumping as soon as I turned it on when I was attempting to leave.

I'm afraid that he's dead. Which really sucks because we just fixed the power steering on him, and I bought new cornering lights that I was actually going to put on today (note that in the above picture the driver's side cornering light is busted).

It also sucks because if he's dead I'll need a new car. I planned my next car to be brand new (so I can drive it for years and know it's had all the scheduled maintenance), but I didn't plan to buy one for another six months or so. Yes, I have money saved up but it is to move (hopefully, see below), not to buy a new car.

And here's the Reader's Digest condensed version of the moving problem:

We thought we had found a place to move. We were going to move in October 24. Then they call us and tell us we can't move there because we have two evictions on our rental history.

This sucks because this is not right.

One eviction was something that was dismissed, and the other was actually Juan's father's eviction (he and Juan have the same first and last name). I think we have all the needed paperwork to prove the dismissed one was in fact dismissed (court papers should be fine), but we don't have the court papers to prove that the second eviction was actually Juan's father. Our "proof" doesn't have the case number, so I don't know if they'll take it.

We need to be out of our current place no later then October 30, so we're running out of time. I don't want to have to move to one of those ultra-ghetto apartment complexes that say "Evictions? No problem!" Those places look filthy from the outside-- I don't want to know what's inside.

Update, 10/04/08 4:40 pm CST:

After spending $60, Adam Corolla lives! (At least I hope. He drives better than he has ever. We just replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires.)