Check Engine

As I'm sure you can infer from the title my "Check Engine" light came on yesterday.

I was tootling down the road headed to school at 6am, and all of the sudden the light clicks on. Joy. After debating the cause all day I headed to Goodyear with my fingers crossed and prayers in my heart. The gentlemen were very friendly and helpful to this car-clueless woman, but alas their kindness did not extend to the price. Miss Suzy Subaru now needs a new catalytic converter. This tiny little thing (see below) is going to cost us a pretty penny.

Needless to say I'm a little perturbed. In less than a year we are going to have put over $3000 into this car. That's right folks, $3000. Now I love Suzy. She has stuck through some pretty hard times and made it to almost 114,000 miles, but good grief this is madness! Now the debate of to fix or not to fix has entered our minds. Is it worth fixing, or should we just toss in the towel and try something new? In a perfect world we could trot on over to the closest dealership and pick out a fancy pants new car, but alas this is not a perfect world.

All this got me thinking, what if we had our own "Check Engine" lights? What if there was something that kept us in check whenever our bodies started to fail? That way we can fix it before it becomes a problem. Yes, we know that eating fast food is bad for us, but we don't know how bad because we don't see the immediate effects. When we finally do realize the harm, it's too late. So if you're a doctor, or know a doctor, how can we make this happen?