The engine light icon on right side of steering wheel has turned on...

[Instigator]

the manual says this is an "emissions" issue and take it to mechanic...

argh... can i drive it for a day or two till i have time to get to garage?

-=sigh=-

[JRL]

Of course you should be able to

[Instigator]

i replaced the battery (per mechanic's instruction) and the engine icon thingy went away...

whew...

[JRL]

The light come on because the system is not charging! (and the battery went dead) not because you just needed a battery!!
The correct way to do this is when an owner buys a new battery he or she also needs to do a complete check of the charging system
The CABLES go bad, the B+ cable and/or the positive cable and at some point they all need to be changed out.

if you don't have the system checked, the odds are in a few days, or a couple of weeks it will not start again

[Instigator]

The light come on because the system is not charging! (and the battery went dead) not because you just needed a battery!!
The correct way to do this is when an owner buys a new battery he or she also needs to do a complete check of the charging system
The CABLES go bad, the B+ cable and/or the positive cable and at some point they all need to be changed out.

if you don't have the system checked, the odds are in a few days, or a couple of weeks it will not start again

that is great advice... yes, I should have mentioned the mechanic tested that the system was charging and that the battery was just dying as previous owner hadn't been driving the car, he had to jump start it for me to drive it...

so, yeah the battery being dead could be or is often a symptom of some other problem... luckily the mechanic tested all the other stuff... cables, alternator etc... he even tested stuff with the car off to see if there was something drawing power from the battery i think... so, i guess he was pretty thorough...

[JRL]

Good
(You should have mentioned that in the first place)