FOLLOWUP: It's a long story, but I'll try to be succinct. My car was dead and wouldn't hold a charge even after jump-starting and driving for some time. I found an autozone, which (obviously) determined the battery was dead. The battery was so dead, autozone couldn't test the alternator. I bought a new battery from autozone and installed it on the spot so the alternator could be tested. the autozone employee told me the alternator needed to be replaced, which he could do in his spare time.
I drove it home and made an appointment w/ my dealer because there were a couple of other things needing fixing and it didn't make time or money sense to take it to two places for various issues. The dealer tested the charging system, including the alternator, but the dealer advised that the alternator is fine -- no need to replace it. Could have been a bad battery.
On other fronts, the dealer fixed some rattling heat shields for $60 and replaced the entire speedometer unit, which has been working intermittently, for $309.
Hopefully, I'm good to go for another year or so.
-LK