CRXsiSleeper

My rex has been driving fine until yesterday the temperature gauge started shooting up, my battery light would start flickering, and sometimes my tach would jump all over the place (all at the same time) whenever I would take the clutch out and switch gears. Then it would stop when I would apply gas, but the second I let up on the gas it would start doing all this stuff again. I was driving on the highway for a little until the temperature started staying up near hot so I pulled over. Waited for the engine to cool down and tried to start it but nothing happened. Tried to hammer the starter, still nothing. I ended up getting towed to the only shop that was open on memorial day weekend told them about my problems and initially said it might be my alternator but in the end they said that there was some kind of electrical problem in my steering column and my battery was dead (which they charged up for me). The car starts sometimes on its own but sometimes needs a push start. So I decided to take it to Advance Auto Parts for a free battery and alternator testing and they said my alternator was dead. Anybody have any ideas on what might be causing this? It seems like the alternator would be the solution since it't making all of my gauges go crazy but it doesn't explain the overheating, unless the thermostat is just going up. There is plenty of anti-freeze. BTW my car has a B16A swap in it in case that helps.