New Car Considered Fun to Drive

I finally took possession of the new car on Friday, after High Road had completed its ministrations. These included: new brakes, new battery, replace/flush/clean every fluid -- save the fuel, and several other tasks that I don't remember off the top of my head.

I am a little disappointed in High Road. They didn't notice that the dome light bulb had burned out. They noticed that they'd forgotten to mention a missing chrome exhaust pipe tip, so they threw that in for free. The least they could do given that I was dropping $3K on the repairs! But after spending all that money, there's nothing on the car's to-do list, other than driving me & the family around.

So what's the verdict? I love it. It's fun to drive (perhaps just a tad too fun), it feels safe and comfortable, and I wish I'd traded up much sooner. I like that it's been loved and taken care of. It's also telling that Sondra keeps asking if she can take my car, rather than the van on various errands.

And while writing this, I popped the previous owner's name into Google, and came up with -- her blog! How fun.

And now to the matter of a name. I dubbed our Odyssey minivan "Ruby", since it's nothing more than a Rubenesque Accord. For reasons known primarily to Sondra, my old car -- previously her old car -- is named "Yofi the elf car". (Ask her, not me.) Heretofore, my new car has carried the moniker "White Chocolate". (Ask Tia, not me.) Sorry, but this won't do. I've toyed with the name "Chalk", since it includes the color and part of it's prior name. Nope.

How about "Trillium"?

11:39:30 PM  comment []    

Friedman: War of Ideas

The idea people who inspired the hijackers are religious leaders, pseudo-intellectuals, pundits and educators, primarily in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which continues to use its vast oil wealth to spread its austere and intolerant brand of Islam, Wahhabism.

But here's the good news: These societies are not monoliths, and there are a lot of ordinary people, and officials, inside both who would like to see us pressing their leaders and religious authorities to teach tolerance, modernize Islam and stop financing those who won't.

Christopher thinks we might want to skip Iraq and go for Saudi Arabia instead. I'm inclined to agree.  

3:22:27 PM  comment []