Why I Oughta...

There we were, minding our own business on a little trip out in Oak Brook, when we came across one of John Lennon's prized Rolls Royce phantoms sitting out front.   Two quick things:  First, pretty sure this isn't a Phantom V ( as only 517 of them were made ) and second, it isn't John's, of course.  If you head here and scroll down , you can see that John's car had a third side window - and was stretched out longer than this beauty below.   Would make a heckuva wedding-day car, wouldn't it?  That's what I'm guessing it was doing out.

I think I was born to be a minivan guy.  I love driving it.  I love that they call it the Swagger Wagon .  I sometimes wish it was a bigger, real van .  Not a 'mini'.  Nat, on the other hand, is counting down the days until she can downsize into something smaller, more SUV-ish that is easier to handle (and park).  Once we get into all boosters and don't have the need for the massive double stroller, I think we can move off the mini-van everyday routine.  But, I think I'll keep it!  And use it as my primary car.  That's why I put on some sweet new tires - 80K tires. I roll hard. I don't drive my car very much - to the grocery store or to Menards, so it gets light use.  But, when we go somewhere as a family, we take the minivan.  And...it feels to me like the van is like a space shuttle.  Has so many controls and is so comfortable.  I love driving it and having the space.  It gets just ok gas mileage, but make...

We can add this 'Drivers License' to the list of artifacts that we've been given/earned down at Walt Disney World. There's the business card from the Mayor of Main Street USA . Then there was the official 'guest skipper' license from the crew of the Jungle Cruise . We received one of these 'born to soar' cards , but I don't seem to have posted about it. And over the years, we've collected transportation cards like these from a boat captain on our trip back to the Wilderness Lodge one afternoon. And now, the Beef has this license.  Pretty cute, isn't it?  He had to get measured up for height to make it on the ride this trip and after he 'measured up', the cast member whipped out this card to mark the occasion.  Pretty awesome. As for the ride?  Not so awesome.  Between the jerky steering wheel and the not-so-great experience, it seems that this thing is past it's due date for an overhaul.  I mean...the chuck of land it...

Out on Ogden Road in Downers a few weeks back, I spotted this Honda Odysessy, which at first glance appears to be your standard, run-of-the-mill grocery wagon that we all drive out in the suburbs.  But, if you look closely, you'll see a "CH" oval sticker in the corner of the rear window. I saw it and then as safely as I could, whipped out my phone and tried to take this photo. Why?  Because that "CH" oval sticker is one that I saw a bunch when we were visiting my sister and Equation Boy/Man in Switzerland.  CH means Swiss, which came as a surprise to me.  But now, when I see it, I know! From Wikipedia : The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica (English: Helvetic Confederation). I gleefully emailed off this photo to Equation Boy/Man and I'm hoping that they'll come home with one of these stickers and stick it on the back of their own van when they're living back in Elmhurst this summer.   They'l...

Over the weekend, we finally handed over Nat's Honda Accord and as part of that process, I had to clean it out.  I'd be the one who most recently drove the car, but it hasn't been regularly used for a number of years.  We bought our first larger car back in the fall of 2009 and that's when this car became the '2nd car' and we got rid of my very first car - my Toyota Camry. When we got the van last year, the Accord got parked and stayed there until this weekend. Amongst the things I peeled out of the car was this Sportster Sirius radio.  I still remember how Natalie gave it to me for Christmas back in December of 2004 when Howard Stern was about to make the move to Sirius.  It spent some time suction-cupped to the dashboard of my Camry, then quickly was relegated to the cupholder.  Once I upgraded to the newer Accord, the Sportster came with me. Lots of laughs were had with this thing.  But now, it's time has passed.  Between in-car Sirius and th...

I'm going to be an adult about this vehichle stuff and take this thing head on. Live in the suburbs.  Check. Have three (gasp!) kids.  Check. Go to bed before 9 pm.  Check. Got the swagger wagon?  Check!

Who would have thought that we might end up with a van?!? We went looking at vans over the weekend and we've narrowed it down to between the Sienna and the Odyssey.  I'm leaning towards the Swagger Wagon.  We'll see if we can make a deal!

Nope...not the movie.  We haven't seen that (yet?  Ever?).  Rather I'm talking about the car, which coincidentially - for you non nerd types - isn't called the Green Hornet.  It is a tricked-out Chrysler Imperial they call the Black Beauty !  They had it on display at the auto show in Detroit and I had to stop by to see it. Interesting to note, the movie has really driven interest in the Black Beauty. Here's a chart showing search queries in the US have gone up 100X in the last month.  Pretty amazing what a wide-released movie will do to drive American's interest in the car.