As Lily is still reet petite, the getting in-and-out is relatively easy now, but will get harder as she gets heavier.

We already have to do some nifty contortions to get the seat in, and her added weight will make things right special in time.

So, I too would vote on putting off the new car for the immediate future. There are a lot of expenses that come up with babies in the first year or two and having a paid off car is a nice luxury.

I tend to agree, though we'll see how well we all deal with summer and the car. The current plan is to do a gas cost analysis, and see what sort of difference per month the increased MPG would make, then subtract that amount from the added expense of monthly payments. If it's enough, it might make sense to bite the bullet this year instead of next.

Around here anyways Diesel tends to cost quite a bit more than gasoline (especially E10 ethonal) and cost might come out the same.

It's almost identical here, which is a factor. Biodiesel's more, but for the first time in ages (I think the last time this was the case, I was still driving a diesel, which puts it at least a decade ago), regular diesel's about the same as the cheapest unleaded, and less than premium.

We already have to do some nifty contortions to get the seat in, and her added weight will make things right special in time.

I have a Civic HB as well and I can't imagine getting an infant bucket back there. Toddlers aren't a problem though.

It's almost identical here, which is a factor.

Weird how it's so different. I always get E10 and it is generall 15-20 cents a gallon less than diesel.

Stupid computer I'm waiting for. Do stuff faster so I can go home sometime tonight.

Four doors will make it very much easier to attend to the baby, seriously -- I have a Civic HB myself.

My family seems to avoid getting in trouble with the law by being, in some cases, the actual law.

I found an article that pretty much sums up the attitude toward environmentalists I see from people I know.

[link]

The environmentalists are just a bunch of wackos who have no idea what they are talking about. Meanwhile, the free market is taking care of any problems.

Ya know, if I regained consciousness and saw Dr. House, I'd just ask to be euthanised. Sure, he might eventually save my life, but in the meanwhile he'd put me in a great deal of pain, and be incredibly unpleasant to boot.

Dr. House

I'm still boggling on the fact that House is Bertie Wooster and Prince George and half of Fry & Laurie.

Connie, that's a killer story. I don't really have any family members who've been in trouble with the law, except for the brother who was wild as a teen and in college and now has more letters after his name than the rest of the family put together. And he's saving the world from bioterrorism. So.

Gud, as for your link -- air quality may well have improved over the last 35 years. But what Rush fails to recognize that "better" isn't "good", necessarily. And what limited advances we have made in the US are in direct conflict with air quality damages in places like China.

For myself, I'm more concerned about water -- water quality, water use, water conservation. Conflicts between consumptive uses (domestic, industry, irrigation) and habitat uses, which require consistent instream flows. Endless development in the west is causing no end of conflict over water rights, and the same is going on in places all over the world.

Water, they say, is the new oil.