I know all cars are girls but my '91 escort refused to be one so I had to accept that he was a he and named him Bobo. The little rat who lived on the dashboard was named Bobito.

My '87 Cabriolet came from my sister already dubbed Stella.

Also in my past is a big red truck named (how original) Clifford and a white Probe named Gay Deceiver.

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Our current car doesn't have a name, but mostly because it's never really manifested a personality.

The Miata was named Tybalt (usually called Tybs). We tried to make a personalized plate for it that said "RATCATCHER" but no matter which letters we dropped it always came out looking like "RAT CATHETER" so we just went with TYBALT.

The Subaru Loyale wagon was Subarashi, because she really was.

Plei, that pink tree is adorable! We had a 1950s aluminum tree in pink and silver when I was little, and although it was pretty I hated it as it bit. I lost a lot of blood to that tree.

I prefer artificial trees now too. I just can't deal with watching a tree die for a month - takes the cheer out of the holiday for me. And artificial tree technology is getting really good. And anyway, our lifestyle isn't conducive to a real tree.

Mal decorating our tree: [link]

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I so did not! I told you that I've named every single car I've ever owned! LIAR! LIAR!

Mmm, I didn't drink that much. Maybe I just couldn't hear that across the table at loud restaurant. I do recall lots of crazy looks at me. Maybe all that streaking talk has corrupted the memory. Yikes!

So what's your Prius name?

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Cars and artificial trees, it's every awkward conversation I had with my parents tonight, all in one.

Actually the tree thing was mostly mocking. They have more trees this year than they have cars. And they've got Too Many Cars as well.

Also, the new glaze, I think it's Clairol, works to brighten up color that's gone dull.

I tried it and wasn't thrilled because it made my hair all greasy, flat and listless. But my hair trends to that anyway. The color part was nice. Turns out it's a known bug.

Have you looked under the couch? They probably smelled me on the lighter and didn't want me hissing at them anymore. (FYI everyone other than Cass, I only made hissing noises if they were Being Bad. Honest. What? It works!)

I have but I suspect Puppycat has found a new place to bat stuff under.

And Nicole is a much better cat mom than I am. Honest.

(Okay, I worked in the electric utility industry for 15 years. I'm a little touchy on subject.)

I only worked in it a couple of years but man, when the world went kerfluey, they stepped up. Also when most of So Cal was burning in wildfires.

Her name is Midori. The car is green in color

Tidewater Pearl?

I was happily asleep and then I woked up. Sucks. Not happily asleep now. Crankily awake. I preferred the asleep thing.

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Still no power, alas. I am posting from Panera (god bless 'em for free and strings-free wireless) where I'm warming up before heading into work. Mom's power is back on, so she's going to bring Jeeves (kitty) over to her place today. Plus, this means that regardless of what happens to my power today, I will have a lit, warm, and comfy room of my own tonight. They don't have internet, and the work net nanny is very stringent, so I will continue to be dark gray until my power comes on.

No estimate yet on when I'll have power back. It appears that my outage is on a very, very small grid (about 20 houses), and the power company is working largest ---> smallest in terms of areas affected. It makes sense, but I am still filled with seething resentment when I see my neighbor's Christmas lights. I am fairly sure that is not the sentiment they are meant to induce.

Vehicular history.

1985 Ford Escort hatchback, gray, gently used (no name) 1990 Toyota Camry sedan, white, less gently used (no name) 1996 Mazda 626 sedan, tan, former rental (Marvin) 2001 Chevy Cavailer, black, MY FIRST ALL NEW CAR (Charlie)

Charlie has been a faithful little workhorse, and other than routine maintenance, hasn't needed any kind of work. It will be a sad day when he goes to that great scrapyard in the sky.

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Warm hugs for Anne. Hope that you find power at the end of the day. Neighbors should let you run a power cord over to your house. After hurriances our neighborhoods are covered with orange extension cords from houses with power to those without.

{{Nora}} Child related decisions keep many of us up at night. No easy answers. Yay for new shiny stuff!!

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very time I see a Mitsubishi Galant, I think that they should also have a Mitsubishi Goofus.

ha! thank you for this. laugh was much needed. Had to get to the airport at 5 AM because the hotel computer kept crashing acrobat and I couldn't print my boarding pass. they offered to do it at another 'puter. but it said I'd checked in , so I had to get here 1/2 hour earlier. that 30 minutes is KEY at 5 AM. The freaking moon was still up for crying out loud. I had some other clever thing to say, but after 4 hours of sleep, most of my energy is concentrated on not falling asleep standing up.

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Awwww...{{{Anne}}}. I hope the power comes back on soon. So, you're on your way to work? Did you decide not to take vacation time?

Raq, I always think Mal couldn't possibly get cuter, and you always prove me wrong. That picture is darling, and the one right after it is really sweet, especially with the onesie he's wearing.

ION, it's snowing here. Normally I'd be excited. But, no, I'm all, "Grrrrr...it's snowing!"

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It seems to have eased up in Cambridge, if it's any consolation, vw...

Thanks Laura, you are wise indeed. I'm just doing a little soul searching I think...

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It's 33 degrees here. No snow.

I made myself a healthy breakfast (veggie omelette, one slice high-fiber toast), packed a healthy lunch (salad, bean burrito on whole-wheat tortilla, a few plantain chips), and have planned a heathly dinner (BBQ tofu, haricots verts, sweet potatoes.) I feel all virtuous today.

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