I have always like the smell of coffee, but until last year, I hadn't been able to stand the taste.  My first experience, that I remember, was my mother bringing my sister and I to a friend's house and having a "coffee party."  Then, as until recently, the coffee tasted like little more than warm water (which is not something that I like to drink).  Adding cream just made it taste like watered down water.  Adding sugar didn't give it the substance I wanted.

At Alex's graduation, Janelle decided to use a concoction called coffee bunch which is made out of a coffee syrup, whole milk, and even amounts of chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Normally, I don't even like coffee ice cream, but I really liked this drink and have since made an effort to make it at least once a year.  I also have come to like some cakes and desserts that use coffee.

It was taking Alex up to college last summer that got me hooked.  Despite knowing that I had a ten-hour drive in front of me, I had stayed up entirely too late the night before.  Long drives can be difficult for me alone, but they are worse when the person riding shotgun is lightly snoring.  Unfortunately, that was the condition we were in on the drive up: I was feeling exhausted while Janelle and Alex were dozing.

When we stopped at a McDonald's, I decided to try a mocha.  Now, I know that doesn't count as coffee for you purists, but it got me hooked about the same as the chocolate punch.  My carpool ride last year was often started with a stop to pick up a couple of mochas to wake us up.  I had thought that caffeine didn't have much of an effect on me as I can fall asleep even less than half an hour after having a caffeinated soda, but I discovered that just a sip of the mocha kept my eyes from drooping while taking those long morning drives.

The sad news is that both I and my carpool compatriot are on austerity measures right now.  Stops to McDonald's (even just once a week) are now a luxury that we literally cannot afford.  Still, I'm usually able to convince my loving wife to set up the coffee maker (a machine that I have not taken the time to understand) on Fridays, and I've stirred up some lost cost mochas for us at least once each week.  It's funny how something I didn't care for just over a year ago is now something that I don't want to live without.

I'm sorry, but I love driving my new Prius.  I have come up with excuses to do so.  Part of it is the "new toy" feeling that driving Mera brings.  Part of it is that this is the first car that has really been "mine" from the start.  Part of it is that the Prius is just a nice car.

That said, the Prius is designed to beep continuously inside the cabin when put in reverse.  The idea is that, because the car is so quiet, some drivers might not realize that the car is in reverse when they are trying to put it in drive or think it is in park (although I would think this could be a problem with any car).  The beep is similar to the sound made when large trucks back up; however, unlike them, it cannot be heard outside of the car.

The problem was enough of an irritant that I looked for solutions online.  Until 2010, this was a problem that Prius could fix on their own using a complex set of button-presses (which sounded a great deal like casting a magic spell) in set intervals.  Doing so could turn the beep to a single beep that goes off when the car is first put into reverse, or could turn the beep off entirely.  Unfortunately, beginning with the 2010 model (Mera is a 2014), the only way to fix the issue was to interface with the car's computer directly.  For me, that meant taking it to the dealer.  Online discussions on this topic said that Toyota dealerships should be able to take care of the problem at no charge.

I had to pick up my new plates at the dealership anyway, so I figured that I would have this checked too.  It took a bit of haggling (the first two people didn't know it could even be done and then they wanted to charge a little over $50 for a 1/2 hour of labor), but the person in charge of the service area was willing to switch the beep for free.  

Now, Mera only gives a single beep to remind me that I have set her to reverse.  It is a much better arrangement.  While I don't doubt that Mera and I will have future disagreements, I am glad that this one was able to be resolved with almost no trouble.

First, let me say that I hate shopping for cars.  I always feel like I'm getting ripped off.  Somehow, a fairly straightforward price ends up ballooning rather quickly, and that's even without taking on an extra accessories, packages, or warrantees (don't get me going on warrantees).

That said, I purchased a car today.  It was moderately painful, not more or less than I expected, but I am very happy with the car.  It's a 2014 Prius.  

In many ways, the car is out of my league.  The payments and added insurance costs are going to make our monthly budget rather tight, especially with the pay reductions of the past several years.  Still, I hope to save money in the long run due to its fuel efficiency, and I like that I am supporting the initiative to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Also, its a fun car.  Getting past all of the cool things like not needing to take the keys out of my pocket to open or start the car, or the way that it wirelessly connects to my phone, or even the entertaining screens that show how efficiently I am driving, I simply enjoy driving the car.  The seats are easy for me to get in and out of, the controls are generally in places that I find easy to use, the instrument panel is offset, and the wheel is the size that I prefer.

It helps that I like how it looks.  The shape of the car, its intake, and its lights evoke a sense of happiness.  It looks like a car of the future.  The light bluish-green color called Sea Glass Pearl reminds me of the changing colors of the ocean.  It's partially for that reason that I have named her after Aquaman's main love interest, Mera.

Yep, I named the car.

For the past two weeks, the highway near Grass Lake has been under construction.  This, in itself, is not much of a surprise as that section of road has been under some sort of construction for the past several years.  This time, however, the normally four-lane highway has been brought down to two lanes, one lane each way.  As a result, my normal hour-long drive to work (and back home) has been extended by ten to thirty minutes.  The difference in time is not as much due to the amount of traffic, but the courtesy of the drivers on the road.

If all drivers simply merged to the correct lane when they reached the signs that indicated the need to merge, traffic would still slow down, but 20 mph (half the minimum speed limit) would be the absolute slowest we would go.  We would be able to travel faster if there was less than complete congestion on the road.  Instead, I often find myself at a dead stop, often for minutes, and then a slow crawl until I finally get to the single lane, where I finally get to the above mentioned minimum speed or more.

The culprit?  A lack of courtesy and general self-absorption of most drivers.  These are the drivers who wait until the last possible moment to merge with traffic.  Somehow, they believe that I, who have already merged, don’t want to get to my job or loved ones as much as they do.  Instead of all of us getting to our destinations with relatively little hassle, all of us end up at a hostile dead stop.  Because of this stopped traffic, what would have been a minor inconvenience has become several miles of gridlock.

Blessed are the semi-truck drivers who pull into the passing lane and pace the merged line, assuring that the egocentric drivers can’t keep the merged cars stuck in limbo forever.  Without them, I might never get home.  Instead, I can leave a comfortable distance between myself and the car in front of me, knowing that these sheparding semis will keep the people merging in front of me down to only a car or two.

It is the mentality of these passing lane morons that keeps screwing up economies around the world.  In an ideal world, we would all act responsibly and co-exist peacefully in a free market.  Unfortunately, the truth is that the moment there is a mild tightening in the economy (or even disasters, either natural or financial), people try to gun past as many others as they can.  Instead of working together and moving forward until we pass the crisis, we are brought to a full and complete stop, making an already irritating situation downright infuriating.  If it weren’t for government agencies and altruistic companies who can act as those semi-trucks and reign in some of the more aggressive drivers, we would never get anywhere.  Yes, I would be happier if they didn’t have to be there, but I’m glad that someone is able and willing to stand up for principles beyond the get-rich-quick scheme.

I’ve been told that my belief is naively optimistic, that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and that it is better to take than be taken advantage of.  There might be some truth there.  However, foolish or not, I will continue to merge at the signs and give plenty of space for others to do the same.  Perhaps, if we can spread the word far enough, we will all move forward together.