J and I, in a somewhat uncharacteristic attempt to be modern and spend a little money on something nice, decided just two days ago to buy exactly what we've really, really wanted for a while:

I'm not one to get excited about cars or anything, so the fact that I became completely pumped about buying a Toyota Prius several months ago was a pretty big deal. I mean, when I bought my Honda Civic back in 2002, yeah, I was excited that I had a new little car to drive around, but mostly I was excited about the fact that my new car had a CD player. That was pretty much the extent of it.

With this new car - which, I should clarify, will really, mostly be J's car once we move to New Haven (I traded in my Civic and will buy something else once we're up there and need two cars again) - it's different. I'm excited that it's a hybrid, of course - that we'll be filling up less at the gas station for both personal, and global reasons. I think this is the way car technology is going, and I'm glad we're part of the new wave.

But also...look at it! That's a cute car!

We spent many hours at the car dealer the other night, talking it over before we decided we might as well bite the bullet and take the car home. Once we'd signed on all the appropriate dotted lines, gone over multiple contracts and numbers and books, it was late - almost 11 p.m. - and the place was pretty much closed. Nevertheless, being the car salesmen that they are, the few remaining employees had me ring this huge bell, signifying that a car had been sold. A loud, happy noise, for all parties involved.

So for the next few months we'll be operating with one car only, which I think will be alright. We've been doing that for a while now, anyway. We just have to plan, and share be patient with one another, and those are all important things to work on anyway, you know? So we might as well work on them while having fun in our totally awesome new car. Because everybody knows it's easier to become a better person when you buy new, cute things for yourself. Obviously.