Poetic license

[greatbear]

People driving past La Casa must wonder if we either have 1) lots of people living in the house, or 2) are constantly throwing parties. Sadly, the seven vehicles (three trucks and four cars) belong to just the two of us. Add in the 30 foot trailer and parking at Mayhem Acres sometimes takes some planning. I also have to remember lots of license plate numbers. This is not so bad, but for some odd reason I always seem to have a mental block remembering the plate number of my Dodge Stratus. The rest? No problem. The Strat, as I call it, is my usual daily driver. Though it's 14 years old, it's never had any serious problems, is pretty economical if I keep my foot out of it, and the parts for it are cheaper than average. Jeff and I used it as our ride of choice when we would travel, since it's something he can easily drive (no stick shift like the MINI Cooper,, or as long as a bus like the Silverado, for example). Since Jeff recently bought a new car (a 2015 Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium), some of the wear and tear on the Stratus has been relieved. It's a nice, roomy and economical ride with some cool gadgetry like the Eyesight collision avoidance system that also acts as an adaptive cruise control and will even give you a gentle reminder if you are sitting at a light, it turns green and you don't immediately start moving. It senses the road around it with a pair of cameras on either side of the rear view mirror, can alert you if you veer from between the lines, there's an animal or object in the road ahead and even stop the car at speeds below 20mph and you might be distracted and a car stops ahead of you. There's also the (required for 2015 models) rear-view camera and lots of other cool tech to get the geek on. This is Jeff's first brand-new car after all these years, and, so far, he's loving it. The subject came up a while back about what to call the car, if anything. I keep calling mine The Strat, Jeff started calling it the Subie, then I started calling it the Cubaru. For kicks, I went to see if CUBARU was taken as a vanity plate, and it wasn't. And surprising, given how many people around play guitar, neither was STRAT. My original plates were fading and the rear plate had a hole in it and was buckled from being rear-ended many years ago. So...



I am far too lapsed to be considered a guitarist these days, maybe I should bone up on my playing to do my two-meaning plate justice. My finger joints and my damaged shoulder make that difficult. Practice might not make perfect, but at least I could fake it. Jeff, however, needs no practice in being a cub. :)

Comments

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Ha!!

I don't think I want to draw any more attention to my RS5. That said, I toyed around with the idea of getting "Suzi".

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Very cool stuff. I had enjoyed Mom's 05 Strat, though in comparison to my Mazda, it is a loosy, goosy meandering handling thing, but it IS comfortable I will say.

When I first read the plates, I immediately read Treasure the Cheapskate before correcting my miss parsing, LOL.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Isn't it expensive to insure so many vehicles?

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

The doc I'm seeing in Dallas has the plate "BEAR*MD". Why that wasn't already taken (in Texas!) is beyond me. I think he got it in late May — early June, 2011.

To use a vulgar expression, practicing the guitar would be good *cough* "physical therapy" *cough*cough*

[dan4behr.livejournal.com]

Seven? SEVEN?

The Silverado, Subaru, Stratus (you have a thing for "S" cars?) and the Mini. What else is floating around the Casa?

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

It's kind of obvious, but the Volvo with the plate YAISGUD made me giggle. ;)

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

I've never gone for a signature plate but those are great choices!

Funny, but earlier today I was reading about a Top Gear (the UK version, one of my favorite shows) gaff in which they apparently bought a Porsche 928GT for use in a South America special in Argentina that had a plate with a subtle reference to the Fauklands War. Purchase was not intentional, car came with the plate but people didn't believe that. The producer's comments suggest that they were lucky to avoid being stoned to death.

It's got me thinking about a plate for my Lexus (IS-F)... Lexan (if I like plastic), Lexoid (it came from space), Flexus (nods to the model), etc.

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of vehicles! We have parking issues with two, I can't imagine..love the plates. I have a Forester too-a 2010. My second one. I really like them. We call mine the Lesbomobile. :-)