Thursday, January 28, 2010

In Which I Admit My Car Is Smarter Than Me

I had to buy a new car in October, and chose my dream car, a Honda Element. I love it. I feel a little disloyal to my old car, but it was killed; I had no choice but to replace it. I still feel guilty.

I had to figure out how the windshield wipers worked last week, because that rain was the first we'd had since I bought the car (welcome to living in the desert). And I've discovered that the E system is backwards from the wipers on my little Civic. Last Friday, I went out to dinner with my friends Kerry and John, who were down from the SuperMegalopolis for work meetings for her and university stuff for him. It was pouring when I left the restaurant (El Charro, muy delicioso! I had the pollo con mole enchiladas, ummm!), so I smugly flicked on those wipers. Then I got to a red light. The wipers stopped. Hmm, thought I, I must have accidentally hit the mechanism, so I turned them back on, higher, and they flipped merrily away until we got to the next light, when they stopped. The light bulb finally went on. The wipers stop when the car is stopped! Maybe you, Gentle Reader, have known about this for a long time, but my beloved little Civic (may Percy rest in peace) was born in 1991, so the computerized car is a whole new animal to me.

It's raining again today, and not only am I enjoying the rain immensely and looking for a big puddle to jump in, I giggled the whole way to work every time I had to stop the car. I am easily amused.

In honor of a rainy winter day: comfort food for lunch--tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on my homemade bread, and spaghetti squash for dinner. Soup and sauce are very comforting and cosy, and we have to enjoy these pale imitations of a winter day when they happen, as they are so rare nowadays.

3 comments:

  1. Really??? Why would they stop when you stop? It doesn't stop raining when you're not moving... Are you sure it's supposed to do that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. And check this out:
    http://automobiles.honda.com/element/dog-accessories.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  3. It swipes intermittently, rather than snapping back and forth at a devilish pace. I haven't had a chance to check the manual, but as soon as I take my foot off the brake and press gas, they immediately start swiping at the right speed.

    Yea, I need a dog ramp, but I'm not paying all that money for it. Consensus in cyberspace is that E-owners think the dog package is cool, but a waste, since dedicated dog owners know exactly how overpriced those accessories are. But I'd love the little doggie paw prints for the side of my car, and if they'd let me order a Honda in the color I want, with the paw print upholstery, I'd have bought that.

    I'm trying to find a sammy decal as we speak.

    ReplyDelete