www.romanvenable.net: Clark's Weblog
All Books Conversant Family Huh? Ideas Investing Me Music News Newton MacOS X Politics RSS Sites Software Technology Toys Updates Work
XHTML 1.0? Not Yet
We picked up our new 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited with All Wheel Drive last week. Wow. What a car. Leather, DVD navigation, rear view fish-eye camera when in reverse gear, rear seat entertainment system, moon roof, automatic side and rear hatch doors, laser cruise control, side curtain airbags front-to-back, and little hook dealy-bobs to hang grocery bags on. It came with wireless headphones for the boys and a remote for the rear seat system with batteries included. Wanna find the nearest McDonald's? No problem. Punch it up on the display.
It makes my 1998 Audi A4 2.8 quattro seem kind of, well, old. I mean, to back up I have to crane my head around and actually look back there. To dim my mirror I have to reach up to the mirror and flick that little switch. To go somewhere I haven't been before I have to have a paper map or have my wife tell me how to get there (I hate that most of all because I know she feels all superior with regard to her directional abilities anyway). The mini-van has way better cup holders, too (and way more of them)
There is one advantage to my car, though. It's paid for.
If you're in central Pennsylvania, give Bobby Rahal Toyota and Jake Mansfield a chance to earn your business.
NPR's Morning Edition had a wonderful piece on how much teacher affect our children's lives in a piece titled 'Ms. Patel: 3rd Grade Teacher Extraordinaire':
And so it was for our oldest son who just finished his Kindergarten year with Mrs. B here in Hershey.
The latest reason why a 20" Cinema Display is cool it that on a weekend morning, my three year-old, Matthew, can watch Max & Ruby in Quicktime Player on one half, and I can check the news and add to my blog on the other half of the display. That's what I call 'quality time'.