Regarding my violently differing opinions about the show "Full House" depending on my mood and mention of the song "Barbara Ann"

Sometimes - I’ll admit this - when I turn on the television and there’s a rerun of that irresistibly, annoyingly cute sitcom “Full House” on, I watch it. This wasn’t always the case. As a younger person, I couldn’t stand the Tanner family because, of course, they were the antithesis of cool. Now that I’m older, and know that I won’t become uncool through osmosis or anything, sometimes I watch it, particularly if there’s a show on from the years when DJ and Stephanie were older and going through older-kid stuff, like having a first date, or making out with a boy and getting caught by Bob Saget (and while we’re on the subject, please check out this site), who’d get really pissed (and, inevitably, while he was losing his cool, and the teenage daughter was yelling that she just wants “to be treated like a grown up,” Joey would stumble on to the set and provide some comic relief in the form of a Bullwinkle impression). The show would always end with good old Dad coming to his senses and heading up to the girls’ bedroom to have a heart-to-heart and that soft music would play, and I’d think, “You know what? That’s nice.” So yeah, sometimes I flip through the channels, and it’s on, and ok, yes, I watch the entire show.

Sometimes though, like yesterday, “Full House” is on and it’s one of those episodes - there are, like, thousands of them, I think - where one of the guys, usually Jesse, is all revved up about the band The Beach Boys for some reason (occasionally because the band is, inexplicably, coming over to the house for an impromptu concert) and the guys, all of them - Bob Saget (who plays Danny Tanner by the way, but it’s hard to think of him as anyone other than Bob Saget, you know?), Joey and Jesse are singing a Beach Boys tune, and they’re harmonizing for Christ’s sake, while the girls look on in disbelief, and if it’s one of those episodes, I’m telling you, it’s a wonder I don’t throw the TV off a bridge. I cannot change the channel fast enough.

In an attempt to save the world from gasoline addiction (and because it's really cute)

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.