Manual Transmission

So the gang and I got two big presents as a thank-you this year: these nifty large-size velour building blocks, and a fully-loaded BMW 650 with a 5-speed manual transmission. Boy, just imagine seeing those two options in a Price is Right Showcase Showdown ... gee, which one would you pick? Seriously, those blocks may sound like a joke gift, but they really are fun to play with. Especially when you get a large group together. You can bounce ideas off each other. Actually, you can bounce the blocks off everyone, too.

After we played with the blocks for a while, we knew we had to take the car out for a spin. Fred couldn't join us since he had gotten stung by a bee and couldn't sit down comfortably, so the rest of us headed out. That made it easier to fit into the car, anyway. Do you have any idea how much room is in one of those? Or more directly, how much room isn't in one of those? We had a blast. It was such a nice day that we decided to play outside, and we took a picture to show Fred how much fun he was missing. Yeah, I know it was kind of mean.

We even went to a nearby field and ran around playing tag. Doesn't sound like we're MIT students does it. More like fifth graders. Well, believe me, we're smarter than a fifth grader, thank you very much Jeff Foxworthy. It's just fun to regress now and then. At one point Kelly lost her earring, but we found it again.

And then it was back into the car to get home! I got to drive, and let me just say -- wow! I'm used to cars like Protege, or Civic -- this one's so fancy, its name is half comprised of numbers! Al showed me how fun driving a manual transmission car is; you really get a sense of man-and-machine symbiosis when you master the manual transmission.