01 December 2013
Getting Used to the New Car
01/12/13 05:55
The new Prius is working well. Marsha's driven it a number of times and I even took it to work on Monday. While it drives and handles nicely, it has taken a bit of getting used to. It’s a totally modern car, and I'm afraid that we’re not really totally modern people any more.
It starts when you walk up to the car. The important thing to remember is to never pull the key out of your pocket. You have it, just leave it where it is. Don’t use it. When you get within three feet of the car, the drivers door unlocks. It just knows you’re there. Most find it convenient. I think it’s just slightly creepy. Once you get in you look at the dash and there’s no key slot. No place to plug in what passes for an ignition key. Just leave the key in your pocket. Once again the car knows you’re there and is ready to go. Hit the power button, the car boots up (according to the salesman where our ’05 Prius has like 5 computers, this one has like 15 or 20. You really do boot it up) and you can take off. When you arrive at your destination you hit Power to shut the system down. Then you encounter the next tricky question. There’s no key slot on the door, which makes sense. You also don’t have to pull the key out and hit Lock to lock the car. There’s a button on the door handle to lock the car. Actually it’s not so much of a button as a soft spot on one side of the handle marked with a couple of braille dots. (Yes, I have noted the irony of the driver’s door being marked in braille.) Tap on it and the door is supposed to lock. However does it rely? I mean to hit the button you have to be within three feet of the car and it’s supposed to unlock whenever you’re that close. Marsha has even resorted to having a friend try the door after she’d walked away just to make sure. The car though, somehow seems to know when we’re next to the car and leaving vs next to the car and arriving. We're not sure how and we’re not sure if we quite trust it yet. It’s another thing that I think is ever so slightly creepy.
One other feature we discovered is that the car has a backup camera. When you put it into reverse the screen on the dash switches to a wide angle view shot from just above the back bumper so you can see what’s behind you. It is really cool, and works very well. The morning I drove the car to work it was very dark and rainy. I couldn’t see much of anything out the windows, but the picture from the backup camera was as bright as day. It’s an amazing little camera. I have to admit though, that we’d had the car for some days before we discovered the camera. Not because we’re especially unobservant or addled. No, It’s just that we never were looking at the dash when it was on. Every time we went to back up, both of us would turn around to look out the back for traffic and pedestrians. Barb ended up commenting on the TV screen that appeared on the dash. Until then we had no idea.
Meanwhile I’ve been driving the old Prius to work. There’s an old maritime legend* that when a new captain comes aboard, the ship will misbehave until it accepts the change. I think the Prius has been talking to the boats in the harbour. Oh, it’s been running OK, but weird things keep happening. For example I was on the way home Thursday when a spider, dropped out of the sun visor, right in front of my face. I was driving down Mostar at the time and it was not a happy meeting. It did not end well for the stowaway. I found a convenient driveway and pulled over, (EDIT: I suspect he really means, screamed like a little girl swerved across two lanes of traffic and stopped with wheels on the sidewalk. Marsha) and dealt with the stowaway. Thinking about it later I probably should have checked to see if there was a web somewhere with the words “Some Car” in it. It might have been Charlotte.
*A legend that I just made up
But I wasn’t the only one to encounter surprising wildlife this week. There was a charter boat full of tourists that saw a whale:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/curious-humpback-encounter-dazzles-whale-watchers-1.2442133
I found it equally amazing that this happened just north of Victoria, not out in the middle of the ocean. Marsha however just observed that we’ve been here six and a half years and have not yet seen a single whale. Seals, yes. Crabs, starfish, jellyfish, otters, yes, but no whales. I guess we need to try harder.
And finally, this week I walked into the living room where Marsha was watching TV. As I sat down I accidentally knocked over the wastebasket with my foot. I looked at her and commented “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think I just kicked the bucket.” Marsha didn’t find that funny at all. Must be too soon.
Definition of the week:
Washed the dishes. Compound Verb. One of the few gender specific verbs in the English language.
For women it means “I took everything that was dirty or even a bit dusty, put it in the sink, carefully scrubbed it all until it shined and then lovingly put it in the drainer. Finally I dried each item and put it away in perfect order in the cupboard. Then I repeated the process for the vases, display china, glass christmas ornaments, and that crystal whatever in the heck it was that your mother gave us for Christmas in 1998, you know the one that marked the moment when she stopped hating me?”
For men it means: “I moved the dishes from the sink to the dishwasher including plasticware, scrubbies, Dixie cups, and the wash cloth. No, I did not remove any food that may have been in them, that’s the machine’s job. I probably remembered to add soap, I think and may or may not have remembered to start it. When? Last Tuesday I think, or was it the week before? I probably should have mentioned it sooner."
Language is a wonderful thing.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Snow on the Misty Mountains, Beach Combing, and Seen in Minnesota at Byerlys.
It starts when you walk up to the car. The important thing to remember is to never pull the key out of your pocket. You have it, just leave it where it is. Don’t use it. When you get within three feet of the car, the drivers door unlocks. It just knows you’re there. Most find it convenient. I think it’s just slightly creepy. Once you get in you look at the dash and there’s no key slot. No place to plug in what passes for an ignition key. Just leave the key in your pocket. Once again the car knows you’re there and is ready to go. Hit the power button, the car boots up (according to the salesman where our ’05 Prius has like 5 computers, this one has like 15 or 20. You really do boot it up) and you can take off. When you arrive at your destination you hit Power to shut the system down. Then you encounter the next tricky question. There’s no key slot on the door, which makes sense. You also don’t have to pull the key out and hit Lock to lock the car. There’s a button on the door handle to lock the car. Actually it’s not so much of a button as a soft spot on one side of the handle marked with a couple of braille dots. (Yes, I have noted the irony of the driver’s door being marked in braille.) Tap on it and the door is supposed to lock. However does it rely? I mean to hit the button you have to be within three feet of the car and it’s supposed to unlock whenever you’re that close. Marsha has even resorted to having a friend try the door after she’d walked away just to make sure. The car though, somehow seems to know when we’re next to the car and leaving vs next to the car and arriving. We're not sure how and we’re not sure if we quite trust it yet. It’s another thing that I think is ever so slightly creepy.
One other feature we discovered is that the car has a backup camera. When you put it into reverse the screen on the dash switches to a wide angle view shot from just above the back bumper so you can see what’s behind you. It is really cool, and works very well. The morning I drove the car to work it was very dark and rainy. I couldn’t see much of anything out the windows, but the picture from the backup camera was as bright as day. It’s an amazing little camera. I have to admit though, that we’d had the car for some days before we discovered the camera. Not because we’re especially unobservant or addled. No, It’s just that we never were looking at the dash when it was on. Every time we went to back up, both of us would turn around to look out the back for traffic and pedestrians. Barb ended up commenting on the TV screen that appeared on the dash. Until then we had no idea.
Meanwhile I’ve been driving the old Prius to work. There’s an old maritime legend* that when a new captain comes aboard, the ship will misbehave until it accepts the change. I think the Prius has been talking to the boats in the harbour. Oh, it’s been running OK, but weird things keep happening. For example I was on the way home Thursday when a spider, dropped out of the sun visor, right in front of my face. I was driving down Mostar at the time and it was not a happy meeting. It did not end well for the stowaway. I found a convenient driveway and pulled over, (EDIT: I suspect he really means, screamed like a little girl swerved across two lanes of traffic and stopped with wheels on the sidewalk. Marsha) and dealt with the stowaway. Thinking about it later I probably should have checked to see if there was a web somewhere with the words “Some Car” in it. It might have been Charlotte.
*A legend that I just made up
But I wasn’t the only one to encounter surprising wildlife this week. There was a charter boat full of tourists that saw a whale:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/curious-humpback-encounter-dazzles-whale-watchers-1.2442133
I found it equally amazing that this happened just north of Victoria, not out in the middle of the ocean. Marsha however just observed that we’ve been here six and a half years and have not yet seen a single whale. Seals, yes. Crabs, starfish, jellyfish, otters, yes, but no whales. I guess we need to try harder.
And finally, this week I walked into the living room where Marsha was watching TV. As I sat down I accidentally knocked over the wastebasket with my foot. I looked at her and commented “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think I just kicked the bucket.” Marsha didn’t find that funny at all. Must be too soon.
Definition of the week:
Washed the dishes. Compound Verb. One of the few gender specific verbs in the English language.
For women it means “I took everything that was dirty or even a bit dusty, put it in the sink, carefully scrubbed it all until it shined and then lovingly put it in the drainer. Finally I dried each item and put it away in perfect order in the cupboard. Then I repeated the process for the vases, display china, glass christmas ornaments, and that crystal whatever in the heck it was that your mother gave us for Christmas in 1998, you know the one that marked the moment when she stopped hating me?”
For men it means: “I moved the dishes from the sink to the dishwasher including plasticware, scrubbies, Dixie cups, and the wash cloth. No, I did not remove any food that may have been in them, that’s the machine’s job. I probably remembered to add soap, I think and may or may not have remembered to start it. When? Last Tuesday I think, or was it the week before? I probably should have mentioned it sooner."
Language is a wonderful thing.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Snow on the Misty Mountains, Beach Combing, and Seen in Minnesota at Byerlys.