The Future Is Now

This week, I've transitioned from one "car milestone" to another. For more than a decade, I've been driving a Honda Civic -- the longest I've driven any one car. (Purchased from a dear friend, who will no doubt be reading this at some point.) The Civic has been reliable, even though I probably haven't taken care of her as well as I should have.

But now I've purchased my very first new car. After talking about the possibility for quite a while, I finally went for it and got a 2015 Mazda 6. I still don't quite understand how the car comes from the future. We aren't even half way through 2014 yet.

Then again, maybe it is from the future. It sure feels like it so far. All these cool widgets and gadgets and features. Some of you with cars newer than a 1999 model may now think things like a back-up camera and blind-spot detection are old news, but not in my car, they're not.

I haven't generally been one to name my cars, but my boyfriend is among the many who do. And my previous car, the Civic, did come with a name from the previous owner. (Bianca.) So I'm figuring at some point here in the coming days or weeks, the right name will present itself

As for Bianca? Well, she's not done yet. She still gets good enough gas mileage to hang onto (far better than the big and burly, but frequently handy truck in our garage); she'll just move on to her third regular driver.

Hopefully, she won't get too jealous of seeing this parked next to her (and watching it diligently get the regular maintenance she deserved):