I am proud to announce that my past grieving over the loss of my faithful 4Runner has come to an end (but I will never forget you, dear one!) A month ago, we purchased a new Scion XB. My wife fell in love with it right away, but I was reluctant to show any excitement initially. I knew it was a great car SUV wagon box ride, but I wasn’t ready to be emotionally attached to another inanimate object quite yet.

I was impressed by the large list of standard options, the coolest being the iPod attachment which allows the stereo (and steering wheel) controls access to the playlists, etc. (As of yet, the iPhone is not supported). Also stock are 4-wheel disc brakes, a Camry engine, a buttload of airbags, and a surprising amount of interior space.

Although the XB continued to grow on me, it wasn’t till two weeks ago that I received the confirmation I needed to call the car my own. I have two friends from Hume who are, in fact, the earth’s official decision makers of what is cool and what isn’t (and I need to check with them to see if “cool” is still a cool word to use). Anyways, when Karley and Eric came down to see us, they seemed to be more excited to see our new car than our house. When I showed them the Scion, they used words like “sick” and “pimpin”, which I don’t know the definitions of, but the tone of their voices made it appear that my new mode of transportation was cool! Who knew?