advertisement
-
mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
- read more
Lindsay Metcalf
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
- read more
- christi diggs - Profile | Pictures | Blog
-
The mystery is solved.
I’ve been wondering why my car hasn’t been stolen.
I thought it was my intimidating personality or something. Turns out carjackers are challenged by the whole manual transmission thing.
In a national story Wednesday, I was amused to read about two car thieves who tried to steal a bright yellow Corvette (inconspicuous right?) in Orlando, Florida. The two men ran up to the car with a gun while Randolph Bean, a 51-year-old man, was sitting in his car.
After forcing Bean out of the car, they attempted to drive off but they couldn’t get the car to move.
In an article in The Orlando Examiner, Bean said he gave them instructions on how to operate the clutch but that the thieves gave up and ran away. They did take Bean’s wallet, cell phone and keys, however.
So while I don’t drive a 2002 Corvette, I have wondered if my car has been unappealing to thieves because they can’t drive a stick.
Statistically, they’d have a hard time finding one to steal.
According to national numbers from 2010, the sale of stick-shift cars and lightweight trucks made up just 6.7% of the U.S. market. That compares to 22.2% in 1990 and 34.6% in 1980.
I became a fan of manual transmissions purely by chance.
When I bought a used car in 1994, my choice on the lot (based on my paying-back-Northwestern-student loan budget) relegated me to models more suited to women in their 70s. I was a little down as my friend from church walked me through the lot.
But wait--sitting there looking shiny and perfect for a 24-year-old was a Plymouth Laser. I looked in the window and saw it was a stick. I was sad.
My friend Reggie said, “Christi you can play basketball and dance, right? Then you can learn to drive a stick.”
My father never had the chance to teach me—he was paralyzed when I was nine years old.
So we practiced in a parking lot. I signed papers and the next day—in rush-hour traffic I experienced some baptism by fire. But I was hooked. I like the control I guess. Plus, they drive pretty well in the snow (handy just recently). Today, I drive a Hyundai Elantra—manual.
These days I think my affinity for a manual transmission might be saving me from would-be-thieves. I wonder if I should negotiate a discount with my insurance.
May 2013 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Tagschildren (12)
basketball (8)
girls (7)
hair (7)
parents (7)
mother (6)
time (6)
birthday (5)
daughter (5)
heat (5)
loss (5)
mommy (5)
sorry (5)
weight (5)
age (4)
blame (4)
care (4)
day (4)
etiquette (4)
grateful (4)
hospital (4)
women (4)
2012 (3)
american (3)
anger (3)
apology (3)
black (3)
change (3)
child (3)
cold (3)
death (3)
driving (3)
events (3)
family (3)
gifts (3)
help (3)
hurt (3)
insurance (3)
jesus (3)
marriage (3)
plan (3)
sex (3)
sleep (3)
wedding (3)
wrong (3)
accident (2)
allergy (2)
angry (2)
anniversary (2)
bag (2)
books (2)
broken (2)
camera (2)
chiefs (2)
christ (2)
christmas (2)
church (2)
city (2)
cleaning (2)
collection (2)
college (2)
commercial (2)
communicate (2)
crime (2)
daddy (2)
daughters (2)
divorce (2)
dollars (2)
easter (2)
end (2)
fake (2)
fat (2)
father (2)
fear (2)
football (2)
fund (2)
games (2)
hate (2)
health (2)
history (2)
ignorance (2)
injuries (2)
job (2)
joy (2)
june (2)
kansas (2)
kidnapper (2)
ku (2)
last (2)
library (2)
lies (2)
life (2)
march (2)
mom (2)
movie (2)
night (2)
northwestern (2)
pain (2)
paralysis (2)
parent (2)
people (2)
perspective (2)
photography (2)
power (2)
project (2)
reading (2)
ring (2)
routine (2)
school (2)
shopping (2)
short (2)
sick (2)
snow (2)
soccer (2)
sports (2)
stories (2)
text (2)
thanksgiving (2)
tiger (2)
treadmill (2)
truth (2)
vacation (2)
water (2)
weather (2)
weird (2)
william (2)
wisdom (2)
world (2)
years (2)
1971 (1)
2009 (1)
40 (1)
40s (1)
529 (1)
5k (1)
a (1)
aarp (1)
abuse (1)
actions (1)
activities (1)
aggressive (1)
aid (1)
air (1)
alarm (1)
alert (1)
alisa (1)
allergies (1)
almond (1)
alumni (1)
amber (1)
amy (1)
angel (1)
angered (1)
anxiety (1)
apologize (1)
appreciate (1)
arenas (1)
aspartame (1)
atheists (1)
athlete (1)
attacks (1)
baby (1)
back (1)
backfire (1)
bad (1)
balance (1)
ball (1)
balloon (1)
bear (1)
beauty (1)
believer (1)
bible (1)
birth (1)
bishop (1)
bladder (1)
blessings (1)
bowe (1)
bowl (1)
boy (1)
boyfriend (1)
bracelets (1)
brain (1)
brains (1)
brat (1)
brown (1)
buffett (1)
bunny (1)
business (1)
buy (1)
cain (1)
cake (1)
california (1)
cancer (1)
candy (1)
car (1)
carcinogens (1)
cards (1)
careless (1)
carjack (1)
census (1)
center (1)
challenge (1)
character (1)
cheaters (1)
cheerios (1)
chick-fil-a (1)
chicken (1)
cholesterol (1)
chris (1)
chump (1)
claus (1)
cleaver (1)
clock (1)
close (1)
clothing (1)
clutch (1)
coach (1)
coaching (1)
color (1)
comic (1)
commercials (1)
commitment (1)
common (1)
companies (1)
complaining (1)
compromise (1)
consequences (1)
cookies (1)
cosby (1)
counseling (1)
coupons (1)
creative (1)
crippling (1)
crochet (1)
crying (1)
curl (1)
d&g (1)
dash (1)
dating (1)
decorating (1)
diamond (1)
dinner (1)
discipline (1)
dodge (1)
doer (1)
dora (1)
drinking (1)
driver (1)
drugs (1)
drunk (1)
ear (1)
earrings (1)
eat (1)
education (1)
eight (1)
elderly (1)
elin (1)
elizabeth (1)
embolism (1)
emergency (1)
emotion (1)
english (1)
entrepreneurs (1)
esteem (1)
extensions (1)
extreme (1)
face (1)
failure (1)
fall (1)
fans (1)
fast-forward (1)
fatigue (1)
faucet (1)
fda (1)
february (1)
feelings (1)
ferb (1)
fibula (1)
finger (1)
fired (1)
fit (1)
flower (1)
flu (1)
focus (1)
food (1)
fool (1)
foolishness (1)
forbes (1)
forgiveness (1)
fraud (1)
frenzy (1)
friend (1)
friends (1)
frown (1)
funerals (1)
future (1)
gall (1)
garage (1)
gates (1)
generation (1)
gipson (1)
glasses (1)
goal (1)
god (1)
golden (1)
golf (1)
good (1)
graduation (1)
greed (1)
groceries (1)
guilt (1)
guns (1)
gym (1)
habit (1)
happiness (1)
harvard (1)
hats (1)
hcg (1)
hearing (1)
heaven (1)
heene (1)
herman (1)
high (1)
highlight (1)
historian (1)
holiday (1)
home (1)
homes (1)
homework (1)
honest (1)
hope (1)
hostages (1)
hot (1)
houston (1)
humility (1)
husband (1)
il (1)
illnesses (1)
immortal (1)
indian (1)
information (1)
insects (1)
insomnia (1)
integrity (1)
isaiah (1)
jackson (1)
james (1)
jfk (1)
jheri (1)
jong (1)
karl (1)
kate (1)
kim (1)
labron (1)
lack (1)
lawn (1)
leashes (1)
leg (1)
lexus (1)
list (1)
little (1)
london (1)
look-alike (1)
losing (1)
love (1)
mad (1)
madoff (1)
magic (1)
makeup (1)
malden (1)
manual (1)
marketing (1)
mauritania (1)
mavericks (1)
mayan (1)
metabolism (1)
mexico (1)
michael (1)
milestone (1)
mission (1)
moments (1)
monday (1)
month (1)
mothers (1)
motorcycle (1)
mourning (1)
moving (1)
mower (1)
much (1)
murder (1)
murderers (1)
mysteries (1)
n-word (1)
nadia (1)
nadya (1)
neti (1)
new (1)
news (1)
nice (1)
northwestern university (1)
nursing (1)
obama (1)
obese (1)
observations (1)
obsession (1)
octuplets (1)
offensive (1)
office (1)
old (1)
once (1)
osteoarthritis (1)
otolaryngologist (1)
overtired (1)
owners (1)
pakistan (1)
parks (1)
parties (1)
party (1)
peanut (1)
pets (1)
phillips (1)
phineas (1)
pierced (1)
pig (1)
pink (1)
pirates (1)
play (1)
players (1)
playing (1)
plumbing (1)
point (1)
pope (1)
positive (1)
pot (1)
pounds (1)
pre-marital (1)
precious (1)
predict (1)
pressure (1)
pretty (1)
pride (1)
prize (1)
programs (1)
psychopath (1)
pulmonary (1)
punching (1)
purity (1)
purse (1)
quality (1)
queen (1)
questions (1)
quitters (1)
race (1)
racism (1)
raiser (1)
raising (1)
rapists (1)
read (1)
real (1)
really (1)
reform (1)
relaxer (1)
relief (1)
religions (1)
remember (1)
rescuer (1)
respect (1)
responsibility (1)
retirement (1)
revenge (1)
rihanna (1)
risk (1)
robbery (1)
rocks (1)
roller (1)
romney (1)
room (1)
roots (1)
royalty (1)
running (1)
sacrifice (1)
safe (1)
sale (1)
sales (1)
sandwich (1)
santa (1)
saturday (1)
savings (1)
scam (1)
scandal (1)
science (1)
scratch (1)
searches (1)
seat (1)
self (1)
sense (1)
separate (1)
sewing (1)
shirt (1)
shocking (1)
shovel (1)
show (1)
showers (1)
silence (1)
single (1)
sink (1)
size (1)
skate (1)
skinny (1)
smoking (1)
smut (1)
sneezing (1)
sober (1)
social (1)
society (1)
soda (1)
somali (1)
space (1)
speech (1)
spinal (1)
spoiled (1)
spring (1)
stacey (1)
starved (1)
stds (1)
stenosis (1)
stick (1)
stirrups (1)
stolen (1)
stomach (1)
storytelling (1)
straight (1)
students (1)
stupid (1)
suit (1)
summer (1)
sumner academy (1)
sunday (1)
surrogate (1)
survey (1)
swallow (1)
synvisc (1)
taking (1)
talker (1)
tall (1)
tankini (1)
tea (1)
teach (1)
tears (1)
technical (1)
teenagers (1)
teens (1)
teeth (1)
temper (1)
temperature (1)
texas (1)
thank (1)
thankful (1)
thinking (1)
threat (1)
thyroid (1)
tiaras (1)
timeout (1)
tiny (1)
toddlers (1)
together (1)
too (1)
tornado (1)
tossing (1)
tough (1)
toys (1)
transmission (1)
travel (1)
trip (1)
tube (1)
tubes (1)
turkey (1)
upon (1)
virus (1)
vision (1)
volunteer (1)
volunteers (1)
waistline (1)
waiting (1)
wal-mart (1)
warning (1)
warnings (1)
warren (1)
weary (1)
weave (1)
well (1)
whining (1)
white (1)
whitney (1)
winter (1)
wise (1)
woman (1)
wonder (1)
woods (1)
words (1)
worked (1)
you (1)
ziploc (1)