And a roof over every NED

Hate the nickname, but for titling purposes, it'll do.

My license plate is NED 45B. Most people who seek to annoy me refer to the license plate's associated vehicle as Ned. It's far from stellar, but until I can come up with something better, I just have to take it as is.

Today I'm blogging from the home office in Medford, New Jersey. The beds are warm, the food is abundant, and there's a Wawa on every corner. I also get to blog in a much more comfortable setting than a desk chair surrounded by modular systems furniture. No, I get to type on a laptop, lying down, near the fireplace, as monkey butlers serve cold glasses of watered-down apple juice to me. (Ok, maybe not monkey butlers. Yet.)

Not only am I living in the lap of er...comfortability, so is my car. When the parents are away, the children (and their respective modes of transportation) will play. My car, which has gotten so used to be parked under the protective blanket of a parking deck, is tucked safely within the garage. A garage is a beautiful invention. Every morning in Falls Church, my car has to deal with the worst Mother Nature can muster, as well as me starting the car up faster than I should in order to warm it up. But not today.

Top Five Reasons the Garage is a Beautiful Thing

1. You never know when you are going to need a weed wacker, an old croquet set, or a bag of 14 soccer balls. It's good to have them nearby.
2. Much closer to the door - much shorter distance to fall on one's face.
3. The Genius of the Tennis Ball String - Outside, you don't know where the curb is until the bottom edge of the license plate makes that awful screeching sound. Inside, there's a string that hangs from the ceiling so that you know when to stop. (At one point there was a tennis ball on the end of said string, but an aluminum bat when I was 12 took care of that.)
4. Don't have to spend the first 5 minutes of your commute removing leaves and pine needles from your car. Sure, you could forgo that step, but then in the parking deck it is painfully obvious who owns their house in the suburbs and who parks outside their apartment on Random Run Lane.
5. Dominion Towing - on the outside looking in.