Thursday, June 08, 2006

Guys' guys and girls' girls

The Husband and I just got back from a mini-vacation in Florida. It was very nice, aside from the search for dinner on Sunday night and the near-fruitless hunt for ice cream. How can it possibly be so difficult to find ice cream in South Florida? We live in the wintery north, and there are no less than four superb ice cream shops within two miles of our house, but in Ft. Lauderdale we were forced to resort to Denny’s. Denny’s! For ice cream!

Anyway, aside from that, we had a great time. And I am particularly proud of The Husband for successfully going with the flow and not minding our lack of concrete plans of any kind. And, as an added bonus, Hertz gave us a free upgrade from our boring mid-size sedan to a Mustang hard top. And it was red!

Seeing our interest in the Mustang, the Hertz lady told us about the special Shelby Mustang that Hertz rents for a mere $400 per day. $400. Per day. Apparently, it’s some sort of exclusive arrangement that Ford has with Hertz wherein Ford made about 600 of these cars and sold them to Hertz, and you are only allowed to rent them if you are truly from out of town, and the engine is somehow locked to the car. But $400 a day? When he heard that Hertz had a Shelby Mustang on hand, The Husband’s eyes lit up and his jaw dropped in awe. Apparently, this particular Mustang has so much power that it can peel out from traveling at 60 mph. Me, I had never heard of it. In fact, for this entry, I had to ask The Husband to remind me of the name “Shelby” because I couldn’t remember it, even though it’s the name of Big Sister #1’s dog.

But what I found interesting is that, although The Husband is not what I would call a “car guy,” he nevertheless knew all about the Shelby Mustang. He’s the one who told me it can peel out while already traveling at 60 mph. So my theory is that there are particles of “guy” information and particles of “girl” information that somehow permeate our brains, and is the same way that I know what Prada and a Birkin bag are. Admittedly, the brain in question must have at least a passing interest in the information to which the particles pertain; ie, I am interested in the Birkin bag even though I am not a fashionista, but I know plenty of women who have never heard of it. (I must add a disclaimer lest you think less of me: Although I know what a Birkin bag is, I have no desire for one at all and find them fascinating only as a commentary on just how stupid people can be. I mean, my Lord.)

Needless to say, we chose not upgrade to the Shelby Mustang. We wouldn’t have had any money left over for fine Italian shoes.

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