1:05 a.m. Well, now it's ours. It's green, it's goes over curbs, and it has a cup rack. At least, I think it's a cup rack. The radio has a secret code to deter thieves and confound us. We'll see about that.

There are all sorts of grills and metal bars and protections for the lights and there's a nice luggage rack on top. Igor is one happy camper, and if we ever need to go camping, we'll certainly be able to manage.

On our test run today, we drove down a few selected alleys and momentarily considered heaving a huge old rickety abandoned bookshelf onto the top, just because we could. But we didn't. We returned our videos and then returned the vehicle for additional knocking-engine work instead.

We will pick it up on Friday and take those distracting numbers off the windshield and turn on the air conditioner and figure out how to turn on the radio and maybe even buy a CD to play in the cup holder.

All this -- because of the beer.

We were lucky to have a delivery of two kinds of beer for the party the other day, but we had to get the kegs, the gas canister, the big trashcan for the ice, and the spouts and hoses back to Pasadena, which is the home of the Craftsman Brewing Company, purveyors of said fine brew. Except for the tubing, not much else would fit in our little car.

Once again, we considered renting a car for the day. Expensive, time-consuming, expensive. Just on a whim, we went to a few used-car lots to look at something bigger to have as an alternative to the frequent car-rentals, and meanwhile, the gracious Shelley and M were already on their way here in their own luxurious super-camping-ready large vehicle to pick up the beer kegs anyway.

No need to rent a car this time.

But. But.

It was probably the window advertisement that did it:

* nice and clean. I'm a sucker for a nice, clean car. Somehow, I think they know that.