What color: Lavender?

I rode the bus.

I rode the bus everyday to college. Now in some areas that is not shocking but in Southern California that is not a common occurrence. In Orange County, the county of urban sprawl it is almost impossible. My college campus was called a “commuter school” most people didn't live on campus.

I was really lucky. There was a single bus line that would go from two blocks from my parents house and arrived about two blocks from the campus.

I did that for 5 years getting my Engineering Degree and Minor.

My dad early on told me he would put down a car deposit, but I would have to pay all the rest, insurance, gas, and payments. At the time I could make that choice, I put it off until it was a graduation gift.

Two years before my graduation I started looking at cars. Reading Consumer Reports in the library. Listening to what people liked and didn't like about their cars. I really listened to what broke first.

A big one that I remember is no electric windows. Nope. Not on my car. I just would not fix it. Hand crank for me.

Four months before I graduated I was hosting a weekend long conference on campus. As President I would have a lot of places to go to around town. I took that as an opportunity to rent a Corolla and take it for a real test drive. (Just don't tell the rental agency that I scuffed up a corner on a pole coming out of a parking garage.) The Corolla was everything I needed.

It was perfect. I wanted one in Lavender.