PERSONALIZED LICENSE PLATES

I've always enjoyed personalized plates. On a long road trip, it gives other motorists something to contemplate other than another car's rear bumper. And they make people smile, which is always a good thing. When we lived in New Mexico, I had a personalized message emblazoned upon my VW Beetle's "Land of Enchantment" plates. It had a simple message that made me a bit of a celebrity around Albuquerque. It read "OOOOGAH". People were quick to realize that I had swapped out the car's factory installed horn for a Model "A" Ford OOOOGAH horn. On a daily basis, people pulled aside my car at stop signs urging me to honk the OOOOGAH horn and I gladly obliged them, much to the screaming delight of the children on board neighboring vehicles. In many ways, a personalized plate is the ultimate "selfie", stopping just short of Donald Trump's penchant for putting his name on the side of high-rise buildings.

Alas, my New Mexico personalized plate is long gone. Now it hangs proudly on the wall of Javier's beach bar in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Of late I've had the itch to venture into experiencing the joys of a new personalized plate. To that end, I've come up with some interesting candidates. Although I'd prefer to avoid my affinity toward certain sports franchises, my love for the Boston Red Sox (and its associated hatred of the New York Yankees) has some possibilities. Although I quickly dismissed this one, an interesting idea for a plate was:

I 8 NY

Naw; I can see myself getting mugged by a group of displaced New York City residents who take offense to this message.

The next Red Sox-related plate is as follows:

SOX4NY3...which commemorates the miraculous 2004 ALCS win by the Sox after being down 3 games to none. Again, a message that would make whiny Yankees fans reach for their tire irons.

Given the fact that I'd like to save my car's windows, I'm dismissing the idea of waving the virtual Red Sox banner from our vehicle.

Although I'm stymied of late as to which message to use, help in this arena came from a very unlikely source.

Despite my many attempts to influence her, the wife doesn't share my affection for personalized plates. In fact, I suspect that she finds them rather lame. However, unbeknownst to her, she came up with a dandy. In a recent conversation she referred to us as "Port Townies".

Hmmmmmm......Port Townies, 7 letters maximum, how about:

PTOWNIES

Oh, crap - it has 8 letters.


Readers, enjoy your day.