You have to be smarter than the window

I just mentioned to Meg that I've had a pretty bad case of pregnancy stupids lately. That brought to mind the following example of such stupidity. Which, normally, one probably wouldn't want to share, but what the hey. We're all friends, here, right?!

Although... now that I think about it, Pat did the same thing, so I'm not sure what his excuse is. Except for having to put up with a wife with pregnancy stupids, which is plenty of excuse in and of itself.

So after we bought the minivan, Pat decided to take it to a full service car wash and have it fully cleaned and detailed. (Not that you can even tell anymore, but at least now I know the dirt on the floor is mine and not some strangers.) It was sparkling quite lovely, and the friendly people at the Downtowner ever so kindly cracked open the one of the third row rear windows (which is the type of window that ever-so-slightly opens outward from the vehicle) for us since you're supposed to leave a window open a tad for the first 24 or 48 hours or something after having the carpets cleaned.

The only problem was a torrential downpour which was going to happen within the aforementioned 24 or 48 hour timeframe.

Now Patrick and I, having never owned a fancy-schmancy minivan before, were having a lot of trouble getting that back window closed again. (You can probably see where this is going, right??) Pat tried and tried one morning in the parking lot before work, and just couldn't quite get the window closed. I tried and tried one evening while waiting to pick Pat up from work, and just couldn't quite get that window closed. That darn window latch was stuck open. In the process of yanking excessively on the window dealy, we got this greasy junk on our hands and proclaimed ever-so-wisely to each other that the window must never have been opened before.

Yes- that was it, we were not inept, it was merely stuck open due to lack of use.

Well, about a week ago, we had a gloriously warm, beautiful day. A day beautiful enough to have the windows open while driving around. I did exactly this while on my way to pick up Pat from work. While waiting for him, and adjusting the driver and passenger windows to allow for optimum air circulation without massive wind gusts which blow my hair all over the place and make me quite cranky, I noticed just below the driver and passenger window controls two more window control buttons.

"Well, isn't that strange?" I thought to myself. "Why would there be a second set of controls when minivans have sliding passenger doors that don't have power windows?"

So I pushed one of the controls, and heard this strange whirring sound and looked around, quite puzzled. I pushed it again, and still couldn't figure out where this sound was coming from. Hmm. Maybe they're just there and not connected to anything. I was in the process of pushing the other unexplained window control button when I caught a glimpse of something moving in the side mirror.

AH-frickin'-HAH. As I was pushing the mysterious buttons, the third row rear windows were opening and closing, just like they are supposed to - WITH THE POWER CONTROLS.

Wow. I got quite a kick out of showing Pat this fancy new trick when he got to the van. What will they think of next :)