Depeche Mode, the SNIFTER, and….what else have you been up to?

First off, Stephan had a great birthday– thank you for asking.  He got some awesome gifts like a wonderful bottle of wine and new iPhone, and he has been talking about how awesome the phone every day since then, which I think is the hallmark of a good birthday present, don't you?   Also, we went to see Depeche Mode at the Hollywood Bowl last night, and if there is anything wrong with Dave Gahan (like cancer, or a torn calf muscle, or a strained voice) you would never have known it, because that show was AWESOME!   Here is a blurry picture that I took with my Blackberry, which doesn't even begin to approximate how cool the concert (and accompanying mixed-media/ light presentation) was.  Extra special thanks to Brandi for getting the tickets and bringing the brownies!  Meanwhile, I have been working and working and WORKING, managing several client-related IT implosions, and preparing our place to become a rental property so we can move.  You know, building up the empire, brick by brick.

But that's not what has been on my mind lately, or the usual topic of this blog.  The topic is "weird stuff that I notice that might make you laugh," so I'm going to throw this question out:

Why do people get personalized license plates?  Why?  WHY?

I have wondered this for some time, actually.   Many people in my hometown of Palm Desert have these types of "vanity plates," and the very first time I saw one that said "DRBOB" or something like that, I was like "um….. doesn't that make it easier for the police to catch you breaking the law?"  Because even then, in my mind I pondered the fact that if you were a cop, and you saw two people speeding, and DRBOB was one of them… you're probably going to go with DRBOB, right, because it's easier to remember.   Am I wrong about this?  I remember thinking this for the first time when I was eleven.

Like I said, I don't know why I think this way, or why I have always thought this way.   I did get some concurrence the other day from my new Danish friend Pernille, who said during lunch last week "I don't understand why someone would want PEANUT1 on their car.  Why chooses to be PEANUT1?"  After that lunch I took the dog for his walk and noticed a guy with a giant Jeep who had the license plate SNIFTER, which lead me on a whole different tangent.  Um, there are special forms you have to fill out for the personalization, right?  And fees you have to pay?   And a waiting period, during which your fingers are crossed and you're hoping that you get to be the SNIFTER guy?    Why?  Just….WHY?  The absurdity of this made me laugh.  Mostly it was the forms that got me.  The guy, at the DMV, with the forms, and the SNIFTER.  

Again, I don't get it.  Here's another one.  This guy has a Maserati, which he's parking in the street by my house (just to show that he's so rich, he's so totally over having a Maserati that he doesn't even have to worry about where he parks it, because he's soooooo L.A.), and he's got this stupid license plate on it.    What is this supposed to mean?  If you go to the trouble of acquiring the vanity license plate, doesn't it stand to reason that at least I should KNOW WHAT IT MEANS? SNIFTER even wins over this guy.  Seriously– what is this supposed to be?

Here's a whole blog post (of someone else's) dedicated to funny photos of vanity license plates, including "IDIOT" and "CARSICK."    To me this is a slam dunk– if you're a cop and you see the IDIOT guy, just go ahead and arrest him, because you already know he makes a lot of bad decisions, you know what I'm saying?