"Jet City Woman...It's a long way, home to my Jet City Woman..." my radio blares during my commute home this afternoon. The bass reverberates through the interior of the car, pounding out through the open windows to the open air. Not so loud as to cause people to cringe and roll their eyes and mumble, "That can't be good for his ears," as I drive by, but definitely at a volume loud enough that you could hear that I was listening to Queensryche were you in the car next to mine. The weather is simply grand - bright sunny skies, a temperate 82 degrees F, slightly warm, but not enough to cause any degree of uncomfortableness.

I look around at the other metal hulks surrounding me as we sit at the traffic light, eager to get moving, eager to return home. Something doesn't seem quite right to me, but the thought eludes me like a thief on the run. Then it hits me. On such a beautiful, warm, spring day, why are 95% of drivers driving around with their windows rolled all the way up?

Perhaps my observations are flawed, being limited to only the cars directly in my vicinity. I do another sampling as the traffic light turns green and cars start traveling past me going the other direction. 1, 2, 3...7, 8...oh, there's someone with his window down, 9, 10...13, another one but he only has his windows open a crack. My hypothesis seems to be valid again.

Am I a freak, driving around with my windows down while the majority of the populace loves to be entirely cut off from the outside world, stuck in their own little private Idahos while traveling from Point A to Point B? Does the majority of people like being kept in seclusion oblivious to their surroundings while the rest of the world passes by? Whatever happened to driving down the highway with the wind in your hair and the taste of bugs in your mouth? Whatever happened to breathing fresh air instead of recirculated interior tasteless air?

When Co-worker buddy and I go driving, we always put the windows down if it's nice outside. I often see other co-workers driving out of our parking lot with their windows down and arms hanging out. We can't all be freaks, can we? So why is it that most of the people I know drive around with windows down, but on the whole, the majority drive with windows up? What is the defining factor? Socioeconomic? Background? Part of country you grew up in? Type of vehicle? The fact that the A/C doesn't work? It could be an interesting study. After all, if they have paid studies to find out that in fact, college aged kids are more likely to get drunk than non-college aged kids, a study to find out why people drive with their windows up/down wouldn't be too far of a stretch.

After all, I suppose if you're driving around with a drunk friend, you'll need the window down in case your friend needs to hurl outside the car quickly and effectively.