DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Marilyn At Ravens Training Camp

Q: How'd you get your car?

A: I saved up for it on my first job right after graduating college. I really haggled with the car salesman. It was $29,000 and I got it for $25,000. I have one year left to pay it off and I love it. It's my baby.

Q: Did you consciously plan to get a hybrid?

A: Yes. None of my friends had one and I wanted to show off. Oh yeah, and I care about the environment.

Q: Have you been pleased with the results? Is the mileage good?

A: I drive a lot, so the savings feel marginal. I always feel like I spend a lot on gas, but it's a great car. It's got an electrical and mechanical engine that work together. It's definitely the smoothest ride you'll ever have the pleasure of riding, but it's actually not a lot of fun to drive. It takes like 15 seconds to accelerate, which is a little frustrating. I have a lead foot anyway, so maybe it's a good thing.

Q: What's your car's main use?

A: Driving to and from work. And driving to see my family.

Q: What's a favorite regular trip that you take?

A: My trip from my place in Germantown to my job in Frederick. It's about a twenty minute drive. I take I-270 N, which is an insane highway in Montgomery County. It's almost always traffic-filled, but luckily I go against traffic both times of the day.

Q: What do you like to listen to?

A: In the morning, I listen to the radio. Coming back I blast my iPod. I switch it up because in the morning I like to think that I have other people in the car with me. It wakes me up knowing there's other people talking about their morning. Then in the afternoon, I just want to listen to my music and not talk to anyone after a long day at work.

Q: What's the furthest trip you've taken?

A: Me and my family took a road trip from Deep Creek, Maryland--which is in Western Maryland--to Washington, DC, to Niagara Falls, to Toronto, back to Buffalo, then to New York, then back to Baltimore in a week!

Q: How'd that happen?

A: It was a summer vacation a couple years ago. We had intended to stay in Deep Creek for a week, but when we got there, my parents realized they weren't outdoorsy people. We cancelled that trip and decided to take a road trip of the northeast.

Q: What was your favorite stop?

A: Toronto. It was partly the novelty of being in another country, but it was also beautiful. The infrastructure, the architecture, the people. The underground city that exists under the Toronto streets is amazing. It was so clean and calm.

Q: Do you have any rules in your car?

A: No eating in my car. I like to keep a semblance of cleanliness. I eat of course, all the time, but others can't eat in my car. Also, no farting in my car.

Q: I see a couple of dents and scratches. What happened?

A: The bump here in the front is from my mom backing up. She wasn't looking and backed out of the garage, right into the driveway where my car was parked. There are also these huge scratch marks on the side door. One day, we were driving through Baltimore. The driver at the time, my brother, miscalculated whether he could make a right turn into an alley. It was a really tight squeeze. He wasn't sure, but, genius that he is, ended up going for it anyway and rubbing the car on the edge of a building.

Q: What was going through your mind?

A: When it happened, it felt like time was stopping. I just heard this really prolonged scraping sound that felt like it was going on forever. Thankfully, my brother decided to stop and back up. At this point you heard another really long screech.

Q: Do these make you love your car any less?

A: No, they make me love my family less. <laughs> I do plan on getting these repaired when I get some disposable income, but for now, I just like to make up stories about how they got there. So if anyone asks, an ex-boyfriend's jealous girlfriend dragged a pitchfork on the side of my car.

Q: Since we are here today at the Ravens Training Camp, I take it you are a fan?

A: I'm a rabid Ravens fan. I grew up in Owings Mills and am here visiting my family. But I live in Montgomery County, which is Redskins territory.

Q: Is that why you don't have any Ravens-related stickers on your car?

A: That's not why, but that gives me an idea. I'm going to start telling people Redskins fans did all this stuff to my car.