I was driving home with my middle daughter and a load of groceries; the windows were down, because I don't have air conditioning. Luckily it was a very pleasant day.

As I pulled away from a light, someone bellowed across four lanes and a median, "HIPPY!"

In a split second I considered my options. I discarded the immediate outrage -- C'mon, people, there's a child in a car, must we resort to name calling? -- because I didn't want to turn it into a big problem. Then I realized: I'm a pony-tailed peace-loving man driving an electric car; "hippy" is pretty accurate.

I put my hand out the window and raised a peace sign high.

It wasn't until I was past the intersection that I realized my car has no electric symbols on it anywhere. Either I had just passed a friend with a sense of humor, or someone really wants me to cut my hair.