Winter Beverage Advisory

Never leave an unopened can of soda overnight in your car, especially on the coldest night of the season. If you do, make sure it's of the colorless variety.

When I opened my car door this morning, I noticed big pieces of ice on the back of my seat, all over my rear view mirror, and on the ceiling. I thought, Did I leave the door open or something? Could it have been that cold? Then, as I started scraping off the ice on the inside of my car, I noticed the soda can in the beverage holder between the front seats. It had clearly frozen and then exploded overnight. (Non sequiter: What kind of sound do you think it made?)

I am a neat freak, but I am prone to these lapses in judgement that put me right in the middle of such messes. At least it was a relatively "clean" mess. It was a Diet Sprite - thank goodness it wasn't Fanta or Root Beer - so it's little more than flavored water and, hopefully, won't stain anything. There is a light lemon-lime scent, though, oh well. I just hope it doesn't dry sticky, especially over the gear stick.