Cars

Did Someone Call A Cab?

Lots of interesting cars were racing this weekend. From a little Legends racer to a fresh off the showroom floor 2008 BMW M3 Coupe. A ton of Mustangs, but I bet the biggest percentage were BMWs and there was a father daughter team that took the prize for innovative paint jobs — a Checker Cab and a “Police Car.”

In am effort to broaden our Netflix TV DVD repertoire I spotted something called Flight of the Conchords. It arrived the other day and we finally got around to watching it tonight. The experience didn’t start to well. First was the 2 minutes of HBO advertisement that I was forced to watch, no fast forward, no next chapter, no main menu. Just like the Interpol Warning, etc you are stuck watching promotions for HBO shows. Then when we were through with that nonsense when I hit the button to go to the episode list the DVD locked up. The only way out was to turn off the player and start over. This time I started the disc and switched the TV over to watch a segment of Cash Cab skipping the HBO self promo. But then the DVD player locked again when trying to select an episode. Crap. Tried the disc out on the laptop and it played fine, but after all that, we watched only about 10 minutes of the first episode. Didn’t like it.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 170

Group Shot

To commemorate this fine occasion we all gathered on the porch last night to take a group picture. I had a tripod in the trunk (for those HDR Post Office pics), I was going to be the photographer. With the help of my assistant Donna, before snapping the real thing, I experimented with some exposures and seating arrangements. Here is a composite. And while the real thing came out OK, I’ll never be a portrait photographer.

The other 4 cabinmates were more the late sleeper types so Donna and I packed our car and hit the road at around 6:30 this morning. The only disadvantage to this move was that we spent the first couple hours driving with the top up because of the cool temps. The big advantage and what made it all worthwhile was the fact that we had the roads all to ourselves. No Sequoyas to slow us down on the Snake, no nobody. We didn’t even come across another vehicle in our direction for any of the twisty stuff at all. We barely saw any cars going in the opposite direction either.

We got home at noonish and after lunch I washed the Miata even though it hasn’t been very long since the last one. We are long through with spring here in the flatlands, but in the Georgia mountains it is in full swing with both the pine and hardwood trees throwing off pollen, combine that with the 1/2 mile of gravel road to access the cabin and the Emperor really need a bath.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 144

Reggy

Reggy, the Mascot Hall of Fame Mascot.

We went to a rain storm tonight with my sister and her husband and a Greenville Drive baseball game broke out. The game was supposed to start at 7:00, but because of storms in the area it was moved to 8 o’clock. Then 8:30. The game finally got underway at 9:03. If they weren’t afraid of a little lightning and just started the game on time it would have been almost over by the time they started it. As it was we left at a little before 11:00 and the game was just in the bottom of the 6th inning.

I’ll try and blog about the Miata Club rally tomorrow It is getting late and if I try and write about it now it will be tomorrow when I finish. Let’s just say we finished 3rd (out of four cars.)

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 127

Just A Kid

Mmmm3 CoupeAs always when the BMW Ultimate Drive comes to town I try to talk everyone I know into participating. So far with my co-workers I have had limited success, but with the fellow MMC members I have had better luck.

This year I had almost talked one of our young engineers into doing it. He was on the fence until I mentioned that they had an M3 Coupe in the line up, then he started leaning. He currently drives a tarted up Lexus IS250 with inspirations of turbo charging it.

When Donna and I left work on Monday he said call him if they had the M3 available and he would seriously consider taking a half day off. When we saw the M3 sitting there in the morning I gave him a call, he said he would be there in the afternoon. Because it was just sitting there waiting, Donna and I took our first loop in it. A couple of miles into our loop and having listened to the sound coming from the exhaust pipes when mainlining bursts of acceleration I told Donna to call Ian’s work phone. I wanted to seal the deal and make sure he came over by having her hold the phone out the window when I punched it. He must have been working because he didn’t pick up.

Turns out he didn’t need that sound incentive because up he drove at about 12:45. At that point the Survivor Drive was in progress so there were no cars to drive. I told him to park and go inside to register. At that point of the day it was taking a while to register, so it took about 20 minutes before he showed up back outside. He had a disappointed look on his face, turns out you have to be 30 years old to drive the M3. He wasn’t to badly hurt because he had lined up a round of golf for later that afternoon, so he just got there early and hit a bucket of balls before playing.

I think Donna and I felt worse about it than he did. I didn’t think anything of it when I asked him to come drive. I thought there might be a 25 year-old age limit on the 6 & 7 Series cars, but I didn’t know about the extra 5 years needed for the M3 Coupe. Because he is so mature acting I thought he was in his upper 20’s, but as it turns out Ian isn’t even old enough to drive the 6s or 7s. He is only 23.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 92

BMW Ultimate Drive Day

We drove 8 loops in seven different cars for a total of 113.6 dollars raised to help fight breast cancer.

  1. M3 Coupe
  2. X3 3.0i
  3. 650i Coupe
  4. Z4 3.0i
  5. 528xi Sedan
  6. Z4 3.0i
  7. 750Li
  8. 535xi Sport Wagon

There were a few surprises for us today. Two of the available cars actually had manual transmissions. One of the cars that had a manual transmission was the M3 Coupe. It was not on the reservation form, but once there they put you on a list (if you were over thirty, sorry Ian), and when your turn came…woohoo. The other stick shift was a Z4 3.0si, which we didn’t end up driving.There were no 1 Series or no X6 to drive (the signature car was an X6.) Both of these vehicles are supposed to join the fleet at the end of the month.

The biggest surprise was they held a survivor’s lap at 12:30 that lined up every car with a breast cancer survivor in it and was given a police escort around the course. Good for them, but they should have done it first thing in the morning, because it took a two hour chunk of time out of the middle of the day. Good thing we had the whole day off from work and didn’t do just an afternoon off or we would have only got in two laps.

The gallery is here: BMW Ultimate Drive 2008.

I’ll write more about the experience later this week too.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 90

Weekend Update

Car News: For some reason the BMW 6 Series convertible is back at the house down the street. The 5 Series sedan is gone. This guy must sell BMWs for a living or he has big repair issues with the 7 Series and swaps around loaner cars.

Other Car News: Halfway between here and there, some one traded in their Hummer H2 for a BMW Z4. It is an M edition no less. So I guess I was right about the Z4M, just off by a couple houses on the location.

Outdoors: Although we do enjoy laying around the house doing nothing, it can’t be the only thing, as we found out yesterday. By early last evening we had cabin fever, so today to stave off the late in the day boredom, we went for a walk in Hitchcock Woods around mid-day.

Komen’s Coming: They have got the BMW Ultimate Drive map for 2008 online. Shiny new BMWs with pink vinyl accents will be stopping in Augusta on Tuesday, March 25th. Donna and I will be putting in for our vacation day tomorrow.

Innings Pitched. Yesterday was the first official workout of Spring Training for pitchers and catchers in Fort Meyers. The FRS title defense begins soon.

Everthing Happens For A Reason: Only two of the famous numbers were picked in Saturday’s PowerBall drawing — 4 & 8

Sunday Night: And it is time to go watch some Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Bravo.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 40

Where Is My Kevlar Underwear?

Because it was a borderline nice spring day and we were buoyed with optimism from our last successful visit, Donna and I decided to walk to Roma Pizza for some lunch. As we approached the end of our street there were two white Ford Crown Victorias parked side by side with one person leaning in the window of one of the cars. As he stood up he velcroed something black around his midsection.

When we reached him, Donna asked him if it was safe to keep walking. We weren’t too far from home and didn’t mind turning around now. He said, “Yeah, go ahead. There was an armed robbery at a quick cash place on Whiskey Road.” We continued on our way.

Hey, wait a minute, there is one of those places right next door to our destination. As we walked we discussed if maybe we shouldn’t be walking around here right now. When we arrived at the shopping center there were police vehicles everywhere. City cops, county sheriffs and the State police were milling about law enforcement vehicles of all shapes and descriptions.

While we were eating a local news crew set up outside and created quite a stir among the patrons and staff alike. There presence let us know that something important had transpired.

Too bad that it wasn’t during the local mid day news broadcast, because then we could have watched the live news feed on the TV above the bar with one eye while seeing the reporter and camera man with the other as we ate our pizza.

And it was a good thing that we didn’t start out for lunch a half hour earlier or we might have stumbled onto the robbers as they exited the cash place through the back door.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 38