Mini Cooper: Homecoming

It has no name.

But it has a theme song!:



1. Got my MINI on Friday June 20
2. Drove 260 miles
3. Can't stop smiling :)

Home!


Sexy

For Sale: Large Items

So.. I have some stuff that I don't want to take back when I move out.

White Ikea 3-Drawer Dresser $20
Large 60" Wood Desk $50
27" Proscan CRT Television $40

Used Burton Snowboard 145cm Women's $35

Genius #1: Bo Burnham

HAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAH man.. Last day of school BABYYYYYYY. Last night I drank with Frank (rhymage) to celebrate good times. It was great, stumbling around watching russell peters. You should try it!

Anyways this morning I woke up hungover, but I woke up early to go to my class. Turns out, it was cancelled wtf.

These posts will be about things that impress me. Item numero uno, Bo Burnham. This guy is hilarious. Wilton first showed it to me, and the lewdness and shrewdness (and crudeness) shocked me cus Wilton was like 10 years old! But when I looked at the lyrics, this guy is genius.

Step on a crack,
break your mothers back
Turn around and smoke that crack,
break your mothers heart

Well, today I saw his new song video and the last verse just killed.

cause havin sex is like quadratic expansion if it cant be split then its time to stop,
and havin sex is like doing fractions, its improper for the larger one to be on top,
and havin sex is like math homework, i do it best when i'm alone in my bed.
and squarin numbers are just like women, if theyre under thirteen just do them in your head....


yeeeeee..watch this shizz with the lyrics on the right hand info expanded, son.



ya dig?

Mini Cooper Tracking

So there's this awesome website that I've been going to that lets you know where your cargo ship is about every 6 hours. And that cargo ship has my MINI on it!

website:
SailWX

the ship is called the Boheme, callsign Sivy. It's holding about 700 cars right now? and at this moment, its about to cross the Panama Canal! check it out:


Kinda small and blurry and squintworthy, so heres a closer shot:

Cool huh?

Oh yea another cool thing is this video I found on Youtube about the Panama Canal. The cool part is how the ships pass through the so called "locks" at each end of the canal.



I read somewhere that the pressure generated to raise the ships is purely from rainwater. It costs nothing to move the water! Kinda like Hetch Hetchy

June 10: MINI arives at Port Hueneme, CA
Can't wait!

World Wonders #2: Wind and Spin

I was tracking my MINI, and looking at the wind directions on the map. Then it struck me, I don't know where wind comes from! So I look it up:

Wind comes from
1)Earth's Rotation: as earth rotates, air does not move exactly at the same speed the earth because of fluid properties like viscosity. Its kind of like feeling the wind when you're going in a car, but the air isn't blowing that hard; its the car moving into the air.
2)Thermal properties: we all know hot air flows to cold air. The sun heats the earth unevenly. Most of it hits the equator. So the air from the equator naturally circulates towards the poles, where it is colder.

Then I thought.. why does the Earth Rotate? I thought it was because of gravity of the sun so that Gravity+Heat= Wind! but I was wrong.

Apparently Earth spins because there is nothing stopping it from slowing down. There is no friction in space, and I guess the air drag is so miniscule compared to the mass of the earth that it is insignificant. I also read something about the moon's tidal wave drag, which is also insignificant.

The Earth and all other planets started spinning because that is how they were formed. Dust clouds swirled into itself due to its own gravity and began to form planets. As the cloud condensed, the matter spun faster and faster. It's kind of the technique that ice skaters or breakdancers use when they spin. Arm's out, spin slow. Arm's in, spin fast. So the Earth was spinning initially, and it just can't stop! maybe in a bajillion years.

Sources: Kid's websites!
earthspin
windpower

World Wonders #1: Neutral to save gas?

I know a lot of people that like to coast in neutral to save gas, but is it really the case? So I've looked around online and it depends.

If you are driving an older carburetted car, then sticking it in neutral would save more gas.

If you are driving a newer fuel injected car, then sticking it in neutral would actually use slightly more gas than if your foot was off the throttle but in driving gear. When the car is in neutral, the engine is still idling and using gas to keep running. Newer fuel injected cars have a fuel cutoff when coasting in gear.

However, it seems that the fuel savings for each case is miniscule.

Now in the case of stopping at an intersection and putting it in neutral. There should be hardly any difference between neutral and putting in in gear. This is because the engine is idling in both cases. But it seems that the consensus is that it does slightly save fuel at the stop to be in neutral, because there is less load on the engine.

It seems that people are saying that putting manual cars in neutral is okay; no wear on the clutch or transmission. However, for automatics, it can cause more wear on the transmission when you shift from neutral back to drive. So it might be a better idea to leave it in drive in automatics

Well, it seems that a lot of the internet is based on more opinion than fact. I have not come across any scientific tests with data, but what I wrote here is based on a general consensus.

Source:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/4230705.html
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=19&article_id=6578

Small Car?

I bring to you.. 7ft tall Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki!

Just thought it was amusing

MINI Production Update #1

Holy crap, I just found out from my dealership that my MINI is being built as of right now! Man I was worrying for the past few days that it would be delayed until the next batch of production and that would lead to the car shipping after i leave for Asia! That would be messed up! So I got my VIN and production number today and went to the MINI Owners Lounge:


Using the North American Motoring Forum Sticky : How to Track your MINI. I called in to hear specifics. Supposedly the car will be complete on May 7th! RAD

I also found out today, that my auto loan application at Pentagon Federal (penfed.org) was denied! That's because I don't really have a job yet ahah so i have insufficient income. So today I reapplied with a consigner. Hopefully it goes through! Oh yea, if any of you are buying a car anytime soon you should check out Pentagon Federal Credit Union. They used to only serve military personnel a couple years back. But now you can become a member by donating 20 dollars to the military and keeping 5 dollar in their savings account. And why would you want to do this? 4.25% financing on new autos. The lowest in the nation! for now.... so wish me luck, I hope I get approved.

For now, I am eating a [toast, Ham, Tuna, Cheese, Egg, mustard, toast] sandwich thanks to Vince for his high quality bread.

In conclusion: mark your calendars for May 7th, Chadillac Jr. is about to be born

MINI Cooper S 2008!

Last Saturday, I test drove a Mini Cooper S at Mini of Concord. It was an awesome experience there, great customer service. The MA let me drive an automatic and a manual in the empty Waterworld parking lot. This car is freakin awesome to drive. Accelerates quick, Turns quick, Stops quick. Its a wonder I didn't throw up! Driving manual was pretty smooth, because the clutch is more forgiving than other manuals that I was learning on. (Thanks to Frank for letting me drive his M3 all those nights, sorry for the stalling thanks for teaching me with patience!) (Thanks to Dillon for being the first to teach me manual and letting me loose in a veteran VW GTI in the streets of Portland fearing for my life! it was fun tho).

Yea, I've actually been researching a lot about the car for over a year now, and now that I have a job in Santa Rosa after I graduate, I'll need a car to get my ass there! I was originally going to get a used car, but I thought, what the hell why not give myself a graduation present! (and a 3-5 year burden of heavy debt)

Anyways, after the test drive, I signed some papers, threw down $500 clean for a deposit and ordered my Astro Black Mini Cooper S!










Yeaa son, is that clean or what. But the bad news with speccing out your own car rather than taking one from the lot, is you got to wait 6 weeks for it to get built at the Oxford MINI Plant in England and shipped across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and to the Port Hueneme BMW Vehical Distribution Center. Yep, you get to track this thing being built! my how time has changed. This is going to develop into some obsessive Facebookchecking-like daily ritual.

This feels kind of like an impulsive purchase, but I have been planning this for a while now. I've been playing around with the MINI Configurator for a long time(embarassed to say how long). Once you start, you can't stop, its like crack.

Here are some points that attracted me to being obsessed with this car (ask Angel she knows):
-172HP @5500RPM (from a twinscrolled turbocharged engine)
-177ft-lb Torque @ 1600-5000 RPM (it pulls almost all the time)
-26/34 MPG! (comparable to a corolla or civic)
-Easy parking around the city?
-One of best handling cars in this price range

And here are the options I specced out at the dealership:

Astroblack Body w/ Black Roof
Premium Package (Panoramic Sunroof, Auto AC, HIFI speakers)
Leather MFSW (Multi-Function Steering Wheel)
Xenon Headlights (due to Anthony and Frank's Testimonials)
Rear Fogs (to blind you haha jp, due to forum readings!)
White Turn Signals (yellow lights on a black car just aint right)
6-Speed Getrag Manual
DSC (You never know when you need it)
16" Bridge-Spoke (Perf. Run Flats)
Leatherette Sport Seats (Standard - hey i'm not made of money)

So yea, Claro said that it would take around 45 days to arrive in Concord. If the world were perfect, this would put it a week before graduation. I can't wait! Sign up for rides in the comments section! hahah and Henry called shotgun forever, so you'll have to physically remove him if you want to sit up front.

I guess I'll put updates as I get more info on production PEACE