Running On Empty

The most exciting time we've ever had driving economically.  

Dylan and I were driving back from Eugene to Corvallis.  I was in dire need of gas because the meter was at the last tick.  The estimated miles was calculated to be 34miles.  I remember from Eugene to the Shell near Corvallis was around 30-something miles.  We both thought the same stupid idea.  Could we make it before the gas runs out?  As you may know by now, we like a challenge. 

So off we went.  I was really tired, so I let D take the wheel.  It was a hell of an adventure for the next 40 minutes.  We had to drive around 60mph the whole way and we might not even make it.   So we thought of everything we could to conserve gas.  We closed the windows and sunroof.   We turned off the stereo.  We turned off the headlamps (luckily the sun was still out).  We turned off the A/C (shit. the sun's still out).  It was around 8 o clock so the sun was at perfect eye level, blinding the hell out of us, baking the inside of the oven that we had just created.  But whatever, we are not going to back down.  

Beads of sweat started forming and the temperature was rising.  I looked at the GPS.  16miles to go.  Looked at the estimated miles left: 18 MILES.   okay we're in good shape.  So I turn on the fan to cool off a little bit, you know, so as to not suffocate?  Instantly, the meter jumps down to 15Miles.  I panic and shut the fans off.  What the heck just happened?!  at this point we're yelling and panicking not knowing what to do.  He's yelling at me for turning on the fans, I'm yelling back for him to calm down and focus, it was a mess.  

But wait.  We see a big semi truck coming ahead of us.  We both smiled.  Let's draft that sommabich all the way there!  Cutting out all that headwind+aerodynamics mumbo jumbo would be huge for us.  So the next 11 miles D is trying his hardest to stay as close as he can to that semi.  It gets nerve racking as I look between the GPS and the mileage meter.  7...7,  6....6,  4....3  NOOOO what happened?!  we're so close!  1.2 ....0  a big fat zero shows up on the meter.  and we have 1.2 miles to go.  What does this mean?!  We're panicking even more than before, I'm imagining hiking over a mile for gas.  It was like waiting for a time bomb to explode.  

But it never did.  We coasted in neutral to exit, and slowly drove into the Shell station.  We made it!!  I look over at the data meter thing and was ecstatic.   I had driven nearly 500miles on that one tank.  Record broken!

I usually get around 400 for a tank.  but 496.2! That came out to 36.25 MPG.  (previous record was 462miles from my Davis to Eugene trip on one tank)

Who knew driving economically could be so fun?  The ambition, the panic, the pure joy.  Now I know why "Hypermilers" do what they do.  This can easily turn into an addiction.  Good times ol' chap.  Good times.

belated-Breaking News!

belated and breaking cancel out, so it's just news.  Finally, I've found a name for my car!

(drumroll please)

Minimus Maximus

I was talking to T about her car "Tobi" and she told me Tobi was short for Tobias. haha so I just joked with myself (I do this all the time) and thought "hmm..well then Mini is short for....Minimus.....MINIMUS MAXIMUS (in a low baritone voice)".   success! 

And Minimus Maximus generates a whole slew of nicknames:  M n' M, Max, Maxi, Maxi Cab, Relaxi Maxi? (err.. probably not enough room for a massage table), Mini Maxi? (nah.. reminds me of a tiny woman's product).  Anyways you get the point.

On further note, the name seems more suited for the MINI's overgrown buffoon of a brother the Countryman:

I dono about this one MINI...acquired taste much?

Although an AWD MINI is pretty sweet, why must you SUV-ize everything!?

Thanks to Tobi (Gary's car jr.) for his inspiration

Chadillac the 2nd year.

June 20th! Two years ago I picked up my beloved people mover from the dealership.  I still remember it vividly, hands at the wheel in the showroom.  I was scared to death, because I had to drive through the narrow-ass showroom door.  It was just there taunting me, being extra narrow, impossibly slim.  "You can't get through me!" "You barely know how to drive stick!" "You're gonna scrape your paint the 1st 5 minutes you own this car".  The dealer hands me the keyfob and mutters something like, "Turbo eh? I know how you kids are like with these cars, just be careful out there".  I chuckle and smirk at his snide comment, thinking "kid? f-ing asshole, i'm a college grad".  Then I looked back at the narrow path to freedom. With sweaty palms and a racing heart I slowly creep out into the sunlight.  YES! FREEDOM!! VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM (displaying my middle finger through the sunroof in full fury)

Okay okay,  that last sentence was made up, but that woulda been sweet. 

2 Years by the Numbers

• Miles Vroomed:  24,304 mi. 
• Fastest Vroomed: ~112 mph? (on the track! I only go 65 mph on freeways, officer, i swear.)
• Gas Consumed: 803.304 gal. 
• Longest Tank: 462 mi. 
• Best/Worst/Avg mpg : 33.98/22.45/28.99 mpg  (compare to 32/26/29 EPA estimate, the average is dead on!)
• Total Gas Cost: $2452.51

Just for kicks, the price of gas over 2 years.  That spike is filling up at the track with ultra high octane gas. Can you believe gas was under 2 bucks?


Battlescars - I'm way past the honeymoon period, no more worrying about that 1st scratch.

1. Windshield crack - still lazy to fix, someday
2. Various Rear bumper parking nicks
3. Large but unnoticeable recession in the back right corner from a basketball.  

Is it weird to have a car birthday? I don't think so, I love my car and I'm planning to keep him for many years.  The thing is, I still haven't found the right name yet.  Toyed around with Mickey (the boy Minnie, get it?) one afternoon, but it was quickly shotdown by sundown.  For now, keep on truckin Chadillac the 2nd.

Still giving thrills, holla. 

Mt. Hood Snowboarding

I've been having great weekends here.  Mt. Hood is so accessible from Portland! You can see the mountain from the city.  It only takes a little over an hour to get there and back, and combined with the $25 nightboarding deal equals a great weekend day.

View of Mt. Hood from Portland. (Together!): "oOOOOoo"

The first time I went, I took Daniel and Kenneth for their first time boarding.  They had this great $25 lesson+rental+lift ticket deal for beginners that we took advantage of.  We arrived an hour early so I decided to take them up myself and teach them some things before their lesson.  Since friends so graciously took the time to teach me, I had to give back.  It was pretty fun and funny showing the eager lads the ropes.  After the 2nd run, it was time for their lesson (woohoo! it was my secret ploy to have 2 hours to myself).

but...

Kenneth was just sitting there.  He sat there for a long time.  When he started walking toward us, I saw his hand was in an awkward stiff position.  Crap.  He hurt his thumb.  We spent an hour at the clinic, and I ended up teaching Daniel.  Don't get me wrong it was fun, but I was so eager to go up higher and work on carving.

poor kid, injured on the 2nd run.

MINI SUV
My car only has room for 3 people + board (see post) so I couldn't bring little Celina with us the first time.  She looked so sad the night before, like she was going to cry.  So....

Tada!

Roof Rack baby!

Whattaya think? They were OEM MINI branded, so I didn't have to drill holes in my roof.  I kinda like 'em.  It definitely changes the look, but they don't look out of place.  The rack works wonders, I bought a Thule 4 snowboard attachment for it, and I took all the kids the 2nd weekend.  I was extremely pleased because 1st of all no one got injured, and 2ndly they all took their 2hr lessons :)

and...NACHOS!

 They were damned good, and damned expensive.  Just like Hookers!

MINI Report and Funnies

Just picked up the MINI from the dealership

- Oil & Filter Change
- New Hood Scoop (old one started melting from the heat generated from the turbo O_O)
- Tire repaired (apparently had a nail in it, but the leak was so slow I didn't know!)

Yay for Warranty!  It's been 18000 miles and almost 18 months, and I still love my car.  I shall be diligent in taking care of it (cars don't have genders) so that I can own it forever.  I was on the NAM forum and was reading this thread:  You Know You Drive A MINI When...

Favorite Few:
-When you get scared someone stole your car when it's actually just parked behind a bigger car/truck. (This has happened to me a lot haha)
-You find yourself wishing the road was just a little more twisty.
-You take one last look at your vehicle in the parkinglot/garage/driveway before it leaves your viewing-zone. (yep)
-When you come to a stop, put on your parking brake, turn the ignition off, and instinctively tell your passenger to, "pull twice!"
-when a girl passenger yells WOW ITS SO BIG(staring at the speedo), and you reply YUP! thats what all the girls say (haha yea its funny when I read this i realized all girls do say that)
-You don't bother to step on the brake when making turns
-You find yourself aimlessly surfing websites about your car... (..yea)
-Little kids eyes get big when they see your mini.
-When you pull down the sun visor and half your view is gone .
-you get that last parking spot on the block because everyone else was too bloated to fit in it
-you remember the birthday of your MINI... (hah damn. 5/7/2008 born in UK, 6/20/2008 arrived in US)

Yea the culture around MINI owners is great.  Everyone just kind of understands each other's experiences like its an inside joke of ours.  

What can Your MINI fit?

I got the MINI because of its speed, MPG, easy parking, and damned good looks.  But theres definitely one major drawback that I had to compromise with... interior space.  It's definitely hard to fit passengers and cargo with the small trunk space, but you'd be surprised what you can fit if you played some Tetris.  One pal commented earlier that they wanted proof of two snowboards in the MINI: 

Tada!! I was surprised myself! Totally do-able.

Then I remember browsing some forums on what ridiculous things MINI cooper fit in their cars a few years ago when I was researching.  So I went back and found all I could find.  Enjoy:

Doggies!

Partying!

Good for gigs

Kayaking?

These are some pretty ridiculous over-the-top ones haha

Over-the Top Literally

Or if you didn't have a roof rack, you can... Tetris!

And lastly....

Enough room for 22 people :)

Kohl's and Parking Ticket

Yesterday I went out to Kohl's with Andrew and Andy and I overhear some kid whining as I was walking through the aisle.  As I walk closer...

kid:  wahhhh wahhh wahh
mom: stop that
kid: wahh wahhh
mom: stop that!
kid: wahh wahhh (i'm thinking stupid annoying kid)
mom: stop that shit! or i'll f*k you up!

oh my.  I was just flabbergasted, looking around to see if anyone else heard it.  I wanted to laugh but was kinda concerned for the kid. haha man crazy parenting.

Dodging a $150 bullet
At Kohl's I get a call from my brother: "Chad, mom's trying to move your car" What?? my mom doesn't drive stick.  bro: "yea some dpt guy is trying to ticket your car" (this is at like 8PM) I was like shit, no one in my house knows how to drive stick.  My mom panicks and rings the neighbor's door and he helps us move the car.  saved!

Apparently the DPT guy was being a dick too.  How the heck you gonna ticket me for "blocking the sidewalk".  There's enough room behind my small car for 3 wheelchairs side by side!! (ok maybe 2.5 as some people said).  My mom even asks if it's okay because the car is small, he takes a glance and makes some bs, "it's 2 inches too long."  He was watching my mom trying to move the car and hoping he would leave but he starts yelling :"if you don't move it in 15 seconds, i'm ticketing you for 150 bucks" What a cock.  But I bet it's some stupid neighbor that keeps calling these in.  We barely have had complaints for the 20+ years we've lived here, but recently our block has been getting a lot more of these citations.  What's the real law on this?

New Goal: teach mama to drive stick (she wants to learn)

Damned OSU and AlertSF

Shit Happens
 
So over the weekend, I visited Oregon State to hangout with the cousins.  I parked my car on Friday thinking, wow this is a huge spot.  Oregon is great because you never have to circle around for parking.  But then.. on Sunday I went out for a Home Depot run with David and when I got to my car, it was glaring at me.  Yea. a scratch about 4 inches long and paint thickness deep was on my left rear bumper.  wtf.  some idiot pulled out of the spot behind me and nicked my bumper.  really?! how much room do you need?! godamn.  It was the first significant scratch on my car.  I mean if it was my old used car, I wouldn't have even noticed.  But this was my first.  I thought my first scratch like that would come from parking in tight spots in the city.  OSU students can't park for @&##&@. 

[Picture Here]

Shit Happens, but AlertSF is on your side!


On a brighter note, I was just talking to Alex about AlertSF and its awesomely useful usefulness.  We both got a text today sent to our cell phone telling us about a fallen broken cable on the Bay Bridge at 1925 hours (7:25).  (Luckily no one was seriously injured) About an hour later, it says to not use the bridge tomorrow, because there have not been plans to re-open.  I didn't realize that it impacted me until Alex pointed out I'm going to be using the bridge soon when I come back.  Couple weeks ago, we both got another text about flooding in SF due to heavy rain.  I wasn't in the city, but its a good heads up.  This service is extremely useful, especially during times of emergencies.  It's great knowing that you'll be alerted about any potential dangers in your city within a few minutes on your cell phone.  I have my family on it now, and Alex told his brother, so lets spread the word!

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

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!

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