Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts

04 July 2008

Give it more gas

Today I'm thankful for ...

... B not destroying my car's transmission. He learned how to drive my stickshift MINI today. We did a full hour's worth of lessons in the morning where I taught him about my "coasting" technique. He picked up the shifting thing really quickly and even got to do some extended highway/city driving. He only stalled out a few times, too.

Before he got in my car he had told me that he would never really consider driving a manual. I'm hoping this will change his mind!

28 March 2008

Wait, we're there?!

Today I'm thankful for ...

... short plane flights. I flew into Canada today and the whole 800-mile trip took a mere 1 hour 40 minutes. This compared to 16+ hours of driving. While I'd love to drive up to Canada one of these days, I'm not crazy about sitting in a car that long. I'd probably take a long, scenic route if I went by car.

09 March 2008

It won't ... it DID!

Today I'm thankful for ...

... having a hatchback and an Internet connection. So, yay, I got to take home a new TV. Unfortunately, TVs are getting a bit larger these days even though they are technically getting smaller. It's all that packaging...

I went online a few days ago and found a TV on sale and thought ... oh cool! The next thought was: delivery or pick-up? Well, I read Sony's website and copied out the dimensions of the packaging. I went back to my car and ... holy ... the box would fit exactly. I mean exactly. With millimeters (if at all) to spare. In fact, when I went to the store to get the TV the guys looked at me as if I was insane.

"If the Internet measurements are correct then there won't be a problem."

"There's no way this is fitting in there."

"Just try it. I can always get it delivered."

They tipped it into the back and ... "oh my ..." ... it slid in perfectly with a couple of millimeters to spare on both sides. Then the tailgate wouldn't close, but I was sure it was capable of closing. I went through my checklist: seats forward all the way, no obstructions, won't close... OH. And then I noticed the seats were reclined. (My car has locking seatbacks to "remember" the recline position.) So I straightened the seatbacks and ... voila. The box actually had a couple of inches to spare! So after shutting the lid I even got to recline my seat a bit.

18 January 2008

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

Today I'm thankful for ...

... kicking everyone's ass in go-karting today! Well, almost everyone. One colleague bested me by an average of 0.5 seconds faster. But I got 2nd place overall on today's speedway. If I could only have been a smidge more quick through the turns I might gotten away with it.
    Being just a couple of inches off the floor is really quite a weird feeling. Everything feels so much faster. And it was difficult. I mean, getting into those tight spaces to get past someone was a real challenge. I kept waiting for someone to swing just a little too wide and then I could wedge myself in.

03 January 2008

Watching the scenery fly by

Today I'm thankful for ...

... having a great-handling little car. 6 of us are taking a little road trip to Southern California in our MINIs and we've decided to take PCH! There's nothing like 3 peppy little cars zooming down the stunning California coastline. Oh, and we've made it a point to stop for ice cream and frozen yogurt as much as possible. (May we recommend McConnell's Ice Cream in Solvang?