MINI arrives. Late night driving

We got our MINI today. It's unbelievable in so many ways--just a wonderful little car. I am refreshing myself on thinking as a manual transmission driver now--for the most part it feels natural, but I'm going to have to be careful on hills for a little while.

I didn't get home til about 10:10 after showing the car to some of Dar's family--we actually left the dealer around 8 I think, having started late due to a few factors. Once we got home, I was so tired, but I knew that I needed to go practice in some low-traffic situations and hone my shifting skills. I almost went to bed, but safety comes first, and if I'm going to be driving the kids in the car next week, I want every bit of practice I can get in. So now the car has 62 miles on it. It had 10 when we got it, and I just got back from exploring the Missouri bottoms as they're called. The flood plains have a lot of long straights with no traffic this time of night, and I explored a neighborhood and a few parking lots on the way back as well, playing with some little hills and some big ones, practicing rollback starts.

I listened to the engine a lot more than the radio tonight...I love the thrum of it and the popping of the exhaust. No supercharger whine yet, as I have to be good for a break-in period of about 1200 miles. That means basically practicing smoother shift patterns and not really hitting the tachometer very hard. It accelerates pretty fast between 20 and 60 I wonder how fast it's going to be when I can use a bit more RPMs? Didn't really test the top end out much...I had my radar detector on me, but I still felt paranoid driving very fast when there's no one and nothing else around for cops to be looking at. I got it over 80 on this really long straight stretch, and again on the interstate. It doesn't feel like it's going fast at that point, but as I said it moves pretty quick. Other things I noticed--those yellow signs advising a speed for upcoming curves really are just advisory. And the turning radius is just as tight as you'd guess. I went around a lightpost in a parking lot a few times and about made myself dizzy. Mostly though, I just practiced shifting...on hills, downshifting to a stop to conserve clutchwear, revmatching when downshifting, which is basically tapping your accelerator slightly as you move down into a lower gear and your RPMs are low compared to the clutch... I'm no expert on this stuff yet, but you can find such folks at http://www.standardshift.com/ I bookmarked it a few months ago and I followed up with some research tonight before I went out. I got home around 1:30, proving that I'm a nut. The practice was very helpful though.

Not much else to say. It's almost 2 am and I need to sleep. Everyone else is asleep, including MINI in the garage. He doesn't have a name yet, but I think he's a boy and he'll get one soon enough. (Yes, I'm a geek, and yes, most Mini enthusiasts name their cars).

First passenger other than Darlene and me: My father-in-law Doug. He liked it.
First song listened to in the car, while sitting in the dealer showroom: Clarity by John Mayer.
First song listened to as we drove home: Speed of Sound by Coldplay.
Car ownership: 6 hours, 62 miles
Number of times I've polished the front of the car, wiping off smudges: 2
Favorite feature so far: the engine/exhaust sound

Other highlight of the day: I was leading/tied for first in longest frisbee toss competition when I left the division picnic. I'm sure they measured later and we'll see how I did. Also won a gift certificate as a quasi-door prize and broad-jumped 94", which was good for 2nd at the time, but I'm guessing some tall folks beat that later. That's 2.4 meters by the way. The world record is 3.47m. Can you imagine standing and jumping over 11 feet?

Insanely happy today! Now, back to reality and sleep. I can drive again tomorrow.

A visitor!

Today was most excellent. I was out just finishing up mowing the lawn and as I started to empty the last bag, I thought I saw some rubber tubing that Dar had left in the mulch near our big oak tree. My inner child's eyes went wide with happiness as I realized..is that.. is it... could it be...a snake? SNAKE! It's a snake!!! Woohoo!

While I at first backed away to get a good look, I almost immediately wanted to jump up and down with excitement. I grew up near woods and so I have always liked snakes--they are just really neat creatures. I walked up to get a good look at our visitor, who was about 4 feet long, all black with a light belly. I'm still not sure if it was a black king snake or a black rat snake, but I'm leaning rat snake. The head wasn't triangular, and solid-colored in the Midwest is a pretty good indicator that a snake isn't poisonous (about 90% of snake species are non-venomous so the odds are usually in your favor), so as I checked him out I felt pretty confident he was a good visitor, not a bad one. I called out to see if my wife in kitchen and might hear me, but no luck. My boy Cameron has to see this! Hmm, anything back here to help me trap him, a bucket, a bag? Nope. Oh well, just gotta grab him and take him around to Cam. No way I'm walking away and risking Cam not getting to see him. Of course he's seen Rikki Tikki Tavi, as any child at his age should, but I was pretty sure he'd not seen an uncaged snake before.

Okay, if you're not familiar with snakes, I don't advise doing this, but obviously if you feel uncomfortable around them, you aren't going to want to catch one anyway. If you do know snakes, then you probably already know -- they're not too hard to catch. Since a trusty long, forked stick is never around when you need it, you need to be able to catch a snake without any stick at all, or at least only small twigs to help you. Basically, advance smoothly, don't startle the little guy, and if he runs, try to circle him to keep him where you want him. If he bolts, you need to be sure he's nonpoisonous if you want to stop him, as you do risk getting bit if you attempt to handle him. I checked his mood at this point by dangling a small stick in front of him...if he is not such a nice snake at this point, he will strike the stick, and if you happen to see fangs at that point, well then you know your snake-identification technique needs a lot of work. Back to Steve Irwin, I mean, my wanna-be show. Basically, you grab the snake near the tail, and if he tries to curl back some, you keep pulling that tail away from him and stepping away...while leaving most of his weight on the ground. Picking him all the way off the ground is a) not nice, and b) a better way for the snake to have leverage to flip around and strike at you. So he rests 2/3 of his body on the ground, and you politely and nicely hold his tail (firmly, but no need to squeeze..snakeskin is pretty rough so he shouldn't slide away). Once he calms down and isn't trying to slither away, walk around behind him, moving slow so he's not startled. (Note, I'm calling him a 'he', but that's just because boy snakes are nicer...if it was a female, I'm sure she'd have bitten me. They're like people in that respect. Males - harmless and easily captured. Females - sneaky and mean. Ha, only kidding. I think.) Okay, so now you get to show off your snake-like reflexes... we humans are actually what snakes call 'pathetic and slug-like' but nonetheless you can think you're fast if you want to.

So you snatch and grab behind his head, carefully, a lot like when you grab a fish out of a stream with your bare hands. Just don't telegraph it, and if you miss, don't let any snake you haven't identified yet get a bite at you. I'm assuming here you've had ninja training and done this hundreds of times. If not, well, you will probably miss your snake and he will laugh at you. Once you have him, make sure to hold his neck firmly...just an inch or two behind the head, so he can't bend back to bite but you're not actually holding his head either, which isn't going to be comfortable for him. And don't squeeze. Now you can run off to show him to your kids, neighbors, anyone you know how is afraid of snakes is an excellent choice as well. Cameron was quite impressed with the snake (strangely he did not comment on my snake-catching prowess...hmm, maybe next time I'll have him catch the snake). Darlene watched from a bit farther away. We explained that some snakes are poisonous, and that they will bite, so if he ever finds one he is to run away and get mommy and daddy. However, this is a nice snake. He was about 4 feet long and about 1.5 inches thick at his widest. Cam touched him and I explained how his scales are rough if you rub them the wrong way. Reminder to self--Cam should get to handle a boa constrictor sometime and feel how cool it is when they curl around your arm. I explained how our new friend here was going to go back outside and renew his search for moles, mice and bugs in our yard. It was a cool visit, and I was glad that Cam was interested in the snake. Cam went back inside and I released the snake near where I found him. He seemed unperturbed by our inspection, which made me feel better about disturbing his day. I advised him as I let him to go be on the lookout for our local mole population, and that anything he could do would be appreciated.

In retrospect, I didn't take a picture of our visitor today, but I hope he'll be back. I enjoyed the visit immensely. I had just been telling Dar a few weeks ago that it made me sad I'd never found a snake in the back yard. Hmm, maybe I saw one long ago, I forget. We used to have a woodpile back there which was major snake territory, but more of a copperhead haven than anything else, so it had to go. I am glad in a way that we didn't have a copperhead today. I am very live-and-let-live with most wildlife, and I would have been tempted to let even a venomous snake go in my yard...except that I have the two small children. I thought about it afterwards and even though I would feel very guilty...a venomous snake in the yard cannot be trusted not to return if I go through the trouble to capture him and transport him a distance away. And he's not deadly to me probably, but to a child, any poisonous snake is a threat. I'm afraid if that happens Mr. Copper is going to have to sleep with the fishes. So I hope none of them puts me in that position. I wouldn't enjoy dispensing Man's justice.

An excellent day. I don't know if you want a snake in your yard, but if you do, I hope you find one too! And I hope this guy comes back, he was quite cool.

The MINI

Okay, so if you know me and have talked to me in the past few months, you know I'm super geeked up about something. I'm practically singing while I walk around, a la Gene Kelly. The thing is...we're expecting. No no, not one of those...sheesh, I got two of those little devils.

Here's the new baby.

He's made in Oxford, England, but with German engineering... he does seat 4 adults if we need it, which seems to surprise people. I've had a lot of questions from people who were curious if I had entered mid-life crisis mode and forgotten I had 2 children, or perhaps they wondered if I had mistaken the Mini for a super- practical family car. No I'm not middle-aged yet, only 34 thank you, and yes this is a decision the wife and I have both made. We already *have* a practical car. Our Grand Caravan seats 7 and screams suburban stereotype---all we need on it are a soccer ball decal to complete the mold we've fallen into. Travelling to Pennsylvania, Chicago, Tennessee? Minivan all the way. Taking 2 kids and 2 adults out for the day--Minivan. Buying lumber or furniture? Minivan all the way. Yes, very practical. (We thankfully skipped the SUV on my cousin's advice, after he'd had both and he said he liked his van a lot more. I have to agree, it is great. SUV's bad!!!) By the way, I've sat in the back seat. It's a real back seat, much like any small car's. Not super comfy if the person in front of you is 6' tall, but I can say that about my current car. How often do I have an adult in my back seat now anyway? A few times a year maybe. The majority of the time, my car has 1 or 2 people in it, and Cam is very excited about the new car (except that he wanted it to be red.)

So as I said, we do have a practical car already, and we're pretty practical people. However, I do really like to drive. I am not Speed Racer out there challenging every punk kid in a scooby to a duel mind you (Scooby is a nickname for Subaru...see you learned something here), but I really do enjoy cornering and accelerating in my car. Safely, but yes, fast. I like having good control of it in turns or in bad weather--I despise cars that handle poorly. The car should be an extension of you out there. You want to stop fast, you do so. You need to get up and go, you do so. (Those of you who think I drive like a maniac should be comforted by the fact that I tone it down some when you're in the car with me.) Anyway, to tell the truth, this car was heading for me for a long time. It's like it was made for me. Let me explain.

Let's go back to 1978....as a child growing up I just loved MG's. Triumphs as well. Small car = cool car in my book. Into the 80s. I wanted a Porsche 914 so bad. I recall the envy I used to have for the next-door neighbor's bright yellow fiat. Alfa Romeo? Yes please! Late 80s. The 1961 Ferrari 250GT California? (faint) 'Ferris, he never drives it! He just rubs it with a diaper!' Oh, I admit it, my absolute dream car is a porsche...if I ever get the money someday I'll get a 911. However, until that point, I have always wanted a reasonably priced, fun little car. Fiats, Alfas, yes, most of them are usually European. I have never been a fan of the big american cars, the Vettes, Mustangs etc (though I admit the Viper leaves you in awe if you see one in person.) No. Small, nimble, quick... that's been what I wanted for a long time. Going on 20 years now. And I've never had a new car for myself. We really do share the Civic and it's been great, a wonderful little car, but we picked it more for Dar and because it was practical. Before that we got a new Neon, but again this was Dar's car. I settled for whatever we could scrape by with, hand-me-downs, the bus, whatever. I'm 34, and I've waited a long damn time for a new car. In 2003 I noticed the new Coopers in the remake of The Italian Job, and it was love at first sight.

The original Mini was born in 1959, a little efficient marvel with an 850cc 34hp engine... In the 60s their fame took off as they became the cool car of the celebrity and they started to gain notoriety as a rally car...the Cooper S would win the Monte Carlo Rally outright for 4 years in a row starting in 1964. They were made through the 60s,70s,80s and they aged well...so you still see them all over the place in Europe as production continued through 2000. In 2001 the brand was reborn, re-engineered by BMW with 115hp and based heavily on the rally cars raced by John Cooper...the Mini Cooper S is the supercharger version, topping out at 170 hp, and if you really need every ounce of performance there's the JCW (John Cooper Works), which adds another 30+ horsepower. While on the subject of performance, it should also be noted that Coopers have very good safety ratings thanks to anti-lock brakes, traction control, corner brake control, 6 airbags, etc etc.

Sadly, I can't afford the JCW right now, as the Works package is hideously overpriced in my opinion...but hey, that's what aftermarket mods are for. I hope to get that 30 hp a little cheaper eventually. I'm already starting to become a bit of a gearhead after researching this car for the past two years or so (I almost got one in 2005, I considered it in 2004.). I am a frugal person, most of the time, I'll have you know. I come from a long line of cheap Coats men. I worry a little less about a buck here or there if it's a gift for someone, but for the most part, I think about every penny that goes through my wallet, daily. You could call it maniacal. So what the heck am I doing buying a car that is a) new and b) not cheap? Cars are one of the worst investments possible! C'mon Mike you work in finance, you know that! Why not get a used Honda? Well first of all, the MINI has great depreciation right now, because of the interest and cool factor they provide. #1 make/model in resale value according to Forbes magazine last year, beating the likes of Mercedes and Lexus. Secondly... Well I finally realized this is what I would be saving my money for anyway if I wait until I have spare money some day. And Dar and I talked it over and we decided...if I wait until I'm 40 I'll easily be able to afford a nice car... heck, even my dream car perhaps, but if I stretch a little bit now I can do it and get something I've wanted for most of my life. Strangely enough, since we swap our cars a few times during a week, Dar didn't argue with that at all. Thirdly...I admit that this is a decision I'm making with my heart. And I've felt warm and fuzzy every day since we made it. Obsessed? Yep.

The point is...it left Southampton almost two weeks ago and should be here on US soil this week. Woo woo! My baby is coming home.

More on the MINI later. 1 week to go!

First post

Well here it is, after enjoying reading a few friends' blogs I thought I might just add my puff of noise to the storm. I don't know how often I'll be able to keep up with it, but if you know me, well I never run out of things to say. I also have a habit of being up later than I should, for a good reason or not, so hey, something else to do when I can't sleep at 2 am. (actually it's 2:30 now).

I was thinking of a title and while a few sounded cool or interesting, I wanted to go with one that was more about me as others see me, not just what I'm interested in or what I do. I've always shared my opinions openly ('ran my mouth' some would say), so much that quite a few people are turned off by it and think I should just shut the ---- up, but ya' know, most people enjoy me, and I hope that most of my friends actually love my 'inane chatter'. It's not me to be quiet. I like to communicate. I like to talk about anything and everything. And when I think about something and ponder whether it should be said or not, what do you think I usually decide on? I am the human equivalent of a loud squirrel in a tree, chittering away (and throwing things). I am the squeaky wheel, a.k.a. the squeaky mouse who likes cheese. I appreciate discretion, diplomacy and privacy. They all have their place and time, yes, but if we are going to talk then let's do it.

I will now smirk and apologize for running off at the mouth. I may do it again in the future, so please forgive me.

So here's the blog. I don't know if my thoughts are organized enough to be a good read for you or not, but I will try. Right now, I have to head to bed. Cheers.