Sheenabea,

Pi Rho is HOT! I didn't realize we're the only Chili Reds in the group. Have fun racking up the miles on the best twisties you can find!

 

I get BLISS on MONDAY!!!! :-) I am a happy camper!

Drew

 

Anybody care to translate this e-mail exchange between my MA and I?

Me: Good afternoon - just wanted to check in and see what the latest is on the Mini. I saw via the Port of Charleston website that the Emden docked and unloaded yesterday. I'm guessing we're in the VDC now?

MA: 10 to 15 more days! The final count down... Ohh if I only had the background music...

Me: Great news! Is that 10 to 15 days until it reaches San Antonio, or until delivery?

MA: ummmm yea!

 

Hmmm...pretty much "hedging" I would say. That seems like it could be delivery in that 10 to 15 days. But, that ain't good enough.

My suggestions:

1. Have a IRL conversation with him...on the phone, in person? (If I recall he isn't so good about keeping in touch. ???

2. If you don't get an return call so that he can give you a DIRECT answer, call the Sales Mgr. May sound a bit too...ummm...well, you know...but be direct.

When will it arrive at the dealership? When will I take delivery? A few days range is OK but not so vague. It's clearly eating at you.

My 2 cents!

 

Congrats Drew! Gettin' closer and closer. Krikey...the wait...arrggh! Almost over for you though and then....MOTOR!!!!

 

I got to see BLISS today and work out some of the paperwork. Oh it is such a beautiful little beast! I didn't have my camera on me, but trust me, I will post plenty of pictures Monday night. :-)

Drew

 

Doogs, I'd say 10-15 days before your MINI is in your hands.

 

Well, after listening to some well thought out reasoning from my Hubby, I won't be picking up "Mrs. Peel" at the MINI Dealer till August 19th. It is there and ready, so guess I will just have to pull out some extra patience for the wait. Hope all of you are enjoying your MINI's to the fullest.

 

But at least you know your ride is safe and waiting at the dealer.

She could be on a boat somewhere in the Atlantic with an unknown port ETA.

 

Sorry, feeling a little ungrateful here. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that all goes well and you will be driving your MINI in no time.

 

But at the same time, Neverfifty, I can understand your frustration that Mrs Peel is so close yet so far. That would be worse actually.

Sounds like you need to "unreason" your hubby!

 

Well, don't know if this helps but that's about the time I'll hopefully be meeting Jake (and the rest of the Auto Banner MINIs will hopefully be, too)! Hang in there!

 

Awesome! And a Monday delivery, too!

I guess that means Evie is somewhere on a truck right now trying to take pictures of all the "you are now entering" signs as she makes her way to Texas.

 

Here's something kind of cool. I was watching the Panama Canal webcam (Auto Banner is scheduled through sometime tomorrow). And lo and behold, a creature of the Panama popped on for some wildlife viewing. Pretty cool bonus!

 

Wow...

We is everyone??? Out motoring (.com)?

Hmmmm...

And the group fell silent.

 

I wish!

I've got in-laws in town this weekend. Everyone just scattered to go to the mall and whatnot, and I'm trying to work myself up to taking one of the dogs hiking in the 100 degree heat.

Hmm...maybe I'll wash the car instead...

 

I've not been on the Komputer for a few days.
We just moved (9 months ago) and are still unpacking. Working on getting all the boxes out of the garage for Pepe to move in.

Laziness Disclaimer: we did some serious home renovation prior to emptying our storage.

 

...for anathema, Sheenabea, crishchun, Neverfifty and Chimera.

I've been on the Panama Canal Cam, off and on today and I was "there" at the right time, I think.

Here's a photo of the Trinidad going through the Miraflores locks northbound (towards the Pacific).

Thought it might be cool for your"baby albums".

 

Great work Red Scooter!

What is the link to the webcam? Thanks.

 

Here ya go:

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

There are two cams. The Miraflores is on the Pacific side. The Gatun is on the Atlantic side. AMAZING thing to be able to see very close to real time.

EDIT: It tracks fairly close to AISLive.com. The free version of AIS doesn't update automatically and it says it lags by about an hour. I'd say a bit less. Pretty darn cool though.

 

Excellent!

Thanks Red Scooter!

 

OK, I introduced the MINI to the rest of the pack today. Of course I'm the alpha male but the highest ranking car in this pack is my ///MRoadster.


Here's the MINI just before the meeting:



They meet:


They get along:


Of course the MINI (Blue??, still don't have a name) will still have to stay outside because big brother ///M has claimed the garage space and the alpha female's SUV has the other side. Will that ever change? I doubt it but right now he has a lot more of Dad's attention.

Yesterday my wife and I drove to Delaware (Rehobeth) to finalize arrangements for our daughter's wedding. We were going to drive over yesterday and come back today but the MINI was so much fun to drive we just took care of the details and came back yesterday evening. Averaged 27 mpg and that was in the weekend beach traffic.

I love this car. Don't like to wash the wheels though. There was a load of brake dust, especially on the fronts.

 

Scooter, very darn cool, I'd say. Today there was a show on the Science Channel about the Panama canal and they showed an NYK ship going through. I didn't get the name of the ship but it just illustrates what they have to do every day to get those ship through and now we know there is probably something on many of them that is very personal to someone.

May the Auto Banner have fair winds and following seas.

 

So, tomorrow is the big day for me, and I have spent all day today preparing. :-)

I went out and bought a small journal/notepad so that I can log all of my gas, services, oil changes, modifications, etc. I am going to sit down after dinner and get started with my order date and the progress since then.

I am also making my "first cd" to listen to. I have decided that in the spirit of my British car, it will be all british songs. I'm sticking mostly to Radiohead and Coldplay for this one, but might try to add a couple other artists to the mix.

I spent the last 3 hours sweating my butt off getting my garage ready. Thanks to the MINI's small stature, I was able to fit a small work bench and some storage of automotive stuff at the back. I also decided to run 2 strips of indoor/outdoor carpet down each side to step out onto and to be able to wipe my feet off before getting in.

Am I obsessed? You bet!!!

Drew

 

Beauregard too funny. Love the meeting of the cars. So sweet. I think they make a nice couple.