Archive for February, 2003
new Z4

dbaker brought his new Z4 to Nuclear Taco Night last night. Pictures do not do those things justice. I think you have to hear it to really appreciate the looks. But I’m extra happy about it because now there’s someone else with a black car to share my pain.
Speaking of Nuclear Taco Night, it looks like NTN-SXSW is going to be a go. This will be the premier event of the SXSW season. Don’t miss it.

free hats

I was at BoA today and my realest parts dude Bo gave me a free hat. I don’t know if they’re really just passing out free hats right now, or if I just caught Bo in a really good mood, but the lowdrag tip of the day is stop by and pretend your head is cold or something. It’s really a nice hat.

Fence Update: My driveway is featured prominently on the front page of the paper today. It’s a big story about the city council approving ten-thousand more tax dollars to try to acquire my driveway. The newspaper writer doesn’t seem much more amused by this than I am. There are some quotes from the city attorney explaining why they are doing this though. It would seem that there is a lot of private property being used by the public around here and they need to make an example of me. I guess I feel better knowing that it’s not just because they hate me.
But anyway, the real weird deal is this: If you’ve been keeping up you know that I went to visit a couple lawyers who were reputed to be pretty good with this stuff, but I wasn’t really thrilled with either of them so I held out, thinking that the force of the arguments in my answer would persuade those in power that it was all good, and they should try to work things out with me in a more civil manner. This had the side benefit of being a real money-saver for me and my fellow taxpayers. But alas, it was not to be.
So anyway, Kevin is talking to Carlisle about my sad plight one day and another cop overhears and says something like: “Hey, I just took this Leaving the Scene Collision and the victim said he’s a lawyer that specializes in helping property owners who are being oppressed by expansionistic municipalities” and presents the business card of said attorney.
Anyway, this seemed like too good a story to pass on, so I went to see him and the guy is too cool. He’s fired up about the whole thing and seems to think he can save my driveway. Whee! Unlike the other two guys who seemed to be trying to sell me on their pricing structure before even looking at the case, this fellow is very confidence-inspiring. Finally some good news in this saga. Stay tuned!

Terry Sayther’s

Stopped by Terry Sayther’s shop today to get my srs light reset (it turns out that the airbag check circuit is smart enough to know if the passenger seat is taken out, but it never checks to see if it’s been put back (also, it turns out that the reset tool is a couple thousand bucks)). It’s not that I particularly enjoy rolling around in gear oil or putting my hands on hot headers, but I would not be able to stand leaving my car with someone to get it fixed. I figured my chances of getting this dirty business done and getting myself out of there were better at a nice independent shop like Terry’s than, say, BoA (for example; I have no idea what’s supposed to be on that website -looks like a big blue box to me (?)).
Anyway, the rest of the story is that it took about five minutes, I never lost sight of Whitey, I didn’t get my name added to anyone’s database, and to top it off, the guy (Hector, Arthur, Alfonzo, something like that) wouldn’t let me pay him. The guy (Alfred maybe?) read the codes to me, asked about the car and generally seemed like he was interested in what he was doing. Lowdrag seal of approval and mad props to the Terry Sayther empire.
I really wish I could remember that guy’s name, I want to add him to my Christmas card list.
UPDATE: His name is Rafael, and he’s the employee of the month. Congratulations Rafael!

saint-worshipping ninnies

Is This as silly as I think it is, or am I just biased againt saint-worshipping ninnies? Maybe both.
Mrs. Bumper told me about the papist’s search for a patron saint of The Internet last night, but I thought she was just trolling me. The Romish Church could go a long way to establishing some legitimacy by naming Mike Muuss as the official Saint of The Internet, but I’m sure it’ll end up being some long-dead burner of Protestants that has nothing to do with anything. I wonder what The Internet Pope has to say about this.