Perhaphs you could convince her that whom she thinks is Tess Turbo is actually Samantha Supercharged. But you know, and we know it's the Coop.
Mädchen should consider making a childhood carrer playing Annie. She is so adorabale looking over the dash of her new found friend. You are one lucky Papa and I suspect she is one lucky little girl.

 

Yeah, "Samantha Supercharged" actually produced laughter.

And wish me luck -- wife flew back in from the States today, and agreed that, really, going to get the car needs a wingman ( / camerman) o she's going to tag along, jet lag and all.

 

Anyone else get a black box of goodies from MiniUSA yet? I just got mine. It had a pen, journal, roadside bingo, and some other cool stuff as well. Owning a Mini is definitely a unique experience as I don't know of any other car manufacturer that would do this for their customers.

 

Mine came on Saturday

 

Just got my black box. MINI is so awesome. Great branding and customer loyalty programs... may all be an act - but it's a good act.

 

I haven't received a black box, but my stencil for MINI Parking Only came today. I'm getting mentally geared up to make the traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 10. I think next year I'm going to borrow from an old Italian tradition and just have a giant crab feed. We had one with local fresh Dungeoness last night (the season just opened) and it was killer!

Have a great holiday everyone!

 

Got my Black box yesterday. Toggle stickers, journal, Unofficial manual, bingo cards, flash cards and a giant black rubber band. Can't figure out the rubber band, maybe its an emergency engine belt.
Going to Ojo Caliente New Mexico to have Thanksgiving with my cousins. Past the old 1250 mark last night, so the trip should be a blast. My wife absolutley loves the whine of the supercharger.

Happy Thanksgiving all

 

We're only going to be making a dinner for 5 (last year was 12!), which is kind of sad. It's always great having friends and family over for Thanksgiving. And it's kind of fun getting up early and cooking a turkey.

Well have a happy thanksgiving everyone!

 

Moe is carrying me and the doggies (2 giant--as opposed to teacup-- chihuahuas) to my sister's in Madera.... unfortunately there's no "twisty" routes but still a nice 3hr drive. Since I'm going on Wednesday and staying over, my boys are arriving the next day (just for eats.... I guess thats what happens when they "grow up") along with the rest of our family totaling 12.

 

Well, she's here. Got her at lunch today. Spent about an hour with Stephan, going over the ins and outs of it all. Step one? Put in the MP3 CD -- duh.

Wife come along as my wingman, to take photos. Damn Stephan -- gave her one of the keys! What the hell was he thinking, other than "No tip for Stephan!"

MA did at least spot us a bottle of champagne.

Anyway, wife approves of the car. Kids approve of the car. Hell, even neighbors approve of the car. And it drives like hell.

Rubber mats installed, fuzzy dice hung from the mirror. Messing with navigation DVD -- no luck so far. "Trunk" is full of parts to install, too. Looks like I'll use the Thanksgiving days-off-from-work to start the little nickel & dime mods -- ipod adapter, etc.

And yes, the wife had to tell me that I could not sleep in the car tonight.

 

Congrats! And nice Mini, Abuzavi!

 

Yep - I did that first thing too.
134 tracks on my Drivin' Tunes CD. Alpha by artist - AC/DC to ZZTop...
But I had to skip ahead to Led Zeppelin on the way home... Just gotta listen to Zeppelin in a new MINI, IMHO.
su-weet.

 

So that means we're allllll delivered now, right? How cool and sad all at the same time...

My personalized plates came today That made my day.

 

Yeah, I had to laugh when the music started -- it was already on random mode, and Blue Oyster Cult popped up first -- Don't Fear The Reaper. Fitting, for an all black car, I should think. The CD is old school KLOS / KMEL, for those of you who speak LA / SF radio stations from my youth -- Zeppelin, Who, Stones, Hendrix, Skynyrd and the like. We should probably swap CD's in six months, Paul, just to mix things up!

And I should confess -- I'm starting to think of NAM as an evil thing. Surfing it, there are sooooooo may ideas that sound good, and they all involve money I don't want to spend and / or time I don't really have. Take this one, for example -- guy has his arches painted. I saw that and just about fell out of my chair. Beautiful, just beautiful. If we were at home, no problem -- stop by father-in-law's house and it'd be a weekend project (he's got the gear to do it), but here in Germany, the dollar / Euro exchange rate would KILL me if I tried to get this done. Maybe if I find a decent guy to flame the car, I can get the arches done then, too -- and de-badge it -- why not.

I think this weekend will be a swing into an off-the-beaten-path Mini dealer my friend found, to see about the skirt / aero conversion thingy and a Euro parcel shelf. And then it's off to such tasks as iPod adapter, AUX jack, and a new flaming black shifter **** -- yes, it lights up, too. Probably good that it's a long weekend....

Has anyone realized already that there's something that they would have done differently?

 

Yes yes, I love the painted arches myself, but I don't think I'll end up doing it unless I have a major change of heart. I really like Clara as-is, for now anyway.

So far, there's not a darn thing I would do differently. Which really surprises me, after all the indecision after ordering!

 

I forgot to add this to my note yesterday -- a video the wife made as I drove off from taking delivery. That wife -- she's a keeper!

 

Hi everyone!! I have been crazy with work and all kinds of stupid life stuff. I still have soooo much to do to my little car. My clear bra guy and I are playing phone tag. Hopefully I can get my bottom half replaced. I am going to have him redo the top as well so I can pull my stripes. Gotta give me credit though, I kept the original stripes for what, 6wks? If it had been a pair of pants for myself, I would have already returned them!

Hey, I do have to give KUDO's for my current clear bra. My neighbors son (he is 13 going on 20) was skateboarding on his crazy board in the back near our cars. Well, yep, you guessed it. He wiped out, his board nailed my bumper. I was standing by the window (faxing stupid life stuff) and saw the whole thing. I asked him if he hit my car... typical 13yr old response ... No, I just wiped out. A few minutes later, I see him looking at my bumper again. So, before I leave, I check my bumper. Sure enough... cut through and bunched up about an inch of my clear bra and cause an abrasion beside the cut. The bumper underneath looks unscathed. Thank god. I did tell his dad that I was going to maim his son for lying to me. I believe that telling the truth is a problem for their kids. Lying is a huge pet peeve for me.

As for miles, I have well over 2k now. I have to work thursday and friday, so if you all don't hear from me, have a wonderful turkey day.(gobble gobble)

 

I bet we have at least 50% overlap in our tunes from your description...

And, yep, NAM is EEEEVIIILLLL, EEEVIIIIILLLL I TELL YOU!!!!!
I just did a spreadsheet yesterday of how much I've spent so far on crap - just LITTLE crap - most expensive thing is a used cabrio wind deflector for $275. I'm already pushing $2500 just on stupid little crap and detailing crap, and I haven't even started on the list of performance crap yet, that list has like $5000 worth of crap on it and I'm planning on staying very conservative...

And yes, I've been enchanted by the painted arches pixie the last few days, as well - painted arches plus aero side skirt looks su-weet... different car. And another $2000 to do it right... geesh...

 

I'm stopping by the local BMW place tomorrow, to talk about those aero side skirt thingies. So far, I think I am still below $1k for additional crap, but wow, even if I add those... Well, you know. There goes the budget.

Had no rain for most of the work day -- must have gone out to the car 6 times to let people see it. I now refer to it as "my other trophy wife."

(and the drive home included "Dirty Deeds" but by Joan Jett! Come on -- throw me some devil horns!)

 

I posted a quick reply yesterday, to the first Abuzavi message about needing to play Led Zepplin on his first outing... and I don't see it here, so figure it was so "quick" it missed!

Anywho, that's just what I did when I drove off in Minx. Played "Bring it on Home" and "Stairway to Heaven" to celebrate. Abu — that is a very sexy car! I can't wait to see the lighted **** shifter. You and "Compensating" and I probably have VERY similar music libraries. KMEL and KSAN (Terry McGovern) in SF were my listening posts. We just saw The Who in concert last week in San Jose. We were are really fortunate to have spent our youths in such magical music times.

Climbergirl — great to hear from you. I'd make that 13yr. old rake leaves or something humiliating like that to apologize for lying. I'm with you. Lying is far worse that the deed. I'm in touch with my MA with a request to have them refund me completely for the clear bra they subbed (twice now) so I can get it done locally to my perfectionist standards. I've sent pictures of the problem areas and everything to hopefully avoid another long trip to Pleasanton to show them the shabby job. :impatient Are you still loving your Koni's? Can I ask you for more details on those? The model and price you paid for them, plus installation cost? That's my next need. Toooo many bad roads and potholes in Petaluma (no. 1 in the state). I hope you get some turkey dinner at the end of your working day on Thursday. And that you won't have to do anything but lift your arm to bring wine to your lips.

Speaking of arm, how is yours? My shoulder is still a chronic mess. I know you aren't going to like hearing this, but I had another cortisone shot yesterday, this time in my AC joint. After another month of PT, if I don't show noticeable progress, my last recourse is surgery.

Anyone — European parcel shelf? I've heard this mentioned as a good accessory several times but just can't picture it. Where does it go? What does it cost? Where can I get it? I need to add it to my long list of absolutely got to have it crap.

 

Oooh, oooh, I want to hear about Koni's, too!

I'm going to see about parcel shelf -- am worried about the coloring of it. Love the idea of it, just worried about the cosmetics of it. Otherwise, iPod goes in the glove box and the glasses, well, I guess they can go in the arm rest or something.

Anyone else working on how to maximize the limited number of playlists that our Minis will recognize on our iPods? I am a hard-core iTunes fanatic, and have been mulling it over in my head. I think I have it conceptually worked out -- I'll take some of the tricks I already use (see this) but change out the name of the final playlist accordingly, so Tess will know what to do with it. Anyone wanting to get a jump on the R&D for this, feel free -- I'll be sure to tackle it some after I get my adapter installed (this weekend, I hope) and report back.

PS -- is anyone else blogging the arrival of their new car? I am.

 

Parcel Shelf - an absolutely must have accessory. I put it in the day Lil' Blue came home. It looks completely "factory" - because, well, in some places it IS factory. The color 100% matches the charcoal color of the knee bolster and nearby parts of the lower dash. Everyone that sees it thinks it came that way and oohs and ahhs about how nice it is to have a "stash" there...

There are some pix in other threads of how it looks installed - I'll find one and link in a few minutes. I carry my MINI key an house key on one ring - but I have a carabiner FULL of other keys, lights, swiss army knife, lego characters, etc. Too big for my pocket, and not something I want dangling while I drive. I toss this on the shelf and it stays. In fact, I leave it there most of the time and it's really not visible from the outside of the car. I also keep my work security badge on there when I'm not at work. But it's a great place to stash all kinds of stuff. It was more of a "no brainer" before the price went up - but I had to pay about $100 and it's worth TWICE that IMHO.

Yeah, you could say I LIKE it.

 

Here's a pic of davavd's tray in his wrecked MINI - looks like he has a box of tissues on there...

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/paulp/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

 

I've been tinkering with this as well, with some additional complications since we have three iPods that can go in the MINI: a 3G iPod with enough capacity to hold my entire library, a 6 GB Mini, and a 2 GB nano, all synced to the same iTunes library (so all of these have to have the same MINI1 through MINI5 playlists). We usually leave the nano in the MINI, since it doesn't mind getting cold as much as the others (it's already subfreezing here at night)

First trick I've done is pretty much the same as the link you gave: I have a series of smart playlists for each star rating and a period of time since the songs in that playlist were last played, with higher rated songs having shorter times. Then a master playlist which is all of this, which ends up being a playlist with highly-rated songs playing more often. I then have variants of this tweaked for being appropriate for the MINI and working out (no classical, no really long songs, etc).

I also have an entire playlist of driving music. And a playlist that's podcasts and audiobooks so I don't have to fiddle around with the iPod to continue listening to my audiobooks (which I do a lot on the drive to work). A playlist that's recently added stuff. And that leaves one more I haven't used yet.

I originally did this when I bought a shuffle to manage the autofilling of it a little better, and have kept using it.

 

Here's a good pic from the galleries:



I think the color matches better than what it looks like here. In my car you can't tell any difference between the shelf, the column, the glovebox door, etc. I think the flash light just makes the colors "pop" differently than usual.

And you NEVER really see it from this angle. You're never at eye level with it. From regular eye level it's much more subtle - like in the photo from davavd's car above.