Okay… this is just great. I know I’ve been quiet other than sharing news about my car, and my escapades with my car, but really… this had to be shared.

107,951$ in judgment against the RIAA in Atlantic v. Anderson. It’s about friggin’ time!

And note that the MSM is completely ignoring this news! There is no word of this on the front page of Google at all.

I used to love Japanese cars because they had all of these neat gizmos attached to them, and they ran for years and years without complaint, but I have since come to realize that I sacrificed so much to have the technology and the reliability. I sacrificed control, I sacrificed self-confidence and freedom, but worst of all, I’ve now proven to myself that James May was right. To paraphrase, he said that Japanese cars, while extremely technically advanced are completely soulless. I never understood that phrase until now. You see, I’ve never before owned a car with a soul.

I love this car because she has a soul. There is a life to Viola that makes her unique from every other MINI, and now that I’ve driven more than one MINI, I can safely tell you that there is no other car that is quite like her. The other MINI I drove was the same model, same year, everything was the same about the car, except the color and the leatherette seats… and I emphatically hated driving that car. That car, while still doing what I expected a MINI to do, was not Viola. It had a personality that did not mesh with mine. It was like the kid that you tolerated because you had to sit next to him in class, but otherwise, never would have said a word to. So, obviously, I take it personally when someone cuts in front of me on the freeway, or honks their horn because they want me to do something that puts Viola in danger simply because they are in a hurry. Thankfully, Viola and I have a rapport and I know what her limits are so that when push comes to shove, I can steer her out of danger.

Tight steering is a beautiful thing when you experience it for the first time, and when it comes to tight steering, Viola is both relentless and unforgiving. I can actually turn my vehicle into the lane I am turning from–this is a completely new experience for me, since the Toyota Corolla has a turning radius that roughly approximates that of your average household vacuum cleaner. Because the steering is so tight, driving the MINI requires concentration and thought on my part. I have to interact with it, and be a part of the process. I am no longer just a variable in the equation. This should mean lots of good things, but it also means some bad things too because now that I am paying more attention, I notice what other drivers are doing more and it scares me.

Most people seem to wander aimlessly behind the wheel of their cars. They operate them as if they had the auto-pilot switch flipped on. They’re checking their lip gloss in the rear view. They’re on their cell phones talking to their wives. They’re flipping switches, pushing buttons and turning dials. I’ve seen more than one person reading a newspaper and drinking their coffee while having one index finger on the steering wheel. All of these extra-curricular activities behind the wheel are inherently dangerous. Any time you are doing something behind the wheel of a car that is other than being behind the wheel of a car, your awareness of your surroundings is cut in half.

I thank God every day that Viola handles as well as she does, because I have been in more near misses since purchasing this car, and I believe now that half of the problem is that I am noticing how people behave when they drive. The other half of it, is that people really just don’t care about other drivers when they are behind the wheel. I humbly submit my experience from today as proof.

While driving down the road with my daughter and a friend of hers in the car, a blue Lincoln was heading the opposite direction down Mission street. In the middle of the road, this driver decided suddenly that he had gone the wrong way. Rather than pull up to the intersection and make a legal U turn, this man decided it was in his best interests to flip a three point turn in the middle of the street and proceeded to do so. In the process of doing this, without signaling, without caring, the man backed his car into the lane that I was driving in. If I hadn’t jogged to the right, my car would have been totaled and I imagine that I and both children would have been seriously injured in the accident, even at 30 miles per hour. This man did not know, or care or even remotely consider that I might have children in the car. He was too busy being self-absorbed. He was too focused on the fact that he was lost and had gone the wrong direction and his need to get where he was going superseded my safety and the safety of the children in the car with me.

What’s really shocking is that I see this sort of behavior on the road every single day. Every time I see someone take one of these risks that puts me, or another driver in danger, I just want to shake them and say, “One of these days, the other driver will not be a better driver than you, will not have a better reaction time than you do, will not be a safer, more aware driver than you. That other driver will be talking on their cell phone, or checking their lip gloss when you decide to do the wrong thing because you make a snap decision that the risk is worth it to you. What if it’s not worth it… to them? What if they have a brand new baby at home that needs a father? What if they have a pregnant wife in the car that is heading to the hospital to deliver their child? What if there are children in the car that would have otherwise lived long and normal lives, if not for you and the decision you made behind the wheel of the car that day?”

The solution to this, of course, is that none of us should ever have to think about those things because we should choose to be safe motorists. We should consider the needs of others, before we consider our own needs, and not even at a level of who gets into the wal-mart parking lot first, but out of a certain respect for something much more basic.

Life.

Suppose that you chose to be aware and involved in the process of driving your car. Suppose that you stopped merely operating a motor vehicle and became a driver. Whose life would you save by lane changing one afternoon? Which kids would get to smile as their dad walked in the door because you made the right decision and chose to pay attention?

I don’t imagine that the guy in that Lincoln cared about any of those things today, but some day, he might. He might choose to wake up and stop putting himself before others. Someday that guy might wake up and decide to become a hero. Some day, he might read this blog and know exactly who is speaking to him and realize that the crazy redhead behind the wheel of the silver MINI Cooper spared him from injury and spared his car from damage today by knowing that she could trust her car to move as fast as she turned the wheel.

Driving a car that makes you get involved in the process really is a completely different universe that is something entirely other than simply sitting in the cockpit of a corolla. The stress that has come from my noticing and becoming more aware of other drivers has been enough to make me want to take up drinking, but I know that I will grow accustomed to it in time.

It’s just that I’m really not sure that I should ever accept it.

It has officially been a month since I bought my MINI Cooper. Viola is an evil little car. I have broken no laws behind the wheel of this vehicle, but boy does she tempt me toward the dark side. There are several twisty, windy back roads in the area that I have always wanted to find some official means to have cleared and make it legal for me to do 90 mph on them for even just ten minutes, but I never had a car that was capable of taking those turns at 90… before I met Viola that is. I haven’t tried it, so I’m not 100% sure, but every bone in my body tells me that this little car could take those turns at 90 without having the passengers leaning to one side of the vehicle, but this is just one of the many evils that she tempts me with.

The other day, I was at a stop light parked next to a Mistubishi Eclipse Spyder. There is a horrible irony in this, in that a friend of mine recently told me that he would love to have a Spyder. Dave, you’re far cooler than this guy so please take no offense. The driver of this car looked like he was all about looking cool, and he revved his engine at me and stared at me and smiled. This informal invitation to race seemed stupid to me. I’ve never raced someone before, but I figured that as long as I kept it legal, it was okay for me to test what my car could do from a dead stop on dry pavement. So when the light changed, I didn’t floor it and in spite of this, the Spyder seemed to be lacking in forward momentum. Maybe his car needed work, or maybe he had crappy tyres, but the Spyder had no acceleration out of the gate. I just calmly stepped on the gas, and calmly accelerated to 35 mph, and by the time I got there, dude in the Spyder was half a block behind me cursing from behind the wheel of his car. God, I love my MINI.

This is the first car I have ever driven that has reminded me of my childhood wish to be as cool as Shirley Muldowney. I got to watch her race at the drags when I was a kid. My dad took me to the drags every summer, and I hated it at first, but when he told me about Shirley Muldowney and I saw the pink dragsters, I immediately became fascinated with them. Funny cars, not so funny cars, fast cars, chutes popping out the back as the engines roared so loud that I thought my ears were going to bleed… and I hated the waiting between the races and I hated the noise, but watching those cars tear ass down the strip with my dad will always rank up there with my most fond memories of him.

Luckily for me, there’s a local racing park here where I can rent time and take my car out for some legal racing, and I have never thought that I might do such a thing, ever, because I saw accidents on tracks when I was a kid. I know how dangerous racing is, even if you’re just doing time trials for fun on a Saturday afternoon, with no one else on the track with you. It doesn’t matter, racing is dangerous. You have a 2100 pound machine, in the case of the MINI, moving at high velocity with steering that is on a hair trigger. If your foot slips off the gas and onto the brake, you’re spinning out and possibly spinning into a wall. And still… part of me is extremely tempted to start doing time trials with Viola… because it would be so damned fun that I have a hard time imagining anything better than setting my hair on fire while behind the wheel of her on a Saturday afternoon.

My car being an evil genius is also about more than just the bad things that she tempts me to do. There’s a rhythm that you get into when you’re behind the wheel of a car that you love, there’s a certain synergy that happens between man and machine that leaves you feeling a certain way about the machine when you’ve finished your turn with it. When I got behind the wheel with Viola the first time, on the test drive, she was a show off. She’d been the dealer demo and you could tell that this car begged for more out of life. That little loop around the dealership was so familiar to the car it was almost as if you were riding the thing on rails, but there was something there, something more. Something that said, “Get me out of here!”

After the paperwork was signed, that is precisely what I did. On the drive back from Tacoma, I learned exactly why my car is an evil genius. Not only does she tempt me to break the law, but she inspires me to tell everyone that I can about her. She intends for MINI Coopers of all shapes and sizes to become the only car in the world, and certainly, for as long as I drive her to me, she will be the only car in the world. Yeah, I have access to two other cars, but nothing else will be my MINI Cooper.

First of all, I would like to thank all of my friends. When the news came to them that my grandmother passed away last week, my friends from all corners of the globe rushed to my side via the text message, twitter, IM, cell phones and e-mail to be there for me. There are also those that waited until they were able to tell me of their sorrow for my loss face to face. Thank you. I am so blessed to have all of you in my life, I truly am.

My grandmother passed away a week ago today. I was with her when she died. Earlier in the day I had talked to the doctor. He told me quite matter-of-factly that it was just a matter of time. To be honest with you, I was grateful for his direct nature. I don’t like it when people beat around the bush when it comes to things that are just going to break my heart. I’d rather hear it straight, feel the pain, deal with it and get on with my life. He told me that she was in a state of delirium, but he said that he was sure that she knew we were there, and that she understood us and that we could talk to her. I decided to take him at his word. I had the chance to be alone with her before she passed, so I talked to her for a bit. I told her that my cousins and I were all grown up now, I had figured out how to make her wonderful apple pie and that my children were doing well in school and that I was happy. Then I told her the thing that broke my heart to say, but I knew needed to be said, because I knew right down to my soul that she was waiting to hear it. I told her that if she needed to go, she could. I told her that I was a big girl now and could take care of myself.

It hurt so bad to say it, but I meant every single word and less than an hour later, she was gone.

My aunt asked me to speak at the funeral, and I told her that I would, but when I sat down to write a few things, I couldn’t even think. My grandmother was so many things to me. I was her only grand-daughter and because of this I was spoiled, but I was also so loved by her. She drove me absolutely crazy. Every phone call was heavily laden with worry for the health of my children, “Are you feeding them babies enough? They’re not sick are they?”. Her worrying and obsessing over their well-being was so bad that my husband jumped at the first chance he had to move us out of the state when it showed up because he couldn’t watch me cope with it anymore. But in spite of all of that, when she was gone all I could think about was all of her love.

When I was little, Grandma and I would watch musicals together. The first time I saw “The King and I”, my grandma and I sat on the couch in her living room and cried over a box of kleenex as the king died. It is still my favorite musical of all time. We would also sit on the couch and watch game shows, and figure out all the answers on Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune long before the contestants ever got their shot. She was a sharp gal, my grandma. She also made these amazing apple pies that will always fill my soul when I think about eating them, because there was love in every bite and no one will ever make apple pie like she did. No one.

All of these memories flooded into my mind at once, and even more because I spent so much time with her. Compared to my cousins, who grew up across the country from our grandparents, I was so lucky but at the same time I still feel as though I didn’t spend enough time with them. I feel like I missed out on way too much, but I know it’s not true. I was there when it mattered. I was able to give her the key that set her free from this mortal life that was filled with hard work, pain, suffering and loneliness. My love for her allowed her to go and be with my grandpa and my uncle. My love sent her home and it is this, more than anything else, that gives me peace.

I have managed to get my hands on a couple of things from my grandparents house. They didn’t have much, they were poor and they worked their fingers to the bone every day of their lives, but what they did have, they were so very proud of. My grandmother’s depression glass collection is on its way, and I have a box that I shipped to myself before I left my parents’ house that contains some of the most precious items of all.

When the box showed up on the kitchen counter, my son looked at me and said, “So what’s with the box?”
I said, “This is my grandmother’s life.”
My daughter looked disgusted and said, “No way! Great-grandma’s ashes are in there?” At this, my husband gave me a dubious look, and then smiled because he already knew what was inside.
I shook my head and said, “No. These are pictures, mementos of every moment of my grandmother’s life. There are pictures from when she was in kindergarten, until the day that her youngest great-grandchild was born.”
My daughter said, “Oh.” and went on about her business. My son nodded and went on about his business too. My husband hugged me and I struggled not to cry.

You see, it’s my job to catalog her life. I am going to scan the photos and send some of them back to my aunt, while others will go into a photo album to chronicle this small piece of my family’s history. Once they are assembled in the book, I’ll sit down with my kids and go over every photo in detail and pass it down to them when I am gone along with the mementos of my life.. and I hope that they remember me with all the love that I feel from my grandmother right now.

I picked her up yesterday. She’s incredible and this is the first time in my life that I have ever been in love… with a car. Now I understand my Dad’s obsession with that mustang when I was a kid.

So I’m in the process of buying a car. I joked with my husband that I wanted a MINI Cooper and we thought it was funny. The closest dealership is nearly 300 miles away. Warranty service seemed like it would be impossible to get and it just didn’t make sense, then he found a listing for a used one at a local dealership and took me out for a test drive just because it was fun.

Well, that was exactly the problem. It was FUN! I have never had so much fun driving a car. I loved the car so much that my husband was in shock. He figured this car shopping thing was going to be like pulling teeth. I’ve driven the same car for ten years, and I like my car. I’ve never been in love with it, but it’s reliable and gets me from A to B, so I have no complaints. I’ve told him for years that I didn’t need a new car, or want one. But, when I got behind the wheel of the MINI, my eyes lit up. It was like I had been in a driving coma and suddenly, I was alive again.

Ever since then, I’ve been car shopping with gusto. So here are some results from the cars I’ve testhy driven so far.

2004 MINI Cooper

The handling on this car is amazing. When you turn the steering wheel, it turns the car as far as you turn the wheel. Steering is not guess work. This is the first thing I noticed about the car after putting it in drive. Sure, there are lots of other features, the cockpit in the MINI is this thing that is both complex and wondrous at the same time (I never did find the button for the power windows and the salesman had no idea where to start looking), but in spite of that the drive was fun. The acceleration is punchy, yet smooth. The car doesn’t jerk or stutter when accelerating, it just goes. Stepping on the gas does something in this car, unlike in my current vehicle, where stepping on the gas is followed by a 2 second delay and then a blank stare followed by the phrase “Oh! You meant NOW!” The drive of this car was everything I wanted it to be, but I passed on this one because it was close in mileage to my current car. Still, MINIs are way fun to drive.

2008 Honda Civic EX

I’m going to talk about the interior on this one for a second. The interior on the Honda Civic is pretty much one of those sorts of things where you get into the car, look at the dash and go “What the f***?” I’m not sure what Honda was thinking. Maybe they thought that Space Aliens were going to invade and their cars needed to be ready for the transition. That said, the layout for the dash, though strange and off-putting, turns out to be amazingly awesome when you’re behind the wheel of the car. The speedo is exactly where you want it to be, just below your field of vision, so you scarcely have to take your eyes off the road to keep an eye on how fast you’re going, and the drive in this car is so fun! The Honda doesn’t handle quite as tightly as the MINI, but acceleration is nice and smooth and sometimes gets away from you. Braking on the Honda is also smooth, but the brakes in the Honda are some of the touchiest brakes I’ve used so far. It would take some getting used to, but not an all together bad thing. Steering in the civic is also nice and tight.

2008 Subaru Impreza

I drove this car because I promised my father that I would test drive one of the cars he builds. The Impreza didn’t really impress me. It handles and feels nearly identical to a Corolla, but the seats were more comfortable than in my current vehicle. This is the biggest problem with Subarus though. You buy them for their reputation of being reliable cars, you buy them because they handle great on snow. You don’t necessarily buy them because they are fun to drive. I don’t have anything bad to say about it, but I don’t really have anything great to say about it either. It was just sort of… meh…

Tonight’s test drive will be the 2008 Scion tC. Wish me luck on finding a salesman though. Last night, I stood on the lot for twenty minutes and no one ever showed up. I’m thinking these guys may not want my business.

It’s Wednesday, so even the song is appropriate. It’s called “Weekend” and while appropriate, it’s not the greatest thing, but still… I know many men, some of whom read this blog, that would wish they could be the photocopier.

I’m all for good political humor… but this image that my son showed me earlier today, while cheesy, made my whole day. I’m posting it in an external link because I don’t believe in hotlinking and I’ve been too lazy to fix the flickr plug-in on my blog.

It is rare that I will link to an article that’s on Motor Trend. My father was an avid reader, and my brother is too, but I never got into the whole car thing like they did. I don’t understand the mechanics behind how these machines work, but I do have a moderate grasp on the physics, and I spent enough time around cars as a child to know certain things. I can tell if my car isn’t running right by how it sounds, and I may not know exactly what is wrong, but I do know when it’s time to go see the mechanic.

Lately, I have been considering the idea of getting a new car. I’m really enamored to the Mini Cooper, but there isn’t a dealership that sells them close by and the nearest warranty service center for them is 200 miles away. I’m also actually considering purchasing my third Toyota Corolla. My first corolla was totalled in a car accident. My second corolla is the one I am currently driving and it still runs great. When I took it into the mechanic for a tune up, he was impressed at how well my eight year old car was running. The only reason I’m even considering a new car is because my husband says it’s time to get a new one.

Regardless of what I choose, I think this guy has an interesting point to make about the future of vehicles and this article is extremely well written. Dozo.

Amen to this guy, who explains the science behind why it is that pizza on the west coast cannot ever approach the goodness that is true New York pizza. Apparently the secret is in 90 year old brick ovens, and the tap water. Amazing, no?

I’ve always wondered about that pizza thing. I mean, I like pizza enough to eat it, regardless of its origins, but there still is very little that competes with slices of New York style pies. Personally, I preferred my uncle’s rendition of pizza to everything else. My uncle is Sicilian and learned to make this wicked amazing pizza, which he then passed down to my father, who also makes this wicked amazing pizza, but it’s not quite as good as my uncle’s for some reason. Perhaps this exercise in scientific explanation makes sense, and can help humanity truly understand what goes in to making the best pizza in the world.