Orange County has a number of tollroads run by Transportation Corridor Agencies. We have little “FasTrak” transponders in our cars, stuck to our windshields, and we pay a toll on the infrequent occasions we use one of these. But with LA County getting its first tollroad, it suddenly made much more sense to abandon my [...]
A year ago, I lost my California driver’s license and discovered the nightmare world of getting it replaced. But since late November of last year, the situation apparently has gotten much worse. My original post was Dear California DMV, Surely Replacing A Driver’s License Could Be Easier. Look at the comments, and you’ll see a [...]
When I got my new Mini Clubman, I’d wished there was a hybrid version. In fact, I’d asked the dealer why Mini didn’t have a hybrid. Apparently, the gas mileage is already considered great (in the UK, the diesel gets like 50+ mpg). But apparently, Mini’s still thinking beyond gas. The Mini E — a [...]
Sad as I was to leave my Mini behind in England, the pain has been greatly eased (if not erased) by my new Mini Clubman here in California. A couple of people have asked me about her, after hearing she’s “pimped” up. So here you go. She’s very sweet, and the Clubman is new enough [...]
Kind of sad today. I sold my Mini. Make that my beloved Mini. I shouldn’t be so sad, as I’ll be getting a new one when I get to the “other side” next week, back home to California. Still, some cars have souls, and I’ll really miss my baby. And that got me thinking about [...]
Man, I got a speeding ticket. Or, I’m about to get one. Guess I was a little too excited about my race day out at Thruxton. I got nabbed by one of the many speed cameras in Wiltshire on the way to the track! The picture above is me in action, as downloaded from the convenientWiltshire [...]
Had a nice morning out at Thruxton race track today. My wife gave me a racing day for last Christmas, and I finally got around to using it. I did this once before last year, but it was in Mazda RX-8s rather than Mini Coopers. Since I own a Mini myself, I was looking forward [...]
I wrote before about my TomTom Go 700 portable GPS system. Now I’ve graduated to the newer version, the TomTom 910. I hadn’t expected to make the jump so soon, but a number of things came together to push me toward this nice new device. My old TomTom Go 700 was great, but maps were [...]
I rent cars often from Holiday Autos. They’re especially good for US expats heading back home, because you get all inclusive insurance coverage that I find can be hard if you go through Hertz and some of the other players. This is really, really important to pay attention to. When I first came to the [...]
Guess SUVs have ticked off Chris Pirillo, who says he doesn’t care what an SUV driver’s reasons are for owning a “gas-guzzling tank.” I kind of had to smile at the irony of the Google ads just below his post, where one of the paid links is hawking Honda CR-V SUVs. Ah, the CR-V. That [...]