Postcards From Myself

In the old days, before my current life in computers, I used to be in the automotive industry. Many days I wish I still was. Most of those days are the ones when the systems crash, the users whine, and the vendors don’t respond to your pleas for help. But, some of the times I wish I was back with cars it is for better reasons. Reason such as . . . well such as the fact that most women consider cars cool and computers geek-ish. Lord how I hate that word, “Geek”.

Anyway, I used to go to various car shows in the good old days. Two big ones were the New York Auto Show and the Atlanta Auto Show. I have never been to the ones in Detroit, Los Angeles, or London, but I have always wanted to.

And now, with an article I just saw, I want to go to the show in Germany. Just click here to see what I mean. Or, better yet, take a look a the picture below and then click on that. That is just a small taste of the Frankfurt 2007 show.

Yup, cars are cool. Computers are not.

Go ahead, laugh at me!

Driving down the road this morning in Roxy I heard this noise like I had run over a tin can. Wait a second! I had just gotten gas! Forgot to put my gas cap back on. That was it taking off across the road to who knows where.

I was running late for church so I only did a cursory glance then, but after church I went back for a real search. Walked up and down the road. Looked in bushes and under cars. But, of course, I Never did find it.

Now I am a true redneck driving around with no gas cap until I can get a new one.

I give up. Sometimes it just isn’t worth getting up in the morning.

I don’t often just plug companies - especially when they aren’t paying me to do so! But, there is one company that I really like, use, and hope catches on. That is ZipCar. Basically they are a service in about ten large cities that let you rent a car by the hour. OK, I know, what is so cool about a car rental service?

Well first of all the fact that you can rent by the hour instead of the day. So say I am in Boston on a trip and I just want to go drive out to the suburbs for some reason. Yes, I could take a taxi, but I like to drive. This enables me to go where I want, when I want.

Second, once you sign up for a membership with them there isn’t any of that dealing with a rental agent, paperwork, and do they have a car. You simply go online to the city you need, enter the date and time you need the car, and put in the general location where you want to pick it up. There are cars strategically positioned all over the supported cities. When you find the one you want you just click the button to reserve it online. That’s it! The send you an RFID encoded membership card so that when you go to the car you reserved at the prescribed time you can just wave your membership card over the windshield and the car opens. The keys are already in it. It is that simple!

Finally, and this would be cool for a lot of people, if you live in one of these big cities and normally just use mass transit and such, you can buy a membership that gives you a certain number of hours per month. You could then use the car to run errands, get groceries, or go on dates. Whatever! It gives the non-car owner the benefits of car usage without the hassles. Just return it to its designated parking spot when you are done.

Anyway, I think it is a great time-share kind of way to use a car. I also like it because I get to try out all sorts of different cars in a real world environment. My wife and I used it last year in Boston to drive up the coast and then down to a New England Revolution soccer game. With mass transit or a taxi we would not have had the freedom to explore or the ability to go where we wanted. And with a standard rental car we would have had to plan ahead much more carefully. With this we just booked the car when we saw that we were going to have some time free. Oh, and no credit card required! Debit cards work just fine. Try that with most rental car companies.

Anyway, give them a check. A very interesting and useful concept, and I wish them much success.

Technorati Tags: Cars

Just a quick update on the ‘02 for those of you who care. I spent a while working on her this afternoon and finally got the oil changed. It took the help of my friend Dave who is a Mac Tool rep to get the drain plug out. Nice having a friend who has all those special tools. The filter still isn’t changed due to that being on too tight also. Seems the previous owner really like to tighten things down. In my over 20 years of working on old cars this is the absolute worst case I have ever seen of over-tight everything. If it wasn’t such a pain it might be funny. Might be, but isn’t.

I also got the idle adjusted down. Turned out to be a slight adjustment to the actual idle control, but more importantly the throttle return spring on there just wasn’t up to the job. I replaced it with one a little shorter and stronger, adjusted the idle, and now Roxy idles happily at around 950 RPM. Much nicer than the 1500 to 1700 that she was doing.

Finally, and this was actually a few days, I replaced the spark plugs. This was not a big thing in itself, but I am hoping the combination of new plugs, clean oil, and calm idle will improve the gas milage. Right now she is averaging somewhere between 19 and 20 miles per gallon. I am hoping through this and other improvements to get up to at least 23 to 25.

Technorati Tags: BMW, Cars

I got the new trunk lock tumbler in today and got that installed this evening. I now have a secure trunk that I can store things in while I am out and about. This, to me at least, officially makes the Roxy useful. Yes! The other thing that helps, is that I put in a full tank of gas. Nothing makes you feel better than looking down and seeing that gas gauge reading full. Makes you want to take a road trip to anywhere.