Goodbye to my MINI Cooper

Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my beloved 2004 MINI Cooper this morning. This was a hard one. I know it's just a car, but I was pretty attached to it. I've had it for over 14-1/5 years, which is a great amount of time, but I'm so sad that her life with me was cut short because of a hit-and-run that happened when she was parked in front of our house.

I heard from my insurance company Friday afternoon. The total estimate to repair my car would have been over $10,000 - well exceeding the actual value of the car. It didn't make any sense to put that kind of money into it, especially given the age.

My little MINI was such a great car - over 14-1/2 years, and just over 70,000 miles. I did routine maintenance on it, but never had to put any money into it beyond that. This little car was everything I hoped it would be when I first bought it.

The guy at the Auto Body shop this morning said that they haven't had any first-generation MINI Coopers in their shop for several years, and that they were pretty amazed when they saw mine.

Here's the thing: I've been obsessed with this car the entire time I had it, and even months before it was ever built! I first decided that I wanted a MINI Cooper back in 2003 - they were fairly new at the time, and weren't available to buy straight from the dealerships. Actually, most dealerships were charging a $2,500 markup just to put in an order for one. I ordered my MINI through East Bay MINI in Pleasanton, who didn't charge a markup, but had a long wait list. I first placed my order in September. Everything about it was built to spec - not just the color, but the color and type of seats (beige/black leather, sports seats), the color of the dash, the color of the interior roof (and exterior roof, for that matter), all of the options, down to the chrome trim on the bumpers.

At the time, MINI had a website that you could sign in and see the timeline of your car being built. My car was built on December 18, 2003. (See, this is how obsessed I was!). I watched online and followed it's progress as it was shipped to Southern CA via the Panama Canal. I took ownership of it on January 31, 2014.

I'm not exaggerating by saying that I've always been thrilled with my MINI the entire time I had it. It was always so much fun to drive, especially in San Francisco. It was the perfect City car, fitting into small parking spots that most other cars wouldn't fit it.

*sigh*. I'm so very bummed that I will no longer have my MINI. (her formal name was MINI Driver, by the way).

RIP MINI Driver. You were a great little car, and I'll miss you.

My MINI at 60,000

My eleven year old MINI Cooper reached 60,000 miles tonight as we were driving back home from Stockton. We had celebrated Chinese New Year with our family (a little early) tonight, but I forgot to take any photos. Shame on me.

Anyhow, my little MINI is going strong, and seemed to enjoy stretching her wheels today!

10 Years of MINI in the US

This is a neat little ad campaign.

MINI is celebrating 10 years in the US. I got my MINI in January, 2004, which is over 8 years ago, so I guess I was somewhat of an early adopter.

I received this email from MINIUSA yesterday:



I clicked on the link to see their special "thank you" and found this:



Next, I zoomed in on the image as directed, and found my name! (towards the bottom right of the full image.)



I got a message on my Facebook wall this morning from my friend, Eddie (also a MINI owner) who found the image and tagged me in it. Fun!



Like i said, it's a neat campaign. I appreciate how they made the image using the names of more than 400,000 MINI owners to make this ad so personal. :)

PS: My Mom is a proud MINI, too! (she has a little purple MINI named Picabo!)

Here's her name on the list. (I circled two names, not knowing which one she is for sure. Her middle name is Anne (or, is it Ann?) but it's unlikely that she'd use her middle name. She's probably "Barbara C" but I thought it was kind of funny that she could possibly be the Barbara Anne.)

Why I am a new fan of AAA

I've had a piece of mail sitting on my desk for about 3 months. (this may explain my need to purge, but I digress...) The mail was from AAA, and it was an offer waive the $17 enrollment fee. I've been meaning to get to this and become a AAA member for months (this limited time deal expired in mid-September) but for some reason I never got around to it.

...and boy, did I feel stupid about never getting to it today.

Early this afternoon, I went to our garage and tried to unlock my car from the remote on my key. Nothing.

I unlocked my car by physically inserting my key into the lock on the car door. When's the last time you've done that?

I tried to start my car, but... nothing. Nothing at all.

Apparently, *someone* (who shall remain nameless) forgot to turn off the lights when we came home Thursday night. The battery was dead.

Luckily, Dick was getting his car from our other (rented) garage space, and was driving up the block towards me. I managed to signal him, and he pulled his car inside the garage my car was stuck in.

We hooked up our jumper cables, but alas, just a click, and nothing more.

Again, and again, and again...

We figured the battery was probably dead.

So, as I've mentioned, I've been meaning to join AAA for just such an emergency. We figured there was no time like the present.

I signed up online (although I no longer had a code to waive my enrollment fee) and immediately called them to see if they could send someone over to check my battery. At this point, we assumed that a new battery may very well be order.

We had read on the AAA site that it would take 2 days after enrollment to be able to use our membership. That would be okay, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

And I'm glad I did! The nice woman at AAA (Dottie was her name) was oh-so-helpful and friendly. I told her that I had signed up for my membership no more than 5 minutes earlier, but she said that would be fine. She called a tow-truck in my City, and told me he would be here in less than 15 minutes.

The AAA truck came, the guy took out his heavy duty battery charger thingy, and voila... my engine turned over on the first try!!

AAA - FTW!

He suggested that I drive my car around for at least 30 minutes before turning off the engine (which I did), had me sign a piece of paper, and was on his way.

So there you go.

I have plenty of blog posts with rants about companies and bad customer service.

It's so nice to write a post about a GOOD customer service story.

Thank you, AAA!

How many people does it take to clean a MINI Cooper?

... at last count, 10-12.

My little car is getting the special treatment at a Chevron station in Marin.

Happy MINI!! :)

My MINI, the Wonder Car!

This month marks my 5-Year MINIversary, and this little car never ceases to amaze me!

Today, we took a trip to IKEA to furnish my newly completed art studio.

I had the shopping list set before we got to the store. We did a quick trip around the display floor to physically see the products before we bought them, then we went down to the warehouse level to pick them up.

We brought my MINI today, because, after all, between our two cars, it is the larger of the two. We figured we'd probably have to arrange for delivery for IKEA, which I think runs around $75.00.

Here's what we bought:

1 Bookshelf (79" tall, 13.5" wide, 11" deep)
2 Bookshelf Doors (15-3/4" x 17-37-3/4")
1 Work Bench (51" x 26-3/4" x 37")
1 Folding Bar Stool
1 Area Rug

We purchased all of our goods, then started heading to the delivery department. We figured we'd be able to fit everything in my car except for the bookshelf and the work bench.

As we waited in line for the delivery dept, we decided that there would be no harm in trying to fit everything in my car.

So, we took everything out to the pick-up area, where I waited while Dick brought the car along.

Incredibly, we managed to fit it all! We squeezed (literally) the bookcase box through the trunk, and in between the two front seats. It was rammed as far as it could go against the front console. The trunk barely closed.

Clearly, there wasn't enough room for the work bench box to go inside the car, but we realized that it would fit fine on top of the roof. One thing I love about the MINI is its large, flat roof. It enables me to pack a lot more into the car, and also makes it easy to transport stuff on top!

We put the big, flat box onto the roof, then I ran back inside IKEA to buy a set of straps/fasteners to strap down the box through the windows.

Worked like a charm! We went across the Bay Bridge, and made it home just fine, with no crazy incidents.

We're really pleased that it all worked out! We got everything home today, without having to pay $75 and wait a few days for delivery! :)

BMW Mini Electric Cars Available in U.S. From Summer 2009

Well, this is cool news.

Only, I suppose I'd have to have a garage, so I could plug it into an outlet. ;)

(thanks to my buddy, Todd, for sending the article to me!)

MINI Clubman

I'm in Pleasanton having my MINI serviced. Had a chance to check out
the new MINI Clubman. It's really cool! If I remember right, there's an extra 2 inches in the rear seats, and and extra 8 inches in the trunk. Personally, I don't need a larger MINI (I like to be able to fit in the small parking spots in SF!) but my parents are considering getting one. They're really nice. I especially like many of the new interior features in the '08 MINIs - Leather Piping trim on the seats, better glove compartment, remote key, etc., I took a bunch of photos and will post more later. (Once I get MacDreamy back)

Happy (Belated) MINIversary!

BAD MINI Owner! BAD, Bad, bad....

Oh no! I forgot that yesterday was my MINI's 4th MINIversary!

Happy MINIversary!

I can't believe I've had her, "MINI Driver", for four years already.
Seems like just yesterday that we picked her up from the dealership!

I think this also means that my extended warranty has expired! Hmmmm. I should look into that!

I suppose one of these years, I'll stop talking about my MINI so much, but it probably won't be this year. :)

Geeky McGeekster

When Geeky Worlds Collide...

Dick and I just bought a new toy. It's a Garmin NUVI 760 GPS device. It's pretty cool. We honestly don't drive outside of SF very often, so we haven't had a chance to really use it yet, but we've had fun taking it around the town, and testing out what it can do.

The Garmin web site has a few 3D vehicles that you can download to show up as your vehicle on the screen. I was really hoping to find a MINI Cooper, but no luck.

Last night, I was surfing around some MINI forums to get some opinions on a GPS mounting option for my car, and I came across some MINI icons for the Garmin! Imagine my excitement!

This morning, as I was riding with Dick to the CalTrain station, I decided to take a picture of the GPS screen with my little MINI Cooper, tootling along the Streets of San Francisco. Pretty cute, huh?

Unfortunately, it only has the option for a checkered roof and bonnet strips, but it's still a Chili Red MINI Cooper, none-the-less. I may play with it a bit to see if I can make some digital modifications. :)

BTW: here's the mounting system I'm thinking about getting for my MINI (the second option down). Has anyone used the Kuda products before? Thoughts?

We have a parking spot in a garage!!!

After living in San Francisco for 12 years, I'm thrilled to report that I am able to park my car in a garage for the first time!

Dick and I have always not-so-secretly hoped that we would someday be able to find a garage in the neighborhood to rent. We've looked into adding a garage to our own house, but that would require physically raising and moving the house, building a new foundation, in addition to lots of time and a ton of money.

Parking on the street for our two cars has been surprisingly not too problematic: we can usually always park somewhere on the block, and even usually even in front of our house (because our two cars fit so perfectly in a spot that most people would use for one car). But nonetheless, we'd always thought it would be really nice to actually have a spot in a garage that we knew we could come home to when the neighborhood is busy, and let's not forget the recent time that both of our cars got keyed in the middle of the night.

We'd been checking craigslist on occasion to see if any spots were available. Honestly, I'd given up at least a couple of years ago. Over the last 6 months, we've received postcards in the mail from new neighbors who had recently moved into the neighborhood, looking for available parking spots. They literally made post cards, sent them out to the neighborhood, and basically said they were willing to pay almost anything. That's when the reality set in that we'd probably never find a spot. Unbeknownst to me, Dick continued to check in craigslist every once-in-a-while for the slight chance that something would open up.

Two weeks ago, it happened: Dick found a garage space that was available just down the block - about 5 houses down. How ideal, and amazing! We'd both left messages over the next couple of days, but figured it must have been taken already.

I received a voice mail message a few days later saying the spot was still available! They had several people who had come by who were interested, but that it's such a tight spot that no one was able to actually get their car in comfortably. (this is starting to sound like Cinderella now) The woman literally said that the spot is very small, and would be ideal for a car like a MINI Cooper!

Imagine her surprise when I called her back and told her that I actually DO have a MINI Cooper. She totally thought I was pulling her leg. Dick and I met with her that evening, and practiced driving my car in, and out, then also tried the same with his car. They both fit!

Now, I realize that this may sound ludicrous to those of you who have never lived in a city before. I've lived in San Francisco for 12 years, and I've never had a spot for my car, let alone a garage to keep it in. I'm thrilled knowing that we'll always have a spot, we can take our car out of busy weekends that we used to stay in for (Castro Street Fair, Gay Pride, Halloween) and our car(s) may even stay more clean now that they won't be exposed to the elements all of the time!

Yesterday was the first day (first of the month) that we started to officially rent the space. I was in Milpitas during the afternoon and evening visiting my Grandparents and my parents. When I came home late last night, I didn't have to worry about finding an open spot, or which side of the street I should park on (Friday morning street cleaning). I was able to drive right into to my newly-rented garage space! My little MINI practically danced a little jig as we drove in (and so did I).

Sea of MINIs

At the mini dealership (had to bring my mini in for a replacement rear
view mirror.)

Ahhhhhh.... much better!

We both feel better now...

Mean People Suck

and bad karma will come along and bite them in the ass...

Poor little MINI Driver has had a really bad day!

I drove down to Milpitas to spend the afternoon with my Grandparents this morning. I stopped off at Costco for some gas along the way. When I got out of my car, that's when I saw it:

someone had keyed my poor little car!

There's a line going from the front wheel well all the way across the door to the gas tank.

Bastards!

To make matters worse, as I was driving around the South Bay with my Grandparents this afternoon, my car's tire pressure sensor light came on.

WTF?!

When I first checked the tires, they seemed to be okay, but at least I was forewarned to watch over them carefully.

About an hour later, I brought it to a gas station to check the pressure, and by that time, the rear passenger tire was noticeably low. I figured I must have a leak, and thought it best to have it patched and repaired before driving back to SF.

So then I had to make my way to the local Firestone in Milpitas. Luckily, they were able to take me in right away, and the wait time was estimated at only an hour or so.

My poor car.

When I get it back, I'm going to give it a nice bath and try to wash away all the badness of the day.

Since I didn't notice the car scratch while I was at home, I didn't think to check Dick's car, or the neighbor's cars. I hope that nothing happened to them.

update

Well, it just got a little worse: Dick's car, and my neighbor's car (the green MINI that parks right in front of Dick's car) were also keyed last night. That blows.

Perspective: As Dick would say, "This is why we have insurance". Considering I've lived in San Francisco for 12 years, and I've never had a garage, it's kind of a wonder that's this has never happened before.

Let's try this again...

I actually drove past the billboard just this afternoon! I got all excited with anticipation as I saw it in the distance, and started to approach it...

...then I remembered that I was driving Dick's car today.

D'oh!

I plan to drive back down to the South Bay this weekend to celebrate my Mom's birthday. I'll be sure to drive my MINI this time, and I'll have my key fob and camera ready!

..and speaking of...

Fed Ex just delivered a little box to me:

MINI Adventure Field Kit.
Contents: Essential Motoring Nonessentials

Inside this cute little box were all kinds of MINI related goodies:
A nice pen, a notebook, mouse pad, window decals, antenna ball, accessories catalog, etc.,

Also included was a note card that read:

Something to make the meantime slightly less mean.

We wanted to let you know that the San Francisco Motorby board will be removed due to some unforeseen construction. Apparently, they deemed the infrastructure of the city more important than our incredible board. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Thankfully, the board will be relocated to a much more electronic billboard-friendly community. Details will be provided via email shortly. In the meantime, we wanted to provide you will a little something to keep you distracted and amused until we are up and running again. Thanks for your patience.

Impressive, huh?

You've gotta love that I've had my car for over three years, and their still sending fun little goodies my way. That's good marketing.

I finally got my MINI key fob, but...

Well, that was anti-climatic.

I finally got my MINI key fob in the mail about a month ago. I hadn't been able to test it since then because the MINI billboard was near the entrance to the Bay Bridge, and I don't drive across it routinely.

Yesterday, my cousin, Kenneth and I drove to Oakland to pick up my sister for my Grandma's Birthday dinner in Stockton. Before we reached the location of the billboard, I told Kenneth all about it. We were both very excited to see what it would say. He even had his camera out, and his window rolled down, ready to snap a photo.

As we drove towards the location of the billboard, we noticed that there was a lot of construction, and that there were dividers up, obscuring our view of the billboard. As we drove by, Kenneth looked for the sign, but the only thing we saw was a black, blank billboard.

No MINI. No MINI Motoring message for me.

I figured that they might have taken down the billboard, since it was being obscured by the construction. I mean, who would want to pay for that?

This morning, I checked the web site for the Motorboard locations, and sure enough, here's what it said for San Francisco:

Location: Moving to a new home. Check back in a couple of weeks to get the new location.

Now we have to wait to see where the new billboard location will be. Hopefully, it'll be somewhere that's convenient and visible!

The new MINI Cooper

Here's a good article on the new MINI Cooper.

Another year, another Miniversary!

Today is my Miniversary! I've been the proud owner of my little MINI Cooper for 3 years now.

I'm still really happy with it. Had some minor problems last year - the pillar cover flew off on the freeway, and my driver-side window's motor need to be replaced. They were both fixed during the same trip to the dealership, and both were covered under warranty. They also gave me a courtesy car while I was waiting that day. Nice.

In MINI related news: my Mom sent me this article from the San Jose Mercury News. It's an article about the MINI Billboard campaign that I'll be participating in. (I haven't received my key-fob in the mail yet - should be any day now!)

MINI Billboard Tester

I just got an email from MINI USA inviting me (and my MINI) to be a tester for their new "talking billboard" campaign.

MINI is testing out these new billboards. There are only 4 of them: one each in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Miami.

MINI USA is going to send me a key fob that I'll attach to my key chain. Then, whenever I drive past the billboard (which is located on I-80 at 4th Street, East Bound - right before the Bay Bridge) the billboard will flash a personalized message to me and my MINI!

Cool, huh?

It'll probably say something like, "Looking good, MINI Driver!" (My MINI's name)

That'll be cool. My MINI has been feeling a little neglected lately. This should perk her up!

I'm hoping it doesn't flash a message saying, "MINI Driver - you really need a bath!"

Anyhow, I've enrolled in the tester program, and I'm supposed to have the key fob sent to me within the next 2-3 weeks. :)