Showing posts with label Car Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Car Stuff. Show all posts
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Cars...
Due to same changes at Daddio's work, the company car he has been driving will no longer be ours to use. For the last two weeks we've been looking, Daddio's been researching, and much test driving has occured.On Monday I met him up at the dealer and signed a few papers... and we became the proud owners of a Mazda 3 (5-speed of course)!
Just like this picture, it is the dark grey... with an undercoat of tan so it has really cool look in the sun.
There is nothing like a manual transmission to remind you of just how much you like driving. This tight little car is fun to drive and gets great gas milage (which was at the top of the requirements for what ever Daddio chose). I'm sure Daddio will be writing a review soon!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
British Gears
Daddio found a show a while back that we just fell in love with. We have the DVR set to record it, and it is such a tickle to look through the menu and see that we have an episode to watch. As I've mentioned many times, we are car junkies... add that to our odd sense of humor, and you get the greatest show in the world: Top Gear!
The show's hosts are three funny British dudes who know how to have a good time with a car, a race track and an odd set of goals. Richard Hammond, affectionately known as Hamster, is a radio and tv presenter. He returned to the show this spring after being away for several months due to a serious crash that happened during filming for the show... he was driving a jet engine car that after several runs blew a tire at around 300 mph (probably more... but I can't remember what they said) resulting in a terrible crash and a head injury for Richard (thankfully he is fine and able to continue with the show full speed ahead). Then you have Jeremy Clarkson. This guy is a riot. The name of the game... POWER and SPEED! He is constantly tormenting his co-stars and any guests they have on the show. The third co-host is James May, fondly referred to as Capt. Slow. He enjoys the finer details and worries less about the overall speed or power of an automobile.
These guys test out amazing cars... cars that aren't here in the US, cars that are, and cars that people can only dream about... Koenigsegg CCX (with Top Gear spoiler), Pagani Zonda F, Maserati MC12, Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Aston Martin Vanquish S.... the list goes on and on. They also do challenges on a occasion. Each made an amphibian car, they re-engineered a mini-van to be a convertable (that didn't really pass any of the tests, actually they ended up setting a carwash on fire when some of the pieces became lodged in the moving parts of the carwash), and other ridiculously funny endeavors.
Then there is The Stig:
He's the professional driver that posts the best lap times... but whose identity is not known.
Okay... so do you like to laugh, do like cool cars, do you like to see small cars play soccer? Well you need to find the BBCA channel on your TV Guide and watch this show!!!!!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Photos
A couple of photos to share. First, the Hummer H3 that we've been playing with this weekend.
And, a new crucifix that I bought for the family.
I got it from the Marianist Galleries in St. Louis. I was there for business. Our late campus minister, Fr. Bob Lewandowski, was a Marianist, and was buried at the Marianist cemetery in St. Louis (Kirkwood, actually) in 2003. The gallery is on the saem property. As it turns out, my company's St. Louis office is only two blocks away from there. So I stopped by the gallery after making a quick visit to visit Fr. Bob's grave on Friday morning. We took a tour of the gallery back in 2003, but couldn't afford anything at the time. I've always wanted to own a piece of their artwork and was finally able to acquire something. You can check out their website. They work with a variety of media and subjects, not all religious, and most very modern stuff, but I was able to find something that suits our taste, and we think it will look nice in the school room.
And, a new crucifix that I bought for the family.
I got it from the Marianist Galleries in St. Louis. I was there for business. Our late campus minister, Fr. Bob Lewandowski, was a Marianist, and was buried at the Marianist cemetery in St. Louis (Kirkwood, actually) in 2003. The gallery is on the saem property. As it turns out, my company's St. Louis office is only two blocks away from there. So I stopped by the gallery after making a quick visit to visit Fr. Bob's grave on Friday morning. We took a tour of the gallery back in 2003, but couldn't afford anything at the time. I've always wanted to own a piece of their artwork and was finally able to acquire something. You can check out their website. They work with a variety of media and subjects, not all religious, and most very modern stuff, but I was able to find something that suits our taste, and we think it will look nice in the school room.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Rental
D:"Hey, I won't be much longer here... you are never gonna guess what kind of rental I got."
M:"Okay see you soon :-)."
This was the phone conversation with Daddio yesterday after he landed and was turning in his car to have it repaired from a minor fender-bender he was in this week.
I had a few theories. He mentioned that he had taken it to a service shop at a dealer, so I figured he would pick something fun... maybe a little sporty car, convertable or something, or something fun like a Jeep. So I fed the kids their dinner, and then went about a few other odd chores. We did our spelling flash cards, and then I headed out to the front yard to water my trees... and that is when he drove up in a...
HUMMER - H3!
If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that we are car people. And so to see this pull into my driveway, well... my heart rate when up... this was definitely going to be FUN!
After Daddio and I had dinner, we loaded up the kids and went looking for some fun dirt to drive on. After about a 15 minutes scouting we finally found a place to PLAY. I pulled it up into the dirt (oh, I guess I didn't mention that I was driving it), and switched it into 4WD! Woohoo, boy is this little Hummer fun. After a few passes on this little road we found it was Daddio's turn to have some fun. Did I mention the high pitch noise coming from the backseat!!!!??? That would be the boys screaming, laughing and begging Mommy to 'JUMP THE FENCE'... because we were a 'MONSTER TRUCK' after all!
Practical review of the H3:
Not a family car. Why? You can't fit 3 or even 2 booster seats in the back seat (with a total of 3 kids sitting back there). This is not a 5 seater, it is really a 4 seater with 5 seat belts (but we made due... cause it's a hummer... HELLO). Regular street driving the low gears are pretty sluggish, but once it shifts into 3+ it has a much quicker response. When you get it up to 60+ it really hums along and you hardly notice you are going 70! I expected the ride to be much bumpier, but it really isn't bad for having a truck base (the Colorado I believe is the platform)... but definitely not as smooth as my Yukon XL. It has a stiff ride, it actually felt a lot like driving our Mustang from a few years ago. The visibility is kind of weird. The window are small and high, so a car sitting next to you on the passenger side is harder to see by looking over there... so you really do have to rely on your mirrors more. I thought my Yukon was a brick on wheels... not the case, the Hummer is even more of a brick. If you take your foot off the gas (even momentarily), you decelerate very quickly!
Do I like it... a resounding YES. It is definitely a fun SUV to drive. Would I buy one, not now because my boys are too little to go without carseats/booster seats.
A statement I never thought I would hear myself say, "Dang this Hummer is smaller than my car."
How much longer will the fun last? We have it till Thursday... YAY!!!!!
M:"Okay see you soon :-)."
This was the phone conversation with Daddio yesterday after he landed and was turning in his car to have it repaired from a minor fender-bender he was in this week.
I had a few theories. He mentioned that he had taken it to a service shop at a dealer, so I figured he would pick something fun... maybe a little sporty car, convertable or something, or something fun like a Jeep. So I fed the kids their dinner, and then went about a few other odd chores. We did our spelling flash cards, and then I headed out to the front yard to water my trees... and that is when he drove up in a...
HUMMER - H3!
If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that we are car people. And so to see this pull into my driveway, well... my heart rate when up... this was definitely going to be FUN!
After Daddio and I had dinner, we loaded up the kids and went looking for some fun dirt to drive on. After about a 15 minutes scouting we finally found a place to PLAY. I pulled it up into the dirt (oh, I guess I didn't mention that I was driving it), and switched it into 4WD! Woohoo, boy is this little Hummer fun. After a few passes on this little road we found it was Daddio's turn to have some fun. Did I mention the high pitch noise coming from the backseat!!!!??? That would be the boys screaming, laughing and begging Mommy to 'JUMP THE FENCE'... because we were a 'MONSTER TRUCK' after all!
Practical review of the H3:
Not a family car. Why? You can't fit 3 or even 2 booster seats in the back seat (with a total of 3 kids sitting back there). This is not a 5 seater, it is really a 4 seater with 5 seat belts (but we made due... cause it's a hummer... HELLO). Regular street driving the low gears are pretty sluggish, but once it shifts into 3+ it has a much quicker response. When you get it up to 60+ it really hums along and you hardly notice you are going 70! I expected the ride to be much bumpier, but it really isn't bad for having a truck base (the Colorado I believe is the platform)... but definitely not as smooth as my Yukon XL. It has a stiff ride, it actually felt a lot like driving our Mustang from a few years ago. The visibility is kind of weird. The window are small and high, so a car sitting next to you on the passenger side is harder to see by looking over there... so you really do have to rely on your mirrors more. I thought my Yukon was a brick on wheels... not the case, the Hummer is even more of a brick. If you take your foot off the gas (even momentarily), you decelerate very quickly!
Do I like it... a resounding YES. It is definitely a fun SUV to drive. Would I buy one, not now because my boys are too little to go without carseats/booster seats.
A statement I never thought I would hear myself say, "Dang this Hummer is smaller than my car."
How much longer will the fun last? We have it till Thursday... YAY!!!!!
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