Month: February 2010

Supercar Sunday

Due to inclement weather yesterday, Cars and Coffee was ‘rained out’, or at least we all assumed it was.

Baby Enzo

When I grow up....

So, in order to get my weekly fix of automotive eye candy I decided to attend ‘Supercar Sunday’ in Woodland Hills. Despite looking up the directions, I did not really comprehend just how far away it actually is. When I looked I noticed the estimated time, rather than the mileage. The estimate was something over an hour and the event is scheduled to run from 7AM to 10AM.

No Problem I thought, on a Sunday morning the traffic will be light, I can leave home at 6:45 and probably be there not much after 7:30.

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Courtesy

Since when did ‘common courtesy’ become uncommon ?

On Sunday afternoon we were out and about trying to find inexpensive watch batteries as we had rather a lot of battery powered watches that were dead.

Clutching at straws a little we tried the $.99c store. On a Sunday afternoon the parking lot is a zoo at best, but I was able to find a space to throw the ‘Vlad’ the Impala into and after wandering around the store we came away a few dollars lighter, but without the necessary batteries, although we did get a pack of batteries for the garage door opener..

Trying to get out of the parking spot was a test of my patience. Despite people zooming around trying to find a space, nobody would let me out. It was not only really frustrating for me, it was incredible that all of those idiots fighting over spaces would not let someone out and snag a ‘prime’ space right outside the store.

While trying to get out several rocket scientists stopped by the door to allow passengers out and then stayed there too, adding to the congestion and the danger considerably.

When I eventually managed to force my way out one of those rocket scientists grabbed the space, but only after a 7419 point turn to get into it. Much to the rest of the lots’ displeasure.

While yes, it would have slowed one or two people down in the hunt for a space, it would have been really nice if they had let me out.

When I finally got out of the space there was a guy waiting to turn left (across the front of me) and I slowed and waved at him to let him do so (partly to annoy the marauding hordes behind me) He looked amazing, It was like he simply could not believe that someone was being courteous towards him.

So, perhaps we should rename it ?

It appears to have become uncommon.

Damp Morning

I think it rained all night last night. When I looked out of the window at 4AM it was torrential and I figured that there would be no Cars and Coffee event this morning. so I went back to sleep.

At 6AM though I was wide awake and it had stopped raining.

By 6:40 I had left the house and emerged into a cloudy but drying morning on my way to Cars and Coffee

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cardomain.com cover our event coverage (again) !

Once more, cardomain are covering our coverage of Cars and Coffee !

Check out their coverage here

or go to our gallery here

Visitor numbers for our site have been growing month on month for a long time, but each time the photo’s are covered like this we get a visitor ‘spike’ of incredible proportions. Visits are up 278.31% today and up 45% for the week.

Due to a couple of groups of photograph sales, the hosting fees are now paid for the next few months, so for once we are ‘in the black’. Now lets hope that the traffic brings customers and the hosting is paid for a few more months.

One of these days I am sure that the site will cover the costs of the coffee we drink along with the hosting fee’s 🙂

Canon – Fantastic Customer Service

Seal At OC Fair

My faithful old Canon G7  died an unspectacular death recently. The poor thing died in its sleep one day, I assume it was a painless death. It was heavily used, but still in very nice condition.

The great thing about the G7 was always its speed and ability, with results that were virtually indistinguishable from a DSLR and really great image stabilization it was pretty much perfect for ‘better than casual’ photography where the bulk and ‘look at me factor’ of a DSLR was simply not an option.

The later G9 was barely an upgrade, but the G10 and then subsequent G11 are much better in all regards.  Selling a number of photographs, a couple of which were taken with the G7, this week tipped my decision. Rather than replace it with a smaller Canon, I would get it fixed.

So this morning I went to the Canon service center in Irvine, CA to see if it could be resurrected.

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Adventures in dealing with Customer Retention departments…

I have been an XM subscriber since July 2006, in that time the monthly fees have risen from ‘about $9’ to $15, while many of my favorite stations have been lost or have transformed into something that is barely worth listening to.

A couple of months ago I realized that I am not using the service at all and decided to try to cancel it. At the time I had three radios signed up and I was spending $45 / month. On radio !

I ditched one of the radios and XM offered me ‘three months for $40’, which was not a bad deal, so I took it. Yesterday we found that both of radio’s were no longer working. Coincidentally I also got the renewal notice.

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Driving a Product of the GM bailout…

I picked up a rental special Chevy Impala earlier today.
I am not used to driving Chevy’s, I have very little problem hopping into almost any car and simply driving it, but this Impala is something else. It took a long time before I was comfortable and even after an hour I still had no idea what most of the buttons do, nor even where they were.
First impressions count for a lot and sadly they are almost entirely negative.
After driving my MINI I would expect to find anything big, but really, truly this is a big car that does nothing at all to disguise it. From the drivers seat there is no mistaking that you are driving something that is ‘real man sized’. It really feels much larger than it is. It is also very long yet the interior space seems to somehow hide that. Oddly it is slightly claustrophobic in the drivers seat.
Which brings me around to the first of many issues.
That seat is rubbish.

I picked up a rental special Chevy Impala earlier today.I am not used to driving Chevy’s, I have very little problem hopping into almost any car and simply driving it, but this Impala is something else. It took a long time before I was comfortable and even after an hour I still had no idea what most of the buttons do, nor even where they were.First impressions count for a lot and sadly they are almost entirely negative.After driving my MINI I would expect to find anything big, but really, truly this is a big car that does nothing at all to disguise it. From the drivers seat there is no mistaking that you are driving something that is ‘real man sized’. It really feels much larger than it is. It is also very long yet the interior space seems to somehow hide that. Oddly it is slightly claustrophobic in the drivers seat.Which brings me around to the first of many issues. That seat is rubbish.

The seats are, well, short in the leg. I have a 34” inseam and the seat cushion sort of ends several inches short of my knees.

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