Tag Archives: Mini

Resisting the urge to hibernate

Posted by on October 24, 2012 No comments

FALL!

It’s Fall!  As we inch closer to winter I am feeling that bearish urge to close myself indoors and be super lazy while I eat all the things and put on my winter weight.

MUST RESIST!!!!

 

I am looking for the motivation to get out and take pictures.  Fall is one of the best times of the year to take photos.  The colors are amazing, especially around this area.  There are a few upcoming events that should prove fruitful.

The Passport MINI Halloween contest!  For the past few years the dealership out in Alexandria has hosted a “Dress up your MINI” contest.  This year the POD will be going as……..Yeah, I’ll post pictures after, don’t want to spoil it.  Should be fun though!  After that it’s off to Fredericksburg for the annual Halloween party!

In the meantime, on the gadget front. I gots me a new phone!  The old Thunderbolt was starting to get very old.  Early on I had flashed the ROM and the Radio on it so it could be updated and it would appear all of the updates for it have stopped.  No one seems to be supporting it any more.  It’s sad because for a while it really was a great phone.  The major downside to it was the battery.  I had even bought the extended battery for it, and that might get me through a full day.

With that I upgraded to the brand new [amazon_link id=”B009P5WWPC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Razr MAXX HD[/amazon_link].  Sarah has been using the original MAXX and it’s amazing!  The battery can last 2-3 days with average use.  The new HD version did not disappoint.  I have been using it for about 4 days now and I need to remind myself that I don’t have to plug it in.  Ok, I am going to stop here because I may try and do a full review of the phone later this week.

In the meantime, here are some apples. (hopefully Apple won’t sue me)

My Rim Job (huh huh huh)

Posted by on October 3, 2012 No comments

I will never have another chance to title a post with that, so I am going to take a moment and soak that in.

Ok, my 12 year old moment is past.

Since I have done quite a few posts lately about Photography, I thought I would give my MINI a little time in the spotlight. There is a modification I have been wanting to do for a while now and only recently got the time to do it.

Rims are expensive. For my car they range from around $150-$200, [amazon_link id=”B002HLTBQ4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]per wheel[/amazon_link]. Sadly, I don’t have that to spare right now, since the current rims are working just fine. Yeah I know it’s good to have a second set of wheels for summer/winter, but then you are talking the cost of the rims + the tires. That, and I don’t have a good location to store the tires in the off season. All of that leads me to my current solution.

[amazon_link id=”B000LNOOEO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Plasti-Dip[/amazon_link]

Lots of folks use Plasti-Dip on various parts of their car because of it’s durability and easy of use/clean up. I had seen some other MINI’s with Plasti-Diped rims and loved the look. So I set aside a few hours, jacked up the car, and went to town on “Diping” my rims. A few of the members of the MINI forums I belong to said that I would need around two cans per wheel. I found that this was WAY over the amount I used. Grand total was two full cans for all four wheels. I was being VERY generous in applying as well. The coating was nice and thick and I was able to do about 3 coats per wheel.

Next project will be less crappy rotors and breaks!

Cleaned up the wheels before painting

Masked off the areas I didn’t want dipped

First Coat!

Setting on the car!

The final product

I had two wheels off the MINI at a time and just cycled through the coats. Total time was about 3 hours, and then I let it set (on the car) overnight. Overall I am very happy with the results. The total cost was about $12 for the two cans and the masking tape. I bought lots of extra cans, but I guess I will be using them for other projects. If you are looking for a quick way to add a little flare to your ride, this is a good way to go about it!

Important side note. If you are going to mask off an area that you don’t want “Dipped”, make sure you remove the tape BEFORE the dip is fully dry. this will reduce the amount of tearing as you remove the mask.

World Traveler

Posted by on August 28, 2012 No comments

Huge sorry for the lack of content for the last few weeks. Things have been a tad bit hectic as of late. You see, I have been traveling around for work and working very long days, so I haven’t had a lot of time to write. After the London trip I went back out to North Carolina for a week, and then off to Arizona for a month or so. The downside was a serious lack of time, but the plus side is I got to see some cool stuff and even take some great pictures.

I was down in Sierra Vista AZ and the landscape looks amazing. Armed with my trusty camera travel kit (aka, “My Bag” stuff to the right —> ) I set out to capture some great sunsets. Below are the results:

Sunset at Sierra Vista
Looking towards the mountains in Sierra vista lends to a great sunset shot.

Tombstone Cemetary
In Tombstone AZ, just about a 30 min drive from Sierra Vista, there are two cemeteries. The one most people know is Boot Hill, which is where the victims of the OK Corral are buried, and then the main cemetery, where everyone else goes. The real one is MUCH better looking (Boot hill looks like someones Halloween decorations).Cross at Sunset

The graves there date back to the foundation of the town.

For comparison, here are the Boot Hill graves:

Seems Safe
While venturing out (by myself) I ran across this sign and thought it might not be a good idea to be out, at night, so late, alone.

Shot for a shot
Back in Tombstone, at Big Nose Kates Saloon, I had a great shot of this whiskey. When the Barkeep asked if I wanted a picture of the bottle, he whipped out all the props for it!

After one of the trips to Arizona, I took a side trip to Parris Island South Carolina to watch my Son (who, you may remember, went off to the Marines) graduate Basic Training (aka, boot camp (aka, 3 months of hell)). Proud Father is Proud.

And lastly, not that I am back, I am trying to get back to normal. This means attending events like the local DC Metro MINI’s annual picnic! Where we got together and took this great shot:

Click to Super Embiggen

So, yeah. It’s been a bit busy. I will try and keep things updated more now that I am home (for now)

Sometimes weird/cool things just happen!

Posted by on June 4, 2012 No comments

This weekend was a pretty productive weekend.  We had a great “Guy’s Night” where we introduced @NeuralClone to [amazon_link id=”B0051E9INK” target=”_blank” ]Highlander[/amazon_link], since he had never seen it. (I know, right?) After which we watched Iron Sky.  You know, the Nazis on the moon movie.  Seriously, go watch that.  It’s one of the funniest movies I have seen.

Saturday the weather was amazing so I spent the time outside replacing the thermostat on my truck.  This is a big accomplishment for me since I am still convinced that the engine in most cars runs on magical wishes and unicorn dreams.  Now if I could just get a starter that works when I shout “ENGINUS COMBUSTUS!”  So you can understand that doing any sort of work on a car is a big deal for me.  Having finished up this feat of manliness, I decided to take Sarah out for dinner for a nice evening.

This is really where the weird/cool stuff happens.

We drove down to Old Town Manassas to go to a small restaurant called City Square Cafe.  It’s a nice little place with outdoor seating.  Dinner was good, the company was great. (But then, that’s why I keep her around right?)  After dinner we thought we would try our hand at a few GeoCaches that were close by.  It made for a good excuse to walk around and enjoy the evening.

No luck on those, by the way.  It was dark and we just couldn’t find anything.

When we returned to the car we found this note on the windshield.
Now, you probably know this, but I wear my geek on my sleeve.  The back of my MINI has the plate “WIZ-POD”, since my truck has “W1ZZER”, and I have lots of stickers of geeky things.  This would have to be one of the first time I have ever been hit on due to my car being geeky.
Sarah and I had a good chuckle about the event and, while I thought it would be weird if I emailed her, Sarah took the initiative and sent off a note to say “Hi!”  Clearly it takes a lot of Chutzpah to drop a note like that to meet someone so, you never know, she may be a cool person to know!

Sadly, as of today, no reply has been seen.

Life is short!  Make new friends! Say hi to people!  You never know who you may meet!

P.S. the car behind me was a PT Cruiser

Panning, Lessons from the fail book.

Posted by on May 9, 2012 No comments

This last weekend I was out at a MINI event with lots of cars and driving and great outdoors.  In talking with my friend Paul, we figured this would be the perfect chance to try a technique known as “Panning”.  This is where you set your camera to a lower shutter speed (to keep it open longer) and you move the camera at the same speed as the target you are shooting.  This gives the illusion of speed to the target.  It’s great for shooting cars as they go past.  The car stays in focus, but the background becomes a blur of speed.

This is NOT an easy trick to master.

Bad Bad Bad Bad

I decided to stop mid way on the Tail Of The Dragon to test out this technique.  There were lots of photographers on the road so my setting up camp for 30-45min wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary.  I understood the principle of the technique, now to just practice.  Something I learned quickly was that location is a huge part of this.  I set up near a turn, and not far off from the road.  This was two-fold of a problem since most of the cars were coming towards me, instead of past me, and it was hard to see them coming.  With the cars shortening the distance to me, I had to work on my focus as well as the panning.  If I got the focus right, I may not have the whole subject in the frame. If I got the panning right, the subject would be out of focus.

All totaled, in 45 min of practice, I took around 100 shots.

Of those 100, I ended up with 4 that were close to what I wanted, and only 1 really good one.

Needless to say, this is something that I will be working on.

10th annual MINI’s On the Dragon 2012

Posted by on May 8, 2012 No comments

I am beat.

Last Wed. I set out for the MOTD event in Deals Gap NC.  It was a good 9 hour drive from Manassas to the Tail of the Dragon.  Since I was going by myself there was no real need to stop aside from emergency bathroom breaks (3 total).  I made great time and arrived at around 2:30pm to the event, which was well underway.  Over 700 MINIs signed up and just blanketed the area.  Driving around with lodge was like I had visited MINItopia, with a MINI in every driveway.

I finally met up with Clint (my buddy from Vegas) after wandering around in a cell dead zone with no internet access either.  It was amazing being so disconnected from everything.  We were relying on the FRS radios I brought with me.  It’s amazing being as internet connected as I usually am to go to nearly black out comms.  I am still slowly getting used to being connected again.

Overall I had a blast!  Lots of great driving, hanging out with incredible people, enjoying the great outdoors!  I had a bunch of stuff done to the POD including, Pulley wheel reduction for the supercharger (I hear that’s a rite of passage at the dragon), new brake handle, [amazon_link id=”B0073XO404″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]stubby antenna[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”B002VB8TIG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]chrome bonnet scoop[/amazon_link], and a LightInSight.

I even got to practice some photography tricks.  Check out my gallery for all the pics I took.  I am really looking forward to attending next year!

On the road again!

Posted by on April 30, 2012 No comments

So I took a break from posting last week to stop and breath in between travels.  I got back from Vegas and had some down time before my next trip.  This week I will be making the trek down to Deals Gap North Carolina to participate in the MINI’s on the Dragon event.  Each year the MINI groups descend on the “Tail of the Dragon” to enjoy a cool drive and hang out with other fun MINI owners.  I will be meeting up with some local friends and some from across the continent.  I am packing all of my camera gear to take lots of pictures, and will even try and experiment with a few new techniques specific to auto photography.

After that I will be driving out to Fayetteville NC for work related stuff.  Not as exciting, but I am heading straight there from the Dragon so that’s gonna be fun.

One of the projects I hope to work on for this trip is a Video log of the journey.  I am heading out for this trip by myself so I think it would be fun to document the trip and anything I may see along the way.  I have my GoPro mounted inside the MINI (Top Gear style) to record the trip logs and will be editing it all together when it’s done.  That mixed with some of the various tech tools and gear I have for the drive, should be fun!

Stay tuned!  Next post may be from the road!

Gadget Time!!

Posted by on February 16, 2012 No comments

It’s been a while since I have posted about some interesting gadgets, and I happen to have come across a few that are post worthy!  So here goes.

Having driven the MINI around for the last few months, and being a part of the DC Metro MINI club, I REALLY enjoy my car.  Many of the club owners like to make videos of their drives using the GoPro brand cameras.  Being a camera type guy, I thought I would check one out and have some fun.  So here is my pro/con list

 

 

Pro:

  • Light weight – Very small for just the camera and easy to pocket.
  • TONS of attachments (I got the Motor-sport version)
  • Easy to use – Menus are quick and easy
  • Cool Wide Angle – Gets everything in the shot
  • Good Quality (Not great, but good) – Auto adjustment of speed and ISO does oddly in low light

Con:

  • Over Simplified – It would be great if there were a few more options and configurations.
  • Low light sucks – In low light it ramps up the ISO a lot so there is some significant grain. But it’s not really meant for low light so….
  • Ball Joint mount would rock. – All of the mounts are pivot one way, you can add pivot points in, but it increases vibration.

Overall, I like it.  It is currently mounted behind my rear view mirror and is nearly invisible to my FOV while driving.

This ties into another gadget I picked up.  The OBDII adapter for Blue-Tooth.  This is a chip that plugs into the data-port on my MINI (and any car after 1996) and provides all sorts of information on real time data from the engine to fault codes.  I connect to it using my Android phone and an app Called Torque.

Now I just need to know what all that data actually means!  (I am still learning).

Now, how does this all come together?  Well, there is another android app called aLapRecorder HD.  This connects to the OBDII chip and then can record all of that data for a specific drive.  I can then output that data into a format that can be overlayed on to the GoPro video.

I will be using this for future drives out with the MINI to record the results.  Especially the upcoming MINI’s on The Dragon event.  If you have any questions about the above gadgets, please feel free to ask!

MINI Photoshoot

Posted by on February 6, 2012 No comments

This last Saturday we scheduled some time with the MINI club (DC Metro MINI’s) to get a bunch of us out for a photo shoot.  Turns out a lot of the MINI folks are really into photography as well!  One of the folks found a really nice parking garage and we line up about 15 MINI’s to start taking pictures.  After we spent about 3 hours shooting in the garage we headed out to Wolf Trap in Northern VA for some outside shots.  Unfortunately it started to rain so I ended up putting my D5100 away (no weather sealing).  Thankfully some of the others had the right equipment and we got some great shots.

You can see all of the shots at these flickr links, below is just a few of the shots:

MINI Photo Shoot

MINI Photo Shoot

IMG_6936.jpg

IMG_7002.jpg

Photos, Games, and Cars

Posted by on November 8, 2011 No comments

Here is a fun mix of photography, gaming, and cars all bundled into one post!  Now, as you all know I picked up my new MINI just over a week ago and couldn’t help but get out and take come cool shots of it.  I have some ideas of some other shots but those will come along soon.


On kind of a whim I picked up the Forza 4 game for Xbox 360.  (ok not so much whim but I learned that there is a MINI in the game). On top of it being a great racing game, I learned it has a cool photo mode that allows you to take great shots of the cars in the game.  Of course, I couldn’t resist.

Lastly, wanted to post that my work travel plans have changed and this means I will be able to join in on the MINI’s take the Beltway charity drive!!  The money all goes to the Wounded Warrior project and it’s 50+ MINI’s gathered to do a Lap on the beltway!  It’s this Sunday so if you are in the DC area and want to see a ton of MINI’s check it out!