Four.Twenty.Eight

The Mini's Getting a New...

Windshield.  Or so I think.  The insurance thinks it can be repaired, but I'm not convinced yet.  They haven't seen it, but I have.  That mean ol' truck headed in the opposite direction threw a real doozy her way and she's got a scar that laser treatment, microdermabrasion, or botox can't fix.  It happened so fast, she didn't even have time to duck.

**Update: Through the Metroplex Mini group we got a recommendation for a great place and they can be here tomorrow with a brand new windshield.  It will cost us our comp deductible on our insurance, but that's not as bad as a new windshield outright ($800!).  I'll take the deductible price, thankyouverymuch!  One bright spot out of it all - the windshield upon replacement will be the only thing on the car that is clean!  Ugh, that thing is so nasty... I'm afraid if I get too close I'll get my clothes dirty.  It needs a good scrubbing and a coat o' wax!

And it shall be called....

FLASH.

Yes, that's right!  What they say is true.  The Mini Cooper nerds and nerdettes gurus say that the car will "name itself."  I have found this to be true.  I have found that it really just takes time to come up with a name and you have to "get to know" your new car for a while before you get a good idea.

This name has meaning, though.  Here's why:

• All through junior high and high school and even into my first semester of college, I took tennis lessons with a fabulous tennis instructor who thought it was funny to call me Flash.  I don't like to run, and it didn't take him long to figure this out.  When he discovered my slow gene, he would hit the tennis balls all the way on opposite sides of the court so I would have to run to the ball, side step back, run to the ball, side step back.  He would run me all over that court ON PURPOSE so he could repeat, "Run flash - get over there!  Go flash - run, run!"  I wasn't that amused, but it stuck enough that I still remember that today, and even Sammy will tease me about it every now and then.

• The car is quick and nimble like a flash of lightning!

So, it really works!  It has meaning and fits the ride.  I like it!

Important: This Is Big.

Okay, this is really a not-so-big post.  But there is something I'm having a hard time deciding on.

You see, Mini Cooper people make up names for their Minis.  Not.  Kidding.  At first I resisted.  However, I am now kind of coming around because it is just too fun not to think up a name for the Mini.  Fun car needs a fun name.

To give you an idea, here's a few a lot of the names some other Mini owners on the NAM forums have named their cars.  These people think up some really creative names!

• Chubby Checker (this one's red with checkered accents all over)
• The Joker
• Maxwell (sounds like a classy English bloke sipping a cuppa tea)
• Phantom Mini
• Lucy
• The Flying Cannoli
• Hilla
• Gromit (as in 'Wallace & Gromit')
• Mini Pearl
• Mighty Mouse
• Miss Blue
• Drill Bit
• The Wee Beast
• Weebiscuit
• Pippin
• Scrappy
• Rigby
• The Green Bean
• Cookie Monster (yep, it's blue.)
• Ms. Zipp
• Apple (yep, it's red.)
• Swiss Miss (the color is 'Hot Chocolate')
• The Batmini
• Bubble & Squeak (two Minis, one household)
• The Purple Nurple (yep, it's purple.) - gotta give some points on this one for hilarity.

So, I need some ideas and/or some voting!  Here's a few my friend at work came up with that I'm not really considering, but they're still cute:

• Mini Ha Ha
• Teeny Turner
• Spud
• Cappy (another very English one)

Here's a couple that I do like:

• Oxy - This was the first one I came up with.  It is because the car was built in Oxford, England.
• Mini Glacier - There is a place in Montana called "Many Glacier Lodge" and it is one of my favorite vacation spots that I'd like to return to.  It could also relate because the car is white like ice.

The color of my car is 'Pepper White.'  Sgt. Pepper is already overdone, so that is out.  It has a black top and black stripes, was built in England, and is an 'S' model (means it is supercharged or turbo) if that helps with ideas.

Please leave me a comment and either vote on one above or throw out as many ideas as you can think up!  I know y'all are creative!

The Car. It is here.

And It's a BEAUTY!  Pictures, of course!

 

 

Friday. C-Day.

Friday is C-Day.  That is code for CAR-Day, if you didn't get the lingo.

Sammy's company treated the whole group to a Ranger's game today, so he was mere blocks from the Mini dealership, so he stopped in.  He has officially laid eyes on our new Mini Cooper S.  The sales guy sent him an e-mail earlier and told him the truck came in today.

The sales guy ("Motoring Advisor" is what Mini-Nerds call their sales rep.) said they could do the make-ready for the car by FRIDAY at 5 PM.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am.  This will mean her first road trip will come this weekend because I have to be in Brownwood for an HPU Alumni Board meeting.  Driving to Brownwood has never been this exciting!

"On The Water"

Sammy decided to call about THE CAR today, and they told him it was currently "on the water," set to dock in Baltimore, Maryland tomorrow.  Here's the ship it will be coming in on, the Caribbean Highway.

The ship doesn't look very pretty, but from the looks of it, it can carry a WHOLE LOT of Mini Coopers.  Including OURS!  I promise I'll start talking about something else.  Right after I get to drive it for the first time.

Car Talk

Surely by now everyone reading is sick of me talking about THE CAR.  Blah, blah, blah, blah-de-blah!  But I can't help it because I'm so darned excited.  But to take it to the next level of excitement, check this out:

See that little arrow next to "En Route?"  Yes, that's right.  The mini is about to set sail for the U.S. coast.  Closer and closer to my little 2-car garage.

Seriously, though, Sammy has to be more excited than me.  His behavior is actually downright obsessive.  He e-mails me no less than 5 times a day to send me a link to some other tracking, forum, or other mini-related site he's found.  But hey, it's FUN!

So.  Danged.  Excited!

In Honor of the New Digs... Our New...

Yep, that's right. I'm finally getting a new ride! I'm very excited. My Jeep, as good of an ol' girl as she's been, she has 126,000 miles, is a 2002, and is getting a little tired. I got her in July of 2001, and 7 years is probably about 60 in human years. We are still keeping our Jeep, but I'm going to be getting a Mini Cooper S almost exactly like the one above - the only difference will be the wheels (couldn't find an exact picture of one on the web).

I am SO excited about this car. It will be fun, quick, get great gas mileage, and WILL fit a baby seat someday if needed, even if it might not be the perfect baby car. Did I mention that I am excited? My excitement will have to settle down, though, because it had to be ordered. That's the deal with Mini Coopers - they don't have any around because they are so popular, so we had to place an order. The car will take 4 - 6 weeks and I just hope I can stand it without getting an ulcer. But the bonus of ordering is that you get to have exactly what you want. Mini also has a feature on their website for the customer to follow the building progress of the car, so that might help my anxiousness, too.

Another interesting note. Check out this post. Scroll down a little ways. See that car?? The Mini? That is THE car, it is just not an "S" model. We picked white, black top, black bonnet stripes, and those exact wheels. Later on, I was fiddling around with my blog and came across the post and was really shocked. We picked out the exact car in the picture without even remembering that I had posted that picture. Really crazy if you ask me!

So, I will provide updates as the progress goes on. I must do so to keep sane with all the WAITING.