We’ll just have to see how this works… I just dropped Spam Karma 2.0 into my WordPress install. The blasted comment spammers were getting more and more aggressive. I like getting email, but not when it’s 50 comment-post notifications. Installation couldn’t have been easier, but I do feel like I’m working without a net, as I’m using an older version of MySQL than is recommended.
Wish me luck!
I succumbed to another impulse buy at the iTMS last night. I downloaded the Bodyrockers’ self-titled album after hearing _ on Radio Paradise the other night. It’s totally decadent. ‘80’s flashback with a new-millenium spin, or something like that. There’s bits of classic AC/DC, some Wham!, a little “Vertigo”-esque Bono, and other stuff that rings a bell from 20 years ago. I don’t think I’d necessarily call the album “good”, but it’s fun. It starts and ends a bit slow; the first and lasts tracks you can pretty much throw away, but things pick up with “I Like the Way”, “I Wanna Live”, and “You Got Me Singing” and makes for a nice creamy center. Very danceable.
This is definitely going in the driving mix.
Bodyrockers – Bodyrockers – ★★★½
Following UKPylot’s lead, here’s my mileage summary for the first 5 months and one week of ownership, after 7,258 miles:
fuel “economy”:
best: 29.7
worst: 12.6
average: 23.2
$/gal:
best: 1.959 (June 6)
worst: 3.149 (September 14)
average: 2.621
Not bad (better than my old F-150), but not great (Nic’s Jetta got better mileage around town). Smiles per gallon is another measure entirely, however.
For future reference, the torque specification for the wheel lugs on a 2005 MINI Cooper is 120 N•m.
Discount Tire has it wrong, and that nearly cost me a lug…
update: Discount Tire’s webmaster already replied to my email and said they will address the problem.
I went on a bit of a gadget frenzy recently. I picked up a refurbished Garmin 2610 GPS last week; I used the trip to Chicago for Nic’s marathon as an excuse to buy an auto-routing unit with detailed city maps. I’ve been looking for the excuse for a while, and this did the trick. 
I’ve seen lots of people rave about the “bean bag” mount that Garmin provides, but it’s no match for the MINI’s cornering abilities. I also found that the screen was too distracting and took up too much of my field of view when plopped on the dash in front of the steering wheel. I’d installed a PanaVise inDash bracket in the MINI initially for use with the ice>Link: Plus cradle, but that eventually got moved to the glove box. A bit of research turned up the Garmin motorcycle mount bracket that has holes which line up with the ones on the PanaVise bracket and it seemed like a good fit.
Turns out it worked pretty well. The bracket, while solid, does flex a bit, and I find the GPS tends to shake more than I’d like, but it’s easy to put a finger on it with my hand on the shifter, so that works good enough, unless I find a more sturdy bracket. I’ll have to hard-wire the GPS one of these days, too; Mikey The Mini has an adapter that allows the GPS audio to come through one speaker of the audio system, and I’ll probably pursue that at some point; all it takes is money…
Before mounting the GPS on that bracket, I’d used it with a clamp-type cell phone holder to, er, hold my cell phone. That’s been relegated to one of the cup holders once more, which I don’t really like, but it will have to do for now. I still want to get one of the euro parcel shelves. Maybe for Christmas…
Since moving the iPod to the glove box, the ice>Link cradle had just been knocking around in there, requiring two hands to slide it into place. Yesterday I finally managed to securely mount the cradle to the glove box organizer I stuck in there, which also gave me a space to tuck the GPS when I wanted it out of sight. I’m still struggling with the glove box; it’s got some usable space, but it still tends to dump its guts every time I open the door…
I obsessively annotated the contents of my glove box in that picture… sigh
Finally, I relegated the owners manual to one of the little secret compartments in the boot; it’s a snug fit, but that thing just took up too much space. Hopefully that area doesn’t see any water.
Now that my car’s been organized to within an inch of its life, Let’s Motor!
