Now that I’ve had nearly a month to drive our BMW, I can’t imagine driving another brand of sport sedan. It’s everything I thought it would be and more. Here are a few things I’ve noticed over the past month:

1. Manual transmission + Rear wheel drive = driving bliss!

2. Balance & Composure – Past cars I’ve had didn’t feel as balanced or composed the harder I drove them. But the BMW is in its element when driven enthusiastically. It makes me feel like a better driver than I am.

3. Engine Note – It’s clear that the engineers at BMW are concerned with how their cars sound. It doesn’t try to isolate one from the environment like a Lexus. The engine provides a great soundtrack of feedback. More times than I care to admit, I’ve turned off the radio, rolled down the windows just to listen to the engine. This is to be expected when ‘motor’ is part of your name. (Bavarian Motor Works)

4. Impressive Dealer – Although I didn’t buy the car from a BMW dealer, I’ve been very impressed with BMW Northwest in Fife. I’ve been to the deal on two occasions and both times I was treated very well. I took my 2 year old daughter with me today to pickup a part and the women working the parts counter found a coloring book for my daughter and gave her a puzzle and crayons to take home.

5. Spartan Interior – The car is all about driving and that comes through loud and clear even in the interior which is classy and quite simple. You won’t find fancy gadgets and dozens of knobs like I’ve seen in a Mercedes and Jaguar. The dash is slanted towards the driver. Every switch and knob is within close proximity and logically placed.

The car is an absolute blast to drive. I thought my Miata and Passat GLX were fun to drive but the BMW is even better. I can see why it’s been considered the benchmark of sport sedans since it was introduced in 1975. I think Kim is getting used to my late night errand runs which take longer than she expects. I have no regrets choosing this car over a more mainstream sedan.

–Link to My Squidoo Lens about the 3 Series

I saw the movie, The Lookout, last night and really enjoyed it. It reminded me a bit of Fargo and Memento. I’m not sure it’s as good as either of those but it’s pretty darn close. Highly recommended.

–Link to Richard Roeper review at the Chicago Sun-Times

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Especially when it comes to car insurance. I insured my cars with State Farm from 1989 till last year when we purchased a second car. I decided to shop around when State Farm quoted a much higher rate than I was expecting. I was paying around $85/month for our 2000 Honda Odyssey, but adding a 2000 VW Passat would have raised the premium to nearly $170/month. That didn’t seem right so I called my rep at State Farm and she confirmed the quote was correct. That still seemed high so I made a few calls, researched several companies and gathered a number of quotes based on the same coverage I was quoted from State Farm.

I eventually decided to switch to GMAC Insurance last year mainly because doing so would save me just over $600/year. I don’t understand all the intricacies of how policy premiums are established but a $600 difference was too much to pass up. Under State Farm I had three or four windshields replaced over a 15 year period, but that’s it. No accidents or moving violations.

This past month we got rid of the Passat (long story) and purchased a 2002 BMW 325i. I called my rep at GMAC and was happy to find out that my premium wouldn’t change much. But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to shop around again given the previous savings still fresh in my mind. As I was reading one of the many BMW forums, someone mentioned the excellent service and price they had received at Response Car Insurance. I’d never heard of them before but several other contributors to this message board chimed in with similar positive experiences with them so I figured it was worth requesting a quote.

I didn’t save the $600/year like I did when I left State Farm but I’ll save nearly $500/year by switching from GMAC to Response! It’s definitely taken some time to make this happen. I’ve spent maybe 30 minutes on the phone and another 30 minutes gathering information and filling out forms. But it’s time well spent given the savings. It certainly pays to shop around when the internet makes it so easy to compare quotes from multiple companies.

“And the road got angry….”

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Top Gears sets out on a mission to find out which is the baddest of all. My favorite quote? “The performance figures really are biblical”

–Link to GT
–Link to SLR

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Kim was sorting through a stack of photos last night and came across this picture I took back 1998 when I was in Stuttgart on a business trip. I went out for a walk and suddenly heard the unmistakable exhaust sound that could only come from the 911. I didn’t realize it was the 50th anniversary of the 911 and Porsche had invited a number of 911 owners to parade through the streets of Stuttgart to celebrate. I believe they ended up at the factory where a big party was thrown.

Sorry the scan isn’t the best quality. I snapped this picture with a cheap point and shoot camera.

I enjoyed this interview I came across at the I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog. It tells the story of Courtney Kingston, who left a cushy technology job to run a vineyard in Chile.

“When you come to a crossroads, whatever you do, just don’t stop. Go right, go left, go straight. Whatever way you go…go forward”

The Department of Homeland Security has released a new set of signs to help US Citizens react properly to terrorist threats. For a look at the new signs and someone’s parody of what they mean see this site.

If the weather is overcast with dark skies, look for worms in the grass.

I’ve been using two registry cleaners lately on Windows Vista, but both will run on XP too. For quick clean-ups I still use the excellent CCleaner. For a more extensive cleaning including searches for duplicate and unnecessary files I’ve been using a free product called EasyCleaner. It does the following:

1. Cleans registry
2. Finds/Removes duplicate files
3. Find/Removes unnecessary files
4. Removes invalid shortcuts
5. Clears out IE cookies/history
6. Clears MRUs.

I was reminded yesterday how much I dislike doing business with companies that make it difficult to cancel service. This time it was Scotts Lawn Service which we’ve been using for just over a year. A few days ago a rep from Scotts called to schedule aeration service. I told the guy that I wanted to cancel the service. He said he’s take care of it and enter that information into his computer.

Well, maybe his computer crashed or isn’t connected to the Scotts scheduling system because the next day the aeration team showed up ready to go to town on my lawn. Kim was home and was able to stop them before they began. I made a phone call to Scotts and they brought up my account and mentioned they had no record I’d canceled the aeration or all services. I nicely asked for all service to be canceled and was told nobody would show up again ready to work on my yard.

So the good work Scotts did on our lawn (it does look much better) gets overlooked a bit because it took a lot of hassle on my part to stop the service. I was happy with the service but don’t know if I’d call them again or if I would recommend them to friends.

I wonder why some companies make it so difficult to cancel service? I especially can’t stand companies who make it easy to sign up online but require a phone call, during specified hours, to cancel service. I once called Sprint to cancel cell service and was told they didn’t have the technology to schedule my service to end at the end of the month and I’d have to call back on the very day I wanted to cancel. Sprint’s computers can manage dozens of different calling plans but can’t post date a service termination? AOL is famous for making it very difficult to cancel its service. I had a similar experience dealing with Comcast a while back. Companies like those BMG CD/DVD clubs seem to be built around a business model where they make canceling service a chore, yet make it really easy for merchandise to show up on your doorstop. Do nothing and this months “feature” CD will be sent automatically.

The good thing is that I have a choice for high speed internet service. I have a choice for television and lawn service. If a company makes the choice to give me the runaround, I will take my business elsewhere.