All Things Patrick - Working Hard to be Lazy!

I got my Mini Cooper last October (about 4 months ago). While I thought I realized before getting one that they were an enthusiast car, apparently I had no idea...

Sure, growing up we went through a couple of VW Vanagons and we'd get a wave every once in a while when we were out on vacation... In almost any car driving down back roads running into the occasional farmer will yield a wave or a hat off. The only other recognition I think I've gotten from other people as I'm driving down the road is when I had my really sad and pathetic '95 Saturn S-1 - people had a tendancy to give me the finger <sarcasm>telling me I was #1</sarcasm>.

I think about 80% of the other Mini Cooper drivers I've come across have waved or nodded at me... After realizing it wasn't because they thought they knew me, I've started waving back. I've not waved at people since... well, as a kid in the back of the Vanagon when I'd also pump my arm at tractor trailer rigs to get them to blow their horns.

This is the first time my sister has stated she wanted to get a car like what I bought (even though she also got a Cavalier after I had had 1).

This is the first time I've had people at work and at parties say they've been looking at the kind of car I have and want a test drive.

While not the first time I've had multiple conversations with the person in the drive-thru window it is the first time I've had them about a car.

It's the first time the mechanics at the garage I've taken all my cars to have been overly excited at looking at a new car and had yet to do maintenance on any.

It's the first time I keep getting asked by people I see fairly regularly if I still like my new car... Which is funny, because...

This is the first car I've had where the more I drive it the more I like... Let's do that again!

For testing a car's reflexes I like driving it southbound through Meyer's Circle (Meyer Circle Fountain - flickr | kcphotos.com | Google Maps). It's a non-normal traffic circle as traffic entering the circle from a street other than Ward Parkway must stop before it can enter the circle. Ward Parkway has 3 northbound through lanes and 3 southbound through lanes - and so it has quite the curve to the traffic circle. Ward Parkway has a posted speed limit of 35mph and the circle has a warning speed of 25mph, but I think rush hour is lucky to get through it at 20mph. During good weather conditions the best test is to start at a complete stop at 63rd Street (the block just north of the circle) and when the light turns green floor the gas pedal, take a hard cut to the right into the turn so the turn back to the left and straightening out is much easier... I've been able to do this at at least 40mph in every car I've had (the '85 Chevy Blazer was the hardest and the 2-door '97 Chevy Cavalier & '98 Honda Civic I could get up to 45mph)... This is the first time I've hit 50mph easily and I actually feel bad about it because I'm worried the cops will pull me over.

This is the first time I've even looked at joining a car group of some kind (I've been looking on facebook and added Mini Coopers to my meetup interests).

Due to looking at the car groups and the members apparent need to name their cars... Not to be left out of the nutcase bunch I'm thinking I may need to name my car as well, but I'm not sure what to name it... Oh the peer pressure.

Also, I've yet to find another Mini Cooper, at least in the Kansas City area, that has the same color scheme as mine. There are plenty of grey Mini Coopers, but I'm not sure I've even seen any silver Mini Cooper... Not to mention a silver with 2 black racing stripes on both the engine hood and the roof... Oh and the racing stripes on mine are straight on the hood rather than curved or angled.

Keep waving o/