My Day With The MINI Cooper S

If you know me, you know that I don’t have a car. The last car I had was my 1999 Mustang that I broke the lease on when I moved back to NYC from Baton Rouge. I miss that car, but I digress. Living in Manhattan really didn’t make it feasible for me to have a car. Now that I am back in Queens I haven’t really needed one, but in the event I did I signed up for a Zip Car membership. Apparently I haven’t needed a car since my annual membership fee had to renew before I actually used the service.

For John’s AC weekend I couldn’t find a ride that was feasible, so I rented one. I got a MINI Cooper S from Zip Car. I got it because I wanted something small and sporty. Let me tell you, that car is both. I wouldn’t sit in the back seat, but the front was comfy. The car handled fantastically. I say that after driving it in pouring rain and crazy wind from the residual Hurricane that happened to be passing through the day I decide to drive 3 hours. The trip down to AC really did suck, but the car handled great in the rain. I had to keep looking at the speedometer to realize how fast I was going in the heavy rain all the time because I would be flying and not even realize it. For me sometimes that is a good thing since I like a bit of speed, but not in heavy rain.

The ride home was even better since it was a bright sunny (dry) morning. The 30+ MPG was also a plus. If you are thinking I am a commercial for the MINI, you would be wrong. I was critiquing it so much because I have been thinking about having my own car again, and the MINI is a candidate. I was thinking about buying or leasing allot more when I actually had the car about 2 weeks ago. Since I started the new job I am reconsidering the need. I will have another chance to play with the MINI when I drive out to John’s wedding this Saturday. I am renting another one.

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Relaxing

Yesterday was Friday, so that meant another night meeting up with friends by my old Redcats office. I meet up with a bunch of people at Blaggards and hung out. It was Stanley’s birthday. There was a nice turn out. Luke was out of course. Jeannette, Vanessa, Herbie, Ben, & others also came out. I lost count of how much I spent. I think we had an obscene amount of shots, but I don’t fully recall. I don’t normally do that. Below is a before and after shot of one round.

I had a really good time in spite of my neck killing me again. Last month if you asked if alcohol would stop the sharp pain in my neck I would say no since I tried. Last night it must have been the Jameson shots because the pain went away. It is back again now, but I felt great last night! I now look forward to a restful weekend.

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Just a note on the photos. I only had one, and it was for Stanley’s birthday so we kind of had to do a round. We had a nice turn out!