My Fourth Weekend Plans

In a few weeks, my friends and I are going to go up north to celebrate the birthday of our country. And because these guys are good old country boys, they know how to have a good time. They will bring their Tippmann paintball guns and we will either play paintball or just go out and shoot cans and bottles. Then on the night of the fourth, they have whole truckload of fireworks that they plan to shoot off. Because of this, they have also got their new Mustang performance parts and Ford F150 parts installed so that they can have fun driving up there as well.

As far as staying up there is concerned, one of my friends has a nice cabin that his grandparents own. It’s not like a mansion or anything, but it is a nice little retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. I expect that we will be doing the usual things up there like we do down here as well like video games and getting good use out of our poker chips set. And actually, they also have a bevy of cool toys to play with as well. For the water, they have a kayak and a fishing boat, while for their younger grandkids, they have electric RC airplanes to use (some of which have floats) and then some electric RC cars to use around the yard or in the house depending on what the weather is like. They also store some Bell motorcycle helmets in their storage shed for when they ride their motorcycle up there, but we won’t be using them as we don’t have a need for them.

I also hope to do some fishing over the weekend, but I still need to go and get a license. I suppose that no matter what happens up there, it will be good to get away from the hectic life that I lead (yeah right) and relax for a couple of days.

My Last Night

As if you should have any doubt. I went out and played a round of golf last night. It was ok, but not great. The main reason that it wasn’t all that great was because it was very hot and humid. Golfing when it is like that is very hard as the sweat from your palms ends up on the clubs and you lose grip. I know that some of my friends who paintball say that it gets the same way with them, but now they wear gloves and their paintball gun packages are not as difficult to handle. In fact, most things are harder when it is extremely hot and muggy. If you happen to own one, a Mustang turbo won’t work as well as it should. And it is actually all cars that are less efficient when it is hot outside. Vehicles work much better when the temperature is cooler because cool air is denser than warm air and the engine can make more power. I would think then, that if you live in a very warm area and drive a certain car, things like BMW performance parts would be ideal because then you could retain some of the power in the summer and make much more if it turns cool.

And if you ride a motorcycle, I can’t imagine having to wear Bell motorcycle helmets when it is that hot outside because the sweat would get into your eyes and impair your vision. But I guess that wearing a helmet is always the safe way to go as otherwise you are pretty much toast if you happen to dump your bike. But not everyone yesterday was hindered by the heat. After I got home I saw the kids next door outside playing with their electric RC cars and thought that it looked fun. The only problem with that is that the battery will wear out much faster when the temp it hot, but they don’t know that and don’t care I suppose. As the night rolled on, it became milder and the guy across the street came out to wash his car. He has a Nissan 350 and really likes to show it off. He brings is to all the shows and it is even sporting one of those nice, subtle 350Z body kits. All in all, last night was a relaxing, if not humid and muggy, affair that left me feeling good.

Stuff I Found

If there was any doubt as to what I was going to write about today, let it be known that I will be going flat out to describe to you the RC airplane store that I just found out about. Yes, I frequent hobby stores. Ok, so frequent might be a slight over exaggeration, but I do go to a hobby store usually like once a year. Anyway, I found a store that has a bunch of RC cars, RC boats and even radio controlled planes.  Naturally, they had a huge selection and the prices were great. And they carried both the electric and the gas powered RC stuff that everyone is looking for. I have to say here that I am a much bigger fan of the gas powered stuff as it is more fun to use, generally goes faster and makes much more noise. If you aren’t in RC for fun (and I think the noise is part of the fun) then you might be in RC for the wrong thing. I am in it for fun though and as such I set about making the most of my visit to the store by getting a couple of RC helicopters – you know, the small ones – and a model rocket kit that I can attach something to and shoot very high into the air.

I then went onto the Internet and found a site that sells only custom poker chips. What this means is that I can put any pictures onto the chips that I want to. So if I am holding a card night with my car buddies, I can have Mustang rims and Corvette accessories adorning them. Then when my gamer buddies come over, I can break out the paint ball gun chips and the video game characters. How awesome is that?! Make no mistake, I will be getting some of them for my next poker tourney.

Car Magazines

Going back to the car magazine topic, are the American published magazines just not keeping up with the British, or is it that the British magazines are just better all around? I know that comparing the two is a little odd, but I have to say that the Brits must have just better funding. The fact that they are able to shoot such vivid shots and go to such exotic locations (of course living in Europe helps with that one) makes their publications seem that much better to me. I will read just about anything that you put in front of me dealing with cars, but from what I have read, the American ones just don’t do the job as well. The American ones undoubtedly deal with issues and vehicles that are more pertinent to me, but all I care about is fast cars. It’s the main reason that I watch Top Gear and not Motorweek (well that and the fact that it is much, much, much, much more entertaining). Plus, when I pick up a British magazine, it just feels more exclusive and better. This has to do with the quality of the paper stock. Everything from the truck accessories ads to the actual articles looks more convincing on that stock. Speaking of ads though, the American magazines do have more useful ads in the way of Corvette parts or even nitro RC cars I suppose, because they deal with our country more often. But as far as editorial insight and car reviews go, I have to hand it to the British. They just do it better.

New Car Stereo

I need new speakers in my car. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with the speakers that are there now; it’s just that they don’t sound as good as they could. I mean, I want my car to sound like these Rockport Technology speakers, but I don’t want to have to spend the 165k that it costs to get them.

I also don’t really care about the brand as long as the sound is good. I was thinking about the normal brands of speakers like Pioneer, Sony and Kenwood. I am also not sure if I want to include a subwoofer. I suppose that if I want the speakers to hit me like the gust from a BMW exhaust, then I should, but the added weight that it would give my car is not going to be great. Maybe I could just go around wearing these Sennheiser HD800 headphones – even though I’m fairly certain it is illegal. The problem with them is that they cost $1400. That is the only reason that I have not ordered them yet. Although if I did, I’m sure they would be great (and they had better be).

The other thing that is holding me back from spending an unbelievable amount of money is that I am not going to be doing the install. That in itself is probably going to cost a bunch of money and therefore I need to be shopping for items in the middle of the price range and not the top. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is. It’s the same dilemma that my friend has. He needs new Jeep Wrangler parts, but also wants big mudding tires and a snorkel air intake so he can go through deeper water. Much like me, he needs to prioritize what is wanted and what can be afforded.

Sport Compact Car Magazine

Today I took the time to look through some old car magazines. Nothing too old mind you, but there were some from as far back as 2002. In the automotive magazine landscape, that is like a billion years old; especially when the magazine in question no longer exists. The magazine that I was flipping through is an old copy of Sport Compact Car that I own. I never had a subscription to the magazine and I never really had much interest in the publication because when that particular magazine was published, I wasn’t even old enough to drive a car. What attracted me to that issue was the picture on the front of the magazine. It is of a 2002 Subaru STi. This was the new boy; the one that just came out and was only available (still) on the other side of the pond. Sure we had finally gotten our grubby little hands on the WRX, but the STi still eluded us. I was fascinated by this car because it was WR Blue and had those beautiful V7 gold wheels on it. It also helped that the car sported a 2.0 liter engine pushing out 276 horsepower and about the same amount of torque. I became interested in Subarus after watching World Rally on television. My favorite car was the Impreza with its wings and gold wheels and outlandish paint and graphics and that hood scoop. I have named this blog after a saying from one of their championship winning drivers as well. Colin McRae had a saying, “If in doubt…flat out.” And he lived up to that. I got a little off track there I guess, but what I wanted to say was that the magazine was a good one. I guess I am sad that it went away and I know there is a whole market for these types of magazines, but Sport Compact Car had a long history of giving great tech articles on Acura performance parts and other tuner type things. It wasn’t the magazine for those who liked things like Jeep Wrangler accessories, or custom poker chips or even Bell motorcycle helmets (not that there is anything wrong with those who like them) but it didn’t have to be either. I should have purchased more of these magazines now, seeing as I own a Subaru now, but its too late. Sport Compact Car, you will be missed by me.

Celebration of all things…really!

This is my blog and I will be blogging about things I like.