BMW Performance Delivery

So, after seriously considering the 2007 BMW 550i and opting for the motorcycles instead, I finally broke down and bought the 2008 this summer. Our trip to Europe presented an opportunity that was just too good to pass up, so I gave it a shot.

Everything worked out spectacularly. European Delivery saved me a bunch, and enabled us to tour Germany and Austria in style for a few days. Details on that trip are still pending.

After dropping the car off with the shipping agency in Munich in early September, it finally made its way to the New Jersey shores in October, and was trucked to Spartanburg, SC. A circuitous route... but bare with me, and you'll understand the method to my madness.

Thursday, 10/25, I grabbed a rental car and headed for Greenville, SC (immediately adjacent to the BMW plant in Spartanburg, SC, braving 500 miles of rainy weather, traffic, and dark highways, praying that it would clear by the morning.

Cutting to the chase... The next morning, with a group of five couples, I headed to the BMW Performance Delivery center just a couple miles down the road from the hotel.

Upon arrival, what should we all behold but my car, proudly displayed in the lobby of the delivery center with placards reading "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH -- THIS IS A CUSTOMER'S NEW VEHICLE." With the second "comfort access key" in my pocket, it was all I could do to resist gently touching the door handle to deactivate the alarm and make the lights flash. "That's my car, baby!! ;-)" (But, I resisted the temptation to show off.)

After brief introductions, and a quick performance driver training session we headed to the track, and to copies of our cars ready for abuse.

Unfortunately, 550i Sport editions were in short supply, so I was stuck with an M5... a 500 BHP, 0-60 in 4.5 seconds monster! Yeah baby!



With heads-up display, paddle shifting, and various performance tuning controls set, I was ready!





First up, pushing the cars as hard as we could on a small portion of the race track. From someone else's "hot lap" experience, here's a rough idea of what it looked like from the inside; with Donnie Isley:



Then, it was time for ABS brake testing, and practice turning while braking:




And then, over to the skid pad. First, without DSC:




Then, with DSC:




I took delivery of my car; personally shown every bell and whistle by Donnie. After wrapping up, he drove it out of the lobby, and handed over the keys, BMW coffee and other goodies.

I had just enough time to zip over to the Zentrum museum, drive on the sidewalk (whee!) and park behind the row of 650is driven over by the rest of the group.



I sorta missed the opportunity to drive one of the 650is over... but with my 550i parked behind the group, how could I complain. Really!?



After a quick tour of the museum, and lunch complements of the delivery center, we headed back on the track.

While some of us waited for lunch to settle, Donnie ran hot-laps with each couple. Here's Donnie's final hot-lap for our group, from the outside:



I then headed over to the X5 course with Jim Davis.




The course really demonstrated that the X5 is a true four-wheel drive off-road vehicle. Nice!



After wrapping up the drive in the X5, and saying farewells to Donnie, Jim, and the gang, I was back in my shiny new 550i for the 500 mile return trip home.

I'd recommend spending more time in Greenville. But, even if you have to make the whole tour in less than 36 hours, I still recommend it! The experience of a lifetime!

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.11.21

Wednesday, 11/21, GSX ODO 4650
To Brambleton Plaza and back.
Notable: New 12V portable air compressor from Sears, and air in the tire: 36 PSI and holding. Weather today is 72 and sunny! Heavy Thanksgiving traffic, so I kept it short. And, kept the speed down ...just in case.

Sunday, 11/18, GSX ODO 4637
Err... nowhere.
Notable: Front tire 0.0 PSI. I noticed that turning in was particularly hard on the 11/10 return home, but figured that it was just my imagination. A flat!? ...or maybe my 11/10 trip to get air had the opposite effect! Bizarre.

Saturday, 11/10, GSX ODO 4637
To gas station for air, and back.
Notable: A chilly ride, but it was good to get out for a bit.

Math Is Cool, Part 2

April last year, I blogged about math coolness I encountered while poking around the TopCoder member profiles...

Yes, I'm a math geek... who knew!?

In doubt that math is cool?! What would Halo 3 be without math... think on that one! So, maybe it's not math itself, but what can be done with math that's cool.... but then, aren't we just quibbling over semantics?

In fact, I was a fairly marginal math student all the way through school and much of the way through college; always a year behind the curve it seemed. But the August 1985 cover of BYTE magazine changed all that. [No luck finding an actual image of the cover online, but I did find this great link!] My discovery of Fractal mathematics convinced me that not only is math cool, but that I was in a unique point in history to be able to combine my love for computers with the power of math.

Anyway, I've been reading a series of books from SciAm Book Club (see note above) covering the history, math, and personalities surrounding Pi, e, i, Phi, and zero. Did you know that Pi, e, and i are all directly related to each other?! (While reading about Pi, I discovered why the Riemann Zeta function series contains primes... more coolness.)

So, I'm reading about Phi, now.

Did you know that Phi can be found in the five-pointed star? Measure the distance between two adjacent points, and divide that into the length of one of the long strokes... 1.618... Phi. [From my hand-drawn star, I get ratios between 1.42 and 1.59... maybe you can get a closer result.]

More later...

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.10.21

Sunday, 10/21, GSX ODO 4632
To pickup hacksaw.
Notable: Hacksaw on a bike… not the smartest combination. But, it was a good ride. Beautiful sunny, pure blue skies with temps in the high 70s!

Saturday, 10/20, GSX ODO 4592
To Loudoun Motorsports for state inspection.
Notable: A sunny cool (low 60s) morning after a rainy night led to a hair-raising trip in, with cold wet/slick roads out of the neighborhood. Once on the dry, much better. Just impossible to get the feel for wet traction…

Beautiful weather on Thursday, but I drove in to work. Friday, I had hoped to take the bike in for its state inspection, but the weather said "no."

Linux

Attending the New Paradigm Enterprise 2.0 All Member briefing last month, I was once again reminded of LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP5. Although I have an extensive "client" programming background, in the web realm, I'm a bit of a newb.

So, a few weeks ago, I got copies of Professional LAMP and Setting Up LAMP, and ordered a "cheap" Dell server.

The server arrived last Thursday. :-)

The entire locating the correct Fedora Linux build, download, verify ISO, burn DVD, install, test-run process took only a few hours... in spite of a few hiccups along the way. (My PC has a DVD/CD-RW... not a DVD-W/CD-RW. :-P)

Before starting the Fedora install, I also took a brief detour with the setup DVD included by Dell, which included a Linux variant. Unfortunately, after getting through the setup process, the install failed for lack of a "Disc 2." (The whole install seemed to be on a single DVD, and the other disc included in the package was docs only... so, no luck.) But, it's just as well that it didn't work out, because the Fedora release rocks.

I went for the full install, which includes not only web server and development tools, but also desktop apps: Firefox Browser, email, Open Office, GIMP (Open Source PhotoShop-like), Totem DVD player, games, and a lot more. It took a lot of restraint not to sell my MSFT shares right then and there! ;-)

This morning, I see a Wired article about the latest Ubuntu Linux Release. And, just as I was dropping a DVD into the drive, read about the problems with Totem DVD codec support. Installing the codec seemed to eliminate the error, but didn't yield any further success. But, the ultimate irony is that none of it mattered anyway... I bought this machine to be a web server / dev box -- not for movies or games... so, no sound card. :-P

So, as the install progresses from L to A to M to P. My study has begun with P. So far, looks very similar to Java. More later....

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.10.17

Wednesday, 10/17, GSX ODO 4568
To Loudoun Motorsports and Market Station for lunch.
Notable: Still with AOL, but our team was hit really hard. Not happy. But, today, it’s an absolutely spectacular day with sunny skies, temps in the high 70s, and a light enough workload for a long lunch.

Ordered Scott Anti-Fog Lens Cleaner, Stomp Grip Tank Pad Kit, and Vortex Frame Sliders from motosport.com. Free shipping, too! Not ready for the track, yet. But, the Tank Pad will help me hold on better when stopping and turning. Hopefully will never use the Frame Sliders....

Monday, 10/15, GSX ODO 4539
To work and back.
Notable: T minus one day, and counting to AOL's October 2007 layoffs. Not happy.

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.10.13

Saturday, 10/13, GSX ODO 4524
To Target and back.
Notable: Still seems silly to ride a GSX-R into Target… but not as silly when riding out with eight shot glasses!

Friday, 10/12, GSX ODO 4506
Out for a hair cut, and back.
Notable: Sunny but chilly morning, so I drove in to work. But, after wrapping up work, returned home and rode the bike... the helmet’s not so good for the new haircut, but who cares?

Thursday, 10/11, GSX ODO 4480
Out to pick up spare contacts, and back.
Notable: Chilly and overcast, but good to get out for a quick ride. Saving gas!

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.10.10

Wednesday, 10/10, GSX ODO 4468
To work and back.
Notable: The long way. Avoiding traffic, or just taking advantage of the weather. Unfortunately, I think I've peaked... not a beginning rider anymore, but not progressing much beyond "early intermediate" either. It's good to ride safe... but you don't learn as fast that way.

I took the Basic Rider Course (BRC) with the Apex folks. "Using your own motorcycle, you'll put into practice the techniques of managing traction, stopping quickly, cornering and swerving" is very similar to the BRC training, except for the "using your own motorcycle" part. I learned on a Suzuki Dual-Sport 250 and never made it above 25 mph. (Thought I was really flying, when I made it into 2nd gear!) So... with a 1000cc bike that has 168 bhp, does 0-60 in 3.0 s, and has a top speed of 186 mph, this class would be a new experience. But, Nov. 2 sounds cold. Maybe next year!

Tuesday, 10/09, GSX ODO 4433
To work and back.
Notable: Not enough to blog about. Still, the smell of the flowers along Claiborne is not something to take for granted.... I wish I could capture the scent! Has anyone invented the scent camera, yet? ...Apparently, yes:

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&safe=off&q=scent+camera
CNN Transcript - Newsroom/World View: NEWSROOM for May 4, 2000 ...
A scent camera can grab the smell, then analyzes the elements of the smell and transmits the file to the television station. The broadcaster sends the scent ...

Motorcycle Diaries 2007.10.08

Monday, 10/08, GSX ODO 4420
To work and back.
Notable: Overcast and a bit chilly on the way in to work, light traffic... not a bad ride. The flowers are out again on Claiborne Parkway. Indescribable. Left work a few minutes early to avoid rush-hour traffic... stop for gas... very uncomfortable for the remainder of the ride home. Spidey sense? Or maybe, just foreshadowing of my near-miss in the car... backing up, I nearly ran over a neighbor's small dog while they were out for a walk. Oops!

Europe - Day 2 - Rome: Arrival and Acclimation

Disney Theme for the Day: All Roads Lead to Rome

The day began with breakfast at the Exedra buffet; a generous and generally edible selection by European standards. (During my last trip to Europe, I had considerable trouble finding palatable food for breakfast with each new country. It typically took a day or two to sort out a solution for breakfast. London was the exception, where the "typical english breakfast" never really matched what I was looking for each morning.)

After breakfast, we gathered in the Exedra lobby to await James' and Davide's preview of the day and direction to the bus. We also met our roman tour guide for the next two days, Marlena, and our driver Nino.

We piled into the bus with snacks in hand (provided by James) and after a quick head-count, headed for the Coliseum, with a brief driving tour on the way.

With warnings of pickpockets and overcharging vendors, we marched toward the Coliseum and breezed through the line with all logistics in the care of our guides.

With only a few minutes wait, we began our tour. Interesting facts about the Coliseum, gladiators, and the lifetimes of the roman citizenry of the era abounded:
- not just slaves, but professionals and amateurs competed in the Coliseum
- holes in the walls are due to scavenging for metal (pins connecting the huge building blocks) that took place hundreds of years later
- several inches of sand over the wooden arena floor were used to absorb the blood
- gladiator training took place in several enclaves, including one just around the corner
- there are 76 numbered entrances to the Coliseum interior, four in the cardinal directions: one for the Emperor, one for Gladiator entrances, one for the victorious, and another ...for the fallen?
- the Coliseum was built on Nero's lake... or not... Nero died at AD 76. Building of the Coliseum began AD 80 and finished AD 89. (I suppose it wasn't Nero's lake after he died.)
- An earthquake in 1349 caused much of the damage seen today, resulting in the "cut away view" (which is actually quite handy for seeing all the inner detail of the Coliseum).

We walked the entire perimeter, and then moved toward the center.

From the Coliseum, we walked up the steps to the arch adjacent to the Roman Forum. After some discussion of the inscriptions on the arch, and the meaning of SPQR, we headed into the Forum, the site of the ancient city center.

Ruins were everywhere, each with it's own story -- however, it was a bit of ancient-history overload for me. But, fascinating to be in the middle of it all.

With alternating sun and a light sprinkling of rain, we made it back to the bus. But, not before James and Davide had provided us with rain ponchos! (We didn't need them, but wow(!) these guys are prepared! ...there had been no forecast of rain until late in the trip, in Venice.)

We headed into the city for lunch at a local pizzeria... never-ending thin-crust pizzas of all sorts. I'm afraid that after salad, I ate roughly a pizza and a half myself, and then chased it with a Coke Light and dessert. Time for more walking!

The rest of the day flowed like something out of a Lizzy McGuire movie. We headed to the Spanish Steps, passing stores along the way: Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Bulgari, Prada, and arriving at the Barcaccia Fountain and a brief stop by Babington's Tea Rooms, a public drinking fountain, the fruit vendor, and on to the Trevi Fountain. For luck, we tossed coins over our left shoulders with our right hands. A quick run through the mall brought us to the MAGRIPPALFCOSTERTIVMFECIT (Basilica di Santa Maria).

Headed to the next stop, I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of a Yamaha YZF-M1 MotoGP replica racer patterned after Valentino Rossi's bike. Nice!

At the square, we were treated to gelato by our Disney hosts. As they say, the first one is free. For the rest of the trip, we were hooked, and made sure to have gelato for dessert at least once each day.

For dinner, we were on our own. We got directions to Target (a Roman restaurant, not the store) and headed to dinner. And, unlike dinner in the U.S., dinner in Europe, and especially in Italy, is expected to last for hours. The check is only delivered upon request, and even then, with no hurry.... it's not uncommon to wait for half an hour to forty-five minutes after requesting the check! Dinner is a social experience and, here, life is lived at a different pace!

[Ever since my early July 1,000 mile ride to Dayton and back, I had suffered from a stinger in my left shoulder/back... somewhere during our Italian journey, I forgot that my shoulder hurt.]

On the way back to the hotel, we grabbed more gelato.

Back in our room at last, it was good to drop back into our cloud-like beds.... ah!