I’ve played this Honda commercial several times over the past few weeks, and I still can’t get over it. It’s so brilliant it hurts.

Phew, it certainly has been a while! My apologies (to all two of my readers) for the silence. I took a business trip a few days after my last entry, and I’ve been rather busy with visiting clients since then.

There’s certainly been a lot of change. Kim and I spent a weekend relandscaping our little end unit, and I have sold the M3. Instead, I now have a ‘96 Jeep Grand Cherokee and an ‘88 M3. Check out the car page in a few days for the full story.

For now, though, back to work. TGIF!

Uh oh….I’m having more car thoughts again. Check out the BMW page for details.

I went to the North American International Auto Show with some friends; my impressions may be found on the car page in a little while.

In other news, it looks like today has some historical significance to Korean Americans. Tucked into an article about a new Korean-owned grocery store and trends in the Korean-American church culture is this little snippet:

“…this year…marks the centennial of Korean immigration to the United States. One hundred years ago today, 102 passengers docked in Honolulu on the ocean liner Gaelic. They were the first large group of Koreans to arrive intent on making this country their own.

The Smithsonian Institution is sponsoring an event each month, beginning with a photography exhibit Thursday at the National Museum of Natural History. About 66,000 Korean Americans live in the Washington area, a majority of them in Virginia’s suburbs. Only Los Angeles and New York City claim more.”

Kim’s Honda Civic makes a great snow/ice car. It’s light and FWD, which makes traction relatively easy. It could use a little more power, but there’s enough to lose traction so I can overlook it.

What’s so great about driving on slippery surfaces? The car stops being a chronic understeerer (wants to go straight when you lose traction in a curve) and starts to exhibit moderate oversteer (rear swings out, like a RWD car). When going around a curve, you can let off the gas to let the front end “bite” and make the turn, then apply throttle to move forward and perhaps swing around the rest of the car. The rear will swing out very progressively, which makes it easy to control. When you start to slip on ice, just steer to counter and be gentle with the gas/brake. Very easy, and much more entertaining than driving on regular dry roads.

The best part? The parking brake is controlled with a lever on the console like it should be, and it’s nice and grabby. When going through a tight curve, gentle application of the brake (by holding down the release button so you can modulate the pressure easily) will bring out the rear. Again, it’s nice and predictable at moderate speeds, and 90 degree turns are suddenly a lot more itneresting. Need to park, but just missed your spot? No problem - just use the brake to get perpendicular to the curb, then apply gas and glide into your spot. The best part? No tire wear at all - we’re on ice!

By the way, I don’t recommend you try any of this unless you know what you’re doing and you’re far away from traffic. And don’t try the same techniques carelessly with a RWD car, although they’re actually MORE fun in the snow and ice…and more dangerous, by far. My M3 is going to stay parked until all of the white stuff is gone from our neighborhood roads.

Oh, and from last Monday (11/4): Borrowed SUV + Sears + credit card = Craftsman tool drawers.

Gotta love these “sniper” attacks. Once again, the latest shooting is within spitting distance of my parents and best friend.

In cheerier news, I went to an autocross last weekend. The car page has more info.

Well, back to work. I went autocrossing on Saturday; read about it and see an action shot on my car page. See, isn’t this blog fragmentation stuff confusing? Yesterday Kim and I went to the Leesburg Animal Park to wander through Pumpkinville and pick up a suitable Halloween decoration. In addition, Kim and I both got to pet Azmi, their 19-week-old Bengal tiger cub! The entire park was (predictably) filled with kids and their parents. We felt a little weird just going by ourselves, but it was still fun.

yaaaaawn…I’m tired. Two autocrosses in one weekend, and I went to help setup yesterday’s at 6:30am. One of my carpool buddies said this morning, “I wish there was no Monday.” If only it were so easy…

After a month of ownership, I decided to sit down and write some of my impressions of the new car. Check ‘em out.