My Dream Car!

Look at this absolutely amazing automobile! At the link there's even a video of a test drive in it. Way cool!

The New Obamanation Auto

The Reality in Obamanation

Letter from a Dodge Dealer

The Arrogance of Environmentalists Redux

Here's an interesting article from NYC about the cost of owning a car.

Here's the comment I left:

I live in Vancouver, BC and haven't owned a car - by choice - for nearly 7 years. But my situation is quite extra-ordinary. I work for myself at my home office and so my commute is about 15 seconds. Pretty good transit is just a few blocks away. I don't have a family and am not dating at the moment.

If ANY of those factors were to change then my need for a car would as well. Immediately!

That's why I commend the author for taking the time to bring a little common sense to the Age of Lack of Intellect.

Here on Canada's Left Coast (in more ways than one) we have some of the most arrogant (& vacuous) Kumbaya Latte Drinking Limousine Liberal environmentalists anywhere in the world. They have tried to stop the building of bridges & improvement of roads and have encouraged dramatic tax increases to gasoline to prevent working class people from driving. In a nutshell they are open to virtually anything that will force people to adhere to their world view ... without a microsecond of thought to the consequences.

I have some good friends who live in a suburb called Langley, that's about an hour's drive southeast of Vancouver. They have a daughter who's very busy in many activities. Both parents work, in different directions, one half an hour away from home and the other an hour or more away.

When the Kumbaya crowd started suggesting that people like them should get rid of their cars and start taking transit (which would mean upwards of 2 - 3 hours each way) I definitively knew I was fighting the good fight against them!

Heads up: Our Far Left City Council, in their infinite [lack of] wisdom, has decided to waste $1 Million on this experiment.

In late June, go to YouTube and search for these words: Burrard Bridge bicycle. There you will find a time-lapse video shot by yours truly which will accurately show 3 packed lanes of traffic going one way, two fairly full lanes of traffic coming the other way, and one almost empty line of bicycles. Tied in with this video will be a "special" message for all potential Olympic visitors next February!

New Shots of Vancouver

I got my camera back from the repair shop today and immediately had to try it out!

PNE Entrance Today

Random Photos Around Waikiki

A "Little" Budget Rent A Car Gotcha!

I'm always open to a deal if one is offered. So while looking through Expedia.ca to get a rental car, it was quite striking to see Budget offering a Midsize car for $130 while everyone else was charging $190 or $210 or more. So naturally I went with Budget.

Then last night I remembered that with a past rental I had to pay a daily surcharge if taking the car into the U.S. I absolutely know that this is not the case with other rental companies such as Avis.

So I carefully read through the Budget Terms and Conditions. There was no mention of any specific surcharge, though there was an item that said I had to inform the company that I was taking it into the U.S. Still, I was suspicious. So I wrote them, asking them for details. It's now the next day and there's no word back from them. So I called their office.

Sure enough, the following surcharges apply if the car is taken out of B.C.:

• $10 per day if taken into Washington
• $15 per day if taken into Oregon

Immediately that $130 "great" rate doesn't seem so great anymore! Question: Why couldn't these rates be included in their terms and conditions? Is it too much suggest that their exclusion is very much deliberate? Many consumers have been trapped by "lost leaders" before. I don't see this as much different.

I immediately canceled the Budget reservation and am going with Avis. A bit more at first glance but not when the final bill comes. Besides, the Avis people in Vancouver are the very nicest & most professional of any car rental agency.

---

Update: One week after I got home, I received this e-mail from Budget, followed by my response back to them:

Hello Mr. Werner,

Thank you for contacting Budget.

We apologize for the delay in responding to your question. The amount of
$130.76 CAD would have been the final amount you would have paid unless
you accepted any of the additional insurance, prepay gas, additional
driver, added any additional days to the rental etc. All of those items
would have increased your rate.

Again, we apologize for the delay in response and thanks for choosing Budget.

Joni M./Budget Customer Service Email Dept.


Joni,

Not only have you contacted me over a week after I returned but your information is actually incorrect. Perhaps you're not aware, but there is a hidden cost never mentioned in any of your literature that renters taking your Vancouver vehicles down to Washington State have to pay an additional $10.00 per day or $15.00 per day if taken into Oregon.

I mean no personal offence to you but if you were in my shoes, would you ever deal with Budget again?

Robert W.

Remnants of the Big Snowfall

Michael J. Fox Car

This beautiful Delorean DMC-12 was manufactured in North Ireland in the first few years of the 1980's. It gained fame in the Back to the Future trilogy featuring Vancouver's own Michael J. Fox (who was in the Grade 5 class of my Uncle Martin by the way!)

Vancouver: Georgia & Burrard

Today I got the opportunity to take some photos from high up above Georgia & Burrard, one of Vancouver's busiest intersections:

The VW Thing

Aka the Volkswagen 181, this jeep-like vehicle came into Canada and the U.S. in the early 1970's. I was quite familiar with them because my Dad so Volkswagens for a time and I got to ride in a few. I saw one today on Granville Street in Vancouver and captured these photos:




Here are some more images of this unique vehicle:


If you're interested to buy one, click here.

Cars & A Big Boat

Smash From the Past!

I received a call out of the blue today from a lawyer about this car accident that occurred nearly 3 years ago. As I often do, I had my camera with me and captured these scenes. He was absolutely blown away that I was able to provide him with photos. Welcome to the Brave New Digital World!

The Great Robot Race

I saw this segment on PBS and was absolutely fascinated. Robots clearly will be a big part of our lives in the future and the teams of brilliant minds featured here are on the leading edge of their research!

Various Scenes Around Waikiki

An Automobile Metaphor

Isn't it strange how when we're young we take our health pretty much for granted but when people are old they view a lack of perfect health pretty much as a certainty?

Perhaps our bodies are like the automobiles we drive. When you buy a brand new car and drive it away from the dealer you treat it very gingerly but naturally assume that nothing will go wrong. As time passes, you're less concerned about it but still don't ever think anything will go wrong. As years pass though, you have to give it more care & attention, get it tuned up more frequently, get the odd rust spot patched up, and so on. Then, after many years have passed and it starts breaking down suddenly, at the most inconvenient of times, you no longer rely upon it and eventually decide to get a new car.

How many people would like to be able to do that with their bodies?!

Good People, Good Food!

I had many people to visit this weekend, so I rented a car to get around in a more reasonable time period. Without it I could have never accomplished all that I needed to.

The car was a Buick Allure. I'd never had driven this model before. It was stylish, had a very quiet engine, and a smooth ride. It also had a Satellite radio featuring XM Radio. I'd never experienced this before so it was quite a treat. In addition to some great music channels such as this one, it also featured talk radio channels from BBC, CNN, and Fox News. Perhaps the most interesting channel was one called "POTUS 08". I'll leave it to you to figure out what was on it - my politically savvy American readers should instantly know!

Here's a shot of my friend, Monsieur S., and his long hose! :-)

And here's his sister's beautiful dog, Cory. What a wonderful little guy he turned out to be!!

It was my first time to see an iPhone up close. It belonged to one of my friend's cousins, who was visiting from California.

Finally, here's a selection of photos of the great food I was lucky enough to consume this day:

Lotus Sports Car

I found this beauty parked in front of the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver:

You can see a cool video from Lotus here.

A Few Words About The Mustang

Most everyone has asked why on earth I'd rent a 300HP Mustang GT. Well, the truth is that I originally set out to rent a basic standard sized car. But when we arrived at Budget's downtown office we learned that the car designated for us had been in an accident. So they offered us a Lincoln instead. We looked at it and it was 100 metres long! No, no, no, this just wouldn't do. The rental agent thought for a second and said, "Well, we could give you this Mustang if you want ..." Before she could even finish her sentence, Danny exclaimed, "YES, we'll take take it!!!"

Without a doubt, it was a fine ride and the perfect car for our trip!