Welcome!

Wendy got fitted for her July 4th outfit last night at Mission Burritos.  Thanks go to Mike for supplying the magnetic material, the scissors, and expertise; Scott for helping out; and Aaron, the Manager of Mission Burritos, who didn't seem to mind our taking over half the restaurant to tackle the project.  I took this picture from my office window today and will get a close-up tomorrow.

I feel guilty about having such a good time yesterday.  Someone from the Dallas Mini Club organized an event as well, and no one showed up.  He posted such a sad picture.

Wendy was up early yesterday morning, fresh and shiny and ready for a trip to Galveston with other Minis.  Here she is, waiting patiently in the driveway for me and John.

Click here to read about her day, and to hear the answer to the question everyone's been asking. You can also see the photo album pictures here

She's home again.  She has had:
her a/c fixed
an oil change
and she also has
a new windscreen, and 
a brand new, shiny gearstick knob

Now, dear Mini Gods, let her stay, please.

   We had another HMMS meeting yesterday morning.  This time it was at Crickets Creamery and Caffé (yes, two "f"s, so put your red pencils down) in The Heights (315 W 19th Street).  I loved the place.  They served killer ice cream (I had a wicked coconut milkshake) and coffee and pastries.  If I used one word to describe the place, it would be "fresh."  Good word, when there's cream around, but the place was airy, clean, and colourful, like a painting.

Pictures are self explanatory, but note how my rented Ford Focus twinkles (top left) -- that in spite of everyone's rude comments (I suppose I really shouldn't have taken up a prime parking space like that).  Mike F., the owner of the red Cooper S (below right) makes his own magnetic stripes.  I'm planning on getting some for Wendy for July 4th, providing she's home by then.  My information below was a little inaccurate.  The transmission is not damaged.  The bracket that holds the a/c together had been rubbing against the transmission, which has caused a hole in the bracket.  Momentum MINI ordered a new a/c hose and a new bracket.  The bracket had not arrived by yesterday.  I've just done a count.  It's been 275 days since I picked her up in Memphis, and she's been in the shop for 107 of those.

I counted 23 MINIacs in the room.  We had elections, and Louis (President), Mike B. (VP), Jeff (Treasurer), Wes (Technical) and I (Secretary) are now official.  Wes has got the website going at www.hmms.cc   We are waiting for www.hmms.org to become available.

I took Wendy to Momentum MINI today to get her air conditioning fixed.  Good news and bad news.  I think the good news outweighs the bad news so will relate the bad news first.  Apparently, when the body shop fixed Wendy they did something wrong with the a/c line.  This in turn ended up damaging the transmission.  It's approximately a $750 repair job and will not be covered by the warranty.  I called my insurance company who said that the body shop is liable and will have to do the repairs, unless they agree to let Momentum MINI do them and foot the bill.  If they do the job themselves the insurance company will have to send out an adjustor to inspect the damage before the work can be started.

HOWL.

Now for the good news.  I asked Momentum MINI to call the body shop and discuss the matter.  They did, and fortunately the body shop agreed to let Momentum MINI do the repairs, and said they'd pay the bill.

WHEW!

So Wendy is once again in the hospital.  I'm also getting her windscreen replaced (it has a crack down the middle - also not a warranty job) and her oil changed.  Meanwhile, I'm driving a huge, lumbering red car with automatic transmission, called a Ford Focus.

I do have to comment on Momentum MINI, though.  It was my first visit there, as I'd bought Wendy in Memphis.  What a shiny, beautiful place!  There's even a Cafe Express on the premises.  I was looked after from the moment I walked in the door.  Steve Meyer, described on his business card as "Motoring Advisor," took care of everything.  I felt like a princess as he drove me across the lot in a golf cart to pick up a free Enterprise rental car.  And even though none of the work I'm having done is covered by the warranty, Momentum is still going to cover the rental.

I think Wendy is in good hands and hope to have her back by the weekend.  She has an important date on Saturday morning.

We drove to New Braunfels yesterday.  Unfortunately Wendy's AC stopped working after about 150 miles.  It was about 100 degrees and humid.  We came home early this morning to avoid the Texas heat.  One thing about not using the AC, she really zips along!

Time to scrape off the Junebugs and give her yet another bubble bath.  I wonder if I'm the last Mini owner to see this picture.  Thanks for sending it, David!

Wendy continued her social life this evening with a visit to The Italian Job (open to the general riffraff tomorrow), compliments of Momentum BMW.  I gave her a bubble bath before we left and took a picture of her waiting patiently outside the house.  The movie was shown at the Edwards Cinemas off I-10.  There was a special area roped off for Mini owners.  That's not her parked back to front.  She was parked behind a Mini with the license plate "ABFAB."  I love the velvet red one (second from the left).

The movie was brilliant.  I won't give away the plot, but will mention that the three stars were Minis -- one red, one blue, and one white.  All three spent time in the Los Angeles underground!

When we went out to the car park after the movie, all our Minis had been decorated with yellow Italian Job antenna balls.

Clover (not pictured) and Wicked Wanda (left) stayed the night last night.  They were on their way from Florida to California.  I've known Clover for a while through the Mini Message Boards and it was great to meet her at last.  She and Wanda have been on the road since mid-April.

Communications continue between me and the insurance companies.  Farmer's Insurance (the other driver's company) has offered me $900 to close the bodily injury claim.  I'm going to sign off and accept it.  It appears that The Hartford (my insurance company) is also going to reimburse me for my medical bills.  Not very much, as I already have UH health insurance.

The biggy here is my diminished value claim, which Farmer's continues to ignore.  According to the appraiser, Wendy's resale value has gone down more than $4,600.  I've sent off a second letter and followed it with a 'phone call to the adjuster yesterday.  Each time I call them they have someone new working on the case.

The Houston Mini Motoring Society (HMMS) is now official (I'm the Secretary) and we had our first public meeting  this morning at Kaveh Kanes Coffee House downtown.  I didn't take an official count, but believe there were about 19 Minis, 30 adults, and 10 children.  While I'm talking about numbers, Kaveh Kanes apparently serves one million different types of coffee.  They also have free wireless internet access, so John came too and was quite happy playing on a computer while I did my Mini stuff.  While we were discussing future road trips, a couple walked in.  The man looked around and said, "anyone own a Mini Cooper?"  Well, I found it funny :)

The website should be up very soon, but we're waiting for the domain name to be available.  It's currently taken by a middle school in Arkansas that isn't using it, and it expires on the 11th.  We're hoping they won't renew it.

Pictures Pictures Pictures