Who’s at MINI United?

Posted on by Ian C.

Although I’m still buried with MINIsOnTop admin, and trying to get everything packed & ready so I can head down to Florida for The Great Ice Cream Run, I still need to get organized for heading off to MINI United almost immediately after MOT!

So I was wondering … who else is going to MINI United?
I know my friend “Three GP” George is going (it was he who triggered me to go!); and of course the WhiteRoofRadio gang (Gabe, DB and Todd) are heading over there, but who else?
If you’re going, let me know in the comments below … thanks!

(and if you are going and, like me, didn’t know about the MINI United Programme, I’ve re-hosted it here for download because I had trouble downloading it from their Flash-based website!)

Tracking The Great Ice Cream Run

Posted on by Ian C.

The Great Ice Cream Run is now just days away – I fly in to Orlando on Friday, and meet the other TGICR drivers (including organizers Robyn & Allison, and fellow MINI blogger Murray) Saturday morning …
Hopefully my new BlackBerry Pearl will allow me to publish better photographs during the event, and of course I’ll have my portable PC for evening updates just like during MTTS last year.

But now, Robyn has announced a new cool feature, allowing anyone to see just where The Great Ice Cream Run has got to at any time – I’ve no idea how it works, but supposedly “… all kinds of doo-dads that will allow people to track our progress through the entire course of the run …”!

copilot

Nearly flooded at work!

Posted on by Ian C.

We had huge rain storms over the weekend – the rain washed pine needles into the gutters at work and blocked them; it also washed dirt & leaves down to block the drains. The result was that the lower area behind the downstairs part of the office building (we call it “the dungeon” but it’s where we store vehicles, and where we used to develop before the building on top was added), had about 1-1/2 FEET of water collected! You can see the “high tide” line.

We have an outside pump that normally would drain this water – but there was a power cut as well (due to the lightning accompanying the rain); when power restored the water was already above the electrics, and tripped the circuit breakers … so no more pump!
Amazingly, the new rolling door at the back of the building stopped almost all the water; with the old door, the puddles would have been 4-6″ deep.

A view outside with the door open gives an idea of what it was like at the weekend, when water / dirt / leaves were everywhere: