Thursday, April 14, 2005

No more panic

The brakes came Monday and were installed Tuesday, along with new springs. It was an absolute debacle, resulting in 1 broken part, several hours of lost time due to rain and missing parts, and two very very exhausted MINI tuners. But it's all on there, now, and going through the bed-in process, which consists of making several back-to-back hard stops from 60 - 0.

Hopefully, everything will be ready in time for the rally on Sunday.

What's more, I'm done for a while. Until we get back from our anniversary trip, the car is done. I'll probably take it to live at the dealership during our trip, so that they can work on the transmission and some ancillary issues, but there will be no more mods until June. Finito.

To date, almost the entire suspension has been replaced: lower control arms, front and rear sway bars, and springs. The only items left that I even could replace would be end-links, upper control arms, and bushings, but I don't want to do any of that (except the end-links). No, this car is set up to handle, now.

And that brings me to a great point in my life: I can spend more time with the woman who means everything to me. Last night, we enjoyed our first evening together in almost a week. It was fabulous. All we did was run, eat dinner, and watch movies, but it was the best time I've had in weeks. I never want to take my wife for granted.

Next Friday is her 30th birthday! The Woman's getting old. ;) We're gonna party for days (at least, the way 30-year-olds party: by going to tourist places and being generally low-key). We're hitting Monticello next Thursday, and doing a picnic on the lawn. Friday is completely up-in-the-air, but I imagine a wonderful meal is in order. Saturday will be Amanda's Mad Tea Party, and I'm excited about that. Lots of pots of tea, friends, and a compulsory game of musical chairs. Probably with champagne and hard liquor. All right!

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