Grant

Happy Birthday. You had best be getting rowdy and misbehaving.

Great result for the US, and the world in general. Now everyone can settle down and get on with life, and recovering from the current financial hard times.

Better late than never. Happy belated birthday Paul

Sorry a bit late here but HB Josh. Hope you had a great day.

Happy Birthday. Hope that you were treated suitably well by the whanau.

Hi All Now that I have some 1/2 way decent internet access, I thought that I'd have a decent check in and see what has been happening in Bimmersport, and also update those that are interested on our move. Good to see that things are trucking along in here. For those that don't know, my wife and I uprooted ourselves and our 2 young kids and moved to California. My wife is originally from the US, and our 2 kids are US Citizens (as well as NZ Citizens). Therefore it was pretty straight forward for me to get permanent residency here. We arrived 10 days ago in San Francisco, and have been staying at Brook's parents in a small town called Coarsegold, CA ever since. Coarsegold is in the foothills of Yosemite National park, so is pretty nice for a rest and settling in period, however due to its remoteness, the interweb has been pretty hard to get with any speed. In their back yard, there are wild deer all the time, squrrels a lot, quail, and the odd tarantula (I managed to accidentally run a few over today driving to Sacramento - I was trying to avoid them, but by the time you realise that they are not just a piece of rubbish on the road it is too late). We have bought a Subaru Outback 3.0l, and it is a good car (not that I can drive it as I can't get my name on the insurance until I get my CA drivers licence, and I can't get that until I get my Social Security card). We even have Recaro baby/child seats in it - which are very cool. However I have rented a car so I can drive. I have a 2009 (yes...2009) Pontiac G6 GT, it is a small car about the size of a 3er BMW, but has a 3.5l V6. I was the first person to drive it (apart from the delivery to Enterprise Rentals). I have been getting used to driving, and then today drove from Brook's parants to Sacramento (about 200miles) where I have job interviews for the next couple of days. Driving over here is funny, you get 90% of people who are very very polite, and then 10% absolute nutters. However I have found driving here very easy (I have done bits and pieces before here anyway, but not that much until this week). I have bloody good Garmin GPS Unit, so that makes driving damn easy. It even directs me into the correct lanes on the freeway, so really takes the guess work out of it. Thats about it from me, but the focus now is to find a job, either in Sacramento, or San Francisco. I have been talking to agents, and there seems to be a bit around that matches what I do, so the economy can't be that bad everywhere. Also, you think the NZ election dominates the media in NZ, you have seen nothing...not only is it the presidential election here, it is also the election for all sorts of other officials, as well as a huge number of potential law changes, so every second advert on TV is an electorial one. I can't wait for tomorrow to be over. Anyway, I have attached some photos, sorry about the quality, they are taken with my iPhone (which if anyone is interested about using them overseas, I had no issues at all getting it connected to AT&T here). Cheers Grant

Did I have the passenger kiddy lock on? Brook may have enabled it when she was using the car on Monday. I used to enable the driver side one (where Ash sat), but thought I disabled that one today when I got the seat out of it. I'm not sure how to sort it, is the owners manual any help? Cheers Grant

HiNo worries, I happened to talk to a mate who has a mate who is an upholsterer not far from my house, he did it for me (I don't actually know the name of the firm, I paid very little attention). I haven't actually paid for it yet, and am not sure what it will cost (but I am thinking a couple of hundred dollars, and a couple of dozen beers). It didn't seem to take very long, was done in a couple of hours, as far as I know. Sorry not much help I'm afraid. It was a good job though. Ray (Hellbm) has them for pretty cheap too, get in touch with him. It went for the 5k that you must have seen, which I am happy with, would have liked more, but wanted to keep it for as long as possible, while still knowing that it would be sold before we left the country. Cheers Grant Cheers

Sorry to see that Tony. Best of luck finding a replacement that is just as cool. Cheers Grant

Gone now as well. Cheers Grant

Next freebee. Small Motogard Trolley Jack. About 10 years old, but works well. Has a safe load limit of 1550kg's. Must be picked up from One Tree Hill, Auckland before (or on) next Saturday. First in can have it. Cheers Grant

Sorry man, Jonathon (JiB) got in just before you with a sneaky PM.Cheers Grant

Hi All Seeing as I'm in a Father Christmas mood, here is my next lot that is free to a good home (or if you felt that way inclined could give me a dozen Macs Hop Rockers for, as this lot probably has a reasonable value). This isn't a pick n' mix - you have to take the whole lot. I'll even chuck in a bucket to carry it all in. In no particular order: Mothers California Gold Pre-Wax Cleaner (80% full) Mothers Leather Conditioner (50% full) Armor All Protectant (90% full) Meguiars Scratch X (50% full) Turtle Wax Ultra Glass Liquid Wax (50% full) Simoniz Bumper Black (95% full) Turtle Wax Uphostery Cleaner (40% full) Mothers Glass Cleaner (ammonia free for tinted windows) - (95% full) CRC Carb Cleaner (95% full) Super Silicon Spray (40% full) I need these gone by next Saturday. I am in One Tree Hill, Auckland. Away this weekend, but will be back mid afternoon on Sunday, otherwise one evening next week will be cool. As before, first in can have it. Cheers Grant

Cool - gone to Nick.

Free to a good, bad or otherwise home. OEM E36 Roof Racks. I have used them on our sedans, not sure if they fit a coupe, compact or touring. They are easy to take off and on (2 minutes to do either). Whoever gets in first must pick up from One Tree Hill, Auckland before next Saturday. I am not around this weekend (will be back Sunday mid afternoon). Cheers Grant

Bump - auction ends Tuesday.

It has not come down for two simple reasons 1) petrol did not increase in price at the same rate as oil...I'm afraid we can't have it both ways 2) Oil is priced against the $US. A month ago the $NZ was worth $0.80 US, now it is worth $0.59. This largely counters the decrease in oil price. Cheers Grant

Get in quick - this could be the bargain of the century. Currently at $191, only about 1/2 an hour to go. Cheers Grant

I buy a ticket most weeks, a $16.50 mega dip (or something like that). I don't miss the money I spend on the ticket, but would certainly be happy with winning it. Every now and then I win small amounts that buy a few weeks more tickets. Got $75 odd a couple of weeks ago, had a $30 win a couple of weeks before that. I know that it is hardly an investment, and that it is mainly throwing money away, but hey, so be it. I do have a problem with people who don't have the money to spend, buying up large. That is just stupid. Cheers Grant

That is very funny. Well done.

Penry - I think you are a very smart man, you certainly didn't put me to sleep, and I agree pretty much wholeheartedly with your post. Cheers Grant

The fact that you are a girl again has nothing to do with it. Also, in fact I don't think I've ever thrown acorns at anyone in my life, seems a bit petty really.I just don't suffer fools, of any gender. I also can't stand small minded uneducated people who spout off in a completely uninformed way about an issue that they have no real knowledge of (just what their other small minded friends also think). I don't think any of the parties are perfect, and think that National will win by a pretty large majority, maybe even enough to govern alone. I don't dislike National, and think that they have some pretty smart people within their party. This is the hardest choice in an election that I have ever had to make, but will vote Labour (as I have already said), as to me they are still marginally favourable to National. Unfortunately who ever is in power is in for a pretty rough time for the next few years. It will be an interesting time for everyone I think (all over the world). Interesting topic, none the less. Lets just try and keep the debate an educated and clean one. Cheers Grant

You are probably one of the most ignorant and badly informed people I have ever come across.Everything you have written above is complete rubbish. Do you have any knowledge of economics at all? I suggest that you try and become better informed before you post anything and pass it off as fact.

I'll vote Labour again. Really the lesser of two evils (so to speak). It really doesn't matter to me anyway, I won't be here to worry about what National will do when they win (which they will easily I suspect). I even have to vote early, as I won't be here come election day. In my electorate, I know very little about any of the candidates, so will do a quick bot of research before I decide on the Candidate I will vote for. If Sue Bradford and Russell Norman weren't in the Green's I'd vote for them. I can't bring myself to vote for a party that has either of them in. Cheers Grant

Wow - looks great, Very nice car.