New Legacy license plate

The new "Legacy" license plate looks awesome!  Now I need a yellow dot for you know where. Then paint the tail lights, lower valance, and splitter black, and remove logos (de-badge)... That will complete the plan for the rear. Then new tires and and new look for the front end.

I requested a half-space before the COM, but I think they missed that.  Now I have an excuse to re-visit the pretty redhead at Triple A.  :)

Check out DBLM.com

California Legacy License Plates

My new "Legacy" license plate is on order. California is now selling the old-style plates for the first time in 50 years. It will look great on my black Audi. All I need is an orange dot I can stick before the COM, and I've got 3 months to find one. Why does it take 3 months to make a license plate? 70+ years ago, it took only 3 months to go from concept drawing on the back of an envelope to the first flying P-51 Mustang, the greatest fighter plane of WWII. Seems like we haven't progressed much... 

This is the current plate.  It just arrived after a similar 3 month wait. I ordered it before I knew that the way-cool Legacy plates were available.  :(

The little black dot before the COM is a Velcro stick-on...

Out of warranty!

Somehow I thought I had a 5-year warranty, but now they tell me it's 4 years.
Bummer.
Now I have to pay.

The "Service Due" light has been on for a few months,
but I put so few miles on the car that it hasn't been a priority.
Just turned 19,000 miles after 4 and a half years.

Audi Miramar figures it should have a 35,000 mile service,
and they want 380 bucks for the work, parts and labor, tax, etc.

And then I remembered my favorite independent, Pure Motorsports, who did the work on the grille, exhaust, brakes, and chip.

It has been a couple of years since I have had my car in their shop, but the owner, Michael, remembers me.

They quoted 217 bucks. So I go for it.

:)

Begin1

The Ferrari will have to wait a bit longer while I jump into a new startup with both feet. To celebrate, I got a fresh plate for the daily driver.

With the arrival of my new license plate, I am drawn to the opportunity for low cost advertising, I just ordered a black custom license frame bracket with "BeginItNow.com" printed on the lower space between the screws. On the upper space, the single-word question: "Startup?" (SeaSweet Software is too long)

To compensate for the extra clutter, I should de-badge the rear end, removing the Audi rings and the S5,  darken the tail lights, and paint all black that completely superfluous silver air splitter. That would focus all attention on the message, not the medium.

Epic Night Drive!

This is an iPhone photo of my Audi navigation system display. 

It was an EPIC night to be driving on the freeways in SoCal. 

Just after sunset. 
70 degrees, 
clear, 
no wind, 
summer in San Diego,
I got a hot car, 
plenty of gas, 
and no place else I gotta be. 

No self-driving-car owner will ever have as much fun as I had last night.

Way cheaper than a new Audi S5!

It's a lot less expensive to get a new license plate 

than it is to get a new car.  

:)


After 3 years of driving this car,

I have put only 13,000 miles on it!

Pedal faster!

(before)

(after)

The stock pedals were an embarrassment and I replaced them with pedals of a competition nature, lightweight, drilled aluminum, etc. 

These custom pedals come in two flavors: with or without rubber blivits in the holes in the pedals. I, being a minimalist, chose the without blivits option. Naturally I have been regretting my choice for the last two years of ownership. Everywhere I see high performance pedals they always have blivits. 

So I have been finally moved to order the blivits as a Christmas gift to myself. And today, in the fullness of time, I have achieved pedal Nirvana, with blivits. And all is right with the world...

The pedals were custom made by:

Ultimate Pedals

990 Stinson Way #205

West Palm Beach, FL 33411

561-798-6588

http://www.ultimatepedals.com/

Audi RS5!

I got a call last night saying that there is an RS5 in blue sitting at the dealership unclaimed and available for sale.

Tempting!

But I decided to stay with my S5 because I have better brakes (Brembo), and better looking brakes, and it would be a hassle to switch them over to the new RS5.  There's not *that* much difference between my car and the RS5, except the extra few horsepower, the pushbutton start, and a handful of other minor differences that I can live without.  And, the blue is a bit bright for my preferences right now.

It's really just another shiny object, a toy, a distraction...

Consider the wise words of  Henry David Thoreau:  A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.  

Road trip!

Del Mar to Santa Barbara to 

Ragged Point (Big Sur) to 

Half Moon Bay 

along the awesome Pacific Coast Highway, CA route 1.

Spec-freakin-tacular!

New Logo for door

An updated logo has been developed using the collaborative efforts of 99designs.com and is being used on Double M Systems branded websites.  We expect to update the Audi S5 driver's door to reflect this change.