Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

A Couple of Money-Making Ideas for You

I was up in Muskoka a couple of weeks ago, and came up with a couple of ways somebody is going to make some money.

Might as well be you - I don't have enough time to make any money...

I was in Gravenhurst, looking for my half-caf one percent latte. I hit 'Points of Interest' on the SatNav in the Volvo S60 I was driving, and spelled out 'Starbucks'.

The nearest one was in Parry Sound, 67 km away!

Really? All those moneyed folks in Muskoka, and they have to drive to Parry Sound to get a 4$??

There is a good coffee shop (Oliver's) in Gravenhurst, but Starbucks never worries about a little competition.

My second money-making idea?

That Volvo needed a wash.

But there is no proper car wash in Gravenhurst!

None in Bracebridge either.

Oh yeah, they have so-called 'Touchless' washes.

But 'Touchless' means 'Cleanless'.

I ended up settling for the hand-held spray wash in Gravenhurst, with one of those grotty foam brushes.

As you can see (above) it didn't do a bad job, but I'm always leery about those things. Who knows who has cleaned what with those foam brushes?

D'ya think I shouldn't be subjecting new cars to those rotating stainless-steel bristle brush (kidding - they're plastic...) car washes at gas stations?

Not sure if it is still like this, but at least some years back, the last step Porsches went through when they came off the assembly line in Zuffenhausen Germany was a rotating plastic bristle brush car wash.

If it's good enough for a Porsche...

Tidbits from the Auto Show

One of the automotive blogs appears to own the 'SkyWalk', the pedestrian bridge that connects Union Station and the Subway to the South Building of the MTCC.

Among the many ads they have hanging here is this one.

OO-OO!!

Leaked drawings of the new Corvette!!

Let's rush right home and look those up!

Or maybe we can work the browser on our smart phone and see them right now!

That's the thing about blogs - you get your information so fast!

No, wait - we can go downstairs and see the actual car...

Or, we could have been following www.wheels.ca on January 13, over a month ago, and watched the world premier unveiling of the car live via video...

Best Detroit Auto Show Coverage Anywhere!

I honestly don't fully understand all this FaceTube/Tweedle Social Media stuff.

I thought a hash tag was something hippies stuck on their doobies so they'd know which was whose.

So while we have supposedly linked our Twitter and Facebook accounts to our Detroit Auto Show coverage, I don't know for sure if you can get from one to the other.

Just to cover all my bases, let me say here that if you want to follow the most popular Detroit Auto Show coverage available** bounce on over to wheels.ca.

 

** How do we know this? I'm not sure how this is measured, but according to whoever does measure it, the only site that got more Google hits on the Detroit Show yesterday - the main press day - was the Auto Show site itself. We not only blew every other Canadian media site out of the water (most of them weren't even IN the water...) but we hammered all the Amurrican and furrin' sites too.

Yay us.

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to one and all.

I am going to try this New Year's Resolution business one more time.

Although what I have in mind would be more like a New Year's Revolution, an attempt to reverse decades of sloth.

(I tried to find a way to paste a party hat onto a photo of myself for this posting, but that is exactly the sort of time-wasting exercise that leads to lousy productivity...).

It has been a spectacularly UN-productive couple of months for me work-wise - at least, the work I get paid for.

Many distractions, notably the addition of the first grandchild (that we know of..) who sadly lives in Whitehorse with her parents. At least that minimizes baby-sitting duties...

Plus, production of my eighth annual Charity Photography Calendar (still available; see www.jimkenzie.com).

I don't even have NHL hockey to get in my way. (Hey - the Leafs are undefeated so far...).

I have about eight stories on some pretty cool cars that have been hanging fire for much of that time; I'm gonna start on those today too.

Plus this blog, which automatically posts to my Facebook page and Twitter account. At least the old TypePad blogging software does; Wheels is now using some other system which does not, but I barely understand this one, so our web boffins are letting me continue to use this one.

Don't worry; you will not find out on a hourly basis what I am having for lunch. I will attempt to keep it current, but car/driving-focused.

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Keep your mind on your driving, keep your hands on the wheel, and keep your eyes up!

 

The full moon was almost two weeks ago...

Nine high-end white cars, parked side-by-each.

A most unusual coincidence, I think anyone would agree.

I took an innocuous little picture of it, using a new 'panoramic' iPhone app I had just acquired.

I had a bit of fun speculating how this might have happened.

And everybody goes crazy!

I can't believe how exercised so many people got.

Come on, folks. This was a simple little blog item. You expect 'War and Peace' every day?

What the heck has got everybody so mad? What's the big deal?

Is it about how to park?

How could it be?

It is indisputable that unless you have a pull-through spot (not available when the spots are up against a building as in this case) backing in to a parking spot is safer than pulling in nose first.

Surely I don't have to go over all that again, do I?

Yes, most people do it wrong.

But it IS wrong.

Indisputably.

It may not always be the most convenient way to park. One of our Motoring TV cameramen said that if he's at a grocery store and knows he will be wheeling a full shopping cart back to his car which he will have to unload into his trunk, he pulls in nose-first so he won't have to squeeze the cart between two closely-parked cars and risk scratching either or both of them.

Fair enough.

But he understands it isn't as safe.

Which it isn't.

Indisputable.

A few people have also mentioned that while you're lining up to back in, sometimes some rude person will sneak up and steal your spot. Nose-in, to add insult to injury.

Maybe. In too many decades of driving than I care to admit to, it has never happened to me, but I guess it does happen.

Nevertheless, backing out is never - never can be - as safe as backing in.

Indisputable.

Was it my smart-ass cracks about yuppies?

Yes, it was a Starbucks parking lot, one I frequent because I do enjoy my venti one-percent lattes.

Was I unfair to suggest a possible scenario as to who owned these cars?

Maybe. But I do know the neighbourhood well, so "Daddy's money" wasn't much of a stretch.

But I still don't understand why everybody got so mad.

Lighten up, people.

And please, park properly!

 

High School Students Fight Distracted Driving

SMARTRISK is a terrific non-profit organization whose purpose is to encourage people (largely but not exclusively young people) to prevent injury by smart thinking and intelligent risk management.

 

SMARTRISK was started some two decades ago by Dr. Robert Conn, a paediatric heart surgeon whose job had largely evolved into taking the hearts out of dead teenagers and sticking them into the chests of fat old men.

 

Even as I get older and fatter, I can't help but agree with Dr. Conn who realized he could save more lives - certainly more 'person-years' - if he could find a way to keep the young people from dying in the first place.

 

He learned that trauma - most significantly, car crashes - was the major cause of premature death for Canadians.

 

So he quit what must have been a six-figure gig to start SMARTRISK. It has developed a wide range of educational and awareness programs to further its goals.

 

This wasn't some sort of retirement project either; Dr. Conn was only 37 years old when he started SMARTRISK.

 

It's hard not to be impressed by a young guy who gives up such a lucrative career to try and save the lives of my kids - and yours.

 

Which is why I donate half of the proceeds of my annual car photography calendar to SMARTRISK.

 

(Yes, it is a bit late in the year to buy a calendar, but I'll give you a discount - click HERE to visit my web site.

 

Dr. Conn only figured to run SMARTRISK for ten years or so; he retired a couple of years ago after seventeen years at the helm. The organization is now in the capable hands of Dr. Phil Groff.

 

One of SMARTRISK's latest programs is called “Is It Worth It?” With support from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board - State Farm Insurance is a major sponsor of SMARTRISK - and building on an idea developed by students at Northern Secondary School in Toronto and Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton New Brunswick, high school students were invited to produce Public Service Announcements - short videos - emphasizing the dangers of distracted driving.

 

Whether texting, calling on a cell phone, eating, putting on make-up, even playing music too loud or having too many people in the car, can seriously impair the driver's ability to focus on the issue at hand - namely, driving.

 

Over 60 videos were received, many of them showing considerable degrees of creativity and imagination.

 

A committee of ten “celebrities and driving experts”, according to the organizers (not sure which category they thought I fell into, but I was one of the jurors) was charged with evaluating the submissions, with the criteria being clear and accurate delivery of content, creativity and originality, use of positive messaging, strength of impact, and technical quality of the PSA.

 

The original plan was to narrow the field down to ten videos, which would then be judged by you, the viewing public.

 

But there were too many good entries, too many ties to break, so the finalist group was enlarged to fifteen.

 

Click HERE to visit the "Is It Worth It" web site  to view these finalists, and to cast your vote. You have the entire month of April to vote. Voting rules are listed on the site.

 

Be prepared to be impressed by the passion and imagination of Canada's high school students.

 

Also, to learn more about SMARTRISK, click HERE.

 

Computer woes

So you think shopping for a new car is tough?

Have you shopped for a new computer lately?

Way too many choices.

My laptop screen died as I was blogging the results of the Category winners for the Car of the Year Test Fest last Friday.

Might - just might - have had something to do with my briefcase containing the computer falling on the floor as I was checking out of the hotel.

D'ya think?...

I would have killed for the "blue screen of death"; instead, I got the "Joseph's coat of many colours screen of near-death".

The good news is that the rest of the computer is functioning; I just can't see anything on it.

By hooking my desktop monitor to the laptop I have been able to ensure that my data is backed up, but it means I can't work both machines at once as I usually do.

Productivity - never a strong point at the best of times - has suffered.

And Mac users, save your keystrokes. There isn't enough Kool-Aid in the world to make me go there.

Doesn't 92 percent market share mean anything to you?

What's more, Apple has been building computers for - what, 40 years now? And there's STILL no 'Delete' key?

Come on.

Backspace, yes. Forward Delete, no.

Somebody said you can hold down the Apple key and the Backspace key at the same time and it does the same thing.

Come ON! How do I hold my coffee??

A nice new Lenovo replacement is arriving tomorrow. Twice the power, half the price.

That should get me more-or-less back to normal, although there'll be the usual set-up time and learning curve.

Please bear with me!

A Merry Digital Christmas

This past October at the Paris Auto Show, I found myself talking with an Information Technology expert for Ford of France in their Media Centre.

I said to him, "The TypePad blogging software I use on my wireless netbook computer automatically posts my blogs to my Twitter account and my Facebook page.

"But the TypePad blogging app for my I4 iPhone only posts them to my Twitter account, NOT to my Facebook page.

"Do you know how I can fix that?"

And as the words were leaving my lips, I thought to myself, "Six months ago, I wouldn't have understood a single syllable of what I just said..."

As it turned out, he did not know how to fix that - if any of you do, please clue me in!

But it did show how times have changed in the news reporting game.

I haven't always been as diligent at this blogging thing as (a) I should have been, and (b my editor wishes I was.

Let's call it a work in progress.

At or near the top of my New Year's Revolutions for 2011 is going to be an attempt to be more regular with my blogging posts, and to respond more quickly to your comments. I do enjoy doing this, we seem to have had some fun with some back-and-forthing with you, the readers, which is what this is supposed to be all about.

So, have patience and I'll try to be better in the coming year!

And speaking of changing times, my keyboard player's wife sent me this link.

Hope you enjoy it.

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Joyous Solstice, Festive Ramadan, Kool Kwanza - whatever celebration winds your watch, make it a good, happy and safe one.

Flyin’ into Los An-gel-EEZE…

…but not bringing in any keys at all (apologies to Arlo Guthrie for the paraphrasing. If you don’t know who Arlo Guthrie is/was, ask your Grandpa.)

We’ve been told pretty much since there were cell phones that we couldn’t use them on airplanes.

They would “interfere with aircraft frequencies”.

Really?

The tiny battery in my I4 is powerful enough that it could generate a signal strong enough that it could take a twelve billion dollar, twelve billion kilogram aircraft RIGHT OUTTA THE SKY?

Then why does Al-Qaeda bother with shoe bombs, underwear bombs or Semtex?

I think airlines don’t want us to use our cell phones for the same reason they won’t let us wear our BOSE noise-cancelling headsets when they can do the most good - on take-off.

They want us paying attention in case something goes pear-shaped.

Well, maybe. But I think the potential damage to what’s left of my hearing overrides the minuscule benefit of wearing those dumb ear-bud headphones they force us to wear so we can listen to Joni Mitchell’s ‘Hits’ album until the seat belt sign is switched off.

They let me stuff my ear plugs in. Why, if hearing what the attendants are saying is so important?

And what about hearing-impaired passengers? They couldn’t hear flight attendants’ instructions either.

It’s discrimination against the hearing-UN-impaired!

And on this flight from The Big Smoke to the Bigger Smoke, they actually have WiFi on the plane!

Surely, that creates a bigger electronic noise profile than a cell phone.

The free WiFi is part of a promotion Air Canada is running with Toshiba and this in-flight wireless service ‘gogoinflight’. They lend you a new Toshiba notebook computer, and comp the in-flight wireless.

Hey; I’ll give almost anything a try if it’s free.

(At ten bucks for four hours? Um, no...).

Well, the Toshiba they have given me will only boot up with a French language ‘user profile’. The English one just craps out.

I parlez-vous well enough that I can still mess around a little.

I can load web pages fine, but when I try sending an e-mail from gmail’s web mail system, I keep getting “server error".

Well, that's useful.

Just for fun, I've tried booting my own HP 2133 laptop, and using the supplied promotion code to access the gogo thing - and it works.

And I CAN send e-mails from gmail - and post this blog too!

Don’t know why the Toshiba wouldn’t work, but that's no longer my problem - I have given it back.

My seat-mate couldn’t make the Toshiba work for him either. Nor could he get his own laptop to even ‘see’ the gogo wireless service.

I told him to try the time-honoured Microsoft solution - when in doubt, re-boot.

Sure enough, there it was, and away he went.

So I guess I’ve joined the Mile High Club - blogging division only.

Boo.

***

Flyin' in to Los An-gel-EEZE this time for a Ford EcoBoost driving program tomorrow at Fontana race track - will be thinking of Greg Moore who lost his life there in 1999...

Then, Wednesday and Thursday are the press days for the LA Auto Show, which is rapidly becoming one of the most important auto shows on the planet.

The car companies aren’t headquartered out here - that’s what still gives Detroit its edge.

But their design studios are mostly out here - this is where trends get started.

And the market is here - especially for the latest and greenest.

Wheels will be all over this show like a bad rash.

Sir Editor has decreed that LeBlanc and I will be blogging throughout; John will focus on electrics/hybrids; I’ll do real cars from the imports; Jil McIntosh will do real cars from the domestics; Peter Gorrie, one of The Star’s environmental writers, will look at the show from that perspective; and Peter Bleakney will be driving round in circles in the nearby desert in some hot-rod Porsche, so he won’t come to the show itself (hey; would YOU if that were the alternative?) and the fuel he’ll burn will probably give Gorrie hives.

Tune in Wednesday!

Responding to comments...

To those who have commented recently on my blog and have been waiting to see them posted, massive apologies - with all the travel I've been doing, staying up way too late to file stories, and so far being unable to figure out how to edit comments using the iPhone app for this blogging software, I've been falling behind.

Watching the final race of the Formula One season on my PVR, I'm trying to catch up during the boring bits...