MINI: It’s first software update

IMG_0683So the MINI has gone through it’s first software update. And by software update, I’m not talking about the head unit aka the entertainment system, iDrive, etc…

I’m talking the main computer of the car, the one that keeps the engine running smoothly, etc…

Why did it need to be updated?  Well after getting an oil change done, some MINIs get a Drivetrain Malfunction error.  It comes on and then it goes off if you restart the car.  Concerning, but it’s a well known issue with 2014+ MINIs.  So I called the dealer up, setup and appointment to get it checked out.  I already knew the resolution was more than likely a software update.

I’ve noticed some interesting things since the software update.  Firstly, definitely the car is running smoother.  Not just as a result of the oil change, which certainly did make the car run smoother after 15,000 km – and the oil change is included in the cost of the vehicle for 3 years or 55,000km.

The software update does seem to have made some other changes

  • I’m perceiving acceleration and such to be smoother.
  • The one that seems more interesting is the green counter, when in Green Mode. In short, it tracks how much further you’re going as a result of good driving habits.

I have never been able to get above, maybe 22km per tank of gas in terms of “gas saved”. Meaning, I went 22km further because of the way I’ve been driving.

Over the past two days of driving back and forth between KW and Toronto for work… It’s now reporting that I saved 100km on the current tank.  I might be accelerating a bit smoother, but I don’t think I’m being any more fuel efficient in my driving techniques than I had in my past when I squeezed out 22km.

So I am thinking that software update is either reporting the green count properly, where it wasn’t before.  Or a combination of that and the fact that software can potentially make cars more fuel efficient to a degree.

Even more interesting is that based on the expected range left in the car, and how much I’ve driven, it looks like I might squeeze out at least 725 km this tank. That would be a first. Better than my Prius in the past.

It’s healthy to be skeptical that software could make a car more fuel efficient.  Case in point: Volkswagen.  It does make me wonder – Why isn’t MINI installing this software update from the factory, or when a car arrives at a dealership just apply it?

It’ll be a few more tanks before I can really confirm that yeah, the software update is contributing to better mileage.  I can say that I have been impressed before the first oil change and this software update, and I will be very impressed if I am getting the mileage I am thinking I am getting.

Now here’s a thought: Imagine if they bricked my car during the update, by accident!

Three days in St. John’s

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I setup a surprise trip for Scott and I to go to St. John’s for the weekend. The trip was more about me getting Scott out to the East Coast as he had never been. In September we’re doing a transatlantic trip but skipping Newfoundland for Nova Scotia – Sydney and Halifax. I couldn’t let go that we were bypassing the greatest province in Canada – Newfoundland.

This trip has been very healing for me, more than I thought it would be going into it.

I’m sitting in the airport where as a 4 year old, in the fishbowl of a waiting area not knowing that my world was about to be rocked. The vision never left me, of my Dad looking through the glass seeing his wife and two kids leaving never to return.

As time goes on, we rebuild ourselves and what I see in St. John’s is kind of a metaphor for this trip. That fishbowl of an airport no longer exists, it’s been torn down with something better a monument of a city and province taking pride in itself, and in it’s aviation history.

This trip, I guess, was about as much as getting Scott out to the east coast where he had never been, but it also turned into me being able to take ownership for my feelings about the city and province of my birth, and have a great time

A bit of reclamation of identity, healing, making more good memories that build on trips in 1995 and 1998, and reliving some very good memories.

I’ve always been a proud Newfoundlander, but given I’ve never really grown up in the culture, I didn’t totally really understand what it meant to be a Newfoundlander, a townie (what they call us from St. John’s), etc… Despite living in Ontario for 36 years out of 42, I don’t consider myself to come from Ontario. I’ve always been a Newfie first.

It’s been hard to really take on being proud of coming from a place where there’s been so much hurt and pain generated, with very complex emotions as a result of a very complex set of circumstances. A place in many respects used as a weapon against me and my immediate family – my mother, father and sister.

St. John’s is an amazing city, and Newfoundland, at least the parts I saw of it from 1974-1979, 1995 x 2, 1998 and today in 2016 is spectacularly beautiful. How my grandmother could use it as a weapon as she did, is unfathomable and was unacceptable. I’ve known that for years, I’ve even felt that for years, but my resolve is now even stronger.

In many respects, this trip was my way of saying, “Fuck you” to all of that pain and replacing it with something amazing, with Scott. Needless to say, it was an amazing time we had.

This place has changed so much in the 18 years since I was last year, much more so than in the prior 16 and then 3 from my previous trips. Just as I have. It’s a fantastically beautiful place.

I’ve been here in winter, summer and now spring, and I think this is the first time where I feel like I could actually move here and be happy living here. Even Scott likes it here. No we’re not rushing to move, but hey, we have our options and housing is considerably cheaper than it is on the west coast. 😉

This past Christmas marked the 20th anniversary of my Dad passing away which happened while I was living in England. I don’t have a lot to be able to honour the memory of my Dad while I’m in Toronto, other than some pictures that I have. Today’s drive to Torbay, Flatrock, Pouch Cove, Bauline, Portugal Cove, St. Philips and Conception Bay South and most notably stopping in at the Ocean Sciences Center, really helped me to relive some awesome memories of driving with my Dad and Step-Mother giving me a tour, and to honour those memories which are far and few between. The whole time I was wishing Dad could have been there with us.

Most of all, you can take the b’y out of Newfoundland but you can’t take the Newfoundland out of the b’y.

We’ll be back, and it won’t be as long in between. 18 years is too long.

When life throws you lemons, make lemonade. *GRIN*

Post Diet Life

Over three weeks ago, I had my last weigh in with the weight loss clinic I’ve been going to for over a year.  I had an appointment with my doctor the same day where I told him that I was pretty much done with the diet – well, the weigh-ins, and that I didn’t feel it was benefiting me, and it was probably staring to cause more problems for me including:

  • The start of weight gains again
  • Hitting my self confidence
  • Feeding into a bit of depression

Me saying, “Enough”, is actually a win.  I’ve always hated feeling like a quitter, but this really isn’t about quitting.  It’s about being able to take control of how I feel, and trusting that I now know better how to look after myself.

And so far so good.

Since leaving the program I’ve dropped 5 lbs, and more like 7lbs after a brief “hurrah” celebratory meal, where while I ate out of plan, it wasn’t hugely off of plan to cause significant weight increase.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve decided to run a bit of an experiment on myself.  I picked up a scale and I’ve decided to weight myself twice a day.  Now that’s not how someone should really regularly weigh themselves, and Scott has threatened that if I got into this kind of routine that he would take the scale from me.

That said, I wanted to prove a few things to myself.  There were many times while on this program that I thought I was losing weight, only to end up at my weigh in much higher than expected; or I’d go off on a business trip and gain weight after feeling like I hit a new low.

I have pretty much confirmed that, yes, I was hitting those lows, and that I have a much better grasp of being able to determine my own weight gain or loss by looking at myself in the mirror.  This is a huge win as, prior to this program, I was completely unable to see it.  Heck, when I was 317 lbs, I truly had no idea I was that big!

I’ve also changed my diet to be more compatible with my lifestyle, and the lifestyle I want.  This does counter some of the guidance from the program that I’ve struggled with. Here is what I’ve changed:

  • Regular cheese is back in my life.  That said, for the first week or so I let myself have cheese as a snack and in my morning omelett.  The jury is out but this may have been one thing that was stopping me from getting into the goal I wanted (230ish lbs).  So for the time being, I’ve eased off, however I still allow myself to have cheese once in a while.
  • I am having a fair bit of 0% Fat Greek Yogurt that has about 6g of sugar.  I am having this at least twice a day and I am not gaining or maintaining my weight, I am losing.  This is a huge win as it is helping considerably with my dairy and sweet cravings.
  • Fruit, specifically berries are back in my diet stating this week.  I am adding them to my greek yogurt when I have it.  While fruit is relatively high in carbs, there is a big difference between refined sugars and natural sugars found in fruit.  There are lots of benefits that, I think, outweigh the carbs.  It doesn’t mean I go hog wild in the berry patch.
  • Mixed unsalted nuts from bulk are now a regular part of my diet as a snack throughout the day.

Because of these changes, I’ve actually found it much easier to stay on the rest of the diet, and as of this past Sunday, I hit a new low of 241.9 lbs; and as of Friday, 241.8 lbs.

So something is working here. And that’s with going to an all you can eat Korean BBQ on Tuesday!

I have been able to see the impacts food has on my weight in near real time.  For example, if I go to Mr. Tonkatsu on Bloor St and order the Chicken Tonkatsu meal and eat everything except the rice, within two days I will put on 2 lbs of water weight which then comes off after two days.

I will be able to determine if cheese is something I do need to be careful with.  I can tell that other dairy I have added to my diet has not had a significant impact, in fact quite the opposite.

Fruit in the levels I am having has no effect on my weigh gain or loss.

I’m not saying the diet I was on was full of shit, quite the opposite.  I had to go through the various phases to get where I am today.  That said, I think that with the changes I have made after the sacrifices of the past year and a half, is a good compromise.

Interestingly, while I never had to track my food intake while on the diet, I decided to try tracking my food intake, which amounts to between 1600 and 1900 calories in a day.  According to the FitBit software I am using, I am regularly eating under my target calorie range, and I have actually been wondering am I putting my body into a starvation mode in that it’s still holding on to the fat rather than burning it.  To be honest, I’m not sure how much more food I can eat in a day.

Will I see 239 lbs this weekend?  That’s still 2 lbs away.  We’ll see.

Back in Manila

The past three weeks have been non-stop travel for me between Orlando & Bahamas with Scott, Waterloo for an on-site, and now Manila.  I have one more week here after this and then it’s back to either Toronto or Waterloo – I’m not sure which.

I am a creature of habit.  Routine is something I crave wherever I am, and if I can get on one, then life is peachy.

The first time I was here in December, I really found my groove.  Up at 5:45am, breakfast with the client at 6:00am, pickup at 6:45am, arrive at the office at 7:30am, check-in call at 8:00am, lunch at 12:00pm, pickup at 3:30pm, gym or swim, dinner at 6:00pm, free time and sleep, doing it all over again.

That routine seems to be working well for me, and I can somewhat replicate it, though I admit, 9:00am meetings seem to mean late dinners, which then means I might not get the gym time – especially in North America if I have to drive to the gym, etc…

I could be a morning person here in Asia. I was in Japan, Hong Kong and again in Manila.

MINI: Handling in the snow? Freaking awesome!

So Toronto is getting hit with some major snow and sleet tonight. I’ve been really waiting for this kind of weather because not only do I want to see how my Pirelli snow tires handle but I also wanted to see how my 2016 MINI Cooper handled given I’ve had the car only a month and four days, and my first MINI.

WOW!

I’ve never had more fun driving in snow. I did test pushing the limits slightly to see how traction control would kick in and handle the car. Just awesome. I feel more comfortable driving this than my previous car, I think. I am certainly feeling a lot more confident, not so much to be an idiot on the road, but certainly I know I am driving a good car for snow.

If you’re driving in snow – definitely get snow tires.

Some other thoughts:

  • The LED headlights with adaptive are great in this weather!
  • The heating system is amazing! I’ve never had a car heat up so quickly and clearing the windows so effectively.
  • Heated seats, enough said. 🙂
  • The big mirrors really help with blind spots (although that’s more general).

Prius: Returned

Today was a sad day.  We returned our trusty Toyota Prius, our second which was a 2012.  As I’ve always said, I will always recommend pretty much any Toyota.  They truly are great cars and last.  We had absolutely no issues with the car.

Why get rid of it?  End of lease, and we wanted something a bit zippier and, admittedly more fun.

What about upgrading to the new 2016 Prius that’s more efficient?  I didn’t want a longer and wider car.  I actually prefer smaller cars, and we both wanted manual.

Whoever gets the car, I hope will treat it well.

I think I had four complaints about this car

  • The lighting seemed dim even on dark roads.
  • The sound system in Toyotas is horrible relative to other cars, very front loaded, with no sound in the back.  Friends sitting in the back often had problems hearing people in the front.
  • The infotainment system seemed quite slow and was slow to connect to bluetooth devices.
  • The voice recognition system was horrible was not great.

But it was also 2012 technology.  So you can’t blame it that much.

Note that none of my complaints had anything to do with how the car handled and drove. Although, after driving the MINI over the past few days, the Prius really did not make tight turns.  That, is comparing apples to oranges though, in the car world.

MINI: Cruise Day 2

“After a leisurely drive around the Lido deck, we started a big party.  Man those honkin’ Bimmers sure know how to party with their steins of good Bavarian bier!  Us MINIs, could definitely keep up with our tasty British Stout.”

And there you have the latest Pixar Film – “Imported Cars”.  Could you imagine what that would be like? LOL!

The car is in the Celtic Sea.  Well, not in the actual water, but on the MV Torrens as it makes it’s way through the Celtic Sea and then through the Atlantic.  Below was the placement of the ship about 3 hours ago.  I have no idea what kind of updates we’ll see as it makes it’s trek across the Atlantic, I suspect we’ll get very few.

If you were to zoom out on the map at Marinetraffic.com, you don’t see a lot of updates until ships are near the Azores, and again near Newfoundland & Labrador, and Nova Scotia.

According to Wallenius & Wilhelmsen Logistics, the ship is now arriving on November 2nd.  It is what it is, and these things take time.

I did notice that last night the ship had turned back to England briefly and was going at 3 knots and then all of a sudden it turned to continue it’s course across the Atlantic.  That’s the little green blip just before the ship started going south.

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MINI: Cruise Day

Today is our transatlantic cruise day from Southampton to Halifax… Well not for Scott and I, but for our MINI.

CarUpdate

Some interesting factoids:Torrens1

  • Our MINI was the 33rd to be placed on the ship at 12:55pm – I’m not sure if they’re using UTC or British time (BST/GMT)
  • They started loading at 12:17pm, the last MINI to be loaded was 2:40pm
  • There are 180 MINIs that were supposed to be part of the shipment with a bunch flagged as “Return to Shipper” at 5:07pm, ours is not one of them.  Doh!  I hope nothing is up with the cars and that has to suck for the owners!

According to the Port of Southampton Vessel Traffic Services, the Torrens is set to sail at 10pm tonight from dock 44, which is in the Ocean Dock area.

Torrens2

 

MINI: Cars Live

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Cars Live is a really cool broadcast from the BBC that documents the life of a car at… Plant Oxford, the primary home of the MINI Cooper.

The broadcast was done over two nights in the UK on October 20th and October 21st.

Our car was completed production on October 21 and was on the same production line as the show was filming – live!  Though it is doubtful it got any camera time, there were a few VINs shown during the show that I was able to confirm on BIMMER.WORK and yes, our car was in fact finished production at the same time based on the VINs I checked out.

Some interesting things I learned from the broadcast

  • No wonder the car comes with about 30km on it – Each car goes on a test drive to confirm it’s okay over several types of pavement
  • MINI/BMW have their own train sets that send cars to Southampton for shipping overseas
  • Each train set can carry 300 cars over half a kilometre long
  • It takes 3 hours to get to Southampton
  • There are 2 trains every day
  • The cars leave within 24 hours of completion
  • There are at least 5 to 10 people who drive you car before you do
    • Tester
    • Transport from MINI
    • Transport off of the train in Southampton
    • Transport on to the ship in Southampton
    • Transport off the ship in Halifax
    • Transport on to the train in Halifax
    • Transport off the train in Halifax
    • On to a truck
    • Off the truck
    • Two or three people at the dealer

This could mean, our car, barring any issues is actually in Southhampton awaiting loading on a ship.

This is exciting!