Bingle.org

Archive for 2005

Midlife Crisis

by Bingle on Dec.11, 2005, under Richard Bingle

I’m 40, so maybe its my midlife crisis. Of course, I’ve wanted one since 1983 when shopping for my first car when I was 18, so maybe I can’t blame it on a midlife crisis. Either way, I finally bought a convertible. Not just any convertible, but a 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata Sport in Winning Blue.

IMG_2884
IMG_2879

I got (I think) a fairly good deal on it. I was able to get it via the Mazda S-Plan (Friends and Family) pricing which works out to be invoice. I was planning using a $500 off coupon I’d received as part of the Mazda Zoom Zoom Live event that was held here in Orlando a couple of months ago to make it a great deal. Unfortunately, the local Mazda dealers all charge a pretty hefty “document preparation fee”, so in the end my $500 coupon only ended up getting me the car for $1.50 under invoice (plus tax/title).

This time of year in Florida is perfect for tooling around with the top down, although it can get a bit chilly at 60 mph once the sun goes down. Hopefully it won’t be too hot this summer!

Zoom Zoom!

Leave a Comment more...

Testing WPG2

by Administrator on Dec.11, 2005, under Site News

I’ve been hacking quite a bit at this site and playing with WordPress, Gallery2, and the WPG2 plugin that attempts to tie the two together. This is just a test to see if embedding a gallery image (like this one)

IMG_2004

works. If it does, then good! If it doesn’t, then I’ve still got work to do… The image that should appear within this post is from a cruise that my extended family took earlier this year. Don’t you just dig those awesome handmade tie-dye shirts?

Leave a Comment more...

Rubbin’s Racin’

by Bingle on Nov.29, 2005, under Richard Bingle Family

I went to the races twice this month, once at Miami-Homestead and once at Orlando Speedworld.

One of my former co-workers (Buck) and I drove down to Homestead to take in the final race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup series. For a while there it looked like my favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, might have a chance at the win the race (Tony Stewart clinched the championship), but it wasn’t to be and Greg Biffle eventually took the checkered flag inches ahead of Mark Martin. After the race it took us about 1.5 hours to get out of the parking lot at the track, which meant we didn’t get home till about 2 a.m., but it was fun nevertheless. We’ve already started talking about taking a small camper down next year if we go so that we don’t have to sit in traffic and drive 10 hours in one day.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, the family took in Crash-A-Rama at Orlando Speedworld. This years Crash-A-Rama featured a 51-car/100 lap Enduro race, a Pro Figure-8 race (only 5 cars), a backwards race, a blind-fold race (drivers wore paper bags over their helments and took directions from a passenger), a “flagpole” race, a boat-trailer race (winner had to be pulling at least part of their trailer at the end), a “roller derby” race, 4 demolition derbies (only stayed for 1), and the main event, a 20 bus Figure-8 School Bus race. The school bus race was somewhat anticlimactic after the trailer race and the blindfold race (only incident in the bus race was one bus rolling onto its side in the infield). The Enduro race was interesting as it didn’t have any yellow flags (although it did have one red flag). By the end of the race there was debris everywhere, including a couple of cars (drivers still inside) that had come to a rest against the outer wall. The trailer race was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Within seconds of the start there were boat pieces scattered everywhere, including an entire 20 foot long boat in the middle of the track between turns 1 and 2. The blind-fold race was actually somewhat scary as there ended up being a 4 car accident right in front of us The 4th car involved hit the others after the red was displayed and the rescue trucks (sirens on) were already pulling up to the wreck. While we had a lot of fun, it’s probably not something we’d do every year…

Leave a Comment more...