Thank You, and Goodbye, My Little Honda Fit.

Well, today was the day. Title transfer is complete and the little Fit drove off with its new owner.

The Fit had been under storage policy since July, and it was rarely driven for a while even before that. I finally came to the decision to sell the Fit a couple of months ago. Even then, I was a bit hesitant since I really did like this car. So I posted a note on my Facebook page so that only my friends can see it, and get first dibs at a reduced price, before I actually put it for sell on a public site.

Turned out one of my very good friend, who I've known since high school, was in fact interested, but needed a bit of time to deal with her other vehicle first. Since it was a friend, I held the car for her. and today, we completed the transaction, and she took posession of the car.

It's been a great vehicle. In fact, the only car I've owned that I never had a single thing go wrong during then entire ownership experience (I know it's only been 5 years, but I've never actually owned any vehicle for more than this). And just last Thursday, my Sienna minivan started leaking power steering fluid. By today, it was making a pretty horrid sound after making left turns. I'm guessing I'm looking at a steering rack replacement, on a 2005, with actually less KMs than my Honda Fit. I think I'm going to regret selling the Fit.

But hey, at least it's going to a good friend, and I'm gonna be able to see it all the time. Maybe she'll even let me drive it once in a while.

Thank you, my little Fit. and Goodbye.

Dead Battery, and Putting the Fit Away... For now.

Well, I haven't really driven my Fit since I swapped wheels/tires. In fact, when I did try to start the car, the battery was comepletely shot. In fact I tried to revive it with a digital battery charger, but it's apparently completely dead.

A quick search on fitfreak.net will show that the stock Honda battery does not last long, and a lot of them suffer an early death. Many even before warranty is over. The unfortunate thing is, the small sized battery in our car is quite rare, and seems no one currently makes an aftermarket 151R Group sized batteries. So you're stuck to either purchase the battery from Honda, and possibly suffer an early death again, or as some owners have done, trimmed their battery tray, and installed a larger group 51R sized battery into their Fit. Depending on the brand, some are a tight fit, barely clearing the air box, while others are pushing against it. But at least it's an option. An option that's cheaper, more readily available, and with higher specs and capacity than the stock battery.

Anyways, since I wasn't driving my Fit these days, and my Sienna's insurance was up, I decided to transfer my insurance on the Fit to the Sienna. I then put storage insurance on the Fit and parked it in my garage. It was a bit sad, but currently I have no intentions of selling it. It's still a good little go-around. I'm sure I'll plate it again in the future.

Boxing Week Battle Scar

I didn't go out to brave the crowd for Boxing Day shopping. Partly because there wasn't any really good deals to be had, and also, I didn't really need anything at this point.

But then, I did eventually find a couple of items I wanted. Since the sales usually last the whole week now, I decided to head out and pick up a couple of items; a Blu-Ray, and a printer.

Maybe I shouldn't have. Because I came home with a new door ding, well, more like a gash on my front passenger side door. Very high up, so must be a van or SUV. But it's a nasty one. Looks like they hit my door, and didn't stop right away and kept pushing for another 3/4 of an inch. Nasty! Maybe it wasn't worth going out for the sales after all.

On the upside, I manage to sell my stock Dunlop 14" tires I mentioned in my previous post rather quickly. Of course, pricing them low helps.

New Real Snow Tires

If you've been following my blog, you'll know I've gotten by with all season tires for the past 4 years. (wow, I've had this little Fit for just over 4 years now!) The first two years were with the stock Dunlops 14" on factory steelies. Then 2 years ago I only had the worn Kumhos that came with my used EM1 rims. That was also the year wih the huge snow dump, so I the Fit was pretty much parked. Last year, I managed to find a set of stock 14" wheel/tire combo to replace the ones I traded, and at least I could drive in light snow.

However, with the light weight of the Honda Fit, it's really not a great winter car, and to really be useful in the white stuff, you want proper winter tires. I mentioned in a previous post that I bought a Toyota Sienna in anticipation of my growing family. Well, this also means I need to make my vehicles ready for winter since my wife is due in early January. Luckily, The Sienna came with a spare set of winter tires. But the Fit still needed help.

While looking around online, I found JC Whitney. I already knew of the company because I had lived in the States when I was younger, and would request some of their mail order catelogs even though I was still too young to own a vehicle. However, I never thought of purchasing from them here because normally shipping anything from the US to Canada, especially larger items, are prohibitively expensive. However, it would seem from their page here that they only add $11.99 to your order to ship to Canada. This, along with their regular shipping charge, supposedly covers for all taxes, duty, and brokerage fees. I was skeptical, but other canadians have ordered and said that it was legit. and as long as the tires are 16" and under, this works.

So I decided to place an order for a set of General Altimax Artic in the stock 175/65/14 size. And since I'm now getting dedicated winter tires, I decided to also order a new set of summer tires in the form of Yokohama S.Drive in 195/55/15 size to replace the factory Michelins I got last year for the EM1 rims. It would seem that the one tire that had some camber wear was because there was a nail in the tire, and the seller must have driven with it flat or low for a while. The last time my car was up on a hoist, I noticed that tire, which luckily I placed in the rear, is now starting to show a couple of bubbles on the inner side wall; a sign or sidewall failure. So that tire is no longer safe. The price for the two set of tires was much better than what I could have gotten locally. So I'm just waiting for these to come in so I can mount them on the Fit.

In the meantime, I went in today and put the winter tires that came with the Sienna on the van. I didn't pay much attention to them when I bought the car. but as it turns out, they are also General Altimax Artic tires. Same ones I had ordered for my Fit. A copy of the Gislaved Nordfrost 3 tires from Sweden, the General Altimax Artic (both under the Continental umbrella) had fantastic reviews and are a good value. I feel better that the van, and soon the Fit will have proper winter tires on this season. With pregnant wife now, and kid later. I think it's money worth spending.

Just Throw It In The Fit

My sister-in-law and her boyfriend are slowly moving over to a new place. And on this day, we decided to move their double wide Ikea Pax wardrobe with 4 wooden drawers, and their Ikea Expedit bookshelf... All with my Fit. And for good measure, we also threw in a couple of boxes. =P


I love this car!

Another Hit and Run

Well, my car got damaged while parked again over the weekend. This time it was a lot less severe than last time. However, it still left enough of a mark to really annoy me. It looks like a parking incident where the car behind me just didn't know how long their car is and hit my rear driver side corner while trying to get out.


Originally I thought maybe I can get away with buffing it out and using some touch-up paint for the damage. Upon closer inspection, the clearcoat is actually cracked. That means the bumper must be repainted.

I made a claim with my insurance company right away, but will see if it is possible to get it painted below the cost of my deductible. See if the shop will cut me a deal if I can remove and reinstall the bumper myself (easy on the Fit, see my Taillight install post on how).

FitFreak Winter BBQ Meet

Well, After I got my oil changed Saturday, I convinced my friend to swing by the Winter BBQ Meet hosted by Ground Zero Auto Solutions, where quite a number of local FitFreak.net members showed up on this somewhat warm and dry Vancouver winter afternoon.

As you can tell if you've been following my blog, I haven't attended a local Fit meet up since March 2008. Sure enough, almost everyone I saw there was a new face to me. I had just come from lunch, so I wasn't really hungry. I ended up chatting with a few members and asking some questions about some of their cars. Then I found Aaron and wanted to talk to him about the HID kit I had PM him about a couple of days earlier. Turns out he had a few sets with him that day, so I picked up a H4 Bi-xenon kit and had to leave. There were definitely more people I wanted to chat with, but I had promised my friend I'd go help him paint at his place, which is a good 50kms away, and it was already around 3 in the afternoon.

photo by Aaron (aka. Guinness)

Looks like everyone had fun at the meet, and apparently way too much food was prepared. Next time, I'll come hungry.

More photos can be found on the Fitfreak thread here.

3 Years Old. Out of Basic Warranty

I've just realized, as of Halloween, I've officially owned this little Fit for 3 years now. Aside from that strange Check Fuel Cap warning the one time (which didn't result in any down time), this car has been completely trouble free.

This also means I am now out of Honda's 3 year basic warranty. Which totally didn't hit me until now. That's too bad 'cause I would have probably checked over the car for issues and had the dealer fix a couple of little things.

One of those things would be the plastic cover under the parking brake handle. It has snapped and broke off from flexing as the handle moves up and down. Looking at the forums, it seems to be a fairly common issue with this car, especially in colder climates. Mine has been broken for at least a year and a half. But I guess it just never really bothered me, so I didn't remember. I would also have checked the condition of the stock battery as some on the forum had issues with them dying early. But so far, mine has no problems. Let's hope it stays that way.

Happy birthday little Fit.

New (ish) Tires and Ready for Winter

Well, I officially put the motorcycle away a week ago. Changed the oil and filter, put the fuel stabilizer in the tank, pumped up the tire pressure, lubed the chain, took the battery out, and put the cover on.

As for the Fit, well, I mentioned I needed new tires in my last maintanence post. As luck would have it, I managed to find a couple of good deals on the local Craigslist. I picked up a near mint set of 195/55R15 Bridgestone Turanza EL470 that was taken off another '08 Fit Sport that's perfect for my EM1 wheels.

A few days later, I also found a set of OEM GD3 14" steelies with hubcaps and factory Dunlop SP31 in 175/65R14 size. they had around the same wear (about 20,000km) on them as when I took my originals off and traded them for some body parts that I ended up not using anyway. It's like getting my old setup back. And with the winter we had last year and me on my worn 195 tires getting stuck everywhere, I'm so glad to have these 175 14" tires to run this winter; even if they are all-seasons. After all, this is Vancouver, Not Winnipeg. And they got me through the first two winters with the Fit.

So today, I went to my mechanic, and got the tires replaced on the EM1 rims, and slapped the 14" steelies on the Fit for the season. And the best part, the total paid for the 15" tires, the 14" wheels and tires, and mounting and balancing of the replacement tires, was less than what I would have paid for one set of new 15" tires. Also, since the hubcaps that came with the wheels are already scratched up, I will be running the steelies with hubcaps on, unlike when I first got my car. So it'll hopefully look a bit better. It also means my Fit will pretty much look like a stock DX/LX on the road with the exception of the smoked LED lights in the rear.

One more thing. I noticed that since I've actually stuck to my guns and have not turned the Fit into a project car, Most updates here on the blog have been about oil changes and general maintenance items. I did a bunch of research when I just purchased the car, and still have some of them bookmarked or saved somewhere on the HD. I will try to dig up and look through what I have and update this blog with more information on parts and accessories that may be of interest to you in the future. Thanks for following this little blog, and stay tuned...

Down the Oregon Coast

Well, despite the Hit-and-Run, we managed to make it on our trip, thanks in a huge part to Andrew Ma at Park Collision (604-279-5545). My insurance estimate was moved to Tuesday morning, the day I had planned to leave for our trip. I called Andrew explaining the situation, and he offered to order me a replacement mirror for next day delivery on Monday, before I even handed him my paperwork. He told me as soon as the mirror arrives, he'll put it on immediately so that I can make my trip without worry that my taped-up mirror would fall off on the highway. We'd worry about the superficial damage to the rest of the car after I come back.

And that's exactly what he did. After I finished with the insurance estimate, I dropped off the car and paperwork at Park Collision and went out to have a quick bite. Within 30 minutes from the mirror's E.T.A. of 12:30pm, I get a phone call from Andrew telling me the car is ready to go. I walk back to the bodyshop, and we were off on our vacation right on schedule.

We spent the first couple of nights at a friend's in Renton, WA as they just had a baby boy. It was fun playing with him and his two year old sister. I also visited a Renton Motorcycle Company, which can only be described as a Costco for motorcycles. On Thursday, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend arrived at our friends place, and we headed down towards Astoria, OR for our first night on the coast.

That night we met up with Sandy, someone I met on the FitFreak.net forums. He was very kind when I posted about my hit-and-run, and offered to meet up if I still made it down. He offered some good tips on lodging and dining in the area, and we met for coffee and had a great chat that night. Of course, I totally forgot to take a photo.

The next day we had breakfast at the cafe Sandy originally wanted to take us, but was closed as we arrive to town kinda late. Then we set off down 101. We had borrowed a GPS unit from a friend, and for some reason it took us on a detour off 101 for a short bit. It wasn't too bad though as the detour was a bit of a winding affair and even if my tires couldn't grip the wet roads too well, my friend in his modified Audi 225TT sure enjoyed the drive.

We stopped by the Tanger Outlet in Lincoln in the afternoon, then continued to Newport for the night at a beachfront hotel. The rain was just terrible at some points during the day. But the beauty of the coast was worth it. We must have looked so funny being the only people to get out of our cars at some of the lookout points in the heavy rain and wind, just to take a few photos. Still, I'm sure we missed a lot of views due to the weather. I think this trip is definitely worth taking again.

Due to the limited number of days we had, Newport was as far south as we went this time around. In the morning, we woke up and went down to the beach by out hotel for a nice walk, which ended up with wet shoes and socks (boys being stupid). Then we visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. I really enjoyed the Oddwater and Passages of the Deep exhibits. We spent a bit more time in the aquarium than I had originally planned, but it was well worth it.

We then cut across 20 to get to I-5, then followed it north until Woodburn. Why, for the Woodburn Company Stores of course. Outlet prices and no tax. Because we left the aquarium late, we went back the the outlet the next morning. I scored myself two pairs of sneakers before calling it quits and heading back up to Vancouver.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip wonderful.

The Worst Day for Me and My Fit - [Hit and Run]

This is probably the worst day for me and the Fit since I purchased it.

So last night, the wife and I had a late dinner, and since I didn't have to work this morning, I stayed up late, and was playing around on the laptop a bit in bed. I'm not sure what time it was, but I heard a car alarm go off. I went to the window to have a peak, and a BMW 5 was flashing and blaring. It was parked two cars back from me on the street across from my building. My alarm didn't go off, so I thought nothing of it as I didn't really see any major damage or broken windows on the BMW.

A bit later, as I was finally going to sleep, I heard some talking outside. I took another look out the window and there were a few police vehicles on the street. One of the started shining it's spot light on parked cars as it slowly drove along. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I went and found my small binoculars to have a better look. Turns out several of the parked cars had their driver side rear view mirrors broken, including mine. I figured since the police was already on scene, and it was really late, I'd wait 'til morning to see how bad the damage is.

Did you think I was going to get a good sleep with this on my mind? Of course not. And so I woke in the morning not rested at all, and went downstairs to see how bad the mirror was...



It wasn't just the mirror. The side of my car was scraped up as well, then entire length of the car, and even my front wheel. I looked up and down the street, and there are still 3 other cars parked with similar damage, and I know there were other cars parked there last night (later on, my friend told me when he came to pick me up, that cars that were parked on the cross-street were also hit, one with it's bumper hanging off even).

I called the insurance claim centre, and reported the hit and run. The lady suggested I call the police to see if they'd have a police report # as well, and sure enough, they did. However, unless they catch the guy(s) who did this, I, along with all of my unlucky neighbors, are out at least $300 deductible each!

The damage looks deliberate. The mirror at least looks to be smashed from the front center of the housing, not hit along the edge. Maybe a bat or something. And that's what really makes me mad. It wasn't an accident. It was someone's idea of fun.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time either. The wife had booked her vacation days off for next week, and we were going to drive down to Washington State to visit a friend who just had her 2nd baby, and then head down to the Oregon Coast for a few days of relaxation. Now, I'm going to be out the money for lodging, and I'm seriously doubt the car can be fixed in two days in time for the trip since most places require a vehicle to have a driver side rear view mirror.

And of course the estimate centres are closed for the weekend. I'm going to have to wait 'til Monday to take the car in before anything else can be started.

This sucks!

Back to Basics. No More Parts

I've actually been slowly accumulating parts for my little Honda Fit LX. I know that in the beginning I said I would leave this car mostly alone. But who am I kidding. I'm addicted to this stuff. So before I knew it, I had a full factory sport lip kit, two rear spoilers, lowering springs, rear anti-sway bar, and OEM fog light kit. This is all aside from the EM1 Civic wheels (which I NEEDED at the time *roll eyes*), and the LED tails, JDM passenger side sun visor, and OEM cargo cover (which I actually need).

But in the back of my mind I knew that the Fit was just meant to be my daily driver, not a project. So when I saw some local Fit owners looking for parts that I already have on the forum, I messaged them and sold most of my parts before they were ever installed on my car. The only thing I have left now is a set of OEM Fog light kit. If you're interested, check out my ad for the fog lights on the forum, and message me there.

And to the guys who bought my parts, thanks, and I hope you will enjoy them for me.

Fit Vs. Snowstorm 08 = Fail

Time sure flies. It is now the 3rd Winter I've had my little Fit. The last couple of winters, the car wasn't great in the white stuff, but it handled it ok, even with the factory all-season 175 width Dunlop SP31 tires.

This year, unfortunately, the Fit was defeated. A number of factor contributed to this defeat. One, I am now running on wider 195 width tires since the upgrade to the Civic SIR wheels. Second, the tires that came with those wheels are worn out Bridgestone Potenza RE92s in the rear, which are summer only tires that are terrible even in the wet. These were actually in the front before my last service, at which time I moved them to the rear and rotated the also crappy Kumho Powermax, (yeah, they don't even make this anymore) tires with slightly better threads, and a just for show M+S rating on the sidewall.

Third, Vancouver is currently 2cm shy of resetting it's own December snowfall record. 88cm have already fallen this month, and the record is 89.7cm set in 1964. The whole Metro Vancouver area is not used to this kind of snow, and thus do not budget much for snow removal. This compounded with my crappy tires made the Fit a fun little sled, and nothing more; You need to push it to get it moving, then when it does, it doesn't have much control. Of course parking on the street and having to crawl over a snowbank just to get out doesn't help either. I'm just glad I was too lazy to get the Progress Rear Anti-Sway Bar installed before the snowstorms.

... I miss my Audi.

Fitfreak Vancouver Spring Meet

We had just finished with a client's home on Good Friday, so I had a bit of free time. I log on Easter Saturday onto Fitfreak.net, and notice that there is a meet today. The sun was still shining, and even though there was a chance of shower later in the afternoon, I took my car through a carwash before I headed down to join the group.

I knew I had missed the first meeting spot downtown, and was heading down 4th Avenue in Vancouver to see if I can catch them at the 2nd one. Seeing no Fits in the Safeway parking lot, I continued on towards my old stomping ground by Spanish Banks, as that was the planned route heading into the next spot, the UBC rose garden parkade.

As I drove along the beach, I noticed a group of little hatchbacks parking their cars in the next parking lot. I pull in and sure enough, it was the FitFreak group lining their cars together for a little pit stop by the beach. As I got out of the car, I recognized a few faces from the last meeting, and began to admire the latest additions to their Fits.

4 of the 5 (I was told) turbo'd Fits in the Vancouver area showed up, but everyone kept it calm during the cruise. We eventually ended up in the parkade of Oakridge mall, where we took more photos and exchanged information on parts, and just general chit-chat. It was a fun evening. Thanks Smatt for organizing this one.



Photos by Smatt. More photos here.

Budget Red "H" Steering Wheel Emblem

I was digging through the storage box and found some left over red vinyl from a previous project (used for paint masking). So I decided to use it to make a red background for the Honda "H" emblem on the steering wheel.

First, I used regular white masking tape to tape over the emblem. I then used a small knife to cut along the edges of the emblem to make the pattern. Next, I transferred the cut patterns onto a piece of the red vinyl, and proceeded to cut out the pattern on the vinyl. Finally, I taped the cut red vinyl pieces to the steering wheel. Tada! Red background "H" emblem on the steering wheel!



This is super easy to do, and the amount of vinyl needed is so little, you can probably just go to a local sign shop and ask for some scraps of whatever colour you want to use. And the added bonus, since vinyl stickers add 1hp each, I've just gained 4hp!! For Free!

FitFreak Vancouver Feb 2nd Meet

I believe this is the third official meeting of the Vancouver Fitfreak.net members. I had missed the previous two, so I made an effort to make it to this one. I was certainly not disappointed. I got to meet a number of fellow Fitfreak members in person, as well as other enthusiastic owners. We had a nice (and at times confusing for us and the staff) at Estea in Richmond, then proceeded across the street to regroup the cars at Lansdowne Mall, before a short drive to the BCIT AeroTech campus for photos. Unfortunately, we were asked to leave by security. So we headed to the roof parking at Aberdeen Mall before we were forced to leave. Since we didn't have a meeting spot after this, some cars were lost while others headed into Vancouver to finish photos at the Oakridge upper level parking.

In all I believe around 16 to 18 Fits showed up, making this the largest Fit meeting in the Vancouver area so far. I'd like to thank everyone for showing up, and Felix for organizing the meeting. After seeing all the modified Fits, it got me itching to start working on a few things I've put off for a while. Maybe by the next meet, I'll have something new on my car. Who knows, I might even wash it next time. *haha*

Photos:




More photos by others can be found on this Fitfreak.net thread.

The Fit Finally Met Its Match

Well, the winning streak is over. Today, after swallowing countless items we did not think would go into the car, we finally encountered something that didn't fit.

My wife and I have a furniture and space design company, so we haul large and odd shape items quite often. This is part of the reason why we chose to purchase the Fit. And truthfully, the car has surpassed our expectations many times in terms of cargo capacity. From full set of dining room chairs, large bar height tables and 4 bar stools, long curtain rods, bookshelves, office chairs, even my mother's luggage while seating 4. And believe me, anyone who knows her knows that is a feat in itself.

Finally today, for the first time, we were unsuccessful in carrying a furniture piece. The item was this Galant left-hand corner table top from Ikea. 160cm x 120cm with a few more cms on each side for the packaging materials. When I saw the package at the full serve counter, I had my doubts that it was going to fit. My wife thought otherwise. And so far, she has been right everytime. So we pushed the cart to our car and decided to give it a go.

If we could only get it inside, it would have worked just fine. The problem was that we were just unable to get the item into the cavernous cargo area. A few more inches either in the back or through the rear doors and we would have made it. We even took it out of the package thinking we can angle it into the Fit, but it still didn't work. We briefly considered putting it on the roof, but we didn't have anything to tie it down properly. So we pushed the cart back to the delivery counter and gave them the address for out client's townhome. Oh well. It was bound to happen sooner or later. But I'm certain this car will continue to surprise me, as well as the many furniture warehouse workers who raise their eyebrows in doubt when they see us pulling up to the loading bay in out Fit.

Happy Birthday Fitty!

Fitty? It just seemed more personal than just calling it the Fit. Especially for such an occasion. I don't really name my cars... actually, that's not entirely true. I called my Mustang "Bob", and my Mazda "K.I.T.T." due to all the gadgets and the digital dash, but do not use the names on a regular basis.

Anyways, where were we? Oh yes. I had to renew my car insurance yesterday, so that means I've now officially had the Fit for a year. During this time, I have been very happy with it. It's a great in-town hopper, can swallow a lot of cargo, and has been worry-free (just gas-and-go). Sometimes I miss having a more powerful engine (which is any other car I had to pick from at the time), but as you can see from the last post, it's already enough power to get me into trouble.

I also had a look at the odometer, and it's reading just over 10,500km. So time to stop by Honda and pick up a new oil filter and do an oil change again. It's treated me nice. So it's only fair I keep up my end of the deal.

Speeding Ticket? In a Fit?!

I have not had a single entry in my driving record for over 6 or 7 years, but today the streak was ended.

I had crossed the Peach Arch Crossing into Blaine, WA in the morning, on my way down to visit a friend from high school and her new daughter in Renton for a couple of days. I planned to stop by a mail receiving company on the way down as I had ordered some motorcycle gear online in the US, and took advantage of their free shipping within the US offer. However, because I got to the border so early trying to avoid the lineup, The depot wasn't opened yet. So I drove down further and had some breakfast before coming back on the local surface street to pick up my items.

There was a school zone on the street, and so I slowed and follow a couple of cars along the street before they turned off a side street to stop and drop off their kids. As soon as they turned off, I saw the cruiser parked in the school's driveway at the end. I had already slowed down, and was following two other cars through most of the school zone. But I checked my speed anyways. Unfortunately for me, it took me a while to figure out my actual speed because my car's main dial is in KM/H, and the much smaller, and indigo-on-blue MPH markings were difficult to read in the morning light. Sure enough, as I was passing the pullout at the end of the school, the cruiser had put its lights on and was pulling out behind me.

When asked why I was speeding, I tried to explain that it was difficult for me to read the numbers on the gauge. The officer took a look and said that he could read it perfectly even from outside of the car. I don't think he understood I was talking about the MPH markings, but I'm not gonna argue at that point, and I'm not going to bother saying I had followed the two other vehicles (local, Washington plates) through most of the school zone already. He took my license and registration, and came back with a VERY HEFTY fine for speeding in a school zone.

Oh well. I suppose I was speeding, so I'll get a US Dollar bank draft and pay the ticket. But when I mentioned the fine to my friend in Renton, he said it was quite excessive. But since the officer knows very well I'm not likely to get a court date and wait at the border just to get my fine reduced in court, he probably tacked on the maximum fine. So, all the money saved buying my gear in the US versus locally, has gone out the window (and then some).

I'd like to think I'm a safe driver. And my driving record shows it. I wonder if the officer had access to my driving record in BC, and saw my clean record, maybe he would have cut me some slack?

Lucky Limo Downtown

I went into downtown yesterday and parked on the street. I fed my meter and went into the building across the street. When I came out, I saw this limo parked behind me. I thought it was pretty funny, so I snapped a picture with my phone.

Look how small the fit is compared to the limo. And boy did the limo driver luck out. Normally he would have had to feed two meters to park on the street I'm sure. Funny thing is, we both still got a bit of space left over in front and behind our cars. I left my car there while I had lunch nearby, and when I came back, the limo was still there. I guess the next car to park in my spot would have to be another small car.