Stone chips in your windscreen

As you'd expect from driving a vehicle with a near vertical windscreen, rock chips are an occupational hazard in a Honda Element. So many people get little chips and dings and think nothing of it, or put off a repair.
Just do it.
Get down to your local rock chip repair place and pay them the $20 or £15. I went to a Technaglass near where I live and it took them about 10 minutes. The chip is still slightly visible from a cosmetic point of view but that's not the issue. Most rock chip repairs are structural which means that when winter comes around, there's less chance of water getting in to the pits and cracks, freezing, expanding and making things worse. Apart from that, your windscreen undergoes a lot of torque and flex in the day to day driving of a car. Small cracks and chips lead to bigger cracks and chips which ultimately will lead to a new windscreen.
Or you could spend barely anything today to mitigate that happening.

Why can't Utahns park properly?

There's a sad joke here in Utah - it's called "Utah Drivers". The irony is that they don't realise they're the joke. Of the many peculiar, dangerous and lazy driving practices the people in this state adopt, the inability to park is a pet favourite of mine. Generally speaking, if there's any possible way to completely mess up the parking process, Utahns will be right there. Can't reverse park? Check. Can't park forwards? Check. Can't judge the length or width of their own car? Check. Don't understand which way to leave the front wheels when parked on a hill? Check. The picture here was taken yesterday in a local parking lot, and is typical of the problem. This rocket scientist isn't straight, has no idea of the length or width of their car and doesn't understand what the markings in the parking lot are for. As a result they've inconvenienced everyone else most likely because they just couldn't be bothered to do it properly. So here's to you 281PEB. You're now famous for being a complete tool.

Doing TV work

If you've read the CarMD review on my site, you'll know that I recommend it as quite a useful tool. Well today I was called up to do my bit for the world of infomercials. As the author of this site, CarMD wanted me to do some time on camera giving a testimonial about their product. It's important for me to stress to you all that there was zero financial reward for this - they simply asked if I'd do it, and I said "sure thing".
The day was a lot of fun. I've been on TV before for various things, from the original Boycott The Pumps protest back in England in 2000, to motoring shows on TV, to the odd news spot where they've wanted a talking head that knew something about cars. Today was no different. We spent about 40 minutes filming, of which I expect to see between 8 and 12 seconds used in one of their ads.
I don't know if I'm going to feature in regular TV ads, short or long infomercials, but if you see a CarMD commercial come on, don't skip it this time - watch closely and you might see me. I'm the English bloke wearing the blue and grey shirt ....

We're spoiled.

This past weekend I went out with a couple of mates on our motorbikes to ride the Mirror Lake Highway. It starts in Kamas, about 40 minutes from where I live. The ride out and back was great - we're typically spoiled for beautiful countryside in this part of the world. I was on my Triumph Tiger, and my two friends were on a Yamaha R1 and a BMW R1200GS respectively. An eclectic mix of bikes for sure but we weren't out to race, just to spend some time with friends. We came across a couple of groups of Harley riders - one group was totally pleasant whilst the others were the usual HD morons who believed they owned the road. The usual, then. There were mercifully few car drivers around, and even fewer campers and trucks. I suspect that's because we started early. By lunchtime as we were coming back, the road up to Mirror Lake was stuffed full of the aforementioned mobile roadblocks - it would have been miserable having to ride up at that point.
So if the weather's good, and you've got a good group of friends with motorbikes, just take off for the day. Doesn't matter where - just enjoy it. Summer will be over soon enough but that leads on to Autumn - the best time to get out on your motorbike....

The right oil for the right job.

Time for a quick refresher: in multigrade oils, there are two viscosity ratings. For example 5W40 indicates an oil which is thinner when cold and thicker when hot. The "W" indicates "winter" - more typically "cold". So 5W is an oil which has a viscosity value of 5 when cold. The other number is the viscosity when hot. In this example, a viscosity value of 40. So why use a multigrade oil? Well when the engine is cold, you want the oil to flow as quickly as possible to all the engine parts, and also not to impede the power of the starter motor in turning the engine over. But if the engine oil stays thin when it gets hot, then it does no good because it runs too quickly, and doesn't stick to any moving parts. Hence multigrade oil that thickens up with temperature.
So which oil should you use? Suffice to say that a 5W oil isn't going to give you much benefit if you live in Singapore in the same way that a 20W oil won't do you any good if you live in northern Alaska. Here's your rough guide:

5W-30 Cooler climates, like Sweden or Canada
10W-40 Temperate climates, like England, northern Europe, New Zealand
15W-50 Hot climates, like Italy, Spain, Egypt, Australia

The 2009 Mercedes C Class

Another business trip, another car rental. This time the glitch in my corporate account means that I'm paying for a Ford Focus but driving a 2009 Mercedes C Class with only 15 miles on the clock.
Initial impressions? Very nice. It drives pretty well for such a large car. It's an automatic, which means it has a "C" and "S" mode, "S" mode simply meaning - "the mode with most of the electronic shackles removed". It took me a while to find the 12v accessory socket though. I found one in the glovebox, but the small cubby hole at the front of the dash is so well disguised I didn't find it until this morning.
One thing that's a little bizarre is Mercedes choice of stalk controls behind the steering wheel - there's only one. It does headlights, washer/wiper and indicators all on one stalk. My daily driver is Japanese so I'm used to controls split across two stalks, so driving the Mercedes from the airport yesterday, I spent a lot of time flashing the cars in front and randomly indicating left whilst trying to use the windscreen wipers. The location of this giant multi-control stalk is also a bit Ford-like in that it's very low down. If the car was a manual, I'd no doubt have snapped it off by now because it just about touches my left knee even with the adjustable steering column in the highest position.
Otherwise it seems Mercedes have come out of their early 2000's funk when they were building just awful cars, and it looks like they're trying to regain their status as a luxury marque. It's quiet and comfortable, and there's definitely something unique about driving with a visible emblem in front of you - in this case the Mercedes star that protrudes from the front of the hood.
Would I buy a C-Class Mercedes (or any Merc for that matter)? Still probably not. Not only because of the cost, but it's just too much luxury and too many nanny items for me. It doesn't feel like driving a car any more - as the driver I feel too far removed from the process in it.