MINIBee’s Motoring Adventures – live streaming video powered by Livestream.

Take a look at the cookies you can make with the cookie cutters I’ll have at MM5. Six different cutters in all folks. Classic, R50-R53, R56, Clubman, Cabrio and MINI wings. Each cutter will be packaged with a gingerbread cookie recipe and a recipe for Royal icing so you can decorate your cookies like this:

Sketchdude and I decorated those last night. Here they are getting cut and going into the oven:

The cookie cutters are $6 each or you can get the whole set (all six cutters) for $30. Also great for making Jello Jiggler shots (coming to the Dragon next year!)

Mickey and MINI 5 is less than three weeks away and I am once a vendor and participant. The MM5 merchandise is starting to roll in now, so I will posting photos of items as I have them to give you a sneak peek. I will have A LOT of cool stuff this year but most of it has been ordered in VERY LIMITED quantities. If you see something you want make sure you come see me early as I expect some of this stuff will be gone fast.

First up: The Limited Edition 1:58-scale MINI Cooper RC Car. Last year these were very popular with the kids and the adults (big kids). People were running these in the hotel courtyard and you had to watch where you stepped. They come in Chili Red and Pure Silver and are adorned with the MM5 logo on the roof. Batteries are included and they are ready to run right out of the box. I will have 15 red ones and 5 silver ones and that’s it. $14 each.

It was on August 26, 1959 when the MINI was shown to the public for the first time.To celebrate, here is the MINI Birthday song:

This limited die-cast Classic Mini was available at MINI United and my SSM friend J3kidford  was kind enough to bring one back for me. Thanks Janet!

Here’s a video I put together of our drive home from Pensacola today.  We were chasing the outer bands of Tropical Storm Claudette then finally caught and drove through them.

Members from Sunshine MINIs and other British motoring enthusiast clubs gathered on Saturday, August 15, 2009 to celebrate the opening of the new Sandy Sansing MINI dealership in Pensacola, Florida. The gathering of cars included modern MINIs, Classic MINIs, vintage MG’s, Jags and even a MINI ice cream truck. Click on the photo to go to the Gigapan and explore!

I had BMW CCA autocross on Sunday and took the opportunity to test some new cameras I bought for our video arsenal at work. The main one was a GoPro Motorsports HERO camera. This little camera is awesome. It’s a tiny video and still camera that comes with a bunch of different mounts for attaching it all over you car. The camera takes in an amazing 170-degree field of view with a super sharp lens and it’s enclosed in a shock-proof and water-proof housing. This little thing is bomb-proof! runs on runs on just two AAA lithium batteries. It has 16MB of built-in memory and a slot for adding SD cards. Resolution is 512X384 (close to standard def broadcast). The suction cup mount is very sturdy. I used it on eight runs in two locations and it never budged.

The second camera I used was a Canon Powershot SX1 IS on a CruiseCam mount. This is a high-end point-and-shoot that also does full 1080i HD video. The image is spectacular and you can see the clarity and sharpness in the cockpit shots of the above video.

The best thing about both these cameras is no tape! With the video writing to digital cards, editing is easy and fast.

Due to another great collaborative project and the fine artwork of our esteemed MINI artist Mr. COOPERation, we now have a t-shirt design for Ryan’s MINI Adventure. T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, ornaments, mugs and a bunch of other items are available now in my Cafepress store.

All proceeds from sales of the Ryan’s MINI Adventure items will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Ryan’s memory.

Ryan’s parents put the video I made from MOTD on the front page of the Ryan’s MINI Adventure Site!

Wait, there’s more! Ryan’s MINI made it on the Killboy site. I stopped on one of my runs and asked one of Darryl’s photographers to make some photos of Ryan’s MINI on the Dragon. So here they are. That’s me in MINIBee coming around the corner in the background. : )

Ryan’s MINI on Killboy

Please go to their web site to sign the guestbook and tell them how much you enjoyed seeing Ryan’s MINI on the Dragon.

UPDATE:

Well, I spoke too soon. I just received notice that the Ryan’s MINI Adventure shirt design violates Cafepress rules because it uses the word MINI in the design. I knew this was a risk but thought since the web site is called Ryan’s MINI Adventure they would let it go. For now we have swapped out the design with one that just says “Ryan’s Adventure.” Not optimal but some of this is out of my control. I have sent a note to the attorney with whom I corresponded with last time, explaining the design is being sold for charity. So I’ll let you know what he says. For now the design has been changed to this:

At MOTD this year I was startled by the number of people in the MINI community who were constantly crossing the double yellow line. Usually I drive the Dragon watching for bikers over the line. This year, I was watching for MINIs.

These photos, taken from the Killboy, Moonshine and Zee Foto web sites (plus one video by MINIBee), were all made during MOTD 7. On the first day we heard reports that a MINI had crossed the line and forced a biker off the road. Are you shocked? Appalled? Keep watching and you’ll see many examples of FOTD – Fail of the Dragon.

Sure, some people may see these photos who were unaware they were crossing the line. If that’s you, this is your wakeup call. But when you look at many of the photos it’s clear people are intentionally crossing the center line.

Is this what we stand for as a community? We curse the bikers for crossing the line and then we go out and do it ourselves? The challenge and the honor in driving the Dragon at a spirited pace comes when you do it between the lines. Anyone can ride down the center of the road and do it fast. Come on people, lives are at stake here.

If you are in one or more of the photos (or video) I make no apologies. They are public record and you knew the photos were being made. I’m sure this will be controversial but I’m hoping through constructive discussion some good will come from it.