BMW Bavaria WordPress Flickr Photo Album Plugin Mashup

I haven’t been a user of Flickr, but since I see it referenced so frequently (Scoble talks about Flickr and Zooomr all the time, and he’s a professional), I thought I’d see how Flickr manages images.

Since I started using WordPress v2.2 and got all widgetized (Geez, look at my sidebar), I found Joe Tan’s (of Silas Partners) Flickr Photo Album for WordPress.

Mr. Tan generously released the plugin under the GPL, so all I had to do was get an API from Flickr.

I uploaded a bunch of photographs that the shop took of the surface prep of our BMW Bavaria.

When we bought our BMW, we thought it was a relatively “rust-free” example. But living on a peninsula that is hanging out in the Pacific Ocean has a negative effect on steel.

I had trouble keeping the exterior paint shiny. I bought a Makita 9227C 7″ Variable Speed Hook and Loop Polisher/Sander and numerous compounds, Meguiars Medium and Fine Cut cleaners, and various waxes. It took a lot of effort to make the car look good, but it would last about a week – the paint was shot.

As the shop, J & J Auto Body and Paint Refinishing in Monterey, started surface preparation for the painting the car, the car’s paint history started appearing.

When they started sanding, they found several layers of paint. They recommended bare metal sanding ($$$$). The sanding revealed previous repairs all along the left side of the car (body filler).

J & J also did some metal fabrication to repair a rust hole in the rear window frame and the corners of the doors.

Link to my flickr BMW album.

McLaren Race Victory to be Probed

Formula One bosses are investigating McLaren for a possible breach of the rules in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix” (via the BBC).

The rule in question is team orders affecting competition in the race. The rule stemmed from the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002, when Ferrari was criticized when the team ordered race leader Rubens Barichello to slow down at the finish so his teammate Michael Schumacher could win the race.

I just finished watching the race and it seemed at one point that Hamilton was quickly catching up to Alonso. A quick second pit stop would have allowed Hamilton to come out close to or ahead of Alonso instead of the four of five seconds he came out behind.

At the press conference, Hamilton said, “…It was tough, you know. I tried to get as close as possible and tried to get ahead but, you know, next time, I guess…” as he gave a smile and a shoulder shrug that could have implied that he could have won the race.

read more | digg story

BMW Repairs

I moved the photos of the repair of the BMW to its own section.

There are only photographs for now, but I assure you the future commentary will have many accompanying curse words.