Happy 1er Anniversary

It's been a year since I've bought my car, a BMW 135i Convertible. The 1-Series is also known as a 1er in BMW circles, hence the post title. This post was originally published on BlogHer in March 2010. The original title of the post was Yes, You Can Be a Mom and a Car Enthusiast Too, but was edited to Mommy Wants a Convertible. Which was true, but not the essense of the post (geesh am I that shallow?).  Enjoy...

In my twenties, I fell in love with BMWs.  I loved their history, their styling, and their ability to live up to pure car enthusiast standards in terms of performance and handling.  I scraped together all my money and stretched my budget completely thin to buy my first BMW.  I absolutely loved the car.  I loved how it drove, loved how it looked and I meticulously hand-washed and waxed the car to keep it beautiful.

Fast-forward 10 years, and I found myself ready to buy a new car.  I had my sights set on a BMW convertible.  After driving a friend’s convertible, I realized that you really need to wear a cap while driving top-down on the highway to keep your hair in place and the sun off your face.  So I grew out my bangs so that I could wear a cap and not mess up my hair.  I was all set for my next car adventure.  Even my hair was ready.  Except, then I was pregnant with my first child. 

My husband and I were in the showroom looking at convertibles when it dawned on me that the reduced trunk space of a convertible was going to be a problem.  We already had a brand-new fancy stroller with those 12-inch wheels waiting for the baby.  There was no way that stroller was going to fit in the trunk.  And let’s face it, I can joke around about putting goggles on the baby for driving with the top down, but in reality you would never drive open-roof with a baby in the car.  My husband suggested that we look into the sport wagon (or "touring sedan," as they call it) instead.  I was crestfallen. 

I did eventually buy a used BMW wagon with a sport package, a five-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive.  Not your average soccer mom car.  But it was still a wagon, and it just didn’t fire my imagination.  However, after hauling two kids with all their stuff through all sorts of nasty New England weather, it was definitely a good choice.

Last summer, I was invited to attend a BlogHer  event, "What Do Women Want in a Vehicle".  Of course I was all jazzed about going and giving my voice, as I am no ordinary woman.  I am a mechanical engineer who LOVES cars.  When they asked what was most important thing you loved about your car that you would never compromise, I was thrilled to say manual transmission.  I could never buy a minivan because of this.  Most women listed the usual niceties (I can't even remember what they were -- automatic sliding doors?).  There were a few items that I heartily agreed with, such as reliability and gas mileage.  But for the most part, I felt alone as a car enthusiast.

My kids are now nine and six, certainly out of the baby stage, and my wagon is now nine years old.  I’ve gotten used to all the mom sacrifices you make for your kids and have gotten my car fix here and there by driving my husband’s sports car.  I put out of my mind owning my own dream convertible.  But last month, my husband happened to see a leftover 2009 BMW 135i convertible at the dealer for a cut-rate price.

I was extremely skeptical about looking at this car.  It was rear-wheel drive, which meant that I would have to keep my current car as a winter car.  I didn’t NEED a new car.  My wagon was still going strong, and it is still a nice performing vehicle.   But I agreed to take a look.  In the showroom, I politely nodded and sat inside.  It was nice, but just not necessary.  Then I opened the top.  Wait a minute.  This is the convertible that I always wanted.  The open air, the 300 HP, the six-speed manual transmission, the look-at-me blue.  It screamed Angela.  A week later, I drove it home.

Call it impractical.  Call it a midlife crisis.  Call it a mom who found her mojo again as a car enthusiast.

I Can Be… Computer Engineer Barbie

Barbie® I Can Be...™ Computer Engineer* Doll

Last year, Mattel announced that Barbie’s 126th career was voted to be Computer Engineer.  When I heard this, I immediately thought, wait, that is me!  Although I am technically a mechanical engineer turned software engineer.  What exactly is a computer engineer anyway?  Not an electrical engineer or computer scientist or software engineer or software developer.  Apparently, I am of that generation, where a degree in computer engineering in and of itself was relative rare (and still non-existent at MIT).
According to Wikipedia:

Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and hardware-software integration instead of only software engineering or electronic engineering. Computer engineers are involved in many hardware and software aspects of computing, from the design of individual microprocessors, personal computers, and supercomputers, to circuit design. This field of engineering not only focuses on how computer systems themselves work, but also how they integrate into the larger picture.

OK this is definitely not what I do (no circuit design or firmware for me). But to the layman, computer engineer still fits.  For about six months, I had the PDF announcement of the new career tacked up at work before I finally purchased it for myself last month (apparently the hints to family and co-workers didn’t work for the holidays).



According to the announcement,

To ensure the doll accurately reflects this occupation, Barbie®  designers worked with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering to ensure that accessories, clothing and packaging were realistic and representative of a real computer engineer. Looking geek chic, Computer Engineer Barbie® wears a t-shirt featuring binary code and computer/keyboard icon along with a pair of black knit skinny pants. Computer Engineer carries a Barbie® smart phone, fashionable laptop case, flat watch and Bluetooth earpiece. With stylish pink-frame glasses and a shiny laptop, she is ready to conquer the day’s tasks on the go or from her desk.

On the Mattel shop page, there is a video of the doll designers.  That could be me as a doll designer!  Oh wait, I’m the computer engineer.



Barbie has an iPhone of course, and I love Barbie’s outfit, especially the circuit board design on the sleeves and the “black knit skinny pants”.  Unfortunately, such pants would violate this computer engineer’s company dress code (my Rock is Dead t-shirt was worn on casual Friday).  The box itself is filled with cool geeky graphics like the Linux penguin and iPad? next to it.  But the coolest thing is on the monitor.



Do you see the seemingly non-sensical binary bits of 0’s and 1’s in pink on the monitor?
01000010
01100001
01110010
01100010
01101001
01100101

If you convert the binary to text (ASCII) characters, you get: “B-a-r-b-i-e”, Barbie!!!  How cool is that???  I can’t believe that Mattel actually went through the trouble of spelling Barbie in binary.  How many people did they think would notice?  It is most likely the code on her shirt as well (I can’t tell because she’s never coming out of the box).

Dova was jealous that I got myself a new Barbie and I said, why not?  She replied, “But you’re 44!”  Yes, a 44-year-old who will keep her prized Barbie hermetically sealed in her super cool box.

Tiger Mom in the Trenches

My joyful violinists

Sometimes I step back and shake my head at how I've become a completely stereotypical Asian mom.  I expect academic excellence and make my kids learn both the piano and violin. Completely textbook!  But not only do I make my kids practice, I jump right in myself, taking the tiger mom role to the extreme.  And just to be clear, there is NO TIGER BLOOD in this tiger mom as opposed to Mr. Sheen.

So how do I jump right in?  Since I don't play the violin, I also take lessons myself.  I am learning the Suzuki method along with the kids, drinking and living the Suzuki kool-aid, and practicing Every. Single. Day (hence the drop off in blogging - I should be practicing right now). The fact that I am learning along with them is actually unbelievably helpful.  Part of the Suzuki brainwashing is listening to the Suzuki recording so that you hear what the pieces sound like. We only really listen to the music in the car on the way to violin lessons, but the kids actually hear me practice the pieces ad nauseum before they learn them.  First I learn a piece (thankfully at this point, I am still ahead of them), then a few weeks later, Adam will learn the same piece, and a few weeks after that, Dova will learn the piece.  By the time Dova gets to it, she's heard it so many times, that she has it completely memorized by ear and it is really easy for her to learn.  Check out them out playing Bach's Minuet No. 2.



Not perfect of course,  it's only a practice session.  And Dova is precariously standing on a chair, oh well.  Since I'm in the trenches, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't post a video of myself as well.  Here I am playing the fiddle piece Devil's Dream (oh no, I've veered off the Suzuki course!).



Adam heard me practice this so much that he picked it up by ear as well. Here he is effortlessly pulling it off while Dova pretends to play along.



OK Dova, you need to GET OFF THE CHAIR!!! Adam will be better than me in no time. I just wasn't expecting that to happen within the first year.

And being in the trenches doesn't only apply to the violin. Since the kids have to perform in numerous piano recitals, it is only fair that I have to perform on the piano as well.  Recently, I auditioned for a local talent show.  I wanted to show the kids that I still get nervous and push myself outside of my comfort zone.  I haven't performed solo on the piano since I was 16 years old.  It's time to Susan Boyle it!

Here is a practice session of the piece that I will be performing in the talent show next month, Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King from the Peer Gynt Suite.  The kids have always loved being crazy when I practice this piece, so I've named this video, Hall of the Mountain Children.



Do you suppose my kids are benefiting from me being in the trenches with them, or am I totally insane?

Let’s All Groupon!

I’ve heard a lot about Groupon lately, and if you know me, I love a getting a deal.  So I signed up for emails in the Boston and Worcester area, and was duly unimpressed.  The daily emails were clogging up my inbox and were rarely anything I was interested in.  The restaurants and spas featured were often too far away (now if they had a Nashua, NH location, that would be a different story).  I switched to receiving the deals through my RSS reader instead of email and purchased a few Groupons but still wasn’t bowled over.  Until yesterday.



OMG!! $99 for 30-Minute Rental of Lamborghini Gallardo and 30-Minute Rental of Ferrari Modena 360 at Steam Sport Technologies in Danvers ($274.75 Value). Driving two supercars for 60 minutes??  I went and bought one for Doug’s birthday.  And one for myself.


This Groupon actually tipped first on Worcester and then Boston today, so if you love Ferraris like I do, there’s still time today to purchase it.  Of course, if you not a car fanatic, there are plenty of reasonable deals for fun places and stores like Chunky’s Cinema Pub (sold out) or Marbles: The Brain Store (expired).

I should have known that driving the Ferrari Modena 360 was in the cards for me since I was pegged as one in this quiz that I posted three years ago.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it. Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Wow, this quiz has got me pegged!  It also reminds me of a facebook quiz that I took years ago where I was typed as a Bugatti Veyron.  Always the fastest, most expensive cars (this one tops the list at $1.7M), seems to be a pattern here.  (This also reminds me that it is impossible to search for old wall posts, one of my biggest issues with facebook).

If you haven’t joined Groupon, click on over with my referral.  Disclaimer:  if you do join and purchase a Groupon, I got a whooping $10.  Woo hoo!!  Gotta afford my car habit somehow.