This past weekend I assisted on a fairly common BMW procedure. I helped my friend Duane replace the valve cover gasket on his 2002 530i. I had never seen an E39 valve cover gasket replaced, and sometime down the road may need to replace on my M5. The National Capital Chapter DIY event was hosted […]
Happy New Year! With 2018 in the rear view mirror, how did BMW do in the North American luxury car market? In a year when its closest competitors were down in the market, BMW managed a sales gain of 1.7 percent in 2018, selling 311,014 vehicles. Overall the NA luxury market was down .3 percent. […]
It’s hard to believe another year has gone by. It doesn’t seem that long ago I was writing about the tenth anniversary of this site at the end of last year. 2018 was a busy year, and running my content marketing firm again took time away from publishing stories on my personal site. Despite the […]
Last Sunday Gabriele and I attended a tasting featuring Antiquum Farm wines, put on by Grape and Bean in Old Town, Alexandria. Owner and winemaker Stephen Hagen took us through his unique approaches to soil cultivation and winemaking. By chance we just had enjoyed an Antiquum wine a few weeks ago. We had the 2016 […]
One of the most popular wine posts on this site was a story I did five years ago on the demographics of U.S. wine consumption. So it’s past time for me to return to the U.S. wine market and see what’s changed over the past five years. Silicon Valley Bank produces an annual report on […]
The online auction site Bring a Trailer is making waves in the BMW enthusiast community. The site has been around for a few years but has jumped in popularity in the past 12-18 months, becoming a go-to location for low volume, enthusiast oriented BMWs and other brands. Roundel, the magazine of the BMW Car Club […]
Last week I completed a headlight retrofit project on my 2002 BMW M5. The adjusters inside the headlights were broken, causing the lights to point too low. Since I needed to replace the adjusters, I decided to also upgrade to more modern headlight projectors. Some background on why I went for a headlight retrofit. My […]
Last week I attended an event put on by Market Connections, Merritt Group and the Professional Services Council. It shared the results of a survey focused on the business development and marketing practices of B2G contractors. It was an informative session looking at what’s working, what’s not, which tactics are ascendant and which are on […]
This weekend I refreshed my 2002 BMW E39 M5 interior. The car recently ticked over 100,000 miles and has yet to surprise me with any unexpected repair issue (knock on proverbial BMW wood). It’s as exciting a car as when I purchased it in 2011, and after seven years it deserved a few interior tweaks. […]
Over the Memorial Day weekend I tackled a DIY project that had been on my list for a while. I replaced the driver side door handle on my 2006 BMW M3. The silver coating on the handle flaked off somehow as I opened the door one day. Since this obviously didn’t affect the car performance-wise […]
Recently Gabriele and I found an excellent, and relatively affordable, Oregon Pinot Noir. It’s the 2015 Evesham Wood Mahonia Vineyard. I heard about the wine from a trusted source for all things Pinot Noir, the Prince of Pinot. Dr. Rusty Gaffney started the Prince of Pinot after retiring. He uses the 100 point system for […]
This weekend was the first BMW CCA National Capital Chapter (NCC) DIY date that worked for me this year. BMW of Sterling hosted the club on Saturday and I was able to do some simple maintenance on my E46 M3. I changed the oil and the coolant. To drain the coolant the traditional way in […]