I took some photos of boats on moorings as I was heading out to the island this evening.

Google has just announced that starting today, Google Voice will be open to the general public & will no longer require an invite. For those unfamiliar, Google Voice is a service from Google that gives you a phone number which you in turn can have forward to any combination of phones, use as a voicemail service that automatically transcribes them, and much more. I’ve been using Google Voice since I got my invite in June of last year & absolutely love it.

Now this is the story all about how My life got flipped, turned upside down And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there I’ll tell you how I became screwed by a store called Best Buy. Based on the title of this post and its apparent topic you may be thinking that I’m being melodramatic or overreacting, but I am not. You see, the incident that has incited this post involved my cell phone, more specifically a smartphone.

This week is Commissioning Week at the Naval Academy here in Annapolis. As a result, the town is flooded with friends & family of the graduates from out of town, and parts of the city are closed off to traffic at certain hours. One of the major reasons for this is a favorite annual tradition: the Blue Angels show on Wednesday afternoon. Every year, the Blue Angels put on a demonstration during Commissioning Week, over the Severn River right next to the Academy grounds.

Since the Z series vehicles don’t follow the standard BMW naming convention, I had to come up with a way to accomodate them. So, since “Z” is the 26th letter of the alphabet they’ll be celebrated on the 26th day of their respective number month. So since today is the 26th day of the 4th month, we’re celebrating the Z4! Sounds a little complicated, I know, but it’s really pretty simple & makes sense when you think about it.

I missed last week for a Case of the Mondays question, sorry about that. I’m back this week though, so let’s get to it! This week I’ve decided to make the question more personal. What’s your favorite picture of your own BMW? Everyone loves to show off their cars, let’s be honest. We put a lot of time, money & love into them and we want people to appreciate that. Well, what better group of people than fellow Bimmer enthusiasts?

Last night’s BMWCCA National Capital Chapter social turned out another beautiful restoration: a 1956 BMW 502 Cabrio with a 2.6L V8. The owner actually has his own BMW shop and is very experienced so the end result is pretty much perfect. The 502 was first launched in 1954, and took the title of Germany’s first post-war V8 car. It achieved a top speed of 160km/h (about 100 mph) and was reported to be Germany’s fastest sedan in production.

BMWBlog posted today some spy photos of the upcoming BMW 1M in typical prototype camouflage. Even with the disguise the car looks good and evident of some ///M tuning. It’s also evidence of BMW acknowledging the enthusiast community and the complaints about cars getting too big. It’s an important piece in BMW moving into the future without neglecting the wants & needs of enthusiasts with a more nostalgic sense of the brand.

This past Thursday I was at a social for the BMW Car Club of America National Capital Chapter. Now that the weather’s getting nicer the turnout is getting larger, the more exotic/classic Bimmers are showing up. This week was one I’d never seen before: a 1972 2000tii Touring. It was fully restored, complete with Colorado orange paint and is absolutely gorgeous. Done as a project by the owner to keep his mind off his son who was fighting in Iraq at the time, the car was completely overhauled to original quality.

The annual Milblogging conference is coming up, and as part of the event they have awards for military bloggers in various categories, one for each of the armed services and support categories as well. Here’s the best part: they’re reader’s choice awards, so you get to vote for your favorite in each category! I’m not nominated so this isn’t me trying to source votes for myself. However, I have some good friends who are and keep great blogs that deserve to win, so I’m trying to help them gain some well-earned recognition.