Ben is worn.

The Nike Lunar Eclipse +

My ultimate favorite Nike of 2010. Combines Lunarlon cushioning, great clashing neon accent colors and a perfect silhouette with mutiple shades of grey. Go get yourself a pair before they disappear and you have to wait for them to retro them incorrectly.

Get them for $125 @ /Nikestore.

Ben is panoramic.

G10 in San Francisco. December 10-12, 2010.

CLICK TO EXPAND!

Ben is G10.

I've missed photography.

I miss composing pictures. I miss post-processing pictures.

I decided to take some pictures today with the G10. The G10 does admirably when at base ISO (100) and I supplemented the lighting with my 270EX flash.

Just so happens that I acquired a set of Scion TC wheels for the Prius. These wheels are nothing special, but anything is better than stock.

Check it out:

Ben is on film.

Tint film.

I went to SD Tint today in Sorrento Valley so they could work their magic on my newly acquired Prius.

I had them install 40% SolarGuard tint on all the windows.

I also had them install red vinyl overlay film on the taillights.  Priuses come with a mostly clear lensed taillight and I am not a fan of it.  SD Tint made some cutouts for the turn indicator and back up lamps for me and it turned out great.

Better pics tomorrow!  (I hope)

Enjoy the grainy/noisy iPhone images in the meantime.

Hypermile: Day 2

If you know me, I can't keep my cars stock. Not for long anyway.

I joined the PriusChat forums as soon as the idea of getting a Gen III Prius entered my head.

The swirl 5-spoke wheel covers had to go, so I removed them and strangely underneath them was a better looking aluminum alloy wheel. I don't know why Toyota put plastic covers, but they had to go. I think the modification was worth the 2 minute effort.

I am looking to get 17" wheels and perhaps a spring and shock combo. I personally love the 17" wheels that come on the Prius V package, but I also like Volk's offerings in their ECO line. The Volks are a little expensive however.

I also removed the front plate, I just have to do this for any car that I get.

My next mod will be window tint, I think I will be pretty light with the choice as I dont want a headache (a ticket haha)

Hypermile: Day 1

For as long as I have driven I have struggled with paying for 91 octane fuel for cars that weren't really designed to be the most economical with the precious natural resource.

I have also started growing weary of the issues that come with owning an expensive European car after warranty. Every weird noise or light would set me off. I wanted a car that I could drive without checking my bank account first. I wanted a car that I could drive without putting $50 into savings every paycheck for a emergency repair fund.

I decided I didn't want a used car, I love the idea of used cars but I am tired of inheriting other people's problems. I also wanted to stay under $300 a month as I am not getting any richer any time soon.

There aren't very many interesting choices for a person like me, I can't drive an applicance car. No offense if you drive one, but I just cant.

There is only one choice. The Toyota Prius.

I wasn't sold on the first two generations of the Prius, but the new one really caught my eye. Toyota took it upon itself to modernize the exterior and what they did is make a handsome little hatchback. Grace and I rented a 2010 Prius in the Bay Area for our last trip and we recorded a 55MPG average over the three day trip. I was sold.

Toyota currently is offering a pretty awesome lease program for the Prius. If you approve for it, it basically is $0 down and .000000001 money factor. It will make your payment $249 for a base model Prius II or $399 for a fully loaded Prius V.

I decided on Blizzard White Pearl (I always wanted a white car for myself) and the Prius III with the JBL Sound and Navigation and Entertainment packages. The Navigation comes with a USB interface for the iPhone, a rear view camera and a trick Bluetooth system so I had to get it.

I bought the car at Toyota El Cajon from a nice gentleman named Dale. The experience was great and I fully recommend purchasing your Toyota from there.

So far, the car is more than impressive. Sure it doesn't do the 1/4 mile in 12 seconds, but it doesn't struggle in the least bit to get to SoCal freeway speeds. In POWER mode it even surprises people off the line as the electric motor acts as sort of a supercharger for a short burst. The car handles well for what it is, I plan to upgrade the suspension and get 17" wheels as I personally find it necessary to do so to get the feel I like.

My favorite part is trying to hypermile, or keep the MPG average as high as possible. People online are getting in the 60s easily. So far I can't even get to 55, old habits die hard I guess. My current strategy is to keep the ECO status bar under the ECO rating, but it's hard to do so and not lose speed.

Enjoy the iPhone photography =)

Ben is on hiatus.

No camera to take pics, so it's hard to blog.

I have been on a purging spree lately to free up cash to do bigger and better things.

Hopefully I win the lottery or something so I can buy another camera.

Ben is MAHJONG, BITCHES!

Or not.

I got a fake Mahjong today and it sucked. (I thought one of my sevens was a different suit)

Korean BBQ x Salt and Pepper Calamari x Lakers killing the Suns x Modern Family

Alana was helping Jed win all night long....

Ben is Project W124: New shoes.

Today my Dad brought home some new shoes for Project W124.

A set of 16" AMG style wheels from the Mercedes 1996-1998 (W210) E420 sedan.

The wheels come with brand new 215/55 R16 Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires.

A subtle upgrade for sure, but the old wheels were a little small and the tires were worn down to the threads almost. The new Michelin rubber and wider and larger wheels make the ride much smoother.

Ben is Project W124

If you know me or my family at all you would know that we are fan(atic)s of German automobiles.

What started this love way back in 1992 was my Dad's first Mercedes Benz (or CHEDENG as he calls it) a Smoke Silver 1990 300E 2.6 (W124 chassis). He loved the thing and he spent so much of his time maintaining it's pristine condition. My Mom, brother and I were afraid to touch it as it was so immaculately clean. This car and it's care issues is what started my OCDness with my cars.

Fast forward 17 years to 2007, the 300E still in our possession but sadly, no longer in the same perfect condition as we now had newer, more expensive German steel to worry about maintaining. One fateful and sad night a drunk driver crashed into my Mom while she was driving home in the 300E, totaling it. Needless to say my Dad was devastated.

Since then he has been looking for another W124 to call his own, scouring Craigslist and Autotrader and sending me links to look at. Visiting cars and making offers to buy cars and never finding one.

The W124 chassis Mercedes is the codename for the mid-size sedan, coupe and convertible produced from 1984 to 1985. It is what became what is known as the E-class now.

Last weekend, on my way home from Las Vegas he informed me that he found a W124 and bought it the same day!

The car is a 1994 E320 sedan. The 1994 vintage of the W124 was the first for the facelift which consisted of new headlights, smoked euro taillights and a 3.2 liter 220hp inline-six cylinder engine. The engine is plenty powerful, and is really smooth. The car will be the perfect daily driver for my Mom once we sort everything out.

To my surprise during my first viewing of the car I noticed that it had a severely damaged fender. I started to doubt my Dad's sanity, but I found that the rest of the car was in great shape. The car only has 105K miles (very low!), the interior is impressively clean and the car drives super smooth. The car is still "rough" but that is the beauty in it, my Dad and I now have the chance to flex our muscles and restore the car to a condition befitting our collection. It is a great base to start on, especially for the low starting price. (half the market price for a similarly equipped mint E320!)

The car needs some work of course and we will address the many issues as soon as we can. First thing being the wheels/tires and the fender damage. The fender is the only thing damaged, and we have found a replacement, it just has to be painted.

I know it's not flashy or anything, but this series Mercedes will always have a soft spot with my Dad and I. I think my Dad would probably choose this E320 over my E55...

Ben is making movies.

The world premiere of "Ride The Mustache: The Movie"

Ben is Las Vegas.

Here are the pics from my 5D Mark II of this past weekend in Las Vegas.

No cool stories really, just a typical Vegas weekend.