Sturgeon’s Law Ninety percent of everything is crap.
Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, “Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That’s because 90% of everything is crud.” Oddly, when Sturgeon’s Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to ‘crap’.
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Spent the morning driving around town snapping pictures recognizable (at least I hope recognizable) as being in Aiken county with just a bit of car showing. They were done using a disposable camera with a built in flash, so I have little idea exactly how they will turn out. They are for the First Annual Aiken Drive By Photo Contest. You can enter more than once, so I think I will grab another entry packet when I turn in the first tomorrow.
It was weird being off work today because we treated yesterday just like a regular Sunday — had lunch with our regular group, watched an X-Files episode and I even trimmed around my beard. So my dysfunctional mind is frantically trying to categorize what today was. Oh well, soon it will be morning and I’ll be able to classify tomorrow as a Monday.
I made up a little web page of the newspaper article from the Sunday paper about license plates that featured yours truly, seeing as the newspaper didn’t. OCR’d the words and scanned in the pictures, so here I am in all my media glory: Specialty License Plates Say It All
Dropped of the disposable camera tonight. Pictures will be ready tomorrow. We are going to wait to buy entry #2 in the Drive By Photo Contest until we have seen #1.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1105.34
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 213
Picked up the finished photos for entry #1 in the Drive By Photo Contest. Yikes! They are uniformly bad. The ones mounted on the cockpit brace showed too much car and not enough scenery. The shots of something in the rear view mirror are a possibility, but I’m going to have to defeat the flash as it washes out all the color out of the mirror because it is so close. The pictures with the car hood in it and scenery in front, didn’t work as the flash illuminated the BLUE hood and left the scenery dark. I’m not sure if there is any metering going on in the camera, as some photos look like there is and others don’t. There were a couple that came out OK, but hardly worth blowing up to 8 x 12.
As long as you buy two cameras you are entitled to 2 entries and it doesn’t matter which camera the entries come from. Hopefully we will get 2 good pictures from the next camera.
I may scan a couple tomorrow and see if I can tweak them in PaintShopPro. They won’t be eligible for the contest, but I’ll get a picture to post on my photography blog…
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1105.34
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 213
They have been doing this for as long as I remember, so it must be working. The Tums commercials always take place in a diner. The customers, the counter person and the look are different, but there is always some schmoe with gas or an upset tummy taking some product other than Tums. Someone will offer him advice on the best antacid to solve the problem. In the one I saw tonight the counter man told our sufferer to ask a counsel of experts and points to a trio of beefy Johnny Lunchpails at the end of the counter. The three of them are clutching their chests and bellies while, literally swilling, from a Tums container.
Maybe, just maybe, you wouldn’t have those gastrointestinal problems if you found another place to eat.
So Cowboy Up. And the Sox did just that tonight in the first of a 3-game series against their arch-nemesis’s the NY Yankees in the house that that candy bar fellow built. I think we will have to win at least one more this weekend from the Bronx Bombers if there is any chance of taking the division from them. A sweep would be nice, but 2–1/2 out with 25 to play, and the way they are playing, is not to big a hill to climb.
Turns out that a 40% chance of rain showers means a 60% chance of cloudy, gray skies with no precipitation. Got the ride in to work with it down, but that was it. After work-work we went to work-out, so the ride home was broken into 2 short trips with a long pause in the middle. The skies looked iffy so we just left the roof up.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1105.34
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 218
Watched the Red Sox — Yankee’s game on Fox this afternoon. The game went better than I hoped. Boston 11, New York 0. Watching was great, but listening sucked. Tim McCarver was in the booth with Rick Sutcliff and they couldn’t get it together. Both of them seemed tongue tied too often. Maybe it is because the aren’t used to working with each other or something. Then there was an inning or two that Ozzie Smith joined them, trying in vain to explaining a Radio Shack promotion (something I’m sure he is getting paid to do) having to do with lifetime tickets to the World Series. Lamo.
About the second inning they flashed across the screen that the broadcast was available in Spanish via SAP (if available) by inning 5 I tired to get it in Spanish, but my local FOX affiliate didn’t have it available. I guess we don’t have that big a Hispanic population…
The Red Sox lose their game against the Yankees today and it is my fault. I watched the game on ESPN Friday night and they won. I watched the game on Fox Saturday afternoon and they won. Today the game was not on TV, I couldn’t watch, so they lost. Sorry.
The rain started about the time the alarm went off this morning. The bike ride didn’t happen. We could deal with that, curled back under the covers and slept another hour. The rain paused for about 15 minutes a half an hour ago, but it back at it steady. No picture taking today, for the web site or the contest.
The inclement weather created a perfect opportunity for a movie day. First up was Catch Me If You Can borrowed from a co-worker. After about 10 minutes, Donna wanted out. I convinced her to stick it out. After 25 minutes I wanted out, be she was now interested. At 25 minutes the phone rang and while she was talking to her mother I popped out the disc. Second movie was my latest purchase, Donnie Darko. I watched it all the way through (for the second time) while Donna watched half heatedly. This evenings entry was The Last Boy Scout, a totally predictable Bruce Willis movie, that is from Netflix and has been sitting on my coffee table for around a month. At least Donnie Darko was good.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1120.84
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219
But I would like to be able to do the “easy” stuff on my car. Changing the oil and rotating tires has become second nature. I’ve done the brakes, i.e., change pads, bleed them, etc twice now. I would like to change out the transmission fluid and the differential oil, but to do these you need both a 23mm and a 24 mm socket. From a quick search on the web these will run me $15 a piece, plus $10–15 for the 1/2″ ratchet. Then a oil pump would make this easier to get the oils back in these hard to reach places, another $5–10. Not to mention the cost of the fluids. Probably be cheaper to get the Mazda place to do it when they change my timing belt in a couple weeks.
Today’s Phototime Tuesday theme was “holey” and didn’t know what I was going to shoot. Inspiration was slow to come. My first thought was, I’m having swiss cheese in my sandwhiches this week, why not grab a slice and click, but then what kind of background would I use. How about a toe poking through a holey sock? I don’t have any socks with holes and I didn’t want to sacrifice a perfectly good one for the sake of art. Then it hit me, the holes in the seats of the Miata for the headrest speakers.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1120.84
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219
Short posts tonight and tomorrow as I’ll be getting the car ready for our Club’s Annual Gap trip. That’s right, twisty ass roads of North Carolina with the dragon as the icing on the cake. Plan on a fun run Friday evening after arrival and then a early morning more spirited assault. Followed by a day of enjoying what the mountains have to offer.
Gotta go put a little more air in the tires. use 32 psi for normally driving, but I want to add 3or 4 more to stiffen the sidewalls a bit more. Tomorrow I guess I’ll shake out the mats and use the California Duster to get the light coating of road dirt off the car. It is not enough to go fast, but you have to look good doing it. 
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1120.84
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219
We get annoying phone calls selling us stuff we don’t want. We get regular mail flyers full of stuff we don’t want. We get tons of spam emails for stuff we don’t want.
I got hit with a new one yesterday and until someone comes up with a clever word for this, I’ll call it Comment Spam.
It wasn’t random at all. If you search my rant site for the word cholesterol you get one hit, it’s in the post they left the comment on. Notice that I had accidentally mis-spelled cholesterol. If you search for the correct spelling, there are no hits. in the comment spam they too spell cholesterol wrong, with an “al” on the end. I never get a link or even the name of the supplement, so was this a random act of a random person who stumbled on my site?
The clothes are in the wash, the windshield is clean and the CD with 20 hours of reggae MP3s is loaded. Just have to put the clean clothes in our “suitcase”, toss it in the trunk and set the alarm for 6:00 PM.
‘Twas the night before Gapping, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The gas tanks were filled with high octane with care,
In hopes that their turbos would not ping while there;
The drivers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of twisty roads danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long pre-drive nap,
There’s more…
Purchased Today: $8.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1129.34
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219
My snack for the week was Oreo cookies, Double Delight OREO Coffee and Cream to be exact. My wife packs 5 in a plastic sandwich bag for me to enjoy at my morning break. In each of the last 4 days there has been one cookie in my bag that has had one of the chocolate wafers on upside down, that is a smooth side is showing and the imprinted side is towards the filling. For some reason I don’t remember this little non-conformance occurring with such regularity.
I’m sure in the beginning these defective cookies were destroyed. Then, as with the rest of manufacturing America, cost became more important than quality. Slowly things migrated from throwing them away, to giving them to charities to allowing a certain percentage to make into consumer packages. Now with each passing quarter the total of non-conforming cookies allowed has been increased.
Soon somewhere in the corporate halls of Nabisco a decision will be made to eliminate the embossing of the words OREO and the Nabisco logo altogether. It will be cheaper all around and then it won’t matter at all which way the cookies come together. To keep the identity they will have to spray the likeness of these logos on with some food dye or something.
Oh, and they will call it “New and Improved” too.
No one met us the GA Welcome Center, but that was expected. We met the Haffs at the Publix Shopping Center on Fury’s Ferry Road as expected. The Breitingers weren’t there, but we pressed on without them.
First stop was in McCormick about 30 miles up the road. There we made a pit stop and hung around for about 20 minutes until the Kurt and Karen arrived. Next stop was Walhalla were John requested a gas stop to top off as it is a bit cheaper here then in the mountains proper.
After lunch in our usual haunt in Highlands we pressed on. Outside of Cashiers, John took us on a nice little back road called Wayah Bald Road up to US74/19 instead of the normal SC28. Cool road with a lot of twisty bits, tree lined stretches and almost no traffic.
That evening, the final couple arrived in car # 4, John & Barbara Battles. The 8 of us dined in the new Mexican place in Robbinsville. By the end of the meal it was almost dark and none of wanted to attack the dragon. Not for any fear of the road, but for fear of the deer that might leap in our path. We retired early.
Purchased Today: $7.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1136.59
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 220
We retired early yesterday because we wanted to get up early today and beat the weekend traffic to the gap. Worked too. We left the hotel a little after 7, so we got to the official start of the dragon at about 7:25. All the motorcyclists were still in their tents at the Crossroads of Time when we flew past. Didn’t really keep track, but I figure we made 7 of the 11 miles unimpeded before we had to slow when we caught up to a couple of pickups. While we were at the gravel lot on the other end the only vehicle that went by was truck loaded with house trusses. We knew he would take a while so we waited about 15 minutes before starting out. We sailed up the hill and took another break at the dam overlook. While we were there a Suburban went by, so we waited another 20 minutes or so. When we did leave, we made it all the way back to the NC state line before we caught the Suburban or about 10 miles at speed. The CoT was open when we got back and some of the cyclists were stirring. We went inside and looked at the T-shirts and stickers and such and as we shopped John noticed out the window a semi with a wide load escort go by headed into the gap. We all breathed sigh of relief that we were already through. Here are some photos of trucks in the gap on the Tail of the Dragon site.
From there we headed to the corn maze in Andrews. I have to admit it was more fun than I thought. It was real study in human nature. The guys all huddled around our maps trying to keep track of where we were and we ended up just following Karen, she used “women’s intuition” and led us right out.
We were scheduled to meet the Battles at a restaurant in Telico Plains at 1:00 PM. Because there aren’t many ways to get there we thought for sure it would take too long for us to get there from where we were and we would miss them. Made good time and arrived at Cardin’s about 1:15. As we pulled into the lot, John and Barbara came in from the other direction. The setting is magnificent and the food is good, but service is lacking and what there is, is slow. Donna had to eat her soup with a teaspoon, our waitress came back after rechecking and said she couldn’t find any soup spoons. My and John Haff’s sweet potato fries were cold (at least they took the price of them off the check.) Next year we’ll have to find an alternative lunch location.
After lunch we all drove together back to Robbinsville along the Cherohala Skyway. We did the 10 mile side trip to ogle the Bald River Falls and because of that we missed the 5:00 PM closing of a pottery shop that Karen had requested a visit to on the other side of the pass. To make up for it, we visited a pottery place in Robbinsville, probably not as nice, but it was the best we could come up with.
By now it was after 5:00 PM and after covering more than 200 mountain miles since 7:00 PM, I was toast. Kurt and John hadn’t enough, so they headed off to run through the dragon one more time.
Purchased Today: $12.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1148.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 222
Made it back home about 2:30 this afternoon. We were going to go home 19/74 to Asheville then I-26, but when I got to the 28 south sign I couldn’t resist. Several more doses of twisty road awaited. Made it all the way to the outskirts of Franklin before I had to slow for some one in front of me. Between Franklin and Highlands there was no one in front of me until, wouldn’t you know it, right where the sign warning truckers of the steep grades and 20 MPH curves ahead. Old couple in a small car with Florida tags. I got right behind them and pushed for a bit until Donna told me to back off I was scaring her. 1/2 mile later when I could see around the next couple esses I dropped into first and blasted by, all the while Donna screamed at me (I hadn’t asked permission.) The yelling was worth it though, as I would have gone crazy behind them at 20 MPH for the next 9 miles.
We decided to follow the route up in reverse to come home. Good plan, but the SC187 south sign was missing because of construction and we were 8 miles past it before we realized. We backtracked rather than drive through Anderson. The sign was missing coming from that direction too, but luckily I recognized the intersection.
We got to McCormick about 12:30 and the only place to eat is that Hardees we waited for the Breitingers at. Donna said no! Let’s go to Hickory Knob State Park, they have a lodge and restaurant. It turned out to be a trip in itself, the entrance to the park was 10 miles west of town and the lodge must have been another 5 miles into the park. When we entered the huge dining room it was almost empty and we should have taken it as a sign. The only thing they offered was a buffet for $7.95, no menu. The salad bar was fair and the soup was OK. Fatty fried chicken, green beans cooked with fatback, something they called dressing, rice and gravy were your dining “pleasure.”. Pretty much the worst food we have had in recent memory, but at least they had soup spoons.
Purchased Today: $13.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1161.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 224
Sitll oeinptarg on the psot-gap ehpuoira.
Ntohnig btroehed me at all tdaoy. Eevn wehn my bsos ddeeicd taht I sulohd go aeahd and snped the day rintceearg a carht for an oictapl cpaotmraor ienstad of sennpidg $100 and buy a new one. Deosn’t he rebmeemr waht my hluory rtae is? The one I mkae wlil look etlaxcy lkie the pchrasued one, but wlil lsat nworhee naer as lnog. Mnie wlil be pretnid on a lewor qliauty flim on our ikenjt ptletor as oposped to the myalr wtih watreoporf ink and pttoirecve flim of the psorislfanoely preducod one.
Wrod Sbmelcrar Tnhig
Continue reading Word Scambler Thing
Just found out who I’m voting for in the next Presidential election…retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark. That is if he gets the Democratic nomination. And here is why: read the first line in the 7th from the last paragraph of this article.
The Miata is spending the night at a sleep-over. It is parked behind Rader Mazda in Augusta, awaiting a timing belt/water pump transplant surgery. Tune in tomorrow to see the money spent figure increase by 50%.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1148.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 228
I will be on vacation next week and away from the PC so there will be no blogging, but more importantly it is the week I would normally be doing the Master’s Miata Club’s newsletter. That means that I need to do it this week, because I have to mail out the newsletter with the October meeting location before I go away. Because when I get back it will be too late. I should mail it out no later than Friday, which means I had better get busy, but instead I sit here blogging and reading other blogs. I’ll probably go ahead and update the Club’s web page with photos from this weekend’s event while I’m in full delay mode. No sense hurrying when I’ll have all day Thursday to do it.
Drove the Miata home tonight and the timing belt transplant surgery seems a success. They had me worried for a minute there too. When I called at 3:30 to see if it was ready, I got a “Let me call you back.” When I didn’t get a call back in about 45 minutes, I called back again. This time I got a “I’ll check with the technician, hold on.” When the service advisor returned she said, it’ll be ready before the end of the day (their day or 6:00 PM.) We got there at 5:30 and the paperwork was just arriving at the cashier as we were.
This is the Master’s Miata Club sponsoring dealer so club members get 20% off on parts. I had not mentioned this when I dropped the car off for service for fear that they would jack up the list price of the parts on the invoice and then “give” me 20% off. I know, very cynical.
The cashier hands me the invoice it says $652.80, I slap my forehead and say, “I forgot to mention I’m in the Miata Club and I should get 20% off the parts.” No problem the invoice goes through the window into the parts area for recalculation. Now the invoice says $584.56, which is still higher than expected. Then I notice that the labor charge is $432, not the $360 is was quoted on the phone last week. A call is put into Kellie the service advisor. She arrives and I tell her that the price is higher than I was quoted. She says, “Let me check” and wanders off. Comes back a few minutes later and says that they must have charged me for an extra hour labor by mistake, the charge should be $360. Invoice is adjusted again and this time it comes to $514.58, which I pay.
Now the cynical side of me is wondering was the extra hour really a mistake. Or is it routinely added on to bills in that price range hoping that the customer won’t notice and just pay it?
Purchased Today: $514.58
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1663.17
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 229
Growing up in Connecticut only 50 miles from NYC you would think that when it comes to baseball I would be a Yankees fan, but no, I hate the Yankees. My mom is from Maine and my dad is from Massachusetts so I came by my affliction honestly, my parents were Red Sox fans. Every year I think this is the year. And recently they have actually been playing great ball and been in first place…for a while, but true to tradition they fade at the end. Sometimes still making the playoffs, but always snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the end. This year I’m afraid will be no different.
I don’t get HBO, but when we were in Robbinsville this weekend the hotel we were in did. I saw a promo for an up coming show that I just had to see, The Curse Of The Bambino. It premiered last night and I got a co-worker to tape it for me.
Just finished watching it. Very nicely done. At times painful when they show some of those infamous moments that seem to bring life to the curse, Bucky Fucking Dent’s homer, Bill Buckner’s misplay, etc. And at others moving, interviews with famous and not famous New Englanders explaining their love of the Sox. Made me homesick, but also made me think that they still have time to blow their current 2–1/2 game wild card lead and end up out of the playoffs this year. Or maybe this is the year.…the curse is finally lifted.
While eating my breakfast cereal this morning I noticed some pain when chewing on the back left. There was also sensitivity to the cold milk.
At 8:30 when the dentist’s office opened for business I gave them a call to see if they could squeeze me in. No problem the receptionist said, come on down. When I got there, I was called right back to the drill and fill office and settled into the chair by Jane the dentist’s assistant. Seems Dr. Boykin is on vacation this week so it was easy to get in, because there were no patients around. Jane took an x-ray and while we waited for it to develop, she took some pictures with this fancy gizmo from Sony. She held my mouth open with one hand and guided the camera into position by watching the monitor. This left no hands free to click on the take picture button on the remote. She handed it to me and told me to click the button when she said so.
When the doctor gets back next week he’ll check it out and make some recommendations. The least of which Jane says will be a crown. Yikes, there goes several hundred dollars. To add insult to financial injury, Jane tells me, “Not to worry, cracked teeth like that are common in men my age and easily fixable.” *my age, sigh*
Tonight we took a little evening drive get some ice cream and then refuel the car as well. While driving along on Powderhouse Road minding our own business, Donna suddenly goes, “Ooww!” She got bopped on the top of her head by something small and solid. Best we can figure out is a squirrel in one of trees we were passing under must have dropped his or her acorn. Now there is speculation as to whether it was on purpose or not, after all we did manage to run a squirrel over in North Carolina this past weekend.…
Purchased Today: $14.75 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1674.92
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 229
The car is packed and nearly ready to go. Tomorrow we head to Hilton Head Island for 6 six days of fun at the beach. Would have been 8, but a slight miscalculation of our vacation time requires us to go back to work next Friday, oops. We have taken 2 week vacations and taken less. I think the addition to our travel baggage this time is the DVD player. It is a full size unit so it eats up pretty much all of the small well in the center of the trunk and it has to come as the condo only has a VCR and all our movies are on DVD.
Called my buddies at Rspeed this morning and ordered up 1 quart of Redline 75w90 synthetic oil for the differential and 2 quarts of Redline MTL synthetic for the transmission. I’ll swap out these fluids next weekend with a little help from a friend. That should complete the 120k mileage maintenance.
Purchased Today: $38.95
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1712.87
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 229
We got up about the same time as our usual workday. Started off by having a quick breakfast snack and then finished loading the trunk. We didn’t have room for the plastic trash bags or work gloves so they were piled on behind the seats. We had about a half dozen or more pictures to finish taking for the Drive By Photo Contest.
After the last shot was taken, we had just enough time to get to Best Bagels to meet the Bicycle Club for real breakfast and then pick-up trash for our Adopt-A-Highway duties.
Four blocks and four bags of trash later we zipped home to change and then make a bee-line to the SC Welcome Center to meet the Miata Club to lead them to a Mennonite restaurant, Miller’s Breadbasket, in Blackville, SC. Six cars followed Donna and I on mostly back roads to get to our destination. Another car was waiting on us there, as well as about 2 dozen Harleys. Fortunately they we about finishing up, so our wait wasn’t too long and the big table in the back was free for the 16 of us.
Donna and I continued east to Hilton Head and everyone else headed west to go back home. When we arrived we unpacked the car and headed right back out to find a place for dinner. The choices on the island are staggering, but we just went to a Wendys to get a salad as we will still somewhat full from our big lunch. We had just enough time after eating to get in a short beach walk before the sunset. We were in bed not too long after.
Purchased Today: $14.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1727.12
Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 232
On our morning walk on the beach we encountered an awful lot of folks bent at the waist digging in and/or poking around the sand. They were picking up shells, gathering the exoskeletons of deceased mollusks. Bone collecting.
Another random beach walking thought: Is it just me or after seeing Jurassic Park III do all pelicans in flight look like pterodactyls or what?
We had breakfast on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Followed it up by a walk along the beach. Lunch was a trip to a place we read about, but it was so crowded we walked across the shopping center lot and ate somewhere else. Dinner consisted of pork chops and baked potato that we had brought with us and was followed by another walk on the beach.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1727.12
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 234
I brought a partially finished paperback with me from home, The Arraignment by Steve Martini. I never read at home any more, the only time I do read is when we are away (and away from a computer.) When I do read, I read mostly crime fiction stuff, tough talking P.I.s, lawyers put in positions they should never be in or get out of, but do, underdog homicide cops, etc. Before this 5 days of relaxing is up I will finish nearly one book a day. Here is the rest of the list:
The Jury by Steve Martini
The Crush by Sandra Brown
Dust To Dust by Tami Hoag
Went grocery shopping and because it was going to be a rainy day today I bought a paperback book to read. As we were checking out a nice young man was bagging our groceries for us. The book was The Crush by Sandra Brown and when he picked it up instead of plopping into the bag he started reading the back cover. Maybe it was the picture of the author on the back that caught his eye or something, but I found it very unsettling that this kid was “reading” my book.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1727.12
Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 240
Continue reading Excuse Me, That’s My Book
 Our friend Jerry Horsman, who we rented the condo from, wanted to take us out on his “boat.” The word boat is in quotes because it is kind of a personal watercraft. What ever you classify it as, it is fast. It is a Sea-Doo Speedster, 220 HP attached to a 16′ fiberglass hull, that really flies (top speed is 55MPH.) We had a lot of fun zipping around the inlets, rivers and shorelines of Hilton Head Island. We got an unscheduled tour of Horsman Island #2 when Jerry forgot about the fast approaching low tide. We spent a pleasant 2 hours watching the crabs, seagulls and pelicans until the water got up to about 2 feet deep and we could get back underway. It was called Horsman Island #2 because just two weeks ago he pulled the same stunt with his wife in the boat in another location.
We were going to leave early morning Thursday and head home, but decided mid-afternoon to just leave around sundown and ride home with the top down in the darkness. Excellent plan. It was a great night for the 2–1/2 hour drive, the sky went from blue to orange to dark blue to black. We even needed our coats after the sun went down. The only fly in the ointment, was literally just that, bugs were coming at us so thick that 2 stops to clean the windshield were required to make a safe trip…At times while driving it looked just like the stock Windows screensaver, Starfield Simulation.
Purchased Today: $6.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1733.37
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 241
I got my Redline synthetic oils for the tranny and diff today. Probably have been sitting on my desk since Monday, but they came home today. Now I just have to get together with John (who has the tools) to do the actual changing. Maybe next weekend.
Picked up the second batch of photos for the Drive By Photo Contest another couple of possibles, but we narrowed it down to one from this roll and one from the first. Monday when I get back to work I’ll scan a couple of the more interesting ones. There is a page up that has a half dozen of the entries so far, I don’t think I have a chance. Then again it will all depend on who the judges are and what they are looking for.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1733.37
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 243
While enjoying our ice cream at Brusters this evening we amused ourselves by making fun of the people already there and the new ones as they pulled up. All in good fun really.
The most fun is watching folks pull in and park, scary. A full size Ford pick up truck pulled into the lot and it looked like he didn’t even try to get in between the lines. Parked at a 60 degree angle to the end of the spots he parked across. The lot wasn’t crowded, so it is not like he was depriving any one of a place to put the car, but what kind of statement was he making? Early to mid 20s couple get out and saunter over to get in line. (Don’t even get me started on the line and the service we received.)
Next in was a Nissan Maxima. Pulled into the side of the lot in front of us and paused. Started to back up and I thought it was to get more centered in the spot. This is like a 5-foot wide car and it was “in” a 10′ wide spot. In is in quotes because the left tires were mostly on the line with the outside of them in the other parking spot. Instead of straightening out, this car backs up across the aisle, where the canted pickup truck is, and stops in the middle of two parking spots. At least she is perpendicular to the lines. Two youngish (late teens?) couples get out and walk across to get some ice-cream.
Brusters in same lot as a Publix grocery store where Donna and I walk over to after eating dessert. We need dish soap as all our silverware is dirty and even though I offered to eat breakfast with my fingers, Donna insisted on buying some Sunlight. It is 9:30 on a Friday night and the store lot is nearly empty. So as not to tire themselves out by having to walk the extra 20 feet to the door another young couple pull right up front of the store, park and get out. At least he was perfectly parallel to the curb (could have been a little closer though.) The guy must have been raised by his mommy and hasn’t got car guy friends, because if he did, they would certainly have told him by now that the loud squealing coming from his brakes, that goes away when they are applied, is telling him he needs new pads.
Doesn’t have a point of view
knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don’t know what you’re missing
Nowhere man, The world is at your command
Sunday and the Miata went nowhere, man. To bad too, it was a beautiful fall day, 80, sunny with low humidity. We did go for a 25 mile bike ride this morning. It was listed as an East ride, 10–15 mph. We were on the upper edge of that limit by averaging 14.5 for the trip and in spite of the low humidity I worked up a fierce sweat. Then into the MSV for the trip to the Augusta Airport this evening to retrieve Donna’s mom and her friend who are returning from a trip to Seattle.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1747.37
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 245
Tacos for supper tonight and as I dumped the h’burger meat into the pan to brown it, I noticed an orange warning label.
“Thoroughly cook meat to 165 degrees. Use a meat thermometer.”
I know why this is there, because if you heat the meat to that temperature it will kill the bacteria living there. Didn’t they used to have Steak Tartar on the menus of restaurants? Is the warning label there to alert the one in 10,000 persons who might have a reaction to these bacteria? Or is it the more worrisome reason that the FDA has relaxed their standards at meat processing plants to such that bacteria that will harm everyone getting through?
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Man, fall is here, this morning it was chilly. Not cold enough to make us put the top up, but close. Because this is our 9 hour days week it was still dark on the way in and on the way home it the sun was lower in the sky adding to the end of summer feel.
Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1747.37
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 245
On the trip home from work today as I made a 110 degree left-hand turn off the main road the car sort of hiccupped. The power was way down, it ran rough and the torque curve seemed way out of whack. I continued to drive home as it was running and not making any ugly noises.
My semi-informed guess is the timing belt jumped a notch. The car had it’s timing belt changed 13 days ago and has run beautifully until tonight. My first thought is that the belt wasn’t aligned right when they changed it, but made it run correctly by tweaking timing and now it is not right because the belt is aligned properly. Or the belt was right when they completed the job but something has caused it to jump a tooth now, like the tensioner was not tighten down right.
Of course now I will have to convince the dealer that their service department messed up and they should fix it for free. They after all, must offer some sort of warranty on repairs.
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