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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We have memories scattered all about the living room. Donna and her sister dragged down out of the attic about a half dozen boxes filled with pictures and memorabilia that their mother had collected over the years. When everyone was here over Thanksgiving, the brothers and sisters went through the boxes and took back with them some of the photos and their childhood report cards, etc. But what went back with them was a fraction of the collection.
Over the past week Donna has been going through the boxes a little at a time. She has unearthed some treasures, her grandmother’s high school diploma, year books from her mom’s two years at Marysville College in the late 40’s, a wedding photo of her aunt…
She has also unearthed a few pieces of trash as well, a souvenir I sent back from a 1979 U.S.S. Midway liberty stop in Perth, Australia, a genuine kangaroo skin.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 370
Well I thought I might not listen to any Christmas music this year, but I cracked tonight.
Tomorrow is the MMC’s annual Holiday Extravaganza and my part of it is to lead a Christmas Light Tour. It started four years ago based on an article in the Augusta Chronicle and it seems that every year the number of gargantuan displays of holiday overload dwindle in number. Two years ago we moved the party location to a different spot and that cut down on the possible routes to take too. Tonight we went to see what we could come up with and the answer is very little. There are only 2 houses left on the tour worth seeing. We did find one more, but it was a 17 mile trip to add it to the route…next year we will have to find something else to do as a prelude to the party.
What better way to go driving and looking for Christmas lights than with the top down and seasonal music playing on the car’s audio system. So I popped the CD full of 700 Megs worth of Christmas MP3s.
Even though there was a chance of rain coming up tomorrow, the temperature was only in the lower 50s and no one was going to notice as it would be dark when the MMC gathered to go on the light tour, I washed the car today.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 369
Springlike day here in Aiken. There was a big chance of rain all day, but it only came down for a short while this morning and quit. About 9 o’clock we wanted to go for a bike ride, but wet streets and lingering green splotches on the local radar made us think twice.
By 10:00 AM the green was gone and the streets were mostly dry and after a couple of clothing changes to be dresses right for the warmth, we pulled the tandem out of the garage and headed off.
This was to be a test of the new seat which has been sitting obediently on the bike since before Thanksgiving. After 8 miles it felt pretty good. When we got to the 8 mile point at a tee in the road Donna suggested just turning around and going back the same way we came. The normal right hand turn to complete the 15 mile loop passed right by a church and it seemed like a lot of traffic heading that way. I proposed alternate 3, turn left. It meant a 20 mile ride, but it was a nice day and we were feeling good.
The last couple of miles were a little painful, but not because of the seats, it was our backsides. We have only been riding 12–15 miles and the extra 30 minutes in the saddle were more than we were used to.
I have to admit that I’m enjoying the tandeming much more than I did when we first had one 10 years ago. I’m not sure what the reason is, and I’m not going to lose sleep trying to figure it out, but I look forward to riding the tandem more so than riding the half bikes.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 371
Miss Beatrice, the church organist, was in her eighties and had never been married. She was much admired for her sweetness and kindness to all.
One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea.
As he sat facing her old pump organ, the young minister noticed a cut-glass bowl sitting on top of it, filled with water. In the water floated, of all things, a condom!
When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist.
“Miss Beatrice,” he said pointing to the bowl, “I wonder if you would tell me about this?”
“Oh, yes,” she replied, “isn’t it wonderful? I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground.
The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet, and it would prevent the spread of disease. And you know, I haven’t had a cold all winter.”
Saturday while I washing my car in the driveway, a lady walking her dog passed by and asked if I’d wash her car too. I thanked her for her offer, but respectfully declined.
A little while later my next door neighbor asked me the same question. To him I replied that I would be happy to wash any car he brought over as long as it was smaller than my Miata. I was safe as all they have are SUVs and a minivan.
Got me thinking, just which car could he have brought over that I would have had to wash?
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
In lieu of actual words tonight, here is a representative of a thousand of them from a recent early morning walk in Hitchcock Woods.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
 Going to be up a little late this evening playing with my early Christmas present, a HP ScanJet 4850. Going through all the boxes of photos from Donna’s side of the family, that have resided in our attic for the last five years, made us realize that there were a lot of memories that needed sharing. So I have added a flatbed scanner to the slide/film scanner I already own.
About a year ago I borrowed an older flatbed scanner from a friend for a project and it didn’t stay long, I’m sure it was one of the cheaper models and boy howdy did it make a racket when it was working. This newer one is quiet enough that you can be in the same room with it when it is scanning, plus it is fairly quick. When I hooked it up I used Windows Device Manager and got just the TWAIN driver installed and not the whole bloated HP Scan Suite. This way I can just use Paint Shop Pro to import the image without having to dance through HP hoops.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
It has been raining lightly all day. I put up with it on the way to work. I suffered through it on the way home from work, but couldn’t take it anymore so I dropped Donna off and headed to Advanced Auto. The squeaky windshield wipers just had to be replaced.
I had contemplated buying some made out of silicone in hopes that I could get some that would last more than 6 months before starting to squeal, but the high cost was holding me back. It would cost a little more for one silicone blade than it would for a set of regular rubber ones. Plus there is lingering doubt in the back of my mind about their effectiveness. Admittedly it was 6 years ago and they have probably worked out the kinks, but I didn’t have any luck back in 1999 when I was given a free sample because I was the MMC President at the time. Read about it if you want.
Caution! Not work safe. The Pirelli Calendar. And depending on your spousal unit, may not be safe for home either.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
This afternoon, while chatting with Mark the CNC Programmer in his office at the back of the plant, one of the machine operators poked his head in and said, “I’m not sure what maintenance is up to, but there is a bunch of smoke coming out of the neighboring department.” Mark and the Turned Parts Supervisor, Marty, jumped up, grabbing safety glasses and followed saying, “Let’s go see what’s happening.” I followed them out the door and sure enough, to the right, the old Die Casting Department space was full of smoke. They headed towards it, but me, believing discretion is the better part of valor, turned left and came back up to my office. As I walked away, I was passed by a couple of our maintenance guys carrying fire extinguishers going towards the smoke filled department.
When I returned to my cube I told my neighbors to keep their coats handy as the fire alarm might go off any minute now. Being veterans of the previous plant fire they also gathered up car keys and lunch boxes in case it did go off and we weren’t let back in like last time. No alarm came. But after about five minutes a female voice came over the plant intercom saying, “There is no fire, but with all the smoke everyone please leave the building.” My wife called from her end of the front office and told me to meet her at the front door with her coat. I asked her why, was that an official notification for everyone to leave the building or just those who could see the smoke? We could even smell it up here. I went to give her coat figuring a little break from the afternoon might be nice. She wasn’t at the front door, but standing outside the Accounting Manager’s office chatting with her. When I got there Kaye asked me some computer question and we agued on where our new user name was used and where the old one was still valid while watching a small crowd gather on the front lawn. A fellow from maintenance, with the full powers vested in him by his walkie-talkie, instructed us that everyone was to leave the building. So we went to join the others.
We then spent about 20 minutes on the front grass watching the cars go by and wondering what the heck happened. The office types got to go back in first because we where the farthest away from the smoke. The hourly folks had to wait about another 20 minutes or so because it took them a while to get most of the smoke out of the plant.
It was a fire in one of the HVAC ducts in the old Die Casting Department. It was extinguished in a couple of minutes causing minimal damage, but boy did it fill the back end of the building up with white smoke.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
Went for a little walk in Hitchcock Woods yesterday afternoon. As usual I took my camera and as usual I didn’t take any pictures. I think next year instead of doing another series like Mr. Fletcher’s Ride, I will just vow to take some pictures during each walk and post one to a Hitchcock Woods Gallery.
Speaking of galleries, I added four new shots to the Enchanted Ceiling gallery yesterday; Angry, Morning 2, Speed and Streak. I had a really cool streak photo that I used in the Barndoor Fan Club’s Twilight photo contest, but I can’t find the original, so all I have is this 300 x 225 image:
Both days we managed to eke out a top down drive. Both short. Mid fifties is on the border of being pleasant at highway speeds anyway, but with the low sun angle it gets chilly after not too long.
The Egg Nog milk shake at Baskin-Robbins is not nearly as good as the one Rachel serves up at the Sno-Cap Drive In.
Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 376
A little over 7 weeks ago I test drove a new 3rd generation Miata for two reasons; 1) curiosity and 2) the promise of a $35 Gift Card. My curiosity was satisfied immediately, the gift card arrived today.
Well, actually, the certificate to get a gift card. You go online and enter the codes from the paper and start shopping. The place that Mazda teamed up with must be a big clearing house for this sort of promotion, because there were several categories of merchandise to choose from along with a whole host of places that offered gift certificates. It was practically overwhelming the choices, under the household section of merchandise there were 742 items to look at. The other categories were as equally packed. Then I realized it was going to be slightly easier because they were listed in ascending price order and the $35 dollar limit was a small portion of the available items. Plus the items offered at that price level were mostly junk unappealing to me.
I headed over to the gift certificate section and figured I would just get one to Amazon.com where I could get just about anything, when my heart grew three sizes and I decided to not be so selfish and I picked a restaurant that Donna and I would enjoy and ordered $35 worth of gift certificates.
In 2 to 3 more weeks I’ll let you know what we had for dinner.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 376
Might be time to get one, after a little over two years and less than 32k miles, our current car has developed a major defect. A dash rattle. Just started showing up on cold days at between 2600 & 2800 RPM. God, I hate dash rattles. Most times they are my fault because I had the dash apart to do some mod or another. This time it was self generated because I really haven’t disassembled the interior too much.
I remember the Laguna used to have a couple of dash rattles, one only showed up when the outside temperature was above 85 degrees and then there was another that only made an appearance when it was below 40 degrees. Different sounds for each and in spite of several attempts to find the source they never were quieted down. At least I had relatively quiet springs and falls.
With any lightweight, tightly sprung car you are eventually going to develop these annoying buzzes, creaks or rattles, it is only a matter of time. I was hoping for another year of quiet though.
Wait a minute, I just stuck a new CD in the glove box the other day, could it be that simple? I doubt it.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 376
It is easy to buy something for someone close to you, with personal interaction you get an idea of what they want by how they react to the world or even through blatant hints from them.
I speak to my mom on the phone once a month or so. I get to say a few words to my brother if he happens to answer the phone when I call mom (he lives with her.) A stray email passes between my sister and I. Approximately once a year Donna and I pop in for a visit ranging from a few hours to a few days. So buying gifts for my family back in Connecticut is difficult, they are practically strangers. In a the 30-odd years since I left the Nutmeg State behind when I joined the Navy, the gift giving process has morphed from traditional to meaningless in a pace slightly faster than geological.
At first we exchanged gifts based on our mutual knowledge, but as the years apart grew, our tastes changed and the gifts given and received no longer were relevant.
Next we graduated to swapping lists. For a short while the generic ones would suffice; v-neck sweater in large or jazz records, but we soon decided that there were still more misses than hits.
The next level was the detailed list. J.C Penny Fall/Winter Catalog, Page 436, Item A, Men’s Mock Turtleneck in Heather, Size Large, etc. We got just what we asked for, but colors, textures and sizes were not always what we expected.
In the never ending quest for the perfect gift, we next ushered in the Gift Card era; Best Buy, Old Navy or B.Dalton Books thank you very much. I really don’t like the idea of trading gift cards in the mail. Suppose my brother said send me a gift card to Lowes and I tell him that I would like a gift card to Lowes too. Shouldn’t we just skip mailing them to each other? Save the time and energy of mailing them to each other. For that matter why even buy the gift card at all. Sometime in December go to the store and buy something you like and thank him for it in his Christmas card, “Love than cordless drill you got me bro’, it was just what I needed!”
The end of the gift card era is coming and I’m not sure that the next step is any better. Last year I gave my sister a gift card for Amazon.com. I bought it online, they mailed me the plastic card, I mailed the card to her and she redeemed it online. Which leads to the 21st century digital gift giving era…online gift certificates. You just cut out that whole messy US Postal Service middleman. Deadline, schmedline, you can get up Christmas morning with mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, log on to the net and email everyone an electronic gift card redeemable for merchandise available at an online store.
Well, I’m not going there, Donna and I are going down to Hilton Head Island this weekend and my mother, brother, sister and her husband are getting gifts with an HHI theme whether they want or like them.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 376
On the previous episode of As The Cholesterol Varies we were in a rocky hover mode, with the numbers changing slightly, some the right way and some the wrong way. After 4 months of Tricor…we are about the same. Good news is that the triglycerides are now under the limit, but the “good” cholesteral is still below where it should be. The Doc feels the only way to bring this number up is by adding a statin, so we are going to start taking the Red Yeast Rice again, but as an addition to the Tricor not just by itself. We’ll see what happens in April.
| |
Chol |
HDL |
LDL |
Trig |
| Goal |
<200 |
>40 |
<100 |
30–150 |
| 09/21/04 |
209 |
24 |
131 |
271 |
| 01/10/05 |
176 |
33 |
110 |
167 |
| 05/06/05 |
174 |
27 |
108 |
194 |
| 06/17/05 |
164 |
31 |
85 |
238 |
| 07/28/05 |
177 |
30 |
113 |
169 |
| 12/08/05 |
182 |
35 |
120 |
137 |
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 376
Not too far south of Aiken on the way to Hilton Head Island this past Friday, the Emperor glided past the 32,000 mile mark. And after a walk on the beach followed quickly by a trip to Piggly Wiggly, there are now about that many grains of sand embedded in the floor mats…
I would vacuum the car and wash the salt mist off if it wasn’t so damp and dreary this afternoon. I may shake out the mats and do a Quik Detailer wipe down later tonight. We are headed to Palm City FLA for a quick Christmas visit with Donna’s sister, leaving Thursday AM, and the weather for the trip down and during the visit is calling for rain, so I may not even bother.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 378
This was sitting in my in my gmail inbox when I got back from HHI today:
Brian,
Stumbled across your Real Navy t-shirt design tonight via a Google search and I wanted to let you know I have the Real Navy brand trademarked as I have been using it since 2002. I saw your article about the New Navy or Regular Navy and that same thought is what prompted me to start Real Navy.
I would like to ask that you not use the Real Navy slogan. I understand how I feel when a good idea hits but I’m afraid that this idea that you had is already being done. I would appreciate your response.
Regards,
Mike Ward
Real Navy
http://www.realnavy.com
My first reaction was WTF, this guy’s got the phrase “Real Navy” copyrighted? Doesn’t Uncle Sam already have dibs on that? Have your lawyer call my lawyer.
But then I thought, he’s right, my bright ideas are always way past due. Why just a couple years ago I thought up one where you didn’t need your phone plugged in a jack in the wall and wires on poles to call people. I was all set to line up venture capital when someone pointed out that that had been possible since 1947. So if you were even remotely thinking about buying one of my shirts you had better do it within 24 hours, because I’m going to pull it from the CafePress shop. I’ll probably change the wording to something else, I wonder if he has any claim on, knowing the way real sailors think, Real Fucking Navy? 
If you think my shirt stinks and it’s replacement is even worse, go check out Mike’s designs at RealNavy.com, something my strike your fancy there.
 I’ve changed the design of one of my black T-shirts that I’m selling through CafePress. Instead of saying Real Navy, it now says Regular Navy. When I uploaded the image and previewed the new shirt, what I had as white in the image appeared gray online. I thought I had messed something up, so I checked the colors and uploaded again, same gray results.
I next went over to the CafePress Forums to see if there was any mention of this issue. Sure enough, there is a sticky at the top of the general announcements board that they have muted the colors on the black T-shirts to better represent the actual finished product. Seems they were overly optimistic on their ability to get good solid printing on black.
Actually it works out kind of OK for me, the printing comes out looking like it is done in ‘Battleship Gray’, which is pretty much the official color of Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club anyway.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 378
The folks at CafePress are touting their new black t-shirts by using the tag line, “Black is the New Black!” I even used that as a title of a post here back in November when they announced the addition of Black T-shirts. Yestersday’s post about how the CafePress white printing on black tees came out gray got me thinking (all together now — Uh Oh!).
I Googled for the phrase “Gray is the New White” and didn’t find anybody who was in the business of selling shirts with that slogan on them. Neither the domain www.grayisthenewwhite.com nor www.graynewwhite.com is taken. So I’m proud to announce a new product in my CafePress store:
 Our glove box is full of maps. Really full. One thing of suntan lotion, a travel pack of Kleenex, a Big Chill Soundtrack CD (for the rare times Donna drives) and lots and lots of maps. Oh yeah, a small lighted magnifying glass for night map reading, plus more maps. There might be a pen in there somewhere near the bottom too.
Because you never know where you will end up once you start a drive in the Miata we have an Aiken city map and an Augusta city map. Two South Carolina state maps, a Barnwell county map, Columbia, Charleston, Sumter, Anderson and Greenville city maps. A Georgia state map, a Georgia mountains map, Atlanta, Rome and Savannah city maps, North Carolina state map and an Asheville city map. Florida, Tennessee and Virginia state maps. Plus a ratty old copy of one that covers the eastern US that I think we are keeping for sentimental reasons.
In an effort to create some room in the GB we decided to take out some of the maps from the further away places that really don’t need to be handy. My first thought was keep them on the counter in the garage that we walk right by to get in the car, but I knew we’d forget to bring them and then end up spending another $5 for a map we already had. My second thought was the winner. Mazda came out with a neat little cargo net for the back of the trunk. I had contemplated buying it a while back to hold the CB radio in that I use on MMC events, but never got around to it. They are like $20 and I think a nice bargain. Turns out they were on sale at Trussville for $15.60 and to top it off they are offering free regular ground shipping through the end of the year. Ordered it Sunday night on the web page and it was at my doorstep at 6 this evening.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 380
I had “Madman Across the Water” on vinyl, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on 8-track and “Reg Strikes Back” on CD, but I guess that wasn’t enough to warrant an invite to either one of the bachelor parties.
Or “Dude, I’m Getting A Dell, Part Deaux.”
We are off for a long holiday weekend and have decided to take a drive to a place that put us in more of a Christmas feeling than the sunny and sixty Aiken; sunny and mid-seventies of south Florida. I’ll be taking a pad and paper so I can analog blog for later transcription here. This will be the last time I have to do it that way because Santa is bringing me one of those $500 Dell laptops. I must have been a very good boy this year. From now on, same day blogging no matter where I am.
I ordered it on Sunday and they even had a free upgrade to 2-day shipping. I was thinking that would mean it would be here by now, but if you watch this video you’ll see why it may be after Christmas before I get it:
Cops! (warning for dial-uppers — 2M file size)
See ya Monday.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 381
 When Donna and I planned this little Holiday trip we decide to take two days down and one back up. To pick a place to stay that was about half way I used the scientific method of stretching my finger from Point Aiken to Point Stuart and looked at a spot about half-way for the overnight stay, unfortunately that point was in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp. Went a little past half, to make the second day’s driving easier, and settled on Lake City, FL. Made a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express there and started counting down the days until I would get a cinnamon bun for breakfast.
After we had eaten lunch and gone for a hike in the Little Ocmulgee State Park, Donna took out the reservation sheet for the Holiday Inn Express and went to check the directions to get there. For the life of her, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find US52 nor US378 anywhere near Lake City, FL. It was then that she noticed the address on the reservation confirmation I had printed out, Lake City, SC. At first I thought it had to be a misprint, but then I noticed the hotel’s phone number and sure enough I recognized it as a SC area code. DOH!
Got on the cell phone and called Lake City, SC and canceled my reservation. Asked the clerk there to give me the phone number of the Holiday In Express in Lake City, FL. There was not an Express, but there was a plain ol’ Holiday Inn, with a vacancy, so we reserved a night there. I wasn’t going to get my cinnamon bun, but at least we would be staying in a room on the way to Stuart, FL not 300 miles away in the wrong direction.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 384
 Today’s State Park of the Day was Lake Louisa in Florida. There was no fancy lodge for lunch like yesterday, but there were a few hiking trails available for a walk. We didn’t walk any because we were pressed for time, but we did drive around and check the whole place out. A nice oasis of nature not too far from Orlando.
Somewhere around the state park driving through endless miles of orange groves, the Emperor passed the 33,000 mile mark. It was exactly a week ago that it went by 32,000. The miles can really mount up when you are having fun
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 386
 No state parks for Christmas Eve, but we did walk a few blocks from Sandy’s house to a small city park. The adults stood around chit-chatting while some nephews-in-law played in the sand and a niece related by vapor swung on the swings.
That night the kids were going to open one gift after Uncle Paul read them Clement Clarke Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Donna and Brian were going to open a couple because they weren’t going to be there Christmas morning, but one of the relations (who likes to be the center of attention and in charge of everything) proceeded to hand out gift after gift after gift until the tree was empty underneath. Oh well, at least “Santa’s” gifts to the kiddies were in another room, so they would have some surprises in the morning.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 388
We left Stuart, FL at about 6:30 AM and we arrived in our driveway at 6:40 PM. That includes 2 meal breaks, lunch at a Hardee’s in Lake City (FL), dinner at Waffle House in Augusta, plus about a half dozen driver changes/leg stretches/potty breaks/refueling stops.
I’m sure we could know an hour or two off that time by taking the most direct route, but we hate I-95. There are always too many people going too fast, too close. We actually go west then east to get home and pay for the privilege. Florida Turnpike ($12.90 in tolls) to I-75 to somewhere north of Valdosta and then duck onto the two-lane GA state roads to get to Aiken. Yahoo maps says it is a mere 521 miles from Aiken to Stuart. I’m not sure how long the return trip was, it was a slight variation of the one down which totaled 640.2 miles, because I kept the total trip distance (1363.3) and didn’t pay attention to the 2 days worth of driving around down there. Now you wouldn’t think there would have been much mileage drive because we were visiting family and the motel we were staying at was less than 5 miles from the house, but you probably wouldn’t factor in a 45 mile round trip to see the sunrise over the Atlantic on Hutchinson Island with a trip to Ft. Pierce to eat at Dave’s Diner because it was rated one of the top 3 breakfast places on the Treasure Coast to go along with the last minute shopping trip.
We did start the trip out with the top down because it was 63 in Stuart this morning. We made it about 60–70 miles before the rains came. The rest of Florida was off and on rain, but by the time we got to Georgia the temps had cooled and with the cloud cover, we just left it up for the rest of the drive.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 390
Or he had a very good lawyer because my laptop was delivered on Friday morning. I had it delivered to work because a signature was required and chances were no matter when it arrived I would not be home to sign for it. The plant was technically closed on Friday, but when that happens the Security Officer does the signing.
This morning after we had some muffins from the New Moon Cafe in downtown we drove out to the plant to pick up the packages.
First thing I did when I got it home was spend about 2 hours deleting all the extra crap that Dell tosses on the hard drive. Knocked the system tray icon tally from a dozen down to 4. It came with a built in wireless 802.11 b/g card. I guess my next purchase will be a wireless router so I can surf the web on the screened porch in the spring. It also had built in NIC so hooking up to a high speed connection in a hotel should be a snap. Should.
When Donna’s family was here over Thanksgiving one of her brothers brought his laptop, so he could check email, etc. When he plugged in the cat5 cable from my cable modem to his laptop he couldn’t get connected. I couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t work. He spent 3 hours trying all sorts of shenanigans and couldn’t make it connect. After a 2 hour dinner break he went back at it, while the rest of us watched “A Christmas Story” in the living room, after about another hour or so he managed to get it hooked up. I snickered to myself, thinking it couldn’t have been that hard, because he is some sort of computer geek in his own right. Well the jokes on me. Plugged the cable into my new laptop this afternoon and I can’t get it to connect either.
Checked all the obvious settings and can’t for the life of me see what is wrong. Guess I’m going to have to email my brother-in-law and see if he remembers what he did to get it to work…
All I had to do was reboot the cable modem.…
Almost forgot to post that I washed the car today.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 392
Decided to spend the last of the Christmas cash on some newly required essentials. The new $500 laptop has beget a couple of required purchases, a carrying case/bag and a wireless router.
I started at staples.com and quickly filled my shopping cart. A cheap-o polyester computer case for $29.99 and a Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (Model# WRT54G) $57.94. The router came with an instant $3 off coupon and a $15 mail in rebate bringing its cost to under $40.
Six hours later I received an email:
Please be advised that due to the high demand and current “Special Buy” our stock has been depleted and cannot be re-ordered, back ordered and no substitute is offered. The quantity ordered will not be shipped and please note that you have not been charged for this item. The item may not be returning to stock. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
So I figured seeing as I was actually having to leave my house and go shopping, I’d cancel the computer bag too. There is no way to do that online, you have to dial the 1–800 number (how so last century.) The CRS who answered after a short wait was friendly, efficient but no so helpful. Through no fault of his own, mind you, but because the computer bag was direct ship from the manufacturer he said he would try to put a stop order on it. Because the order might be to far along to stop, I’m thinking that is doubtful because the estimated delivery date was 1/9, I had two options; refuse delivery when it arrives or accept delivery and return it to the closest Staples.
On a whim and because we were going out to get a gallon of paint for the bathroom tonight we swung by Staples the store. I thought for sure they would be out of the router as well, but there were 4 on the shelf. I picked one up and headed for the check-out figuring the worst could happen was I was going to miss out on the $3 instant coupon, but when the cashier rang me up it came to the same price as I had online. The three bucks off was listed right there on the receipt. Now I just have to fill out the rebate form online — again.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 393
Wire free that is. I have managed to muddle my way through setting up my own wireless network at home. I got the cable internet into and through the router no problem, but was having trouble getting the laptop to connect.
Tonight to make sure there was nothing wrong with the laptop’s wireless card we cruised downtown Aiken looking for unsecured networks. The Hotel Aiken was wide open, but the signal strength was not too hot. Connected to their network no problem, but internet access was iffy at best. The Holiday Inn Express near my house house was much better, wide open and could surf the net better. Using the Holiday Inn Express network they start out IE with it going to the main Holiday Inn web site, but after that you can go where you want to go.
When we got home I disabled the security on the router and sure enough I could connect. I really didn’t want to live that way, so I re enabled security with different settings and BINGO we were in.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 394
Part I:
Bought a laptop from Dell recently. They are forever running special promos; free this or that or free upgrades in an effort to entice a sale. I bit on the slightly above basic laptop and what contributed to it was $150 savings, free printer, free internal wireless and upgraded shipping. The same unit is $100 more without the printer or wireless right now, but maybe cheaper next week or at the small business store or by checking the /tv store.
I hooked up the free Dell 720 color ink jet printer tonight to replace my old Lexmark Z12 which was like $30 when new several years ago. Of course the free printer included the trial size ink cartridges which made me leery about running the alignment test and sample page for fear of using most of the ink up. Dell was nice enough to include some software that will let you know when your ink is low and instead of just popping a warning from the task tray it will launch IE and take you to the Dell supply page…
Part II
Last couple of years at tax time I have used H&R Block’s Tax Cut. I used to use Turbo Tax but switched after reading about Intuit’s digital rights management features that were crashing PCs of a couple years ago. I am happy with Tax Cut and was thinking about getting it again this year. But I don’t have to think anymore, in today’s mail was a silvery looking DVD sized case with Tax Cut Deluxe and one standard state program. Plus all the usual free with rebate software and/or electronic filing you normally get. I just have to load the CD and give them $29.95 off of my charge card. No going to the store and maybe choosing a competitor’s product…
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 395
Family Circus
We took the Christmas decorations down though…
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 397
Changed the oil and rotated the tires today at 38,500ish, or about a hundred miles overdue. And for the second time in approximately 50 Miata oil changes I used a non-OEM filter. I realized I needed to change the oil somewhere on the road home from FLA last weekend, but the fact slipped my mind until like Friday night. By then it was too late to order it from my usual on line haunt and I just can’t bear to travel the 50 mile round trip to the nearest dealer (for several reasons) to buy one. On our Saturday morning shopping trip we went in to Advanced Auto and picked up 4 quarts of 10w30 Penzoil and a filter. Some schmo was monopolizing the jumbo book of filter compatibilities, so I asked at the counter. I gave the man the particulars and he asked which brand I wanted, “Fram, Puralator, Mobile1…” I said, “Whatever, they all filter oil, right?” I got a Fram, I think because it was first alphabetically.
After the Miata servicing we had just the right amount of daylight for a walk in the Woods. To change things up we drove to the other side of town to enter at a different spot. We had walked this particular section a couple times or more, but when the trail turned right to head further into the woods, Donna said, “Let’s go straight.” To which I replied, “That’s no a real trail, it ends right there.” But as I spoke she kept walking and I had no other choice but to follow her down the rabbit hole. The map I carry showed no trail, but sure enough, what looked like the end, merely resembled one as it turned into a narrow, windy, little used path down a hill. I was no too worried about getting lost as we were traveling along one edge of the woods and the railroad bed that was to our left was still there, just that it was now 30 feet above above trail level when it was once slightly below it. The map showed if we continued only this route we would come to a trail spur that would lead us back into the woods proper or if we continued past that we would come to the eastern edge of them and several officials trails. When we hit the spur we thought in for a penny, in for a pound and continued along in the uncharted territory. Unfortunately after only 50 yards or so we were confronted with an ugly 20–25 foot drop-off to a stream with a corresponding steep climb out on the other side. We quickly returned to the spur trail and finished our walk in a civilized manner.
Had I realized the Top Transition count was going to end where it did I just might had gone out in the garage and put it up before calling it a night.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 399
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