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’.
|
 Washington DC to New Britain, CT. We were on the road by 8:00AM and leaving DC on the GW Parkway is a treat. Nice quiet tree lined road that I’m sure is busier at other times, but on Sunday morning is almost lonely. Traffic didn’t really pick up until we got into Delaware, by NJ it was massive. Ten lanes of Turnpike, five each direction, were filled with travelers. The Garden State Parkway was busy as well until we got north of Passaic. Fortunately there were no incidents or accidents to bring things to a standstill.
Once we were across the Tappan Zee Bridge we got off the highways and started driving the byways. But first we stopped in Tarrytown and got a slice of pizza. It was lunch time, but it didn’t matter we wanted some pizza, every time we come up here we try and eat pizza at least every three days, because to quote my sister, “The south may be friendly and have good BBQ, they don’t know pizza.” Fortunately for us pizza joints in the northeast are as prevalent as drive-thru espresso places in the northwest, i.e. on every corner.
No waterfall picture today. As a matter of fact I didn’t take a single picture, so for your enjoyment, here is one from yesterday’s visit to the National Zoo. They have set up some high lines between several points in the zoo and the orangutans have the freedom to roam them. Just don’t stand directly under the wires.…
Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 239
 This is the 3rd memorial service in the last two months and I hope this doesn’t become a trend. First, in April, it was Donna’s Aunt Mary, then Jerry the Condo King in May and now my Mom’s in July.
Tonight’s for my mom was a nice little service and even though the minister had never met her he did a credible job. Mom was not real religious, but in the early years she would take us kids to Sunday school and church, but when we moved to the other side of town my dad wouldn’t drive us back over to the church on Sundays (Mom never got her license), so we just stopped going. I wonder how my life would have differed if my church going days hadn’t ended at the age of six?
After the service my brother had arranged a little gathering at the VFW hall with finger foods, etc for anyone who attended the service to go to. We went, ate a bit and chatted with my step dad’s kids, but most of the folks there were Paul’s friends or co-workers. We had a request for soul soothing ice cream from the family table, so Donna and I, younger sister Diane and her husband Allan and big sister Ginny headed to Friendly’s.
Top made an extra transition today because I washed the southern bugs off the nose in preperation for gathering some northern species of insects the next couple of days.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, down, up yet again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 245
 Or 61,000 Carousel Horses.
Today we all piled into two cars and headed over a couple towns to Bristol and visited the Carousel Museum. I am not as big a fan of carousels as others in the group, but it was a very interesting couple hours, mostly due to our guide. She was only two years out of high school, but her knowledge and interest in the subject as well as a natural way with us, John Q. Public, made the subject almost exciting.
This evening Donna and I went over to catch up with a boyhood chum and his wife who we hadn’t seen in a while. We had a good time catching up on the events of the distant and recent past. Unfortunately a lot of the discussion centered around the foibles of our being upper middle-aged.
The Emperor clicked over to exactly 61,000 miles as I pulled into the hotel parking lot tonight.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 249
 Or Do You Know Where You Are?
Or even All Ashore That Is Going Ashore.
When we got up this morning our intention was to head south to Jersey to visit a cousin of Donna’s. That was if it was OK with her because we had already scheduled the visit for Thursday. By the time we bid “fare thee well” to the family and it was time to leave, the cousin couldn’t be reached. Being as we had the room here at the Farmington Inn for another night, we opted to tour a little of central CT. Used the web to look up where some waterfalls could be found and headed out.
Leaving town we passed a sign for the National Iwo Jima Memorial in New Britain/Newington. I have a photo of the monument in Arlington and every time we pass this one, it can be seen from Route 9, I think to myself, “I should stop and get a photo.” This morning I did.
We had directions to a couple of waterfalls in the south central part of the state with the first one being in East Hampton. Called The Cascades with a 20′ drop, the pictures made it look worth the trip. Reading the print directions, it seemed easy enough to find, but in real life proved elusive. We didn’t find Cox road where we expected it, so we turned on a different road to find our way back to a main road. What should we pass along the way but Cox Road. We turned onto it and seemed to be headed in the right direction, we crossed a listed road and Cox turned to dirt as advertised. About the time we got tired of bouncing on the dirt road and thought of turning around we came to the advertised fork in the road. There in the middle of the road were two fellows on off-road motorcycles. We stopped to ask where we were, but they beat us to the punch by asking first. They wanted to know if they went the way we came would take them to Portland. I answered yes, but wouldn’t dare try and direct them because of our round-a-bout way of getting here. They pointed to the fork of the road where we might find the waterfall, but had never seen it so couldn’t tell us how much further it might be. It was then that the 4 of us decided to return to where we did come from on the way we knew, the way we had come.
Our next destination was Chapman Falls in Millington, CT on the grounds of the Devil’s Hopyard State Park. Because the state park was on our Connecticut state map we had a high confidence level we cold find this one. As a bonus, our route would take us right by a covered bridge, Comstock Covered Bridge, one of five in the state and one we didn’t get a picture of in April. The bridge is not so historically picturesque because they have it supported by giant steel beams running longitudinally awaiting restoration. It looks like they have been waiting a long while because those steel beams are quite rusty. Chapman Falls turned out to be easy to find and easy to photograph. The roads surrounding the park are awesome. Lonely, narrow, tree lined and twisty they are perfect Miata roads. Hard to believe there is that much area of Connecticut that is still pristine and sparely populated.
When we left Devil’s Hopyard State Park and headed back we decided to take the Chester — Hadlyme Ferry across the Connecticut River. This small ferry, holding maybe 10 cars, and costing a whopping $3 is the second oldest continuously operating ferry in the state. As we approached the other side of the river Donna and I got back in the car and opened the CT map to decide how to get back to Farmington on the best 2 lane roads available. We both had our heads buried in the map when all of a sudden we heard, “All ashore that Is going ashore!” We had docked and the other three cars had long since departed. With a sheepish smile and a wave I started the car and drove off.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 251
 Or Not Since We Went To The New Menu.
Farmington, CT to Hagerstown, MD. We got an early start and used the usual route out of Connecticut (I-84, I-684, Saw Mill Parkway, I-87/I-287), but instead of getting on the Garden State Parkway we stayed on I-287. Didn’t stay on the Interstate for long though, Donna broke out the NJ map and we hit the back roads. One, because we would rather stay off the Interstates and two, we were headed to western NJ to visit another far flung relation of Donna’s in Blairstown, Betty. She is the daughter of the sister of Donna’s grandmother. Is that a cousin, second cousin or first cousin once removed?
After lunch at Betty’s we stayed on the back roads and entered in to our least favorite state of the union, road-wise, Pennsylvania. As long as we can stay rural through the Keystone State we are fine, but the major routes really suck, rough and chock full of 18 wheelers (plus add today’s rain…) When we finally hit I-81 we were going to grab a bite to eat and stop for the night.
At the intersection of PA 443 and I-81 we ate at a place called Gooseberry’s Family Restaurant (or something similar) and we almost didn’t stay because we had to walk through the smoking section to get to the no smoking area (an omen we should have headed.) When Donna tried asked if she could get the chili instead of the offered soup de jour with her entree, the waitress said that you couldn’t have any substitutions since they went to the new menu. So Donna just ordered the chili in a bread bowl. While we waited on our meal, the man of the couple at the table behind us asked if they had any specials, to which the waitress replied, “There are no specials since we went to the new menu.” When I got my Blue Cheese Burger that is pretty much what is was, a bun, a burger patty and some blue cheese. I didn’t bother to ask if I could get some lettuce and a tomato slice because I knew what the answer would be… “Nope, not since we went to the new menu.”
After that dining experience and our prejudicial feelings towards traveling in PA, we got back on I-81 and drove an additional 100 miles just so we could start our day tomorrow in a different state, Maryland.
I didn’t even take the camera out of it’s case today, so the POTD attached to this post is one from last weekend in DC, a shaky shot of a Metro train arriving in the station. I chose this picture because as we entered into Maryland there were two big rigs with wide load signs on them parked just outside the Welcome Center, the load, shiny new Metro cars. After a couple of miles we found out why those two were there, they must have been waiting for their police escort, because up ahead we could see a state trooper car following yet another wide load Metro car.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, down again, up once more, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 257
 Hagerstown, MD to Concord, NC. Today’s plan was straight down I-81 to I-77 and we stuck pretty much to it. Boy is this corridor busy during the week.
We stopped in Lexington, VA to take a leg stretch. We used to have someone to visit when we came to town, but now that the Lewis clan has pretty much scattered, we were left to our own devices. So we decided to do the Sally Lewis Loop Walk, about 2 miles around the outside, then through the middle of the campuses of VMI and W&L.
Couldn’t hardly stand the traffic I-81 any longer when a warning sign let us know the right lane was closed at mile marker 127. We ducked off the Interstate at Exit 132, following US11 into Christianburg before turning south on VA8 to pick up another stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway. With today’s 34 mile segment it meant that we had driven a total of 220 miles out of the possible 469.
I-77 was just as busy as 81 and once you got about 40 miles north of Charlotte the road surface started to reflect the heavy usage by becoming very rough and potholed. Making us very happy to get on a secondary road east to make it to our overnight stop destination. we probably could have made it all the way home tonight, but decided to stop here in Concord, so that when we get up early tomorrow morning, we can ride home with the top down.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 259
 Concord, NC to Aiken, SC. We managed to ride with the top down until we got to Chesterfield, SC to visit Donna’s cousin Laurie and her husband Ted. When we left them at around 11:00 it was already over 90º. After passing through a rain shower with the cloud cover still intact we finished the last 30 miles with it down again. It sure is fun visiting places, but it is great to be back home. Some trip notes:
- When I got in the car this morning the odometer read 62005 for the 3rd milestone of the trip, didn’t notice it last night when we parked.
- Total mileage for the trip: 2,637.4 for an average of 240 miles per day. Even though it didn’t move at all for a day and a half in DC and our hotel in CT was only 6 miles from the house.
- I filled up with gas 11 times or about once a day. The highest price paid for gas was $3.40 in Yorktown Heights, NY and the lowest was $2.88 in Clear Brook, VA. Average cost for the whole trip $3.15 (premium fuel.)
- Don’t ask about mileage because I don’t track that. I will do some quick math and see if it over 27 MPG. If it is, everything is OK.
- Signs on the side of the road in Connecticut warned that the fine for littering is $219. Why the odd figure?
- We took money out of a free standing ATM machine in a hotel lobby and the fee for using it was $3.05, not the usual two bucks. I can understand $3, but why the extra nickel?
- Public restrooms are scarcer up north compared to around here. So sometimes we had to get creative.
a. The first floor in hotels will always have restrooms, just walk in like you belong there.
b. We used the restrooms just inside the entrance of the Newton, NJ hospital when asking around downtown failed to turn up any place to go.
- At one hotel restroom break we even grabbed a banana off the breakfast bar, because the place we had stayed at didn’t have them. So if you are bold enough you should be able to walk right in and get a whole breakfast at most places.
- I bought a hooded sweatshirt at Furman U in Greenville on the way up. It served me well at altitude on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the unseasonably cool CT weather, but will now be exiled to the back of the closet until November.
- I managed to finish one paperback book on the trip, good thing I was a quarter of the way through when we started.
- High-speed internet access was free everywhere we stayed and ranged from very marginal in a middle of the hall room in the Farmington Inn to excellent in a room at the end of the hall at the same place.
a. Last night’s started good and got crappy later in the evening. Even tried the Cat-5 cable which professed to having a 10Mb connection wouldn’t do crap. Maybe there is a download throttle…
Didn’t take any pictures today either, so for your entertainment, I present a shot of the Colonnade at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA froom yesterday.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 263
 We’ve got an old Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner that is starting to show it’s age. All the tools are cracked and it isn’t picking up stuff well even after a bag change. Plus that sucker is loud, so we went out today to get Donna a nice new fangled bag-less picker upper. Target had a couple in this week’s ad that looked promising.
After the blue law mandated 1:30 PM opening we headed out to Target. Allow me to interject an observation from my cubicle neighbor Jim:
Here in the Bible Belt don’t you find it odd that the blue laws will allow you to go into a grocery store on Sunday morning and buy a 6-pack of beer, but you cannot enter a book store and buy a Bible?
There were three to choose at the $129 price point, a Bissell, a Hoover and a Eureka. I pulled them off the shelf one by one and Donna pushed them around a bit, lifted them and generally got a feel for which one she liked the best. She liked the Hover the best, for a couple reasons, but the auto retractable cord thingie sent it over the top. As a bonus the price tag on the shelf said you got a $20 gift card with it’s purchase.
We had one final request, what did this puppy sound like? We looked all over for an outlet, but couldn’t find one. We corralled a sales team member and asked where we could plug it in. His reply was that he didn’t think they were allowed to do that. We insisted and he called on his walkie talkie to a higher up team member and got the same answer, can’t do it. What’s up with that? I’m sure a legal department team member had something to do with that rule. I was briefly temped to roll the display vacuum over to the TV section and plug it in, but decided to just buy it. If it turned out to be louder than our current unit (highly unlikely) we’d just bring it back.
When we got to the check out it rang up as 129 + tax. No gift card mention. We pointed it out to the cashier team member and she proceeded to thumb through the flyer. In that ad the $20 gift card was shown with a $169 vacuum. We told her that the card on the shelf said this one got a card as well. So she called over a higher up team member, whose response was the gift card automatically shows up, if it doesn’t, no gift card. We asked her to come with us to the shelf and we would show her and her response was, “I can’t leave the front.” Our response was, “Fine, we don’t want this vacuum.” I hit cancel on the credit card thing and we walked away.
Donna said, “Come on, let’s go back and look.” We did and sure enough we hadn’t imagined the $20 Gift Card sign. Trouble was that offer expired 7/7 (yesterday.) Some one had obviously forgotten to remove the promo shelf tag. Fifteen, twenty years ago the retailer would have apologized for the confusion, sold us the vacuum and given us the Gift Card. Now they’d rather just do without the sale and jeopardize future purchases. Sigh.
We came home and I bought the same item from Amazon for $95, no tax and free shipping. Hoover U5507-900
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 264
 We have been to Virginia’s Natural Bridge several times and I have a bunch of pictures showing it’s grandeur from underneath on my hard drive. This time we didn’t stop in, but we passed right over the top of it on US11. Donna was driving so I got the camera out and took my first picture of the top of the Natural Bridge. Breathtaking, isn’t it?
There were several things I should have been doing this evening, but didn’t do, because I watched Le Tour on the boob tube. Every year I think we won’t spend the extra $25 bucks (or what ever it is) and get digital cable for these three weeks in July. It is so predictable. The first week is all flat stages and you know what will happen. Three, four, five, etc break away from the peleton at 20 kilometers in. They work courageously together for 150 kilometers. In the last 20k the sprinters lead out men come to the front and the peleton rapidly catch the breakaway in the last 5k leading to a mass sprint at the finish. The middle week is the mountains and again there is usually a small breakaway, but once again they are reeled in on the last climb and the tour leaders battle for the win. By the last week, the race leader is usually determined and once or twice the early break succeeds because there are no threats in it. On the last day the winner rides into Paris sipping champagne surrounded by his remaining teammates. Then the sprinters teams come to the front and battle to lead out their guy for the win all for a flashbulb’s worth of glory. Every year I find myself in line at the cable company and every year I spend two hours every afternoon glued to TV listening to Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
After the bike race I stayed on the couch with the laptop, while Donna napped, and didn’t do those things I should have been doing, because I watched Game 6 on Netflix’s Watch Now service. Interesting movie that was close to be being good. Maybe it was because I just didn’t believe Michael Keaton would be a Red Sox fan, LA Dodgers maybe…
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 265
 The top on the Miata is starting to wear out. There are several small spots on the inside where the cloth liner is gone exposing the rubber inner layer. And there are a few places on the outside, at places the top is folded, that are the same way. So far this year the top has made 266 transitions. In 2006 it made 525 and in 2005 there were 399 changes in state. I did not keep data for all of 2004, nor did I count any of the first month of ownership in December 2003. Using a complicated formula consisting of averages from prior years I estimate that for those 13 months it made 410 transitions, making a total lifetime of 1600 changes or 800 cycles.
I probably have a couple more months before an actual holes develops, but I’d rather not get that far, so I’ve started to research new tops. An OEM Mazda cloth top lists at a buck under a $900. An after market top starts around $630. Both these are cloth with defroster glass back window like the current top, but I could always “downgrade” to a vinyl top, they start around $450. The trouble with after market tops is matching the parchment color of the 2003+ Miatas. Most of the tans out there are darker and more compatible with the earlier year cars. So I’m contemplating going with a black vinyl top. But for now I’ve got samples on the way of the two canvas tans available from the place I bought my last top from. One is a stock color and the other is custom adding $50 to the cost.
They also have a custom color called dark ruby that is a wild card in the color selection. Donna hates the idea without even seeing it, but I’ve got a sample of that coming too. We will have to see, the Garnet Red has mica in it so it changes its color, from a sparkly red to maroon, depending on the light. This makes it awfully hard for that dark red canvas to look good at all times, but I can hope. If I really like it, I may try and persuade her.
Forgot to blog about eating out last night. Went to Maria’s for carnitas, we both had water to drink so we got out for cheap.
Meal Cost: $9.58
Tip: $1.42
Spent Today: $11.00
Year to Date: $1405.90
Meals out 80 of a possible 573.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 266
 Three months ago I wrote about a dish that Donna’s aunt used to serve to her kids when they were growing up — Egg Wiggle. An internet search came up empty on a recipe or any mention, so I thought that it was something Aunt Mary had made up. I was wrong, but only because there was no mention of seafood.
Tonight while I was re-reading Robert Parker’s “Cold Service” I was shocked to come across this passage:
Cecile and Susan talked about their respective practices, and I shared occasional thoughts on sex and baseball, which, by and large, were all I had for thoughts. As usual, Hawk said little, though he seemed to enjoy listening. I had been reading a book on the human genome. We talked about that for a while. Cecile served us a variation of a dish my father called “shrimp wiggle”: shrimp and peas in a cream sauce. Cecile served hers in pastry shells. My father didn’t know what a pastry shell was, and with good reason.
So I searched the interweb for Shrimp Wiggle and got lots of hits. Even got one return that was a list of other Wiggle recipes from Cooks.com that feature salmon, tuna, shrimp and chicken. Now maybe with four kids in the house at once Donna’s aunt & uncle couldn’t afford meat to put in there or maybe there was meat in there and the kids just didn’t remember it because of the overall weirdness of peas & hard boiled egg pieces in a cream sauce. Either way, mystery solved.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 268
#31: If you have a name and no address, try looking in the phone book.
For some reason the first three of these I found, they were in the same book, were called Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules, but this one was called a Tip. I have decided to read all 35 (so far) Spenser books to chronicle all the tips/rules and collect them on a separate page here. I have now re-read two of the four books I own and tonight when we visited the used book store I picked up three more. They probably have another half dozen on the shelf still for later.
Today was a two-fer, breakfast and dinner out. Donna told me point blank this morning that we were going out for breakfast and because it was a weekday that meant Hardee’s. Biscuit & Gravy for her, Sausage & Egg Biscuit for him, O.J. and Hash Rounds to split.
Meal Cost: $5.71
Tip: None
Spent This Meal: $5.71
Dinner was out because it was the monthly Miata Club meeting, for July it was in Aiken at Olive Oils. Crab Bruschetta for appetizer, Seafood Ravioli for her, Hot & Sweet Sausages for him. We went whole hog and got desert, Chocolate Ice Cream for her and Key Lime Pie for him.
Meal Cost: $43.00
Tip: $6.45
Spent This Meal: $49.45
Year to Date: $1461.06
Meals out 82 of a possible 576.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 270
Bubba & Skeeter were fishing one day when Bubba pulled out a cigar. Finding he had no matches, he asked Skeeter for a light.
“Shure, I got a lighter,” he replied. Then reaching into his tackle box, he pulled out a Bic lighter 10 inches long.
“Jiminy Cricket!” exclaimed Bubba, taking the huge Bic lighter in his hands. “Where did you git dat monster??”
“Well,” replied Skeeter, “I got it from my Genie.”
“You gots a genie in dat tackle box?” Bubba asked.
“Yep, I shure got one. It’s right here in my tackle box,” says Skeeter.
“Could I see him?”
So Skeeter opens his tackle box and sure enough, out pops the genie.
Addressing the genie, Bubba says, “Hey dere! I’m a good friend of your Master, will you grant me one wish?”
“Yes, I will,” says the genie.
So Bubba asks the genie for a million bucks. The genie disappears back into the tackle box leaving Bubba sitting there, waiting for his million bucks. Shortly, the sky darkens and is soon filled with the sound of a million ducks … flying overhead.
Over the roar of the million ducks Bubba yells at Skeeter.
“Jumpin’ Jiminy Crickets! I axed for a million bucks, not a million ducks!”
Skeeter answers, “Yup, I forgot to tell you dat genie is hard of hearing. Do you really think I axed for a 10-inch Bic?”
I received 4 tan cloth samples from Cabrioworld today. I’m guessing that they are the colors called Light Neutral, Tan, Dark Beige & Driftwood. It would have been nice if the samples were in fact labeled that way, but they have a series of SF numbers along with the words Hirsch Auto and a 10 digit number I assume is Mr. Hirsh’s phone number on the back. Looking at my monitor I’m guessing the number equate to colors thusly; Light Neutral SF-24, Tan SF-6, Dark Beige SF-30 & Driftwood SF-22. Whatever it is called, SF-24 is nearly a dead ringer for the 2003 + up cloth top.
I asked for a sample of Ruby Red and they didn’t include it, much to the delight of my wife who dismissed the color as possibly being to close in color to the car. She has listened to me say plenty of times, “If you cannot match adjoining colors exactly you should have a large enough of a difference so that is doesn’t look like you tried to match and failed.” And has learned that lesson well. I told her that I had never done anything to the car that would make it look silly and was not about to start now (conveniently forgetting about the plastic Rabbit Teeth that I had in the mouth of the previous Miata for a short while.)
I am disappointed by RR’s omission and would still like to see what that color looks like, so I plan on re-asking for a sample of it. And to make it interesting I’m going to ask that they send me a sample of Burgundy and Dark Brown too.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 272
 It has been a long day, so I have too much to write and not enough time to write about it, not even what we ate for both meals we ate out today and I know how much you all look forward to that. I will tell you that in honor of Bastille Day there was French cuisine consumed at both meals eaten out today — that’s right, we had fries.
Lunch
Meal Cost: $8.64
Tip: None
Spent This Meal: $8.64
Dinner
Meal Cost: $19.96
Tip: $4.04
Spent This Meal: $24.00
Year to Date: $1493.70
Meals out, 84 of a possible 582.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 275
 We were back in northeast South Carolina hunting Post Offices. Knocked off 16 more, bring our total captured to 184 out of the total of 460. I was stopped by a freight train twice over the weekend, once on Saturday with Donna’s cousin Susie and her daughter Katlin in a Jaguar XJ8 and on Sunday with Donna in the Miata.
The visit wasn’t all fun and games though, we were there to offer what moral support we could to Donna’s cousin Laurie because her husband Ted was in the hospital. Ted’s lifelong health issues had final caught up with him. Diabetes and a bad heart caused an early retirement. The diabetes led to weakened kidney’s which finally gave up after a his last heart attack necessitating dialysis. When we visited in March they were still struggling with getting the home dialysis to work right and Ted reminded us of how Donna’s mom had gotten towards the end. When we stopped in last week the both of us were shocked at how far he had deteriorated. He fell out of bed on Tuesday and was hospitalized in Florence at the McLeod Medical Center. Ted passed away early this morning.
While traveling west, somewhere east of North, South Carolina the Emperor moved past the 63,000 mile mark.
For dinner we both had a bowl of Won-ton Soup and an Egg Roll, while we split an order of Jade Chicken (don’t know if this is a regular Chinese restaurant dish or just got it’s name because we were eating a place called Jade of China.)
Meal Cost: $13.90
Tip: $2.10
Spent This Meal: $16.00
Year to Date: $1509.70
Meals out, 85 of a possible 585.
Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 278
 When you are driving towards the center of Bennettsville, SC on Broad Street you can’t help but be impressed with the sight of the Marlboro County Court House as it fills the street in front of you.
On our way back to the hospital in Florence on Saturday, Susie asked if I would stop at a McDonald’s so young Katlin could get a Happy Meal. Ever the obliging driver I spotted a Mickie D’s and got in the drive up line. Susie also wanted a Snack Wrap or something for herself. Because the only thing I have ordered at a McDonald’s Drive Up in the last three decades is a Hot Fudge Sundae, Susie would tell me what to repeat into the microphone, in essence translating McDonald’s speak through me. After we ordered and the team member inside told us, “Dat ill be foe six dee.” I got to repay the earlier favor by translating Southern for Susie, and told her that the total for the food was four dollars and sixty cents.
At the second window we received our two bags of stuff. Susie’s wrap in one and the Happy Meal in the other. When Susie pulled out the toy from the Happy Meal bag it was a Monster Wheel obviously intended for a boy. I tried to hand it back to the team member in the window saying, “Could we get a girl’s toy?” She wouldn’t take it back, they were all out of girl’s toys. With no Hello Kitty toy on the horizon and rather than get nothing, Katlin excepted the neon green wheel thing with a frown.
To try and lighten the moment I told Katlin that I guess she didn’t get a Happy Meal after all, but instead she got an Un Happy Meal.
Well, I thought it was funny.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 280
 Aiken had it’s Horseplay with painted horses and now Darlington County has it’s painted cars. While looking for the Post Office in Lamar, SC we noticed a painted car in front of the Library. Later in the weekend we noticed a couple more cars around. So when we got home, we looked on the internet and discovered that it was new this summer — Carolina Car Trek. There is even a contest involved that can win you a 2008 Darlington Raceway Package (whatever that is.)
I had to give a little blood this morning for my cholesterol check next week, so I had to not eat breakfast at home. This meant a stop at the New Moon Cafe for eats on the way in to work. Cranberry Peacan Muffin for me and an Everything Bagel for her.
Meal Cost: $2.89
Tip Jar: 11¢
Spent Today: $3.00
Year to Date: $1512.70
Meals out, 86 of a possible 591
A couple of new links on the sidebar tonight, 1) A New Miata? in 143 days and B) Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules.
I found another place that is raffling off a new Miata, or MX-5 as Mazda would have you call it, the International Motor Racing Research Center. The IMRRC is in Watkins Glen, NY and they are selling just 2,500 chances on a 2007 Touring Package car. $35 each, two for $60 or a quartet for a C-note. I opted to take 4 chances at getting a new Miata about 1,088 days sooner than planned.
After finishing re-reading Spenser book #3 and finding another rule, I broke down and created a page for Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules. I only have 32 more books to go to get all of the rest (if there are any more…)
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 282
One night, after a couple had retired for the night, the woman became aware that her husband was touching her in a most unusual manner.
He started by running his hand across her shoulders and the small of her back. He ran his hand over her breasts, touching them very lightly. Then, he proceeded to run his hand gently down her side, sliding his hand over her stomach, and then down the other side to a point below her waist.
He continued on, gently feeling her hips, first one side and the other. His hand ran further down the outside of her thighs. His gentle probing then started up the inside of her left thigh, stopped and the returned to do the same to her right thigh.
By this time the woman was becoming aroused and she squirmed a little to better position herself. The man stopped abruptly and rolled over to his side of the bed.
“Why are you stopping darling?” she whispered.
He whispered back, “I found the remote.”
 For the second time in 7 weeks I’m driving a PT Cruiser. The Emperor is sleeping over at Wray’s place in advance of having it’s 60K mile check-up by the royal physician tomorrow. There was a coupon on the dealer’s web site that offered a free rental on any major service or timing belt change. They have an agreement with Enterprise and after a 20 minute wait we were whisked away to their offices to fill out the paperwork. Five minutes after that Donna and I were driving away in a Marine Blue Pearl Touring model. It had a whopping 248 miles on the clock and there was still plastic protective wrapping on the front carpet and lower doors.
I can now say with authority that these vehicles are trucks in cute clothing, it rides rougher than my tightly sprung sports car and if the steering wheel was 30 degrees more horizontal I would feel like Ed Norton. After a couple of understeered curves I had to chant to myself, “Not a Miata. Not a Miata.” to prevent visiting the wrong side of the yellow line on the sharper right turns.
On the way home we stopped at Fudrucker’s for dinner. I had a 1/2 lb burger, onion rings and washed it down with iced tea. Donna opted for the fish sandwich with water to drink.
Meal Cost: $14.96
Tip: None
Spent Today: $14.96
Year to Date: $1527.66
Meals out, 87 of a possible 594.
If you haven’t checked out the Jokes page in a while, I’ve added a couple of new ones in the last week: Genie In A Tackle Box and The Romantic… (thanks Mark)
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 283
The Emperor came home today from the doctor’s tonight after his ligament replacement surgery and fluid transfusion. On the way home we stopped for pizza at a place called Nick’s House of Pizza in West Columbia. Because it is called Nick’s you know that they also serve Greek food. So we had a Greek salad to go along with the 10″ pie with sausage, pepperoni, onions and bell peppers. There were a couple of waters and a Sprite involved too.
Meal Cost: $17.92
Tip: $3.58
Spent Today: $21.50
Year to Date: $1549.16
Meals out, 88 of a possible 597.
On July 1st the FRS had a 10–1/2 game lead over the Yankees. From the first of July through last Saturday the Red Sox have gone 6 & 5, but the Yankees have a record of 7 wins, 4 loses and were 10 games behind. On Monday morning when I mentioned that I thought the expected FRS slide had begun, I was scoffed at. I predicted that the Yankees would only be 5 games back by the end of the month. Both my Yankee fan manager and Mark the Braves fan felt that the Sox were too good this year and the Yankees too weak. My boss was just making excuses in case and Mark is used to the Braves always winning the division, but I on the other hand have had to suffer through several decades of Red Sox collapses.
Both now may believe my prognostication powers because since Saturday the Yanks have won 4 while the Sox are 1 win, 3 loses shrinking the lead to 7 games. I may still be wrong, at this pace the Yankees may be ahead of the Bosox by August 1st. Which brings to mind a memorable quote from the movie Game 6, while in the bar watching the titular game, the kid tells Michael Keaton’s character that he should be happy because the Red Sox are winning, to which he replies, “The Red Sox are always winning…until they lose”. The screenwriter must have been an FRS fan.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 283
 Last weekend I mapped out a bunch (20) of Post Offices in the northeast part of the state because that is where we would be. I covered all the POs we hadn’t already gotten from I-77 on the west to I-95 on the east, and between North Carolina on the north to I-20 on the south. The first thing Donna did when we got in the car to leave was open the South Carolina map and say, “If we go this way we can get these Post Offices.” Well, she was pointing to a section of the state that I didn’t have close up maps for the PO locations inside the actual towns. This is the second time something like that has happened, so my new project is to go ahead and make maps up for the remaining 277 Post Offices.
I’ve got 40 done so far…
Tonight I washed off the filth that had settled on the Emperor when he spent the night Wray’s place. Which reminds me, when we got to the shop to pick up the car the Service Hostess told me that the car would be out in just a few minutes as it was in Clean Up. Twenty minutes later they pulled the car up in front and gave me the keys. As we loaded the trunk and climbed inside I noticed that the car was dirtier than when I dropped it off (no doubt because it did spend the night outside.) So what did they clean up?
Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 286
 The cockpit of the Miata can be a hot place. I have tried several methods I’ve found on the Miata.net Forums and they have helped a little, but not enough. The air that comes through the interior vents is so much warmer than the ambient air, no matter what I have tried.
Abut a year ago a forum member came out with a little device called the Cool Breeze Scoop. People raved, but I doubted. Plus I didn’t want to invest the $40 price. This year after testing out the principle by hold my hand over the windshield header and directing outside air in, I took the plunge. Received and installed on Tuesday, but because of the service trip to Columbia and the weather we didn’t get a chance to really use it until today.
Two thumbs up! It doesn’t do anything when the car is stopped and adds a touch more wind noise, but it dumps cooler outside air right at the footwells of the car and makes a noticeable difference. I predict that this be like the microwave, later we will wonder how we lived without it.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 286
 Donna and I went for a bike ride this morning with the intention of ending up at the New Moon for muffins and/or bagels. We missed timed our arrival so that we had twenty minutes to wait before we opened. Donna almost convinced the guy putting tables on the sidewalk to let us buy our two items to go and leave. Almost. We settled down to wait. People started to arrive. And more people. Then some more. Pretty soon there were over a dozen people waiting by the door for 9:00AM. I felt like I was waiting to buy the latest Harry Pooter Book.
I checked the time on my cyclecomputer and we still had 10 minutes to go. Impatient with the crowd, the annoying gnats circling me and the time left, I told Donna to forget it. We wanted to get home to see today’s mountain stage of the Tour, so we mounted back up on the tandem and started on our way. At the end of the first block towards home I noticed that the time was now just a couple minutes shy of nine. The siren’s call of a Cranberry Pecan Muffin was too great. We circled a couple more blocks and went back. I went inside to get our stuff while Donna waited outside. I was 6 or 7 in line. I crept forward at a glacial pace (probably seemed longer for Donna standing outside in a gnat cloud) and finally got to order. An Everything Bagel for her, the aforementioned Cranberry Pecan Muffin for me and to fortify ourselves for the 3 mile ride home I bought a cookie to share.
Meal Cost: $4.55
Tip Jar: 45¢
Spent Today: $5.00
Year to Date: $1554.16
Meals out, 89 of a possible 603.
Speaking of cookies, we made a double batch of Donna’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon and I lost count after eating six…
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 286
The Emperor had it’s 60k mile service last week. Not only did they change the timing belt, but while they were in there they changed out the two accessory belts. We picked it up Thursday evening and all was well until Saturday morning. We had a MMC breakfast date, so we left the house at about 6:15. Less than a half a mile away from home in our quiet neighborhood is a 4-way stop. When pulling away from the stop the Emperor started to squeal like a stuck pig. I felt about 2″ high. I was sure that lights were going on in the houses around me as the people tried to locate the Siamese cat in heat. The sound went away after about 5 seconds and didn’t reoccur. I figured a little condensation from the car coming out into warm moist air from the air conditioned garage, so the belt slipped a little bit.
Nice theory, but how do I explain what caused the same squeal this afternoon after work. It lasted longer than Saturday’s episode, about 10 seconds. I had time to cycle the A/C a couple times and when off the first time the squeal stopped and restarted when the A/C was turned back on. When I turned off the A/C the second time the squeal continued, but stopped shortly there after. Donna said lets take it back to the dealer. I would have, but the place is over 60 miles and an hour away. If they were less than half that I probably would.
So, what causes belt squeal? Too tight? Too loose? Either? Bite the bullet and take it back? Is this fixable by a novice knucklehead? Learn to live with a random dying pig noise?
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 287
Or Robert Parker’s name for my home town of Aiken, SC. At least that is what he calls it in Spenser novel number 20, “Paper Doll.” Not nearly as exciting as the movie “Who’s Your Caddy” (which opens this weekend) that was filmed in Aiken I know, but it ranks right up there in my little life.
–> Bloggus Interuptus < –
Early in Chapter 12, “Never go unarmed on a murder case.” This one was not numbered and was just called one of Spenser’s best crime-buster tips. Guess I’ll just add it to the list at the top. and see what happens.
Took the Emperor back to the doctors as much as I hated to do the traveling, but they didn’t do something right, so they ought to fix it. Besides as Donna said, “This way I don’t have to cook.” We spent almost more time doing paperwork than the technician did adjusting the belt and about a half an hour later we were gone.
I had picked a Japanese place, Tsunami, off the web as a dinner spot for something different. We were off course early (5:30ish), which is how we like it, but apparently that is not a good time for the restaurant. Walked through the door and stopped at the hostess station. After less than a minute a Paris Hilton look-alike with a white top and black skirt came our way. Good, we were thinking, this must be the hostess. She walked right behind us and shouted down to a couple of waitress types, “Can I get a server up here.” One of the waitresses shouted back something like, “I told Name to go to you.” Dona and I looked at each other and said, “Guess we won’t be eating here.”
So we went across the street to Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. We wanted to eat at a place that we didn’t have in Aiken and this was it. Turns out it was just a sub place, good and just a little different. We split a Vito, some chips and a Sprite.
Meal Cost: $7.48
Tip: 0
Spent Today: $7.48
Year to Date: $1561.64
Meals out, 90 of a possible 609.
We we left the car I locked it up. I have been doing this ever since we went up north a month ago. I’m hoping someone will slit the top to steal something out of the interior, so that the insurance company will buy me a new top. This one is going to develop a hole soon and if I can get them to foot the bill it would be nice. Donna says, “Why don’t I just cut it myself.” I can’t do the crime, facilitate a little I’m OK with, but I can’t commit it.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 290
From Burnham Down the House: Trailers From Hell
From What Do You Drive: Roast My Weenie
From AutoBlog: A Red Hot Ferrari
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 292
Watched Astronaut Farmer tonight. Cute little movie that nearly lost me a few times when the unreality showed through despite my suspended beliefs. I think the only reason I didn’t turn it off, like we did for The Pursuit of Happyness the other day, is because I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up (and what kid didn’t want that if they were 8 when John Glenn orbited the planet.)
In yesterday’s episode of As the Lipids Bounce my numbers were a little better than last time, but not as good as they were the time before. The Doctor has obviously given up trying to make it any lower as his advice was, “Stay the course and I’ll see you in six months.”
| |
Chol |
HDL |
LDL |
Trig |
| Goal |
<200 |
>31 |
<100 |
30–150 |
| 07/17/07 |
185 |
36 |
117 |
162 |
| 03/05/07 |
195 |
39 |
123 |
167 |
| 09/19/06 |
167 |
37 |
103 |
135 |
| 04/06/06 |
168 |
37 |
106 |
126 |
| 12/08/05 |
182 |
35 |
120 |
137 |
| 07/28/05 |
177 |
30 |
113 |
169 |
| 06/17/05 |
164 |
31 |
85 |
238 |
| 05/06/05 |
174 |
27 |
108 |
194 |
| 01/10/05 |
176 |
33 |
110 |
167 |
| 09/21/04 |
209 |
24 |
131 |
271 |
To celebrate this “success” Donna and I went to Hardee’s for breakfast this morning and we both had Biscuits & Gravy.
Meal Cost: $3.80
Tip: None
Spent Today: $3.80
Year to Date: $1565.44
Meals out, 91 of a possible 615.
Now here’s something that doesn’t happen everyday. I got an email from Netflix letting me know that the cost of my monthly plan was being reduced by a buck. Cool, now I can afford that BMW 335i Coupe I want.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 293
 Rae’s Coastal Cafe. Him, Jerk Chicken, her, Scallops Special.
Meal Cost: $37.89
Tip: $7.11
Spent Today: $45.00
Year to Date: $1605.44
Meals out, 92 of a possible 618.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 296
We took the Miata back to the dealer on Tuesday for them to adjust the accessory belts to eliminate the squeal. They almost got it. We aren’t taking it back to Columbia for them to have another crack at it. When the service rep returned the car Donna questioned him on why it squealed and what did they do to fix it. He tried to explain that they had to adjust the belt by making it tighter so it wouldn’t slip. But that they had to be careful that they didn’t tighten it too much or they could ruin the bearing in the accessories. He said if it still does it, just bring it back (I guess he thinks we live around the corner.)
It still squeals, but only briefly when shifting while driving the car spiritedly. When you floor it with the A/C on, the A/C will cut out until you let up to shift, at which point the A/C clutch re-engages and chirps the belt. We didn’t notice it until later in the week and we for sure aren’t going to take it back to them. When I get Clunk & Thunk to help me with my shock installation we’ll try and tighten it up a bit more.
I wish I had thought of it at the time Mr. Lazywrench was explaining their belt adjustment period, because I should have asked, “So, what you are saying is that after making over 800,000 Miatas, Mazda’s service manual for car says that to adjust the accessory belt tension, You need to make the belt so tight that they don’t squeal, but not so tight that you ruin the bearings.
From a Miata Forum member red-in-la (I removed the metric stuff.)
Drive Belt Deflection Check
1. Verify the drive belt deflection when the engine is cold, or at least 30 min after the engine has stopped. Apply moderate pressure 22 ft/lb midway between the specified pulleys.
| Drive belt |
New |
Used |
Limit |
| Generator |
0.22—0.27 |
0.24—0.29 |
0.31 |
| P/S+A/C |
0.28—0.31 |
0.36—0.39 |
0.45 |
What do you think? The technician didn’t have the right tool so he just winged it? Or manual, who reads the manual?
We went to the New Moon for breakfast this morning instead of Sunday to beat the crowd. We had two muffins and a bottled water.
Meal Cost: $7.49
Tip: 51¢
Spent Today: $8.00
Year to Date: $1613.44
Meals out, 94 of a possible 624.
The above numbers reflect tomorrow’s meals as well because we two extra muffins for Sunday’s breakfast. If we eat out for lunch or supper tomorrow I’ll change the totals.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 298
I got the paper.
We watched the Tour.
We did not eat out.
The car did not move.
I added 24 pictures to the 2007 Northeast Trips Gallery on page 3 (4–1=3)., but if you are a regular reader there is not too much new for you to see.
If you never got over to the Flickr! page where I posted the photos of my godson Gnorm’s visit to the Gnorthwest this year, I added a gallery here that consisted of 24 (4x6=24) images showing what a good time he had.
We had dinner at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant tonight. It was their 1st Anniversary and to celebrate we had Carnitas which came with 3 tortillas. (1+3=4)
Meal Cost: $9.98
Tip: $2.02
Spent Today: $12.00
Year to Date: $1625.44
Meals out, 95 of a possible 627.
My 4 tickets to my next Miata arrived today. I hope 13 is my lucky number (1+3=4) because I have tickets numbered 0311 through 0314.
My 4 new Koni Sport shocks shipped from California today. If they take four days to get here I’ll have them by this weekend.
Started down, wen up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 299
I’m down to the home stretch on digitizing all my CDs. I’m into the soundtracks and compilations now. Over 22 Gigabytes in 5,600 files. Our company is having a yard sale to benefit the activities committee this weekend and I decided to give away some of the CDs. Out of the around 500 discs I have I gave them maybe 40. And they were all ones I never liked to begin with. What the heck am I going to do with the other 460?
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 301
|
|
Washington DC to New Britain, CT. We were on the road by 8:00AM and leaving DC on the GW Parkway is a treat. Nice quiet tree lined road that I’m sure is busier at other times, but on Sunday morning is almost lonely. Traffic didn’t really pick up until we got into Delaware, by NJ it was massive. Ten lanes of Turnpike, five each direction, were filled with travelers. The Garden State Parkway was busy as well until we got north of Passaic. Fortunately there were no incidents or accidents to bring things to a standstill.
