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PT Truckster

Marine Blue PearlFor 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

Carolina Car Trek

Intimate AnimalAiken 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…)

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Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 282

Imposing

Marlboro County Court HouseWhen 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

Fête Nationale

QuinbyIt 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

Ruby Red Where Are You?

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

Spenser’s Crime Buster Tips

#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

Shrimp Wiggle

Sea LionThree 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