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No Snow…Tires

I put the snow tires on the car back in early November and never really had a chance to use them for their intended purpose. There was one snow “storm” in January that dropped an inch on the ground and then we got lots of ice so we just never went anywhere until the ice was gone.

A warm sunny spring started yesterday afternoon, it continued today and will supposedly continue for the next couple days before typical Portland weather returns. The sunny low 70s will run until Tuesday and then the normal cloudy/rainy upper 50s return. This afternoon I took the snow tires off the Mini and put the regular touring all-seasons back on.

And The Oscar Goes To…

We didn’t watch the Oscars on Sunday night. Haven’t in a long time either, they used to be a required viewing so that we could see if any of the movies we went to had won any of those shiny gender indistinct statuettes. But we haven’t actually been to the theater to see a movie in quite some time, 2012 is my last mention of that on this blog. And I bet that visit to an actual cineplex was a one off. I know we stopped going out for movies around the beginning of this century because I’ve got an old spreadsheet that lists the discs we rented on Netflix starting in late 1999.

Instead of watching the Oscars on Sunday we watched one of the ten movies nominated for Best Picture, The Holdovers, on Peacock. This was a near perfect movie for us, a quiet character driven movie that is set in and shot in the style of the 70’s. No explosions, no car chases, no bullet ridden bodies or computer generated space battles with hundreds of ships or soldiers.

I have also seen one of the other films of the ten that were nominated, the winner itself, Oppenheimer. It is also available on Peacock, but I didn’t think I could could get Donna to sit still for 3 hours for that. There is one other of the nominees that I could watch, Poor Things which is streaming on Hulu right now, but after watching the trailer, I’m not so sure I could get through the whole thing.

On a side note: Robert Downey Jr. won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Oppenheimer. I don’t remember seeing him in the movie at all and I don’t know who he played, but I did recognize non-winner Emily Blunt though. This was probably just a testament to Mr. Downey’s acting ability and a case of my secret crush on Ms. Blunt.

Oh You Amazonian Temptress

When we lived in Klamath Falls we took advantage of the Amazon Prime free delivery. Someone once told use Klamath Falls was nicknamed Katalog Falls because of the limited shopping opportunities of that rural small city had. It was always fun to see where the stuff was coming from. Most of the common items came from one or two places, either Reno, Nevada whish is about 250 miles away or Troutdale, Oregon which is nearer to 300 miles away. Both places were an easy 2-day delivery away.

You would think that now that we live in a suburb of Portland, the largest city in the state of Oregon with a population of nearly three quarters of a million (over 3 million in the Metropolitan Statistical Area) we might not have to rely so much on ordering things from Amazon. But that is not the case.

There are several reasons why it is still so tempting to order from Jeff Bezos’ minions. The first is because we are now so used to doing it. Secondly, because we are in the “big city” physically going shopping anywhere is a hassle because of all these people and their traffic. The third reason is probably the coolest. Remember those two towns with big Amazon distribution centers from above, well the Troutdale one is literally a mile away. On the way to Friday morning grocery shopping, invariably when we will get the traffic light down the street, we will see a line of those funky looking Rivian electric delivery trucks lined up across from us.

When the printer ran out of ink last week at 8 o’clock at night I ordered some from Amazon and the package was waiting on the front porch when I got up at 6:30 the next morning. Two days, HA! Certain items we get same day or overnight.

44,000 Menu Choices

Last Monday the Mini rolled past the Forty-four thousand mile mark on the way to get lunch at the food truck village one town over. As is usual at this time of year it was raining. Raining pretty good too, so much that I just knew the title of the post referencing this mileage event would be 44,000 Raindrops.

When I went to post I couldn’t remember exactly what the thousand digit was, 3 or 4, so I looked at the tag listing for “Mini Mileage” and saw that 43,000 was the last used, so it needed to be 44. Unfortunately the forty-three thousand mile post was already entitled 43,000 Raindrops, so I had to punt and raindrops was replaced with menu choices.

In The Rearview Mirror

I did the Masters Miata Club newsletter from 1998 until 2006 when I ran out of steam doing all the printing and the mailing. There was a person who said they would take over and then didn’t, followed by two others who wanted to give it a go, but didn’t have the knowledge to do it. The no newsletter was not a total loss because the interweb existed and I had been doing a webpage for the club for several years at that point.

BMW Plant Tour

Date: Friday, February 2, 2001
Time: 7:45 AM
Place: South Carolina Welcome Center
Members Attending: Bob Anderson, John Battles, Bill Baugh, Bonnie Baugh, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Karen Breitinger, Kurt Breitinger, Jim Creer, Judy Creer, Lee Davis, Carol Haff, John Haff, Ron Kaufman, Jean Schwalbert, Russ Schwalbert, Stacey Timmerman and Rudy Wilmoth.
Guests Attending: John Nichols, Jeff Timmerman, Bob Taylor and John Wages.

We had a eleven cars, three with hard tops being early February, gather at the welcome center in the early morning cold, even Rudy had his top up! It was Stacey Timmerman’s job, with son Jeff navigating, to keep this many cars together on the trip. Amazingly enough, they did a fine job. We got on the Interstate for a few miles before heading north on back roads to our rest stop in Clinton, SC. Not long after getting on US 25 we picked up the first of two planned additions. John N. & Bob T. in a Merlot with a black hard top.

Just past the mid-point we pulled our caravan into a McDonalds for brunch. Here we picked up our second planned addition, Bob Anderson. Bob had thought he would meet us at the BMW plant, but got an earlier start so he just meet us here.

The rest of the trip was all Interstate, I-26 to I-385 to I-85. As we merged with I-85 near our destination, reports came from the back that a white Miata was passing our group. After passing about half of us, he must have figured we were on our way to have some fun, so he tucked in line.

As we pulled into the BMW parking lot we were now fourteen strong. Our late joiner was John Wages, Vice-president of the Foothills Miata Club. He was out running errands when he happened on our group. We offered him a spot on our tour, but he pleaded poverty, didn’t even have $5. We offered to pay his way in and he took us up on it.

We were about an hour or so early for our tour appointment, so this gave us plenty of time to check out the Zentrum, which I guess is German for a mix of museum, gift shop and snack bar. Lots of interesting variations of BMW production cars, race cars and motorcycles in the museum and all kinds of trinkets and clothing in the gift shop. A lot of us ended up in the snack bar, where you get a cold German beer to help pass the time until it was time for the plant tour.

The tour started with a 20 minute movie that showed you some places that you can’t actually go into in person. There were three screens, one in front and one on each side, and the movie was filmed from the point of view of a car chassis going through the welding of the body and all the painting process. Kind of neat to stand there and get painted red by robotic arms.

After the movie we then donned safety glasses to protect our eyes and headphones so we could hear our perky little tour guide. When they designed and laid out the plant it wasn’t with tours in mind, so we were just wandering around on the assembly floor, staying inside some painted yellow lines though, so as not to get run over by forklifts. There were actually two guides, one up front with the microphone talking and one in the back to make sure you didn’t wander off or try and put a Z3 tail light in your pocket.

We stopped and got to watch them mate a body to the powerplant subassembly (engine, transmission and front suspension) and it took about 2 minutes and 8 bolts. Like everything there it looked too easy, which I guess is a good thing, just not as exciting as I expected. The best part was the final test room where they take the nearly completed car and put it on a dyno-like rollers and shift through all the gears and do some heavy braking. Someone gets in the car and a computer tells them when to shift and brake. That same computer reads the data to see if it meets specs. We watched a white Z3 go through its paces and when it was driven out of the booth an employee reached down and picked up a couple stray bolts and a washer off the floor from underneath where the car was! I hope none of those were one of the 8 holding in the powerplant.

After the tour, most all of us went back one exit on I-85 to eat at a California Dreaming restaurant. Fortunately it was 2:30 PM on a weekday and after a little bit of rearranging, we were seated at a table for 22.

After eating, most all of us went back home. Four cars just went across the street to the Courtyard by Marriott to spend the night, so they could hook up with the Foothills folks in the AM.

North & South Drive

Date: Saturday, February 3, 2001
Time: 9:00 AM
Place: University Square Publix, Greenville, SC
Members Attending: Brian & Donna Bogardus, Karen & Kurt Breitinger, Carol & John Haff and Rudy Wilmoth.
Guests Attending: Sean, Jerry, Tony, Ron & Cat.

Brian figured we need to leave the hotel a little after 8 to make it to the starting point on time. This required an early rise, so we could eat, get checked out and get gas and be ready to go at 9 AM.

Conveniently located in the Publix shopping center is a McDonalds and this is where we parked while waiting. Ron Merrit was the first of the Foothills Club to show and Cat Thomson was the last, which, they said, is how things normally shake out on their runs. So our early rise was all in vain as these folks normally meet, eat and then drive. We finally got moving sometime after 10 AM.

And when we did, we got twisty. They took us on some roads that were only a few miles from the start that were totally awesome. It is almost enough to make you want to move to Greenville. After a circuit around the reservoir we headed up SC-11 and then cut up towards Caesar’s Head State Park. After a brief break in the park’s parking lot we went back to zooming around windy roads until we came Highlands, NC where we made ourselves at home in the Sagebrush Steak House for some grub.

After lunch we were all pretty much wore out, so we just headed back to Greenville and then on to Augusta. Fortunately, we couldn’t get home without traversing some very snaky roads.

February Meeting

I did the Aiken Bicycle Club newsletter from 1993 until 1998 when the club decided to move to the web, which I of course volunteered to do. I created a rudimentary website by today’s standards on the now defunct Geocities.com. To fill my not so free hours in the evening and satisfy my need to write witty things, I took over the newsletter of the local Miata club I was in.

Date: Thursday, February 1, 2001
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Old Country Buffet
Members Attending: Bill Baugh, Bonnie Baugh, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Kurt Breitinger, Tony Cappucci, John Haff, Gail Smith, Tom Smith and Rudy Wilmoth.

No meeting room and no Treasurer’s report this month. But we did get the Smiths to join us, we haven’t seen them since last year’s anniversary dinner. Also, a chance meeting at an Interstate rest area brought someone else to the meeting who would have missed it. (I’ve left the names out to protect the guilty.)

Old Business:
1) New Logo. Still again no progress on this front. Wendy seems to have forgotten us. Brian brought along a doctored up copy of Rembrandt van Rijn’s painting “The Syndics of the Cloth Guild” as a tongue-in-check offering of a new Club Logo. (In case you are unfamiliar with the painting, it was the basis for the images used on the boxes and in the advertising for Dutch Master’s Cigars.

New Business:
1) We chatted about a few of the upcoming events. Kurt floated a trial balloon up on maybe attending an Augusta Lynx game. It was well received, so he is going to proceed with arrangements.

2) Brian read the first, and he thought, easiest, of his two proposed amendments to the bylaws. Section A. under Article III, Meetings, states “General membership meetings shall be held monthly, on the last Saturday of each month, unless otherwise determined by majority of a quorum vote of the general membership.” Brian would like to change, “last Saturday” to “first Thursday,” because that is what we are doing now anyway. After quite a bit of discussion on what a quorum was, not putting a day in at all, and other stuff, Brian was about to withdraw his proposal. Hating to see a grown man pout, the rest agreed to let Brian fulfill his obligation under Article XII of the bylaws entitled Amendments, i.e. read the change to the membership so it can be voted on at the next meeting.

3) Brian then read his 2nd proposed bylaw change. With the all but official demise of the Miata Club of America, he would like to change the Club’s name from Master’s Miata Chapter to Master’s Miata Club. And remove the line “This organization shall be a local chapter chartered by the Miata Club of America.” from Article I, Name, of our bylaws. Everyone just shrugged and said, “Whatever.”

Th-that‘s all f-f-folks, the February meeting was adjourned and the weary went home.

January’s Meeting Minutes

One last post from the February 1994 newsletter of the Aiken Bicycle Club. Like the Whence & Whither, the meeting minutes, are from the previous month. The meeting minutes are compiled by the Club Secretary. And like the ride reports, quite a bit of the time that position was held by Donna or I, so it was easy to add them to the newsletter. And even if the Secretary wasn’t one of us, I would always take their meeting minutes and Brian-ize them.

MEETING MINUTES:
New President Woody Huffines called January’s meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. at the home of Brian & Donna Bogardus. An astounding 23 members were present. The 24th member arrived fashionably late, mid-old business. The New-as-well Treasurer Donna Bogardus reported a new year balance in the Club’s account of $788.42. Alice Walker (who is not even the Old Secretary) was subbing for the New Secretary, Sherri Lott, who was absent so as to attend to her ailing “in-fink.” So he won’t feel left out, I’ll also mention the New Vice President Ed Leibfarth.

Old Business:
1) Chairperson Gene Luder reported that the Annual Aiken Bicycle Club Checking Account Audit Committee, or AABCCAAC, had found zero errors in the financial books of the club under Dennis Ducate’s talented treasurership. This report was approved by acclimation of those present.

2) The long anticipated Club jerseys are a reality. If you ordered one, they are at Cyclesport, and can be taken home for the sum of $28.

New Business:
1) President Woody Huffines gave the assembled (and to you too, now that you are reading this) their homework for the month. To wit, he would like everyone to think about participating in some worthwhile non-riding projects for the coming year. In other words, we should perhaps fulfill some of the items mentioned in Article II of the Club Bylaws besides just bicycling. A couple that he proposed, would be for us to turn some of our bank account and some solicited donations into bicycle helmets for local kids and the other would be to help in conjunction with the Aiken Department of Public Safety (ADPS) in a bicycle safety course for kids prior to school letting out for the summer. Bobby Harison suggested that maybe we could purchase a bicycle and donate it to the newly formed bike patrol of the ADPS. If you would like to help with any of these projects or have one of your own for consideration, please attend the next meeting to have your voice heard.

2) May 8th is closer than you think. It is not to early to start soliciting donations for our spring century. Rae Felix, Jaye Pearce and Gene Luder volunteered to take on the task. Last year we asked for $50 dollars and the sponsors got their logo on the T-shirt and mention before the beginning of the ride. Bobby Harison suggested that we accept smaller donations form proportionally smaller businesses. As of now when the sponsors are solicited, they will be told that the money is for century T-shirts, but that some of the proceeds might end up going towards other worthwhile cycling projects. Ed Leibfarth has spoken to the ham radio folks and they said they may be able to offer their support again this year, but could not guarantee it because of the Mother’s Day date. A new loop 4 it still an issue. A way to avoid a very busy and no shouldered Pine Log Road for the last 4 miles or so needs to be found. One suggestion was to turn right at the Exxon station after the first 3/4 of a mile and wind in the back way. Bill Young has an idea about a route that uses Hatchaway Bridge Road which he will try. Woody Proposed that the March/April ride leaders check out some new rides. Gene Luder mentioned that safety should be the #1 concern on a new loop, as cyclists are the most tired by then. Diane Gilden suggested that the Police, both city and county be made aware of the century. The President said he would see to it.

3) The winners of the Never Tires T-shirt Contest were presented with their well deserved Never Tires T-shirts. The shirts were yellow in color, decorated with the club logos and embellished with Never Tires T-shirt Contest Winner wording. Alice Walker was the Women’s Division winner with a total of 362 miles and Bill Young was the Men’s Division victor with 420 miles. Curiously enough it was Alice who named the contest and Bill who suggested the format. Bill suggested we keep the same format and Alice suggested (and the members present approved) the name be Sunday Wonder T-shirt Contest for this year. Will history repeat itself? Stay tuned…

4) Jaye Pearce would like for posted ride leaders to call a substitute if they can’t make it. Woody Huffines suggested that we have a backup ride leader assigned for a certain period of time. Somehow the discussion drifted into having 2 Sunday rides with one being more difficult for the people who have to work on Saturday. The miles for both rides would count as the same for the T-shirt contest. Maybe this would occur only once a month. Brian Bogardus tried to reel in the conversation with a suggestion that he could publish the ride leader’s phone number in the newsletter if that would help. Those present agreed to this. Then Doug Walker pointed out the solution to this was just as Jaye said, in the unwritten rules that govern bike club ride leaders everywhere, rule number one is if you can’t make it, find someone who can.

5) Ed Leibfarth pointed out that now that we are outfitted in the new club jerseys that bear our names we should ride in a more courteous manner. Bill Young interjected the point that there is a single file law in South Carolina and that we should always give way to cars in this respect.

6) Clint Johnson said that he would like to lead Sunday mountain bike rides and he wondered about mileage credit. This brought up the whole T-shirt thing, again. An official motion was made to keep the T-shirt Contest rules the same as last year and it was passed. So you dirty off road riders can ride all you want on Sundays, but you ain’t gettin’ no shirt!

7) Gene Luder then reported on the first meeting of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition. He had in his hand a copy of the opening speech made by Tom Dodds the South Carolina State Bicycle and Pedestrian coordinator, all 4 pages of it. Gene thoughtfully gave us the Reader’s Digest condensed version. In a 1989 article, the League of American Wheelmen ranked the states in their bicycle friendliness, and guess where we finished? That’s right, dead last with a score of 15 out of a possible 215. In the 4 years since that article, we have made great strides. If we were counting up the points today we would be at 92, a 400% increase. While though this is good we still have a long way to go. Hopefully the P.C.C. will help in achieving a higher mark in the future. He then gave an update on the figures for safety. Through mid November on S.C. roads, there have been 829 motor vehicle accidents in which a bicycle has been involved: 23 people have died, 22 of which were cyclists; 692 have been injured, of which 665 have been cyclists. Gene then gave a brief synopsis of the actual meeting. He said as soon as he gets a typed copy of the minutes that they would be available for anyone to look at.

There being no further business, the February ride schedule was penciled in and the leftovers were divvied up.