Draughtlander Is Finally Over

Six long months ago Starz showed the 8th episode (of 16) of the first season of Outlander. They left it at at cliffhanger, our time traveling nurse Claire was being held captive by the aptly nicknamed Captain “Black Jack” Randall the great-great-great-granfather of her 20th century husband. Just as Black Jack was about to have his way with her, in through the window bursts her 18th century husband Jamie – fade out. Now, it was only technically a cliffhanger for folks who have not read the book, for some of us it was like we were sailing around the world solo and we dropped our only copy of the book overboard. We know what happens next and would have to wait till we get to the next English speaking port to find another copy.

If you can’t wait until Saturday at 9:00 PM, here is the first 3-1/2 minutes of Episode 9:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4LOmMA-xWQ

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1474

Who Is The Fool Now?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always had a fear of monsters under my bed at night.

So I went to a psychiatrist and told him: “I’ve got problems. Every time I go to bed I think there’s something under it. I’m scared. I think I’m going crazy.”

“Just put yourself in my hands for one year, said the shrink. Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears.”

“How much do you charge?”

“Hundred seventy-five dollars per visit,” replied the doctor.

“I’ll sleep on it,” I said.

Six months later the doctor met me on the street. “Why didn’t you come to see me about those fears you were having?” He asked.

“Well, at $175 a visit, three times a week for a year, is $27,300.00. A bartender cured me for $10.00. I was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and bought me a new Miata.”

“Is that so?” With a bit of an attitude he said, “and how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?”

“He told me to cut the legs off the bed. Ain’t nothing under there now.”

Not Even Close

I redeemed the $50 gift certificate for our 20th place finish in the 2014 Moss Motoring Challenge. The cockpit cover we have been using needed replacing. We have already replaced the side elastic and the velcro would have to be next, as the all three spots it is used were no longer staying stuck reliably. Fortuitously, the cost of a new cover fell close to value of the certificate.

An hour ago the UPS guy dropped a box off on the front steps. I went out into the garage to put in on the Miata. It doesn’t fit. Our old one fit awkwardly around the mirrors, but it still covered everything as it should. From 2001 to 2005 the seat on the Miata had taller built-in headrests. They are so much taller than the ones in earlier year cars that they earned the nickname “surfboards.” The OEM tonneau covers required you to slide the seats forward and then push the seatback back so that it didn’t stick up past the level of the doors.

I thought maybe that is what I needed to do here. Well, with seats laid back it sort of fits and covers all the right areas, but you have to stretch the elastic that goes down the doors to hook on the frame rails so tight that I can’t imagine them lasting more than a month of use.

I came back inside and went to the Moss Motors web site to see if the description said anything about not fitting 2001 to 2005 cars. It did not. There was a link to something called instructions, so I clicked on it. It says that those door straps attach to the weld seam at the bottom of the car like we are doing with our current car, but the photo shows it attached to the bottom of the door itself. I went back to the car and tried hooking it that way, didn’t work. It might, but you would have to open the door first.

The current, worn out cover goes on the same general way as this one, 4 elastic hooks and 3 velcro straps, but with the addition of moving both seats, then opening & closing both doors, it becomes too much of a hassle. Might as well cycle the top. This cover is going to be returned.

I’m Batman

I'm Batman

We went for a picnic lunch in Hitchcock Woods this afternoon. Us and a couple hundred of our furthest friends. Today was the 99th Annual Aiken Horse Show held at a small show ring in the middle of the woods that is used just these three days of the year.

First we went to the Fresh Market for a sandwich of our choice and then we walked next door to Jimmy John’s for a bag of their kettle chips of our choice. This is one of only a couple times a year that cars are allowed into the woods, so naturally we parked at the Clark Road entrance and walked the mile and a half to the ring.

We might have stayed longer, but it was kind of chilly for late March, so we left right after the Costume Division finished riding.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1472

Bath Day

It is Pine Pollen Season(tm) here in my Fair City and the poor Emperor was literally freckled with yellow dots. Dots form because it rained yesterday on the evenly dusted surfaces of the car and that makes the water bead up. I used the California Duster(r) this morning in the garage this morning, the lose pollen came off, but the dots remained. Along with both our finger prints on the doors and trunk.1 At the end of the day there was another fine layer of pollen all over the car. Seeing as tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day and we’ll take the Sonata to work, with the Miata staying in the garage, when we got home tonight, I decided to wash it.

Because I wash the cars under the metal carport the Sonata normally lives under, to wash the Miata, the Sonata has to be backed to the end of the driveway. Even thought I can count the pine trees in our neighborhood on one hand2 the blueish hued Purple Whale was nearly green from its thick coating of pollen too making it hard to see where the end of the driveway is.

So after washing the Emperor, I went ahead and washed the Purple Whale even though I know it is kind of a waste of time.3 Sure it needed it, but right now as I sit inside typing this, the car is slowing being re-covered with a dusting of yellow pollen. Plus with tomorrow’s rain by the end of the work day the Sonata will be covered in yellow freckles just like I removed from the Miata.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1471

I Want To Believe…

…this will be worth watching, but more than likely it will be painful. The X-Files are returning for 6 new episodes on Fox.

What have our dynamic doing for the last 13 years? This only works for me if they both left the FBI and Mulder moved to LA and became a self-loathing, sex addicted, alcoholic writer:
David Duchovny

While Scully moved to London and joined the Met:
Gillian Anderson

60 Points

Warm UpI’ve always been a Red Sox fan, that has never faded, while the other Boston sports teams that I routed for in my youth have. The Bruins were replaced by the Hartford Whalers. The Patriots were supplanted by the Los Angeles Rams.

The Celtics were the last to go. When Larry Bird called it quits, I did too. I had one of those green Starter satin jackets with CELTICS on the front. That thing set me back about $125 in ’81 or ’82, which about $300 in today’s money, and if I wanted to buy quite possibly that very same jacket, I could get it off eBay now for ten bucks.

We lived in New Orleans from 1983 until 1987, so when the Atlanta Hawks played several “home” games in the then new University of New Orleans Lakeside Arena in 1985, we bought tickets to see them play the Celtics. Donna and I went for sure, but I think that her mom and younger brother may have gone with us too. It was probably too warm in New Orleans for that lined satin jacket, but I wore it proudly. I wasn’t the only one, there were more Celtic fans in attendance than there were fans for the home Hawks.

I took the above picture while we were waiting for the game to start, that is Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson stretching. I may have taken a photo or two of Mr. Bird, but I have no clue what has become of them. That one survives because I used it as one of my projects for a college photography course.

It was a very exciting game, the Celtics kicked Hawk butt and it wasn’t even as close as the 11 point margin makes it seem. Larry Bird put on a clinic and scored a team record 60 points. I think of that game very rarely anymore, its 30th anniversary was last Thursday, but it all came flying back the other day when I clicked on a link in the Google News sidebar – ‘It Was Like Living in a Video Game’: An Oral History of Larry Bird’s 60-Point Game.