Shifter Feel

Shifter Boot PartsThe other weekend when I had the Emperor’s center console off working on relocating the cigarette lighter 12V Power Outlet I noticed that the internal rubber shifter boot (#13) was all torn. This is what separates the outside from the inside and when it is torn it lets in a lot of heat from the transmission. You would think I would have noticed sooner, but the inside of a Miata can be warm to begin with, I live where it is kinda hot and it has probably been torn for awhile so I was used to it.

When the top rubber piece is ripped, more than likely the rubber part of the lower boot (#14) is shot as well. The lower one covers the opening on the top of the transmission keeping junk out of and gear oil in the turret where the shift lever enters. I ordered up some replacements.

Sunday afternoon I put them in. It took about an hour and most of that was trying to get the old hardened rubber bits off the the shift lever. The upper boot had sort of melded around the fatter part of the shifter (about D-cell diameter) so there was a lot of prying and tugging involved. The lower boot was rock solid and I could barely cut it with a razor knife from the smaller diameter (index finger sized) part below the fat part. Here is a photo of a shifter with the lower boot still on:
OEM Shfter

It’s after cutting off the lower boot that you realize to get the new one on, that little hole in the rubber part will have to do a big stretch to get over the fat part of the lever. Well, a little personal lubricant made short work of that job and it was actually harder sliding on the upper boot and it had a nice big hole.

Now that everything is all back together the shifts have a different feel. They still have that short precise throw, but putting it into 1st or 3rd gear you get a little push back from the now complete rubber boot. I wonder if I’ll notice when the rubber fails and rips?

Clones

I’ll be there for me?
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8HY75UYeM

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1263

Utopia

Utopia

I read an online review of Orphan Black the other day from a source in England, they are just getting it shown over there now, and the biggest complaint he had was the crummy British accents. They sound just fine to me and I watch a lot of British TV, but I’m not from there so…

The reviewer compared OB to a show called Utopia which I had never heard of. He said the way they were similar is that it put seemingly ordinary persons in extra ordinary positions and watched how they reacted. It had a six episode series run earlier this year on Channel 4 and after watching half of them I see that similarity, but that is the only one.

It is beautifully shot in very wide screen with a bright palette. The top image is from the opening shots of episode 2, click to see it full size to appreciate it. After episode one you see that there are two parallel story lines that will intersect sometime. The soundtrack is kind of quirky, but fits the show to a T.

If Orphan Black was a movie it would be rated PG, Utopia on the other hand would be rated R. While I have been busy spreading the word and coercing my co-workers to watch OB, the violence in Utopia is so Quentin Tarantino-esque that I don’t know who I would recommend the show to.

134,000 Grains Of Salt

Bridal Veil FallsWow, another thousand miles has gone by. This one in less than a month. Almost seems like old times when the Emperor was our only car and we drove it everywhere. A good chunk of this thousand miles can be directly attributed to our trip to Deals Gap a couple weekends ago.

On our way back home that Sunday we stopped just outside Highlands, NC at the Bridal Veil Falls for a small photo op. We thought with all the recent rains in the area it might have a lot more of a flow, but it seemed to be about the same amount as any old fall day.

Tonight we went out to get some dinner and were surprised by the amount of traffic at, admittedly the busiest intersection in town, Whiskey & Pine Log Roads to turn left. It was backed up about a 1/4 mile with about a hundred and thirty four thousands cars in line. We were going to go left there, but opted to go straight through and turn left further down the street to sneak up on our destination, Captain D’s. Even that left turn was a bit of a wait and the short circuit we were making was crawling (literally) with cars.

We left the house with the odometer on 133,999 and by the time we parked it was right on the 134,000 mark. One mile traveled, but it felt like about five. Our drive brought us to a parking lot area where the were several restaurant options, so when we arrived Donna changed her mind, since she was going to have fish for lunch tomorrow, she would rather go to Five Guys and get a burger. Very little arm twisting was needed to get me to agree. The burgers are pretty darn good and the fries are awesome as well, except they sure do sprinkle on the salt. I bet but our small size had about 134,000 grains of salt on them.

Purloined Hot Sauce

Our Industrial Engineer Rob is an eating machine. But it seems like to him, if it is worth eating, it is worth eating with hot sauce on it. Consequentially, Rob runs out of hot sauce on occasion, so then he needs to borrow some from his coworkers.

Rob has been out of hot sauce for a while now and has found a favorite supply, a bottle our supervisor Keith keeps in his office. But Keith has noticed that the level in his sauce bottle seems to be dropping faster than it should be considering the amount he uses. Naturally all suspicion falls on Rob, but he has steadfastly denied any culpability in the missing sauce, but no one believes him. Turns out, with good reason.

In the last few seconds of this surveillance video is a small obscene hand gesture that may not be suitable for children, parental discretion is advised:

At Least Two More Beard Posts

I said in the middle of last month that I hoped I had made my last beard post, but as long as the FRS are still in the playoffs people will be writing about them, so shall I.

Grantland posted up another article about baseball, beards and Boston: Sportstorialist: Basebeards

Inside that article they linked to a Boston Globe photo essay that is worth a look: Red Sox? ?beard bonding? symbolic of attitude adjustment

The title says at least two more beard posts, this counts as one. The other will be the one with a photo of my shaggy mug when the Sox are done with the playoffs, which could come as early as this Friday, October 11th or as late as Thursday, October 31st.

Simpsonized Clones

Clone Clip

The Simpsons is still running on FOX in its 25th season and tonight’s Treehouse of Horror XXIV is episode number 532 overall. There are a couple of folks out there that are drawing other characters in the style of that show, Dean at Springfield Punx and Adrien Noterdaem on his tumblr/Flicker page who did the one above of Cosima, Alison, Beth, Helena & Katja.

At one time there was a site on the web that would let you “Simpsonize” yourself, sadly it is no more, but not before I had a chance to make up one of myself:

Simpsonized Brian