Like A Pheonix Rising From The Ashes

I got a PM from someone on the Miata.net Forums asking about some Barndoor Fan Club stickers. I sold the last of them just before closing shop on the BDFC so he was out of luck.

Then as I thought about it, I still have all the images I used on the CafePress store, I can upload the logo and put it on one of their 3×5 stickers. Then all he had to do would be cut the 2 circles out and for a little less than the cost of the originals, he would be in business. While I was at it I made up a couple of different T-shirts. So if you missed out the first time get your very own Barndoor Fan Club memorabilia before it is gone for good (really.)

Life of Brian Store Annex

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 239

How Much?

This is from the Friday before last:

Every Sunday for the past month I have had to go out and put air in the left rear tire of the MSV. I put 30psi in and a week later it is down to 15. Never really have had a chance to get it taken care of, but as we had the afternoon off today I figured it be as good a time as any. We came home and picked up the car and headed down by the mall. There is a Goodyear store right next to a Chinese Buffet that would be perfect to go eat lunch at and wait for them to fix the tire.

The perky girl behind the counter took down my information and the car’s information and said that it would be $27.71. To which I said, “I just want a flat fixed, not a new tire. Why so much?” “Well,” she says, “We have to patch it, then rebalance it and then there is the new valve stem.” “Valve stem? Huh? That is way too much, the last time I had a flat fixed elsewhere it was $15,” I tell her. She sighs and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can do to cut you a break.” She points at a stack of 2-liter Pepsi bottles and says, “Take one. It’s free because of a promotion.” No thanks,” I reply, “Dr. Pepper’s my drink.” Donna and I leave to get lunch.

When we are done eating we walk back over to the Goodyear place and the car is in a different spot, so we figure it is done. When we enter the store the perky clerk says, “It’s ready. That’ll be $18.41.” I write her a check and as I head to the door I turn to her and say, “I think I will take one of those Pepsi 2-litters. I can sell it on eBay and recoup some of my costs.” She wishes us a good weekend.

Do they tell you that it is $27 so you will feel good about paying $18 for a $15 job? My favorite bit from the invoice is: “Shop Supplies*…$1.19.” The asterisk leads to the bottom of the page and an explanation, “*Shop supply fees cover misc materials used in servicing your vehicle that do not appear elsewhere on this invoice and for profit.” What you aren’t making enough profit charging $25 and change to fix a flat!?!

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 238

Appliance Schizophrenia

This afternoon when I cracked the first ice cube tray and dumped it in the bin I noticed that there were fresh ice maker ice cubes in there. Huh?!? Did turning the temp down fix it? Did removing the filter fix it? Was it a combination of both? Why did it take 48 hours instead of the 24 mentioned in the troubleshooting section of the Refrigerator Use & Care Guide? Or does the fridge have issues?

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 238

Odds and Ends

After several frustrating minutes on hold with Whirlpool I headed over to the internet and scheduled a Tuesday afternoon repair visit for the ailing ice maker.

I’m listening to the FRS playing the White Sox on the web using Chicago’s broadcast, not that other station, that still isn’t coming in worth a tinker’s damn.

Shit, I’ve used cuss words in my blog two nights in a row. Gotta stop doing that, it doesn’t do a damn bit of good and it sounds like hell.

I’ve been reading a series of books about an English Detective Inspector named Frost by a fellow named R. D. Wingfield and being a book about cops, or Bobbies, there is a lot of cussing involved. But they use different words over there, so they don’t sound too bad to my American ears. Maybe I should use sod or bloody and that way nobody will know I’m cussing except for my tiny UK audience.

While I’m reading the books, because DI Frost is described as rumpled, I picture Leo McKern of Rumpole of the Bailey fame in my head. I think if they ever make a movie about these books he would be perfect for the role, except he is probably too old now.*

Will trades in his hybrid for a car as close to an X-Wing Fighter as you can get in this century or galaxy: Red Five.

Maybe Will will use one the pictures of his new car for his entry for Photo Friday challenge of Attractive. I know I’ll probably use a picture of the Miata for entry, but right now I have nothing new. Tomorrow after I give it a bath will be another story though.

Raindrop Roulette

The last couple weeks there has been a 40% chance of afternoon thundershowers nearly every day. For the longest time my rule of thumb has been, 40% chance of rain and higher, the top goes up while at work. After not having it rain during the day for the last couple of weeks with those kinds of numbers, I got tired of burning my hands on interior bits for the drive home, so on Thursday and today we left the top down and used the cockpit cover.

Seeing as I’m still a little gun-shy from the dousing received a month ago, I have kept the Weather Channel‘s local radar running in a browser in the background. I check it about every 15 minutes. Both afternoons there have been numerous thundershowers pop up around Aiken county, but thankfully none have blossomed right over ASCO. Today with just 15 minutes left in the workday a small spot of green appeared over where I think we are on the map, so I went to the nearest window to take a peek outside. Mmmm, looks sunny. Not wanting to take any chances that green would grow to yellow/orange/red, signifying massive water from the sky, I hustled Donna out the door as fast as possible. As we left, the parking lot was dry, but the cars near the front of the lot had water on the horizontal surfaces. Sure enough it had rained, not hard enough to breach the protection of the cockpit cover though.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 237

Seven Weeks

That is exactly how long it took for the ice maker in our new refrigerator to stop working. FUCK! There are cubes in the tray that feel frozen, but they haven’t been ejected. After reading the troubleshooting section of the “manual” we got with the unit I have cranked the temperature knob up one, it has been warm around here the last couple of days. Plus I removed the refrigerator’s built in water filter as that was listed as a probably cause. SHIT!

Lets hope one of those things fix this. Although I don’t hold out much hope, it is obviously cold enough in there as the ice cubes that were already made are still ice and if the filter was clogged there wouldn’t be any frozen water in the ice maker right now. DAMN!

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 237

Mars Attacks!

My boss at work is forever forwarding emails to the group.He is an internet newbie, so most of the stuff is recycled chain stuff. But I don’t tell him to stop because sometimes the jokes or pictures of scantily clad women brighten up my day. Plus I also get a chance to debunk them to the group by using a couple of the hoax/urban legend sites I keep bookmarked.

Today I got one that shouted at me in various colors and fonts that Mars will be passing the closest ever to Earth this August. Be sure and tell your kids and grandkids because it won’t get this close for another thousand years. Well, I remember that this actually happened 2 years ago, so I replied all asking where did I sign up for the time travel trip and linking to a page describing that this was an event that occurred in 2003.

After I sent that back, I starting reading the whole email and near the bottom was two pictures, one of the Moon and one of Mars about the same size. Underneath were words to the effect, “Starting at the beginning of the month you will be to watch Mars grow in the sky until it is the same size as the Moon to the naked eye, so enjoy the show.”

A little more research and I just had to sent out another email to the group addressing this statement. Mars is roughly twice the diameter of the Moon, 6878km vs. 3476km. For them to appear the same size to the naked eye Mars would have to be roughly twice as far from Earth as the Moon. The Moon is 368,500km from Earth, so doubling that (let’s round up a bit) gives us 800,000km. Lets switch to something we can grasp and convert the 800,000km to 500,000 miles. Mars would have to be 1/2 million miles away to appear the same size in the sky as the moon to the naked eye. Now 1/2 million miles sounds pretty far away, but at Mar’s closest approach to Earth two years ago, it was 35 million miles away. If the red planet finds a way to get that close to us, something is seriously wrong with our solar system. Nobody will be enjoying the show, they will be preparing to die.

Actually this October there will be another close approach. Mars will be a mere 43 million miles away and it will appear in the sky to be the size of a quarter viewed from an 1/8 of a mile away.

My cubical neighbors got to talking about what kind of effect the Martian gravity would have on Earth if it got as close as stated n that email. Back to the web for more research. The mass of Mars is 6.4219e23kg. The mass of the Moon is 7.35e22kg. That is a lot of zeros to try and type into Windows calculator, so seeing as we are just after the ratio, let’s divide 64.219 by 7.35. This gives the answer that the mass of Mars is 8.73 times that of the Moon. For Mars to look the same size in the sky as the moon it has to be twice as far away as the Moon. Because the force of gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between two objects, the force of gravity of the Moon would be ? of what it is if it was twice as far away. So if it Mars that same twice as far away it’s effect would be 2.18 time stronger than that of the moon. I suppose that would make the tides twice as high. And if the Moon and Mars got close to aligning in the sky the tides would be 3 times as high as they are now.

Any Planetary Physicists out there feel free to chime and let me know how far off my calculations are.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 237