It’s Thanksgiving, which means family, friends, football and food. It also means we must make a good impression on company, so I blew the leaves off the roof and cleaned up the front yard in the morning chill. It was work, but I don’t think it was enough to offset the caloric intake of my traditional 2 helpings of turkey and all the fixin’s.
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 328
…always seem so long. By Tuesday it seemed like I’d been there long enough for it to be Thursday. Which if you look at it, was just about right because today was Wednesday, but really Friday because it was the last day of the work week.
Last Friday while out scouting the Christmas Light Tour route we stopped at friends from the Miata Club’s house (they are the end of the line because they are hosting this year’s Holiday Party.) It was getting chilly as daylight faded and we considered putting the top up for the ride home. That’s when John said here try this. He had another member’s old windblocker to copy to make a pattern so he can make one up for himself. John is our Club’s closet seamstress, he has made a bunch of stuff up including bags for the boot and our Club’s Loaner Trunk Bag. We have had to windblocker on quite a bit and it has definitely extended the lower temperature limit for top down driving. Using just the blocker it keeps the cold wind off your back. With the blocker and windows up it is very cozy inside. Still get some cold air in, but hey it is a convertible. I think we are going to get John to sew us one up too.
Upper 30’s on the way to work – no problem, the top was down.
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 328
Went out for bagels for breakfast. When we sat down in the restaurant to wait for our order I noticed that the newspaper print was slightly out-of-focus. It wasn’t the paper, it was me, I had left my glasses on the nightstand. I got tired of hunting down where I put my reading glasses about a year ago, so I went and had no-line bifocals made up of clear glass on top and +1.00 reading glasses on the bottom. Now I just wear them all the time. Trouble comes in the morning, because I don’t really need them to see, unlike my wife, I can get ready for work without putting them, so sometimes I get all the way to trying to read the paper before I realize that I need to get my glasses. Today was the first time I left home with out them though.
Almost forgot. Back on the 17th one of the door prizes I won in the Poker Run was a $25 gift certificate from MM Miata On the 19th I mailed in the certificate along with an order for some leather seatbelt stalk covers. I already have the leather shift and hand brake boots and this would complete the ensemble. They came in today, pretty good service. The first 4 years Miatas were produced the seatbelts were fastened to the floor. Starting in my year they were fastened to the side of the seat for I’m sure government mandated safety reasons. The sleeves fit all year Miatas, but for mine, about 3 inches had to be trimmed off the length. Now that they are installed they really are nothing special, glad they were essentially free to me. I would have been disappointed to have shelled out $25 for that lackluster enhancement.
On the way to work this morning we stopped at the ATM to get out a twenty because Donna was going out at lunch with her co-workers. When we were walking into the building at work she asked me to give her the receipt from the withdrawal. She likes to put them inside the checkbook right away because I have a tendency to forget about them and have nearly caused some checks to bounce in the past. When I opened my wallet the $20 bill was there, but no receipt. For that matter, no ATM card either! Left them in the ATM. Hopped back in the car and hightailed it the 3 miles back to the bank. The receipt was still there in the slot, but no card. When I got back to work I called the 1-800 customer service where the fellow explained to me that after a minute or so of the card being left in the slot the machine sucks it in. If I was lucky that would be the case. I called the bank an hour later when they opened and sure enough they had my card. When you are old and senile it helps to be lucky. 🙂
Decided to drive it work and see where I could go from there about my coolant leak. My wife followed me in her Mom’s car in case something happened. I’ll spare some of the other weird happening of the morning except to include the fact that a huge cloud of white vapor engulfed the car upon parking in the lot at work. At morning break the IE, Chris, and I went out and started the car and looked to see if we could actually see where it was leaking. Sure enough you could see a little drop – drop -drop coming from the lower heater hose. I called the two “local” Mazda dealers and neither had the hose in stock. I called Advance Auto and they said we have one of the 2. I ran there at lunch and picked up the hose for $10. When I got back to work Chris asked if I had any luck finding the hose I told him yes and that I was going to call the shop right across the street to see what he’d charge me to put it in.
He said, “Don’t do that, get me a pair of pliers and I’ll change it in 5 minutes.” 50 minutes later the hose was changed. To be fair he probably would have been done in less than 10 minutes if I had the stock hose. The Advance Auto hose was just a generic 90 degree bend thing and was too long requiring trimming and retrimming and retrimming to fit. And because it was in such an inaccessible spot forcing it on and twisting it only to have to remove it as a big PITA. Thanks Chris.
Started down, went up, went down, still down.
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