The Sweat Smell Of Anti-Freeze

Today was a really nice day so we went for country back road cruise. Nice little 40 mile drive in he mid 60 degree sunshine. When we got home I went back in the garage to get a load of clothes out of the dryer I smelt something out of the ordinary, took a moment before I realized it was the sweat smell of anti-freeze. Looked under the Miata and sure enough there was puddle near the back of the engine area. Back the car out of the garage and wiped up the mess. I then mixed up a cocktail of water and anti-freeze to top off the radiator. While I ran the car for like 3 minutes topping off the radiator in the driveway I must have dripped out a half a cup on the driveway. And of course when I pulled back into the garage and shut it off I made another puddle… After some research on Miata.net I feel that I have either a bad water pump or a bad hose. Gonna have it towed to the dealer for the work as I don’t have the tools, time or talent for car fixin’.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 324

Must Take Some Special Handling II

Ordered my driving gloves from Moss Motors. I get a nice glossy catalog from them every couple of months and mostly it goes into the nightstand for bedtime reading and dreaming, but every once and a while I buy something from them. Moss had the same gloves as M M Marketing for $7 cheaper so I ordered them. But there must be special S & H precautions for deerskin driving gloves as Moss wants $7.95 to ship them me. Oh, well it still worked out a couple buck cheaper that any other option.

Too Close To Home

Just got through watching the movie Outside Providence and it really hit home in a lot of ways. The movie is set in Rhode Island in 1974 and involves a lot of beer drinking and pot smoking and just hanging out with the rest of your friends lamenting your sorry station in life. One year earlier and 100 miles west and it could have been my life they were filming. Not the lead character mind you, but one of his stoner pals. 🙂

Vittles

This afternoon was the reason for my bitching and moaning all week about being at work an extra hour every day, we were FREE! At 11:30 Donna and I got in the car and pointed it away from 1561 Columbia Highway vowing not to return until 7:30 AM on Monday, November 25th.

Went home and changed into what is known as week-end wear and headed out for lunch at the Boll Weevil Cafe. I had a Jose and she had a Curious George, mmmm. After the vittles we went out and planned the route for the Master’s Miata Club’s Christmas Light Tour I’m leading on December 7th. It is a pared down version of the one from last year in the Augusta Chronicle.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 324

Beat the Devil

Latest and lamest of the BMW Films. It got a write-up in yesterday’s paper because the Godfather of Soul who stars in the movie with Clive Owen was born and still lives around here. I don’t remember what the fellow said about the film because he was mostly commenting on JB’s performance. I thought the film stunk, especially when compared to “The Hostage” the first of the new Z4 series films. The best part is at the end when the Devil’s neighbor comes knock to complain about the noise. The Devil, played by Gary Oldman says, “Tell him I’m not here. He gives me the creeps.” The neighbor is….ooh, go download it and watch.

The Trim Is Welcome

Up for the early morning frosty drive to work. We did go out at lunch and just drive around for 45 minutes in the mid 60 degree sunshine. After work it went up as the temps were falling fast and the clouds, although no rain was predicted, looked like they could sprinkle on us at any minute.

Today was haircut day for both of us. Every 4 weeks we go to a salon run by a friend of ours from the ol’ Aiken Bicycle Club days. Donna likes getting her haircut every month, so at the beginning of the year we sign up for appointments on a Tuesday evening at 5:00 PM every 4th week. While my hair has basically stopped growing on top (and in several patches is actually regressing) the sides are still thick and shaggy after a month, so the trim is welcome for me as well.

Started down, went up, went down, went back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 321

Must Take Some Special Handling

At yesterday’s poker run one of the door prizes I won was a $25 gift to certificate to M M Marketing. I looked in the catalog they gave me and I was going to use that money as a big chunk of the cost for some nice driving gloves at $39.95. They use symbols to signify S & H costs and when I saw that they wanted $5.95 to get the gloves to me I was stunned. Must be a mistake, so I went online to see what the shipping and handling should really be. Added the gloves to my cart, filled out the billing information, the shipping information and on page 4 I selected ground UPS. Page 5 informed me that my total cost would be $48.90! Online they wanted 8.95 for S & H. I could drive up to NC (where they are located) for less in gas money. I think I’ll get my gloves somewhere else and just pick something for $20 out of the catalog and hope I can get something that they only want $4.95 for shipping….