Soliciting

Lower 60’s and partly cloudy today, a far cry from the predicted scattered showers. Top down errand at lunch (put it back up during work, in case) and a short drive before heading home.

The lunch errand was to a used car dealer down the street from where we work. Passed by the other day and noticed an early vintage Miata on the lot. Every time I catch one at a used car lot I drop off a copy of the latest club newsletter and a form letter thing telling the new owner about our Club, the national Club and Miata Net. We haven’t picked up any members from this, but you never know.

Sporks

Breakfast at Popeye’s. Would have went to Hardee’s but I’m too impatient 😉 to make the 2 mile trip to the southside ATM, when I can just pass right by the downtown one on the way to Popeye’s. The biscuits are about the same, but Hardee’s sausage gravy is richer and has more sausage bits in it. There is one other reason, at Hardee’s you get a real plastic fork, but at Popeye’s you get a spork, which is a spoon/fork hybrid. Unfortunately it is more spoon than fork and is just not good for stabbing at sausage chunks.

Don’t be so impatient.

Our usual commute to work takes us by the entrance to an elementary school. Teacher work days, school recesses and holidays are the nicest drive to work days, so much less traffic. I love summer because all the chauffeur Moms are still at home and I hate winter because besides the usual lack of attention paid to the road, things are compounded by putting on coats and hats and wiping off the fogged up windows.

The entrance and exit from the school parking lot is the same road which T’s into a road with a speed limit of 45MPH. Of course there is a steady stream of traffic from both directions to get into the school. The folks leaving the school and are going right usually have no problem, it is the left turn folks that are a danger. About once a week somebody pulls out in front of me because they assume that everyone is going to be turning left into the school. They get impatient if they have to wait more than 2 minutes to get a clear lane to turn into. No way they would go right and just make the extra 1/2 loop to get back home….

Screws Loose

It is still dark in the morning (sunrise 7:30 am, leave house at 7:00) so we got to watch the blue gages in their full glory on the morning commute. Everything looked AOK. I was worried last night after I shut the car down, I don’t remember the temp gage flopping that far to the left with the key off. I did get a surprise though, when I put the car in reverse to back out of the garage a couple of screws landed at my feet. I had forgot to put the last 2 screws that hold the hood over the gages on. no worries as there were a couple of clips holding it in place, I’ll screw them in tonight when I get home.

Today was cloudy, but warmer than yesterday. So we made a little extra trip out of the ride home. Didn’t have to run an errand, but what the heck, it meant a trip through an old section of town that has nice narrow, windy roads. 🙂

It Is Lunch Time Isn’t It?

Once a week my wife and I have a lunch “date” and leave the plant to go to a local fast food place to eat instead of the usual microwaved entree. Today we went to Popeye’s. We both like the food there, nice and spicy, it reminds us of when we lived in New Orleans. Should have guessed we were in trouble when there were 3 people waiting off to the side for their orders and two people still in front of us. They only had one person taking orders and one person handling the drive-up and judging by which the speed of the food was delivered to the patrons, only one person cooking. They should have had a few more people working being as it was 12:15 and the middle of lunch time.

Spicy Lunch Date

Sunny and mid 50’s for today’s lunch “date” with my wife. Today we went to Popeyes and I had their spicy chicken sandwich. No comparison, Popeyes was levels above last week’s Hardee’s spicy chicken sandwich.

Couldn’t wait until Saturday to put in the gage faces, did it tonight. The only problem I had was the location of the switch/dimmer. They suggested a place that my big foot would hit, so I moved it up and out of the way. Can’t get to it while driving, but once it is set who needs to adjust it.

Where’s the receipt?

The absolute greatest invention since self-service, has been the card reader on the pump. You no longer need to go inside and have to wait in line behind people buying cigarettes, lottery tickets, 64oz Giant Gulps or whatever. You just pull up, fill up and go. The stations without these new pumps are becoming rarer and rarer and if I stumble on one, I’ll just drive across the street.

Needed to get some gas today. When I was done and returned the pump handle, no receipt came out. So inside I went, ugh. The woman gave me some lame excuse about it being out of paper, but I know better. These corner quick stops must be losing a lot money in lost impulse buys with those pumps, so they are programmed to every once in awhile not print a receipt so that you have to go inside. While I waited for the person in front of me to pay for their gas, I used my superior will-power to not pick up a butane lighter or one of those rolled up astrology forecasts.