It’s Friday, so, as usual, Donna and I rode the tandem to work. As we parked the bike in the rack Donna noticed something hanging from the back tire. On closer inspection it turned out to be a section of the tire about the size of 2 quarters side by side that had separated from the kevlar belts. It was still holding air so we opted to ride it home, but agreed not to bomb down the hills and take it easy on the corners in case of sudden air containment failure.
A little more than half way home we came to a halt at a stop sign we usually don’t have to stop at. Not because our tire blew out, but because there was a car coming from the left. It looked a little weird, there were some odd stripes and it had green doors, so I knew it was vinyl wrapped to advertise some business. I was so intent on trying to figure out what they were advertising for for that it took a while to register that there was something very weird about the car.
It had a 3′ stalk sticking out of the roof with a red disco ball on top — it was a Google Street View Car! I waved meekly as it passed. Because it was going the way we were going, we turned right and followed. The Google car got stopped at the light at the next block and I pulled up right behind it to wait. The light turned green and the car pulled off. I gave another wave as Donna and I turned left to continue on the way home.
Baseball is back and the FRS have lost the first three games of the season. The Boston press is already writing stories about the Red Sox 2012 season being doomed or don’t worry it is only 3 out of 162. Today the Sox had a 3 run lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning. Detroit scored three runs to tie it. The FRS scored two in the top of the 11th to take the lead, but Detroit promptly scored 3 in the bottom of the inning to win it. I was already leaning towards Gloom & Doom, but after today’s effort I’ve fallen completely over.
Both cars got a bath today, the Sonata to remove the Georgia red clay from the wheel wells and the Florida bugs off the front, while the Miata had the last of the pine pollen rinsed off.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1127
This morning the three cars of the MMC went their separate ways and probably at separate times. Kurt & Karen were headed back via Helen, GA, John & Jackie were planning on lunch in Spartanburg and we were just headed home. We arrived there 6 hours later after a gas stop, 4 driver changes and lunch. Total mileage for the trip, eight hundred fifty four and seven tenths. Took three tankfuls of gas for around $90 total and averaged a touch over 33 MPG, which is pretty darn good for the kind of driving the mountain roads bring out in a sports car.
Ever since the Purple Whale got a dragon sticker after his trip through Deals Gap, the Emperor has been whining about getting his own. He already has a diamond shaped one on the inside of the trunk lid and he has been driven through the gap about 2 dozen times to the Whale’s once, but his jealous carping was just too much. So to keep the sniping between the two cars at a minimum, one gold dragon sticker now resides on the Emperor’s butt trunk lid where the little geocaching one once did. Of course I had to wash off all the road crud (and bear fur) before applying said sticker.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1089
I don’t know exactly how they score them (I could look it up I guess*), but I hope that the combined total of 1 Wide Receiver and 1 Tight End don’t usually add up to 40 points. Right now my team is winning it’s “Game” 93 to 55, but my opponent has the two aforementioned position players from the New England Patriots who play on Monday night.
*OK, I looked it up: Every 10 receiving yards = 1 point, 2pt Receiving Conversion = 2 points & every TD Reception = 6 points.
To keep the siblings from quibbling, after breakfast out and grocery shopping today, I washed the Miata. The rest of the day was spent inside watching NFL football. Why? See above.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1065
The Miata got a sponge bath in the garage last night in preparation for the MMC’s participation in the Ridge Peach Festival in Trenton today. I send out an email to the Club stating that Donna and I wouldn’t do the parade without at least 6 cars and that is exactly how many showed up at the meeting spot for our drive to Edgefield for breakfast.
After breakfast we lost a car that wasn’t doing the parade thing, but fortunately there was one car waiting at the intermediate meeting point to bring it back to the required minimum. Donna had originally planned to walk up to the main viewing area and be a spectator because creeping along at 3 miles an hour in the hot sun is not something she cares to do, but the weather was unseasonably cool enough (upper 80’s) that she ended up riding along and throwing candy to the crowds.
The picture above is my favorite of the dozen or so photos I snapped today on the event. I captured a float behind us setting up before the start of the parade in the outside rearview mirror of the Emperor. I could tell they were a church group because the shirts the adults were wearing said on the front “Do you know Jesus?” The back read in big letters, “R U SUR”. I couldn’t make out the fine print, but hopefully it explained the missing E at the end of SUR or maybe the Bible book or passage demonstrated by the Wizard of Oz. It was an off the hip shot and I didn’t realize that I had captured the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion checking the Miatas out until I got home and downloaded the pictures. You can see the all the photos taken over on the MMC Website.
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1039
We did three loads of clothes and I did two cars. The Miata has needed a good washing since before pine pollen season, but I put it off until everything pollen-wise has dropped or drifted around. Then I washed the Sonata to get the north Georgia (where it is still spring) pine pollen off of it. Thankfully there is that shark fin satellite antenna in the middle of the roof so I could judge if needed longer arms or step stool to get the whole car clean.
And while that should have been today’s “Holy Crap This Car Is Big” story, it was trumped by our filling up the gas tank tonight. We had filled it up Friday when it was still half full, but it was now getting down to under an 1/8 of a tank. It holds 17 gallons which is 1–1/2 Miata tanks, so this time it was the most we had ever spent of gas ever. The 14.77 gallons that went in there came to over $50.
I didn’t pay attention to the mileage at Friday’s fill up, but today I did. It took 10.1 gallons then and now it took 14.8, there were 753 miles on the car, and I’m going to assume that they topped the tank when they sold it to us at 29 miles, so the gas mileage was 29 MPG. Not bad for a car rated at 22/35 (26 combined) considering it spent quite a bit of time being slogged through curvy mountain passes.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1005
Donna and I went for a little bike ride this morning. First off we chased the 14% larger moon as it set in the southeast to the Post Office to mail something. Once the moon disappeared behind the clouds and the envelope disappeared in the slot we headed back northwest to go downtown and drop the power bill in the slot outside the SCE&G office. While we were that way we stopped in to see what the so-called founding father of Our Fair City™ was looking at. Near as I can tell he is looking down the Alley trying to catch a glimpse of a Tipsy McStumbles waitress. Thirteen miles is all our backsides could stand considering the last time we were on a bike was, as near as I can figure, around Thanksgiving last year.
After breakfast I went out and rinsed all the pine pollen and tree bits (seedling covers and flowering things) that were covering he Emperor. Because it is early in the spring yuck season I didn’t bother with soap, just water and a towel. Later in the day on a trip to the mall I parked, against the expressed consent of my wife, near a tree. In my defense, I figured it was through dropping stuff because it had tiny leaves already showing. I was half right, it wasn’t dropping solid bits, but when we got back to the car it was covered with tiny droplets of sap. At first I considered leaving it on there giving the pine pollen something to stick making the Emperor appear to be wearing a polka dotted robe, but instead when we got home I spent 45 minutes or so with some Quick Detailer wiping off that gunk.
During one of the top transitions while cleaning the outside of the car (I also cleaned and protected the leather seats) I noticed that the top was bunching up on the passenger side at one of the metal bows. Turns out, right where the bow has the radius between vertical and horizontal, the inner dark layer of fabric has been separated from the tan exterior layer. This means that this spot where the top material is very taught, only has one layer of fabric there which will probably tear in the not too distant future. I’m going to call the top guy over in Augusta to see when he can look at it and determine if it is fixable or it is new top time. If a new top is required it will be a big disappointment. The OEM top lasted 5 years and this one will have only made it half that long.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979
If my tagging of posts is 100% accurate, which is doubtful, the last time I washed the car was November 14th and that was really only dusting and Quick Detailing. Well, whenever the last washing the Emperor actually was, he got the real deal today and it is amazing how purrty he looks from 10 feet away without any of that nasty road dirt on him.
About a year ago Donna lost her wedding ring and we replaced it with a cheapo one we found in a local Dillards. We both got two copies of the same ring in our size and in the past three hundred and sixty odd days we have worked our way through both. Mine currently has one of the diamonds (AKA piece of glass) missing and the gold plating no longer exists on either of our rings. I thought what a nice thing to do for Valentines Day would be to buy some actual gold replacement rings. After hunting around on the web for a bit last night we came up with a ring we both liked. Unsure of our correct sizes we opted to wait until we visited an actual Zales store and had our sizes determined by a trained professional. Which we did today and they measured Donna’s finger as a 7–1/2, which shot a big hole in our plans, as our chosen ring was only available online and only in whole sizes. Back to the net and in short order we found our second choice and ordered them.
We watched The Town today and were tempted to turn on the English Subtitles the Boston accents were so thick. We had an easier time understanding the liverpudlian ones in Nowhere Boy.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 943
Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor this afternoon. I used the California Duster to remove the road fur from yesterday’s trip and washed all the windows. Sprayed a little Quick Detailer in places to get off some random gunk and treated the tires so they shine. Even vacuumed the interior.
As long as we are doing the Georgia State Park Challenge we might as well do the the GA County and GA Delorme Challenges as well. There are 42 State Park caches, 159 counties and 59 map pages, but you really need 63 caches because this challenge requires you to find a cache on the page inserts too. That would be 264 unique finds, so unlike in South Carolina we are going to take the easy route, any cache found, can and will be, used towards multiple Challenges. So right now we have 4 State Parks, 19 counties and 17 pages.
On yesterday’s trip there were several caches along our route we didn’t even try for because of time and motivational issues and there was one in particular that I’m glad we didn’t get, Cache Across America — Georgia. That’s right, a challenge with the requirement to find a cache in all 50 states and not just any cache, but the 50 picked out just for it.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 893
Typically this is the day we native New Englanders consider summer over. School would start this week and the mornings are cool enough for a light coat or sweater. Then I moved south and all that went out the window, school’s been in session for a two or three weeks and the mornings won’t cool off until the end of this month. But today it felt like I was transported back north. We went for a small bike ride this morning and when I stepped outside the garage, I turned right around,went back inside and got a long sleeve shirt to wear. At the end of the ride Donna and I sat outside at the Atlanta Bread Company eating our bagels, drinking our coffee and reading the morning paper and it felt like fall. I would have liked to have been able bottle a bit of that to break out one grim winter day this coming January.
I spend the rest of the morning giving the Emperor his quarterly wash and wax. Amazing the amount of tiny little bits of paint that has chipped off the front end of the car in the 111.5k miles it has traveled and they are all the more noticeable because the primer underneath the dark Garnet Red is white.
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 819
This morning as I opened the garage door there occurred a loud BANG! Over my head the garage door spring banged into the support bracket. I was headed out to wash the car, but instead I made a trip to Home Depot. Bought new springs and a couple of new eye bolts. I really needed just one to replace the one that got mangled when the spring smashed into it, but figured why should one new spring be jealous of the other over an old eye bolt.
Inside the box with the springs were two long pieces of wire that were probably there as some sort of safety thing, but the instructions on the box didn’t really spell out how they were to be used. I installed the new springs and because they were a little shorter that the current ones I had to adjust the cables a little. It wasn’t until then that I figured out how the cables worked. Trouble was to install the safety cables I would need to totally disassemble what I had just completed. That was not going to happen. I may have to engineer something to retro fit the safety wires. I got lucky this time because I didn’t have the safety wires and the spring broke on the end it did. If it had busted on the eye bolt end and not the pulley end it might have hit the door and bounced around instead of just slamming into the support.
The reason I was opening the garage door was to go out and change the Emperor’s oil and rotate his tires which I now proceeded to do, just a couple hours later. While I had the car up on jack stands with the wheels off, I did a couple of maintenance items. I have had a high pitched chirping noise that was only noticeable in the early morning when driving through our quiet neighborhood. It would totally disappear when I pushed in the clutch pedal. The most common cause of this is the clutch actuating fork vibrating against the slave cylinder’s operating rod. The cure for this to slap a bunch of grease on the fork where the rod hits it. Luckily I had some bicycle wheel bearing grease in the cabinet that fit the bill. The other thing was to check and see if the brake slider pins needed lubricating.
Last year when I had the stuck pin someone at work recommended using a copper based lubricant instead of the usual tube of whatever that you get at the auto parts store. I checked with the hive knowledge of the Miata.net forums and while I didn’t get a unanimous opinion that it was a great idea, I didn’t get enough negative comments to rule it out, so I decided to run a test, one side got the usual lube and the other got the copper stuff. Today when I checked them one side was fine, but the other was stuck pretty good. Guess which one was bad? Go ahead guess. Right, the one where I used the non-traditional copper based anti-seize lube. I could back out one pin by twisting and pulling. The other was going to need more persuasion, so I unbolted the bracket and locked in the bench vise. I grabbed an open ended wrench and a hammer and started to tap on the wrench to force the pin out. After about 3 or 4 taps is wasn’t moving, so I decided to hit it a bit harder when BANG! I hit my thumb. I did a little dance accompanied by some vocals before returning to the task where I did get finally get the pin out. I now have a pencil eraser sized black spot on my left thumbnail.
One pin was pretty scarred up and the hole in the caliber bracket the pin slides into wouldn’t come clean either. To fix this I cleaned up the easy to remove pin, a pin I had extra from last year’s brake job and I re-used last year’s bad bracket (which had been cleaned up and saw a brief stint as a napkin holder.) After getting everything all buttoned up I made a tour of the neighborhood to test out the brakes, they worked just fine. I am going to take the scarred up pin and bracket into work and drop them on the desk of the fellow who suggested the copper lubricant…
To finish off the Emperor’s spa day I gave him a bath and an interior vacuuming tonight.
I bet you’re wondering how we did geocaching today. We didn’t have a single DNF, of course we didn’t have a single find either because after our extreme up and down days on Saturday and Sunday we figured a day off might be good for our mental health.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 717
After a stint as a con woman that was a pain in the side of the crew of the Firefly a couple of times in the early 26th century and recently seen stuck on Madison Ave, Earth in the middle 20th century on TDTVS2, Christina Hendricks returns to the ‘Verse sometime in the far future where space travel costs an arm and a leg, literally, as an android in a music video from Broken Bells.
The Emperor got a well deserved bath after work today.
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 661
Last night we cleaned house, the outside anyway. I blew off the roof and deck, Donna mowed the front and back yards and I used the blower to clean our driveway.
When we got home tonight you could barely tell I had cleaned the driveway, enough oak pollen clusters had fallen to leave a sparse coating the whole front yard. Oh, well, I was still going to wash the car, had to because the MMC has abreakfast event tomorrow and we couldn’t very well show up in the pigsty the Emperor was. Plus I have that awning-carport thing that will at least keep the stuff off the car *while* I’m washing it.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 597
We were 5 of 7 in geocaching this morning. This afternoon I finally did change the oil and rotate the tires on the Emperor. While I was at it I gave him a bath too. He got quite dirty yesterday when Donna had me drive up and down the local dirt roads trying to catch a glimpse of horse drawn carriages.
Before yesterday’s running of the first “jewel” of Aiken’s Triple Crown (the flat races) there was supposed to be a carriage parade. Seeing as we were not interested in the races and too cheap to spend the $10 a piece to get in and watch the actual parade, we guessed at the start point and cruised the dirt roads looking for it. Alas, there was no external parade, the carriages came to the horse track in there own good time. We stopped near the entrance where Donna jumped out to take a couple photos of the two carriages already inside the grounds and then we drove down a rutty, muddy road looking for more. we did find two more making their way to the track, including these two ladies all dressed in purple.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 557
This is way cool, instead of hanging your flat panel TV on the wall or hiding it in an armoire, make it into a quasi mid-century MadMen inspired piece of furniture. M21 Flat Panel Console
For Christmas I bought myself a USB TV stick. It came with a chintzy little metal stick antenna that has a magnetic base. I stuck it to back of a panel on my computer desk and it works pretty good pulling in three of the four local stations. The one it is missing is FOX and I kinda want that one. I found a tutorial on how to make a digital TV antenna from wire coat hangers and yesterday I made one. It looks remarkably like this and all I managed to do was ruin 6 coat hangers and get a blister on my right palm because it doesn’t work as good as the throw away one that came with the TV stick.
I’m trying out the latest version of the Google Chrome browser (right now, as I type this!) and it does seem substantially faster than Firefox. Now with extentsions. The first of which I installed was AdBlock… Will the love last?
The office of the University president looked like the front palor of a successful Victorian whorehouse. It was paneled in big squares of dark walnut, with ornately figured maroon drapes at the long windows. There was maroon carpeting and the furniture was black leather with brass studs. The office was much nicer than the classrooms; maybe I should have worn a tie.
That is the opening paragraph from the little book that started it all, The Godwulf Manuscript, the first of 37 Spenser books by Robert B. Parker. Rest in peace Mr. Parker.
The Emperor got a much desrved bath this afternoon.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 531
This afternoon I did something I should have done yesterday, wash the car. Today was the last 3rd Saturday of the month Miata Club breakfast event of the year and the Emperor was still wearing the dirt he picked up in Florida from Thanksgiving. I usually wash the car before a Club event, but recently I have been letting that slip. Maybe because the countdown clock is under 365…
The TV situation is so bad that I am intentionally watching Sweet Home Alabama.
Today was the second Glorious Fall Day® in a row and for the first time in about three months we went for a walk in Hitchcock Woods. Took a nice little 3–1/2 mile walk among the falling leaves.
Because the weather was perfect for it as well as walking in the woods, the Emperor got the full spa treatment; bug/tar removal on the nose and rocker panels, a good washing, headlights polished, wax and a window washing. We are now set for the winter.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 471
We got out this morning to visit the Henderson Heritage Preserve north of town to discover the two caches that are there and scout possible locations for placing our own.
It is in two separate sections and there is one cache in each. The first one, Utorthent, was in the newer of the sections and the more groomed of the two. It was a very nice walk and a nice hide of an ammo can, the GPSr never read closer than 12′, but we found it without too much problem. Round trip hike turned out to be 2.8 miles and we only covered about 1/2 of the marked trails.
We then got in the car and drove the 2 miles to the parking area for the second section. We were looking for a cache called Sandhills in this one. This cache was only a 2 mile round trip, but it was through a more primitive piece of woods and included a small stream crossing and a nearly all uphill walk to the cache. As a bonus, on the way back downhill to the car we spooked a pair of deer. They came from near the road and crossed in front of us going deeper into the preserve in a big hurry.
Both places have a couple possibilities for cache placements, now I just have to figure out who to talk to to get permission. I emailed to both people who have caches in Heritage Preserves in this area and only got one reply and he was no help.
In a total reversal of standard procedure, I washed the Emperor the day after an MMC event. Even went the extra mile, vacuumed the interior and cleaned and preserved the leather seats.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 358
The Sox and Yanks are playing baseball this evening and for some reason the FRS are winning. And not only tonight, they have beaen the MFY the other 5 games they have played so far this season. I hated to say anything for fear of jinxing it and they’ll probably get their butts kicked tomorrow night while I’m watching the game on ESPN, but it feels pretty good.
I’ve been putting off washing the car for a couple weeks now because they keep calling for rain, well I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I washed the car tonight. So it will probably pour tomorrow, but the joke will be on Mother Nature because the car will be in the garage all day, we are riding the tandem to work.…wait a minute then the joke will be on us anyway.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 243
Easy flight back, we started to get some heavy turbulence somewhere over middle America, so the pilot got clearance to fly at a higher altitude. When we got up there, there must have been a better tailwind because we spent only 2:55 in the air as opposed to the scheduled 3–1/2 hours.
We used that extra thirty-five minutes to catch 3 quick caches on the way home, 2 in Fort Mill and another in Blythewood. There were still a couple left on the GPSr to do, but we could only put off the inevitable so long, we came straight home from number three.
Sorry for the Travel Bug follow the route link yesterday, didn’t realize you had to be a member and log in to see the map. So here is an image you can see — take a look.
The first things we did when we got here was for Donna to mow the weeds in both the front and back yard while I blew the piles of oak pollen clusters off the deck and the driveway. Then the Emperor got a much needed bath. The poor boy spend the last 2 weeks parked outside the Charlotte Airport Holiday Inn and there was a nice layer of baked on pine pollen on all his horizontal surfaces.
Tomorrow it is back to reality.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 176
What started as a two week vacation in the American west to eyeball some of the great natural wonders it has to offer, has somehow morphed into a long distance cache hunt. Now instead of gazing in awe at Devils Tower or Monument valley I will be staring at the GPSr while peeking at the ground looking for ammo cans well integrated into the environment.
The Emperor got a bath today even though he will need another one in three weeks after sitting in long term parking.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 172
We traveled straight to Florence on the interstate to have breakfast with Donna’s cousin (Hi Laurie) and came back entirely off of it. Last night we looked for someplace along the return to catch a walk in the woods, Pointsett State Park fit the bill perfectly. While trying to follow the photo copied trail map we came to where we thought was our additional loop and started along it. It took us about a 1/4 mile before we were positive we were following the park’s border fire break and turned around. Sure enough, about 50 yards down the rejoined trail, there was the plainly marked Hill Top Loop. We are definitely going to make a return trip to this park the next time we are over this way.
Somewhere southwest of Columbia the (recently sponge bathed) Emperor passed through the 87,000 mile mark.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 105
Got my letter from the Doctor today. Now I just have to remember to drink it slow.
In spite of my washing the car just 8 days ago, the Emperor got another washing tonight. Had to clean the Florida off him.
There are now two Miatas in the parking lot at work. The Assembly Engineering Supervisor finally pulled the trigger. He really liked the new body style Miatas when they came out in 2005 and has talked about getting one since 2006. Last week he found one he just had to have, a 2006 Grand Touring model in silver with black interior that had 45,000 miles on it.
Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 73
We almost didn’t go out at all today, except for me walking into the front yard early to get the paper.
We threatened a walk in the woods…
But didn’t. The picture above is from yesterday’s running around, the photo is not the best as I only had time to take 3 shots before he hid on me and plus I was using the digital zoom to get close.
Finally around three o’clock I decided to back the Emperor out of the garage and wax him. With me out of her hair Donna got down to writing out most of the rest of the Christmas cards. When I was done waxing I put the MAZDA & MIATA badges back on the car, it was easier than having to get the wax residue out of the little holes in the bumper. In the fading daylight we took a short drive around town to naturally blow off the rest of the wax dust that had adhered to the car due to the static charge created by rubbing a cotton cloth on a metal object in low humidity air. We mailed the Christmas cards, so go ahead and wait by your mailbox.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 56
If you have small children it may be best if you don’t let them check the mail for the next few weeks, unless of course, unlike me, you don’t think this year’s Christmas Nutcrackers Stamps are creepy.
We went out this afternoon and cleaned the rest of the leaves off the driveway and sidewalks and such. Afterward I pulled the car out of the garage and gave it a washing. It was pretty dirty from the rains of a couple weeks ago and the drenching it got last Saturday on the trip back from HHI. Maybe tomorrow I’ll pull it back out and give it a wax.
For the first time in a while we went for a bike ride today. At first we were going to ride our single bikes this afternoon, but changed it to the tandem tonight. We went out around 7 PM when it was fully dark and cruised a couple neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 54
One more walk on the beach before loading up the car and we were on the road to Aiken by 8:00 AM. We like to get home so we can eat lunch at the house, plus we need the rest of the afternoon to grocery shop for the coming week and do the laundry without feeling rushed.
We also had time to watch a movie, rake leaves (front yard only) and I washed/vacuumed the sea salt/beach sand off/out of the Emperor.
Now I just have to tweak and re size the photos and edit the text for the condo web page, then type up the MMC meeting minutes from Thursday — tomorrow.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 26
Tonight we watched episode 5 of 82 of TDTVS. It was the one we should have watched on Friday, but we weren’t home, we were in Myrtle Beach and I forgot to bring the DVD.
Finished up the weekend today by taking the long way home and snapped 10 more PO Portraits giving us a total of 23 for the 3 days. We are now 93% finished with the project and all that remain are the ones right around Charleston and the 6 military bases in the state.
Somewhere west of Branchville the Emperor cruised past the eighty two thousand mile mark, so when we got home I gave him a well deserved royal bath.
Started up, went down, went up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 370
I made an attempt to eliminate a couple of unwanted sounds that the Emperor has been making tonight.
First up was a high pitched ringing or whine that it seems that only I and possibly certain breeds of dogs can hear. I’m hoping that this is what it was in the past, a singing clutch actuation fork. A bit of grease needs to be applied on the fork where the slave cylinder rod touches it. It seems like there was still some grease on there, but I applied some more and worked it around a bit.
Second was the annoying belt squeal, mostly brief when the AC kicks in and occasionally long, loud and embarrassing on damp morning start ups. I’ve been treating this issue with belt dressing with limited success and decided it was time to attempt to tighten the offending belt. I have been avoiding this because I didn’t think that I could manage it without making it worse. Turns out in the intervening 25 years since I last tried tightening an automotive belt they have made it easy. Once you’ve loosened the mounting bolt, there is now a fancy screw that you can tighten with a wrench which increases the tension. Heck, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have had to listen to that squeal for the past year.
When I finished the maintenance I pulled out Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and gave the car a sponge bath.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 326
Tonight was the annual Bug Splat Rally for the MMC. Our slightly early start and the two brief rain showers we ran through on the loop conspired to make bugs scarce. Prize awarding was sketchy at best and as a matter of fact the Cleanest Car and Most Bugs Awards were given out based on pre-rally car conditions.
The rain was obviously my fault as I washed the car this morning to make the Emperor look pretty for tonight’s Club gathering. In mid Bug Splat loop His Highness crossed the Savannah River and crossed the 80K mile mark at about the same time.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 288
Wise. They also make the Official Potato Chip of the team too.
“Looks like it is coming down on Landsdowne St, better call 1–800 Fifty-Four GIANT” “Dave how’s your new Azek Deck coming along?” “Now at Papa Gino’s, buy any Rustic Pizza and get a small traditional cheese pizza FREE!”
Not only do I hear all those commercials between innings of the baseball game, but now these guys are squeezing little comments into the middle of their play by play. I’m almost immune to the ads though, but something happened the other day that was very disturbing. When I fired up the media player to listen to the FRS, before the radio broadcast came on there was an actual video commercial. I don’t remember what it was for I was so in shock. Disturbing, I could no longer, turn on the game in progress and get in with the usual 1 minute delay, now I had to wait another minute sitting through yet another plea for my money. At least it doesn’t seem to be an everyday thing, I only saw it once, but my innocence is lost.
Washed the Miata yesterday because it needed it and I figured I was safe because they weren’t calling for rain for about a half dozen days. Today the Weather Channel revised their forecast, it is now going to rain tomorrow or the next day and then there is a small chance of rain for the whole rest of week.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 192
To commemorate this fine occasion we all gathered on the porch last night to take a group picture. I had a tripod in the trunk (for those HDR Post Office pics), I was going to be the photographer. With the help of my assistant Donna, before snapping the real thing, I experimented with some exposures and seating arrangements. Here is a composite. And while the real thing came out OK, I’ll never be a portrait photographer.
The other 4 cabinmates were more the late sleeper types so Donna and I packed our car and hit the road at around 6:30 this morning. The only disadvantage to this move was that we spent the first couple hours driving with the top up because of the cool temps. The big advantage and what made it all worthwhile was the fact that we had the roads all to ourselves. No Sequoyas to slow us down on the Snake, no nobody. We didn’t even come across another vehicle in our direction for any of the twisty stuff at all. We barely saw any cars going in the opposite direction either.
We got home at noonish and after lunch I washed the Miata even though it hasn’t been very long since the last one. We are long through with spring here in the flatlands, but in the Georgia mountains it is in full swing with both the pine and hardwood trees throwing off pollen, combine that with the 1/2 mile of gravel road to access the cabin and the Emperor really need a bath.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 144
Just after lunch today there was a knock at the door. We weren’t expecting anyone, but turns out that was wrong. When Donna opened the door there was the unlikely duo of Shannon Rutherford and Hugo Reyes. I knew Jack was a Sox fan, but I was surprised to find a native son of Santa Monica, CA was too. I had bid victoriously.
I primered the the inside of the newly remodeled bathroom and then hung a towel rack, the TP holder and the shower curtain rod. We started to shuffle things around in preparation for moving our bedroom to the other end of the house. We cleaned out the two closets by carrying a dozen boxes up into the attic. Sunday night we’ll move the bed and our clothes to complete the transition.
Broke down and washed the car tonight, even though there is a chance of afternoon thunder showers tomorrow. Pine pollen season is all but over and it has been 6 weeks since the last wash, so I figured it was time. Plus we are going on a Post Office Safari tomorrow and the Emperor always like to put his best face forward even though he isn’t the primary photographic subject.
Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 111
We got the 7 Post Offices we planned for on the return trip, just not in the order we planned. Blew right by the Sardinia PO at first. We knew we missed it when we spotted the sign for the next town south on US301, Gable. After taking Gable’s portrait we made a u-turn and headed back north. We actually drive by it again, but not too far as we were really looking for it this time. It is an easy Post Office to miss as there was no “blue box” out front, the flag pole didn’t taper like a normal pole and Old Glory wasn’t flying from it either. Plus this is the only sign and it was parallel to the road and not noticeable at 65MPH.
The building looks old enough to be the original, but if it was, I would have expected some sort of bronze plaque the be nearby, so I don’t know if that is true. Another interesting tidbit about the town is how it got it’s name. “When the Government was ready to open a post office in the community that is now Sardinia, the residents could not agree on a name. Since they were meeting in the school house, somebody, seeing the globe, suggested that they spin it and let someone close his eyes and put his finger on a spot which would be the name. This happened to be Sardinia.” I found that on the internet, so I don’t know how true that is either.
When we got home I washed the Miata off. It is starting to be spring here as there was quite a smattering of dead insects on the nose. Of course because spring is starting the car won’t stay clean very long as it about time for pine pollen to start blowing in the wind.
Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 60
Washed the car this afternoon and I’m embarrassed to say that with the temperature in the low seventies, when I was done, I just drove it back in to the garage.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 24
I don’t know about where you live, but here in Aiken, SC our temperatures are way above normal. Today it was close to 80º and all the snowmen in town have melted.
We walked to the Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast and when we got back it was almost 70º so I took this opportunity to lube up the Emperor’s power window tracks. The passenger side was noticeably slower than the driver’s side, so I read up about fixing it on my favorite reference site, Miata.net. After I lubed up the passenger side, it made the driver’s side seam slow, so I had to go ahead and take the panel off that door too. Man that black snot they use as an adhesive to hold the plastic barriers in the doors is a real pain to work around, there is still some under a couple fingernails even after a half dozen hand washings.
While I was out there I did a quick detailer clean up to get all the dust off the car. That is all it is, it hasn’t rained in so long the only thing the Emperor ever gets covered in anymore is road dust. I was going to try out my new buffer, but I’m still chicken. I did use it, the included foam application pad and some Crest toothpaste to clean off the film that had started to haze up the headlights. Worked like a charm and it wasn’t too hard to use, so next time I wax the car I’ll probably use it to remove the wax.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 496
You would think that if I would take anyone’s advice, especially if it was based on personal experience, it would be my own; but no.
We are off for a couple of days of Post Office hunting tomorrow morning, so I ducked out into the garage to give the Emperor a sponge bath (Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and an old T-shirt.) After I was finished I realized what the car really needed a full waxing, so in spite of a couple of previous lousy wax jobs in the garage at night, I went ahead and tried again.
Looks pretty good under the light of two 60 watt bulbs. We’ll see what it looks like in the morning sun…
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 489
Gnorm went for a walk in Hitchcock Woods with us today (some peektures) It was another beautiful fall day, almost a carbon copy of yesterday; cool, crisp with the very definition of blue sky overhead. It was great to get out and take a hike. Because we got a late (for us) start we had to share the woods with dog walkers, runners (Hi Anne) and horseback riders. We probably saw 10 people! Donna and I took Gnorm down our favorite trail, but it just made him sad because his new girlfriend from yesterday wasn’t with him.
At the end of last week, every time I came home from work the internet connection was down. I would have to reboot the modem, and sometimes the router too, a couple/few of times to get it stable. Yesterday it was fine, but today as I prepared to listen to the FRS’s last game of the season, it just wouldn’t work no matter how many times I rebooted everything. I ended up on the back porch with the laptop and took a ride on the internet on a neighbor’s dime. Someone close by has an unsecured WAP… After on more reboot of everything, including the PC, I now have internet on the desktop. I can connect to my wireless network with the laptop, but I cannot see the desktop nor the internet. Plus I can no longer get the router’s admin panel from the desktop even after resetting the router. Fixing that will be a job for tomorrow after work.
The Emperor got a bath this afternoon and had the royal scary dentures installed. They will add a little spice to some of the October Post Office photos.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 425
Didn’t post last night, not because the wireless connection was crap in my room like last week, it was fine because we were home, but because it was such a full day and we got home too late to blog about it.
In the morning Donna and I went on a drive to photograph a half dozen Post Offices. In one I had to use the Emperor’s Mini Me because it was inside a building with no outside indication it was a PO and another that will have to be re shot on another trip that way because there were too many people in lawn chairs in front waiting for a parade.
True to the Postmaster’s letter the Post Office in Hilda was inside a car garage store. There was little section just inside the front door on the left that was set aside for that official function. If you look towards the bottom of the photo right next to a fuel filter is the Matchbox Garnet Red Miata. The other side was the cashier for the garage. Coincidently when we pulled up there was a white 1st Gen Miata just outside one of the garage doors with it’s hood up being worked on.
When we entered the town limits of Ehrhardt, SC the town sign said “Home of the Schuetzenfest.” I wondered to my self what that might be and when they held it. The answer to the second question was answered when we got to the intersection of US601 & SC64. There were people everywhere. The road was not blocked yet, but you could tell that people were staking out spots to watch a parade. The Schuetzenfest was today. How lucky could we be? Well, not so lucky, the Post Office was nowhere near the south end of town where the Google map thought it should be. We parked the car on a parallel street to the parade route and did a walk through. Found the PO and it was 100 feet from the center of all the action. This photo would have to wait for another day. The answer to the second question had to wait until we got home and checked Wikipedia. Leave it to South Carolina to misspell it and homogenize it to look like another “festival” with blow-up kids entertainment thingies, crafts for sale and deep fried dough.
When we got home we had some lunch and I went outside to wash the car for a couple of Miata events for that afternoon & evening. First up was the annual Sno-Cap Drive-In Anniversary hang out in the parking lot. Donna stayed home from this one as it was hot as the dickens and there is little place to hide from it over there, plus it is just a bunch of cars with a bunch of car guys standing around talking about cars. On the way over I found out how it looks to have a waterfall cascade over the windshield header. It looked a little hazy ahead and I didn’t didn’t see any oncoming cars with wipers on, so it couldn’t be rain. Wrong oh. It was a pop up thundershower and it happened so fast I had no time to prepare. Most times if you hit a shower and it is not too heavy the best defense is to roll up the windows and keep moving. This was no one of those times. Traveling at 60 MPH in a deluge just results in there being enough water and force behind it to make it come rolling over the windshield. After about a minute or so it was safe to pull over so I could get the top up, of course I had the boot on which just caused more of a delay in getting every thing closed up. The interior and myself were soaked. Almost turned around and went home, but seeing as I was halfway to the Cap I went anyway. About 2 miles later the storm was gone and the skies were blue so I dropped the top again hoping the sun would help dry everything out. Five miles later when I got to the Drive-In the only way to tell I had gotten drenched was the puddle of water surrounding the shift boot and the damp side of my clothing that I was sitting on. The whole hour and a half I was at the Sno-Cap it didn’t rain a drop, but wouldn’t you know it, a couple miles into the drive home it started to rain again and it kept it up for the rest of the trip. This time I was ready, I put the top up before I even left the Cap’s parking lot.
I had just enough time when I got home to dry off the recently washed car and listen to 4 innings of the FRS whoop up on the Chicago White Sox before heading back out the door for the MMC’s Bug Splat Rally which I run. We had a good turn out (for our little club) with 9 cars at the restaurant. Eight of which went on the run. The bugs were not so cooperative though, there were a lot of clean Miata noses at the Dairy Queen finish. There were a few large splats, but the biggest bug trophy went to a car that came back with a large mosquito plastered near their turn signal. The highlight for us was the medium M&M Blizzard we split.
This morning we went out and did a 13 mile ride on the tandem, the first 50 feet my butt protested the return of the bicycles seat so soon after Friday’s ride, but I showed it who was the boss by continuing on. In truth that was partly the reason we did go for a ride today, because all we have been doing is short and very infrequent rides the limiting factor in our enjoyment is uncomfortable sitting. Most people who start bike riding as an adult think that the reason their hiney hurts is they need a wider, cushier tractor seat, but what they really need is miles. I don’t know what really happens, but it is like forming callouses on your hands from doing manual labor. If you are sitting correctly on a modern lightly padded skinny seat after a while of riding your sit bones won’t bother you even on very long rides.
After riding we did our weekly grocery shopping and were home and in the house for good by 10:30 AM.
I was pleasantly surprised by Stranger Than Fiction that we watched this afternoon, it would have been perfect if not for the happy ending, I would have given it a 10 out of ten, had it stopped right after the bus accident part.
Started down, went up, back down, up for the deluge, back down to dry out, up again, down once more, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 352
We hunted loads of Post Offices today while coming back from Florence. Found all 17 locations we were looking for, but it turns out one place wasn’t a PO anymore. At the intersection of US15 and SC261, AKA Paxville, SC, there was a convenience store at the correct address with a really cool mural on the side, but the only remnants of postal activity was a faded Blue Mail Box out front squeezed between an empty newspaper box and an overflowing trash can. There was no outward signs proclaiming that is was a Post Office. I went inside and looked around, there were no internal signs either, not even a “Buy Stamps Here” sticker on the cash register. Other than that, we had quite the productive day. We traveled around 250 miles to go the 130 miles between Florence and Aiken because of all the zig-zagging around.
Even though it was only 11:30 we decided to eat lunch in Santee because it was probably the last civilization we would see until we got back to Aiken. We actually pulled into the Cracker Barrel parking lot before making a hasty retreat to a Maurice’s BBQ next door. Donna kind of wanted soup, but I didn’t really want to eat at the CB at all. I guess she took pity on me. I had a Little Joe Basket and she had a Garden Salad and a side of Chicken Tenders. She had water to drink while I sipped some southern nectar, Sweet Ice Tea.
Meal Cost: $17.36
Tip: $2.00
Spent Today: $19.36
Year to Date: $1732.78
Meals out, 101 of a possible 645.
Last weekend I mapped out a bunch (20) of Post Offices in the northeast part of the state because that is where we would be. I covered all the POs we hadn’t already gotten from I-77 on the west to I-95 on the east, and between North Carolina on the north to I-20 on the south. The first thing Donna did when we got in the car to leave was open the South Carolina map and say, “If we go this way we can get these Post Offices.” Well, she was pointing to a section of the state that I didn’t have close up maps for the PO locations inside the actual towns. This is the second time something like that has happened, so my new project is to go ahead and make maps up for the remaining 277 Post Offices.
I’ve got 40 done so far…
Tonight I washed off the filth that had settled on the Emperor when he spent the night Wray’s place. Which reminds me, when we got to the shop to pick up the car the Service Hostess told me that the car would be out in just a few minutes as it was in Clean Up. Twenty minutes later they pulled the car up in front and gave me the keys. As we loaded the trunk and climbed inside I noticed that the car was dirtier than when I dropped it off (no doubt because it did spend the night outside.) So what did they clean up?
Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 286
This is the 3rd memorial service in the last two months and I hope this doesn’t become a trend. First, in April, it was Donna’s Aunt Mary, then Jerry the Condo King in May and now my Mom’s in July.
Tonight’s for my mom was a nice little service and even though the minister had never met her he did a credible job. Mom was not real religious, but in the early years she would take us kids to Sunday school and church, but when we moved to the other side of town my dad wouldn’t drive us back over to the church on Sundays (Mom never got her license), so we just stopped going. I wonder how my life would have differed if my church going days hadn’t ended at the age of six?
After the service my brother had arranged a little gathering at the VFW hall with finger foods, etc for anyone who attended the service to go to. We went, ate a bit and chatted with my step dad’s kids, but most of the folks there were Paul’s friends or co-workers. We had a request for soul soothing ice cream from the family table, so Donna and I, younger sister Diane and her husband Allan and big sister Ginny headed to Friendly’s.
Top made an extra transition today because I washed the southern bugs off the nose in preperation for gathering some northern species of insects the next couple of days.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, down, up yet again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 245
After a bad month and a half, that started innocently enough with a fall that a broke a vertebra, my mother passed away in the Hospital of Central Connecticut this morning. We knew her health was failing with the reports I was getting from my siblings, so even though we had visited a couple months ago in April, Donna and I put in for vacation for the week of the 4th of July for another visit. Turns out it was a little less than a week too late. Oh, well, Donna and I spent a few very nice days with her back in April, including a wonderful day trip to see covered bridges in western CT.
She was a great mom (even if she did saddle me with this very painful Red Sox Fan illness thing) and I’ll miss her. My mom and dad split up when I was around 11 years old, so not only did she have to be a mother, but she also had to be the father to me and my sister and brother. Sometimes for the heck of it I would call her and wish her a happy Father’s Day. That’s Mom 3rd from the left in the bottom row from about a dozen years ago when we went to Las Vegas for Donna’s Mom’s 65th birthday. We are still heading up north starting tomorrow, just now for a different reason.
Lunch at the Evergreen Buffet. Various Chinese foodstuffs consumed by each with water to wash it down with.
Meal Cost: $12.30
Tip: $2.00
Spent Today: $14.30
Year to Date: $1394.90
Meals out 79 of a possible 528.
I was planning on washing the car before our trip up north anyway, so when I got home I pulled the car under the awning instead of into the garage. Washed the inside of the windows and gave it a quick waxing as well.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 226
The Emperor has been surviving on sponge baths, AKA Meguiars Quik Detailer, for a while now, but today after work I gave him a proper washing. Then I decided to lay a coat of wax on there too. I used some Meguiars paste cleaning wax I had under the cabinet. Looks a whole lot better now, but the finish doesn’t feel baby butt smooth. Maybe tomorrow when I get home from work I’ll put another layer of wax on. I have a bottle of something else under there, I think it is called Black Magic and maybe that is what I used last time. If one layer is good, two have got to be better. Right?
While I was taking off the wax, getting it off around the edges of the chrome Mazda logo on the back end, it came loose and one side fell down. The badge is held on by 2 pins and one was broke, so I pulled the badge off the car. There are usually these fancy one way push washers on the pins, but there wasn’t one on the non broken pin and there was some adhesive behind the lettering holding the badge on. What the heck, I might as well take off the MX-5 Miata badge on the other side too. On my ’95 the Mazda was held on by two pins, like this one, and the Miata was just held on by double stick tape. I went in the house and got a piece of dental floss to “saw” through the adhesive. The floss broke three times in about the same spot. That is when I realized on the ’03 the MX-5 Miata badge was held on by two pins as well. I wrapped a screwdriver in a rag and pried off the badge. Turns out it was held on by no adhesive and only one push on washer.
I now have 2 small holes on both sides of the license plate. With the dark color car they are hardly noticeable, but I think I may fill them in with something and then use touch up paint to hide them better. When I debadged the rear on the ’95 I replaced both badges with hand cut replicas made of blue reflective vinyl. The blue on blue was very subtle in the day but really stood out at night when headlights hit them.
Now, as I write this, I know why the badges were held on so haphazardly. The body shop weasels did it when they repaired my little trunk bender from last year. The adjuster put in the cost of new badges when he did the estimate. Satcher Ford’s Body Shop reused the old badges and charged the insurance company for new ones.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 135
Our neighbor’s kid (well she’s no longer a kid, she’s in college) has been horsing around for for quite a while and we have been to see her do a few events in the area over the years. Today Ellen was competing in the cross-country portion of the 3 day event at Jumping Branch Farm in Montmorenci, where we had seen her show jump before a few years ago. Ellen’s mom invited us this morning to watch with her and she made an excellent guide, filling us equine novices in on the intricacies of 3-day eventing.
All that spectating made us hungry, so we stopped at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant on the way home. Carrnitas for me and two tacos for her. We both had agua helada to drink. Even though I list what we ordered separate, today, like last night, we pretty much divvy up each dish between us 60% what the person orders and 40% of the other’s item.
Meal Cost: $12.65
Tip: $2.35
Spent Today: $15.00
Year to Date: $616.99
I gave the Emperor a proper bath this afternoon. It was already needing it and after driving a mile or so of dirt road to see Ellen jump fences, it was really time. While washing, I noticed that I have a nice scrape on the lower portion of the front chin spoiler. Wonder how long it has been there? It is on the driver’s side, so I would see it each day as we walked back to the car after work, but… The only reason I probably haven’t noticed it before now is that the primer showing through is white and the parking lot lines are white and it must look like their reflection in the spoiler. Because I am forever parking in the farthest out spot and as close to the curb as possible to avoid door dings, I bet I scraped it ever so gently on one of those curbs. I think I have a bit of that spray can of car color left that I can use to touch it up.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 76
For the first time this year we went for a bike ride. Fifteen miles and by the time we were done we were glad to get off the thing. Amazing how easily you fall out of shape if you don’t do it often enough. If Donna and I actually verbalized, or in some other way memorialized, our New Year’s resolutions, every year this one would be right up there at the top — Bike Ride More Often.
This afternoon I took advantage of the warm weather to do a little Miata service. I changed the oil & filter at the 52,788 mile mark. Remind me to never buy a Pure One filter for the Miata again. One thing is that the filter wrench doesn’t fit it, but more importantly and maybe it was just this one, but it didn’t have the little rubber gasket that seals it to the engine block. This is something you don’t want to find out like I did either, after you have drained all the oil out of the engine in the only car you own. Makes it kind of hard to take it back to the parts store and complain. Fortunately for me the gasket from the Fram filter I took off, was an exact replacement for the missing one. I definitely have to go back to buying a six pack of OEM filters from a dealer.
The Emperor also got his monthly bath. When I looked in the car wash bucket I realized I was out of car wash soap. I didn’t feel like driving somewhere to pick some up, so I substituted. No I didn’t use dish soap, I know that it is too harsh and will remove all your wax. I used clothes detergent. Yeah, it probably is even worse for the finish of the car, but I was desperate and I was sure it would be OK for the cloth convertible top. At least I didn’t use Rose Petal scented bubble we have in the house, although in hindsight…
Started up, went down, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 19
Decorated the cubical for the holidays today and even Captain Jack Sparrow got into the spirit. Remind me tomorrow to tell you about Dead Man’s Chest and overstock dot com.
I own about 48 DVDs of movies I love, movies that I could watch over and over again. Trouble is I hardly ever watch them again after the first time when the shrink wrap came off. If I have a spare couple hours and think, “Hey let’s watch a movie!” I’ll open the cabinet and start looking at titles to pick a flick, then as I look at the box I watch the whole movie in my head in about 15 seconds, well, I guess I don’t have to watch that one. Pick up the next box, fast forward the movie, put it back. I never get to put one in the player. I think what would work though is one of those 200 disc changers where I could have it play a movie at random, once it got going I know I would enjoy the movie.
I have about 48 movies in my Netflix rental queue. Whenever I add a movie it goes to the bottom of the queue. I could move it to the top, but that would displace movies that are already there and most likely they got to the top by slowly percolating up as I watched the ones ahead of them. I really want to see most of the movies that are in the queue about equally, so its kind of hard for me to pick which ones to see first. Somewhere a while back I took the time to mix the genres up so I wouldn’t have a bunch of the same kind of movie back to back. One comedy, one drama, one sci-fi, one independent, repeat. But over time my careful mix has become scrambled again. What I need is a Netflix Queue Randomizer. I wrote to customer service to ask if they though maybe they could add that to the queue page. The response was typical customer service, “Thanks for your interest. We will hand your idea over to the development team for further study. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Searched for Netflix Queue Randomizer with Google and got a bunch of hits. I found four different ways to accomplish my goal; 1) a script for Greasemonkey, 2) a script that you just copy into the address bar while on the queue page, 3) a small executable file that you could download and 4) a bookmarklet. I used the address bar script a couple of times to really shake things up for now, but I got the bookmarklet one all ready to try next. I ♥ the Internet.
Oh, yeah, I finally washed the Florida bugs off the front of the car. To make it even I washed the whole rest of the car too.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 499
Washed the Miata tonight and my next door neighbor is probably thinking I wash the Miata once a week. For the last month or so, he’d be right, this was the fourth time since October 5th.
Today’s bath was to get the red dirt off the inside (and outside) of the wheel wells because tomorrow is a MMC event and I want to look pretty. On Tuesday Donna and I delivered dinner, from her department, to a coworker who is home recuperating from surgery. This person lives down a dirt road and it had rained most of Tuesday, so the driving surface was easily transfered from ground to car as we slid precariously around a couple bends in the road.
Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 457
Tuckered out from a long day yesterday, we went to bed early and then got up early, thereby missing out on the whole “get an extra hour of sleep” thing. After a normal breakfast we went for a nice walk in Hitchcock Woods. One of today’s photos made the grade and I used it for October’s entry in my 2006 Hitchcock Woods Gallery
At 11:30AM we had a date with Field Number 9. There was a baseball tournament going on at Citizen’s Park here in Aiken, our friend’s son Jared’s team was in it and we hadn’t seen him play in a while. When the game was over and we were leaving with Jared’s team having lost 10 to 3, his mom apologized about us having to see such a bad game. As Donna put it, I guess it is hard to be objective when you are a parent. It was a good game to watch for us because it was pretty well played baseball for 13-year olds, no real keystone cops type innings and the weather was near perfect. Sure the Bombers didn’t win, but it wasn’t so much that they lost, they got beat. The other team was hot and hit the stuffing out of the ball, didn’t matter who was on the mound.
Later in the afternoon the Emperor got a nice bath and because I was feeling magnanimous I waxed him as well.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 437
Next Saturday is the MMC’s Leaf Peeping Trip. Trouble is it might be too late for leaves. According to the Weather Channel’s web site’s Fall Foliage Report, this weekend should be at peak in the southern Appalachians. Not wanting to miss out Donna and I are planning a little overnighter for tomorrow to try and catch the show. We are still going with the Club next weekend even if the trees are bare, no way would I turn down a chance to drive on some windy back roads.
Tonight I washed the car in case we find that perfect Kodak Picture Spot for the Emperor’s fall portrait this weekend. I want to do another Miata calendar for 2007, but I’ve only got maybe 3 shots that are good enough to hang on a wall and time is running out. Maybe I’ll get some cool pictures on our Thanksgiving trip to FLA.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 426
This is yesterday’s and today’s all wrapped in one because we got in at 12:30 last night (which is technically today) and it was too late to do anything but fall into bed at 1:00 AM (although it could be argued it was only 10:00PM west cost time.)
After breakfast on Wednesday we took a short walk along Tacoma’s waterfront (where today’s picture was taken) before hopping in the car to do some last minute sightseeing. We started out at Point Defiance Park and it’s views of the lower Puget Sound. We could have visited Fort Nisqually, a living history museum based on the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading outpost built in 1833, but it didn’t open until 11:00 AM (it was only 9.) Or we could have visited the Camp 6 Logging Museum, set up to look and feel like a logging operation with an operating railroad, but it didn’t open until 10:00 AM. So we just drove the 5 mile loop through the part and headed towards the Glass Museum. As we battled the mid morning traffic a decision was made to table the Glass museum and just head for the airport, we did take the scenic route instead of I-5 and we ended up dropping off the rental at 11:30 with just an hour to go before we started boarding our plane home. Good thing we left that much time too, because security at SeaTac took a whole heck of a lot longer than at Charlotte. We did still have time to buy a couple books and wolf down a small pizza from Pallino Pastaria (it was actually quite good.)
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Sebring Top Transitions since 09/29/06: 20
The flight home was not nearly as pleasant as the one out. We had already seen the movie, The Break-Up, and screaming babies echoed through out, including the 3-year old behind Donna who threw, basically, a 4–1/2 hour tantrum. We will be petitioning the airline to consider that all children under 7 be treated as animals, ie. caged and kept in the baggage compartment.
When we got to Charlotte we were treated to temperatures in the 70s (it was lucky to get to the middle 60s out west) and some humidity (which I never thought I’d miss) to go along with a nearly full moon for the drive home.
Today was sleep in, grocery shop, wash clothes, wash the car and one last big meal out (it was the MMC monthly meeting and we met at Olive Oils, a very nice Italian place here in town.)
I took a hundred and twenty-four pictures and I’ll be separating the wheat from the chaff this weekend and try and get a gallery of about 30 photos online.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 410
Washed the car this morning in preparation for today’s MMC gathering for the Sno-Cap Drive In’s 42nd Anniversary. We had a pretty decent showing of cars, six, but all of us were late arrivals, so we were beat to the shady spots under the awning by the Corvettes and the VWs.
I was a few minutes late because I stopped for an impromptu photo shoot at the empty Andy Jones car dealer lot. Andy Jones open a Mazda dealership in Aiken a year or so after I bought my first Miata. A couple years later they moved 15 miles west to this shop in North Augusta. Now they have packed up and moved 20 miles further west to Augusta, GA.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 348
Ladies and Gentlemen, Bob Dylan is playing in Lake Olmstead Stadium right now. Yep, the real Bob Dylan is playing tonight in a Class “A” Minor League Baseball Stadium in Augusta, GA. But he hasn’t fallen far enough for me, maybe I’d pay an Andrew Jackson, but they want 48.50 for a ticket. I never was much of a Dylan fan, the only CD of his I own is “Blood on the Tracks.” I’d probably be more interested in hearing one of his opening acts, Junior Brown. I love his Surf Medley…
Washed the Miata this evening in preparation for Saturday’s Bug Splat Rally. Didn’t get done until it was too dark to take a photo of the shiny car, but I did manage to take a picture in the McDonald’s parking lot where we went for one of those fabulous $1 sundaes.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 334
The FRS were 16–2 against the National League East and now that interleague play has ended, they have lost the last 2 games to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who are in last place in the American League East 14–1/2 games behind Boston. The only saving grace is the Yankees have lost the last 2 games against Cleveland, so they are still 4 games back.
Washed the car yesterday and I waxed it today. If it wasn’t for a last minute night-time drive for a Micky D’s Hot Fudge Sundae, the Emperor wouldn’t have left the driveway today.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 250
…we are home again. Maybe 275 of that was today (I didn’t keep track) on the way home. Half the trip back was mountainous twisty and only about 1/3 of that was spent at “speed.” It is during the 4th of July week and high tourist season in the mountains. Most of the time I was stuck behind a car from Florida or an old man in a hat driving a Camry. Secretly there were times when Donna was happy to have a slow poke in front of me for some of the trip, by mid-morning she had had just about enough of being tossed around, bless her heart.
The Blue Boar Inn is a mile and a half into the woods on a dirt road and after about 8 trips on that surface, the car was ugly dirty, so I washed it this evening. Much better.
One last story from the trip. On Friday when we went out to see the Milky Way, but were thwarted by the bright moon, we did get a substitute show. Right across the Skyway from the overlook we stopped at was a big old hill full of trees that spread from left to right traversing our whole view. The hill side was alive with fireflies. It reminded me of people flicking their lighters at an outdoor stadium rock show. We sat on a little wall and watched for about 10 minutes oohing and aahing, until some animal snorted in the woods behind us. Being city folks this noise made us get up quickly, dust off our butts, walk to the car and head back to the Inn.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, up to wash, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 250
As Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.”
US1 runs through Sanford, NC and Aiken, SC too, so we decided to just follow it home. This caused Donna to remember that 42 years ago when her family moved from NJ to New Orleans the traveled down via US1 in a station wagon. They drove straight thru with Mom and Dad splitting the driving, figuring it was easy to remember what roads to take by picking one and sticking with it. They folded the back seat flat and the 4 kids rode down in the back of the wagon with their sleeping bags. No minivan with child seats, seat belts or DVD players, just sleeping bags and some kiddie books. I then shared that my mom and one of her male friends took 2 weeks to travel the whole length of US1 from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida. She asked how old I was thinking that perhaps in some weird coincidence her family and my mom had crossed paths, maybe saying hello at a gas station or sat in adjoining booths at a roadside diner. No such thing happened though as my parents were still together when I was nine. Mom and Leo did their trip some 4 or 5 years after the Morrisons, because I was in my early teens when my mom and he were an item. Kind of strange that our parents passed through Aiken long before Donna and I lived here.
Around Camden, SC we actually got tired of the back roads and feeling the pull of home, jumped on I-20 to speed up the trip. This is also about the time the car started to make a loud rattling noise. It seemed to happen when shifting between 2nd and 3rd, but was entirely restricted to just then. It would occur between 2500 to 3000 RPM. I suspected it was somehow exhaust related, but wasn’t really sure. It didn’t sound life threatening, so the plan was to get home and take a look underneath the car. We made a detour into Columbia for lunch. Donna wanted spaghetti and meatballs and we remembered a restaurant in downtown called The Old Spaghetti Factory. We drove around where we thought it was, did I mention that the last time we ate there was 8 or 9 years ago? We finally gave up and asked someone. They remembered it, but was sure they had closed some time ago. We ended up at Subway where Donna got her meatballs, just in a sub, not on a pile of pasta.
With all the city driving the noise was getting a lot louder and a lot more frequent. We decided to head a few miles back and stop in at the Mazda dealer in Columbia. They were open and said they would get a technician to look at it. We retired to the waiting room with thoughts of possible expensive repairs floating in our heads. About 45 minutes later the service adviser came over and said it was fixed, they found that a bolt had come loose on an exhaust hanger up near the front of the car. When I asked how much we owed them, he replied, “Nothing.” Cool. We thanked him and finished the trip home in quiet.
At home the Emperor got a well deserved bath. I want it to look good because tomorrow we go back to the body shop for them to fix their errors when they repaired it earlier this month.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 173
Thirty-nine thousand flickered by on the digital odometer during the trip home from work today.
When I picked up the car from the body shop they had washed and waxed the back part of the car (the parts they painted), but didn’t really clean the front. Sunday’s rain left behind spots on the hood of coagulated body shop dust. I have been meaning to wash the car for the past couple of days, but they have been calling for rain. The last chance of precipitation for a while past this morning, so tonight when I got home I broke out the hose and bucket.
While cleaning the car I noticed a couple of things that need addressing from the body shop. When closing the trunk the sound has been a little different. Does the latch need replacing or is it because the trunk is off align of straight by about 1 degree? There are also a couple of dust pimples in the pain on the left trailing edge of the trunk lid. There is also what looks like a milky haze in the clearcoat in a couple spots on the trunk and left fender. The kicker is what at first I thought was dirt and suntan lotion build up on the shift knob turned out to be several small scratches in the clear coating on it. Guess I’ll give them a call tomorrow.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 136
I did a test on Friday, but the results were inconclusive. I took a swiffer cloth and wiped a stripe clean on the center of the dash at lunch time. With the top down and the wind blowing, the dash stayed really clean. Unfortunately the wind was blowing straight on, so the dash was really protected. We got a nice big rain on Saturday which is always a help.
Today I washed the car.
I hope the pine pollen is gone for a couple of reasons, 1) I like a clean car and 2) if Allstate comes through and admits liability, I will be getting the car painted and we don’t want any of those little yellow vesiculate pollen grains getting under the finish.
Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 104
It doesn’t really qualify as a real wash, but yesterday morning before embarking on our little trip, I gave the Emperor a quick de-dirtifying with Meguiar’s Quik Detailer.
Changed the oil and filter this afternoon. And as I usually do I rotated the tires. It was nice not to have to tippie-toe around the partially stripped thread of the right rear wheel stud and lugnut this time. They were fixed a couple of weeks ago at the MMC Tech Day.
The calendar (and the little countdown thingie in the sidebar) say Spring officially starts in 23 days. The birds have been very vociferous for the last couple of days. The trees branches have the startings of buds and the Bradford pears actually have a touch of white blossom showing, so it is really coming.
But today was voted the first day of spring in Aiken by a panel of judges (Donna and I) because instead of going straight home, we put the top down and took the long way.
When we did make it home, I decided to honor the God of the Vernal Equinox by washing the Miata. It won’t be this weekend, but soon it will be time to put on a coat of wax. Might even try and use a clay bar first to get it really clean first (the anal retentives over in the Car Care Products of Miata.net would be so proud.)
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 56
After finally dragging our butts out of bed this morning we headed out or a bagel for breakfast. We read the Sunday paper in the bagel place while enjoying our toasted treats. The only black mark on the experience is they didn’t have an OJ to drink.
Right next door was Publix and that is where we went next to do our weekly shopping.
After lunch we went for a hike in Hitchcock Woods. I took a couple more pictures at different locations in my quest for the look I wanted for my next series. We stumbled on a woman on horseback on a trail we were on, her companions, on a parallel trail, saw us first and called out, “People ahead.” So she turned around and headed towards them. After we were out of earshot Donna commented, “Why do they say ‘people’ like that? What the heck do they think they are? Maybe we should wear some alien costumes when we walk in the woods?” Not long after that conversation we encountered a carriage out for a drive. The carriage driver had to constantly reassure the two horses that it was alright as they passed. After all we were ‘people’.
When we got home I stopped short in the driveway and in answer to her quizzical look I replied. “I’m going to wash it.” It wasn’t real dirty, but usually it gets a monthly bath and with no MMC event in January, today seemed like as good a day as any.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 15
Even though there was a chance of rain coming up tomorrow, the temperature was only in the lower 50s and no one was going to notice as it would be dark when the MMC gathered to go on the light tour, I washed the car today.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 369
On last night’s trip up to the mountains to spend the night, there was construction on US441 between Clayton and Dillard, GA. We must have past 30,000 of those orange construction barrels as the Emperor past through the 30,000 mile mark.
Yesterday morning I washed the car because we had a MMC event in the early afternoon. This was our Senior Drive. One of the Club members is the Administrator of the Elmcroft Assisted Living Center in Martinez. He and I concocted a scheme in which the Club would come over and take the residents who wanted to go on a top down Miata drive instead of their usual Saturday 8-passenger van ride. We had a perfect day for it too, lower 70’s and a cloudless blue sky. We had 5 cars and 5 passengers for the first trip and when 4 more people showed up, we did a second slightly shorter trip for them. The one fellow who I drove was so appreciative that I was embarrassed by it. This is definitely an item we should do at least once a year.
When we got up this morning in the north of Georgia it was in the lower 30’s and there was a layer of frost covering the car. We wimped out for the first couple of hours of driving. The leaves didn’t cooperate in the whole picturesque, blazing fall color, Norman Rockwell painting we had hoped to see, but you take what you can get and we got extremely patchy color. We even did a 20-mile segment of the Blue Ridge Parkway in hopes, but the colorful vistas never materialized. There was one short stretch of NC 215 coming down off the parkway that in a matter of minutes we went from bare trees to patchy color to green. Never the less we had a wonderful time in our 24 hours of the mountains. We got in a night away from home, a short hike in the woods, a look at a beautiful twin waterfall and miles of twisty roads.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 343
29,000 pairs of socks. 29,000 knives. 29,000 VHS tapes. 29,000 out of date bottles of asprin. And 29,000 used chainsaws.
Today we went to the Jockey Lot outside of Anderson, SC. Someone thought it would be fun, so we planned a trip with the MMC and it was a nice day for a drive. While the Jockey lot is a huge ass flea market, pretty soon it all starts to look alike, did we have fun? You bet. Will we go back? Doubt it. About halfway there the Emperor passed through the 29,000 mile mark. We bought this Miata just before Thanksgiving in 2003 so it looks like we will make it past 30k before the 2 year mark.
Most of the time the skies were blue with scattered clouds, but on the horizon, in every direction you looked there were dark gray clouds. The weather forecast called for a chance of rain and while it never did (on us anyway) everytime we stopped for any lentgh of time everyone put their tops up in case. On the way back we stopped in the quaint little town of Abbeville for lunch. We parked over on the same street as we ended up at the last Trivia Road Rally the MMC did in May. I had snagged a picture of one of our member’s cars as it was parked and the wall and art there made a nice back drop, today the Emperor had it’s portrait taken there too.
Can’t really tell from the picture, but the car was really dirty. I did wipe off the big stuff with a towel I keep handy, but when we got home the car got a much needed bath.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, down again, up again, then down, then up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 322
Been back most of the day, but I’m just now back computing. Installed the second half of my birthday present to myself this afternoon. I’ve got the basics loaded back on the fresh new hard drive, so I’ve still got a lot of software left to install. Those will happen when there is a requirement to use them.
While XP installed I went out and washed the car. It was quite dirty because at least 50% of the roads we traveled this weekend were wet.
Sorry if something is misspelled something, haven’t put that in yet…
Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 299
Washed the car this morning even though the intent is to get it dirty tonight with bugs. Afterwards I washed the windows in the car too. While the car finished drying I made a quick trip to the local auto store and picked up a can of Meguiar’s Cleaner Wax. Old school paste wax in a can that went on easy and came off the same.
While the whole car washing thing was going on I was doing the clothes washing too. My job is to load the washer, then swap from washer to dryer and load the washer again. Donna does the folding, mostly. I’ll help with that too if I’m not busy with other things like this morning.
Changed the oil this morning. As always I took this time to rotate the tires too. Jacked up the car and put it on 4 jack stands. This makes it easier to get to the drain plug and the filter. When spinning off the filter I always tuck a rag under where the filter is so the oil left in the filter will drip into it and not on the ground. Well, today I learned that khaki pants don’t do well when used for this job. The old cotton t-shirts absorb the oil, while khaki pants absorb a little and then act as a conduit for the oil to pour all over the underside of the car and then drip on the driveway. At least the tires rotated without incident, even the semi-mangled lug stud and lug nut cooperated fully.
After I put the car all back together, I went ahead and washed it. Had to use some bug remover on the nose to get off the stubborn bug guts off, so a quick bit of wax applied to the area. I keep reading about using a clay bar on the car and wonder if that would completely clean everything off the paint. But because it seems like such a production, maybe an all day affair, that I have been avoiding it. Maybe a fine fall Saturday could be set aside for that project.
Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 256
Decided to go ahead and wash the car. I couldn’t use the excuse that it might rain anymore, I’ve used it for the past week or so, and the weather forecast was for more of the same for the next tens days…
I knew I shouldn’t have watched the game. The FRS lost to the Yankees tonight on ESPN. They lost on Thursday as I watched on ESPN2 and then they lost Saturday afternoon on FOX with me on the couch. The Sox won big, 17–1, on Friday when they weren’t on TV, I didn’t even listen. So I shouldn’t have watched them on TV tonight, they probably would have won the game.
The only thing that saved the night was right after the game I found TDPM playing and it was only an hour in.
Barbossa: Why thank ye, Jack. Jack Sparrow: You’re welcome. Barbossa: Oh, not you. We named the monkey Jack.
Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 228
Looking for the perfect 50’s college nostolgia? How about a letter sweater just like dear ol’ dad wore? Get a duplicate of the one the moths ate or make one up of your very own at lettersweaters.com.
Here is Doug Neidermeyer’s letter sweater from Faber U.
Or if you would like that High School Letter Jacket you missed out on back in the day, because they didn’t award them to members of the AV Club, you can get one at their companion site, American Letterman Jackets.
Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 191
No postings here tomorrow as we are spending the night in a motel in Beaufort, SC. We are heading that way with a few of the Master’s Miata Club folks to meet up with a bunch of Low Country Miata Club folks to go to the drive-in there. So you can share in some of my furor, I’m going to let you in on the two movies we will be seeing tomorrow: The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D, followed by Madagascar. Damn, I’m all a tingle with excitement.
As I do for any Miata gathering I participate in, I wash the car before so it will look nice. Afternoon showers were popping all over the area, so I tried to time my washing just right. I almost made it. I had at least finished washing it before the next shower passed through. I was under the awning in the driveway that is for the MSV and drying the car off when it started raining. The top, hood and trunk were dry, but the sides kept getting wet down with the splashes of the heavy stuff. I waited a bit and when the rain intensity slowed some, I quickly backed out from under the awning and drove into the garage where I finished drying off.
Started down, went up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 172
Took the afternoon off to do some car stuff. First up was to try and get rid of my gingling sound when going over bumps. I removed the brake caliper, its mounting bracket and the rotor. This was as far as I had gone before and sure enough the noise was still there. Here is where I ran into a bit of trouble. The next thing that needed removing was the nut on the axle, I don’t have a wrench big enough to tackle the job, plus once I got it off I would have totally exhausted my knowledge of car guts. What the heck, I have all afternoon, buttoned it back up and took it back the the local tire store which caused the noise and let them have it. I took one of the technicians for a ride and pointed out the sound. When we got back he pounded on the tire with his fist and could get it ringing, he said, “Give me a few minutes” and disappeared into the shop. 20 minutes later he came back and told me that when the last guy replaced the lug he didn’t get a shim in the right spot behind the bearing and it could move around causing that noise. He fixed it up and now I am noise free again.
After I got back from the LTS I washed the car. It wasn’t real dirty, but there is a Master’s Miata Club event tomorrow and I couldn’t show up in a dull car. I had intended to wax the car after the last washing a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t get to it, so today I did. As it happened at the end of December when I last waxed with Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax it went on real easy, but came off a lot harder. When I was using my old skool paste carnuba wax it came right off with a towel. I’m actually thinking of getting a random orbital buffer to take this new fangled stuff off. The gurus over in the Car Care Products section of the Miata Forum swear by the Porter Cable 7336 which is about a hundred and a quarter. A can of paste wax would be a heck of a lot cheaper…
Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 147
I got so worked up yesterday about getting the sort of late flyer from Mazda that I forgot to blog about the car washing. On Friday I washed the car, vacuumed the inside (even trimmed some of the stray fibers on the coco mats) and washed the windows. I had good intentions about waxing the car today, but the promised afternoon rain arrived in the morning canceling that endeavor. I know better than to attempt to wax the car inside, there just isn’t enough light to do a good job.
This evening, after the line of storms had long passed we went out to eat with some friends. I was pretty sure it was safe, but a passing stray shower left enough behind to leave tiny little water spots all over the horizontal surfaces of the car. So, maybe tomorrow, I can find a couple hours of afternoon to spot clean (pun intended) and then wax the car.
Started up, went down, back up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 136
Washed the car this afternoon. It wasn’t real dirty, but it was covered with water spots from the rain of Thursday, mixing with the last of the pine pollen. I parked under the awning to keep the oak pollen clusters that are dropping off the big tree near the driveway from falling all over the car as I cleaned it. I had just finished drying it off when Donna came back from the store and announced the MSV needed gas, so I needed to take it out and fill it up. While I was out I should take her downtown for ice cream for good measure.
I left the Miata where it was and took a little trip. When we returned about 30 minutes later, I moved the Miata into the garage, so the Civic could get it’s awning back, I noticed there was a fine layer of pine pollen already collected on the hood. I thought that stuff was through falling…
Started down, went up, back down, still down. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 97
In case the pictures I’ve been posting here aren’t enough to satisfy your hunger for new MX-5 info, you can see a streaming video of the launch at the Geneva Auto Show. Go to the registration page, enter your email address and this code: id5499a2. You will get a login and password back in your email which will allow you to watch the stream on Monday. You will also be able to download later a promotional video, which will include some of the launch stream as well as other stuff the following day.
Decided to go ahead and wash the car this evening instead of waiting for tomorrow. All nice and shiny again, which will last until Sunday, when our next rain is predicted.
Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 44
I was middle 60s and sunny today, so I took the opportunity to wash the car. First, being a good son-in-law, I washed the MSV (Mom’s Civic.) Then I did the Miata, it wasn’t real dirty, but there was a layer of road dust that needed removing. After the top had dried I sprayed it real good with some 303 convertible top protectant. The car is sitting in the garage now letting it dry and giving off a nice little chemical smell. The smell will disappear when the protectant is completely dry, which they say should take 24 hours in 70 degree weather. It will take a little longer because we aren’t going to be that warm. I washed the car and did the top because the forecast this morning for Aiken showed no hint of precipitation that they were calling for earlier in the week. Well wouldn’t you know it, the possibility of wet weather for tomorrow is back in tonight…
After much consternation, on Tuesday, I went ahead and ordered the fake Japanese license plate from AutoGeek. Brown Santa will be here on Monday. Now I guess I better start designing a mounting bracket. Rspeed has one they import from Japan for $50, but seeing as I work in a manufacturing plant I can draw something up, find a piece of scrap metal and make that sucker for free.
Started up, still up. Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 15
I really need help on this whole Help! movie thing as I didn’t realize it is OOP. I wondered when I went to Amazon.com the there was no “Add to Cart” button, can’t buy it new because it is Out Of Print. I can but like new ones that have been imported from overseas for around $20. If I would like a brand new MPI official 1965 copy, they sell for around $200. Yikes. I’m thinking I’ll be waiting around for a re-release.
Took advantage of the warm weather to wash and then wax the car this morning. What kind of wax does Mr. Miata use you are asking yourself. Because if someone who has a blog based on life with his Miata and registered the domain name mr-miata.net he must use a special 7 step waxing regimen using the finest ingredients that money can buy. Well, not really. I finally used up some Mequier’s paste wax in a can I have had for about a decade the last time I did some touch up waxing in September. The other week when I knew I was going to be waxing the car I bought a bottle of some Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax, cost, around eight bucks. Wax is pretty much wax to me. This stuff went on super easy, but a bit more difficult to get off. Plus if you didn’t get a couple of good passes with a clean part of the towel the color of the paint underneath looked streaky and kind of subtly two-toned. Once you got all the wax off, the car really looks good, I would swear it looked more red, less dull maroon, under today’s cloudy sky.
Today was the Master’s Miata Club annual membership drive at Rader Mazda. Because it was a Miata show-off day I got out here early to wash off the car. Water can be down right cold when the outside temperature is at 48 degrees. This year, super salesman, Scott went the extra mile (besides setting up the tent, buying and cooking the food, icing the drinks, etc.) and wrote a nice letter to everyone who had bought a Miata through them in the last 18 months and invited them to come out. It worked pretty well. We got two new memberships, one possible, one not-so-long lost member rejoined and chatted with a couple of Miata owners who just dropped on in. They had invited the regional Miata rep to join us and that he did. Sloane Whitehead (a name right out of a soap opera or romance novel) came in from Columbia and brought along some goodies for giving away as door prizes. Rader also contributed some key chains and service coupons. They had enough stuff so that everyone attending came away with something. I was the lucky winner of a very strange looking clock, a free front end alignment and a hat. The hat is cream colored with a navy blue bill, all and all a nice little bit of millinery until you get to the bright purple Miata logo embroidered on it. Marty of V-8 Miata fame had hoped to get his now Kennie Bell supercharged V-8 Miata out to show us, but minor set back after minor set back kept him from a displaying it’s awesome power (to be used only for good.) He did roll it out, hoodless, for us to marvel at just how much engine can be stuffed into one of these little cars.
Silence so far from the German advertising firm from the other day.
Had the Toyo’s mounted this morning and what a difference. Smoother and grippier. Russ’s old Michelins were pretty hard as well as worn out. We are going to call this a mod for now, mainly because I forced the issue. Next time I replace the tires, in about 18 months, it will fall under service.
My wife will be happy to know that I’m almost finished modifying the car, there are just two things left to do. 1) Tint the windows. That’ll wait until next spring. And 2) the Mazda OEM small side sills. Those will have to wait until she figures I have suffered enough for this recent rash of purchases, probably sometime next summer…
The car got washed this morning. It really wasn’t dirty, as much as it was dusty, from sitting a couple days in a body shop’s garage while the spoiler was mounted and drying.
Today was a perfect companion to yesterday weather-wise and the only time the Miata left the garage was when I backed it out into the driveway to wash it. The car wash soap I have don’t seem to work really well, it gets off the dirt OK, but anything else it seems to leave behind. After I dried the car off I used some Meguiars Quik-Detailer on the nose to get off a lot of dead insect residue. I also used it to clean some sort of road goo off the side sills. When I dried everything off I added a coat of wax to the nose, the side sills and the hood. Probably should have done whole car, but my light was fading fast.
Truth be told, yesterday the Miata did venture out. We went grocery shopping for the week in it around 9:00 PM. It might go out tonight around the same time as Donna has requested an ice cream run. I will have to try and dodge any bugs that come our way, so the car will stay clean though.
Washed the car this AM. Vacuumed the interior and in a fit of Felix Ungerism I washed the engine compartment. I used a procedure I read about in the Car Care Products section of the Miata Forum that involves Simple Green and Amorall Tire Foam. The first time I used this procedure was on the old 95 after 7 years and 100k miles. It only took me 14k to do it to this car.
The reason for the cleaning process was we were off to the Sno-Cap Drive-In’s 40th Anniversary shindig. The Miata Club, along with the Corvette Club filled the lot for the first 2 hours of the whole day and half the night affair. A couple of local news crews were there and both Donna and I, in different shots, made the evening news for mere seconds.
Today was the 7500 mile check up on the Miata (done at 8010.) An oil change and a tire rotation basically. I had a couple of things I want them to address while we were in there too. The trunk was creaking when you opened and closed it, there were a couple of missing plastic fasteners on the splash guard on the right front wheel well and the driver’s side top latch was looser than the passenger’s side. We have always been treated right personally by the folks there. We even got a loaner car to do some shopping when the service was taking longer than expected.I’m not so sure about the car. When we got back in the car to drive away there was this almost overpowering smell of solvent or cleaner. We opened the windows the first chance we got and that helped a lot. By the time we got home I kind of figured that it was lube for the trunk hinges. The car is in the garage with the trunk open now hoping the lube will be all dry and the smell gone by morning. Past experience with tire changing at any place other than my driveway requires checking the lug nut torque. Sure enough, the lugs were replaced using an impact wrench with out any sort of torque limiter. I had to use a 2′ long breaker bar to loosen them up (and on a couple of them I feared for the longevity of the breaker bar.) Good thing I didn’t get a flat on the way home, I’d have never gotten the wheel off with the puny lug wrench in the trunk.…..and because tomorrow is a Master’s Miata Club’s TSD Rally, I washed off the car to make it pretty.<>
