Year: 2002

$77 Cars

Are the people who buy used cars that gullible? The local Toyota dealer frequently runs this ad in the Sunday paper. Here are some quotes:
“One of Georgia’s largest Toyota dealers has been ordered to conduct…”
Ordered by who?

“…every car is on sale, first come-first served, and no auction bidding is required.”
Darn, I so wanted to bid.

“Be there early, because last time another dealer outside our city limits conducted a sale like this, they had over 400 respond by 8:00 PM and some actually camped out on the public sidewalks…”
Probably the same guys who are waiting in line for the next Star Wars.

“Don’t forget some will actually be sold as low as seventy-seven $77 dollars!”
Huh, seventy-seven seventy-seven dollars dollars?

AWOL Tools

Had a little project to do today. It involved my garage door opener so I was up on a ladder. Well more like up and down and up and down and…. I don’t do enough of this home improvement stuff, but maybe if I did I would have one of those belts. It seems every time I needed the screwdriver it was on the counter not in my pocket or on the ladder. I’d go get the screwdriver and put down the socket wrench. Up the ladder and use the screwdriver. Now I need the the socket wrench and it is AWOL.

Miata Pick Up Truck

A Miata is as good as a pick-up truck as long as it is a sunny day. Spent most of the day trying to get my garage door to work smoother. I’ve bought a new opener, replaced the wheels, cleaned the tracks and tightened the hinges. the only left was to lower the opener. It is pretty far up because there was no stud above the header in the center of the door to bolt the track to. Off to Lowe’s. The rain they predicted last night has yet to arrive and it is a good thing too, because how else would I get an 8′ 2×4 and an 8′ 2×8 home without the top down.

Soliciting

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

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

Sporks

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

Don’t be so impatient.

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

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

Screws Loose

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

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