Month: May 2003

Every Man Has His Price

Rainy day. Tonight after work was a busy one, first it is our every 4 week haircut appointment and then we had just time enough to get a bite to eat before going to 2 hour class on the basics of understanding stocks. It was put on by a local Edward Jones Investment Advisor and was intended as an intermediate course in evaluating stocks. I wasn’t interested in going, but Donna said she’d pay me $25 to go with her, so I did. Every man has his price and fortunately for her, mine is really low.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 77

Spam

Went away for the weekend to go hiking in the Georgia mountains. I left early Friday morning and returned Sunday at noon. I checked the email before I left and when I go back I had received 42 pieces of spam at the Master’s Miata Club Yahoo email address in those 54 hours. My favorite is the one from Venessa with the subject line, “Sick of Deleting Junk Email.”

Trip Home

The trip home this morning was uneventful and along our now familiar route. GA 52 to Lula, GA 51 to Washington and then GA 17 to I-20. Settle in for a 4 day week of work before we travel to middle Georgia again next Friday. This time not so far up north and we are coming back Friday night. The Master’s Miata Club is going to visit the Panoz Factories over near Braselton (the town that Kim Basinger once owned.) We have to come back as the Club’s annual trip to the Big Mo is on Saturday night.

Purchased Today: $8.00 in gas & $2.13 in oil
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 74

One Smart Bear

After a hearty breakfast the four of us began the trek back down the mountain. To add a little variety to the trip we took the alternate route back down. You continued on the trail to the inn for an additional mile and ran into the Appalachian Trail Approach Trail and went back to the top of Amicalola Falls where our cars were parked.

To make amends to the Miata for leaving it out all night in the “wilderness” we used the 4 hours we had to waste before checking into the lodge on the state park and went for a drive in the surrounding mountains. We tried to duplicate the loop the bicyclists took last weekend in the reverse direction. We almost made it, missed one turn, so we didn’t drive across the one-lane bridge, but that wasn’t a great loss. The best part of the drive is GA60 north of Dahlonega. There is a stretch of it that is nicknamed “The Snake” and is a Mecca for motorcyclists because of it’s twisty loopy route over a couple of mountain passes. Yehaw! The highlight of the whole drive was about 03/4 of the way through when about 75 yards in front of our 2 car parade a decent size black bear bounded down from the woods on one side of the road and beat feet across to jump the guardrail into the woods on the other side. That was either one smart bear to wait for a gap in traffic or a lucky one.

Purchased Today: $14.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $171.08
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 71

Quiet Splendor Of The Forest

Up at dawn for the road trip to northern Georgia, again. This time we were with another couple in another Miata to go almost exactly where we were last weekend. We even used the same route we took home last Sunday to get there. Destination was Amicalola Falls State Park. we were parking our cars and then hiking a 5 mile trail to Len Foote Hike Inn where we would spend the night in the quiet splendor of the forest.

It is a fairly easy hike, mostly up, but some down too. We got a slightly early start as there was rain predicted for the late afternoon. We were prepared for rain (stuff packed in plastic bags, etc.) but just really didn’t want to get soaked. The rain didn’t come until around 7 PM and when it did arrive it wasn’t torrential. The best part was the lighting and thunder show. After dinner a lot of us gathered on the porches surrounding the various wings of the inn and enjoyed show. It was nearly dark and the lighting was going off all around us on different peaks surrounding us. As if arranged just for us, the evening’s entertainment finale consisted of a criss-crossing of almost the entire eastern sky with cobweb of lightning streaks. Almost if there was a cause and effect relationship between them, after the lightning a rainbow appeared against the gray sky backdrop. Because there is no TV and heaven forbid, no Internet, we were in bed by 9:30.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $156.58
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 69

Weaving Like A Drunken Sailor

I drive a Miata. It has a tight suspension (really only slightly tauter than stock) and 50 series stiff sidewall tires. It handles like it is glued to the road. One by product of this is that bumps, holes and ripples in the road are felt a lot more than in you typical family sedan. I try and avoid them when I can, but it is not always possible. Lately in our little town, the top layer of asphalt seems to be coming out in dinner plate sized chunks along the tracks of where most cars wheels travel in. Not just one or two places, but more like several dozen. On the commute to work there must be 10 of these little patches of 2 inch drops that I try and slalom around. I think that one day if a cop follows me for any distance he will probably pull me over for my seeming erratic driving.