Year: 2003

Very Interesting

We drove a short bit of I-20 before escaping to the back roads for the trip to Cornelius, NC. After checking in to our motel we headed out for some dinner. We ended up one exit back on I-77 at a place called Birkdale Village that is sort of a mix of outdoor outlet mall and a Disneyesque small town with apartments above the stores. It is an interesting concept. There were a few places to choose from for eating and we picked a place called Planet Grill. The dining concept was as interesting as that of the surrounding development. Even found a parking spot right up front too. The only down side was that I had to parallel park (I know what you are thinking, “That shouldn’t be too hard in that little car.”) Well it isn’t, but because I do it so infrequently, I’m out of practice and it took a couple of tries to get the car close to the curb.

Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 7

Holiday Inn III

When we check in, the clerk gives us room 231 and some vague directions on how to get there. Off we drove to the back of the complex, noticing that the place is nearly empty. When we get to our room it is right at the top of the stairs. If you walk straight ahead after the last stringer you would bump right into the door of the room. There are 2 room locations in a motel you should never stay in; 1) next to or across from an ice machine and B) at he the top or bottom of the stairs. Both spots are notoriously noisy because of the people traffic (they wouldn’t be so bad if people were still considerate of others, but that is a whole ‘nother blog post.) We headed back to the front desk and ask for a room 2 or 3 doors away from this one. The clerk, after making a big show of checking for empty rooms, gives us a key to room 233. When we get back to our new room it is not 2 doors away, but merely one. Not only is it not far from 231, it is an adjoining room! The doors are literally 6″ apart. Seeing as the place was empty we decided not to try for room #3, knowing that if we did he would put us next to the weight room or guest laundry next…

Friday Cheat Post

Donna and I are off for a weekend of fun & frolic in Cornelius, North Carolina, so I won’t be able to post here for the next two nights. I’ll take the little blue notebook and do the analog blog thing and then transcribe it here Sunday night.

Thanks to Sandra Hull for that turn of a phrase, analog blog. It comes from her post about the shuttle’s disintegration last Saturday.

A Man Of Few Words

Up for “to work” and down “for home.”

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 6

Chickened Out

Went ahead and changed the date to this year and started over with the Top Transition count. I may keep track of something different starting on 03/03/03 and add it to the bottom as well, maybe miles.

Chickened out and put the top up for the commute to work. Down for the trip home and stayed down for the evening outing. Supposed to rain tomorrow, but maybe it won’t start until late morning and we can eek in a top down drive to work.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 2

What Has This World Come To?

While wasting time after dinner and finishing listening to Thistle & Shamrock on the local NPR station, I flipped on the TV muted and did some surfing. Paused on CNN for a bit and read the scroll, “Ebay halts sales of Challenger debris.” read one. Holy shit! What kind of people were selling/buying this stuff? Have we gotten this low in our quest for making money and getting rich?

No Brainer

Got a real nice day today, mid 60s & sunny, so we took a longer drive this afternoon than we did yesterday. Going to leave the top down tonight, it will get into the 40s overnight, but tomorrow it is supposed to hit 72.

My Miata caricature arrived Friday from CarArtz.com. In today’s newspaper was a coupon from Michael’s for 1/2 off custom framing so that is where I’ll be heading this week.

Also in the mail Friday was a flyer from our favorite B&B in Western North Carolina, the Blue Boar Inn, offering a return guest special in April. We are going to a Deal’s Gap weekend with the RoadsterChat group the last weekend in April. They are charging just $99 a night and we were going to be staying at a Microtel Inn at $89 a night. Let’s see Bed & Breakfast, Microtel, Bed & Breakfast, Microtel – no brainer. We changed our reservations.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 0