Year: 2006

2007 Miata Calendar

Old NewspaperFor the past couple of years I’ve made up a nifty wall calendar using images of the Emperor I have taken over the previous year. You can see the images I have used by clicking on the appropriate link under Photos in the sidebar.

This year I haven’t been taking that many photos of the car, so I don’t think I’ll have 12 that will be calendar worthy. I do have about half enough, but even then, that is stretching the suitability envelope. While monkeying around with some of the possibles I hit upon a strategy that might work for 2007 – photoshopped images. This way I can go back and maybe use some outtakes from earlier photoshoots. I can possibly turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Well, I’ll be the judge of that…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 465

10 Tangible Things Each Of YOU Can Do Do Make Traffic Better

All of these fit a theme. Which is: It’s not all about YOU out there. You are part of a collective. If everyone did these unselfish things, traffic would be much better:

1. Don’t tailgate. When you tailgate, you have to tap your brakes at the slightest speed change. You tap for a second, the guy behind you taps for two, the guy behind him for four, and so forth. Ripple effect that equals slowdown.

2. Use on ramps correctly. ACCELERATE! Get up to a speed that matches overall traffic, then merge seamlessly. Too many people here merge into 60 mph traffic at 40 mph. People hit their brakes, and again you get a ripple effect.

3. Honor the left lane. Move over when not overtaking cars. Yes, we’ve talked this one to death. Just do it.

4. Pick a lane and try to stick with it. Incessant lane changes for little real gain can cause slowdowns for much the same reason as the on ramp example above. Think ahead: Will the lane you’re in peter out soon, or turn into an exit-only lane? Get yourself in one that will see you through to your destination.

5. At stoplights, pay attention. If you’re first in line waiting at a light, be sure you’re pulled up far enough, as someone here already noted. Then PAY ATTENTION! Watch the light. When it changes, go! Driving is war, and you’ve got the point — so stay alert! That goes for everyone in the back of the line too, but we have way too many people at the front who use stoplight time to apply makeup, read the paper, change the radio station or eat french fries off their car’s floor.

6. Step on it. If traffic’s going 60 in your lane, why aren’t you keeping up with the guy ahead of you? Why do you feel the need to go 57? Again, you’re part of a collective out there. Join in, please.

7. Don’t go so fast you get pulled over. Because every time someone gets pulled over, it gums up traffic for the rest of us. People rubberneck and irrationally brake (like the trooper’s gonna drop you to go after them), and the aforementioned ripple effect ensues. So drive briskly, but don’t risk a ticket. If you’re going over 70 in a 60 mph zone, you’re risking it.

8. Look way down the road. I get on I-5 northbound everyday from Fairview at Mercer. Two lanes from Fairview are on ramp only. Invariably someone is sitting in the middle, on ramp only lane who wants to go straight. And he just sits there, and people are stuck behind him. It happens at every signal, because the mope didn’t READ THE SIGNS. Look ahead. Look far ahead. Look way past that big hurkin’ SUV you’re behind, if you can. The sooner you see signs and the sooner you see trouble, the sooner you can avoid messing up in a way that affects the rest of us.

9. Live the golden rule. Let people in. Wave when someone lets you in. I wish I had a buck for every time I’ve signaled to enter a gap in a lane, and the car that’s far back in that lane guns it to try to keep me from moving over. No wait, I don’t wish I had a buck, I wish I had his head on a pike. But you’ve gotta check that impulse too. Do unto others … you know.

10. Devote yourself to the task. This is covered in many of the points above, but driving is not simply something you do to pass the time while listening to the radio. Driving is the all-consuming task at hand.

So DO it — briskly, efficiently and competently. So that we can all get out of each other’s way.

Thank you.

Red Sky At Night, Sailor’s Delight

Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Then what the heck does an orange sky in the morning mean?

As we were getting ready for work this morning I passed by the kitchen window and noticed a strange glow outside. On my return trip the other way it was still very orange looking, so I went out into the garage and opened the door. Wow, very eerie. I’ve got to get a picture of this. Popped the trunk and got out the camera. By the time the camera booted and I stepped into the driveway the effect was fading fast. As I wondered whether to try and capture the tail end it was over, back to a regular looking morning.

!INCREDIBLE SIMULATION!
Orange You Glad To See Me?
!INCREDIBLE SIMULATION!

 

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 465

Wow, Thanks

They always have a yearly on-site visit from the mammogram bus, so…last week at ASCO the Plant Nurse had some representatives from a local hospital come in and offer PSA testing for us guys.

I had it done about 5 months ago at my annual visit to my Urologist, but to help support the cause I signed up to do it again at work. At nine bucks for my participation, I figure it is cheap insurance that they keep the program going next year by having plenty of takers.

My results came in the mail today. At the bottom of the sheet was the following note:

Heterophilic antibodies in human serum can react with reagent immunoglobins, interfering with in vitro immunoassays.

I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know the exact meaning of several of those words. I’m not a lawyer, but I bet I do know the exact meaning of that note – In no way can you blame us if the test results aren’t accurate.

Wow, thanks for doing the test for me.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 462

Weekend Wrap

Burning TreeOn the way home from Saturday’s lunch at the Stoplight Deli and much to the chagrin of my wife I drove onto the median in the historic district to take a picture of the car near this small bright red tree. I have had my eye a one with bright yellow leaves, but someone was thoughtlessly holding some sort of party or wedding reception at the house on the corner nearest the tree and there were all kinds of cars and such in the way. A backup was spotted a block away and Donna was only mildly uneasy until I got back in the car and moved it a few feet to try a different angle, then, well…

Driving Miss Daisy Later that afternoon was the MMC‘s semi-annual Elmcroft Senior Drive where we go over to a local Assisted Living, don’t call me a nursing home, Center and take some of the residents for a little drive. We had 7 cars and seven riders, so we took a nice 35 mile drive up to and over the dam at Lake Thurmond. We had one Miata with a Porsche Boxster kit and a rep from the local dealer brought a 3rd gen Miata (unfortunately not the retractable hard top version) for us to use if we needed.

NBRIEDLater that evening was another MMC event, Game Night. A dozen of us gathered at the Butler’s to played games and eat finger foods. Four of us played a game of Scrabble while the other eight, in 2 groups of four, played dominoes. After a few games or so, a call went up to play something that all of us could partake in together. A couple people voted for charades, but two people, one of which was me, vowed to go stand outside in the rain rather than play that. We ended up playing Trivial Pursuit, the original Genus Edition which caused quite a few of us to have to relive the 80’s.

Yellow TreeToday we started our day with a leisurely breakfast of bagels at the Atlanta Bread Company followed by grocery shopping. We then drove over to Augusta because you can buy stuff earlier there than you can here on Sundays. We bought a wedding gift, some Christmas gifts for siblings that need to be tweaked and mailed around the country later and just shopped, not bought, gifts for a 3-year old who will be spending the holidays in a family shelter. He is one of several kids that people from ASCO are going to help out this year as we usually do. We then got a chicken salad sandwich to go from the Atlanta Bread Company that we ate overlooking the same dam I passed over yesterday. On the way home I passed by my yellow tree and the photos I took were kind of disappointing, not at all like I envisioned them. For the record we ate dinner at home, not the Atlanta Bread Company.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 460

Once A Week

Wet HoodWashed 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 transferred 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