Month: August 2014

New Flippers

mi_pilot_spt_as3_ci2_lThe other day when the Pur­ple Whale had his 45k check-up, the Ser­vice Adviser along with telling me the bat­tery was get­ting weak, also told me I needed some new tires. I didn’t let me sell those either. The OEM tires are Hankook Optimo H431 and they are pretty awful according to the reviews online and while I didn’t think they were exceedingly crappy, I knew I wasn’t going to buy another set just based on their noisy performance on anything but a very smooth road surface.

I headed over to TireRack.com to do some research and picked out the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 for the Purple Whales new flippers. There were a few better all around tires in the High Performance All-Season category, but because of Aiken’s mild winters I could sacrifice snow and ice traction numbers for higher quiet and comfort ones. As a nice bonus the Michelins were $50 cheaper than the Hankooks they are replacing

Kindle & Me II

Kindle Paperwhite & CoverHappy Birthday to Me. Ordered on Sunday and arrived on Tuesday, one Kindle Paperwhite (w/ Special Offers) and a trick Fake Leather/Plastic Cover.

When I opened the box from Amazon there were two boxes inside and some bubble wrap. The Kindle box was so much larger than the one for the cover, that I first thought the cover was folded somehow. But when I opened it up it wasn’t folded, it couldn’t have been, it was made of thin hard plastic. The Kindle could have fit in the cover box, but the box it was in was made for a nice presentation of the device, so there was a lot of dead space.

I was originally thinking of getting the base $69 dollar Kindle, then graduated to the $89 no ads version because although the ads are described as unobtrusive, I rather liked the random authors that showed with BIL Paul’s Kindle 2. After more consideration I then settled on the Paperwhite for the touch screen interface and the backlit screen allowing for nighttime reading. I went with the Special Offers version to save the $20 (that’ll buy a quartet of average priced eBooks) and if the ads do get bothersome, I found instructions on the web on how jailbreak the device and load your own screensaver images instead.

Right now I haven’t gotten any special offers displayed, no authors either, just random images. I wonder if they are going to be like commercials on the evening news or basic cable movies in that there are none for a big chunk of time to get you hooked and then they come hot and heavy to the point of frustration?

Candy Field

Candy Field

Our intent this morning after breakfast, at the same ol’ place, was to walk around the Cross Country Course at USC Aiken, but my circuitous driving route there took us right near the entrance to Hitchcock Woods, so I turned in and parked. Wow, two weeks in a row.

We walked around Pigeon Trap Loop and passed right through Candy Field before traveling near Crawford Fences and down Foxes Den on our way back to Rabbit Valley. As I took the above photo of the trail leading to Candy Field, what I expected to see when we got there flashed through my mind, and it was something much different than the area of small pines with little undergrowth that we found. Click on the above photo to see what my mind perceived.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1402

Cold Cranking Amps

The other day when the Purple Whale had his 45k check-up, the Service Adviser advised me the the battery was getting weak, it had only 300 cold cranking amps instead of the 670 it was rated for and they would be happy to replace it while the car was already there. I politely declined, figuring that the cost of a dealer installed OEM battery would be a darn sight higher than one purchased from a local auto parts palace.

Maybe I’m wrong and the battery wouldn’t have been expensive and things have changed some because they would like the business, but considering what they charged for a glorified oil change and inspection, I doubt it. I’m sure what they lack in volume of batteries sold, they more than make up for it in price.

This afternoon on the way home from lunch we stopped in at an Advanced Auto Parts about a mile from the house and had them test the battery. My cynical side thought that not only would the dealer over-charge me for a battery, he might possibly even over-charge me for a battery I didn’t actually need. The nice woman who tested the Purple Whale’s electrical heart gave me a readout with the very same 300 CCA figure as did the Hyundai dealer.

The car has never hesitated to start, but remembering having to call a friend to rescue us a while back when the Emperor failed to start because of a weak battery with no indications it was going bad either, we figured a $120 was good insurance. Twenty minutes later we had a new 670 cold cranking amp battery installed, the old one disposed of and the hardest thing I had to do was punch in my PIN number after swiping the debit card.

#PocketClaire

Outlander - Claire & Jamie

Well I’ve read the book and I’ve watched the first episode of Outlander and you can color me hooked. The series run technically starts tomorrow night at 9PM on Starz, but Episode 1 has been available as a special Sneak Peek on the official site and on YouTube since last Saturday.

All the way at the bottom of the Extras page at Starz’s official site for the show is a cut out of the lead male character, Jamie, in all his kilted glory. You are supposed to download the PDF, cut it out and carry it with you so you can take it’s picture as it interacts with your life. Tweet it, Instagram it or upload your photo to their Facebook page and Starz just might share it with the Interwebs.

While this sounds like something I might do, after all I did tote a Travelocity Gnome around the northwest a few years back taking its picture, I draw the line at strikingly handsome paper dudes in kilts. There is a PocketJamie, but where is the one of our protagonist? I guess I’ll have to make one. A little Google-fu, some “photoshop” work and I made one up. So after you have downloaded and cut out James Fraser, Laird of Broch Tuarach, why don’t you come back here and download PocketClaire, his favorite Sassenach.

Started down, went up, back down, back up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1401

A Step Back IMHO

Sonatas

The Purple Whale is at a sleepover in Augusta so he can have his 45K service done at the dealer. We drove over after dinner and used the key drop and we’ll go back over tomorrow right after work to pick him back up. Donna found a spot only three away from the Service Department door to park and 2 spots away, right next to the door was a brand new 2015 Sonata.

I knew that they had redesigned it, and from the photos I’ve seen on the net it seemed to me that it lost a little of what made it special. You know what, in person inspection proved that correct, it went way conservative. Looks kind of like a Ford Taurus. If I was car shopping today, it wouldn’t even make the list.

Doll Lane

Doll Lane

For the first time since early spring Donna and I ventured into Hitchcock Woods. We usually stay out of there in the middle of summer, but this morning it was like upper sixties and foggy, so what the heck.

Tonight I’m watching the FRS play the Yankees and this is getting painful. The Sox scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning and then gave up three runs right back in the top of the second.

At least with my other eye I’m watching the Giants play the Bills in the NFL Hall of Fame Game so Fantasy Football is getting closer and I need a little sports fantasy about now.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1398