Has It Really Been Five Days?

I’ve got a few things that happened this week I wanted to blog about, but because I write sooo slooowly I just haven’t had the actual time to do so. Trouble is, like missed sleep, you never really can catch up blogging.

All I’ve really had time for is wondering the interwebs, I’d like to say totally aimlessly, but that would be a lie, so it was maybe more like somewhat aimlessly, because there is always an undercurrent of Miata-ism to it. To wit, my current wallpapers on the laptop and desktop (plus a bonus one) are:

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Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 47

All Over The Map

Car Show - Mustangs, Music & More

We were all over the map yesterday in the Miata. Driving somewhere over 300 miles, like the last two Saturday’s trips to Savannah & then Athens that involved something like 300 miles of driving, we are considering it training for our driving vacation that is coming up.

For breakfast we drove to Lexington to the closest to us Bruegger’ Bagels. The reason for this destination was two-fold, one, breakfast, and two, bagels for breakfast for the next couple of Fridays when we bike ride to work.

We then killed a couple hours at home before heading back out to go to M3, a fund raiser for the band at Midland Valley High School in Graniteville. The M3 was for Mustangs/Music & More with part of the more being why we were there, a car show (see above.) Another part of the more was food vendors and we thought we might get a bite to eat, but there wasn’t any shade available to get out of the heat, if we did buy something there.

In what turned out to be my biggest misstep of the day, when Donna suggested Firehouse subs for lunch, I thought we should just continue a little further west to go to the one in North Augusta instead of heading back to Aiken.

That Firehouse Subs was very busy and it was taking so long to even get our order placed that both of us separately, to ourselves, though maybe it was time to find another lunch spot. Just about the time one of us was going to say something aloud, I got to the cashier.

After eating we walked down a couple stores in the strip shopping center to a Dollar Tree to get the three alternate prizes for the MMC’s Bug Splat later that night. We shopped a bit, picking out some cheesy prizes somewhat related to the name of the award and headed to the check out. There we were greeted with another long line, anchored by a woman with a cart full to the brim. This time when we thought to ourselves maybe it was time to go, we both took action simultaneously and headed for the door.

On the way home we made a quick stop at the Dollar Tree in Aiken, right next to the Firehouse Subs I should have driven to, where we got those same cheesy items and were in and out in less than 3 minutes. We then had a couple hours to hang out at home, have some dinner before driving back over to North Augusta to drive the 40 mile loop to Edgefield and back swatting bags out of the night air with the nose of the Emperor.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 41

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 30
Totals So Far: 80 points & 3385 miles

Car Shopping

No, not me.

A woman from the Miata Club has a silver 1991 with 218,000 miles on it and it is no longer quiet (as she put it) and no longer trusts it to take long trips. She asked me and a couple of other long term Club members what her options might be. My response:

Anita,

You’ve certainly had a long run and maybe it is time to get something a little newer.

And while I like the looks of the new one, Donna does not, but neither one of us want to buy a new one and incur a $30k new car loan. The new model is supposed to be more back to the Miata’s roots, it still looks like a smaller sized person might be swallowed by the slightly higher sides and rear end.

Even if you liked the look of the 3rd generation (2006-2015), I’m sure you would get the sitting in a bath tub feel because even I did a little when we test drove one back when they first came out.

I have no idea what your criteria might be for a newer car, so I’m just guessing here by sort of imagining what I’d do if someone stole our car or it was totaled. Here we go…

Buy a 2nd generation car, I know, I know, I’m biased but hear me out. Most of the 1st gen cars like yours are getting a little long in the tooth, so unless you get lucky and find a low mileage one (under 80k miles) you might as well kick it up a notch. Skip the 1999 to 2000 ones, look for something from the 2001-2005 range because the seats are more comfortable, the center console is more usable and the headlights are a tremendous improvement. A quick search of Cars.com within 150 miles turns up 8 cars between $6,500 to 10,500. http://tinyurl.com/my7xm7h The bottom three in price are probably of the most interest to you, I don’t see you in red or yellow or a real dark color. The one you’d probably like best, the silver, is actually an automatic once you look at the pictures.

You know, now that I’ve actually shopped around a little, I think for $6,000 I would get a rebuilt motor put in, some new shocks and springs, a new top, maybe recover the seats with leather and buy some new floor mats.

Good luck,
Brian

Right after I sent that, I thought what if I went out 200 miles? I found nothing different for her, but if I was looking to replace The Emperor for some reason:

Never mind what I just said, I bumped the mileage to 200 from my house and found a car just like my current car for sale in Myrtle Beach.

http://tinyurl.com/q86wmf4

Even if the 41k miles is correct, $9,300 is still too much, I’d pay maybe 8,500…

Happy shopping,
Brian

Wait a minute, I really only checked Cars.com, there are a couple more resources I should try:

Damn it Anita, now see what you got me doing. 😉

Here is a silver 2001 with 75k miles in Claxton for a paltry $5,300 from a private seller on Autotrader.com.

There were only a couple on ebay within 200 miles, but both are automatics.

I will not check Craigslist. I will not check Craigslist. I will not check Craigslist. OK, just a peek…

Oooh, a silver 2003 with 100k in Spartanburg for $5,500.

Alright, I’m finished – Brian

2016 Motoring Challenge Challenges

At the end of last year’s contest the guy running the event asked for suggestions for this year’s event. I’m not sure I submitted any, but I’d like to think one of last year’s Sneak Peek photos of ours inspired a Destination idea for this year – With a Train.

As we have been driving this year I’ve been sort of filing away ideas to suggest for next year’s Destinations. Trouble is my filing cabinet, an aging brain with rapidly deteriorating synapses, keeps losing them. So I’m going to make a widget to put over on the left that will become the repository for those ideas.

I’ve got a couple ideas to add right now, at least those I remember, and hopefully lots more to come. The first year we had Ski Resort w/o Snow = 1 point and Ski Resort with Snow = 2 points, so along those lines I’ve got:

Tattoo Parlor = 1 point
Tattoo Parlor with Fresh Tat = 2 points
Tattoo Parlor with Moss Logo Tat = 5 points
Food Bank = 1 point
Food Bank & Dropping Off a Donation = 2 points

More on the left…

Wild Goose Emu Chase

Destination - Hairpin Turn (<20 mph): There is a 15MPH curve over near the Aiken Medical Centers, but we were waiting until we got into the mountains for a more scenic shot. Today we stumbled on this, and thinking the number would not get much lower, took some pictures. (8/15/15)

Destination – Hairpin Turn (<20 mph): There is a 15MPH curve over near the Aiken Medical Centers, but we were waiting until we got into the mountains for a more scenic shot. Today we stumbled on this, and thinking the number would not get much lower, took some pictures. (8/15/15)

There is a spot at the bottom of the Moss Motoring Challenge form for 3 Bonuses worth 2 points each. These are emailed to participants at various times throughout the year, well that is what happened in 2014. This year on Friday we got the email with all three “challenges” at once:
Bonus 1: Photo includes a famous work of architecture.
Bonus 2: Photo with a permanent sign that displays the same year as the year of your car.
Bonus 3: Aaaand… A photo with one or more farm animals (an extra bonus point if the animal is an Emu!)
Off to the web we went for research.

For number 1, it turns out our already planned trip took us withing 10 miles of a fairly famous house called Fallingwater, designed by a fairly famous guy named Frank. Unfortunately you can’t drive right up to the front door of the place, but it turns out that there is another Frank Lloyd Wright home nearby that I think you can do just that.1

Number 2 has numerous possibilities (see what I did there), a business founded in 2003, a billboard advertising a business whose phone number has 2003 as the last four numbers, a business with a prominently address of 2003, a sign proudly announcing the Such Andsuch High School won the state football championship in 2003, a county road numbered 2003…

Because we were headed to Athens, Georgia with the MMC on Saturday and the group was not returning together I looked for Emu Farms in Georgia. We were going to go for maximum bonus points right off the bat. Jackpot! There was one, Fancy Feathers Farm, practically on our preferred return route. Their facebook profile picture shows a big ol’ sign with the word EMU all over it. I loaded the address in the GPS and we were off. When we got to the spot, I recognized the view, but it was missing something, the sign. The posts were there, but no sign. Dang. This is not going to be easy. I got home and looked at GSV for the address and it looked just like it did when we stopped along GA17 just north of Bowman, posts, but no sign. Click on the little clock next to the words Street View and you can see what it looked like in past drive-bys and sure enough, in May 2008 – emu sign, October 2013 – not so much.

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 50
Totals So Far: 79 points & 3355 miles

1. There is at least one sure thing, it is in Bartlesville, OK, but it is a 100 miles extra out of our way…

154,000 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall

The people are blurred to prevent identifying those imbibing, who later, went driving.

The people are blurred to prevent identifying those imbibing, who later, went driving.

Today the MMC went on a drive to visit to the Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, GA and we went with them. This is our second brewery tour in three years and it is one too many. It was kind of interesting the first time, but once you’ve heard the spiel once, it comes down to tasting ’em. Both Donna and I are not real beer drinkers, so tasting them is not the real draw, the drive to and from is.

We all drove up together and toured the place, but after that is was every car for themselves. We were supposed to all go out afterwards and eat, but one couple wanted to explore downtown Athens, one couple wanted to go home, one couple had too much sampling so decided to hang at the brewery for awhile to sober up and our solo traveler joined them leaving 3 couples to dine at an authentic Mexican restaurant not far away.

On the drive back, the Emperor hit 154,000 miles just as we entered the “Heritage Corridor City” of Mt Carmel, SC.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 41

What’s The Password Kenneth?*

g78FY7PMQ0tkT5w
AnVknz6LOHXdNMn
Qn5FlG16gX1WS0D
U5Ct1SVNN5K3EAQ
jHYkj8H7MjpGvK1

The PCs around Valve Store(tm), like most in a networked business environment, are locked down pretty good so that the regular Joe users can’t screw ’em up. That’s where an administrator password comes in, and I wield one.

One of my various functions at the the plant is Back-up IT Guy and because the Regular IT Guy is pretty ill, I’ve been doing a lot of more computer type stuff recently. While most of the real issues are handled remotely by the Help Desk techs at the Home Office in beautiful downtown Florham Park, NJ., sometimes it is just easier to just call Brian.

It used to be easy, I could keep my admin password the same as my regular network password, so it was always right at my fingertips. But about a month ago the corporation that pulls ASCO’s marionette strings decreed that all Administrators must use the RSA Token two-step authentication system. Now every morning I have to login to special Password Repository using a combination of my 4 digit PIN and 6 randomly generated digits, that change every 60 seconds, from my software token. This allows me to get a unique 15 character alpha-numeric admin password, good for 12 hours.

What you see above are my passwords from the past week. Feel free to copy them down for your own personal use on your favorite, or not so favorite, internet sites.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 38

*My twist on the used to be famous phrase, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”