Rae’s Coastal Cafe. Him, Jerk Chicken, her, Scallops Special.
Watched Astronaut Farmer tonight. Cute little movie that nearly lost me a few times when the unreality showed through despite my suspended beliefs. I think the only reason I didn’t turn it off, like we did for The Pursuit of Happyness the other day, is because I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up (and what kid didn’t want that if they were 8 when John Glenn orbited the planet.)
In yesterday’s episode of As the Lipids Bounce my numbers were a little better than last time, but not as good as they were the time before. The Doctor has obviously given up trying to make it any lower as his advice was, “Stay the course and I’ll see you in six months.”
| Chol | HDL | LDL | Trig | |
| Goal | <200 | >31 | <100 | 30-150 |
| 07/17/07 | 185 | 36 | 117 | 162 |
| 03/05/07 | 195 | 39 | 123 | 167 |
| 09/19/06 | 167 | 37 | 103 | 135 |
| 04/06/06 | 168 | 37 | 106 | 126 |
| 12/08/05 | 182 | 35 | 120 | 137 |
| 07/28/05 | 177 | 30 | 113 | 169 |
| 06/17/05 | 164 | 31 | 85 | 238 |
| 05/06/05 | 174 | 27 | 108 | 194 |
| 01/10/05 | 176 | 33 | 110 | 167 |
| 09/21/04 | 209 | 24 | 131 | 271 |
To celebrate this “success” Donna and I went to Hardee’s for breakfast this morning and we both had Biscuits & Gravy.
Now here’s something that doesn’t happen everyday. I got an email from Netflix letting me know that the cost of my monthly plan was being reduced by a buck. Cool, now I can afford that BMW 335i Coupe I want.
From Burnham Down the House: Trailers From Hell
From What Do You Drive: Roast My Weenie
From AutoBlog: A Red Hot Ferrari
Or Robert Parker’s name for my home town of Aiken, SC. At least that is what he calls it in Spenser novel number 20, “Paper Doll.” Not nearly as exciting as the movie “Who’s Your Caddy” (which opens this weekend) that was filmed in Aiken I know, but it ranks right up there in my little life.
–> Bloggus Interuptus < --
Early in Chapter 12, “Never go unarmed on a murder case.” This one was not numbered and was just called one of Spenser’s best crime-buster tips. Guess I’ll just add it to the list at the top. and see what happens.
Took the Emperor back to the doctors as much as I hated to do the traveling, but they didn’t do something right, so they ought to fix it. Besides as Donna said, “This way I don’t have to cook.” We spent almost more time doing paperwork than the technician did adjusting the belt and about a half an hour later we were gone.
I had picked a Japanese place, Tsunami, off the web as a dinner spot for something different. We were off course early (5:30ish), which is how we like it, but apparently that is not a good time for the restaurant. Walked through the door and stopped at the hostess station. After less than a minute a Paris Hilton look-alike with a white top and black skirt came our way. Good, we were thinking, this must be the hostess. She walked right behind us and shouted down to a couple of waitress types, “Can I get a server up here.” One of the waitresses shouted back something like, “I told Name to go to you.” Dona and I looked at each other and said, “Guess we won’t be eating here.”
So we went across the street to Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. We wanted to eat at a place that we didn’t have in Aiken and this was it. Turns out it was just a sub place, good and just a little different. We split a Vito, some chips and a Sprite.
We we left the car I locked it up. I have been doing this ever since we went up north a month ago. I’m hoping someone will slit the top to steal something out of the interior, so that the insurance company will buy me a new top. This one is going to develop a hole soon and if I can get them to foot the bill it would be nice. Donna says, “Why don’t I just cut it myself.” I can’t do the crime, facilitate a little I’m OK with, but I can’t commit it.
The Emperor had it’s 60k mile service last week. Not only did they change the timing belt, but while they were in there they changed out the two accessory belts. We picked it up Thursday evening and all was well until Saturday morning. We had a MMC breakfast date, so we left the house at about 6:15. Less than a half a mile away from home in our quiet neighborhood is a 4-way stop. When pulling away from the stop the Emperor started to squeal like a stuck pig. I felt about 2″ high. I was sure that lights were going on in the houses around me as the people tried to locate the Siamese cat in heat. The sound went away after about 5 seconds and didn’t reoccur. I figured a little condensation from the car coming out into warm moist air from the air conditioned garage, so the belt slipped a little bit.
Nice theory, but how do I explain what caused the same squeal this afternoon after work. It lasted longer than Saturday’s episode, about 10 seconds. I had time to cycle the A/C a couple times and when off the first time the squeal stopped and restarted when the A/C was turned back on. When I turned off the A/C the second time the squeal continued, but stopped shortly there after. Donna said lets take it back to the dealer. I would have, but the place is over 60 miles and an hour away. If they were less than half that I probably would.
So, what causes belt squeal? Too tight? Too loose? Either? Bite the bullet and take it back? Is this fixable by a novice knucklehead? Learn to live with a random dying pig noise?
Donna and I went for a bike ride this morning with the intention of ending up at the New Moon for muffins and/or bagels. We missed timed our arrival so that we had twenty minutes to wait before we opened. Donna almost convinced the guy putting tables on the sidewalk to let us buy our two items to go and leave. Almost. We settled down to wait. People started to arrive. And more people. Then some more. Pretty soon there were over a dozen people waiting by the door for 9:00AM. I felt like I was waiting to buy the latest Harry Pooter Book.
I checked the time on my cyclecomputer and we still had 10 minutes to go. Impatient with the crowd, the annoying gnats circling me and the time left, I told Donna to forget it. We wanted to get home to see today’s mountain stage of the Tour, so we mounted back up on the tandem and started on our way. At the end of the first block towards home I noticed that the time was now just a couple minutes shy of nine. The siren’s call of a Cranberry Pecan Muffin was too great. We circled a couple more blocks and went back. I went inside to get our stuff while Donna waited outside. I was 6 or 7 in line. I crept forward at a glacial pace (probably seemed longer for Donna standing outside in a gnat cloud) and finally got to order. An Everything Bagel for her, the aforementioned Cranberry Pecan Muffin for me and to fortify ourselves for the 3 mile ride home I bought a cookie to share.
Speaking of cookies, we made a double batch of Donna’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon and I lost count after eating six…
The cockpit of the Miata can be a hot place. I have tried several methods I’ve found on the Miata.net Forums and they have helped a little, but not enough. The air that comes through the interior vents is so much warmer than the ambient air, no matter what I have tried.
Abut a year ago a forum member came out with a little device called the Cool Breeze Scoop. People raved, but I doubted. Plus I didn’t want to invest the $40 price. This year after testing out the principle by hold my hand over the windshield header and directing outside air in, I took the plunge. Received and installed on Tuesday, but because of the service trip to Columbia and the weather we didn’t get a chance to really use it until today.
Two thumbs up! It doesn’t do anything when the car is stopped and adds a touch more wind noise, but it dumps cooler outside air right at the footwells of the car and makes a noticeable difference. I predict that this be like the microwave, later we will wonder how we lived without it.