One Cheek Landing

Went on my usual 3-mile rollerblading loop this evening. The middle mile is around the one mile walking track surrounds the city’s recreation center. I enter on one side and at about the 3/4 mark the trail it passes between the parking lot and the main road. Cars come in on one lane and they exit in two more, one for right turns and one for lefts. Cars are supposed to yield to walkers and skaters and almost always do. Today one of them didn’t for me.

As I skated towards the entrance I looked behind me so as not to be ambushed by a car swooping in from the road. I then looked forward and could see a big sedan coming out in the left lane and I slowed a bit to make sure he was stopping. When I saw that he was, I continued forward. Trouble was there was a smaller car coming in the right lane, I noticed late, and the driver didn’t even see me at all. I braked hard and it really wasn’t going to be enough, so I turned hard right into the space between the two cars. My right skate came out from under me, dumping me on my right butt cheek.

I got back to my feet and thanked the guy in the car that stopped and looked over at the one that didn’t, who was sitting at the stop sign before entering the main drag, and gave him the evil eye in his rear view mirror. I think he felt bad and was waiting to see if I was alright before going, but I just skated back on my way with wounded pride and a pain in the butt.

I’m still sore 5 hours later and I’m betting that sucker is going to be purple by tomorrow.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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Shopping At Home Depot

Two guys, one old and one young, are pushing their carts around Home Depot when they collide.

The old guy says to the young guy, “Sorry about that. I’m looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

The young guy says, “That’s OK. What a coincidence, I’m looking for my wife too. I can’t find her and I’m getting a little desperate.”

The old guy says, “Well, maybe we can help each other. What does your wife look like?

The young guy says, “Well, she is 27 yrs old, tall, with red hair, blue eyes, long legs, big boobs, and she’s wearing tight white shorts. What does your wife look like?”

The old guy says, “Doesn’t matter — let’s look for yours.”

Guest Judge Anyone?

Voting is well underway in the 2nd Annual “My Favorite Miata Photo” Contest. If you haven’t voted yet please do, polls close this Sunday at noon eastern time. Because that is open to anyone to vote it is more of a popularity contest and it looks like there are photographers with a lot of friends, of the 382 votes so far they have 200 (53.2%) of them.

I was hoping for a more artistic judging on the photos and wasn’t getting it, so seeing as it is my contest I created a separate prize category for some Judge’s Choice awards. I picked my favorite 8 photos and emailed all eight of the photographers and asked them to rate the entries. They should omit their photo and rank the other seven in order from #1-their favorite to #7-their least favorite. I would award a sliding scale to their rankings with more points awarded for first and less points for each successive lower rank.

So far I have received 5 of 8 replies, if any of you would like to be a guest judge to fill in the three vacancies please do. Go to this gallery to see just the eight finalists and email me your rankings from top to bottom. Because you get to rank all 8 I’ll be tossing out the last one. Ballots will be accepted in the order in which they are received. Of course if all three of the official judges eventually reply yours will get tossed out like so many hanging chads.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 396

Miata Forum Science

Humfrz Theory of Mental Relativity:
The sensation of “speed” is relative and is directly proportional to the ?speed? at which the biochemical process works in the flow of neurons across the synapses of ones brain. As we age, this process slows while the world around us, continues to move at a constant ?speed?, thus giving us ?old guys? the sensation of ?great speed?.

He has an equation he is working on to help explain the theory:
H + S + A x AGS ÷ X ≈ PS
hat + suspenders + age x actual ground speed ÷ (X) ≈ perceived speed

This explains why 80-year old men in hats are doing 20 MPH in the 45 zone…they think they are flying.

I like it. Might even try and find a prominent spot for it here to go along with Sturgeon’s Law.

It’s Raining at Fenway Park Right Now

Both with raindrops and Minnesota Twin’s hits. It was supposed to rain all day here in Aiken, but as you can see by this picture it wasn’t at 1:45 this afternoon. And it still hasn’t.

Skyview

Started down, went up, still up.
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Free Parking

No, I haven’t been playing Monopoly, just unearthed my parking stub from the Charlotte airport under some papers at my desk here.

Parking is at a premium at Charlotte- Douglas International Airport and as they fill up one fence enclosed long-term lot they open another down the street. When Donna and I went to CT for Labor Day we parked our car way out in a satellite lot as directed by airport personnel. A fellow handed us a ticket with a handwritten date on it and directed us to the shuttle. We we in Lot #2, Section Z.

When we got back 3 days later it took a little while to sort out which shuttle bus to take. The bus took us back to the lot and pulled in through a gate next to a booth. We loaded up our car and followed the exit signs back to that same booth, but on the other side. I rolled down my window to hand the ticket to the person in the booth and the gate opened in front of me. The booth was empty. I drove out and away.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 392

Going To Puerto Rico?

Donna spent 2 years in Puerto Rico as a kid and has fond memories of that time. Going back there to visit has always been thought in her mind.

Well, a couple days ago her friend Sally (of State Department fame) emailed to say that once she is done with her tour of duty in Namibia next February she was going to be in the states for a few months before heading off to her next assignment. First she will be spending some time in Louisiana with family and then a fellow embassy friend was lending her their condo in Puerto Rico for a week. A plan was hatched to kill two birds with one stone, a visit to PR and get to see Sally at the same time.

We weren’t planning on spending a whole week with Sally just maybe an afternoon and an evening meal. Sally was going to be spending time with her mom and her daughter. Donna and I would spend a couple days in Fajardo were she spent her early teens when her father was a sea plane pilot flying a Gumann Goose for Antilles Air Boats. Donna actually studied Algebra in Spanish, which explains why she asks me to solve all the quadratic equations we run into in our daily lives. A visit to the only rainforest in the National Park system and a bioluminescent bay were also on the schedule. The next three or four days would be spent exploring the central mountains and the quieter south & west of the island. Saturday while out shopping we bought a book called “Let’s Go Puerto Rico on a Budget.”

That $15 may save us a lot of money.
Driving:

Traffic is heavy; many people disregard speed limits, neglect to use turn signals, and cut off other cars. Markers such as stop signs are treated more like suggestions than rules. – Carjackings are common in Puerto Rico, especially in big cities. To avoid nighttime carjackings they have passed a law that drivers do not have to stop at red lights from midnight to 6AM. Central mountain roads tend to be narrow with sharp curves, poor visibility and frequent one lane washouts. The greatest danger is not the roads, but rather the local drivers who often use the whole road in narrow spots and drive at high speeds around sharp turns.

Health:

There are no required inoculations to visti Puerto Rico, but travelers should have the following vacines up to date; MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), DTaP or Td (diphtheria, tetnus and pertussis), IPV (polio), Hib (haemophilus influenza B), HepB (hepatitis B). Make sure the food you eat is fully cooked and the water is clean for drinking.

Time:

Puerto Ricans have a much more laid back sense of time than most Europeans and North Americans. Things get done when they get done. Restaurants do not maintain strict closing hours and will stay open as long as people are still around. If an establishment is empty, it will likely close early. Museums and stores frequently change opening hours and will close if someone who is supposed to work happens to be sick or unavailable.

After reading all that and reading a bunch of web reviews of tours, tourist spots and accomodations we have pretty much talked ourselves out of going.

Started up, went down, still down.
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