Low Fuel Light

Up until model year 2003, if you wanted to start a nice little flame war over on the Miata.net Forum all you had to do was ask why the Miata doesn’t have a Low Fuel Light. On one side you had the pro camp who wondered aloud about how come the cheapest Hyundai has one. The con camp consisted of the sports car purists or the ones who actually use the normally included gas gage.

I guess Mazda figured if it sold a half dozen more cars they would add it, so in all 2003 Miatas you now get a low fuel light.

I was on my way to the local gas station this evening to fill up as the needle was about on ‘E’ when mine came on. Filled up the tank and I managed to get 10.4 gallons in there. The total capacity according to my brochure is 12.7 gallons, so I had 2.3 left to burn. Even at the lowest EPA city mileage of 23 MPG I still could go over 50 miles before actually running out.

Shift For Brains

After much deliberation, tonight I removed the short shifter. I really liked the shortened shifts and even the slightly higher effort with added snick-snick, but the little whirring, spinning noises (only noticeable with the top up) were making me crazy. I’m sure they were there in the old car, just didn’t hear them, what with the older cars higher ambient noise level. Shifting is back to longer, but smoother and quieter.

Afterwards Donna and I went out and tested it of course. 🙂 It is about 60 degrees tonight and a beautiful night for a topless cruise. At one point Donna said it is a little brisk maybe we should raise the windows. When she mashed the switch, nothing happened. Rut-Roh! I must have messed something up, because you have to remove the switches to get the console out to change the shifter. I thought it took a lot more pressure to hook back up. I hope I didn’t break a pin. Turns out I did bend one, straightened out, hooked it up and now the windows fly up and down on command again.

I’ve got a question for the Miata.netters. Remember how I complained about there not being any oil in the turret? While reading in a post about notchy shifting 6-speeds, someone made an off-hand statement that you need to remember 6-speeds trannys don’t have oil in the turret. Huh?!? Did they stop putting it in 5-speeds too? If so, did putting some in muck up the works?

After Donna and I got back from our evening top-down drive (it’s like 60 degrees outside) there was a sticky note attached to my monitor, “Tim called” it read. My mother-in-law had taken the message. I guess Tim just said, “Tell him I called.” I only know one Tim, and he is a rare caller, so I tried his number. No answer. Hmmm. Did she mean some one else? Jim? I know a ton of Jims. Whoever it was, it must not have been important as he never called back.

Better send myself an email at work so I’ll remember to ask Tim if he did call me.

Got A Letter From Liz Godard Today

That name will mean absolutely nothing to 100% of you, but to me it means I have been summoned for jury duty.

“When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.” -Norm Crosby

While searching for the source of that quote I stumbled on several blogs/newspaper columns/stuff that gave good and bad arguments supporting or debunking the idea. Secretly I want to dodge it, but I know it will definitely be more interesting than my normal workday. That and it will give me something interesting to blog about.

No Soap?!?

After last night’s trip to see the lights at Hopeland Gardens (parking on a dirt road) and this morning’s shortcut to avoid a clueless driver (1.5 miles on a dirt road through horse country) I felt it was time to wash the car for the first time. After changing clothes, I headed to the garage to get my wash bucket. When I looked inside I realized that I had used the last of the car wash soap on the Laguna Blue when I washed it in prep for trading in. Sigh.

I took the hose and washed out the wheel wells real good and then used a wet sponge to clean off any dirt on the lower exterior. Dried with a towel and it likes shiny and new again (of course it helps that it is still shiny and new.)

Maybe over the Christmas weekend (Sunday is supposed to be near 70.)

The Quiet American

Today’s movie was The Quiet American and while this is a totally unremarkable film, it is much better than the last two movies I’ve seen in the last 2 days. Modern production values, decent acting and a plot even an imbecile like me could follow. In the opening titles it told me this book was based on a Graham Greene book. When I went to IMDB to get the above link I found out it was also a movie in 1958 with Audie Murphy in the title role. Probably won’t go back and rent the original, but I may see if I can find the book and read it.

Right now I’m reading the Michael Crichton’s Timeline. Interesting premise so far. As with all Mr. Crichton’s work, it reads pretty much like a movie for your mind. Surprise, Timeline was recently released as a movie. A friend at work thought the movie paled in comparison to the book, so maybe I won’t even bother with the DVD when it comes out.

Oil Change – 1015 miles

Went out and drove around a bit to get the car warm. Came home and put it in the garage to change the oil. Seemed like I had to unscrew the filter about 10 more turns to get it off the engine compared to the old car. While the oil drained instead of rotating the tire as I usually do, I went ahead and checked the pressure – 20psi all around, it should be 26. As I aired up, I took the time to wipe off the wheels because they were dirty (whatever tire shine stuff the dealer uses really picks up the brake dust.) Thanks go to Mazda designers for these wheels, there are no nooks and crannies that you can’t get into to clean easily with a rage. Canceling out the thanks, is an ah shit, the dip stick is black, not chrome and this makes it hard to read the level even in bright sunlight.

I Hope Tomorrow Is Better

Did hardly anything at all today. I walked to the mailbox and got the mail (in it came a jury duty summons for me for January.) This afternoon we watched Basic and after yesterday’s “Gone In 60 Seconds”, the 1974 version, I now know that even with good actors and good production values you can still end up with a movie that sucks. This thing was so convoluted that even though I think I know what happened, I’m quite sure I don’t know what happened. The highlight of the day was an evening trip to the China Palace to get the din-din.