Life of Brian

Blew out a turn signal bulb yesterday. We were on our way to a Miata event at our sponsoring dealer, so when the first parts store I stopped in didn’t have what I needed I figured I could get it at their parts counter. The bulb is a pretty standard automotive bulb, an 1157NA. 1157 is the type, 12 volts, two filaments, one brighter than the other and the NA means it is amber. The parts store had plain 1157s, but because the Miatas turn signals are mounted in a clear lens I needed the yellow bulb.

When I asked the parts counter guy for two 1157NAs he didn’t move, he just looked at me like he was waiting for more information. None was needed, but he asked anyway, “What kind of car is it for?” I sighed internally and said out loud, a Mazda Miata. Off he went to the bulb draw. He rummaged around for a few minutes and came back with two bulbs. When he put them on the counter they were clear. I said, “I wanted NAs, I need them to be amber.” Back to the drawer he went. More rummaging, lots more. Finally after what seemed like 5 minutes he returns with two yellow bulbs. I checked the part number just to be sure. As I’m walking away I heard him say to himself, “I always wondered what NA meant.”

I guess basic automotive knowledge isn’t a prerequisite of working at a part department in a car dealership. To be somewhat fair, this dealership sells both Mercedes-Benz’s and Mazda’s so maybe he needed to know how much to charge me. I paid $2.87 for the pair, I wonder if a Benz owner would have had to fork over $8.59 for his?

Earlier in the week I signed up on the website for them to send me a Mini brochure. It arrived in the mail today. I am beginning to think these guys are too cute. The brochure was about the Mini, but it was also a mini brochure. It measured 3-1/2″ by 3-1/2″. When unfolded, its 10 panels measured over 3′ long.

I also have been checking out the Miata.net equivalent for the car, Mini2.com. They even have an active forum for sharing the love with other Mini nuts.

After a bit of reading in the forum it seems that the path to Mini ownership is fraught with obstacles. A lot of the same things transpired when the Miata came out in 1989. Things settled down for the Miata in a year or so, but the Mini has been for sale since February 2001 and the car is still not that readily available.

The Miata is getting long in the tooth (I know some will feel it is just getting broken in at 124k) and this is the longest we’ve gone without owning a “New” car, so I’ve been contemplating replacing the Miata with one of the new Mini Coopers. They are about the same size in wheelbase and track, but the Mini is a foot shorter overall. Not a convertible obviously, but they are available with a big ol’ sunroof. Trouble is they are still a rare bird after two years in production. You can go to the MiniUSA site and build one to suit you, but then there is the couple three months wait (some say a lot longer.) We have scheduled a test drive next Saturday in Charleston, SC. I’ll let you know my impressions.

I wanted to go to Greenville, SC to test one but I had a bad experience trying to arrange a test drive over the internet. Maybe I’ll detail it tomorrow, because it is definitely rant-worthy, but I don’t want to do it tonight, I’ve got to go wash the old beast for a Miata event tomorrow…

Our old towels had turned to sandpaper these last few months, so last night when we went to replace them I insisted we get some real soft ones. Donna had some nice ones in the cart when I joined them, but I thought we could spend a little more than the $10 each and get something more cushy. I jokingly said let’s spend double that oughta do it. Little did I suppose that they actually had $20 each bath towels. Well we picked up 2 a piece and that shot pretty close to a whole Ben Franklin. But man, they are soft as velour and suck up the water better than a Bounty paper towel.

This is our extra hour a day week, so we can get Friday afternoon off. After work tonight we went to do a short workout at the health club, about 30 minutes of weights, and when we got home had spaghetti for supper. When we were done eating it was only 6 o’clock, but it was as dark as midnight outside. I can barely muster the energy to post and as you can see I can’t think of anything constructive to rant about…

I think I have a slight case of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

This weekend I did not watch a DVD all the way through of the five attempted.

1) The first of the Sopranos, Season 4 discs was ejected after 2 of the 3 episodes it contained. Maybe it was the long layoff between seasons or maybe I finally figured out it was just a soap opera with cuss words, killing and an occasional naked breast. The rest of Season 4 discs were then removed from my Netflix queue.

2) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was turned off after 47 minutes. I consider this a major failure in my Science Fiction fanhood. I could never read past the first couple of chapters in the books. I tried several times in my youth to do it, but failed. I did manage to watch the first movie all the way through and figured now that I got all the characters down and was somewhat interested in them I would make it through the whole series. Nope.

3) The Emperor’s Club lasted 16 minutes, 17 seconds. I went into this with a bad attitude. I can’t stomach Kevin Kline, I’ve almost never liked him, A Fish Called Wanda was the exception. And I knew that it was going to be something like The Dead Poet’s Society going in, but I just couldn’t get into the story.

4) Read My Lips. This one was the third movie I attempted to watch Sunday afternoon and it stayed playing the shortest 5:25. Perhaps if I had given it more time…I cringed at what was happening to this poor woman in the beginning, but for what ever reason I didn’t really care. I didn’t find her likable, sorry. I started painting the kitchen cabinets instead.

5) I did eject The X-Files Season 1: Disc 4, but that was after watching Episode 1×14, Lazarus and this disc will go back in next Sunday to watch the 4th and last episode on it. Disc 5 is #2 in the queue and will be here shortly.