Total Inaction

I can’t pull the trigger. I want, but I’m not sure I want it that bad. If Rspeed sold them, I’d probably have bought it by now. Not only is it a money thing, it is the I don’t know these people thing too. While they have been Johnny on the spot answering emails, New State Corporation has exhibited a couple of the same things that put me off of our California candidate, TeamSR, i.e. an inactive forum, a new name and a new warehouse.

I need a sign. If something doesn’t make me want it by next Monday, I guess I’ll buy something else. The pump is primed and there is no going back. It’ll probably be something smaller, like a new antenna. I’ve also thought about getting that Mazda cargo net for the trunk…

Front Lip Spoiler III

Scotland chimed in with his pricing. About the same for the spoiler, but as expected shipping kicked him right out of the running. He wanted ?70 to ship, not the approximate $70 for our Canadian friend, with an exchange rate of 1.8$ to a ? that is a major bump. I had just one more question for Canada, how much was import duty going to be on this piece of plastic? Didn’t need a $100 surprise on top of what is already approaching a $400 spoiler. The answer is 2.5% or about $7.50. That is a figure I can live with. But can I live with that big a price? After painting we are sure to be close to $450. That is about what it would cost to get a nice set of lighter 15″ wheels.

I did a couple of quick photoshopping exercises on the images from the original Swiss website:

Front Spoiler Unpainted

Front Spoiler Painted

Doesn’t look too bad unpainted, but that is if you only look at it in this view. Taking in the whole car, that bit of black hanging off the front, I’m not to sure. On the first gen cars there was already a small section along the bottom middle of the car in black, so adding a black spoiler up front and back completed a line. No such black on the newer cars. An alternative, would be of course to get some side sills in black and to complete the look something in black on the back. Nobody makes a decent back ground-effect piece for the M2, except of course this same ATH. They make a killer back piece, unfortunately it has a couple of center cutouts that fits their dual exhaust muffler and no one else’s. By the time I’m done, I’ve have spent $2k (which is impossible unless I hit the lotto.)

To quote a friend, “I’m on the horns of the Dalai Lama.” Should I spend more than I think is same just to get the front to look like I like? Or should I go back to working on getting my wife to agree to some lowering springs?

New 911

Oh, boy! Porsche is introducing a new 911. Looks about the same with some improvements to the engine, chassis, etc. Goes like stink and starts at $80K. Blogging may be light for awhile around here while I’m in line to get one.

Front Lip Spoiler II

I received an email from Scotland today. When he told me he would honor ATH distributor’s regions and not sell to the US, I wrote back thanking him for the response. I then went into my rant about ATH”s US distributor (who has still not responded to my 2nd round of questions I sent last Thursday) and told him I wouldn’t deal with them. So today Scotland emails and asks for front end dimensions of the car so he can add shipping to his quote. I guess he changed his mind and is trying to save ATH a sale. I’ll forward the dims to him, but unless he is insanely cheaper, I think I’m still going Canada.

LDSW

This is our Long Days, Short Week at work. We work 9 hour days Mon-Thurs and get Friday afternoon off. Here it is nearly 10 PM amd the day is over already. How can working just a half hour extra in the morning and another half hour in the afternoon kill the day so quickly? It couldn’t have been the 2 hours this evening I surfed the web for porn while my wife and her mother went to an exercise class? Nah.

Blast FronThe Past

While searching in her purse for something, Donna found a Free Appetizer card we received from a manager at a restaurant from way back in June. We didn’t run right out and get our free food because the chain restaurant doesn’t have a local location. We were coming back from Connecticut back in early June and as we were zipping south on I-81, just into northern Virginia, it was time for some lunch. As we looked at all the signs along the side of the road for the eateries that we could agree on, I spotted a place that we had never really heard of, but I had seen a positive review of on the net by a world renown restaurant critic, so we decided to give it a whirl. We weren’t real hungry so we agreed to order just an appetizer and a burger to split. As we looked over the menu to finalize our choice we could hear the folks at the table behind us say, “You are just getting this to us now?” Apparently they had just gotten their appetizer when they were halfway thru their entree. Undaunted, we ordered something (I can’t remember what it was two months ago almost) and emphasized to the waiter to be sure and get the appetizers order in first so we got it first. He said he would. We never saw him again.

A waitress smilingly and unsuspecting dropped off our hamburger. We immediately asked her where our appetizer was. She, not being our primary server and just helping out, had no idea but went off to check. We cut the sandwich in two and it was very tasty. The fries were good, but would have been a lot better if they were actually hot. The next staff person that came by we flagged over and complained about the fries. She promised to get us some more that were hot. Donna and I started our own little pool to bet on which would show up first, fries or appetizer. The fries came first, delivered by the manager. He apologized and asked how he could make it up to us, could he get us our appetizer. We told him we didn’t want it at this point. We told him that he could give us our meal for free, but he couldn’t do that. To make him feel better we accepted his little card for a free appetizer. We told him it was probably worthless as that particular chain didn’t exist where we lived, so he wrote inside good at any location and N/A in the expiration date spot.

For all we know the restaurant had just opened yesterday, it was in a very new shopping center. They were probably like a lot of things these days, just getting the product to market without working all the bugs out of the system. Beta testing on the public as it were. We will probably try another Red Robin Gourmet Burgers at another time if it happens to fall into place that there is one where and when we happen to be hungry.

Promotion?

This memo was forwarded to few folks at our plant today. It concerns a staffing change at our main plant in Florham Park. Why I got it I’m not sure, but I’m glad I did because I found it entertaining. The Name has been changed to protect the “innocent.”
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I am pleased to announce that Fred Flintstone has accepted the position of Procurement Commodity Manager beginning 7/19/04. Over the last 6 years, Fred has held various roles in Engineering with increasing responsibility. Most recently, Fred held the position of Project Manager with direct responsibility over the RHNG project. Fred has played an integral role in managing this project through a successful design freeze. Due to the critical nature of this project, Fred will continue as Project Manager until the electronic version is successfully in production.

Fred has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Really Smart Guy Institute, an M.S. in Engineering Management from Cheesy Online University, and an MBA in Strategic Management from Snotty Nose University.

In Fred’s new role, he will manage several key commodities including machined parts. Fred will be responsible for developing and implementing the strategic direction of these commodities in an effort to drive negative net inflation, globalization, and supplier performance. Fred will be reporting to me.

Please join me in congratulating Fred on his new assignment.
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RHNG stands for Red Hat Next Generation which going to be our latest and greatest valve if it ever comes to fruition. It has been stuck on one thing or another for couple three years now. So is this a promotion or a demotion? Before, top dog engineer on the company’s valve of the future, now, buyer of bitsy valve parts, you tell me. Just what is a successful design freeze anyway? He got the design so screwed up we are frozen with no chance to go back or forward in any attempt to make this a viable product? Whatever, here is my hearty congratulations to you Fred, salute!