Just got through watching the movie Outside Providence and it really hit home in a lot of ways. The movie is set in Rhode Island in 1974 and involves a lot of beer drinking and pot smoking and just hanging out with the rest of your friends lamenting your sorry station in life. One year earlier and 100 miles west and it could have been my life they were filming. Not the lead character mind you, but one of his stoner pals. 🙂
This afternoon was the reason for my bitching and moaning all week about being at work an extra hour every day, we were FREE! At 11:30 Donna and I got in the car and pointed it away from 1561 Columbia Highway vowing not to return until 7:30 AM on Monday, November 25th.
Went home and changed into what is known as week-end wear and headed out for lunch at the Boll Weevil Cafe. I had a Jose and she had a Curious George, mmmm. After the vittles we went out and planned the route for the Master’s Miata Club’s Christmas Light Tour I’m leading on December 7th. It is a pared down version of the one from last year in the Augusta Chronicle.
Started down, still down.
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Latest and lamest of the BMW Films. It got a write-up in yesterday’s paper because the Godfather of Soul who stars in the movie with Clive Owen was born and still lives around here. I don’t remember what the fellow said about the film because he was mostly commenting on JB’s performance. I thought the film stunk, especially when compared to “The Hostage” the first of the new Z4 series films. The best part is at the end when the Devil’s neighbor comes knock to complain about the noise. The Devil, played by Gary Oldman says, “Tell him I’m not here. He gives me the creeps.” The neighbor is….ooh, go download it and watch.
Up for the early morning frosty drive to work. We did go out at lunch and just drive around for 45 minutes in the mid 60 degree sunshine. After work it went up as the temps were falling fast and the clouds, although no rain was predicted, looked like they could sprinkle on us at any minute.
Today was haircut day for both of us. Every 4 weeks we go to a salon run by a friend of ours from the ol’ Aiken Bicycle Club days. Donna likes getting her haircut every month, so at the beginning of the year we sign up for appointments on a Tuesday evening at 5:00 PM every 4th week. While my hair has basically stopped growing on top (and in several patches is actually regressing) the sides are still thick and shaggy after a month, so the trim is welcome for me as well.
Started down, went up, went down, went back up, still up.
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At yesterday’s poker run one of the door prizes I won was a $25 gift to certificate to M M Marketing. I looked in the catalog they gave me and I was going to use that money as a big chunk of the cost for some nice driving gloves at $39.95. They use symbols to signify S & H costs and when I saw that they wanted $5.95 to get the gloves to me I was stunned. Must be a mistake, so I went online to see what the shipping and handling should really be. Added the gloves to my cart, filled out the billing information, the shipping information and on page 4 I selected ground UPS. Page 5 informed me that my total cost would be $48.90! Online they wanted 8.95 for S & H. I could drive up to NC (where they are located) for less in gas money. I think I’ll get my gloves somewhere else and just pick something for $20 out of the catalog and hope I can get something that they only want $4.95 for shipping….
When Donna and I sat in the car seats this morning we both kinda squirmed. It had been way too short a time out of them after way too long in them. But the feeling soon passed and because we were a little early we went right on past the usual turn off for work and extended the drive by a few miles to some kill time. After work, we put the top down even tough it was chilly and cooling fast (still warmer than yesterday.)
The story of yesterday’s poker run in the Macon Telegraph.
Started up, went down, still down.
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Today was a big day. We went to Warner Robins to participate in the MidGA Miata Club’s annual Toys for Tots Poker Run. we left the house at 7:45 AM to meet the rest of our Club members at the GA Welcome Center. There were only 2 others who showed up, Tony Cappucci and Karl Johnson and Tony wasn’t making the trip, his wife was home sick so he was going to go back home and play nurse. We had to pick up the Rushtons (Scott and Lisa) in Thompson, GA about 30 miles down the road on the way to our destination. After a meeting in the McDonald’s lot our 3 car caravan headed out. The poker run was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM and as it turned out with one missed turn in Macon and a slow Pizza Hut lunch we got there about 10 minutes after 1. Our 3 cars were almost the last to sign up. The MidGa folks had arranged for some media attention, one of the Macon TV stations had sent a camera man down to shoot some footage (I wonder if we made the news?) They also had a photographer and reporter from the Macon newspaper. The reporter was looking for an empty seat to join in the fun and Karl volunteered, so I’m sure we’ll get in the paper. The loop for the run was 60 miles and nicely laid out, with for some reason, easy to follow directions. The only down side was the fact that it never made it out of the 40’s so we kept the tops up for almost all of the drive. After picking our last card we made a potty stop at a McDonalds. We realized that we only had a couple miles to go so we put our tops down to trick the crowd at the finish into thinking we did the drive that way. We let them stare and point a bit before we admitted we just put them down recently. They had prizes for the top 6 hands, cash for the top three and other items for the other 3. Donna and I ended up with 4th place with a pair of 9s and a pair of 5s. We traded the turkey frying kit that wouldn’t have fit into the trunk, nor did we want, for a gift certificate to the Atlanta Bread Company. Also cleaned up on door prizes too. We all did, they only had 22 cars show, I’m sure due to the weather, but had prizes for like 50.
Another thing big thing was the total mileage. Turns out it is 165 miles from our door to the old Wal-Mart parking lot in Warner Robins. So with the round trip and miles involved with the poker run we ended up driving 390 miles today. We got home almost exactly 12 hours after we left. I took my hat off about halfway home, but as I sit here typing this it still feels like I have it on. When this is finished I’m showering and going to bed.
Started up, went down, went back up, still up.
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