Several Rungs Up On The Aesthetics Ladder

I love Brown. UPS man delivered my goodies from Serious Auto today. Pearl Finish Voodoo Magnum Shift /knob and E-Brake Handle along with leather shift & e-brake boots. Of course the first thing I did when I came home was put the stuff in. Looks better than before, especially the emergency brake area. The leather boot is several rungs up on the aesthetics ladder compared to the plastic and the Voodoo handle is much nicer looking than the MGW it replaced. My stock vinyl boot was coming apart at one of the seems so the new leather boot there was needed for function as well as style. The pearl knob replaces my Frankensteinish shift knob that I liked functionally, but not visually. The shift knob was something I called a MGWoodoo, because it started life as a Spun Voodoo and I had it machined to hold the rubber gripper portion of a MGW knob.

Enough positives, lets toss in the negatives: the leather is pebble grained while the seats are smooth. Actually if I was rich I would get some pebble grained seats, like that feel and look. The finish on the knob and handle is the same, pearl, but because the shape of the items are so different, they almost look like different colors.

The positives outweigh the negatives, but I’m not sure if they overcome the cost values. Looks nicer, and Miata nuts might notice, but $160 is a lot for the slight improvement.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 175

Sunday Night

This is the worst night of the week, because tomorrow is Monday, the first day of the work week. Sunday is otherwise a very nice day, sleep in, big paper with lots of ads to dream about, lunch out, movie in the afternoon and celtic music from the Thistle and Shamrock from 6 to 7 PM. After that the dread starts in, have to shave and shower and go to bed – next thing you know it is Monday and the crap rolls in for the next 5 days.

A Ride She Wants, A Ride She Gets

My wife wants to go for a drive in the Miata in a few minutes. I told her that would ruin the whole thing. She asked, “What thing?” I told her we had yet to drive the Miata this weekend. No sympathy, a ride she wants, a ride she gets. “Please Brer Fox, don’t throw m in that briar patch.” 🙂

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 175

Maurice’s Barbecue

Miata didn’t move at all today – kinda like a Sunday, but only it is Saturday. Drove to Columbia to run an errand and made it a family affair by taking along Mom and using Mom’s MSV. While we were there we made it a mission to eat our favorite Capitol City institution, Maurice’s Barbecue. Rained most of the afternoon and evening so we stayed inside and watched movies.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 175

Network Television

Wasted the evening on the couch watching “Men in Black.” I don’t remember specifics, but NBC was promoing some show called “Dog Eat Dog.” I am hopelessly out of touch or old or quite possibly both, but I recognize crap when I see it (after all that is what this blog is) and anything from the producers of “Fear Factor” and “The Weakest Link” copying/combining elements of those crappy shows will be CRAP!

VHS

When I first bought a DVD player about 2 years ago, everyone asked my if the picture quality was so much better than video tape. My response was always, “Not that much, in fact if you have a good copy of the tape it seemed about the same as DVD.” I won’t say that any more. Tonight a friend lent me a copy of Blackhawk Down on VHS. First off is wasn’t letterboxed so that seemed way different, but the movie didn’t seem as sharp as I have gotten used to. The real difference was in any subtitles, signs, words, etc. The real kicker was at the end of the movie they scroll some updates about the real people involved and they were practically unreadable.

On Their Way

Anxiously awaiting Monday – Leather shift boot, leather e-brake boot, pearl magnum Voodoo shift knob and pearl Voodoo e-brake handle are on their way from Serious Auto via truck.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 175