Panel Problem Solved

Really nice day here, upper 60’s not at all like winter. Drove over to Wagner to meet Ron and sell him the CD changer. We met at the Dollar General and he led us out to his house, a lot easier than him trying to give me directions. He and wife Chris and daughter Stephanie live in a new modular home north of town. Really nice place, cathedral ceilings through out and the thing probably has more square footage than our house. The only downside is it is 1/2 mile in on a dirt road. Ron is mechanically minded, but not so electrically minded, so I was going to show him how I had set up the changer in my car. He already had the console out of Steph’s car. Seeing as the car was already disassembled it was easy to just install it as I showed him how. We wired it up and tried it out – worked like a charm. He had picked up a replacement front center console from a salvage yard to replace her damaged one. It was nearly brand new. We figure the previous owner must have put a new after market radio in the car just before he wrecked it. When he pulled the console out to put in the new radio he must have broke the original and then replaced it with this new one. The after market radio was gone and the OEM one was on the front floor. All he had left to do was put everything back in place and drill 4 holes to mount the unit in the trunk.

I showed him my new install with the toggle switches in cardboard and he said, “I got just what you need laying on the living room floor, I was going to throw it away.” Sure enough, he had pulled out the spacer from under the after market stereo that was left in the car and it is just what I needed for under my new head unit. Cool! I offered to give him $10-15 off the price of the changer and he said, “No, helping me install was worth that much.” Thanks Ron.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 20

Taco Loco

Family night at El Rio. Donna wanted Mexican food for supper and who am I to argue. She, I and her mom decided to split the Fajitas for two. Just in case eating a bowl of chips and salsa before hand wasn’t enough, we ordered 3 tacos (1 ea) to go with the fajitas. The fajitas were good, but the tacos sucked. Is it my fault, were these real mexican tacos and I have become so used to the americanized versions that these didn’t taste good to me? Estoy apesadumbrado, give me a Taco Bell taco any day over theirs.

Also, I wanted a Dos Equis Amber Lager with dinner. Nope, they were out. 6:00 PM on a Friday and they are out! I only hope that Miguel was on his way back from el almac?n de licor.

Lunch Date

There was a 20% of rain in the afternoon and it sure looked higher than that on the way back to work from our lunch at McDonalds. So the top went up and down an extra time today compared to the last 5 days. I forgot about the lunch “date” with my wife, so Radio Shack will have to wait another day. Driving to Wagner tomorrow to drop off the CD player and give some pointers on the install, hope the prediction of mid 60’s holds….

Started down, up, down, up, now down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 20

Valentine’s Day Bonus Rant

This is our 26th Valentine’s together (25 as a married couple.) We have gotten to the point where a simple exchange of cards is enough of a celebration. While relating this to a co-worker, he said, “Please don’t tell me every day’s like Valentine’s Day so we don’t do anything special. If I hear that one more time I’ll puke.” I didn’t want to see him ruin his shoes so I kept silent….

Your Choice Green Or Yellow

Made a lunchtime run to the auto parts store to shop. Two bucks a piece for the lights, your choice green or yellow and $3 a piece for toggle switches for a total of around $20. Going to check Radio Shack tomorrow. Now I need to figure out what to make the panel out of….aluminum sheet or can I get some plastic with a similar grain at a stereo install shop? For now the cardboard stays in.

Five days in a row, same pattern, started down, went up, now down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 16

Smoke Screen

Dull February day here in Miataland. Got some more ideas for the toggle switch labels from FillG over on RoadsterChat: Smoke Screen. Nails on Road. Passenger Eject. Only other news is I’ve got a buyer for the CD Changer I yanked out of the trunk. A fellow Master’s Miata Club member wants to put it his daughter’s 90 Miata.

Once again, started down, went up, now down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 14

One Twist Too Many

Law and Order, the original, is one of a few TV shows I still watch regularly. I usually tape it, because it is so much better to fast forward through the commercials. We normally watch the tape on Fridays with dinner as we wind down from the work week. For whatever reason, we didn’t watch it then, we watched it tonight. They usually keep me guessing until the end by using plot twists, so it is hardly ever who you think it is.

Tonight they needed to link a guy to some money used for paying someone to kill his mistress. No matter how hard the DAs looked they couldn’t find a connection. They finally got the guy’s wife to come forward with a bank withdrawal form that made it look like he had gotten the money from one of his kids college funds. The jury convicted him because of it. Afterwards the assistant DA noticed the similarity between the wife’s handwriting and the signature on the withdrawal slip. The DAs confront the wife to see if she will admit to fabricating the slip. No way will she do it. They are left to believe that the wife set up the husband. Neat trick. Too neat I say. First thing they would have done is get the police to verify who actually withdrew the payoff money (if there ever was money withdrawn.) And even if they didn’t because it was the final nail in this guy’s coffin, certainly his defense lawyer would have checked out the slip.