Cars

Gully Washer

Literally.

I went out and took off the cockpit cover, so I could put the top up around 2:00 PM. I had checked the radar and it looked like we might get passing thunderstorm in the next half hour. I was right about the storm, but wrong about the time, it took about an hour and a quarter to get to us. I was also wrong about the passing part, that sucker stopped over us. It was still raining hard at our 4 o’clock quitting time. We decided to wait a while, the way it was pouring we would have gotten soaked getting to the car, even with the umbrella.

It was still coming down in buckets at around 4:30 and there must have been a dozen or so front office types hanging out by the door waiting for the break in the rain that seemingly might never come. Not being able to take it any longer, one of the QC engineers shouted, “I’ll show you how it is done!” and sprinted into the rain, disappearing front sight within 25 yards. Next a woman from HR removed her shoes and walked out under her umbrella. The exodus began.

At the end of the sidewalk at the the edge of the parking lot there are the storm drains, but they were not keeping up and causing a section that was under 4-6 inches of water between everyone and their cars. Our feet got soaked right from the start. Because of where the Emperor is always parked we had a long walk across wind swept pavement while some extremely large, unseen, being sprayed us with his garden hose.

I don’t even want to talk abut the drive home, there were several places that we almost floated….

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 243

G.A.B.B.

Donna and I rode the tandem to work today. We were not the only ones to Get to ASCO By Bike either, two other folks did as well. One was of course Mr. Bike Commuter Numero Uno, Willie, and an engineer from the front office, Gerry. While at an office function this morning, cake and insults for a co-worker who is leaving, Donna and I asked Gerry how far he rode and which way he came. His commute is almost twice as long as ours and he comes a direct route that takes him up busy US1 for the last mile and a half. We tried to explain our route that avoids that section of road, but couldn’t really get it across.

I got back to my desk to print out a Google map, but then realized I had something already drawn up showing our route from way back in the 90’s when we used to do a bike ride to work for other company employees during May (National Bike Month.) I got the company to sponsor the event and they bought doughnuts, bagels and coffee for the first year. The second year I talked them into T-shirts for the riders as well as breakfast. The first ride attracted 5 riders with Donna and I included to a peak at year 5 with over 30 riders on 2 different morning rides and an afternoon one for second shift. One year we even had a small group ride in at 11:00PM for 3rd shift.

Every year I would try and entice folks to ride starting in the beginning of May with flyers and what not stuck in their mailboxes. For the third year I did a mock David Letterman Top Ten Reasons to Ride to ASCO (keep in mind that it was 1994, so some of them are time sensitive.)

From the Home Office in Sioux City, Iowa….

David Letterman’s Top Ten Reasons for Doing GABB 3

10. Guaranteed not to get a speeding ticket like a certain talk show host.
9. To train for 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
8. Really cool noise that baseball cards make when hitting the spokes.
7. Lots safer than next month’s Get to ASCO By Skydiving.
6. After the ride, posterior will still feel better than Michael Fay‘s.
5. Never really appreciate the beauty of the Taj Mahal when speeding by in a car.
4. More thrilling than Space Mountain at Disney World when cars pass by real close going 55 M.P.H.
3. Sharon Stone and Tone Loc will be at the post ride party.
2. Daylight Doughnuts are a lot more nutritional than the usual Hardee’s Sausage Biscuit.
and the #1 reason for doing GABB 3…
This year’s T-shirt will be ISO 9002 certified.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 230

78,000 Pieces of Candy

The MMC was “float” #30 and Gnorm was there to make sure we parked in the right spot, in front of the horses and a few participants behind the DJ Man.

This morning when we got in the Emperor to meet the club for breakfast before the parade, the odometer read 78,000 miles even, which is coincidentally the total number of pieces of candy tossed out of the 4 cars to the crowds lining the streets of Trenton, SC today.

This afternoon we watched the last four episodes of Season 3 of House. Instead of waiting to watch Season 4 on DVD when it comes out in August, I thought I’d try my new TV Gizmo and watch it online. Can’t, sorta. All that are available on Fox or Hulu are episodes 1,2,13 & 14. Seems as if they are rerunning the show during the summer and only want you to see it on network TV.

Which leads to a full review of said Gizmo — pretty much what I said before, OK for video, sucks for text. Will I probably get my forty bucks worth out of it? Yep.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 215

Even Better The Second Time

Went to the movies last night and got home today, well 2:30AM this morning.

Last night the MMC went to the “local” drive-in, The Big Mo, in Monetta, SC. I use Master’s Miata Club loosely, there were three cars that made the trip. Two other cars did show up at Sonic and eat with us, but didn’t go the extra 35 miles to see the movies. That’s right, movies, for six bucks a head you get to see two first run pictures. A couple years back they added a second screen so you actually have a pick of two double features. Screen #2 was showing What Happens In Vegas and Made of Honor, while on the original screen Indiana Jones and Iron Man were playing. Of the three couples going, one had seen the Vegas movie, one had seen the Indiana Jones movie and one had seen Iron Man. Guess which movies we went to see?

Right, the two that started with the letter I. When we got to the drive in they had already been letting cars in for about 10 minutes and the place was already 2/3rds full. We were parked by 7:15 and only had an hour and a half to kill before the first feature started, so we did what happens at any Miata Club gathering, we broke out the food.

First up was Indiana Jones and the Last Temple of the Lost Crystal Kingdom. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the next one not so much and skipped the third entirely, so let’s say we were not as excited to see this installment as the other four folks. One, maybe two, cracks about Indy’s age would have been cute, but they got old (pun intended) fast. Don’t get me started on the “thrilling” chase sequence through the jungle… I will have to give them credit as they managed to not fall into the trap of the eternally ready torch (which I have whined about here in the recent past). They had an explanation that worked, for this movie. When entering an ancient crypt deep in a cave below a mountain or pyramid or something in the Andes Mountains, someone yanks a torch off the wall and before he lights it says, “Hey, this is fresh. Someone’s been in here recently.”

The drive in is not an ideal venue for watching a movie (except for the kind they used to show in them in the 70s), so if Donna and I hadn’t seen Iron Man in a nearly ideal setting a couple of weeks ago, seeing it at the Big Mo would have driven me to want to see it in a real movie theater. In spite of a chunk of the bottom right of the screen missing due to the SUV in front of us, the car idling next door so they could run their AC, the steady stream of people passing in front of us on their way to and from the concession stand, the crying baby, the biting ants and knowing what was going to happen next, Iron Man was even better the second time. If you haven’t seen it yet, call in sick to work tomorrow and catch a matinee, you’ll thank me for it.

I wonder if I can pre-order the DVD on Amazon yet? Yep.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 184

Half Clean

On Memorial Day I spent a good bit of the afternoon pressure washing my driveway and got 1/2 of it done. The neighbors on both sides of us have long single wide driveways and no garage access. They both handle the issue differently, one keeps all three cars in the drive with him doing the parking order shuffle each night depending on the sequence the three drivers are leaving in the morning. The other keeps one car in the driveway and two angle parked on the grass to the side of the drive and one spends the night in the street. Donna and I on the other hand have one car that we park in the garage and a 2 car wide driveway that sits empty.

Jack Sparrow: “Funny ol’ world, innit?”

I Want To Believe this will be a good movie, but it has been a long time, maybe too long. When I stumble on an episode, I can’t watch it (unless of course it is one of about 10 of my favorites.)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 178

Did Someone Call A Cab?

Lots of interesting cars were racing this weekend. From a little Legends racer to a fresh off the showroom floor 2008 BMW M3 Coupe. A ton of Mustangs, but I bet the biggest percentage were BMWs and there was a father daughter team that took the prize for innovative paint jobs — a Checker Cab and a “Police Car.”

In am effort to broaden our Netflix TV DVD repertoire I spotted something called Flight of the Conchords. It arrived the other day and we finally got around to watching it tonight. The experience didn’t start to well. First was the 2 minutes of HBO advertisement that I was forced to watch, no fast forward, no next chapter, no main menu. Just like the Interpol Warning, etc you are stuck watching promotions for HBO shows. Then when we were through with that nonsense when I hit the button to go to the episode list the DVD locked up. The only way out was to turn off the player and start over. This time I started the disc and switched the TV over to watch a segment of Cash Cab skipping the HBO self promo. But then the DVD player locked again when trying to select an episode. Crap. Tried the disc out on the laptop and it played fine, but after all that, we watched only about 10 minutes of the first episode. Didn’t like it.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 170

Group Shot

To commemorate this fine occasion we all gathered on the porch last night to take a group picture. I had a tripod in the trunk (for those HDR Post Office pics), I was going to be the photographer. With the help of my assistant Donna, before snapping the real thing, I experimented with some exposures and seating arrangements. Here is a composite. And while the real thing came out OK, I’ll never be a portrait photographer.

The other 4 cabinmates were more the late sleeper types so Donna and I packed our car and hit the road at around 6:30 this morning. The only disadvantage to this move was that we spent the first couple hours driving with the top up because of the cool temps. The big advantage and what made it all worthwhile was the fact that we had the roads all to ourselves. No Sequoyas to slow us down on the Snake, no nobody. We didn’t even come across another vehicle in our direction for any of the twisty stuff at all. We barely saw any cars going in the opposite direction either.

We got home at noonish and after lunch I washed the Miata even though it hasn’t been very long since the last one. We are long through with spring here in the flatlands, but in the Georgia mountains it is in full swing with both the pine and hardwood trees throwing off pollen, combine that with the 1/2 mile of gravel road to access the cabin and the Emperor really need a bath.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 144