Cars

Side Maker Lights

I only did the rear side marker light mod today at tech day. I decided against the blinking side markers because, at least for the rears and maybe the fronts, if you make them turn signal indicators they would lose the parking/running light ability, which is what I really wanted.

Today’s Tech Day could have been called Electrical Tech Day as most of the work done was to the wiring of the cars. I did the side marker thing, 2 folks added air horns and two folks did the power window switch repairs. One member took the discarded stock horn from an’04 with new air horns and added it to their existing stock ’90 to double their noise value for free.

I guess I’ll go add the $8.46 I spent on parts to the BTR Equipment Package list.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 55

Beaufort & Back

In June I’m leading the Master’s Miata Club on a trip to the Hwy21 Drive-In in Beaufort. We are going to be joined by the Low Country Miata Club from Charleston. Last year the 2 clubs got together to go to the only other drive-in in operation in SC, The Big Mo, just up the street from us in Monetta.

Today, Donna and I took our first fact finding mission to Beaufort. We left Aiken at 9:00 AM and it took 2-1/2 hours to make it there, with 2 small breaks. This seems like a good start time, as it will get us into town around lunch. After lunch, activities will probably be walking around the historic downtown, shopping or just sitting around the waterfront. Mid afternoon we will drive to the hotel and check in, maybe freshen up before heading over to the drive-in to get in line so we can get good parking spots.

The drive-in is about 5 miles from the historic district and is across from the Marine Corp Air Station. You can’t miss it as they have a huge sign right on US21 visible for about a mile in either direction. The drive-in is about 200 yards down a side road. Because they also do a flea market thing on Saturdays during the day it was open, so Donna and I stopped in for a visit. The first thing you notice is that it is a lot bigger than the Big Mo. There are 9 rows for cars where as Mo has 6, maybe seven. The concession stand and the restroom facilities are light-years improved over the Big Mo’s. They are bigger, brighter and better kept up. We chatted with the owners a bit, told them we were coming with a car club in June. They seemed very friendly. When we told them where we were from they of course asked if we knew of the Big Mo. These guys are only coming up on one year of drive-in ownership, so when they were starting out they of course visited the Boaz’s at the Big Mo to get pointers on running a drive-in. As a matter of fact the FM transmitter they use for the movie audio is the Big Mo’s back-up unit. The cool thing about the Hwy21 is that they didn’t actually need the transmitter, but felt they should have one for modernization, because nearly all of their corded speakers still work!

We thought at first we would try to stay in a B&B. That might have been an expensive proposition and we were not too sure that the Miata Club folks would want to go that way. Plus it seems a shame to stay at a place like that when you are really getting a short night sleep and leaving, what with staying out late at a drive-in. A B&B should be savored. There is a Best Western right in the historic district, so we went inside to check it out. They were already all booked up for the Saturday night in question anyway. For kicks we asked the price, $139 to $169. Yikes! Those B&B’s are not sounding so expensive after all. When we left town we drove back the way we came and there are about 6-8 chain motels in between downtown and the drive-in. There was a Country Inn and Suites that looked promising. When we got home we went to the internet to check prices and they are $115 a night. Ain’t nothing cheap.

More research is required. I envision at least one more day trip in our future. Cool thing is I now have a Beaufort phone book, no I didn’t steal one from a phone booth, they had them as giveaways at the Visitor’s Center. While we were they we also picked up a bunch of menus from restaurants in town. In tomorrow’s installment I will tell you all about lunch in Beaufort…

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 25

Mod Fever

I’ve got a C note earmarked for Miata mods burning a hole in my pocket.

I started out going to buy some clear side markers for the front and some stealth turn signal bulbs. I would then pull off the yellow lamin-x fog light protectors, giving the front of the car a unified white light look.

Then I tossed around adding teeth again. I had some Alley Gator ones on the Laguna, so I would like something different this time. The only other one I really like is the Diablo, but in my travels along the Miata lane of the information superhighway this weekend I have come across two cars with those teeth installed, one of which is a Garnet Red! Are thet too popular or was this just a random happenstance.

My other thought is to go with something I saw on a car at the Rspeed Open House last year – A side mount for a front license plate with a Japanese tag on it. South Carolina doesn’t require a front tag, so if others can put a “GO COCKS!” tag on their cars…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 14

Steven’s Creek

Steven's Creek

Went for another hike in the woods this weekend, same crew, Donna & I and Carol & John, but different trail. I took this of the “gang” as they rounded a switchback in front of me. Carol, who doesn’t like to have her picture taken, will be pleased that I snapped this at just the right moment, as she was mostly hidden behind a tree. 🙂

You Lost?

Last evening, top down, we were stopped at a light in downtown. It had just turned red and we were the first in line in the left lane. As we came to a stop Donna and I noticed two cop cars blow through the red light. No siren or lights, just rolled on through. I mumbled, “Stupid cops.” Donna said, “They are Greenwood County Sheriff?s cars, must be lost.” Greenwood county is about 50 miles north of us. With the recent train derailment in the next town over, it has not been unusual to see out-of-town law enforcement cars around.

It was then that I noticed the lead cop car pull a u-turn behind me. To Donna I said kiddingly, “They’re after me, must have heard me call ’em stupid.” The trailing car stopped about 150 feet back and sure enough, the first car pulled up right next to us. Uh-oh.

“Hey good peoples,” the deputy goes, “Can you tell us where the Aiken County Sheriff?s Office is?”

We have lived here nearly 16 years and have no idea where the Sheriff?s office is. I guess that is a good thing, but we did know where the town Department of Public Safety is, so we sent him there.

As the light turned green, off he went quickly followed by the trail car. As I made my left I noticed about 6 or so more sheriff?s cars pulling similar u-turns and chasing the “leader.” Couldn’t they have called somebody on the radio? Gotten directions before they left?

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 6

New Year’s Day Tradition

I know two years in a row, can hardly be called a tradition, but it is a start. Last year on New Year’s Day Donna and I went for a hike in the Sumter National Forrest on a trial that we used to mountain bike back in the day. The Horn Creek Trail is almost 6 miles long in Lick Fork State Park about 30 miles from Aiken. This year we invited another couple we know from the Miata Club to join us. Even though both John and I had washed our cars the day before, we didn’t flinch too bad at having to drive the last 1/2 mile to the trailhead on a dirt/gravel road. (I did use the California Duster when I got home.)

Best of 2004

January

Dueling Car Washes

Monday the 19th

On the way home from grocery shopping yesterday afternoon I decided it was time to wash the car. We had just driven home from Hilton Head in the rain that morning and the car looked ugly.

Just a couple of days before I bought the new Miata, our neighbors got themselves a new “car” too (the word car is in quotes because they bought a Dodge Durango.) When we pulled into our driveway, Omar was in his, washing the Durango. He had his bucket and sprayer and was going to town.

I parked the car in the driveway and we unloaded the trunk of groceries. I came in and swapped a load of clothes (taking one out of the dryer, putting the one from the washer into the dryer and reloading the washer.) I then went back outside with my bucket and sponges to wash our car. By now Omar has been at it at least 15 minutes and I didn’t know how far along he was, but as I filled the bucket with water I hollered over saying, “I bet I’m finished before you are.”

I washed the Miata from top to bottom, stem to stern. I rinsed it off a second time with a low pressure stream to aid in sheeting the water. I dried the car. I shook out the mats. I wiped off the interior dust with a damp towel. I washed the windows inside and out with Windex. Finished, I pulled the car into the garage. When I walked back out to get the bucket and reel up the hose, Omar was just finishing up washing the back of the vehicle, all he could do was shake his head and smile.

February

Is That A Snack? Gonna Share?

Thursday the 12th

Every morning for nearly all our married life, my wife packs up my lunch for me. It usually consists of a fresh made sandwich, a soda, some cookies in a plastic sandwich bag, a few ounces of carrots in a sandwich bag, half an apple cut up in slices in a sandwich bag, some raisins or maybe grapes in a plastic sandwich bag and a snack pudding. I kind of graze all day, grabbing a plastic sandwich bag of something every couple of hours. I’m a lucky guy.

Donna recently changed purses, replacing an old one with something a little smaller. She used to keep all her make-up stuff in a see-thru case on one side of the old purse for easy access. Donna would take it out and “fix her face” as I drove us to work each day. The see-thru thing was a little too big for the new purse and not wanting to lose the ability to see what she had; Donna put the make-up stuff in a plastic sandwich bag. Now, each morning on the commute when she pulls out that sandwich bag, I, having been conditioned like Pavlov’s dog from years of snacking from those same types of bags, don’t think lipstick, but cookies, etc. I don’t have to see it, just hearing that faint rustling sound and I wonder if she will share some of that food with me.

March

Painting The Town Garnet Red

Monday the 29th

I bought a new car in November. They sent me a survey to fill out rating my experience with the purchase. I thought about throwing it out, I now swear that thought is true, but Mazda thinks I filled it out. As a way of thanking me they sent me a bottle of touch-up paint. That was the end of January. About a week later I got a second bottle, it was packaged differently and included a couple of other items, but the main content was a bottle of touch-up paint. This last Saturday, a familiar envelope arrived in the mail, that’s right, another bottle of touch-up paint. So Sunday I emailed them:

From: “Brian Bogardus”
To:
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 10:35 AM
Subject: Stop it. You are creeping me out.

Dear Mr. Customer Assistance,

November 24, 2003 – Purchase a new 2003 Garnet Red Miata

January 28, 2004 – Receive bottle touch-up paint as a thank you for filling out a survey I swear I threw in the trash, but must have completed.

February 7, 2004 – Receive a second bottle of touch-up paint inside a miniature steering wheel replica along with some other things, including a letter that welcomes me to the “Emotion of Motion.”

March 27, 2004 – Receive a third bottle of touch-up paint with what looks like the exact same letter as accompanied the first bottle.

Thanks for the first bottle as I already have had a use for it, but stop already, one more bottle and I’ll be able to paint my wife’s Civic Garnet Red to match the Miata. If you feel a further need to thank me for buying your product a $10 gas card or similar would be nice to offset the cost of the required premium fuel.

Sincerely,
Brian Bogardus

Today I got a reply:

From: “CustomerAssistance”
To: “Brian Bogardus”
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 04:33 PM
Subject: Re: Stop it. You are creeping me out. (KMM203077V95587L0KM)

Dear Brian,

Thank you for contacting Mazda North American Operations. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to you.

Thanks for alerting us to the additional, unintentional mailings that you received. I have forwarded your comments to our Marketing contacts to ensure that no further welcome packages are sent.

Again, thank you for contacting Mazda. It has been my pleasure to assist you. Please feel free to reply to this message with any further questions or comments.

Please take a moment to give us your opinion about our e-mail service. Click the link below to complete a brief, online survey.

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?T8SY3YKAT109GH3CPK39V6

Regards,

William Zdan
Specialist, Customer Assistance E-Business

Oh no you don’t, filling out a survey is what got me into this mess to begin with…

April

Lemonade

Wednesday the 7th

On the way home this afternoon when we got to the exit of the parking lot at work, Donna said, “Go left.” As we normally go right, that phrase meant, let’s take the long way home. This is a great stress reliever for both of us, I like the drive and Donna likes the ride.

I proceeded to wind my way home via some of our usual back roads. It was a warm afternoon, but it felt good to be out driving around. The dogwoods are blooming along with the azaleas and everything that is not flowering is turning green. Even though there were a few more cars on our route than usual they didn’t diminish our enjoyment. About 3 miles from home on a relatively lightly trafficked road we passed a little girl selling lemonade along the side of the road. We looked at her as she looked at us as we went by.

It is spring break for the local schools this week and both Donna and I envisioned this little girl telling her mom she was bored and her mom saying, “Why don’t you go sell lemonade out in front of the house,” in an effort to keep her entertained and get her out of mom’s hair.

We got about 200 yards down the road and Donna said, “Do you have anything smaller than that ten?” I pulled out my wallet and sure enough there was a single in there too. We turned around in a driveway a little further along and headed back. The lemonade was 50 cents a glass, so we bought two. We drank it right there at the side of the road and chatted with her a bit. It was from a mix and not too cold, but it did hit spot. When finished we turned around in her driveway and drove off with a wave and toot of the horn.

I think we kind of made her day, I know she made ours.

May

3 Laws of Humanity

Wednesday the 26th

I’ve always been a lover of sci-fi. Growing up I had a few favorite authors and one of them was Isaac Asimov. I was eagerly awaiting this summer’s release of a movie based on his robot stories, I Robot. After seeing the first trailer with it’s The Who soundtrack and it’s Apple-likeness (I wonder how much they had to pay Steve Jobs for that?) I was stoked. But the newer ones aimed at drawing in the action crowd seem so against type from my memories of Asimov’s books/stories that maybe I won’t enjoy the flick at all. That may just be me though, as from all the trailers the movie looks awesome.

All this got me thinking about those 3 Laws of Robotics the Asimov wrote way back when. Maybe, just maybe, this world would be a lot better place if we just changed the word robot in them to human being:
1) A human being may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A human being must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A human being must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

June

Exciting Day At Work Today

Monday the 21st

I got my new electric pencil sharpener. This puppy’s got a cord, no more wimpy, battery operated, hold it just so, slow poke. This thing will make dust of a full size pencil in just under 2 minutes. I know, I timed it.

July

Of All The Gin Joints…

Saturday the 3rd

…in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

The Master’s Miata Club was “hosting” a cruise in at the Sno Cap Drive-In in North Augusta tonight. We had about 8 of our cars and a smattering of other cars in attendance. About halfway through the evening, in pulled a blue Miata that wasn’t a club member. Hey, wait a minute, that car looks familiar. Sure enough, it was our old car. I went over and said hello to the new owner Shannon Vick and her son. She and he were in North Augusta and he suggested going to the Sno Cap for something to eat. They had no clue that we would be there. Boy that sure is a pretty car.

You must remember this;
A car is still a car,
A sigh is just a sigh ?
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

August

You People Are Pathetic

Sunday the 29th

While watching Fox News this morning I could see some people on the sidewalk out the window behind the anchors. The usual suspects were there, including a couple of folks that deserved to be culled from the gene pool.

Person #1 is holding up a piece of cardboard of about 12″ x 24″ and he is holding it up so his message will be broadcast all over America and possibly the world. Only trouble is that he probably wrote the message in 1″ high letters with a ball-point pen. You couldn’t tell if there was anything on the cardboard all. I didn’t get your message dummy and no one else did either.

Person #2 has a cell phone in her one hand and is waving madly with the other. She has obviously called someone she knows, to tell them she is on TV, because when the camera moves or zooms the person on the other end directs her which way to move so she can still be seen waving madly. It takes them a couple of times to get it right, because when she should move to the left, she goes right first. They finally get very adept at this so she can be seen waving madly constantly in the background whenever the one anchor is talking. She even manages to duck appropriately to get underneath the LIVE banner that appears periodically in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I hope she was on her way to a Cuddle Party because she needs some attention.

September

How Cheap Can You Be?

Wednesday the 8th

As a favor for a friend I sell his Brake Lite Blinker to out of the country buyers. He doesn’t want to make a trip to the Post Office and fill out the customs forms, etc.

Tonight he forwarded me a request from someone in Canada. He had a few questions about size and power, etc. His last question was would I list the value of the item as $10 so he wouldn’t have to pay as much customs duty on them. Come on, the things are $15 to begin with. How much can he be saving on duty? I wrote him back:

I’m sure there is a very miniscule chance of anything bad happening to me if I did that, but for all I know you actually work for the U.S. Customs and are trolling the internet looking for violators of federal law, so, no I won’t do that. They are valued at $15 US each. Sorry.

We’ll see if he still wants them after that…

October

Didn’t You Check That?

Friday the 1st

The Emperor is in the shop for a Technical Service Bulletin relating to the clutch, so I was given a Mazda Tribute as a loaner the other day. When I was driving with it back to my house, about 5 miles from home the low fuel light came on. The light was on, but it still read about a 1/8 of a tank. Not knowing which one of these indicators was more correct, I decided to put $5 worth of gas in it. The 3 gallons approximate, sent the needle to just below a 1/4 tank and ought to be enough to get to work and then to Rader the next day. Not only is this Cute Ute low on gas, but it is filthy too, I think the last person to borrow it was testing it’s off road capabilities. Not only do they not check to see if there is gas in it, they don’t even take enough pride to wash it off or vacuum it out before they loan it out to someone else.

About 8:15 AM this morning Kelly, my service “advisor”, called to say the Miata was ready. Seems as if the technician finished up just before going home yesterday. I told her I’d be over as soon as I got off work and mentioned she should get five bucks from petty cash to reimburse me for the petrol. I made it over to Rader a little after 5 to get my car. Kelly went off to get someone to bring it around. While we waited I popped upstairs to run the Master’s Miata Club newsletters through the postage meter. When I came back down the car was there, but she didn’t have neither the $5 nor the paperwork. She couldn’t find the paperwork because the tech who did my work was not in today (no wonder he finished up yesterday, he knew he wasn’t coming in.) She also said she would have to talk to the service manager on Monday about getting the money to me. We ran through this routine when I wanted to get reimbursed for the tow charges on the 95 when the timing belt broke. I wonder if it will take nearly two weeks again?

When it was time to go, I got in the Miata, dropped the top and crept out of the dealership lot, the clutch felt real smooth. Hung a right onto busy Washington Road and sped off the 1/2 mile before turning off. A short stretch and then right on Riverwatch Parkway to head home. As I got up to speed and shifted into 5th I looked down to check my speed and discovered I was going ZERO MPH! The speedometer cable is hooked to the transmission, I bet my just finishing up in time to go home technician had forgotten to hook up the cable correctly (or not at all.) Hang a right and then another and pull back into the service area. It is 5:35, they go home at 6, so I figure we can get this done and I’ll be on my way. Wrong. The advisors stay until 6, the techs go home at 5:30, so there is no one there to fix my speedometer. Luckily, they work on Saturday morning, so it should be solved tomorrow. I put the top back up on the Miata and Kelly gives me the keys to the Dark Teal Metallic Tribute, again.

I get 5 miles from home and the low fuel light comes on, again…

November

Apologies

Tuesday the 2nd

I feel that I have to post something here tonight besides the joke from earlier. Although I found it extremely funny when I got it via email this morning, I don’t want all 4 of my readers to think that I didn’t take today’s election seriously. In yesterday’s post I recommended you vote an obscure 3rd party candidate, well that was sort of tongue-in-cheek and advice I didn’t follow. Although, I did vote for the candidate that every poll in the country is calling an obscure 2nd party candidate in South Carolina.

I just couldn’t endorse a man who got us into this Iraqi mess just because the whole Middle East war thing worked so well for dad. Instead I picked a guy who supposedly roots for my favorite baseball team, but can’t name anyone on it (and when he tried he combined the first name and last name of two players) and when he threw out a ceremonial first pitch at a Yankee Red Sox game last July, used the pitching motion of a little girl and couldn’t even make it to the plate without bouncing it while throwing from in *front* of the mound.

I leave you with a quote George Will used to lead off his column in this week’s edition of Newsweek:

PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom, and of whom only, it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President. – Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary” (1911

December

Dream On

Wednesday the 1st

Just saw a commercial for the new Buick LaCrosse with the background song of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Good song, IMHO much better than their more current work, I can only hope that the same is true for Buick. Somehow though I can’t imagine that that car will be the car of anyone’s dream.

This is not the first time Buick’s advertising has dipped into the classic rock bag of tricks to try and sell cars. I don’t know how many more Rendezvous they sold because of the pairing of that SUV with Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”, but I thought the song was dead (no pun intended) on right for the vehicle. It looked like it was made various parts of other cars and pieced together to form a whole vehicle, but it wasn’t cohesive.