Eating Out

I Forgot The Title

SouthpawOne Biscuit n’ Gravy for her and one Sausage n’ Egg Biscuit for him with a water to drink.

Meal Cost: $2.74
Tip: None
Spent Today: $2.74
Year to Date: $737.57

I’m charging up the camera tonight so hopefully the battery will make it through the whole afternoon tomorrow.

Alright, what is the gimmick with all the offers I’m getting for 1.99% or 2.99% on balance transfers ’til the balance is paid off. I’ve got a pretty big balance on one card that is at 15 or 18% and I’ve been tempted to give one of these offers a go, but I’m sure I’m missing something that will come back and bite me.

Called to set up my six month follow up urologist appointment and was informed that the doctor I’ve been seeing is opening up his own separate practice. I was more than welcome to stay with the group, but would see a different doctor. Or I could choose to stay with my current doctor. They couldn’t give me his new number because they didn’t have it yet (so the receptionist said.) So what happened? My guy has only been there a couple years and he took over the patients from my previous doctor when he retired. He didn’t get along with the other two in the group? Did he do something the other two didn’t approve of? Get caught with his finger in the wrong cookie jar? Are the other two that difficult to get along with that they caused the retirement and now the split?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 98

North? South? What’s the Difference?

North or South Lake DrApparently there is a big difference. I have the address of the missing Lexington post office in the master spreadsheet as 929 N Lake DR STE B. When I wrote about not being able to find it yesterday I put North Lake Dr in the post. The reason we couldn’t find it was because I had made a map of 929 S Lake Dr and that was where we were looking.

It bothered me that I couldn’t find the place, so tonight I went to the Hardee’s web site and search for Lexington locations and there was one at 917 South Lake Dr. I then went to the Postal Service site and repeated the search and it was then I realized that there was a difference between north and south – about 2-1/2 miles.

Two garden salads (Blue Cheese for me, Italian for her) and a 14″ 5-topping pie (sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, onions and banana pepper rings) at Ferrando’s in the alley on the way home from work. Water for both to drink. As usual we have half the pizza left for dinner another night at home or maybe lunch one day instead of a microwaved packaged meal.

Meal Cost: $20.56
Tip: $3.44
Spent Today: $24.00
Year to Date: $734.83

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 96

56,000 Specks of Pine Pollen

We were going to eat our usual bagel at the Atlanta Bread Company, then it changed to Waffle House, but because we had some time to spare before our trip to the Columbia Airport we opted to dine at the local IHOP. Pigs in a Blanket for me and Eggs Benedict for her. I had OJ and Donna stuck with water.

Meal Cost: $15.44
Tip: $2.56
Spent Today: $18.00
Year to Date: $710.83

We weren’t flying anywhere from Columbia, but we were escorting a women who was. She works for ASCO in Florham Park, NJ and is contemplating making the same move Donna and I made 18 years ago, i.e. transferring down to the Aiken plant. She has been been here since Thursday interviewing and looking at houses. The job here, I think, is pretty much hers for the asking, all she has to decide is if she wants to make the leap.

After dropping Joan off at rental return lot at CAE we heading around to the other side of the airport to take a photo of the Columbia AMF (Air Mail Facility.) We of course had a line up of other Post Offices in the vacinity to take photos of as well, ten total, truth be told. Two others in West Columbia, the one in Cayce, three in downtown Columbia and the three we didn’t get in Lexington the other week.

Normal temps this time of year is lower seventies, but today broke an all time record as we hit the 90 mark. It was already almost 80 by the time we started picture taking and the pine pollen was so thick it looked like a yellow fog. As we drove, we could look at the other cars around us and see pollen rooster tails behind them!

Yellow Haze<— Incredible Simulation of the atmospheric conditions around midday in the SC midlands.

Plan B became forget the Columbia and Cayce POs and get the 2 West Columbia ones and because Lexington was on the way home, we’d get those three as well. This worked out nicely because when the day started there were 94 POs in the gallery and this would make a nice even 100. Plan B hit a major snag when the 900 block of North Lake Drive in Lexington held nothing other than a Shell gas station and a Hardee’s. Crap, looks like we would finish the day one shy of the century mark.

In the beginning of this quest I was skeptical of taking pictures of the Postal Service’s Contract Postal Units (AKA CPUs), figuring they wouldn’t have any signage marking them as Post Offices, but so far, of the 4 we passed, all had a big sign out front and had posed to have their portraits taken. Plan C was born. Aiken has a CPU, maybe, just maybe, that would be 100. Sure enough, after covering most of the western side of the state on Post Office safaris, photo number one hundred was taken just a little over a mile from number one.

On the way to the airport this morning, somewhere close to Couchton, the Emperor passed by the 56,000 mile mark.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 95

Too Early

This is our early to work week, so we can get tomorrow afternoon off. The down side to these hours, besides having to get up an hour early, is we are up an hour early. This morning Donna didn’t want her usual breakfast, she wanted some Biscuit and Gravy from Hardee’s, but Hardee’s isn’t open until 6 o’clock and by that time we should be on our way to work not ordering breakfast at a “fast food” place.

To make up for not eating out for breakfast we ate out for dinner. Maria’s Mexican Restaurant again, but this time we didn’t bother with the tacos, we just split an order of Carrnitas. I had iced tead and she had water.

Meal Cost: $11.88
Tip: $2.12
Spent Today: $14.00
Year to Date: $692.83

Tonight and tomorrow will separate the men from the boys in the office Tourney Pool. Right now I’m leading the pack to win bragging rights, but the Sweet Sixteen is right about where I start to drop from the top levels to the mid-pack where I usually am.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 92

Cholesterol Skirmish Setback

Went to see Mr. Doctor today to go over my latest lipid profile. Ooops, looks like I did a little back sliding in the last 6 months. My total number was up by 30 points and the bad stuff was up by 20. Not only that, my triglycerides were up a chunk as well. (latest numbers on top)

  Chol HDL LDL Trig
Goal <200 >31 <100 30-150
03/05/07 195 39 123 167
09/19/06 167 37 103 135
04/06/06 168 37 106 126
12/08/05 182 35 120 137
07/28/05 177 30 113 169
06/17/05 164 31 85 238
05/06/05 174 27 108 194
01/10/05 176 33 110 167
09/21/04 209 24 131 271


There are a few reasons for this: 1) I was a real slug this winter, once the weather turned cold I stopped roller blading altogether. B) Even though my appointment was today the blood was drawn in mid Girl Scout Cookie binging. iii) My weight is up by about 5 pounds since September [see 1 & B for explanation.] Doc wants me to double up on the Red Yeast Rice and come back in 4 months.

Of course 2 heaping plates full at the Chinese Buffet at lunch is probably not helping matters either. Lunch buffet with water to drink for both of us.

Meal Cost: $11.98
Tip: $1.02
Spent Today: $13.00
Year to Date: $678.83

It is officially spring. Not just because the vernal equinox has passed and not because the Bradford Pear trees blooms are turning to leaves and the dogwoods are flowering, but because we rode to work with the top down at 6 o’clock in the morning and didn’t feel cold. Oh yeah, another sign that it is spring is the pine pollen whipping around the company parking lot doing it’s middle east dessert sandstorm impression.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 92

Boy, Is My Left Foot Bored

Big GrinWe drove a ton of BMWs today and not a single one had a manual transmission. One of the workers said they quit a couple years ago because they were burning up too many clutches…

It is probably easier to name the models I didn’t drive (6 series convertible, 5 series wagon & a 3 series 4-door), but let me list the ones I drove and the order we drove them before I forget.

  1. Z4 Coupe
  2. 335i Convertible (the new hardtop model)
  3. X3
  4. 550i Sedan
  5. X5
  6. 750 Li
  7. 335i Coupe
  8. 650i Coupe
  9. Z4 Roadster

Because the BMW dealer had moved a couple miles further out on Washington Rd we had a whole new loop this year. It was a mile shorter than the previous one at 14 miles and a little more suburban. It wasn’t too bad until school let out as it passed three different institutes of education. Maybe because it was a nicer day than last year, there seemed to be a lot more folks out driving today, so we didn’t do any double loops. We drove each car once for a total of 125 miles. For you math majors, I know that nine times fourteen would be 126, but a slight navigational error on the first loop brought us in a mile too soon.

Highlights: The 335i Coupe with enough horsepower to achieve earth orbit if you could get a ramp of the right angle. The 5 series sedan and the X5 had a HUD speed display that hovered just above and in front of the hood on the driver’s side.

Lowlights: I-Drive and the abrupt throttle response from the drive by wire system. (I’m sure both of these would turn into highlights or at least invisible if I had more than 14 miles to figure them out.)

My navigator missed a turn call out on the first loop, but I had my own oops moment when we got in the X5. The rep got us in the car, I got it started and he reset the odometer and marked down the mileage. He then asked if I had any questions and being as this was our fifth loop and I’d driven aN X5 last year, I said, “Nope.” I hit the window up button, bzzzzzzzit. He walked away and I grabbed the shifter and pulled back to put it in drive, it didn’t move and nothing happened. Pushed it forward with the same result. Pushed a button on the side and then tried to move the shifter, still nothing. Bzzzzzzzit, I hit the down button for the window. “Excuse me,” I say, “Just how do I put this thing in drive?” The nice rep leans in the window and points at the button I pushed earlier and said, “Hold that in while pulling back.” “Ahhh,” I said, “I tried each separately, but didn’t try the combination.”

Even though we knew there would be food at the BMW dealer, we weren’t sure what and Donna wanted a fish sandwich, so we stopped at McDonald’s before heading over to drive cars. Fillet-O-Fish for her and a Southern Chicken Sandwich for me. We split a small drink and fries.

Meal Cost: $6.61
Tip: None
Spent Today: $6.61
Year to Date: $628.25

Turns out he food that was available was good, so we had half sandwiches and wraps with some pasta salad at the end of the day that we called dinner. The brownies were so awesome I ate two.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 84

Cross Country

EllenOur neighbor’s kid (well she’s no longer a kid, she’s in college) has been horsing around for for quite a while and we have been to see her do a few events in the area over the years. Today Ellen was competing in the cross-country portion of the 3 day event at Jumping Branch Farm in Montmorenci, where we had seen her show jump before a few years ago. Ellen’s mom invited us this morning to watch with her and she made an excellent guide, filling us equine novices in on the intricacies of 3-day eventing.

All that spectating made us hungry, so we stopped at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant on the way home. Carrnitas for me and two tacos for her. We both had agua helada to drink. Even though I list what we ordered separate, today, like last night, we pretty much divvy up each dish between us 60% what the person orders and 40% of the other’s item.

Meal Cost: $12.65
Tip: $2.35
Spent Today: $15.00
Year to Date: $616.99

I gave the Emperor a proper bath this afternoon. It was already needing it and after driving a mile or so of dirt road to see Ellen jump fences, it was really time. While washing, I noticed that I have a nice scrape on the lower portion of the front chin spoiler. Wonder how long it has been there? It is on the driver’s side, so I would see it each day as we walked back to the car after work, but… The only reason I probably haven’t noticed it before now is that the primer showing through is white and the parking lot lines are white and it must look like their reflection in the spoiler. Because I am forever parking in the farthest out spot and as close to the curb as possible to avoid door dings, I bet I scraped it ever so gently on one of those curbs. I think I have a bit of that spray can of car color left that I can use to touch it up.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 76