GTI

Not A Haircut Day, But

Back in June I mentioned that I was going to buy a book (or two) every time I got my haircut. I totally missed it last time. To try and make up for it, I decided to try going there two days ago (Tuesday), but it turns out they are closed Mon/Tuesday, unlike what I assumed, Sun/Monday.

Just before I was headed out there today (Thursday), I got a text from a friend, Trish, wanting to know if I wanted to get some lunch. I texted back and said that I was driving to Sandy to a bookstore and to eat at a BBQ place and see if she wanted to do that. Came back, “Sure.” I picked her up, and off we went. To make up for missing the last bookstore visit, I bought two books this time.

Oh, when I got home this afternoon I looked to see when my next haircut was; it’s just four days from now…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 71.0%

 

Hump Day

Photo from July 2016; it was our “Epic Sunrise” for that year’s Moss Motoring Challenge.

It finally came to an end. The Red Sox lost the afternoon game of a double header today. They did win the early game for a club tying 15 in a row. They are off tomorrow, and now we’ll see how many they lose in a row starting Friday.

I made an appointment at U-Haul to get a trailer hitch put on the GTI. Because of the wrap I can’t use a roof rack or the foldable trunk rack that works on the Miata. The appointment is next Thursday, I think. When I left, they texted me a link to the reservation, but when I clicked on the link, it took me to the U-Haul website. There were no details on the page I landed on, just the words, “This feature is only available in the U-Haul App.” So I downloaded the app and clicked on the text link again. It didn’t open the app; it just dumped me on the same web page. There wasn’t any way I could see in the app to type in a reservation number, so I uninstalled the app.

I ordered a Kuat Sherpa 2 rack from Amazon yesterday, and this afternoon I put it together. I’m going to have to be careful and check my clearance going in and out of the driveway because of the steep drop at the end. I may have to pull the car out and then put the rack on.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 71.9%

 

I Think I’m Clever


GRN JKT is license plate speak for “green jacket.”
The GTI is a Volkswagen Golf.
The Masters is a big deal Golf tournament.
When you win the Masters, you get a green-colored sport coat.
The black GTI has been jacketed with a green-colored vinyl.
I was shooting for clever.
Or is it too obtuse?

Magic

Grandpa’s Old Truck


The GTI returned today from the wizards at PDX Wraps, where they were repairing my “backing into a post” bump in the night smoothed over. They said they were going to have to rewrap the bumper and patch a spot near the spot where bumper and body meet.

Unlike Grandpa’s Old Truck above, the GTI looks like it did when it came out of PDX Wrap’s garage the first time. When I got home I took a look at where the patch was supposed to be; there was nothing there. Did they manage to heat that area up and stretch the vinyl to cover that spot up? Or was it sorcery?!?

Sorcery

Bump In The Night

For whatever reason I like to back the cars up onto the carport/portico. And this is a stupid idea. Truth be told, my brain cannot comprehend going backwards; this means I do a lot of steering corrections trying to keep it between the posts. Side note, two of the 3 posts are inline; the third, not so much. That fateful night, I misjudged it badly; hence, below are photos of a post and a GTI.


I’m going to get it fixed; the wrap is too new not to, but they are working over a month out. So I have an appointment to get it fixed on February 12th. They’ll rewrap the entire rear bumper because it sustained the most scrapes and scratches; there will be one inch or two of a patch at the top because otherwise they would have to rewrap most of the body.

Shoulda Woulda

Friday was supposed to go a little something like this:
1) ride exercise bike
2) eat breakfast
3) grocery shop
4) get a latte
5) go to the coffee klatch
6) start a jigsaw puzzle

I missed #1, did two, three & four, didn’t do five and never made it #6. Instead of the last two I did number seven instead. Not too long after lunch PDX Wraps called and said the car would be done by 2:30ish. So I ordered up an Uber who picked me up a little after 1:30. What would, if traffic free, takes 45 minutes took close to an hour twenty minutes. It took about a half hour until the car was done then I set off home. The weather was dreary and I hoped to find a not so dreary spot to pull over and take a picture of the GTI, but I had no luck with that. By the time I got home an hour and a half after leaving Sherwood it was almost full on dark. So I snapped this one teaser image for now with hopes that a bit of sun materializes in the next couple days.

Mt Hood Day Trip

Mt Hood From OR-35


 
I went for my daily walk, and as I was finishing up, I looked at the weather and realized it was going to be a good day. Instead of going home, I headed over to Stomping Grounds to get a Salted Caramel Latte and jumped on I-84 east. Plan was to get a photo of the GTI with Mt. Hood in the background. Bingo, see above.

After taking some more Mt. Hood photos, I opted to return home on the Washington side of the Columbia River. So I crossed the Hood River Bridge to get on WA-14. This bridge has a toll, but it doesn’t have booths; it takes photos of the license plate of the car, and they mail you a bill to get their $3.50. I don’t have plates on the GTI yet; all that I have are the paper CarMax ones. So will CarMax get that toll bill in the mail?