Miata Washings

Hurley Is A Citizen Too

Just after lunch today there was a knock at the door. We weren’t expecting anyone, but turns out that was wrong. When Donna opened the door there was the unlikely duo of Shannon Rutherford and Hugo Reyes. I knew Jack was a Sox fan, but I was surprised to find a native son of Santa Monica, CA was too. I had bid victoriously.

Here’s an item I won’t be victorious on — I don’t have quite enough cash in my PayPal account — David Ortiz “Yankees Curse” Jersey

I primered the the inside of the newly remodeled bathroom and then hung a towel rack, the TP holder and the shower curtain rod. We started to shuffle things around in preparation for moving our bedroom to the other end of the house. We cleaned out the two closets by carrying a dozen boxes up into the attic. Sunday night we’ll move the bed and our clothes to complete the transition.

Broke down and washed the car tonight, even though there is a chance of afternoon thunder showers tomorrow. Pine pollen season is all but over and it has been 6 weeks since the last wash, so I figured it was time. Plus we are going on a Post Office Safari tomorrow and the Emperor always like to put his best face forward even though he isn’t the primary photographic subject.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 111

Missed It The First Time

SardiniaWe got the 7 Post Offices we planned for on the return trip, just not in the order we planned. Blew right by the Sardinia PO at first. We knew we missed it when we spotted the sign for the next town south on US301, Gable. After taking Gable’s portrait we made a u-turn and headed back north. We actually drive by it again, but not too far as we were really looking for it this time. It is an easy Post Office to miss as there was no “blue box” out front, the flag pole didn’t taper like a normal pole and Old Glory wasn’t flying from it either. Plus this is the only sign and it was parallel to the road and not noticeable at 65MPH.

The building looks old enough to be the original, but if it was, I would have expected some sort of bronze plaque the be nearby, so I don’t know if that is true. Another interesting tidbit about the town is how it got it’s name. “When the Government was ready to open a post office in the community that is now Sardinia, the residents could not agree on a name. Since they were meeting in the school house, somebody, seeing the globe, suggested that they spin it and let someone close his eyes and put his finger on a spot which would be the name. This happened to be Sardinia.” I found that on the internet, so I don’t know how true that is either.

When we got home I washed the Miata off. It is starting to be spring here as there was quite a smattering of dead insects on the nose. Of course because spring is starting the car won’t stay clean very long as it about time for pine pollen to start blowing in the wind.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 60

4 8 15 16 23 42 Part III

Super Bowl 4: Kansas City Chiefs 23 – Minnesota Vikings 7
Super Bowl 8: Miami Dolphins 24 – Minnesota Vikings 7
Super Bowl 15: Oakland Raiders 27 – Philadelphia Eagles 10
Super Bowl 16: San Francisco 49ers 26 – Cincinnati Bengals 21
Super Bowl 23: San Francisco 49ers 20 – Cincinnati Bengals 16
Super Bowl 42: New York Giants 17 – New England Patriots 14

Oh, and I bought the shirt.

Washed the car this afternoon and I’m embarrassed to say that with the temperature in the low seventies, when I was done, I just drove it back in to the garage.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 24

Record Heat

Help Me, I'm Melting!I don’t know about where you live, but here in Aiken, SC our temperatures are way above normal. Today it was close to 80º and all the snowmen in town have melted.

We walked to the Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast and when we got back it was almost 70º so I took this opportunity to lube up the Emperor’s power window tracks. The passenger side was noticeably slower than the driver’s side, so I read up about fixing it on my favorite reference site, Miata.net. After I lubed up the passenger side, it made the driver’s side seam slow, so I had to go ahead and take the panel off that door too. Man that black snot they use as an adhesive to hold the plastic barriers in the doors is a real pain to work around, there is still some under a couple fingernails even after a half dozen hand washings.

While I was out there I did a quick detailer clean up to get all the dust off the car. That is all it is, it hasn’t rained in so long the only thing the Emperor ever gets covered in anymore is road dust. I was going to try out my new buffer, but I’m still chicken. I did use it, the included foam application pad and some Crest toothpaste to clean off the film that had started to haze up the headlights. Worked like a charm and it wasn’t too hard to use, so next time I wax the car I’ll probably use it to remove the wax.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 496

You Would Think I Would Learn — Part 2

You would think that if I would take anyone’s advice, especially if it was based on personal experience, it would be my own; but no.

We are off for a couple of days of Post Office hunting tomorrow morning, so I ducked out into the garage to give the Emperor a sponge bath (Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and an old T-shirt.) After I was finished I realized what the car really needed a full waxing, so in spite of a couple of previous lousy wax jobs in the garage at night, I went ahead and tried again.

Looks pretty good under the light of two 60 watt bulbs. We’ll see what it looks like in the morning sun…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 489

Lovers Lane

Lovers LaneGnorm went for a walk in Hitchcock Woods with us today (some peektures) It was another beautiful fall day, almost a carbon copy of yesterday; cool, crisp with the very definition of blue sky overhead. It was great to get out and take a hike. Because we got a late (for us) start we had to share the woods with dog walkers, runners (Hi Anne) and horseback riders. We probably saw 10 people! Donna and I took Gnorm down our favorite trail, but it just made him sad because his new girlfriend from yesterday wasn’t with him.

At the end of last week, every time I came home from work the internet connection was down. I would have to reboot the modem, and sometimes the router too, a couple/few of times to get it stable. Yesterday it was fine, but today as I prepared to listen to the FRS‘s last game of the season, it just wouldn’t work no matter how many times I rebooted everything. I ended up on the back porch with the laptop and took a ride on the internet on a neighbor’s dime. Someone close by has an unsecured WAP… After on more reboot of everything, including the PC, I now have internet on the desktop. I can connect to my wireless network with the laptop, but I cannot see the desktop nor the internet. Plus I can no longer get the router’s admin panel from the desktop even after resetting the router. Fixing that will be a job for tomorrow after work.

The Emperor got a bath this afternoon and had the royal scary dentures installed. They will add a little spice to some of the October Post Office photos.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 425