Miatatude

Today was the make-up day for the last leg of Aiken’s Triple Crown, the Harness Races. All our company is gone that we were going with last week, so we invited some friends and their 2 kids. Things went pretty well for the first couple of races as the kids seemed interested, but being kids that was enough. Then they discovered friends their own age to hang with and things were OK again, for a while. After getting thoroughly muddy then cleaned up again they headed off to see some rabbits in one of the barns. It was the youngest one’s birthday so he wanted a rabbit. Dad prevailed and refused to get him one. This sent the birthday boy into a crying fit…we had seen 6 of the 8 races and were getting tired of the sun anyway, so we left.

As we pulled the cockpit cover off the car to leave a man standing there holding his dog said, “Nice car.” I thanked him and wouldn’t you know it, upon starting the car up the lifters made a horrible clatter as I backed out. I wonder if he changed his mind?

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 75

The closest I’ve got to the Miata all day is I have walked by it a half dozen times on the way to and from the washer/dryer. It has been raining nearly all afternoon anyway. This morning Donna and I took my sister and her husband over to Hopeland Gardens to walk around and take some photos. Being the heathens we are, we didn’t realize that they were having Easter services at the amphitheater. Fortunately it is a big place and by the time we had covered everywhere else and wanted to head that way, services were over and the crowd broke up. Afterwards, we drove around horse country to breathe in the ambiance…

I have finally made it over 1 year CPU time in the search for ET. I am a member of the Miata Club over at SETI@Home. I am currently in the number 10 spot. The only other person I could possibly overtake unless I rent supercomputer time is #9, Erick Sodhi. He is currently 130 WU ahead of me, but it looks like he has stopped contributing. His last uploaded results were on February 1, 2001. At my current rate and if Erick doesn’t wake up, I will overtake him on the 19th of June this year.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 71

Company was in town to go see the harness races this weekend, but this morning started with a horrendous rain storm. Put the top up and drove over to see if the races were still on before schlepping everyone over, nope called off until next Saturday. What are we going to do now. Around lunch the sun came out so we piled into my sister’s car and drove to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. Nice time. We managed to get out and back to the car before it started to rain again.

This evening we needed a trip to the store for some last minute items for Easter dinner tomorrow, so Donna and I dropped the top back down and made the 15 mile drive to the Publix that is 3 miles away.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 71

The cockpit cover Does not need waterproofing, I think. It is made of Technalon and it is supposedly fairly water resistant already. No straps to adjust, just elastic with rubber coated hooks. When I first put it on it appeared too small, but after futzing with it, it seems OK. Got to put the front on first, roll it out and put the tabs under the trunk last. Right now it is rolled up and tucked under the boot to preserve the trunk space.

Made a trip to Augusta to drop off Bike Club newsletters at the three big bike stores over there. The 2 in downtown were a cinch, but getting to the one in Martinez proved problematic. Friday and Saturday are what they call a tax holiday in Georgia. In order to boost sales or cut parents a break, school type items are tax free. Traffic was such a mess around the shopping centers that after trying a couple of ways to get around it, I bailed and came home. We will be out that way next Thursday and will drop the stuff off then.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 69

Top up for the ride to work, top down for the ride home. Big news is my cockpit cover from Rspeed came in today. Going to spray it with some Scotchgard waterproofing tomorrow for insurance (supposed to already be weather resistant.) Then, put it on so I can get the straps adjusted. We’ll see if using this thing turns into a hassle, I hope not. I hope that using it in combination with the boot I can slow the climb of the number at the bottom each post, thereby increasing the life of the top.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 69