Miatatude

Free Floor Mats

They are building an office addition on the back of the plant and this where my department (Fabrication Engineering) and another (Product Engineering) will be moving into when it is complete. We were supposed to be in the building this month, but some of the HVAC units arrived well behind schedule, so it is looking more like January before it happens.

Yesterday and today they installed the new carpet on the floor. When I saw the color, I thought, “Hmmmm.” So this afternoon as the installers were wrapping up I went back and grabbed a couple of 24″ x 24″ squares of the industrial grade carpet. Because they just didn’t look big enough I also took a couple of 10″ x 24″ scraps. Good thing I did that because the Miata floor mats are about 18 inches wide and about 28 inches long.

I came home and used some duct tape on the back of the two pieces to hold them together. I then flipped the existing mats over and traced around them with a Sharpie to create the cutting pattern. Using a box cutter and a pair of tin snips I cut out my new free floor mats.

Because I traced around the outside the new mats are a little bit larger than the stock ones so maybe they won’t slip around as bad even though they don’t have a thousand little nubbies on the bottom. If they do move, my cubicle neighbor suggested getting some male-side Velcro to put on the bottom, that ought to grab a hold of the fuzzy OEM carpet (thanks for the tip Jim.)

I don’t even think they will need any binding around the edges. A cross-section of 3/16″ thick carpet reveals the bottom half is some sort of plastic/rubber material with short fibers embedded in it. It’ll shed a bit, but not enough to unravel unsightly. If anything, running a match quickly along the edge, would be ll it needs (Jim again.)

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 910

The Emperor’s Repose

The Emperor got to laze around the garage today as Donna and I took advantage of the nice weather and the reduced traffic of a no-school day to ride the tandem into work. This was the first time in a while that we have ridden on just two days rest and my sit bones were a little tender when we started out this morning, but I forgot all about them by the end of mile one.

Speaking of sore, I am going to have to give up raising the Miata’s top while seated in the drivers seat for a time. Monday morning when putting the top up for the cold drive to work I strained something in my right shoulder and it still hurts a bit when raising it up over my head.

I am one of the lucky ones because I sit with the seat all the way back and my arm length was just right for hoisting the roof up with little effort. Both shorter and taller drivers didn’t line up well for doing the over the shoulder flip up routine. The folks with roll bars or style bars were usually out of luck doing that procedure too. All and all, a lot of Miata owners had to raise the top while standing outside the car. Hopefully after a couple weeks of rest I will be able to return to my previous ways.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 904

Let’s Do The Time Warp


Hitchcock Woods Simplified*

This morning I got up and blew the dust off the single bikes and filled their tires with air. Donna and I had decided we were going to see what it felt like not to ride the tandem. At the last minute I realized that the cyclecomputer clocks were one hour ahead. Dang, I forgot about those a couple weeks ago when daylight savings time ended. As I was breaking out the instructions on how to change the clocks, Donna said, “Forget about them, let’s go.” Try as I might I felt slightly askew in the space time continuum the whole time. The weather was so nice that by 10:00 AM (possibly really 9:00 AM) we had our breakfast at an outside table at the Atlanta Bread Company near the end of the ride.

As if the 16 mile bike this morning wasn’t enough, Donna, I and a friend went for a 2-1/2 mile walk in Hitchcock Woods in the afternoon. It was pleasant enough that I walked in shorts. Because of the nice weather the woods were busy, we saw a group of two horse riders and then a group of 4 more as we were standing where the above photo was taken. There were also several people walking their dogs, including one woman who was talking on her cell phone while her dog was checking us out about 50 yards away from her. As we exited the woods a truck slowed and the woman behind the wheel asked if we had seen a muddy border collie. I said no. After she drove off my mind kicked in gear and I remembered something. I should have told her yes, the last time I saw that dog was when he was way ahead of you on trail while you yakked on your phone.

*a photo from an overlook near the Chalk Cliffs in Hitchcock Woods post processed with a filter called Simplifier by AmphiSoft in Paint Shop Pro

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 902

115,000 Sharpies

It started 22 days ago as a white spec Miata racer, $100 worth of Sharpies later and Mighty Mike has a masterpiece of Dude Craft.

On the way home from work today Donna and I stopped in and checked on one of our caches. Someone had DNF’d it on Monday and we wanted to see if it was still there. Even though we knew where we hid it, it still took us 5 minutes to find the thing. Probably because there were around 115,000 pieces of pine straw on the ground since we hid it back in April. Also the GPSr read 18 feet away when I was standing right over it.

A couple miles away from the cache the Emperor passed through the 115,000 mile mark and as if to put an exclamation mark on the event the low fuel light lit simultaneously.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 896

I Bet They Were Beautiful Last Week


Hey! Weren’t You Just Here Two Weeks Ago?

Why yes, we were.

Today was our annual trip to the mountains with the MMC to view the fall colors. When I emailed a reminder to the membership, I remarked that Donna and I reserved the right to cancel the event if there weren’t at least two other cars going on the trip. So guess how many showed up? Right, two. Should have picked a larger number. A couple in one of the cars had never been to see the Georgia Guidestones, so we just had to stop.

We had a route planned that went north and west in Georgia ending up in Walhalla, SC for lunch before turning around and returning south and east in South Carolina. Trouble with the plan was that we had too much time built in for rest breaks (it probably would have been just right if we had twice as many cars and the temperatures had been 15° warmer like they were supposed to be), so when we got to I-85 and about 20 minutes from Martha’s Marketplace Cafe, it was only 10:30 AM. An adjustment was made to the route that was to take us on a loop northwest to Franklin, NC before coming back into Walhalla.

We were now in the mountains and the fall colors were nice, but noticeably past peak. At a break in Clayton, GA with traffic on four lane US441 heavy, the clock past noon and the distinct possibility that the scenery would not improve we made another adjustment to the route. Someone pointed at the GA map and said, “What’s that little gray line heading due east towards SC and route 28?” GPS’s and Smarty Pants phones were consulted and it was called Warwoman Rd. I said, “Let’s go. I’ve heard Miata.net chatter about that road. And it was good.” No one complained about the lack of fall color on this stretch of the trip. As one driver put it later, “All I saw was a white line on my right and a double yellow line on my left.” Once we got back in South Carolina on Rte. 28 we hit a sweet spot of altitude and chlorophyll-less-ness making the show out the side windows quite nice for about 15 miles or so.

Lunch in Walhalla at the Brian & Donna Pre-Approved Dining Spot was very good. The only negative was the service was slow, but I got the feeling that everything that happens in Walhalla happens slow. The trip home was uneventful and because we traveled about 50 miles less than we normally do on one of these excursions we got home in daylight and at a decent time for dinner at home.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 881

A Day Late

The MMC is exploring different ways to boost it’s meager membership rolls. The president came up with the idea to put a coupon inside one of those packets that show up at random times in your mailbox. This turns out to be more expensive than you might think.

Because we’ve been watching the baseball playoffs lately we have been exposed to a lot of commercials and the majority of them have been political in nature due to Georgia electing a governor early next month. Which got me thinking today, just how much would it cost to have some political style yard signs made up. Not that much really, 50 (the minimum order), 23 x 14.5 inch, 2 sided, 2 color, including the metal stands would set us back a little over three hundred dollars.

Too bad I didn’t think about this a couple months ago, so our signs would fit right in with the rest of the election signs and could stay visible for several weeks. Now, by the time we got them, and placed them, they might be the only ones out there and stick out like a sore thumb and be ripe for quick removal. Not wanting to let a good design opportunity slip by, this afternoon I mocked up a couple ideas.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 866

Win A Miata

I almost hate to tell you about these because if you enter you are decreasing my chance of winning, but I’m feeling magnanimous. The state of Florida is giving away Miatas to get you to vist there, fish there or vote for your favorite beach picture from there.

If you send someone an email video postcard (there are several to choose from) between October 1st and December 30th you are entered. You can enter as many times as you like as long as you use sent it to a different valid email each time. Share A Little Sunshine

This one has been running since the end of July and closes on November 1st, so hurry. Not only do you win a Miata, but a free three day fishing trip to Miami. All you need to enter is a valid email address, a drivers license and be over 25 years old. I’ve been entering this one every day at work for a couple weeks now and I even signed up once for the Great Florida Getaways electronic travel newsletter, but haven’t received on yet. Florida Fishing Vacation Package

Between sunrise and 11:00AM on Saturday, November 6th volunteer walkers will walk a single mile of one of Florida’s 825 miles of beach and take a photo. The photos will be uplaoded and displayed on an interactive web map for voting on. When you vote on your favorite photo between November 6th and December 6th you will be entered in a drawing for a Miata & $5,000. The Great VISIT FLORIDA Beach Walk

If I don’t win, I hope you do.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 864