Miatatude

Wine & Dine Subset

A Miata Darkly IIOnly a real die-hard Miata nut would have recognized the car in last night’s picture as a Miata. And only the Uber Miata Geek subset of that group would have been able to tell you that the car could only be either a 2004 or 2005 because of the speakers built into the windblocker behind the seats.

Ah, Friday night. Donna and I drove to Augusta right after work to meet with MMC‘s Fine Dining Subset for a nice evening out. This month’s pick was Calvert’s. All three of the couples like to eat diner early so we took advantage of Calvert’s Sunset Special which includes salad, entree and desert for $28.95 a couple. Donna had a seafood crepe; shrimp, scallops and crab meat served in a light French crepe and covered with a lobster champagne sauce and I opted for the pecan-encrusted pork.

Tomorrow will be a hike in the woods in the morning and the ASCO Management Club’s annual Christmas meeting in the evening. The Management Club is a subset of the company’s employees that consist of the salaried folks and we get together four times a year for a buffet dinner at a local country club or restaurant and sometimes there is a speaker. The year end one is different in that spouses (or a guest) are allowed to attend and instead of a speaker there is music and dancing. The HR department waited too long to book a place, so instead of the usual middle of December date we are having it in early November. To make up for it we are going to have our office Thanksgiving dinner at work the second week of December.

Sunday is possibly a quick drive northwest to get the Post Offices in Clifton and White Stone, they are the last ones in the Spartanburg subset.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 471

A Miata Darkly

A Miata DarklyI wasn’t so sure I was going to like this movie, but “A Scanner Darkly” pleasantly surprised me on two accounts.

First, I remember seeing a clip of the bicycle scene when the actors were making the talk show circuit to promote this movie when it first came out in theaters. Taken out of context it seemed kind of stupid, but now in the total of the movie it seemed humorous and perfectly captured that feel of the conversation of a group of stoned people. The rotoscope process seemed gimmicky in the clip and again for the full hour and a half of the movie it enhanced the ambiance.

Oh, and secondly, Winona Ryder’s character drove a Miata.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 471

Happy 18th Anniversary

I just knew I had blogged about it before, but a couple of searches here came up empty. I tired looking at all the posts from around this date, again with no luck. In one last try I hit pay dirt.

Birth Announcement

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 471

If Charles Caleb Colton Owned a Miata

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

And if he had a blog it might look something like this:
The Miataman Adventures

Maybe not really imitation, but definitely influenced.

Still not sure about those new galleries, I still like the idea of having some captions which is not really possible with those flash style viewers. I like the stripe background though and I think that maybe it is time for a template change for here incorporating that stripe. Probably take a week or two to find one I like and modify it to fit me. For those of you who really like this theme, I’ll leave it available as an option.

Can you tell that the weather has been perfect for convertibles the last few days? The count hasn’t changed since last Friday morning when the top went down for the trip to work.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 398

Just Means More For Me On Friday

Didn’t win the Mega Millions, but no one else did either. That just means more for me to win on Friday…

I have learned to live with the squeal that happens when the A/C compressor kicks in while accelerating, but now I’ve got a new noise. It’s a squeak and it comes when I hit a relatively sharp bump. It is coming from the driver’s side and I think it is from the back (you never know with sounds.) Naturally having just had the shocks changed out the inclination is to think that maybe we didn’t get everything tightened down on them. The trouble with that is when the squeak occurs. It only happens in the afternoon on the way home from work. Doesn’t happen on the trip into work and we just made trip to the store tonight and it didn’t make a peep. It seems to be getting worse, today on the way home it squeaked on smaller bumps making it sound off more often. It doesn’t make sense, temperature related?

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 358

Not Actually A Mod, But More Like Service

Dutch HyroglephicsHad some new shock absorbers installed today. At 63k miles they were not entirely shot, they were definitely worn, judging by the improved feel on the drive home. They were yellow Koni Sport adjustable shocks, so they were not an equal swap, but more of an improvement.

When the shock replacement was being planned I considered purchasing some lowering springs to get rid of the fist sized gap between the tire and fender lip. After copious reading in the Miata Forum Suspension and Handling section I decided that because this is the “family” car and it is already a close call clearing dead possums in the road that I would choose function over style and keep the stock springs and their “high” ride height.

When I picked up the car after the install it actually looked like the ride height had increased. When I got home I measured it and sure enough the gap was now a 1/2″ more than it was before. Because that dimension is determined by the spring not the shock I was curious. So I asked over on the forum and got a reassuring response that that is normal and the car will settle back down to where it was in short order.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 330

Carolina Car Trek

Intimate AnimalAiken had it’s Horseplay with painted horses and now Darlington County has it’s painted cars. While looking for the Post Office in Lamar, SC we noticed a painted car in front of the Library. Later in the weekend we noticed a couple more cars around. So when we got home, we looked on the internet and discovered that it was new this summer – Carolina Car Trek. There is even a contest involved that can win you a 2008 Darlington Raceway Package (whatever that is.)

I had to give a little blood this morning for my cholesterol check next week, so I had to not eat breakfast at home. This meant a stop at the New Moon Cafe for eats on the way in to work. Cranberry Peacan Muffin for me and an Everything Bagel for her.

Meal Cost: $2.89
Tip Jar: 11¢
Spent Today: $3.00
Year to Date: $1512.70
Meals out, 86 of a possible 591

A couple of new links on the sidebar tonight, 1) A New Miata? in 143 days and B) Spenser?s Crime Buster Rules.

I found another place that is raffling off a new Miata, or MX-5 as Mazda would have you call it, the International Motor Racing Research Center. The IMRRC is in Watkins Glen, NY and they are selling just 2,500 chances on a 2007 Touring Package car. $35 each, two for $60 or a quartet for a C-note. I opted to take 4 chances at getting a new Miata about 1,088 days sooner than planned.

After finishing re-reading Spenser book #3 and finding another rule, I broke down and created a page for Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules. I only have 32 more books to go to get all of the rest (if there are any more…)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 282