Miatatude

The cockpit cover saved my bacon this morning. The Weather Channel had no mention of rain for today so the top was down and the cover on when at around 9:30 there came a 15 minute downpour out of nowhere. At our normal walk around the parking lot at 10:00 PM we peeked underneath the cover into the cockpit and there were a few moist spots, but nothing like there could have been.

This morning when we left for work there was a light scraping noise coming from the right front of the car. It sounded like the squealers warning of low brake pad thickness. It was there when we left work to come home too, but both times at the end of the commute it was gone. When I got home I jacked up the right side of the car and checked the pad thickness front and back. Both were nowhere near the worn out indicators. MMM, next diagnosis is a sticky caliper. With any luck it is just a sticky slider pin. This weekend I’ll pull them apart and re-lube the particulars and see what happens. I had to remove the tires to get a good look and I realize that they are getting down close to the wear bars. Only put these on last February about 19,000 miles ago. I think I am going to step back one notch in performance this time, maybe go back to getting 25K from a set. The current Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions are awesome tires, but I don’t really drive enough at that level to warrant them.

Purchased Today: $13.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $235.73
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 104

Completed the triathlon on this 3-day weekend, I went for a 20 mile bike ride on Friday, a 6 mile hike in the woods Saturday and a 4 mile rollerblade skate today. Also completed the Batmobile this morning. Want to take some pictures, but it has been raining all afternoon. Wanted to use the natural outside light as I’m sure the dig-cam’s flash will not capture the model well.

Purchased Today: Nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 103

Today was an MMM…Time with the Miata Club and one other person besides my wife and I showed up at the Sonic. We just chatted for about a half hour and then went our separate ways to finish our Honey-Do Lists.

The Batmobile is coming along good. I have got most of the painting done and have started the assembly. This morning I realized that I didn’t have any model cement, so off to Hobby Lobby we went. Whoever all those glue sniffers were I would like to put a curse on you. This new cement smells of lemons and doesn’t really hold. Good thing this puppy is put together with glue and some screws. After a couple of missteps (from not reading the directions,) the chassis is all together. Tomorrow comes the interior.

Purchased Today: Zero
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 102

It wasn’t raining and the radar showed no more green so we dropped the top for the ride to work. Apparently radar doesn’t show light mist. We did make it to work with it down, but it went right back up. At quitting time, lunch time today, it was still misting. By the time we were done eating and then doing a little shopping at 1:30 it had stopped misting so we drove the last couple miles home in the open air.

Bought a model of the 50’s version of the Batmobile today. Haven’t built a model in a while, this one needs a little painting on the interior and then it gets glued and screwed together. Hope I finish this one, the last model I bought was an X-Wing Fighter and it sits semi-assembled in a box in the garage…

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, went down ,went up, went back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 102

Hot damn, a semi nice day! Top down on the way to work, up while there and down again after. Got a skate in after getting home and even went for an evening drive at dark. Amazing what a little outdoor fun can have on a person’s attitude. Blues, what blues? Every car that I caught on the way out of town turned off before they became a hindrance making for a very pleasant drive on one of our favorite roads. Things got exciting for a minute or so though, DEER! One dashed in front of the car causing me to brake hard, missed by about 10 yards. 5 seconds either way for either one of us and it could have been bad. Just after returning to near normal speed, car and heart, the brights illuminate another set of eyes to our left. This one stood 5 feet off the road and just watched us pass.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 96

Went out to grocery shop – top up. Went out for an evening drive – top up. After supper Donna wanted to go get an ice cream cone. Last Sunday when we headed into downtown Aiken, it was looking like a ghost town, but the ice cream shop was open. Tonight that’s where we went and we were an hour too late, they were closed. We took the umbrella and strolled through the empty streets and looked in shop windows. On the drive home the skies opened up, man we are glad we have a garage.

It will be amazing if I can get out of bed tomorrow, it is so depressing here now. The on and off rain that started Thursday is slated to continue until at least that day this week. Today was the third day in a row for a downer of a movie, White Oleander was on tap for this evening. I’ve got to go move a couple comedies up to the top of my Netflix rental queue.

Purchased Today: Nitso
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 93