Rants

Santa Fe, NM – Day 17: I Despise I Forty

Sunrise Shovel

Back to an actual Roadside America picture that you can find on the website, this is the Largest Shovel in Texas. How do they know? Just because the construction company that put it up says so? Texas is pretty big; maybe there is a bigger one in the eastern side of the state. They estimate it is 15′ tall, and to me, that doesn’t sound that big. And even if it is the largest, someone will take that as a challenge and make one 25′ tall somewhere else in the state.

From Bowie, TX to Santa Fe, NM is approximately 550 miles, and almost exactly one half of that drive was along I-40. Today there was a pretty stiff crosswind, and it seemed like 80% of the traffic was 18-wheelers trying to stay in their lanes. Lone truck drivers hauling ass, corporate drivers who might be speed limited, and any others that might be worried about many points they have on their driver’s licenses. Mix in pickups hauling giant camper homes and skittish auto drivers, and you make for a very exciting, AKA tense, drive.

When I do head east next weekend, I will only cross I-40 once on my way to get on US-60 & 84 to get to Lubbock, TX where I’ll pick up US-82 to finish off Texas. I’m sure I will run into plenty of big rigs, but it should be easier to pick them off (pass) one at a time than when they are in a big formation like B-17s on their way to bomb Berlin.

Hammond, LA – Day 10: Hipster Coffee

Metal Lizard

Another jam-packed day of chill. Slept in late, followed immediately by my usual cereal and banana breakfast, then a trip to the grocery store for sandwich fixings for Sally and I for the week, then a stop at a coffee shop (more on this below) on the way home for me. We were going to go to Subway to to buy a couple three footlongs to feed son Stuart and family when they arrived, but we just didn’t feel like going out again, so they got a meal of most of our sandwich fixings. Now Sally and I will have to go back to the store for ourselves later…

After lunch with us, the 4 of them and Sally and I piled in two different cars to drive the couple miles to see GG, AKA Adele. I’m not sure of the spelling of GG, it might have two i’s in it, but quite possibly no one else does either. There, we adults chatted while the kids played with some toys and the cat for the afternoon.

 
There is a NOLA local coffee chain called PJ’s and there are two in Hammond. Back in January I could walk to the one in downtown from the Airbnb we stayed at then, and I did probably every day. Yesterday I drove to the other PJ’s that is closer to this Airbnb because 2 miles one way is a bit far for a morning walk. Today because of my loll in bed instead of popping up, the morning caramel latte had to wait.

Coming back from shopping I thought I’d try another downtown place that was on the way back to HQ. I Googled my way to a spot downtown called Luma Coffee which has a 4.8-star rating. I was directed to the place, but I stopped around the corner to walk over because of the one-way streets. Trouble is when I turned the corner and started looking for a coffee shop I didn’t see it. There a couple empty storefronts and a lot of professional building places. Perplexed, I headed back to the car to tell Sally I couldn’t find it. She pointed kitty cornered across the street and all I saw was a Rexall Drug Store.

It was a Rexall Drug Store in a previous life, but now it housed a coffee shop that had left the original signage up and just had the storefront glass etched with its name. A very hipster thing to do. And the hipster thing was exceedingly apt as inside it had that vibe in spades. I could have been back in Portland, Oregon except no one had a beanie on. And it was a very popular place on a Sunday mid-morning with only 2 people working. I probably could have walked the 4 blocks one way to PJ’s and back before I got my order there.

Also, the 8oz latte cost about as much as the 16oz one back at Stomping Grounds which tasted a lot better than what they were serving up here. If I lived in this town I would have a different go to for my fancy coffee drink.

Extra Extra

For my morning coffee I use Dunkin’ K-Cups sweetened with Dunkin’ Creamer Extra Extra to as closely mimic the Dunkin’ experience as possible. Sometime early on in our lives here in Fairview, our go-to grocery store, Fred Meyer, stopped carrying Extra Extra. This meant that about once a month I would have to drive to the Safeway a mile or so further than the Fred Meyers, and buy two 32oz bottles of the Dunkin’ creamer. I could also get it at an Albertson’s about the same distance away as Safeway, just in the exact opposite direction.

This morning after fixing my normal cup of coffee I knew that I wouldn’t have enough Extra Extra to last me until the end of the week. I headed over to Safeway and there weren’t any bottles of Dunkin’ creamer. There weren’t any open slots where the Extra Extra would have gone. Hmmmm, did they stop carrying it too? Was it worth it to even try Albertsons seeing as they are the same company as Safeway? In the end, I thought it might be worth it. It wasn’t. This store had the same set up as Safeway, no Extra Extra and no empty spot for it.

Now I have a vague recollection of buying some Extra Extra at a Walmart. Maybe here, maybe Klamath Falls or maybe my imagination. The closest Walmart is all the way back over near the Safeway I left a while back. Another hazy communication bubbled to the surface from the depths of my mind, “Use the Walmart App Luke.” Dang, could have used it before driving over to Albertson’s. All that Walmart had for Dunkin’ creamer was the seasonal Pumpkin Spice.

Now I’m worried, have they stopped making it? The horrors! So, I head back home in a funk. What’s a guy to do? Give up coffee? Drive over to Stomping Grounds and buy a $6 latte every morning? I google, “Has Dunkin’ stopped making Extra Extra creamer?” The answer returns in milliseconds, “No they have not stopped making it and is available at several retailers like Target, Walgreen’s…” SHIT!!

There is a Target store three quarters of a mile closer to me than even Fred Meyer. I know this because I pass right by it once a week on my loop to get that $6 latte at Stomping Grounds. I guess I’ll take the short drive over in the morning to see. I they don’t I’ll guess that I’ll buy one of those Stomping Grounds lattes to drown my sorrows.

I thought I’d be nice and not put this at the top of the post like I first thought, because every time I say, or even think about, this post’s title I hear it in the voice of the Little Caesars cartoon guy saying, “Pizza Pizza.” I was trying to avoid you catching that little ear worm of mine. You probably only did that once here instead of the other eight times in the body of the post.

Non-Christmas Lights Fun

I installed a red LED strip between the tail lights and the very next day I dopped the car off to have it wrapped. When I got it back, a Brake Light Malfunction warning showed in the left-hand dial on the dash. Hitting the INFO button dismissed the warning. Trouble is now at every start up; I have hit that INFO button.

Step one in troubleshooting was to back up to some shop windows to see if both tail and brake lights were working properly. They were, so what’s wrong? This led me to that red LED strip. I had purchased it from CravenSpeed. They are local to me, so I drove to their shop in Tigard which is southeast of Portland to save on shipping. All in all, the cost of gas used might have been more than shipping, but a Miata drive is a Miata drive.

CravenSpeed doesn’t make that kit it is produced by someone called MX5Things. So, I used the contact us link on the website wondering if the product still worked well in the 2024 models because that is model year that went full CAN Bus. Turns out it is a one man show and Sergey has the same 2024 GT soft top as mine. He said first check to make sure I had the correct wiring jumper harness. I did, so he said if the LED strip lights up, the only thing left is the harness. He suggested I return to CravenSpeed and try a new harness. When there we swapped the jumper harness and that didn’t fix it.

When I got home there was one thing I hadn’t yet tried yet, unhook the jumper and take the LED strip out of the circuit entirely. Unfortunately, the brake light malfunction warning was still there. It was time to punt. I went to the dealer last Friday to see if they could fix this issue. They wanted to keep the car for 2 to 3 days to troubleshoot it because if it wasn’t a simple fix they would have to do a deep dive. I said, “I’ll let you know.” When I got home, I put the LED strip jumper back in. I’d just keep hitting the INFO button on the steering wheel to dismiss the warning.

I knew they took the tail lights out to wrap the car and I’ve got the LED strip jumper plugged in on the driver’s side, but I’ve never messed with the passenger side tail light connection, so I unplugged and replugged in that tail light to see if that might be it. That wasn’t it, but doing this caused a tail light malfunction warning in addition to the brake light warning. Crap. So now I’d have to hit the INFO button 2 times to clear the warnings.

Using a long broom stick to depress the brake pedal, I checked the tail lights again and everything appears to work normally, even the blinkers. I called the dealer and set up an appointment to take it in and Monday I took it in. They asked if I wanted a ride home? I said, “I was just going to call an Uber.” The Service Rep’s reply was, “We’ll get you a Lyft. They’ll pick you up out front.”

The car was in their possession for about 24 hours. They cleared some codes, then started and shut off a car a couple times to check and the light warning did not reappear. The next morning, they did the start-stop thing a couple more times and called it fixed. They did have one code that couldn’t be cleared, the one for a missing satellite antenna. That’s because I removed the antenna and vinyled over the hole on the trunk lid. At least that particular error code is silent and does not cover over any of the dash displays.

Cost all of $100 for the tech’s time. But I recouped a 1/3 of it back when they replaced both windshield wipers, even though they aren’t a warrantied part, when I mentioned there were several fine streaks left after each swipe from day one.

Whatever they are paying that Service Rep is not enough. The simple offer of those wipers caused me to do something I absolutely hate to do; I filled out a ‘how was my service’ survey. Not only that, I give a 5 star review and actually left a really nice comment.

Sketchers Slip-Ins

I’m a big fan of working smarter, not harder, so I’m a big fan of no tie shoes. I’ve had several versions of the slip on casual shoe and it was time to replace my gray Sketchers. I’ve seen several commercials touting, “never have to handle your shoes ever again.”

I headed over to the Sketchers website and eyeballed all the Slip-ins. I found a winner in the Summits – Key Pace There is no local Sketchers store, but they are carried by Famous Footwear and there is a store over in Gresham. I made a run over on Monday to see if they had any of my choice and they did. I tried on my usual size 11 and my foot was swimming. Next, I tried on a 10 and that was a lot better. Paid my money and took my new shoes home.

I put them in and walked around the house a bit and while the length was right, they still felt too big. That’s when I noticed the sticker on the box that read, “WIDE.” So rather than drive over and hope for the correct medium width shoe I bought a pair from Amazon with next day delivery. It was more expensive than at the store but it was worth the extra penny at $75. At the store they were $74.99.

When the Amazon delivery showed up, I tried on my new 11 medium and sure enough the shoe was too tight. the width was right but it was too short and crowded my toes. So, I packed them right back up and did the Kohl’s drop off return. After leaving Kohl’s I drove over the Famous Footwear to return the 11 wide shoes. In that style of shoe all they had were wide widths, so I ordered a pair of 11 mediums to be delivered to me at home. They’ll probably be here early next week.

Fingers crossed that the 11 mediums fit or I’m going to have return them and try a 11.5 medium…

Really?

Made a run to Goodwill today to donate a few things that have been stacked on the futon for a couple months. There were a couple pair of half worn down sneakers, a pair of old towels, two bathmats and several other random things.

When I tried to put the gray cloth bathmat in the women’s bin she shook her head no, so I tossed it back in the car. The very next item I tried to put in the bin was the other bathmat. I figured I get waved off again because this one was a dingy looking rubber one that goes in the tub. But, nope, she let me donate it.

I thought for sure the fabric, because it could be thrown in a washing machine, would have been okay and rubber with suction cups on the bottom would have been rejected.

I’m Disappointed

I’m a little disappointed in the Red Sox. They lost 5 of 6 games on the west coast road trip and 2 of 3 games against the pretty weak Colorado Rockies. Maybe it was the altitude? But the FRS can redeem themselves this weekend by beating the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.

I’m a little disappointed in Bad Sisters. The show itself was great, humor, pathos, an extremely unlikeable villain, a great twist at the end with the perfect ending. So why am I disappointed? They have greenlit a second season and what the heck could it possibly be about.

I’m a little disappointed in Fred Meyer, why the heck is the jarred applesauce on a different aisle than where the applesauce single-serve snack cups are.

I am a lot disappointed in Peacock‘s Tour de France coverage. In the past we had 2 options for viewing the bike race, one was with the announcers Bob Roll & Phil Liggett and geared for the American audience and the second one had Ant McCrossan and was geared for the rest of the English speaking world. We always chose that second option because it was commercial free and Mr. McCrossan knew the riders and was always calling the action of the race in front of him. But this year the only option available was the Roll and Liggett version where they misidentified riders and were always chatting about old races or past riders. What made this even worse was the annoying ESPN style constant scroll on the bottom of the picture, plus there were commercials even though we had paid for Peacock Premium and the commercial free add-on.