Whatever

Ruby Red Where Are You?

I received 4 tan cloth samples from Cabrioworld today. I’m guessing that they are the colors called Light Neutral, Tan, Dark Beige & Driftwood. It would have been nice if the samples were in fact labeled that way, but they have a series of SF numbers along with the words Hirsch Auto and a 10 digit number I assume is Mr. Hirsh’s phone number on the back. Looking at my monitor I’m guessing the number equate to colors thusly; Light Neutral SF-24, Tan SF-6, Dark Beige SF-30 & Driftwood SF-22. Whatever it is called, SF-24 is nearly a dead ringer for the 2003 + up cloth top.

I asked for a sample of Ruby Red and they didn’t include it, much to the delight of my wife who dismissed the color as possibly being to close in color to the car. She has listened to me say plenty of times, “If you cannot match adjoining colors exactly you should have a large enough of a difference so that is doesn’t look like you tried to match and failed.” And has learned that lesson well. I told her that I had never done anything to the car that would make it look silly and was not about to start now (conveniently forgetting about the plastic Rabbit Teeth that I had in the mouth of the previous Miata for a short while.)

I am disappointed by RR’s omission and would still like to see what that color looks like, so I plan on re-asking for a sample of it. And to make it interesting I’m going to ask that they send me a sample of Burgundy and Dark Brown too.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 272

Bad Glen Campbell Song

Norm & Queen CharlotteWell we did get the 30% off the room making it almost worth staying the night. We woke up earlier than the alarm and just got moving. We checked out at 6:00 a full half hour before breakfast started, but when Donna went back into the lobby to get a Charlotte area map we had seen, she coaxed the front desk guy to let her snag an apple and an almost warmed up Cinnamon Bun. The drive to the airport took us right by the same shopping center that we got ice cream at last night and it had a Panera Bread place, so we stopped in for a bagel and a banana.

We pulled into a long term lot but it seemed like every spot was taken. We wound our way further and further back where we parked against a back fence or as Captain Barbossa would say, “You’re off the edge of the map Jack.” Our shuttle bus driver was a hoot and made whatever we pay for parking out there worth it. She stopped the bus to pick up one group of five, three women and two men. The guys were in the back and the women were up front and started stacking the luggage inside the door of the bus and the driver yelled out at the guys to come forward and put the bags on the rack as they were big strapping fellows and she was just a bitty older women. Once loaded up all was forgotten and she gave them the same spiel as she did us. “To get back here you have to get on a bus for Long Term One, but a short bus and tell them you are in the north west corner. Remember a short bus, like this one, not a long bus as it couldn’t make the tight turns.” We stopped and picked up one lone woman and when she asked what airline of her, she just sighed when the woman answered Jet Blue. Everyone so far had answered US Air. She told the new woman that she would have to get off at the US Air stop as the one she wanted was always backed way up with rubes. She could just walk back to it, it wasn’t far.

Trouble started when I tried to check in using the self service kiosk, it didn’t know me. Not by name or flight or swipe of the credit card. I flagged a clerk and he couldn’t find us in the system either. Off he went to find someone with a clue. She arrived and fingers flew. Seems that US Air stopped flying the morning non-stop to Seattle months ago. They were nice enough to offer us seats on the 5:55PM non-stop, a mere 11 hours later. When we expressed displeasure at that, her fingers flew around the keyboard in a blur (obviously she done this a few million times before.) She could get us on a flight to Phoenix

By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be rising
She’ll find the note I left hangin’ on her door
She’ll laugh when she reads the part that says I’m leavin’
‘Cause I’ve left that girl so many times before

where we could change planes and hop one to Seattle. One 4-1/2 hour flight just became a 3 hour flight with a 2-1/2 hour layover followed by a 2-1/2 hour flight. “Oh, you want to sit next to each other? Impossible,” she says.

For the first flight we were placed 3 rows apart and the second we were 6 rows apart. But for both flights we managed to find a nice person to swap places, so that we sat right across an aisle on one flight and next to each other on the other. With the amount of other seat hopping that was going on, this seems to be standard flight operations on US Air. Judging by the long lines at the service counters, everyone last one of them, canceled, delayed and changed flights I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less.

Our next surprise was at the car rental desk. Seems that if you rent through Travelocity or Orbitz or some other intermediary company and miss your selected pick up time the quoted price doesn’t need to be honored. Our ridiculously low price for the car jumped by about 100%. After what we had dealt with so far yesterday and today we didn’t put up a fight. Plus it was still lower than the price quote we got directly off the rental car site.

Now everything is just fine. The weather was great for driving with the top down, the Seattle traffic was not nearly as bad as expected, the B & B in Snohomish is nice and new nephew James is as cute as a button. Although he took to me right away about 5 minutes into the visit he decided he didn’t like me at all (no problem, because now I won’t have to change any diapers.)

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 177

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 4

Stay Smart?

Stay Smart?The adventure begins. After work today we went home and had a quick dinner of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (as Rachel would say, “Yum-O”) and hit the road. I-20 to I-77 to Charlotte in about 3 hours with one pit stop for gas.

Gnorm says he sure hopes he wakes up a lot smarter for staying in this Holiday Inn Express (805 West Arrowood Rd., Charlotte, NC 28217) because right now it isn’t looking like a smart stay. First there was only a half used bottle of shampoo in the bathroom. A walk to the front desk brought a new shampoo and a new conditioner. Wireless connectivity was nearly flat lined, I hooked up, but could only surf at dial up speed. That explained the three people in the lobby area with laptops open as I passed through on my way to the ice machine. After Donna had showered and she peeled back the sheets hop in bed a little black bug hopped out, a flea. A call to the front desk brought the desk clerk to us with a couple of room keys for something on the third floor and a promise of 30% off the charge. It looked OK, so we moved our stuff. Second room has shampoo and conditioner and three out of four bars of wireless signal strength. When Donna got into bed here she only found three black specks in the sheets. They weren’t moving so we figured they were tiny meteorites, so she just brushed them to the floor.

Tomorrow morning it is up and a short drive to the airport. The guy at the front desk said it is about a ten minute drive and then asked what time were we leaving. When we told him 7:00 AM he went uh-oh. Seems traffic is stop and go around here in the mornings because we are close to both I-77 and I-485, he said better leave earlier, about 6. When asked when breakfast starts, his answer was, “6:30 AM.” Whatever the consequences, I’m getting a cinnamon bun for breakfast, so I guess we leave at seven and take an hour to drive what should take 10 minutes.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 175

Squish Squish

Shore BirdsWhen I stepped up to the refrigerator, as I went about my usual after work business of fixing of chilled drinks for us, my foot made a squish sound. It was water. There was a nice wet spot surrounding the fridge. I pulled it away from the wall to see water leaking from the coupler connecting the ice maker input line to the supply line. Dang. I hate plumbing.

I headed out to the garage and my tool box to get a couple of wrenches. I was not to be so lucky, just tightening the fitting had no effect on the leak. So outside I went to shut off water to the house. I really hate plumbing. With a trip to my local home warehouse store imminent and the water to the house off, I figured now was time to take a look at the kitchen faucet that had developed a drip. You could get it to stop by turning it off and then moving the handle a touch. Move it too little or too much and the leak stayed or even get worse, but I had mastered this shut off maneuver. On the other hand the major faucet user was not to happy with the arraignment. What the heck, Valentine’s Day is coming up.

At the store I bought the new washers and springs for the faucet and also the little ball on a stick thing controls the water flow. I bought a new coupling and as a extra precaution bought some of those little white plastic crush rings (or whatever they are really called.)

Back home I put all the new faucet pieces in and buttoned it up. Next I put the new coupling on the water line. I went outside and turned the water to the house back on. The faucet worked like a charm and was an instant hit with the spousal unit. The coupling on the ice maker water line was spraying a fine mist of water all over the place behind the fridge. And just like the first time, tightening it a little more with the wrench had zero effect. Back outside to turn off the whole house line again. Have I mentioned I hate plumbing?

I took the new coupling off and put the old one back on using two of the new white sleeve things. Success, no leaks (he writes, as he simultaneously knocks on wood.) Pushed the refrigerator back against the wall, but coiled the ice maker water line in such a manner as to leave the coupling easily visible for frequent checks.

By the time everything was tidied up and the tools put away it was much too late to cook dinner at home. Acropolis, here we come. Large Greek salad to split and a gyro each. Water for her and iced tea for me.

Meal Cost: $18.50
Tip: $3.00
Spent Today: $21.50
Year to Date: $355.17

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 43

Lose Something?

What?Regular readers know that while at work, Donna and I walk a couple laps around the parking lot at morning break, lunch and then again at afternoon break. Today on lap one in the morning I noticed a couple of what I thought were run over Tupperware containers. On lap two I had another glance and realized they weren’t Tupperware, but I wasn’t sure what they were, so we went over to check the things out. Whoa, now that is interesting, they look like jellyfish without tentacles that have washed up on the beach. I kicked one over with my foot and that is when I recognized exactly what they were.

Increasing My Odds By 50%

Or Good Money After Bad?

Took $20 of my Christmas money and bought another ticket in the Miata raffle at that museum in Washington state. My first two tickets purchased 2 weeks ago were numbered 2155 & 2156. The third ticket arrived in the mail yesterday and is numbered 2369. That means they only had 131 tickets left as of last Wednesday, probably down to just a few left with only 4 days left until they pick a winner. If you want a chance at winning, better hurry and call them at 360-533-5862.

My odds of winning this new Miata, er, MX-5, are 1 in 833 or about the same as hitting a 12-Way Box (whatever that is) on the local Pick 4 Lottery, to put in plain language, pretty slim. But a man’s gotta hope.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 519

Not A New Miata…

Japanese Ricense Prate…but a new place to put my old Japanese license plate.

A co-worker has sort of inherited a Miata from a relative. It is a ’91 or ’92 and it had a bra on the front of it when he got it. Trouble was the bra was right over the top of the front license plate bracket. It was that way either to try and cover up the fact that the nose had dimples in it from the bracket being pushed into it or it was to cover that ugly bracket and it thereby caused the dimples. He removed the bra, but had to leave the brackets on to camouflage the dents. I told him if he was interested I had an idea to help cover those dents, he could have my replica Japanese license plate and mount it on the brackets. The holes I had put in the plate were non standard, so he would have to drill two new ones for mounting. When he did he could put them in spots that raise the plate and the dents would no longer visible.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend he put the plate on. For whatever reason he didn’t put the holes in the right spots because the top of the brackets and the dents are still visible. Sigh. I still think it looks good on the front of his car, but it would have looked a lot better if it was a touch higher. I guess if it really doesn’t matter to him, who am I to whine.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 486