Whatever

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

The Prodigal Sign Returns

Dunbarton Oaks signWe live in a little subdivision called “Dunbarton Oaks” that is one of the first ones built in Aiken when the bomb plant went in down the road in the mid-fifties. I’m not sure if the sign has been there since then, but it was there when we moved in in 1989.

About 5 or 6 years ago the sign disappeared. Pranksters, college initiation, giant oak leaf haters, no one knows, but Police Chief Clancy Wiggum was stumped. After a month or so when it was apparent the sign would not return, the neighborhood took up a collection to buy a new one. The original sign was painted brown with white lettering, but when we got the new one, the lady with the nicest yard for miles and resident subdivision entrance-way gardener painted the leaf green with cream lettering.

About a year ago, sometime after the bars closed, a drunk ran the stop sign on the other side of the intersection and plowed into the sign, smashing it into little pieces. There were no skid marks, but the little dip at the edge of the road in front of the sign was scraped pretty good from the bumper or whatever. The residents of the two houses at the corner heard nothing. Police Sergeant Lou is baffled as to who the perpetrator might be. A friend of a friend of the gardener lady fixes the sign and it is hung back up after a couple weeks.

About a month and a half ago, poof, the sign is gone again. Stolen. Police Officer Eddie has no leads or suspects. For a while there it looks like this is the straw that breaks the gardener lady’s back. When we ask about the sign she just says, “Thieves and drunks can get away with anything.” A couple weeks later when we ask if she is going to take up donations for a new sign, she tells us that a retired gentleman in the neighborhood is going to make a replacement and wants no money. Yesterday afternoon when we turned onto Boardman Road on the way home from work, the new sign is there.

Tonight when I went rollerblading I took my camera. No telling how long this on is going to last…

It’s a key!

Jack Sparrow: No! Much more better. It is a drawing of a key. Gentlemen, what do keys do?
Marty: Keys… unlock… things?
Gibbs: And whatever this key unlocks, inside there’s something valuable. So, we’re setting out to find whatever this key unlocks.
Jack Sparrow: No! If we don’t have the key, we can’t open whatever it is we don’t have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don’t have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?
Gibbs: So… we’re going after this key?
Jack Sparrow: You’re not making any sense at all.

Can you tell I have nothing much to say lately? Two out of the last five day’s posts have been lame jokes and tonight’s is a snippet of dialog from TDPM2.

Started up, went down, went up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 287