Year: 2002

Every 3750 Miles

Changed the oil and rotated my tires this evening after work. Mazda recommends an oil change at every 7500 miles, which is probably OK for someone who is going to trade in that car after 3 years. I hope to keep the car for a lot longer than that, so in the beginning I decided to double that frequency. I change the oil (and rotate the tires while I’m at it) every 3750 miles. That number is hard to figure in my addled mind, so I now use the valve train clatter as an indication of the need to change the oil. Miatas are known for HLA noise and mine seems to show up after 3,000 miles or so. After a few mornings in a row when it takes to the end of the block for the lifters to quiet, I go buy some oil.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 288

Hard to Steal Good Stuff II

Friend gave me a CD to copy for him, “Barry White, All-Time Greatest Hits.” I find it hard to beleive that a CD from 1994 could be copy protected. Maybe it is just my CD burner or software, but I could not copy the disc, nor could I rip the tracks to MP3s. Thee is more than one way to skin a cat, so off to the ‘net I go. There it is the whole CD as one MP3 file, 69Meg, no problem for Mr. DSL. Once downloaded I went to use the wave editor to break it back into seperate songs and lo and behold there are 19 songs in the file. Funny the liner notes I have say should be 20. Not only that but track 19 ends 2/3 of the way through. Did someone just get tired of ripping? And of course there are now like 6 copies of this 95% complete complilation out there….

Blogspot – Enetation – Et al.

My pages still load slow as m o l a s s e s. My archives keep disappearing ( I can get them back, but it is a hassle.) Gotta get my own domain and use MT. I’ve said it before, but this time I think I mean it.

Register.com says Brian-the-red is wide open, but also offered these other interesting choices:
brian-the-red
brian-the-cherry
brianthecherryred
brian-the-cherry-red
brianthecerise
brian-the-cerise
brianthecrimson
brianthereddish
brian-the-crimson
brian-the-reddish
brianthebloodred
briantherubyred
brianthescarlett
briantheruby
brian-the-blood-red
brian-the-ruby-red
brian-the-scarlett
brian-the-ruby
briantheredder
brianthescarlet
brian-the-redder
brian-the-scarlet
briantheruddy
brianthereddest
brian-the-ruddy
briantheruddier
brianthecolored
brianthecherrier
brian-the-reddest
brian-the-ruddier
brian-the-colored
brian-the-cherrier
brian-the-rubyred
brian-the-bloodred
brianthecarmine
brianthecoloured
briantheincolor
brian-the-carmine
brianthecolorful
brian-the-coloured
brian-the-in-color
brian-the-colorful
briantheruddiest
brian-the-ruddiest
briantherubier
brian-the-cherryred
briantheredest
briantherednet
ebrianthered
ibrianthered
brianthecherries

Microtek Scanmaker 3750i

A friend let me borrow his scanner so I could try it out. I stumbled on some slides a while ago and thought it nice if I digitized them. This Scanner comes with a “light lid” that allows you to do slides. Instead of illuminating from the bottom, the lid lights the slide from the top allowing it to be scanned. When I got it all hooked up I ran a test scan of a piece of paper….YIKES, it’s loud. Ran Donna right out of the room. I have an older Microtek Scanmaker III at work that I thought was noisy, but this thing makes that one sound positively silent. I’ll try some slides in the next day or two and let you know with another rant if they stink.

An Evening Cruise

Put the top up to wash the car and after it was dry, the top went right back down. While I was at it, I waxed the car too. And then I masked off the lower nose of the car and touched up the front lip spoiler with some semi-gloss black. For some reason twice this past week I pulled up a little too close to a curb and scratched it up.

This is the best time of the year for convertibles around here, mid 70’s in the days and upper 50’s overnight. Tonight was a beautiful evening for a drive. The skies were clear, the moon was full and it was just cool enough…. Came up behind another Miata at the start of the drive. Couldn’t tell what color it really was, but my guess is that was Crystal Blue, although it looked gray. Couldn’t have been the Titanium because the seats were tan, not brown/red. He was talking to someone in the passenger seat and only going about 5 MPH below the posted limit, so at the first opportunity I goosed it and went around. Gave a couple of polite toots on the air horns and left him way behind. We both had the same idea, an evening cruise, just had different approaches to it.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 286

Hard to Steal Good Stuff

Downloading some music off the net for someone. Downloaded a whole album from several sources and burned it to a CD. While listening to my newly pirated music I am surprised to find track 5 has got several beeps and clicks in it. How annoying. You just can’t trust thieves to get it right. Now I have to go get that song from a couple of different sources and listen to each one to make sure it isn’t the bad song propagated elsewhere.

Poke Me In the Eye With A Sharp Stick

I never did have conjunctivitis. The redness had cleared, but it still felt like there was something in my eye. Well, that is because there was something in there. Called the Doc and he referred me to an opthamologist. While examining me with that high powered slit light she actually said “Uh-oh.” I had a speck of something lodged near the perimeter of my cornea. I got some anesthesia drops and with some highly tricky scraping of the surface she got it out and showed it to me on the end of her finger, about half the size of a pepper flake. Now I have different drops for the next 5 days.