Month: September 2003

I’m Not A Gearhead

But I would like to be able to do the “easy” stuff on my car. Changing the oil and rotating tires has become second nature. I’ve done the brakes, i.e., change pads, bleed them, etc twice now. I would like to change out the transmission fluid and the differential oil, but to do these you need both a 23mm and a 24 mm socket. From a quick search on the web these will run me $15 a piece, plus $10-15 for the 1/2″ ratchet. Then a oil pump would make this easier to get the oils back in these hard to reach places, another $5-10. Not to mention the cost of the fluids. Probably be cheaper to get the Mazda place to do it when they change my timing belt in a couple weeks.

Cowboy Down

The Red Sox lose their game against the Yankees today and it is my fault. I watched the game on ESPN Friday night and they won. I watched the game on Fox Saturday afternoon and they won. Today the game was not on TV, I couldn’t watch, so they lost. Sorry.

The rain started about the time the alarm went off this morning. The bike ride didn’t happen. We could deal with that, curled back under the covers and slept another hour. The rain paused for about 15 minutes a half an hour ago, but it is back at it steady. No picture taking today, for the web site or the contest.

The inclement weather created a perfect opportunity for a movie day. First up was Catch Me If You Can borrowed from a co-worker. After about 10 minutes, Donna wanted out. I convinced her to stick it out. After 25 minutes I wanted out, but she was now interested. At 25 minutes the phone rang and while she was talking to her mother I popped out the disc. Second movie was my latest purchase, Donnie Darko. I watched it all the way through (for the second time) while Donna watched half heatedly. This evenings entry was The Last Boy Scout, a totally predictable Bruce Willis movie, that is from Netflix and has been sitting on my coffee table for around a month. At least Donnie Darko was good.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1120.84
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219

Boy I Sure Do Miss Radio

Watched the Red Sox – Yankee’s game on Fox this afternoon. The game went better than I hoped. Boston 11, New York 0. Watching was great, but listening sucked. Tim McCarver was in the booth with Rick Sutcliff and they couldn’t get it together. Both of them seemed tongue tied too often. Maybe it is because the aren’t used to working with each other or something. Then there was an inning or two that Ozzie Smith joined them, trying in vain to explaining a Radio Shack promotion (something I’m sure he is getting paid to do) having to do with lifetime tickets to the World Series. Lamo.

About the second inning they flashed across the screen that the broadcast was available in Spanish via SAP (if available) by inning 5 I tired to get it in Spanish, but my local FOX affiliate didn’t have it available. I guess we don’t have that big a Hispanic population…

The Time Is Now

So Cowboy Up. And the Sox did just that tonight in the first of a 3-game series against their arch-nemesis’s the NY Yankees in the house that that candy bar fellow built. I think we will have to win at least one more this weekend from the Bronx Bombers if there is any chance of taking the division from them. A sweep would be nice, but 2-1/2 out with 25 to play, and the way they are playing, is not to big a hill to climb.

Turns out that a 40% chance of rain showers means a 60% chance of cloudy, gray skies with no precipitation. Got the ride in to work with it down, but that was it. After work-work we went to work-out, so the ride home was broken into 2 short trips with a long pause in the middle. The skies looked iffy so we just left the roof up.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1105.34
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 218

Tell Me Again Why I’m Eating Here?

They have been doing this for as long as I remember, so it must be working. The Tums commercials always take place in a diner. The customers, the counter person and the look are different, but there is always some schmoe with gas or an upset tummy taking some product other than Tums. Someone will offer him advice on the best antacid to solve the problem. In the one I saw tonight the counter man told our sufferer to ask a counsel of experts and points to a trio of beefy Johnny Lunchpails at the end of the counter. The three of them are clutching their chests and bellies while, literally swilling, from a Tums container.

Maybe, just maybe, you wouldn’t have those gastrointestinal problems if you found another place to eat.

Contest Pictures

Hope I Can Get 2 Good Shots From The Next Camera

Picked up the finished photos for entry #1 in the Drive By Photo Contest. Yikes! They are uniformly bad. The ones mounted on the cockpit brace showed too much car and not enough scenery. The shots of something in the rear view mirror are a possibility, but I’m going to have to defeat the flash as it washes out all the color out of the mirror because it is so close. The pictures with the car hood in it and scenery in front, didn’t work as the flash illuminated the BLUE hood and left the scenery dark. I’m not sure if there is any metering going on in the camera, as some photos look like there is and others don’t. There were a couple that came out OK, but hardly worth blowing up to 8 x 12.

As long as you buy two cameras you are entitled to 2 entries and it doesn’t matter which camera the entries come from. Hopefully we will get 2 good pictures from the next camera.

I may scan a couple tomorrow and see if I can tweak them in PaintShopPro. They won’t be eligible for the contest, but I’ll get a picture to post on my photography blog…

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1105.34
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 213