Month: August 2004

4 Weeks

While waiting these 4 weeks for the arrival of my new front lip spoiler (almost halfway there?) I haven’t been standing still in the Miata Mod Department. Way back in February I pulled the power antenna and replaced it with a cheapo $6 thing from an auto parts store. I knew it was only a matter of time before I replaced that ugly rubber thing with something a lot nicer. That time has come.

When I ran through this scenario with the ’95, I went to my local BMW dealer and got one of the masts from the Z3. It was thin, flexible, about 1 foot tall and looked very sharp back there on the fender. $40. Now that style of antenna is every where, even the new Mazda 3 has the Fubu type antenna from the factory. Something different was required this time. Into the Honda parts bin for the little stubby S2000 antenna I went.

It came in the mail yesterday, but just like the BMW unit, this needs modification too. The threaded shaft that screws into the car is too short. It would probably be OK if the threading in the Mazda antenna mount started right at the top, but for whatever reason the screw doesn’t start to engage until about a 1/4 inch down. I don’t have the tools, nor the expertise to accomplish the antenna mod, but I do know who to call. Because I work in a manufacturing facility, I know several people who have access to several pieces of high dollar machinery and know how to use. This morning I asked one of them to remove the existing stud and tap the bottom so that a longer one can take it’s place. And not destroy my $20 investment. If he had the same sense of priorities I have, he’d have dropped any of that work stuff and got right on my antenna, but now I have to wait a day or so until he can get around to it. I say that half seriously, the last time I got Jim Mullan to do something for me it took about three days, but it was better than OEM looking when he got done with it. Well worth the wait.

Comet Gestation Counter: 28 days

Oh No Nebraska!

With yesterday’s post and Rick’s comment I figured I’d be right near the top of a Google search for the phrase “Oh Yes Wyoming!”, so I tried it. Not even close. The top spot was occupied by a site called mathcaddy.com, a blog that had done the same thing as I did, posted the lyrics to the song. Three months before me! Boy, not only was I disappointed in my lack of Google ranking, but I am hopelessly behind the times. He also had an MP3 of the song. I downloaded it and have uploaded it to my site so as to be kind to his bandwidth. And maybe hoping to improve my G-score, here is for your listening pleasure, “Oh Yes Wyoming!”

When I transcribed the speaking part of the song, which just has Yada Yada Yada in the Flash gizmo instead of the words, I misidentified Antelope Jack as Angelo. When Mr. Mathcaddy did it he heard Zeke as Zinc. Rest assured between the two of us we’ve got it right.

Comet Gestation Counter: 23 days

Oh Yes Wyoming!

Went back to the Seinfeld & Superman site today and noticed something I missed the first time, a Playbill on the table with the film canisters. If you click on that you get a flash animation sing-a-long of the song “Oh Yes Wyoming!” If you though I was having problems dislodging the song from my head before, it won’t go away for about a month now, I just got through listening to it several times so I could copy down the lyrics.

Oh Yes Wyoming!

Oh Yes Wyoming!
With the tress and the horses and the rocks and the sheep
Oh Yes I’m Going!
Through the plains and the trails and the streams and the hills
Oh No Nebraska!
Is there a plainer state I ask ya
Oh Yes Wyoming!
There’s no place I’d rather be roaming
With the geysers and the canyons and the watering holes
With the geysers and the canyons and the watering holes
Oh Yes Wyoming!
With the mountains and the lakes and the plentiful fish
Oh Yes I’m knowing!
This land will fulfill my every wish
Oh No Dakota!
Doesn’t interest me one i-ota
Oh Yes Wyoming!
There’s no place I’d rather be roaming

(spoken)
Hey Zeke!
What is it Antelope Joe?
You know I love them girls back in Wyoming
I heard you like the geezers too
It’s geysers and anyway that’s just a rumor
I’m talking about my special girl Daisy
I call her ol’ faithful
I heard she ain’t that faithful
She sure is old though
Ha ha ha ha

Oh Yes Wyoming!
With the cabins and the camping and the bakin’ beans
Oh Yes I’m Glowing!
With the bison and the banjos and the wily raccoons
Oh No Ohio
I can hardly wait to say goodbye-oh
Oh Yes Wyoming!
There’s no place I’d rather be…
End with m-i-n-g…
Shout it out loud with me
W-Y-O-M-I-N-G
Oh Yes!

Comet Gestation Counter: 22 days

Hey George! I Found Your Weapons Of Mass Destruction

We got our Annual Notice of Policy Status from our good neighbor the State Farm agent. In the cost of insurance section it listed Universal Life – $300.00 and WMD – $30.

They were right here all along, and I’ve been financing them.

Mazda R.E.V.

I got a big fat envelope in today’s mail announcing this new Mazda promo. I guess they couldn’t come up with something using zoom-zoom and because of their previous Rev-It-Up thing they have named this program R.E.V., which stands for Rewards Every Visit. I think it is something like those cards that grocery stores use, the more you buy, the more reward points you get and then you redeem those points for fabulous prizes or something. I’m totally vague on this because the fat envelope came with a cover letter and no less than three (and some of those multi-page) inserts chock full of fine print and titled Rules and Terms & Conditions. And I ain’t slogging through all that to unearth the nugget of fools gold offered. One of them is an application for a Mazda REV credit card. If you drive a Velocity Red Mazdaspeed Miata you might go for it because that looks like what is depicted on the card, but otherwise the minimum 12.99% interest should keep everyone else away. There appears to be some sort of sweepstakes involved and I might try and get in an entry, if they don’t make me fill out too big a form online. You don’t have to get the credit card to play along, but them including it in the mailing will probably get some suckers to apply thinking it will increase their odds of winning.

Comet Gestation Counter: 14 days

Spinners

They started out as high priced LARGE chrome wheels with an additional disc on the outside. The disc spun independently of the wheel, so when the car/truck came to a stop, the wheels looked like they were still spinning. These wheels cost a great deal of money, thousands a piece. Then came add-on spinners to place over your existing dubs, reducing the cost to a mere several hundred per wheel. Not to be left out of this craze the po’ folks demanded a low price alternative. Ever accommodating, car aftermarket manufacturers came through, we now have chrome-like plastic hub caps that are spinners, available at a Wal-Mart near you.

Saw some cheapo ones on a POS green Hyundai this afternoon (one spinning, the other not, on the side we could see.) Donna summed it up perfectly, “They are like baseball cards in the spokes of a bicycle, for adults.”