Month: March 2005

Mr. Fletcher’s Ride – March

Mr. Fletcher's Ride - MarchLooking southwest at the corner of Mr. Fletcher’s Ride and an unnamed path about 1/2 mile in from our usual entry point into Hitchcock Woods. Outside the woods, spring is in it’s early stages, but inside it is just starting. The dogwood outside my window at home is is in full bloom, while the one that the passed on this morning’s walk was just starting to flower. I picked this corner in the fall when it was colorful, but there isn’t any thing that will flower heralding spring, so I need to find a different spot that will be more colorful at this time of year for my next yearlong photo essay.

Friday’s Week In Review Post

This post was to be brought to you by the letter Q, but fearing legal action from Nissan, it will instead be brought to you by…oh heck, I can’t think of a letter that hasn’t been used as a car line designation. Can You?

1) The picture book of our DC trip I ordered last Friday from MyPublisher arrived today. Never going to buy a photo album again.
2) I must sure love the way I look because I was busy peppering this place with my photo in various forms, favicon, ASCII art and gravatar.
3) Must love that car too, as there are 3 new photos of it in here this week.
4) Posted my first picture in a new weekly photo meme, Lens Day Wednesday. One of the photo blogs I visited actually had a listing of photo memes for every day of the week. Yikes. Think I’ll stick to 3 for now.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 67

Blogging Brians

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing to excess.

A person named Brian commented on one of my pictures in a photo meme. I wrote back thanking him for the comment and it was nice to get to know a fellow blogger named Brian. It reminded me of the webring I was in on way back in 2003 called Blogging Brian’s. The person who formed the ring has fallen off the face of the Internet, so that little scheme can’t be resurected. Instead I went back and grabbed all the still working links and made a little section for them on the right side of the page. Hey I have a list of blogs over there that are written by Miata owners….

Then I went a step too far. I Googled Brian Blog and then Blog Brian. Came up with 11 more active blogs written by Brians, including six with the startlingly original name of Brian’s Blog.

I am reserving the right to winnow out a few of these, Sturgeon’s Law definitely applies to blogs written by Brians too.

Time In A Bottle

Man, I would like to bottle today. Mid 70s, low humidity, 5-10 mph winds and a sprinkling of fluffy white clouds. The pine pollen is still on the trees and the insects aren’t out yet. Bradford Pear trees blooms are still hanging around, the dogwoods are just starting and a couple of the early azaleas are out.

Radio Paradise is hitting all the right musical notes as far as I’m concerned. It is almost enough to make me want so send them a few bucks. Recent play list:
Joseph Arthur – Can’t Exist
Porcupine Tree – Mellotron Scratch
Deus – Sister Dew
Richard Thompson – Turning of the Tide
Patty Griffin – Change
Ian Anderson – Panama Freighter
Nik Kershaw – Wounded
Maria de Barros – Mi Nada Um Ca Tem
Bob Marley – Is this Love

Also, I’m reading a female PI mystery book called In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman that is hitting all the right words. Sample (she is in San Antonio):
     “I’ve never had anything like this. Most Mexican food in Baltimore is so…perfunctory. I mean, you know you are in trouble when the best place in town has something called ‘Los Sandichos’ on the menu. And the Mexican place near my house has a wait staff of Estonians. Here, I could make a meal from the tortillas alone. They’re incredible.”
     Rick looked puzzled. “They’re flour and lard. You could make them yourself. Anyone could.”
     “Theoretically.” She could also solve simple physics equations if she put her mind to it, but that didn’t mean she was going to start anytime soon.

A chunk of the day in the middle was taken up by that pesky work thing, but all in all, very nice.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 67

The Paint Is In The Mail

Messing with the look and feel of this blog isn’t the only thing I can’t leave alone. The Emperor gets it’s fair share of tweaking as well, as evidenced by the 38 changes I’ve made since I took ownership in November ’03. Numbers 39 & 40 are on their way in the form of a spray can full of Garnet Red Mica paint. That can will be used to paint the currently black interior rear view mirror the exterior car color, ala the new Mazdaspeeds. The other mod I have planned to come from that spray can is body colored brake calipers. I did this mod on the old Laguna Blue Miata, but those calipers I painted extrovert yellow, to go with the shiny aftermarket wheels on the bright blue car. This car is a little more subdued, so it will get a more appropriate quieter color on it’s toenails.

I bought the paint from a place called PaintScratch.com (thanks Rick) and it is coming via UPS truck all the way from California. They are charging me $5 for shipping and with the current cost of gas I think I’m getting a bargain.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 67

Now This Was Slick

Like the Cold War before it, the Spam War is a place in which the top minds in the field are battling for world domination while we, the little people, watch in horror and disgust.

We use a spam killer service here at work, called Postini, and it does a very good job of separating the wheat from the chaff. A few slip by, sometimes I can’t see how, but this morning one made it to my in basket and I just had to smile at the ingenuity of it:

spam.jpg

This is what the V in Valium is composed of:
v.gif

A bunch of letters and spaces using the <pre> tag and a small font size, ASCII Art if you will. I might have bought some of those medz if they had enough style to use all Vs to make the letter V and As to make the A and so on…