Year: 2005

You Say Miller, I Say Mueller

But don’t say Millar. I’ve stopped bitching about the audio quality of the WEEI broadcasts on MLB.com. I’ve just been listening and putting up with it. So tonight, when I found out the Red Sox would be on ESPN, I was excited. It was a 2 to 1 game in the 5th inning with Baltimore ahead, but the Red Sox had the basses loaded when all of a sudden the picture froze and we were back at the studio with some guy named Wingo apologizing. Damn. I ran into the computer and fired up the radio only to find out that Trot Nixon got picked off at second base to end the inning.

When they came back we were watching the NESN broadcast because ESPN couldn’t solve their problem. The audio volume was all over the place, up, down, up. Man, I could get this crap on the radio. After the next break we went back to the ESPN broadcast but both the audio and video was erratic. I gave up and came back to the computer. The Orioles scored another in the bottom of the 6th making 3 to 1. When the radio came back from the inning break, they were rolling out the tarp. It had been raining lightly, but steadily, since the first inning, so water was starting to build up. More than like the game will be called and the Orioles will be the winners.

The FRS started this 4 game series with the Orioles 4 games ahead of them in the standings, if they lose all 4 games they will be tied in the standings. The Damn Yankees are only 4-1/2 back and after the All-Star break we play 4 at Fenway against the Bronx Bombers. The AL East race is tightening up.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 213

Amen Brother

My favorite Mazda dealer and sponsor of our local Miata Club is no more. It was part of Rader Mazda/Mercedes Benz, but the owners sold the dealership and the new owner wanted just the MB portion, so he sold off the Mazda franchise to the person who owned the other local Mazda dealership. Here is the first article from a couple weeks ago: Dealership owner will purchase lot. (If you are asked to register, username: augustabob, password: godawgs)

Today’s paper had a follow up: Dreams become reality for store’s new owner. My favorite quote from the piece, “Other plans include strengthening the dealership’s service department, which he says ‘was the weakest part’ of the operation.”

If you are a regular reader here you know of my experience with the service department and all I can say is, “Amen brother.” If you are not a regular, try this or this or this for a couple examples.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 211

Tongue-Tied Tuesday

I thought I had a left over blog post rattling around in my head from the weekend that I could use here, but can’t seem to find it tonight. I guess I’ll just head into the living room and see if TDPM is on one of the movies channels.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 211

If Nobody Else Will, I’ll Start

I ordered a shirt from my new Camp Mazdamiata collection in the Life of Brian Stuff store. I bought the yellow one with a logo on the front and “Driving Instructor” on the back. You should get one too. If you order today you might get it in time for Miatas at the Gap IX on the last weekend in July and if you order one before July 14th you can also get $3 off by using this coupon code: LOLSAV

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The FRS are on ESPN2 tonight, so I’ll be swapping back and forth between the game and the marathon. Man, I just loved John Goodman as the acting President when Zoe got kidnapped.

Somebody Was Trying To Tell Me Something

And I think I listened.

Donna and I used to bicycle a lot. It was nothing for the weekend to consist of a 50-60 mile ride on Saturday followed by a 15-20 mile easy ride on Sunday. Then we were riding to work, 12 miles round trip, a couple three times a week. But a medical issue for me back in 1993 put a damper on the fun. First it was once a weekend. Then they changed bike parking policies at work so we quit the commuting. Then it moved to 25 miles every other month and so on until our bike mileage decreased to next to nothing. I bet we haven’t even been on a bike in over a year. We still plan a spring vacation around the Tour de Georgia to follow that race and we pay for upgraded cable so we can watch the Tour de France on OLN, but active participation was nil.

On Saturday as we ate our lunch at the Atlanta Bread Company who should walk in but Doug and Alice Walker. Doug and Alice were at the center of the Aiken Bicycle Club when Donna and I started with the club back in 1991. We enjoyed many a ride with them before they drifted away from the Club. Doug was the newsletter editor for many years before he “retired” from it and I took over. We probably haven’t seen Doug & Alice for a half dozen years or so.

Sunday as we left Goody’s, were I was swapping out a shirt I had bought in the wrong size, we ran into Jay Noonkester and June Crawford. Jay and June joined the Aiken Bicycle Club somewhere around the middle 90s are in still members. We chatted a bit before heading our separate directions. I bet we hadn’t seen Jay or June for a couple of years.

The Tour is on TV and just like Sunday at the halftime of an NFL game, watching a sport on the tube, if you are a fan, makes you want to go out and participate. So instead of taking our second hike of the weekend this morning, I dusted off the bicycles, pumped the tires full of air and Donna and I went for an 11 mile ride. Not much compared to the glory days, but it is a start. We both had fun on the ride, now let’s see if those old pains return that sucked the joy out of riding in the past.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 208

The Emperor Gets A Pedicure

Well today was the day for the long delayed brake caliper painting. In preparation, yesterday I had bought a pint can of “Colonial Red” paint and some cheap small paint brushes at home store L. Pulled all the wheels off, including carefully backing off my defective stud/lug nut combo, and proceeded to clean all the calipers using brake cleaner and one of those small brushes. Opened the can and started painting the left rear caliper. Boy this looks a lot less maroon than the label led me to believe, maybe it will darken up when it dries. Painted the right rear. Then the two fronts, but unlike last time I didn’t paint the brackets, just did the calipers. Went back to check on the left rear, the first caliper painted to see if it looked any maroonish. Nope, the paint had darkened a bit, but it just looked like I had painted it red and it got dirty.

I finished my 1st coat at around 11:00AM and decided that the color was just too red, so I figured I would go out to the home store HD and get something more maroon for the second coat. Trouble is I live in the Bible Belt and we still have blue laws around here, the stores do not open on Sunday’s until 1:30PM. Seeing as I now had a couple of hours to kill I thought that it would be a good opportunity to clean up the interior a bit. Over on the Miata.net forum someone had recommended using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on dirt and those tough scuff marks. And what do you know it works pretty good, so I cleaned up all the tan plastic of the interior. Didn’t do any of the black because the Magic Eraser is just like a pencil eraser, it leaves behind dust. Even though I wiped behind my erasing with a damp cloth I didn’t want to get white fuzz or whatever on the dash.

With still more time to waste I went ahead and cleaned the leather seats, then followed that with a good conditioning. It really needed it, the seats weren’t too dirty, but after last week’s unexpected rain soaking they really did need the conditioning.

Cleaned myself up and went in for lunch. When the sandwich was finished the clock read 1:20, perfect, by the time we pile in the MSV and get to HD, it will be open. This time I got a can of “Claret Wine” and although the shade shown on the label was just like the one for “Colonial Red” I figured with that name it should be perfect. When we left the store the rumble of thunder could be heard off in the distance. Good thing I had put the top up on the Miata. Even though it was under an awning at home that wouldn’t keep it totally dry. By the time we got home it hadn’t started to rain there yet, so I quick like a bunny painted the second coat on the calipers. The color was better, but not really close enough to the car color for my perfectionist ways. Not two minutes after I finished painting the rains came, so I had plenty of time to sit in the garage and look at the car and contemplate my options.

Donna had a great idea, she said why not use those three little bottles of touch-up paint that you got for free from Mazda. Would have been great, but the paint I have been using is latex and the touch up paint is oil-based and would probably eat the the other stuff off and make an icky mess. For now I am going to just live with the mismatch, in the future I may look for something more maroon, but for now “Claret Wine” will have to do.

When I went to put the back brakes back together, I couldn’t get the caliper back over the reinstalled brake pads. Dang, usually it is a tight squeeze, but this is way too much interference. That’s when it hit me, when I cleaned the interior I had pulled up the ebrake handle to get underneath it clean. Activating the ebrake expands both back calipers. Dang. Slight set back, but not insurmountable. I put the rear pad in and lower the caliper into position, then using a big screwdriver pry on the front claws of the caliper and it squeezes the piston back. Side one went easy, but on side two I slipped with the screwdriver and scraped a big spot of the new paint right off. Double dang. No problem, we’ll just get the paint can back out and touch it up. That worked just fine, no one will be the wiser that I had to do a repaint of that spot.

It didn’t go smoothly though, continuing what started at breakfast, this small job didn’t go right or easy either. As I dodged the tire sitting to the right of the car I stumbled with the open can of paint and splashed about a quarter of it on the driveway. Thankfully, continuing what started at breakfast, it was not a major snafu, the paint didn’t get on anything but the ground.

For the rest of the night I will be in the living room reading a book and watching the rebroadcast of today’s stage of the Tour de France on OLN. Hopefully I won’t fall off the couch or anything.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 208

I’m Right Proud Of Myself

This afternoon while surfing through the movies channels looking for something to watch I came upon That Damn Pirate Movie (I guess I need to add TDPM to the acronym list), it was about 45 minutes into it, and I managed to not get sucked into watching it. I only stuck around for about 5 seconds, but had I stayed, say 30 seconds or so, I bet I would have been hooked.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 207