Year: 2006

I Heart The Miata Forum

I keep wondering why I still read the Miata.net Forum. I’ve been hanging out there for years and I’ve pretty much seen it all. In the begining it was all old farts like me and we shared similar experiences and asked simialr questions. Now that Miatas have been out for 17 years the early ones are cheap enough that they are being bought by youngsters and some of them are just clueless. Here is a smattering of current running threads:
are these $32 stainless roll bars any good? – Do you really have to ask?
tastefully illuminated shift knobs? – Same question…
FWD Miata? – Don’t tell me, he used to work at the local Mazda dealer.
0-60mph times!!! – Oh, please!

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 423

It’s All Greek To Me

SteeplesNearly perfect fall weekend. Low 40’s in the mornings and mid 70’s in the afternoon with nary a cloud in the sky.

Saturday morning the lawn got mowed for possibly the last time this year and the driveway was blown off of leaves for the first of many times this year. Lunch was at the Greek Festival in Augusta. Gyros with baklava covered ice cream for desert and sipping an Athenian beer while listening to a group called “One Night in Athens” playing music.

For Sunday, we tossed the hike in the woods and a bike ride to breakfast into the blender and ended up walking a mile and a half to Atlanta Bread Company for bagels. Donna made some of her famous chocolate chip cookies to give to a co-worker (not before I ate a half dozen of them, of which 4 were still hot and gooey from the oven.) After lunch instead of the planned afternoon nap, Donna suggested a car drive, ever the dutiful husband, I agreed. She needed some of those candy sticks she loves, that we can only seem to find at Cracker Barrel, so we had a destination. A hundred and ten miles later we had her candy.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 421

Paraskavedekatriaphobia…

…is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia (the fear of the number thirteen) and it means the fear of Friday the 13th.

So, how was your day?

I ain’t afraid of no thirteens. For the first time since the one glute bounce back about three weeks ago I went rollerblading tonight. No fanfare, no incidents, just a nice little skate.

For those of you who are keeping track, it was about 10 days before the bruise from that unceremonious landing showed up. For about a week it was a not very pretty looking section of purplish-yellow skin, but now 22 days later there is just a hint of bruise there.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 420

Monkey Business

GorillapodAfter enough struggling to hold my digicam steady in low light conditions I decided it was time to get me a mini tripod. A search of the web led me down the usual paths and uncovered the usual suspects. I then zeroed in on low cost ones and got a couple of under ten dollar ones with little flexible legs that seemed like they might fit the bill. I don’t know how I got there, I can’t for the life of me replicate the search, but I ended up at Joby.com. Behold! Gorillapod. If you order one right from the maker right now, they offer free Fedex Ground shipping. If you use the coupon code “GorillapodLOVE” during checkout you can 10% off too, so the unpacked version comes to under $20 delivered.

Played a little practical joke on a co-worker (Hi Mark) and he liked it so well he, with my help, is going to spring it on his wife (sure hope she doesn’t read this.) I got it from “The Banterist” – Your New Monkey. When he opened his he was disappointed that it didn’t have the promised refrigerator magnet, so I made one up for inclusion of version 2 of the joke. Click on the “LOOK! There?s more!” link to see my magnet art.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 420

Why?

At ASCO both 1st shift assembly and fabrication workers starts work at 7:00 AM. One manager also starts his business day at 7:00 AM. When he comes in a little before the hour he parks where ever he can, along with the bulk of the other employees. Our small 3rd shift gets off work at seven and after about 15 minutes they’ve cleared out of the front couple of rows in the parking lot.

Donna and I start our work day at 7:30 and we always get there around 7:15-7:20. This means on most days as we pull into the lot we see said manager as he walks back out of the building, goes over to his car and moves it to a parking spot in the front row as close to the door as possible.

Why?

So at the end of the day he can get out faster? Nope. When he leaves work there are maybe a half dozen other office types leaving at the same time, no crowd. Plus the close to the door spots have a longer route out of the lot because they have to travel the whole length of a row before turning towards the exit.

So he doesn’t have to walk so far to get into his car? Nope. Maybe that is true for that final trip, but what about the whole *extra* trip out and back to move the car?

So why?

Doesn’t he know that every time he starts his car he is causing extra engine wear? By some estimates those cold starts account for 60% of all engine wear. What about the extra gas burned? the wear and tear on the door locks, ignition switch, gear lever, etc.

He is not the only one who pulls these kinds of parking lot stunts either. There are probably a half dozen hourly employees that rush to their cars at breaks and lunch so they can move up closer to the door if one of their fellow employees has left a spot open because they had to leave the building for some reason. Even if it is 20 feet because the spot is in front of them one row.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 420

I’m Glad I Brought Him In

A woman and a baby were in the doctor’s examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in for the baby’s first exam.

The doctor arrived, and examined the baby, checked his weight, and being a little concerned, asked if the baby was breast-fed or bottle-fed?

“Breast-fed,”she replied.

“Well, strip down to your waist,” the doctor ordered.

She did. He pinched her nipples, pressed, kneaded, and rubbed both breasts for a while in a very professional and detailed examination.

Motioning to her to get dressed The doctor said, “No wonder this baby is underweight. You don’t have any milk.”

“I know,” she said, “I’m his Grandma, but I’m glad I brought him in.”