Month: March 2007

Busy Saturday

Painting At The Horse ShowWe started the day with breakfast at our favorite place, no not Hardee’s, but the New Moon Cafe. We got there just after they opened and had to wait in a line 6 deep, but as always the food was worth it. We both had a Cranberry Pecan Muffin and we split a bottled water. We also bought two Everything Bagels for our Sunday breakfast.

Meal Cost: $5.53
Tip Jar: $1.00
Spent This Meal: $6.53
Year to Date: $771.49

After eating we went over to Hitchcock Woods and took a hike. Not only did we want to take a walk in the woods, but we wanted to go watch a bit of the 91st Annual Horse Show (even though our neighbor wasn’t participating.) After buying some note cards and becoming “Friends of the Woods” it was time to hike back to the car.

Once home, we ate lunch and did a couple loads of clothes, before semi-dressing up for dinner out with the Master’s Miata Club Dinner Out Auxiliary. It was member Patti’s birthday so we went to a little fancier place than usual, Calvert’s. We were there at 5:30 specifically so we could take advantage of the “Sunset Dinner for Two.” We both eat for $28.95 and that includes salad, entree and desert. I had salad with Blue Cheese dressing and the London Broil (mmmm) with steamed veggies and twice baked potato. Washed down with a glass of Pinot Noir. Donna had Creamy Vinaigrette on her salad and then the Seafood Crepe with Sprite to drink. The b-day girl got a special Chocolate Roulade desert with a candle in it, while the rest of us were served Chocolate Bread Pudding. Donna took one bite and didn’t like it, so I sacrificed for the cause and ate both deserts.

Meal Cost: $40.50
Tip: $6.50
Spent Meal: $47.00
Year to Date: $818.49

The other two couples live over in Augusta, so they had a shorter drive home, too bad for them. When we left for our 35 mile drive the temperature was 70, the sun was setting and the full moon was rising. We pulled into our driveway at almost full dark. This is why convertibles were invented.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 104

Baby You Can Drive My Car

NoseI posted 24 pictures out of the 74 that Donna and I took at yesterday’s BMW Ultimate Drive. They are posted on page 2 of the 2007 gallery. To the left is one of the 50 that didn’t make the cut. So far I’ve got just titles on them, but I hope to add captions over the weekend to both yesterday’s event and from the Augusta event a fortnight ago.

We are already thinking about next year. The crew that was in Columbia had just come from Charleston and said it was a blast and the food was good, so we may head down there in 2008. We are also thinking of helping out by ferrying the cars to the next city. There are 19 numbered cars in the fleet, a crew X5 plus the support van and they have just 5 crew members, so they need at least 16 people to help get the cars to the next city. When you drive the cars depends on the distance to the next location. Short hops can be done right after the event or early the next morning. For these you drive to the next location, they feed you and put you on a bus back to where you started. Long hauls are started the morning after the event and you may get two meals out of it and a longer bus ride home. Might be fun to drive in a 21 vehicle caravan.

But why wait until next year, the Southern Fleet will be in Columbus, GA (about 250 miles away) in 3 weeks on Saturday April 21st…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 100

101 Post Offices

101st Post OfficeJust got back from Columbia where we participated in our second BMW Ultimate Drive of the year. The weather today was the opposite of what we had 2 weeks ago. In Augusta it was sunny and bordering on hot, but today was cloudy and bordering on cold with a little rain tossed in.

Today’s loop was only 10 miles and Donna and I took it a little easier this time, we only made 10 laps in 8 different cars. There always seemed to be a lot of cars just sitting there not being driven, I think the gloomy weather was keeping the crowds away. Here is a rundown of what we drove/rode today:

  1. 530xi Sport Wagon
  2. 2 laps in a 335i Convertible (w/folding hardtop)
  3. 750 Li
  4. 2 laps in a 650i Convertible
  5. X3
  6. 328xi Sedan
  7. 335i Sedan
  8. 335i Coupe

While as friendly as the Southern Fleet Crew in Augusta, these folks seemed a little less organized than them. Might have just been an off day, the rain probably and they were a bit burnt out. The day before in Charleston they had a mob, 207 different drivers.

Taylor BMW in Augusta won in the refreshment category as well. All they had here was water, soft drinks and Subway sandwiches. In Augusta they had a couple kinds of sandwiches, wraps, pasta salad, cookies and brownies to go with the drinks.

Like last time we had lunch before we drove over. Don’t ever get the Southwest Chicken Salad at Hardee’s – yuk. We shared that, a small drink and a small order of curly fries.

Meal Cost: $7.39
Tip: None
Spent on this Meal: $7.39
Year to Date: $744.96

After driving, our plan was to drive home and have linguine & clam sauce, but it was rush hour and I-20 was backed up, so we got off an exit and headed into Columbia against traffic flow. We’ve missed placed our Columbia city map and I’ve misplaced my memories of how to get around, so boy did we get around. Hopelessly lost we stumbled onto Five Points which has plenty of eateries, so we stopped and ate at a place called Yesterdays. Eeeh, I’m sure there is some place better right around the corner, but we didn’t know any better. Lasagna and salad for me and Donna had black bean chili and a salad. The usual water and tea to wash it down with.

Meal Cost: $16.49
Tip: $3.51
Spent On This Meal: $20.00
Year to Date: $764.96

To top the day off, we caught the elusive 4th Post Office in Lexington, the Pastime CPU [29072-2117]. As luck would have it, the PO was in the same shopping center as an ice cream place. We had desert and finished the drive home.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 99

I Forgot The Title

SouthpawOne Biscuit n’ Gravy for her and one Sausage n’ Egg Biscuit for him with a water to drink.

Meal Cost: $2.74
Tip: None
Spent Today: $2.74
Year to Date: $737.57

I’m charging up the camera tonight so hopefully the battery will make it through the whole afternoon tomorrow.

Alright, what is the gimmick with all the offers I’m getting for 1.99% or 2.99% on balance transfers ’til the balance is paid off. I’ve got a pretty big balance on one card that is at 15 or 18% and I’ve been tempted to give one of these offers a go, but I’m sure I’m missing something that will come back and bite me.

Called to set up my six month follow up urologist appointment and was informed that the doctor I’ve been seeing is opening up his own separate practice. I was more than welcome to stay with the group, but would see a different doctor. Or I could choose to stay with my current doctor. They couldn’t give me his new number because they didn’t have it yet (so the receptionist said.) So what happened? My guy has only been there a couple years and he took over the patients from my previous doctor when he retired. He didn’t get along with the other two in the group? Did he do something the other two didn’t approve of? Get caught with his finger in the wrong cookie jar? Are the other two that difficult to get along with that they caused the retirement and now the split?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 98

Can You Hear Me Now?

Inspired by of all things, a WordPress plug-in, I have resumed my search for intelligent life in outer space. I reinstalled the BOINC software again, and have attached myself to the SETI@Home project again.

As a rule my PC sits here running 24/7 and although my wife thinks its more, I spent about 4 hours in front of it each day. The other 20 hours it idles, except for a few milliseconds when it checks for new SPAM every half hour. I have a love hate relationship with the SETI@Home project. I love the whole ide of it, but hate the fact that I always seem to have trouble reliably connecting to their servers to keep me in work units. (As is the case right now after rejoining 3/27/2007 10:02:59 PM||Access to reference site succeeded – project servers may be temporarily down.)

So as to not waste my previously wasted CPU cycles I also signed up to help out with Climateprediction.net which is trying to produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century and Rosetta@home which is trying to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins.

Anyway, my SETI@Home credit stands right now at 68,853.20. If I ever get connected, download some work and crunch some numbers, that total will go up and you will be able to follow the progress, along with everyone else, over there in the sidebar. Of course if I do discover a signal from intelligent life on another planet, I’ll probably blog about it here.

And it goes without saying that if I ever discover a WordPress plug-in that monitors the search for intelligent life on this planet I’ll add it to the sidebar as well.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 97

North? South? What’s the Difference?

North or South Lake DrApparently there is a big difference. I have the address of the missing Lexington post office in the master spreadsheet as 929 N Lake DR STE B. When I wrote about not being able to find it yesterday I put North Lake Dr in the post. The reason we couldn’t find it was because I had made a map of 929 S Lake Dr and that was where we were looking.

It bothered me that I couldn’t find the place, so tonight I went to the Hardee’s web site and search for Lexington locations and there was one at 917 South Lake Dr. I then went to the Postal Service site and repeated the search and it was then I realized that there was a difference between north and south – about 2-1/2 miles.

Two garden salads (Blue Cheese for me, Italian for her) and a 14″ 5-topping pie (sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, onions and banana pepper rings) at Ferrando’s in the alley on the way home from work. Water for both to drink. As usual we have half the pizza left for dinner another night at home or maybe lunch one day instead of a microwaved packaged meal.

Meal Cost: $20.56
Tip: $3.44
Spent Today: $24.00
Year to Date: $734.83

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 96

56,000 Specks of Pine Pollen

We were going to eat our usual bagel at the Atlanta Bread Company, then it changed to Waffle House, but because we had some time to spare before our trip to the Columbia Airport we opted to dine at the local IHOP. Pigs in a Blanket for me and Eggs Benedict for her. I had OJ and Donna stuck with water.

Meal Cost: $15.44
Tip: $2.56
Spent Today: $18.00
Year to Date: $710.83

We weren’t flying anywhere from Columbia, but we were escorting a women who was. She works for ASCO in Florham Park, NJ and is contemplating making the same move Donna and I made 18 years ago, i.e. transferring down to the Aiken plant. She has been been here since Thursday interviewing and looking at houses. The job here, I think, is pretty much hers for the asking, all she has to decide is if she wants to make the leap.

After dropping Joan off at rental return lot at CAE we heading around to the other side of the airport to take a photo of the Columbia AMF (Air Mail Facility.) We of course had a line up of other Post Offices in the vacinity to take photos of as well, ten total, truth be told. Two others in West Columbia, the one in Cayce, three in downtown Columbia and the three we didn’t get in Lexington the other week.

Normal temps this time of year is lower seventies, but today broke an all time record as we hit the 90 mark. It was already almost 80 by the time we started picture taking and the pine pollen was so thick it looked like a yellow fog. As we drove, we could look at the other cars around us and see pollen rooster tails behind them!

Yellow Haze<— Incredible Simulation of the atmospheric conditions around midday in the SC midlands.

Plan B became forget the Columbia and Cayce POs and get the 2 West Columbia ones and because Lexington was on the way home, we’d get those three as well. This worked out nicely because when the day started there were 94 POs in the gallery and this would make a nice even 100. Plan B hit a major snag when the 900 block of North Lake Drive in Lexington held nothing other than a Shell gas station and a Hardee’s. Crap, looks like we would finish the day one shy of the century mark.

In the beginning of this quest I was skeptical of taking pictures of the Postal Service’s Contract Postal Units (AKA CPUs), figuring they wouldn’t have any signage marking them as Post Offices, but so far, of the 4 we passed, all had a big sign out front and had posed to have their portraits taken. Plan C was born. Aiken has a CPU, maybe, just maybe, that would be 100. Sure enough, after covering most of the western side of the state on Post Office safaris, photo number one hundred was taken just a little over a mile from number one.

On the way to the airport this morning, somewhere close to Couchton, the Emperor passed by the 56,000 mile mark.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 95