Month: June 2007

59,000 Raindrops

Litle FenwayAlternate Title: Down on the Farm.

The Single-A farm in Greenville, South Carolina. The Drive are affiliated with the FRS and to show the love, last year they opened a new stadium with the same dimensions as Fenway Park in Beantown (including a 30′ high Green Monster with manual scoreboard.

Because we are traveling we are eating out. Breakfast with the MMC at the Sunrise Grill in North Augusta. The joint we were supposed to meet at at 7:00 AM had changed their opening hour from seven to eight recently leaving us locked out in an empty parking lot. No worries mate, we just moved the show a 1/4 mile up the street. Half a waffle and two eggs for her, western omelette with home fries for me. I had a cup of joe and she had a hot chocolate.

Meal Cost: $15.63
Tip: $3.00
This Meal: $18.53

Lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Greenville. I had the spicy grilled catfish sandwich on sourdough and Donna had a bowl of tortilla soup. One iced tea, one water to drink and guess who had what.

Meal Cost: $13.25
Tip: $3.00
This Meal: $16.25

Dinner at the ballpark. $5 a piece tip to the Maitre De got us in the door (AKA General Admission tickets.) Nachos for her, Italian sausage for him. Diet DP for him, bottled water for her. We split an 8-pack of chicken nuggets a little later.

Meal Cost: $16.00
Tip: None
Spent Today: $50.78
Year to Date: $1314.32
Meals out, 73 of a possible 498.

The game was supposed to start at 7:00 PM, but it was probably still pouring down rain at that time. The rain did stop and the game started at 7:30. We entered the stadium at 6:00 when they opened the gates and after eating and taking shelter, by the time the game started we had had enough. From the way the skies looked we were sure it was going to rain some more any minute, so we left. Seeing as the rain showers were scattered we opted to drive around Greenville and take some of the PO pictures we were going to do tomorrow. Ended up doing all of them (that we could find.) There is one on the Furman campus according to USPS.com, but we didn’t see it.

At the last one of the night, a CPU in an ACE Hardware store, the odometer read exactly 59,000 miles.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, down once more, up yet again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 203

Rained Out

Three Quarters DoneGot more of the deck done today. I quit at around three quarters mark. I still have that one corner, the seat area, the railing, the three steps to the yard and the whole outside of the railings. I had to stop because it started to rain. Now you are asking yourself why would a little rain make me stop. I mean, I’m already pretty much soaked from the over spray, plus I’m getting wet from above because I’m washing off the soffits and gutters while I’m at it. Just feels foolish standing out in the rain I guess.

Last night, the used once two years ago pressure washer seemed to be acting funny, it wouldn’t come up to full pressure at first. It would start and when I squeezed the trigger it would come up to about half power. After holding the trigger in about 30 seconds to a minute then it would kick in. A couple times it wouldn’t ever jump up to full pressure. Turning it off and on wouldn’t help. Then one time I squeezed the trigger and then hit the power, it came right up to full speed. Tried that same procedure the next time and it worked again. So now I have been doing that each time I start/restart after a break. I wonder if that is the proper procedure. Maybe if I had read the directions I’d know.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 198

EDIT:

I forgot we went out to breakfast. Blueberry muffin for her and a coconut pineapple cream muffin for me and we split a bottled water.

Meal Cost: $3.65
Tip Jar: 35¢
Spent Today: $4.00
Year to Date: $1263.54
Meals out, 70 of a possible 495.

Stuck on 129

Sepia CartIt has been over a month since we’ve taken any Post Office photos, but that may change this weekend. That may change this weekend, weather depending. The summer is a slower time anyway because it is too damn hot for most of the day. The only time it is safe to be out without cooking your brains is mornings before 9:00 AM. And for maybe the next month you can get away with after 9:00 PM, but once July rolls around even then it is too hot and sticky to enjoy the outdoors.

Broke down and started the deck project. Cleaned about half of it tonight with the pressure washer. Maybe tomorrow I can get the other half done. Sealing it can be done over several days after work next week. Speaking of broke down, I kind of broke the screen door to the deck. Where the door is it gets a lot of slashing from the gutters when it rains, so it has been slowly deteriorating. I pushed it over the edge by knocking off a trim strip and letting loose the bottom of the screen. Rather than try to repair the door we may just go to Home Depot and get a new one. A new wood door is like $20.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 196

Tonight I Didn’t Call Her On It

Pizza was on the menu for Friday, but it got pushed up to today. We got the usual order from Ferrando’s, a 14″ 5-topping pie (sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, onions and banana pepper rings) and brought it home to eat. Finished half, saving the second half for dinner on the previous planned Friday evening.

Meal Cost: $15.52
Tip: None
Spent Today: $15.52
Year to Date: $1259.54
Meals out 69 of a possible 489.

This evening’s entertainment was The Holiday. Double your warm fuzzy feelings, double your tears, its two, two chick flicks in one.

The Red Sox are having trouble scoring runs. They are losing big time at home tonight against the Rockies 12-2 and are on their way to losing six of their last ten ballgames. The Yankees are about to win their ninth game in a row and will be 8-1/2 games back. Is it just me or has something like what happens to an RX-7 in this video happening to the FRS?

Had some comments on one of my Post Office photos on Flickr today. White Rock, SC 29117. Then if you want, go check out grussell903’s photos before answering this question: Troll or Reality Challenged?

We ran out to Kroger tonight to get a couple items. As we were checking out I noticed that the cashier had keyed us in for a senior citizens discount. I think you have to be like 60 to qualify and we are about 8 years from that milestone. If asked if I qualify I say no, when that screen pops up on the self-service checkout I say no. I usually say something, but tonight I didn’t. Maybe it was because we saved so much – 47¢

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 193

Who You Callin’ A Hoh

Hoh Rain Forest Welcome CenterWell, I’ve posted the latest northwest trip’s photos. Trimmed the total down to 51, forty-eight regular and 3 panoramic shots. I’ve got about 2/3s of the titles and captions finished. Check them out if you want: Northwest Trip 2007

Still burning the CD collection with 5, plus a little more, out of 10 rows done. Five hundred directories with 3,751 files in them occupying 13.8 Gig of a hard drive space.

Tonight was haircut night and after getting our respective ears lowered we headed over to Wife Saver for chow. We split a 4 piece chicken strip dinner with mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas and broccoli casserole. I had a sweet tea and Donna had water.

Meal Cost: $9.60
Tip: None
Spent Today: $9.60
Year to Date: $1244.02
Meals out 68 of a possible 486.

Here is a SC Blog that I just had to link to considering it’s content, pictures (and stories) about traveling around the state. Ok, it is a Mustang not a Miata, but I’ve got a few pictures of my car infront of some of the places he has photographed as well – Mustang Rolling. More South Carolina blog gems to follow.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 191

South Carolina Blogs

I thought when I created a link category for South Carolina Bloggers it would be easy to get 6-8 that I would enjoy reading daily over there. Hah! Fat chance. I did some searching and ended up finding several political blogs that linked other political blogs, but that ain’t cutting it, I don’t do politics.

The blog that showed up #1 in every search was South Carolina Trial Law Blog. Without even looking at it I dismissed it because I figured it was going to be like the political blogs and I don’t do law. In desperation I finally checked it out and it wasn’t half bad, so I might link in the roll.

A while back I was listed on some geo-blog site that listed you by long & lat so you could see other blogger in your neighborhood. I couldn’t find it now.

I did stumble on a couple that you find to the left now, but there had to be someplace where I could find a lot of state bloggers. About to give up when I hit pay dirt for Charleston area bloggers: Postcripts – A Lowcountry Blogosphere Hotspot. I think I can get some quality blogs there for sure. Now if only there is a link on that site for a statewide group.

Now for something completely different on South Carolina. Next year we are getting a different license plate design. The DMV opened up the designing of the plate to artists and three finalists were chosen. You can now vote on which design you want to have on the back of your car here: SCDMV You don’t have to live in South Carolina to vote.

New SC License Plate? New SC License Plate? New SC License Plate?

I picked the one on the right, but it probably won’t win, it’ll be one of the other two because they are more colorful…

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 190

Stuck In Neutral

Victoria, BC Parliment BuildingWe went over to Augusta this morning so I could hand hold the leading candidates for the new digicam because Aiken doesn’t have a Circuit City. Pretty much decided to go with the Panasonic DMC-T3Z and holding it and looking at it nearly clinched the deal. The Canon SD800 IS was real nice too. It was a lot more pocketable than the Panasonic, but that 10x optical zoom kicked but. Didn’t buy it at the store because they had the price as $349 and it was listed as $289 on the web on Saturday.

There used to be a Winn-Dixie in this strip shopping center, but it went out of business a while back. Last time we were there it was still empty, but this time it was filled with an hhgregg store. I went in and poked around while Donna bought some beads at the Michael’s next door. They had the Panasonic for $319, but I still wasn’t buying, knowing it was cheaper on the web.

We ended up at the Atlanta Bread Company for lunch where we split a House Salad w/Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing and a Pressed Chicken Sandwich. Water and a small Coke to drink.

Meal Cost: $14.81
Tip: None
Spent Today: $14.81
Year to Date: $1234.42
Meals out 67 of a possible 480.

When we got back home I went online and found out that CC had bumped the online price back up to $349. Well, it as got to be cheaper somewhere out there. Found it on New Egg for $289 and they are tossing in a 1 Gig SD card for free. Yippee! While checking it out, I notice that this item is covered by their “Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy” which basically means you can swap for another of the same, but you *ain’t* getting your money back. This makes me very nervous, so I start reading reviews to reassure myself. Reading some of the posts on Steve’s Digicam’s Forum I see someone mention that it is too bad this camera doesn’t offer any manual control. Huh?!? I thought it did.

Turns out I misread something and in fact the TZ3 doesn’t have any manual exposure control. Too bad too because this is a deal breaker. I guess I will have to settle for the runner-up, the Canon SD800 IS, but I can’t bring myself to pull the trigger even though it is only $20 more at New Egg and the same 1 Gig SD card deal applies. I have been seduced by the 10x optical zoom on the Panasonic, the Canon’s paltry 3.8x will not satisfy me.

The CFO authorizes a bump up in the spending level in hopes I can find another contender. Believe it or not, there is not much out there at the $400-450 level. I guess we are getting too close to DSLR territory and manufacturers don’t want to offer anything that might cannibalize those sales. There is one intriguing possibility, the Panasonic LX2. 10MP, 16×9 shooting format and lots of manual control, but there is that wimpy 4x zoom again. Plus, what’s with the no built in lens cap? Why not replace the built in flash with those cute little flash cubes? Another possibility is the Canon G7. Its a 10MP camera too, with a 6x zoom, but it starts at 35mm not 28mm and the thing is a brick at nearly 12 oz.

I will probably wait for 3-4 months before trying to buy a camera. Things happen quickly in the electronic world and my perfect camera could be in the pipeline right now. If worse comes to worse the cost of buying the Panasonic T3Z might come down enough that I’d swallow the no manual exposure control thing.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 188