Year: 2008

New Top

We had to wait around the shop for an hour and a half past the promised time while they finished up the top install this afternoon. It is a Robbins Streamline Top and it looks a lot cleaner than the OEM unit because it lacks the top seams and the extra panel around the back window. The top is a different shade of tan, a bit darker and browner, but unnoticeable to probably everyone but me. That sucker is as tight as a drum and it took two guys at the shop to get it closed, so we’ll probably leave it up for a couple days to stretch out. Because the old top had stretched loose over the years it had become easy to ignore the fact that the passenger side top latch is broke, but now it is going to need fixing. The latch itself works, but the locking tab that keeps it shut has worn making it possible to come undone if I hit a big bump or something. Guess it is time to buy a new one…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 0

Man of Science, Man of Faith

Episode 1 of Season 2 and number 25 overall finds Jack in flashback being the miracle surgeon saving the woman who will become his wife from being a paraplegic and on island he chases Locke & Kate down the rabbit hole of the opened hatch where he comes face to face with a blast from that flashback past and it’s not his wife.

Exodus – Part 2

Episode number 24 was the two hour Season 1 finale and we got excitement aplenty. Artz the high school science teacher blows himself up, Locke nearly gets eaten by the smoke monster, Claire’s baby gets snatched temporarily, Walt really gets snatched off the raft which then gets blown up and finally, three sticks of dynamite blows off the door of the hatch, all wrapped around images of the main cast boarding the Oceanic Airlines’ Flight 815 in Syndey.

Started down, went up, back down, up for the last time.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 391

 
Up for the last time, because the Emperor is having a sleepover at Redmond’s Upholstery in Augusta where tomorrow he gets a new top after approximately 2,235 transitions. I say approximately because I didn’t keep track of the transitions for the first 13 months of ownership, so I took what it did do for the year before and the 2 years after to get an average count per day (1.03), then multiplied it by the number of missing days and added that to the counts I did know.

Exodus – Part 1

Episode 23’s off island flashbacks feature a lot of the main characters in the Sydney Airport getting ready to depart while on island we see the last frantic construction on the raft as it gets ready to depart. Meanwhile the crazy French Chick arrives with a warning that the “Others” are coming. Jack thinks they should all hide in the hatch, but it still can’t be opened prompting a French Chick lead trip to the black rock to get some dynamite.

We rode the tandem to work today and it was chilly enough (low 50s) that I wore tights and we both wore some light knit gloves. We have been using a NiteHawk Pro Dual for commuting that we have had for what seems like ages (maybe 10 years?) It is starting to show its age as the light output is nearly non existent when we pull into the parking lot after just under a half hours worth of riding. You can buy a replacement battery for $55, but even when brand new it was only good for an hour and a half (plus the battery weighs about 2 lbs.) Instead I decided to try one of the newer LED lights, after a bit of internet research I opted to try a Cateye EL-530 which I found at Nashbar for forty bucks.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 388

Born To Run

Episode #22 is Kate-centric as she tries to get off the island on Micheal’s raft we find out more of her off island back story and just who belonged to that little plane and what happened to him.

Tonight the Emperor got a transfusion and a new kidney. While he was on the table I swapped his gloves with his socks. Friday he gets a new crown.

In one way I’m glad I live in a very red state, no robo calls bad mouthing the other guy clogging up my answering machine.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 388

The Greater Good

Season 1 Episode 21 revolves around Sayid off island and we find out just how he ends up on that fateful Flight 815. On island we attend a funeral, witness a near murder and Sawyer calms the new baby, “Turnip Head”, by reading a car magazine. The SciFi Channel has been running repeats of TDTVS since September by running 4 episodes every Monday starting at 7 PM and coincidentally the show running tonight at seven is The Greater Good.

I stayed up to see the whole game last night. It was close the whole way and the FRS had a couple of chances in the late innings, but couldn’t pull another rabbit out of their hats. The Tampa Bay Rays are on the way to the World Series to play the Philadelphia Phillies and the Red Sox are going home. Because it doesn’t matter to me who beats who in the Series, I might watch some portion of the games if Donna can’t find anything she wants to watch on TV those nights, so baseball is pretty much over for me for this year.

Pitchers and catchers report in 115 days.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 386

Twins Every Time

A census taker in a rural area went up to a farmhouse and knocked. When a woman came to the door, he asked her how many children she had and their ages.

She said, “Les’ see now, there’s the twins, Sally and Billy, they’re thirty-two. And the twins, Seth & Beth, they’re twenty-six. And the twins, Penny and Jenny, they’re twenty-four.”

“Hold on!” said the census taker, “Did you get twins EVERY time?”

The woman answered, “Heck no, there was hundreds of times we didn’t get nothin’.”