Year: 2008

Oh You Rebel You

Today is Tuesday and this is the first time our garbage and recycling will be picked up on Tuesday instead of Thursday like it has been for the last 19 years.

I knew it was trash day and I consciously didn’t put it out by the curb.

Because it is just the two of us, the rolling trash bin and the recycling bin never get more than half full over the course of a week, so there wasn’t any need for me take any thing out after just 5 days. Trust me, we’ll still have room left next Tuesday after 12 days…

Good thing I am not triskaidekaphobic because the top count has been stuck on 13 for a few days and because we are going through a January “cold” spell, it will remain at that number for the foreseeable future.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 13

Blank Textarea

I’ve got to start carrying one of those little notebook that detectives or reporters carry so that I can write down blog ideas that occur to me during the day. Because as I sit here tonight staring at a blank textarea, I might have benefited from something like that. That is if anything happened oday worth writing about.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 13

Gynecologist’s Assistant Opening

A young man goes into the Job Center in Charleston, SC and sees a card advertising for a Gynecologist’s Assistant. Interested he goes to learn more

“Can you give me some more details about this?” he asks the guy behind the desk.

The Job Center man sorts through his files & replies – “Oh yes here it is: The job entails you getting the lady patients ready for the gynecologist. You have to help them out of their underwear, lie them down and carefully wash their genital regions. You then apply shaving foam and gently shave off all their pubic hair then rub in soothing oils so that they’re ready for the gynecologist’s examination. There’s an annual salary of $45,000, but you’re going to have to go to Savannah, GA. That’s about 120 miles from here.”

“Oh, why? Is that where the job’s at?”

“No sir – that’s where the end of the line is…!!”

Weekend Odds And Ends

SimpsonizedI’ve been Simpsonized!

My Lost discs that I bid victoriously for on eBay will be mailed on Monday. They are coming from West By God Virginia so they should be here by Thursday.

This morning we finally raked up the last of the dead leaves out of the backyard. We had ignored the backyard all fall, always keeping the front neat, until earlier this week when we got half of it cleaned up and piled in front of the house for the city to pick on Thursday. Now the rest will get picked up this coming Tuesday. Thats right, more big news from around here, our trash pickup day has been moved from Thursday to Tuesday.

When we went to Subway for lunch the temperature was 49°, but because it was a short ride we kept the top down. When we stepped outside after eating and sitting a bit it felt cold so we put the top up for the ride home. At home I checked the temperature and it read 51°, go figure.

A little link action. Last night while blog surfing I stumbled on another blogger with a Miata, er MX-5 and added a link to his site. Welcome Mike who is apparently notoriously nice and from what I’ve read so far he has been nice. I also, with great sadness, removed long time read, Will Burnham Down The House. After 5 years he is closing down his blog. Too bad, will had an interesting life and an interesting take on it. Today a fellow Club member wrote asking if I had any clip art depicting a woman or girl in a Miata. She was thinking of making her own stationary. And while I could have sworn I’d seen something almost exactly like that in the past, an internet search didn’t turn it up. It did turn up a couple more bloggers with Miatas that have been added to the blog roll in the sidebar. Welcome Jon (jcm’s blog) and Ralph (Van City Blue Miata.)

It also turned up a couple oddities — a female impersonator named Miata, a whole website dedicated to sexily dressed women getting their cars stuck in the mud (video 029 has a Miata) and a Miata Art Car.

I’m thinking of buying this T-shirt, but wished it came in something other than crap brown

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 13

Captain Gaylord’s Fences

Captain Gaylord's FencesWent for a nice couple hour hike in the woods this morning. We’ve been threatening to go for a hike for a couple weeks, but just haven’t made it. It was sunny and mild, but you can tell it is winter because you can see further with all the leaves off the trees.

After lunch we ‘wasted” the rest of the day away watching The Good Shepherd and then Season 1 Disc 1 of Bones

To say that Matt Damon’s performance as Edward Wilson in the Good Shepherd was understated is an understatement. In the Bones pilot, everything was moving too fast and seemed over the top just to catch your interest. It had the exact opposite effect on us, after the first episode we almost stopped watching. After the second episode we figured we’d finish the disc and not get anymore. At the end of 4 episodes and the disc we thought, what the heck, let’s add some more Discs.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 12

72,000 Grains Of Rice

The “Gang of Six” meet tonight at Miyabi Japanese restaurant in Augusta for dinner. We had a 5:30 reservation and it is a good thing, as Donna and I arrived first, a couple minutes after five, and there was already a wait for walk-ins of 45 minutes.

Every one is seated at tables of 8, so we six are joined by a woman and her 5-year old son. They sat on the same end of the table as Donna and I and the little boy was very well behaved. Turns out they have eaten here before and it his favorite restaurant, even more so than McDonalds. He even ate with chop sticks (although they did have training wheels.)

If you have eaten at one of these places, you know the drill, a chef comes out and cooks in front of you. There are slashing knives and flipping spatulas. There is copious amounts of food cooked in a lot of butter and soy sauce. He sautees up some vegetables and then brings out this giant bowl of white rice and inverts it on the grill. It is the size of a basketball, I bet there are 72,000 grains of rice there. After it is separated into 8 parts, each serving is 3 x 6 x 2″ thick. Finally the meat is cooked and added to your plate, the pile of food in front of you is now enough to feed a small African nation. All 3 couples left with enough stuff in a to go box for lunch for two for another day.

For dessert we had homemade raspberry yogurt at one couple’s home and discussed everything from Presidential campaigns to Japanese after market parts for Miatas to whether Gene Simmons either aced the previous evening’s Celebrity Apprentice challenge or maybe marked himself for firing next week.

On the way back to Aiken the Emperor clicked over the 72,000 mile mark.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 1o

Totally Lost

LostHe said he was going to put Season 1 Disc 1 in his Netflix queue to see what I was so hooked on that I would spend two whole days anchored to the couch watching.

Disc 1 arrived Tuesday night, Mark and his wife are now totally Lost. Wednesday morning at work he cussed me out for getting him hooked on the show. The first 4 episodes were just enough to get them addicted and now he couldn’t concentrate on work, all he could think about was watching more. A junkie jonesin’ for a fix. I was slightly jealous as I remember that feeling.

Wednesday he stopped at a video rental place on the way home and gets the 5 discs left of Season 1 causing him to stay up way past his bedtime watching episodes 5 through 16. Right now Mark and his wife are probably finishing up Season 1. On his way home from work today he was going to stop and get Season 2 for Saturday. Right after saying that he said, “Nope, probably won’t wait that long, Friday night.” I’m betting they may start Season 2 tonight…

Mark didn’t think the video place has Season 2 for rent, but he did see them in the used DVD bin for sale. He figures even if he buys them for $5 bucks each ($30 total) he can recoup his losses by selling the set on eBay after watching them.

This led to a quick check of eBay to see how much a season of Lost was going for — $25-30. Hey, here’s an auction Season 1 that ends in forty minutes with a high bid of $16.49. I said I’d pay that much for it. Mark goaded me on, so I bid $17. Wouldn’t you know it, I won, so now I have Season 1 of Lost on the way for rewatching.

Maybe I’ll pay Mark $20 for Season 2 if he ends up buying it…

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 8