Month: May 2009

Lucky Seven

GEOffery the GiraffeAfter last night’s dinner in Lexington we continued west on I-20 to Florence. We were going to met Donna’s cousin for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning.

I picked out seven caches in northwest Florence near the HIE where we were going to be staying, so we would have something to look for before we met Laurie at 8:30. The first one we even walked to because it was behind the McDonald’s at the same exit.

Another cache was right down the road from the hotel near a boat ramp. It was back in the woods a hundred yards or so and we had been doing the drunken bee dance for about 10 minutes and getting a little frustrated. It was an ammo ca, it shouldn’t be this hard to find. It was kind of trashy in there too, cans, bottles, plastic bags, etc, amazing how much considering how far away we were from where humans should have normally been. We were standing there deciding whether we should dance some more or give up, we had the time constraint of the breakfast meet and all, when I saw some black boat line at my feet and wrapped around the base of the tree we were standing next to. My natural curiosity led me to see where the other end of it went. There, suspended about 20 feet above our heads by that black rope, was an ammo can.

We found six, but elected to ignore the last one when Donna read in the logs about there being a lot of ticks in the area where it was hid. We had run out of time anyway, when we got to the Cracker Barrel it was already 8:27. Laurie’s car wasn’t there. She is normally very prompt, so we knew we wouldn’t have to wait long.

Pretty soon it was 8:40 and still no blue Honda Accord, so we broke out the cell phone and gave her a call to see where she was. She wasn’t answering her cell, so figuring I had mislabeled her numbers in our phone’s directory I tried the home number. She answered and I asked,”Where are you?” “Home,” came the reply. She quickly put two and two together and knew why I was calling on a Sunday morning, so she added, “That’s next week.”

Earlier this week when via emails we agreed to meet for breakfast, both Donna and I overlooked the fact that Laurie had put the date of 6/7 in her email. We just assumed that it was to be this Sunday.

I guess we will be eating breakfast at the Florence Cracker Barrel two Sunday’s in a row.

Having been promised seven caches today and only getting six in Florence when we went out shopping this evening we made a slight detour and stopped by to visit GEOffery the Giraffe.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 224

When The Going Gets Tough

To Mr. Fletchers RideWe went for a nice little hike in Hitchcock Woods this morning, that is until we were stumped for the second time trying to find the Crazy Creek Cache. We tried three weeks ago and trampled the heck out of the hillside where this thing is located without finding it. Today we were confident that it wouldn’t elude us again, unfortunately all we did was delude ourselves. Also we didn’t know it at the time, but it set the tone for the rest of the morning. We tried two other caches more near downtown Aiken after we exited the woods and were stumped by both of them.

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping, so we went to Kroger to get our weekly supply of groceries (at least there we found everything.)

I changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor after shopping.

This evening we drove with some friends to Lexington for some deep dish goodness at the Uno Chicago Grill there. This is the very antithesis of last weekend’s pizza in Hendersonville. Donna and I knew better, sensing a large meal, we split a salad and a pizza for one. That was just enough, but regrettably when Rudy and Patti offered me a slice from their large pie, the still lingering great taste in my mouth overruled my common sense and I ate the tendered piece. It tasted great but sat heavy with me for the next couple hours.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 221

Unfried Side

At what point does too much advertising about a new product tip over into negative feeling towards said product?

Finally, after being not literally, but figuratively rained out all last week and the first 80% of this week we got to ride the bike into work today.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 218

Flux Capacitor

Last night at around 11:30 as I was lying in bed reading I heard a loud BRRRRRRRP noise that lasted for 5 or 6 seconds. It was right out side the window. It happened again but for a slightly shorter time. But this time it didn’t quit, the sound level went down to a dull brrrrrrrr…

The only only thing mechanical right outside our bedroom window is the A/C unit. When I opened the window I could tell that was where the noise was coming from. I checked the vent and air was coming out, but it wasn’t cold anymore. I shut off the thermostat and went to sleep. Tomorrow was another day.

This morning I called a repair place and they said they could have someone out to the house about 3 o’clock. I took the afternoon off from work not only to go home and wait, but to accomplish a couple small things around the house that needed doing. The fellow called at 2 to ask if it was OK to come over now. He made the call from my driveway. He had knocked, but didn’t get an answer. That was because I was on the back deck washing off a year’s worth of mildew and dirt with the pressure washer.

He was done in about a half hour, the only thing wrong was a dead Flux Capacitor. Actually the dual run/start capacitor for the blower and the compressor was shorted out.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 218

Math Smath

Every Wednesday Firehouse Subs comes to ASCO and sells fresh made sandwiches. There is a three woman crew that makes about 70-80 sandwiches between 11:30am and 1:00pm. For the ease of it (and the shapes sort of fit), lets call them Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. Papa Bear is the one in charge, the order taker and money handler. She recognizes the regulars, remembers their names and their usual sandwich of choice.

Donna and I sporadically take advantage of this service every couple weeks or so. Today was our monthly engineering department communications meeting/lunch where everyone buys a sub to eat while we watch a PowerPoint presentation and discuss current events, work related and otherwise. Usually Donna and I split a sub and she eats at her desk while I eat mine at the meeting, but today I was on my own as Donna didn’t want a sub.

I’m guessing to either eliminate boredom or perhaps give some cross-training, Papa Bear has started making the subs and Momma Bear has been handling the ordering part of the business. Now I’m sure Momma Bear is a nice kid and all, but I think when they were passing out brains she didn’t get in line because she thought they said trains and wasn’t interested.

I ordered a small steak sub, $4.50, added an iced tea, $1.25 and you could hear the gears turning, after a slight pause she said $5.75. I handed her a ten dollar bill and I think she stopped breathing for a second as she harnessed all her brain functions to do the math. It just wasn’t happening so she punted, “Papa..what’s.” I said, “$4.25.”

I think if I had said $7.25, she would have given it to me.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 218

Nothing To Say

That’s not really accurate, I have plenty to say, I just can’t get motivated to say it, rather wander the net. Serious case of BA tonight.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 216

Busy Bee

Chimney RockTim will be happy to know that I finally broke down and cut out the sheet rock to repair the holes in the bedroom wall from the plumbing incident. I suck at mudding up the seams.

I’ve been trying to get all my photo galleries transferred over to the new style. I’ve got most of them done, but I will still have to copy and paste titles and captions to the hundreds of photos. And that doesn’t include the 453 Post Office pictures…

Frantically trying to download all my Flickr images that I don’t have a gallery for here by tomorrow, so I don’t have pay them the $25.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 213