Month: June 2015

Launch Edition

Launch Editions

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, this photo is worth a 1,000 Miatas.

Mazda has always been quick to throw a new color on a Miata, add a geegaw, slap a badge on a car and call it a Special Edition or a M Edition or an Anniversary Edition. Well this year with the launch of the 4th generation of the car, they’re getting on the bandwagon early and launching a special Launch Edition.

The first 1,000 people in the U.S. to get an example of the 4th gen car had to pre-order it. They will be getting the top of line Grand Touring with every possible option checked off in Soul Red with a tan leather interior, the only choice they had was stick or auto. Its this color combo is what will make it unique, that and a badge stuck on one fender panel.

The photo above was taken by Mazda and it shows, I think, all thousand of the LEs waiting to be loaded on the boat(s).

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1514

Baseball All-Star Voting

All-Star Ballot

Anytime I go to the Red Sox home page there is always a banner or a rotating slide show that basically pleads with you to vote for the FRS players to be elected to the All-Star game. Frankly the only Red Sox player who even remotely deserves consideration is Brock Holt. Trouble is Mr. Holt is nowhere to be found on the ballot as a position player, probably because he has played at least one game at every position except for Catcher and Pitcher.

I usually avoid voting for the All-Star players because it is really not too much more than a popularity contest. As evident by the fact that when you click on a link to the ballot from your favorite team’s home page it automatically highlights that team’s players and dulls out the rest.

I was going to ignore it again this year until I spotted this post on Deadspin – Screw It, Vote Every Kansas City Royal Into The All-Star Game.

So that is what I tried to do. Couldn’t help but poke a stick the eye of the FRS and vote for Álex Rodríguez over Big Papi (or even the KC representative) for the Designated Hitter.

25 Years Ago – Summer 1990

MIATAGO

– by Barbara Beach

“What do you mean $18,000 in medical deductions?” he shrieked, as only an accountant can.
“I bought a Miata: I responded calmly, (as calm as one can while doing their taxes).
“A car is not a medical deduction” the accountant reprimanded.
“A Miata is” I argued. “In fact, I consider it THERAPY!”

It is possible that I may not win my case with the IRS, but anyone who owns a Miata can understand my point. As Will Rogers once said, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man”. I concur, and contend that the outside of a Miata is good for the inside of anyone! It certainly has been good for me. I have made more new friends and had more freeway “love affairs” (you know…those stolen glances and passionate smiles) window to window. I never had this much fun in my Chevy Van. Never once did I get a marriage proposal while driving it, but in the Miata I have had several (I will, however, have to wait for my suitors to either graduate high school or get a driver’s license). But a proposal is a proposal!

I would only caution you not to make the Miata gods angry. There is a certain unwritten dress code that one must abide by when Miata motoring. My biggest mistake was to make one of those early morning ‘sweat pants, hair in curlers’ run to the dry cleaners. Upon leaving the cleaners I was shocked to find two men sitting in my Miata. While this is not what I would normally consider a crisis, it is when I’m dressed for my Phillis Diller impression. A Miata owner must be dressed to meet people. After all, we do represent an alternate way of motoring and have certain responsibilities!!

Observing my self-imposed rule, I was far more successful in my encounter with a top-down 560SL: Dressed as if he just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren full page ad, the Benz driver looked over as I languished in my Calvin Kleins and offered to trade cars. Tomorrow, lunch? You bring your pink slip, I’ll bring mine…Oh I’m sorry! There seems to be little loyalty left these days!

I was in quite a panic when I questioned my best friend as to what I should wear on an upcoming date with a man I really wanted to impress. “Relax, Barbara”, my friend laughed, “Flash a smile and wear your Miata!” I did and it worked! This car is not just transportation, it is a dating device! I can just see the classifieds now…’OUTRAGEOUSLY FINE FEMALE WITH TWO MASTERS DEGREES, UNTOLD WEALTH, AND A RED MIATA IS LOOKING TO FIND A MAN OF SIMILAR QUALITIES. SEND PHOTO OF YOURSELF AND YOUR CAR…’
I think I have stumbled on to something here…high tech automotive seduction. This car should carry a warning: CAUTION: DRIVING A MIATA CAN CAUSE AN INFLATED EGO, UNABASHED FLIRTATION, AND IN SOME CASES SERIOUS PROPOSALS.

The Miata is by no means a ‘singles only’ car. I do hope that all of you married Miata owners enjoy the car for its original intended purposes; starry nights, top down cruising with your significant other. As for me and my Miata…well, we’re just going out to play.

Barbara Beach (and her Miata) play in Vista, California. Barbara profiles other Miata owners (and an occasional man in a 560SL) in each Miata magazine.

Copyright 1990, Miata Magazine. Reprinted without permission.

 

Hard Being A Fan

The 2015 baseball season is nearly 40% over for the Red Sox and they are now 10 games below .500 a full 8 games behind the MFY. They’ve lost 6 games in a row and so far for the month of June they are 4 & 8. In spite of this Baseball Prospectus still gives them a 14.1% chance of making the playoffs (this was before today’s loss.)

Today’s game was a fine example of the way things are going, in the bottom of the 5th the FRS scored 5 runs, which would have been great, but at the time Toronto was leading 10-zip. Yesterday they were down 4 to 0 before they got on the scoreboard, they did manage to tie it, only to lose in the 11th inning. Friday’s game was almost as bad as today’s game as they lost 13-10 after leading at one point 8 to 1.

Yet still I watch. Part of it is I can’t help it, it is nurture, my mom made me this way. The other is I’m going to get my money’s worth, I paid $130 for the MLB.TV package, so if I don’t tune in I’m throwing away 80¢ a game.

The Emperor Goes To Camp

Camp Mazdamiata
We dropped the Miata off at summer camp this morning. It is not for a long stay, so he probably won’t get homesick. We think it will be good for him to spend some time with his peers under the watchful eyes of experienced counselors while working on a couple of issues. We also hope he has some fun.

We would like for him to pick up some neatness habits and stop leaving his stuff all over the place in his bedroom1. Plus we would hope he can be more efficient and sharper in his responses to requests2. But our main concern is that he come back more poised and agile3.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1513

1. Fix a leaking main rear seal.
2. Replace the clutch.
3. Install new shocks and springs.

The Martian Part III

So, I’m excited about this Martian movie and it got me thinking, who do I know that might like the book. So I turn around and ask my cubical neighbor and fellow Clone Club member, “Are you a book reader?”

He: Not really, I do listen to audio books when I commute though.
Me: So what kind of books?
He: It varies…
Me: Autobiographies? Mysteries? Non-Fiction? Hard Science Fiction?
He: Well right now I’m listening to sort of a survival story. It is about a guy left behind on Mars…
Me: Unbelievable. That is exactly where I was going…Where are you in the book?

I’ve got a couple more ideas on who to try next week.

The Martian Part II

Got two pieces of news about the thing that might actually drag me into a physical movie theater for the first time since 2012. They have moved up the release date for The Martian from November 25th to October 2nd. And the trailer dropped.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI

Now I’m still psyched to see this thing, but I’m not real happy about the marketing. The teaser viral thingie from the other day was perfect, but the trailer and then the poster kind of spoil a plot point that held a lot of suspense for the book reader.

I’m sure there was a different way to do the trailer so that the whole will he or won’t he be rescued in time could have been left a little more open. I fully understand why they’re going this way, ‘Muricans love a happy ending, plus my way would have little time to show all those other actors faces. And just maybe it is me, it doesn’t show him actually being saved.

Anyway, we knew how Apollo 13 turned out and it still made a heck of a movie.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1511