The Definition Of Insanity

It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This has been most commonly attributed to Albert Einstein, but the quote is much more contemporary. Some research done by Michael Becker, an editor at the Bozeman (Montana) Daily Chronicle, discovered that it is really from the 80’s.

Neither Klamath Falls or Medford had a Popeye’s, but in our new hometown of Fairview, there are couple of them within 3 miles of us. In spite of our checkered past with the franchise we do remember their food fondly.

A couple weeks ago we headed over to Gresham to restock our cannabis supply and what was right next door, but a Popeye’s. It was a little past 11:00 AM, but we opted to head over and get our lunch to take home. Donna ordered a couple of chicken strips with a side of red beans and rice while I went for the chicken sandwich combo. Most of our troubles in the past with these guys was order related, but the drive-thru experience wasn’t too bad. Trouble came when we got home. While her chosen meal was good, but mine no so much, the chicken was obviously left over from the day before and dropped back in the fryer. The breading was very dark and the meat tough and chewy.

Today we decided to try the one that is actually 1/2 mile closer to our front door even though it was not a stand alone store, but inside a truck stop off I-84. We took it as a good sign when there were 3 people in line ahead of us and no one in line at the Subway it shared a spot inside with. The line moved fairly quickly and it didn’t take long to get our food. This was a dine in meal and we ordered a combo meal of popcorn shrimp (for me) with 2 tenders (for her), a side red beans & rice (for her) and a biscuit (for me.) The shoe was on the other foot today, my shrimp were hot and fresh while her tenders, not as dark as my sandwich from before, was either double fried or cooked several hours ago and bathed by a heat lamp for hours as the breading was rock hard and the meat tough.

Call us crazy, but in a couple weeks we’ll probably try the Gresham location again at lunch time and see what happens.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Just Another Monday Edition of SORT
As of Monday, November 13, 2023 at 5:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1997 Acura
NSX-T		 1996 Suzuki
X-90		 1957 Mercury
Turnpike Cruiser
If I thought this seller was close when I was in Klamath Falls, now I’m less than 15 miles away. These are kind of clown car looking from the start, which I love, but add a 3″ lift kit and 30″ tires… Something called Turnpike Cruiser with a a Merc-O-Matic tranny has just got to be a Touring car hero.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 2018 Audi R8 Bid to $141,000 on 11/8/23
Off-Road: 2019 Ariel Nomad Sold for $163,000 on 11/9/23
Touring: 1965 Chevrolet Van Sold for $23,000 on 11/8/23

Pot Calling The Kettle Black

Way back in the early aught’s when Donna’s mom was living with us,both Donna and I were still working so she was our chief cook and bottle washer. If Donna had a hankering for a certain dish and the ingredients weren’t in the house Mom would head over during the day to the grocery store to pick up what was needed. Or if Mom saw something in a magazine or on TV that she thought sounded good for dinner, it would be off to Kroger for whatever was needed.

Back then as a courtesy (and to ease Donna’s mind), I would balance Mom’s checkbook every month. Invariably there were quite a few checks to Kroger each month. Sometimes it was 4 or 5 times a week and I would kid Mom about the frequency of Kroger trips. Well right now the shoe is on the other foot.

We have been living in Fairview for a month now and there is a Fred Meyer (a Kroger company) just under 2 miles from home. In these past 31 days we have shopped there 20 of them. There were actually 25 visits all told. One was just for gas and one was a pharmacy pickup trip.

Some of the first few were basically house setup, like groceries that we couldn’t pack in the move and stuff that was nearly used up so intentionally left behind. And I will have to admit that a quite few of the trips were to buy organizing supplies and home decor that might have been better bought elsewhere, but hey fuel points are a strong draw.

For reference, last year during the same time frame (10/10 to 11/9) we visited the Fred Meyer in Klamath Falls, a trip of just over 2 miles, just 10 times. I’m sure that pretty soon we will have settled down into that smaller visit rate.

Quick Dyson Update

Okay, so the contact cleaner actually did work. But, I’m not holding my breath.

When I first came home with my spray can I sprayed it liberally on all the contacts I could find. I reassembled the vacuum and tried it out. The brush did not spin!?! I separated the unit in both spots, resprayed liberally. I also opened up the dirt container and sprayed the internal connections again too. This time when I tried it, the brush head worked.

The next time I used the vacuum the brush didn’t start. But it did a few seconds later on the next carpet it did! And it has worked fine every time since.

First No-Miataversary

I’ve had a Miata in the garage from November 7, 1989 up until September 14th of this year. I have been blogging since January 1, 2002. On November 7th of that first year I made a blog post about my 13th “Miataversary.” The following year, 2003, I forgot and posted about it 3 days later. I missed a year and then did one in 2005 in the style of an On This Day post. Jump another 2 years to 2007 where for some reason I didn’t find those first few Miataversary posts, but I did link in there to a post from December of 2006 that mentions a cobbled together birth announcement I had created when we bought that first Miata back in 1989.

Then, I didn’t blog about Miataversaries for a whole decade until I started up again in 2017. In this one I linked to the story of the purchase of that very first Miata that I had written several years back. For the next 5 years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022) I didn’t miss posting about the anniversary of purchasing that 1989 “Smurf” blue Miata.

Somehow, I think that next November7th, I won’t be writing a post about my 2nd Annual No-Miataversary.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Election Day Eve Edition of SORT
As of Monday, November 6, 2023 at 8:00 AM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2018 Audi R8 2019 Ariel Nomad 1965 Chevrolet Van
Because we just moved and the change of address thing took a little while we didn’t get our ballots to mail in for this election. They must have gone to Klamath Falls and there possibly might be a way to vote in person, but it doesn’t matter too much, next November will be a different matter though.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sports: 1972 Chevrolet Corvette Sold for $43,000 on 11/1/23
Off-Road: 1978 International Harvester Scout II Bid to $35,250 on 11/2/23
Touring: 1954 Lincoln Capri Coupe Sold for $63,348 on 11/1/23

Maybe That Is Why It Was On Sale

When we packed up our stuff in Klamath Falls for our move to Fairview we left behind a bunch of stuff we didn’t think we’d need anymore. We also left several items that, while still serviceable, we wanted to buy new to get something newer or better.

One item we left behind was our Dyson Upright Ball Vacuum. It was one of the first things we bought when we moved into the house in Klamath Falls. It had served us well for nearly 4 years, but recently it had started to sound like a fighter’s jet engine on shutdown when we turned it off.

This time when it came to buying a new vacuum, I wanted to stick in the Dyson camp, but get a smaller one without a cord. After doing a little online searching I found a V8 Origin at Target that was on sale for about $100 compared to its regular price of little over $400.

After about a week of using it, the fancy Motorbar cleaner head would randomly not spin. It got progressively worse so that it would only work a tenth of the time, so I Googled “dyson v8 power head not working” and got several YouTube solutions to the problem. The trouble was that none of those actually applied to my particular model or my generation.

Most of the solutions recommend cleaning the contacts that run from the motor section down to the brush head. I looked at them and they don’t look dirty at all. Maybe I should get some electrical contact cleaner and spray it liberally at all the places along the way…