More Car Shopping

On the way back into town after our unsuccessful attempt to rent a Sonata yesterday, Donna posed the door question, i.e. “Why does the next car have to have four doors?” My answer was, “It doesn’t. The only reason I’m so hot for a Sonata is that of all the cars in our price range it is the best looking (IMHO) thing for a second car.” Her timing was just right, we were approaching the Honda dealer outside of town, so I pulled in and pointed out an Accord Coupe and said,” It has two doors.” Her reply was, “That’s big.” The sticker was too, $30k. How about the Civic Coupe she asked and I said, “I’ve never been comfortable in a Civic Sedan. We’d have to try that one out.”

I love shopping, even if it is just an exercise, so I rounded up 7 candidates on the short list for the next car in the Bogardus stable to compare size and cost. All in all, you watch, when we finally do pull the trigger on a new car, it’ll be another Miata. For now let’s play. I spec’d the cars the way I would like them, mostly base models with little content and some would probably be hard to come by that way, but hey, it’s my party. There are quite a few returnees from similar speculation of 10 months ago, a couple new ones and a few drops.

Mazda Miata #1 Sport M/T w/ Convenience Pkg & Cargo Net
Mazda Miata #2 Touring M/T w/Cargo Net
Mini Cooper M/T w/ Cloth Sport Seats, Center Arm Rest, Carpet Floor Mats & Grocery Bag Holder
Hyundai Genesis 2.0T M/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Hyundai Sonata SE A/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Honda Accord Coupe LX-S A/T
Honda Civic Coupe LX M/T w/ Sport Suspension & 16″ Alloy Wheels

Here is the chart:

All numbers reflect the difference between the Emperor and the new car (except interior volume.)

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Sorry Sonata

Well, it looks like the Emperor is going to Florida, we struck out at 4 different rental agencies at the Augusta Airport. It was actually three counters, Enterprise, National & Avis/Budget. The Enterprise guy answered no right off, the two ladies at National went the extra mile and looked up to see when the 3 of their Sonatas were due back off rental and the woman at Avis sent someone over to their service center to see if there were any hiding there. None available…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Mx, Sports Car #83

The Mazda Miata on Car and Drivers Periodic Table of Sports Cars.

We went Christmas shopping in the cold drizzle this morning and purchased several things off everyone’s list. Donna got a couple of pink shirts and I got a pair of khaki cargo pants. The futon got a new set of sheets and the dining room table got a new set of cloth Christmas napkins. The afternoon and evening was spent gathered around the dry warmth of a yule log that is the Panasonic Viera HDTV and plotting geocache stepping stones between here and St. Augustine, FL.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

116,000


Red Puffy Clouds
This sunrise is from last Friday morning in the ASCO parking lot.

Calories
The approximate number of which I have consumed in the last five days at work. Half of them on Tuesday at the annual salaried Holiday Pot Luck Luncheon. The other half from grazing while wondering the plant. Ahhhhh, tis the season.

Miles
The number of miles the Emperor passed by on the way to Krogers this evening.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Bike Christmas Tree

On my way back from the doctor’s office this morning I stopped and snapped a photo of this Christmas Tree made entirely out of old bicycles in front of a “Flea Market” store. I think I need to go back and shoot from a slightly different angle so you can read the whole sign reading Christmas Store. And maybe a little later in the day, so that there is a hint of darkness which might make the string of lights more noticeable.

After having the weather the last couple of weeks such that making ice cubes outside was possible at midday, this morning when we left for work it positively balmy at 38° and this evening we took a small drive with the top down…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 914

Red Sky In Morning


Sailor Take Warning

I don’t know if that little ditty is truly accurate, but the Weather Channel is calling for a 40% chance of Light Rain/Ice Early for here tonight.

The sunrise was very pretty this morning with lots of little puffy clouds that cycled from orange to red to pink on the drive in to work. As we got out of the car I noticed this slopping line of solid red to the southeast. If you look up from the right tail light of the red Mustang you might see a dark spot that is the window in my new cubicle.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 913

Panoramic Photos Made Easy

Buy a camera that has the function built in.

Regular Reader Randy (that almost deserves its own acronym, RRR) commented on yesterday’s post wanting to know how I made that panoramic 360° photo of my cubical. Well Randy, I don’t remember, but I’m guessing by the photo’s vintage, circa 2001-02, that it was done using the Olympus D-40Z which had the function built right into the camera. The predecessor to that camera, a Kodak V570, had a mode that did it internally to three successive exposures quite convincingly. Sadly my current Panasonic DMC-TZ3 does have that function.

But I figured that with a little bit of web searching I could come up with a freeware solution. And I did, unfortunately they were either crap or so complex that it would take a rocket scientist to make it work. I found one, AutoStitch, where using their included sample images the demo worked great, but trying to use my images it only knitted two of the 10 photos. So I ended up doing it the old fashioned way, creating one really long blank image and placing each photo in it one on top of the other. Here you go, my new 9′ x 9′ home:

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 913