Cover Tunes

The other night as we sat in the Flying Pie in Newberry waiting for our pizza I was enjoying a song over their sound system and then the next one too. I hadn’t heard either tune before, but when they finished the DJ (do you still call them that?) mentioned the titles and that they were cover tunes. It was a satellite radio channel and we were in the middle of a Coffee Covers segment.

Usually if a song is real good, a cover of that song will be real good as well. It is pretty hard to ruin a great song (although most piped in grocery store music is the exception to this rule.) Sometimes the cover can be even better than the original, case in point, Gary Jules cover of a Tears For Fear song, Mad World from the Movie Donnie Darko or the Bangles cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter.

The new Lincoln car commercials are using cover tunes to plug their new MKX. I kind of like the redo of The Church’s Under The Milky Way, but I’m not too sure about the Blue Oyster Cult Burnin’ For You redo.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 445

First Vacation Planning Setback

The plans for next year’s trip to New Mexico is in the very early nebulous state. One week or two? Fly or drive? Fly partway and drive in the middle? Drive the Miata or rent a car for the drive?

Plan A is to fly to Albuquerque for just a week and rent a car. Stumbling block number 1, but not a deal breaker, is you can’t rent a convertible there. Only one company, Budget, even listed one, but claims they are sold out. I can rent a convertible in Phoenix (465 miles away) for $560 a week or Denver (462 miles away) for $400 a week, heck we can rent one in Augusta, GA (1532 miles away), but that would mean a 2 week trip and the car rental would be $1,300.

You would think that New Mexico would be a great place for convertible rentals.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 442

Modern Science

When we remodeled the bathrooms a year and a half ago we bought fancy new toilets and the nice nice lady at the plumbing supply house tossed in some Plain Jane seats for free. Well, you get what you pay for, the thin paint on the seats has allowed moisture to enter the wood and the undersides were starting to get ugly.

We went to Lowes the other day to buy new seats. There before us stood the giant wall of toilet seats ranging in price from $20 to $80. We eliminated half instantly because we needed oblong not round. Half again were eliminated when we dismissed ones costing more the $35. We further cut the nominees half again because they were painted wood. In the end we opted for the $20 one because it had the flatter top and touted it self as anti-bacterial or anti-fungal or anti-something.

To top it off, it is slow closing. Twenty bucks and it lowers itself slowly and magically down once you give it a gentle push. Isn’t modern science wonderful?

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 440

The Emperor Takes A Drink

Train RideBecause we burnt nearly the whole tank of gas on Saturday, the low fuel light came on on the way to work this morning. After dinner we headed over to Kroger to fill up do a little shopping. As we pulled in, the gas station was jammed, every pump had a car at it and every aisle had at least one car waiting. I suggested we go inside and buy the couple items we needed, then maybe the lines would die down. They didn’t.

I voted we just get in line and wait. She countered with, “Just go to the Shell on Price Ave. and pay the extra.” I don’t usually shop for price, but Kroger is usually 15-20 cents cheaper than the Shell station and I just hate to pay that much more. I actually hate waiting in line more than paying two bucks more for a tank of gas, so off to Price we go.

As the the gallon total flew past the 11 mark, simultaneously to my thinking to myself, man it was really empty, the sound of splashing and the smell of gas keyed me to reach down and manually shut off the pump. Perfect, not only am I paying 20¢ extra, I’m pouring it on the ground. The only possible thing that could make this worse would be if I have to go inside to get the receipt…

Bingo!

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 438

Nowhere Man (& Woman)

Flagg Coal Company #75

Sunday by the numbers:
8 – O’clock wake up call
1 – Trip to the end of the driveway to get the paper
0 – Hours away from home
3 – Meals eaten in
0 – Caches found

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 437

98,000 Pieces of Coal

Loading CoalSaturday the MMC took a trip to Winnsboro to visit the South Carolina Railroad Museum. This weekend there was a visiting steam engine to give that old time feel (and smell) to your train ride. We combined the Club’s monthly breakfast with the train event, plus following the hour long train ride we drove to a nearby town for lunch making for almost a full day Miataness.

After lunch Donna and I went our separate ways from the group because we had an alternative agenda, that’s right, geocaching. Before leaving we made tentative dinner plans with another MMC couple to meet in Lexington at the Uno Chicago Grill at 5:30 to complete the Trifecta (all 3 meals out.)

Got all caught up chasing camo’d containers in the north central part of the state and ended up not being able to make it back to Lexington in time for pizza with Rudy & Patti. We were disappointed on two levels. With the dreary day and approaching of dusk we opted for the more direct way home from where we were and resigned ourselves to eat in Newberry at whatever place we could find. Luck was on our side though, willing to dine in a Hardee’s or a Subway, we stumbled on The Flying Pie on Main St and had a wonderful pizza about half way between the thin crust of West One in Hendersonville and the thick Chicago style pie in Lexington.

Saturday by the numbers:
299 – Miles driven on the day
98,000 – Total miles now on the Emperor
1 – Tank of gas used
5 – O’clock wake up call
14 – Hours from leaving home until returning
58° – High for the day, 20 below normal
9 – Cars in a line (7 Miatas, 1 Boxster and a Jeep)
11 – Mile train ride (5-1/2 under steam power)
100 – Pounds of coal burned by the train per mile traveled
8 – Caches found
3 – SC County Challenge caches and
2 – DeLorme Challenge pages finished

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 437

Alone in the Dark

I like computer work while in the dark. That’s why I love lighted keyboards. At home the only things that give off light are the monitor, a small light behind the monitor pointed at the wall giving a nice ambiance and the previously mentioned keyboard.

At work I have removed the florescence tubes from as many fixtures as my coworkers will let me get away with, the room my cube is in holds four people. And I also have added a couple thicknesses of plotter paper to the ones that still have bulbs to dim them a couple notches too. I have two small florescent fixtures under the cabinets to each side of me that provide a nice bit of task lighting. It’s as good as I’m going to get here.

My other three roommates were not there for various reasons today, so I had the place to myself. About mid morning I got up, walked to the front wall and turned off all the lights. There was one fixture up front over near the door that always stays on for emergencies, but it is out of my line of sight. Queued up some light New Age/Ambient music and aaaahh, almost like home.

Trouble was the quiet didn’t last for long, as about half the front office staff pass through up front on their way to places and nearly everyone of them when confronted with the darkness had a reaction. They either had to a) walk back to my cube and ask if I wanted it that way, b) walk back to see if I was sleeping, c) walk by while shouting out asking if I was there or d) walk through and turn on the lights.

By after lunch everyone was used to the new darkness and I was pretty much left alone and I got quite a bit of work done.

Including making a Boss’s Day Card from a template I found on the web, love the retro business look. Here is the cover and the inside just said, “Happy Boss’s Day.”

Boss's Day Card
* You know, now that I look at it, it has a slight homo-erotic feel. Or maybe that is just me.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 435