Only 1623 Days And This Puppy is Mine

Retractable Hard Top Miata

Today Mazda released some photos of the new 2007 Retractable Hard Top MX-5. It is power operated and adds about 80 lbs to the car. The big thing is it does not encroach on any of the existing trunk space. Now we know why the trunk is shaped the way it is.

Everyone questioned why they make the lid so short, why was it reshaped to be slightly bigger, but less usably shaped. When I look back at the new car’s introduction photos they showed a bare frame and it seemed like there was a lot of empty space below the storage area for the folded soft top. They added some behind the seat storage area plastic cubby holes in there, even put covers on them in the higher trim levels. Obviously they were thinking of this folding hard top contraption from the very begining.

They must not be so proud of the direct side view with the top up because of the angle this shot was taken from. There is another image that shows the top mid-change directly from the side and the hard boot cover has some funky looking bulges in it…

Top Up View

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 213

They Know Me Too Well

They Know Me To WellThis morning when I walked down the main aisle to the mail room to see what exciting things might be in my slot, I spotted a dead palmetto bug, AKA: Big Ol’ Roach, right there on the carpet.

This is not a totally surprising sight, but what usually happens with this sort of incident is that tens of people will walk by the carcass several times a day and not do anything about it. They are always careful not to step on the roach, but will be sure they are looking the other way when passing so as to not be saddled with the responsibility of having to dispose of the body. Sometimes even the “cleaning lady” will waltz pass on her rounds emptying trash cans and not do anything either.

I figured that if this poor bug was going to be lying around all day it deserved a proper bit of roadside memorial, so I took some white strips of Velcro and a push pin and constructed a cross for it.

Within the first half hour of the day I had no less than 4 people ask me if I did that…

Monday

What do you want? I’m just glad it’s over.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 212

Happy Father’s Day

My father wasn’t much of a presence and I’m not one at all, so today is pretty much just another Sunday.

Donna and I did take advantage of the nicer morning weather and go for a short walk in Hitchcock Woods. I took the camera and snapped a couple of uninspired images. I realized that I had started a gallery for one image from the woods per month and I was a couple months behind. I posted a shot from today and because May was a total wash out due to weather and chemo, I added a May photo from last year. Sorry, but the thumbnails in the gallery are still not working, so I’ll just link you right to today’s image: Palmetto Ride.

I did spend a little quality time with the closest thing I have to a son, the Emperor. Pulled the vampire teeth back out of the mouth as they had served their purpose. Changed the oil as it had served its purpose for the last 3000+ miles. I usually rotate the tires at this point, but these are only a couple hundred miles into their lives so I left them on their respective corners. I did take them off the car though. The center caps were starting to turn yellow, so I repainted them with some Duplicolor silver wheel paint. This was a known issue with these center caps, as in 1998 when they first appeared on the Miata, there was an undocumented TSB as the caps were turning yellow within a few months. I know the history of these wheels and they were replaced under warranty way back in late 1998. So the replacements have held up pretty well, needing retouching only after close to 8 years.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 210

I’m a Dork

Donna and I got up early this morning and took a tandem ride. It was a very unsummer-like 65 degrees around sun up, perfect for a bit of exercise. I even wore a light jacket for the first part of the ride. As we rounded the next to the last turn on the way home Donna called out from the back that we had been 9.25 miles. I replied, “I can take a hint.” and turned right instead of left and made a little extra loop to put us over into double digits mileage-wise. Tomorrow the morning is supposed to be cool again, so we have a walk in Hitchcock Woods planned.

Dork

I’ve petitioned the Encyclopedia Britannica to place the above picture next to dork in it’s next edition. That’s me on the right. And I guess that it goes without saying, poor John Nichols, must be one too by association. The photo was taken just inside the festival grounds at the Ridge Peach Festival in Trenton, SC just after we had driven in the parade. I think I’m a bigger dork, because John doesn’t have Vampire Teeth on his car.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 210

Practicing My Parade Wave

Put the Vampire Teeth back in the mouth and washed the car. Tomorrow is the Ridge Spring Peach Festival and the MMC is in the parade…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 207

Damn the Consequences

In my usual cavalier manner I just went ahead loaded up Windows Vista Beta 2 on this here laptop last night.

It wasn’t until afterwards, when I realized the laptop was running real slow, that I checked to see if my machine was up to the minimum requirements for the software. It wasn’t.

It wasn’t until I decided to unload Vista that I realized that I didn’t get any restore discs with the laptop. I went to Dell.com’s support site and discovered that the recovery software was built in to the computer. Reboot, hit the Ctrl + F11 keys and I get nothing. I guess that is what I get for doing a clean install, must have overwritten that partition…oops.

Back to the support area. I tried the live chat to see what I had to do to get some restore discs. According to the CSR, because I was out of warranty I was not entitled to the discs. When I went home at lunch there was a message on the answering machine that said they were mistaken I could in fact get a restore disc, just call them. Only they didn’t leave a number.

Live chat #2 and this time they thought I should get the disc(s) right off. Ten minutes later I was told to expect my restore stuff in 2-3 business days.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 206