Finalized The Route

Didn’t make the post office so the mix will get mailed on the deadline date of Monday, sigh. Speaking of post office, they delivered my J. C. Whitney package today, at work, it should be waiting for me on Monday.

The evening was spent on a drive to finalize the route for this coming Friday’s full moon rally with the Miata Club. Got it down to 47 from 60 making it a 10 minutes shorter ride. Hopefully it won’t rain. It hasn’t all this week, as you can tell from the top transition count being stuck at the same number.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 205

I Smell Dead Things

Thursday evening while hooking up the new DVD player I thought I smelt a dead animal smell. Again on Friday when I passed thru the living room on the way out the front door to get the paper I caught another whiff. When I got to work I called the pest control folks and asked them to come out and check under the house for carcasses. We have had trouble with possums before and I thought maybe we had a dead one under there. The fellow came out and looked all under the house but could not find anything. He did say he could see where a possum or something was under there. He spotted some fleas so along with the smell killer he sprayed under the house for fleas. Friday I swear the smell was still there faintly. Saturday as well, but Donna nor her mom, who spend more time in the living room than I, have said anything, so I ain’t saying anything until they do.

Still No J.C. Whitney Delivery

The package was coming from the same area (midwest US), was lighter and they charged $10 vs. zero and it ain’t here. No wonder UPS is kicking the USPS’s butt. Actually got my CD Mix of the Month done today. I waited until the last day to sign up and thought I would end up mailing on the deadline date too, but it looks like I’ll send them out tomorrow, 2 days early. Can’t really gloat though, as I have yet to post the track listing from last month’s mix…

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 205

USPS Package Tracking

A couple of days ago I whined about J.C. Whitney charging $9.95 to ship a 1.25 pound package to me. They also gave me a tracking number. If you have ever followed a UPS package on line they let you know every step of the way where your shipment is, by contrast the USPS thing leaves a lot to be desired. They tell you that the status is updated every evening, but don’t say when in the evening and my status didn’t change from the 13th until the 15th. Not only that the last entry says my package arrived in Aiken at 12:00AM on the 15th, but I didn’t get it today. I guess I’ll have to wait until Monday. Contrast that to the UPS delivery (click on the detail button) of my new DVD player, which I got Thursday morning thank you very much.

Snake’s Nest Of Wiring

Got the DVD player this morning and spent most of the evening hooking it up. Wouldn’t have taken that long, but I took this opportunity to clean up the snake’s nest of wiring and patch cable behind the entertainment center. Cool thing about the player is that if you put a DVD in it, the TV automatically turns on and switches to the correct video input. Think I’ll put off the next couple of Miata mods and buy a JVC receiver and VCR to complete the package, this compulink thing is coool.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 205

J.C. Whitney

I bought some fru-fru for the Miata the other day – $7.95. Some stainless steel stone guards to put over the 7″ round headlights. It’s not like I travel any gravel roads or anything, I just thought it would look kind of retro (and different.) They charged me $9.95 for shipping! They can’t weigh much and they are sending the stuff via the US Postal Service, so $5 would be more like it. Maybe this rant shouldn’t be so specific because they are not the only ones who probably make a good percentage of their profits from the so-called shipping & handling charges. FWIW, Best Buy is shipping me my new DVD player for Free!

Drive Past Where You Normally Turn

Another to and from work drive day for the Miata, the only things different were the routes. We like to mix it up and drive a slightly different way to work each day of the week. Try it you’ll like it. The best one to do first, if you have a set route you take to work every day, is to as you are about to make the last turn, don’t take it. Go on up to the next street and come back to the work parking lot from a different direction. Even if it is a 1/4 mile further along, the feeling of freedom generated by “driving past” where you normally turn will be worth it.

Called Serious Auto up and asked if they had got my order. They had, they just hadn’t changed the tracking stuff because they couldn’t yet. The spark plug wires are on back order, so no UPS yet. The mats will be drop shipped right from the manufacturer, so no tracking number will be available.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 205