Rants

Helicopter Traffic Reports

In NYC’s competitive news market you just have to have a helicopter to cover breaking news (or just in case a low speed chase breaks out.) And while you have one you can use it for traffic reports in the morning and evening. WB11 the New York affiliate of the Warner Brothers fledgling TV network was giving a helicopter traffic report from a hanger somewhere. The reporter was reading while just sitting on the ground. Maybe they can’t afford to own a chopper, but the budget does allow for renting the cockpit out. Maybe I’m being harsh. It was raining that morning so they probably couldn’t fly because of the weather. They still had a traffic report, so it begs the question, why have the helicopter in the first place…oh yeah, low speed chases.

Holiday Inn II

We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Rock Hill, SC. We got 2 adjoining rooms, one for Donna & I and one for Donna’s mom. While Mom was sitting reading she noticed a parade of ants on the nightstand. We checked on the bed and fortunately there weren’t any. Donna & her mom killed a bunch of them, so when she called the front desk to complain and they offered to move us, we just said no. In the morning the ants were back in full force. It was either a search party looking for their missing companions or a funeral procession. After breakfast Donna’s mom stopped to remind them of their ant problem in room 104. (When we checked out they were nice enough not to charge us for the room even though we didn’t bitch and moan about their crappy motel.)

I Don’t Mind Go Ahead

Last night I went to Mail Boxes, Etc. to print up the Aiken Bicycle Club newsletter. I was standing at the copier looking out the window when this woman pulls into the spot next to my car. I pulled into an end spot and all the way to one side, so no one could open a door into it, but I hadn’t prepared for this contingency. She opens the hatch of her Grand Cherokee and pulls out a big box. Now with her hands full she has no way to close the hatch. So she walks over to my car and places her box on my trunk! Closes the hatch, picks up the box and comes inside to mail it. As she is standing in line I walk up to her and say, “Next time I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t use my car as a box stand.” She replies with, “but your shirt matches the pretty blue of your car. Besides I didn’t have any where else to put it.” “You wouldn’t want me to sit on the hood of car just because it looked inviting would you,” was all I could come up as I walked away shaking my head.

$345 Squirrel

The chimney sweep had to do some masonry work to extract the carcass of the squirrel that had somehow managed to lodge himself into a crack in some bricks. We think he squeezed past the chimney screening, fell down the flue and when he couldn’t climb back up he tried to escape via a loose brick and failed. So instead of the $150 he added another 50 for brick work and another 50 for the tighter fitting (and hopefully squirrel-proof) chimney cap. Add that the 95 smackers on last Friday for the pest control visit. We get one expensive squirrel. Should have had the thing stuffed, rotting looking skull and all.

Still some flys appearing on the living room window and dead on the floor in front of it. Donna asked me to put a black plastic bag over the fireplace opening for a couple days, hopefully whatever flies aren’t dead by now will be when we take the plastic off in a couple weeks.

I Smell Dead Things II

The smell is gone, but everyday this week when we get home from work there have been any where from 3 to 6 big ol’ flies buzzing around on the living room window. So I know there is something dead somewhere. I call the pest control folks back and ask for a return trip. The fellow shows up and goes over to the fireplace and notices a faint smell and a couple more flies. He says you need to call a chimney sweep as we don’t clean out dead things from chimneys. I called and left a message. Later in the evening the sweep returns our call and surprisingly he says he can come out tomorrow (Saturday.) It will be $129-159 depending on the size of the animal he has to extract. Come on over, I tell him.

Miata Magazine

When Mazda introduced the car there was already a national Club in the works. The crown jewel benefit of belonging to the national Club has always been a glossy full-color magazine published quarterly and now bi-monthly. When I bought my first Miata in November 1989 I received Issue #2 free as an enticement to join the Club. The magazine was chock full of stories and letters dealing with how-tos and best of all ads for all kinds of geegaws to make your Miata faster, prettier or just different. I ordered Issue #1 and the collection started.

It has been a tumultuous last couple of years with the magazine changing hands and the first Club folding because the “President” and founder were cooking the books. They almost took the Magazine with them, but the Miata community got behind the publisher and saved the day. And now with Mazda behind it, we have a new Club and it’s members get the magazine.

My membership expired in March, and I don’t plan on renewing it. I’ve gotten the last 2 magazines anyway, but I don’t enjoy it or need it anymore. The informative letters have been replaced by the internet, the ads with cool products have been replaced by bookmarks to websites and the stories are no longer a mix of fiction and product reviews, but seem to be just quasi-ads to upgrade to high performance turbos or $2000 big brake kits. I’m sure there is a market and clamor for this stuff, but it is not me.

I guess in the 13 years I’ve owned a Miata, I have changed and the magazine has changed, so it is not for me anymore. I just hate to see the Magazine collection stop.

Small Town Living

Possibly the only real negative thing about living in a small town is the inability to get a slightly off-beat item on short notice. The stores are like 3/4 scale models of the ones elsewhere, so they don’t stock a real wide variety of merchandise. I had a idea (I know what you are thinking, keep it to yourself please) about a prize for a little contest I’m running for the Miata Club. Well, you get it in this town. Fortunately I have a couple weeks, allowing me to order it over the net and get it on time. If I needed by this Friday like I first thought I would have been shit out of luck.