Wednesday, May 31, 2006

You Are Here

Which is pretty amazing considering how iffy my network connection has been. Obviously I am still having internet problems. Hopefully everything will get resolved tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Please stand By

My web server has apparently been unavailable off and on for the past few days. The problem is with my ISP, not my server. A truck will be rolling out Thursday to find nothing wrong. At this point they will tell me nothing is wrong. I am sure that will be very comforting.

Monday, May 29, 2006

While I was out filling up the Miata tonight I did a quick of the mileage on the last tank.

27.1 MPG

My first thought was my mileage per gallon is down. Then I did a little thinking and realized all my driving recently has been stop and go around town. Suddenly 27.1 MPG doesn't seem so bad.

It was probably a little lower before the rollbar.
The long weekend ended with a pleasant trip out in the Miata to the ATM and the fill'in station. Perfect weather for crusin' in El Modo Miata.

This evening we enjoyed a pleasant gathering at the neighbors. The kids enjoyed some time in the pool we we all enjoyed some excellent smoked chicken.

This afternoon I piddled around the shop a little bit. Didn't get much done but I did get a cross member and a couple of engine mounts degreased. The frame is pretty much finished up but I still have several miscellaneous pieces that need to be sandblasted and painted.

My internet connection has been spotty for the last couple of days. It has quit a twice in the last two days. I called customer support. A truck is rolling out to see us in a couple of days. In the mean time it is back up. Hmmm.

I signed up for a couple more classes last week. That should keep me busy for the summer.

Tune in next week to read about the weather and how the grass is growing.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

To show you that I must have to much free time on my hands, I will mention that I have been considering a cosmetic re-vamp of this visually dull site. I invested a couple of hours into 'remembering' CSS. Re-armed with this knowlege I set out to redesign this page. BAM! There does not seem to be a drop of creativity in me. I guess that project will just get canned.

Please continue to enjoy the gray background.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Miata rollbar was delivered today. A day early by the tracking estimate. I believe it has been 10 weeks since the first bar was delivered. Today's delivery was in reasonable shape. The corners of the box looked tattered, again, but the bar was ok.

I went ahead and installed it today. Pictures soon.

Monday, May 15, 2006

According to FedEx tracking there is a package due to arrive here in a few days. With any luck it will not be not a Miata roll bar.

I hope to not begin using triple and quadriple negatives in a sentence anytime soon. Should I have to, I don't think it will be much of a problem to craft a wit-less remark or two thanks to the electical engineering digital logic class I took while at Auburn which covered boolean logic extensively. Now if only I could spell and use correct grammar for extended periods of time. That perhaps is too lofty a goal.

In other mundane news, the sod in the back yard is taking nicely. Of course the weeds are coming in nicely also.

GMC Update

The bottom side of the frame has finally received it's final coat of paint. Two more passes on the top side and it will be time to select a new short term goal.

The top three contenders for a new goal are: 1) transmission cross member, 2) front suspension components, and 3) rear suspension components including the leaf springs and the differential. I will probably select the first simply because it will be the least time consuming. I need a few quick successes after spending all that time on the frame.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Shhh! Don't tell me how it ends. I am just now getting around to watching last weeks European Grand Prix from Germany. The last race was really close all the way to the last lap.

This weekend is the Spanish Gran Prix. I need to finnish (spelled with 2 'n's as a tribute to Kimi) up the german race so I will have plenty of room on the Tivo.

Still pulling for Ferrari. Hopefully they will gain a few points on Renault this weekend. And last weekend too. I should have the answer to the second part in another hour or so.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Two Wednesdays back I called to check the status of the Roll Bar. They told me the replacement was being shipped that day. I called back two days later to get a tracking number. They said they didn't have one but the package was on the way.

Last Wednesday I called again to check on the status and to try to get a tracking number again. Same story. I should have received it already. Call back on Friday if you still don't have it.

I finally called back today. They claim it must have been lost in shipping. They are supposedly going to file a claim and ship another one out tomorrow.

Recap:
1. Received original bar damaged.
2. Second box contained incorrect contents.
3. Third package lost in transit.
4. Fourth package ships out today.

What are the odds one order could get messed up three times. What about four?

I originally ordered this mod on March 2. What month is it?
I had one last thought for today, but then I lost it.

It had nothing to do with the storm this evening.

It had nothing to do with my 20th HS reunion next year.

It had nothing to do with the Miata and the fact that the top is up due to the storm this evening.

It had nothing to do with the Charger.

It had nothing to do with the GMC.

It had nothing to do with the 2006 DixieLand Metal Meet.

Ah, yes, now I remember. It did have something to do with the Miata, at least a mod for the Miata.
I gave the frame a once over tonight. The paint applied on Sunday looks good. Perhaps I can finish up the frame paint this weekend.
I got my grade for the class I just finished. A.
Yesterday I received a mysterious package in the mail. It contained a mysterious GMC truck horn button. It is much nicer than my mysterious steering wheel.

Thank you Mysterious Mike.

I was amused to see a letter in the envelope. Can you guess why?

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Truck Update

After several hours of sanding yesterday and today, I slapped some paint on the truck frame this afternoon. A least a portion of the frame now has its final coat of paint.

As much time and effort as I have put into that, I would say slapped is a bit of an understatement in effort.
Terry got her new car on Friday. A redfire 2006 Mustang GT. She is bringing here next weekend so I smoke off the tires.
This next entry is from last Thursday. I was unable to post it then.
The power is out.

It is amazing how as soon as the power goes out, the kids think there is nothing to do.

And the Green Grass Grows All Around

Back in 1993 I had a conversation with a couple of friends at work. We were eaves dropping on some older guys who were talking about the grass in their yards. I mentioned that one might seem pretty pathetic if all they had to talk about was their grass.

Several years later, we all sitting around talking about our grass. I guess it seems more interesting when you actually have a yard. I recalled the previous conversation and we all had a good laugh.

Having said all that...

This past weekend, he had sod put down in our backyard. We have been very lucky in that it has pretty much rained every single day since then. The green color sure beats the red clay it is covering up, even if the sod does have a few weeds in it. How can one tell they are there? Well the weeds have really grown alot due to the rain. Hopefully the grass will take too.

Odometer Report

Today the charger rolled over the 1k mark on the odometer.

In other related car news, today my sister bought a 2006 Ford Mustang. Refire Metallic. Or as the Mopar folks call it inferno red. Or as the Mazda folks call it garnet red.

I tried to convince her a new Miata was the way to go, but unfortunately she almost got run over by an ESUVEE while taking the test drive. Bummer.

No living vicariously through her and her new Miata. Perhaps she will let me burn some rubber off the Mustang tires though.

Sunday while driving on the I-565 I was playing with the MPG estimation gauge on the Charger. It is rated 17-25 MPG. It currently seems to get the best mileage at 60 mph. Roughly 26.4 on a nice flat road if you can believe the computer. Slow down to 50 and it drops off some. Speed up to 70 and it drops off a little also. This won't keep me from driving 70 in a 70 though.

While playing the MPG I managed to get the gauge up to around 35 MPG, but only briefly. I also managed to sit at a stop sign and watch it drop by 0.1 MPG second. To bad I can't get 35 MPG for real in this car.

The power is back on. Hurray! I sure am glad the battery in my laptop was charge.
Still having trouble posting from time to time. A lot of really mundane stuff has not made it to the blog. And some really exciting stuff too. Perhaps a synopsis of this later.
Its Got Some Spam In It

Got my first spam comment today. Enabled the annoying feature requiring commentors to type in the word to verify that you are not a spam-bot. Sorry folks.

And if your interested, it appears you can get any degree you want in just two weeks.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Several times in the last couple of weeks I have had something interesting to say only to discovery I couldn't blog. Hmph!

The same was true earlier this evening. I was going to write about racing a storm home. I won and the top stayed down but unfortunately you have missed out on all the very exciting/mundane details.

Monday, May 01, 2006