Real Time Update

A year or so back I added an RSS feed but I never bothered to post a link.

http://ram92.ods.org/blog/rss.xml

Have fun with it.

Blamo!

You know how it is. One minute you have a grovy topic to type up for you blog, and the next minute blamo! Your considering posting the subject lines from most interesting spam you received and what the weather is supposed to be like. How droll. What next, female bandits? Yes, we have all been there.

Here goes the weather. At lunch today the weather must have been up into the 40. Time to drop the lid for sure. I had definitely been experiencing withdrawal.

I finished up my homework today. Two days early. Simply amazing.

Ah, yes, it has returned. And not nearly as interesting as I remembed it being. As of yesterday, the oil is now gone. (Only 15 months later.) Happy Birthday Chad.

Oh yeah, I returned the hard top last weekend. More later.

A Week Of Wednesdays

A suspect you are waiting for a recap of the wild evening Jordan and I had last night. There is no such story to tell. It followed the usual script only a few of the cast members were missing. After picking him up, we headed to the homestead, completed his homework, played Nintendo, had dinner, played some more, and then off to bed. We did go out for dinner, but at one point that was in jeopardy. Jordan was concerned it would use up to much play time. After he got most of his mandatory playing done, he recanted and decided dinner out was a good idea, after all he was picking the destination. We headed out to O'Charley's. About halfway there he changed his mind and decided Casa Blanco would be muy bueno. [I did not attempt to influence his decision in any way whatsoever. Honest.]

Odometer Update

The Charger's odometer hit 5900 miles as I returned to work after lunch. It was 5905 when I arrived back home this afternoon.. We now know how far I drive to work. I take the long route too. [According to the blog, I got this car April 4, 2006, and it already had 450 miles on the clock.] Note to self: It's almost time for an oil change.

"Oh where, oh where, oh where, not there, oh where. My little hair brush!"

Not sure why that one popped back into my head.

Off to school...

Mundane

Today I will be having a pop-tart for breakfast. Blogging just doesn't get any better than this.

All the women folk are heading out of town today so Jordan and I will be living it up, man style. Whatever that means. I will get back to you once I figure that one out.

HW

I managed to start my homework much earlier in the week. Sunday I completed the first of three sections. Monday, the second. And Tuesday I finally got around to procrastinating so I guess I will have to finish it all up tonight.

It is Wednesday again already?

The Mid-Week Blahs

It sure feels like a Wednesday. How can it only be Tuesday. This has certainly been a long week already. This past weekend was cold and rainy. I am ready to get outside and bask in the glow of the sun, where ever it is.

GMC

Saturday morning I had a couple hours free so I drove up to Hazel Green to visit a salvage yard. I took my camera with me as my intention was to get a couple of photographs of the rear suspension of a late sixties vintage GM truck.

I have been considering swapping my leaf spring suspension for trailing arm/coil suspension. The trailing arm suspension is supposed to provide a more car-like ride. I climbed under an old truck an took as many photos as I deemed necessary. Making the switch would not be much work, nor would it cost much, assuming I got the parts from a salvage yard.

As I drove back home, I made my decision. I decided to leave the leaf springs alone. Why? Because the majority of the trucks were made with trailing arm suspension and at the time, the leaf springs on this model truck were not all that common. It just makes it feel more like a GMC.

Miata MPG

I filled up the tank on the little red car this morning. The last tank got 27 MPG. Not too bad considing it was all short trip mileage, and the gas pedal seems to be lightly sprung. Or is my foot just heavy?

I added a bottle of fuel injector cleaner when I filled it up last time. I believe that was back in December. The car has seemed a little peppier lately. Probably just my imagination.

I pulled the hard top off before heading to the gas station, but upon arriving there, I promptly put the soft lid up. I have been feeling cold for the last few days so I just could not take the 40 F degree temperature with the top down today. I guess I am getting soft(er).

How Did I Miss This One?

Did you know that the start and end dates for Daylight Savings Time are changing this year? Yes, the old "first Sunday in April" rule is out the window.

DST in the US and Canada will begin on March 11 in 2007 rather than early April. The end date for 2007 will beNovember 4th rather than in late October.

Cast Iron

As I sat here watching Jordan play Star Wars Lego on the Nintendo, waiting for the Barrett-Jackson Auction to start on the Speed Channel, I decided to find something to read. I have grown bored with YouTube and Google Video, as well as MySpace.

I headed over to Mr-Miata as it was the first blog I had ever read, and my motivation for starting my own blog. I thought I would traverse some of his links.

At the top of his list of Miata blogs is one called Ain't Chicken. I wonder why they didn't use Ain't Skeerd. Must have been taken. Off we go.

Now this is something I can relate to. This person, is obsessing over a purchasing a toaster oven. I am all about obsessing over purchases. Finding what you want is the high point of shopping and the research is the thrill of the hunt. Now don't think I enjoy shopping for shopping's sake, but how can one not enjoy shopping for a new power tool kitchen appliance. (Isn't a kitchen appliance just a power tool for the kitchen?) I fondly recall getting my first blender and food processor, and I was all for it when we got a Kitchen Aid. It's like a mini-drill press for the kitchen, only without drill bits or mortising attachments. I digress. Perhaps someday I will tell you about when I made my first purchase of Tupperware, wooden spoons, a cutting board, tea glasses, or the year I bought myself Revereware stainless steel mixing bowls for Christmas ('92). (These things I will liken to hand tools, as that is pretty much what they are. Hand tools for the kitchen.) (Each purchase is it's own story.) The mixing bowls by the way are the perfect size for making Toll House cookies. I digress again. And I haven't even mentioned Amazon.com yet. But this post is about cast iron.

So over on Ain't Skeerd Chicken, Carol asks "Who needs new cast iron?" Why me of course.

Back in college, I decided it was time to learn how to fry okra. I know you are probably tired of reading about me frying okra, but I promise I want mention it again until this summer, after I finish up here.

To fry okra properly you need a few things. The primary ingredient is of course a cast iron skillet. I had no relatives dying off leaving me their cast iron, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending upon how you look at it, so I obtained some new cast iron from Wal-Mart. A very sensible 8" skillet for frying okra and a nice 6" skillet for making cornbread just like dear old Dad. (I even used his recipe, verbally passed down a whole generation.) A few years later I got a more reasonable 10" Lodge skillet which allows for a larger batch of okra, or perhaps some chicken.

My first experience seasoning a skillet was less than optimal. It required some Crisco, and a little guess work on my part, but no cleavage. I seem to recall I set off the smoke alarm in my efficiency apartment. Glory days.

I think I just found the cure for blogger's block. Now you will have to excuse me as I resume my normal blog subject matter: a red Miata and an old rusty truck.

I never got a deviled egg tray, but then some things should be reserved for the girls.

I think the auction has started. Latter I need to head back over there and find out if "Ain't Chicken" refer's to dare devel stunts or the fried stuff.

This weekend I discovered a BBC show called Top Gear. My Tivo doesn't think it exists but there are plenty of clips on YouTube and Google Video. (I posted a link to a clip of this show yesterday.) The episode on the Ford GT is pretty fun. And the convertible mini-van.

Today the Miata is sporting a different top. A hard top. David # 31 has a hard top that he rarely uses and is considering parting with it. I decided to give it a test drive. First impressions (as compared to the vinyl top) : Better visibility out the rear window; the door seals better, no water "spray" when it is raining; and more head room. It also gives the car a somewhat different appearance, though one might say a Miata with the top up is a completely difference car than a Miata with the top down, at least from the inside.

The only real drawback is that the top is not as easy to drop, though I expect with a little practice, it could be dropped on one's foot.

Seven minutes into this video, there is a convertible mini-van. Crazy. These guys understand the convertible thing, but I think they selected the wrong vehicle.

I went shopping for some new clothes for work today. My pants had begun to fray along the cuffs and needed to be replaced. Clothes shopping is not something normal people enjoy but it is something that must be done.

While I was out I went by Harbor Freight to exchange a caster. The caster in question had the axle bolt hole drilled off center so it did not role smoothly. It wasn't off but just a little bit either, it was more than a 1/4". I realize the products their are not exactly high quality, you definitely get what you pay for at HF, but they graciously made the exchange and all is now good.

We have had wonderful weather here for the last couple of days. It was supposed to rain but it never happened. I suppose all the forecaseed rain was dropped on someone else as ice.

No real progress made on the truck this weekend. Maybe next week.

TGIF And It's About Time

This was a really long work week considering it was only 4 days long. I am about ready for a vacation.

The peanut gallery pointed out I didn't proof read my last post. That is not my job anymore. For the record, it was my Miata I almost jumpted out of. Actually it was more like being launched like a rocket, but that was a location situation. You would have had to have been there to really understand.

January 16 the Barrett-Jackson auction begins. Six days of people paying outrageous money for some really nice cars. I have already setup the Tivo to record all 40 hours of the broadcast auction. That's ok though because I have an entire year to watch it. Someday I would like to go to the auction. Someday. Do you get it? You probably don't get it.

Yesterday I visited the dentist. I visit the dentist every four months, not every six like most people. You may be wondering why. So am I. Perhaps it is for the free dental floss.


Today Tammy volunteered to proof read my blog for me. Actually she suggested I use a spell checker. Unfortunately the spell check does not correct my bad grammar. I will be setting up a login for her and providing you with her email address so that you can send her a nasty graham each time you find a misspelled word or any bad grammar. (Yeah, I intentionally misspelled gram to emphasize my point about the spell checker.)


This evening while driving home from school I happened to be a couple hundred yards behind an RV. Suddenly I am nearly jumping out of my because I hear what sounds like a train locomotive horn right there in the Miata with me. After three or four blasts I realize there is not a train following me down Nance Road but rather the sound is coming from the RV a few hundred yards ahead of me. I was amazed at how loud the horn was even from that distance. The RV continued to blast the horn intermittently as it drove down Mount Zion Road. It eventually turned in to a construction site. I am not certain whether it was the church or the water pumping station. Regardless, if your out later tonight, swing by there and lay on your horn for a while, preferably while this guy is trying to get some sleep.


As usual, I had a few potentially interesting topics I was planning to mention. As usual, I didn't make any notes so they have been lost, probably forever.

A friend of mine has a silver 2006 Pontiac Solstice he is trying to sell. If you're interested, I can get you more information. It is a pretty sharp car.

I think I failed to document the last effort on the truck. That has been a few weeks so I am not even sure what I did. Let's see, I think I painted the spindles, the transmission cross member, and the high flow grill off the Miata. The grill is looking good and should be back on the car this weekend.

Spring semester starts tomorrow. Yippee or something like that.

My So-Called-Space

is pretty pathetic.

Miata odometer: Still 100,774

And the Charger's odometer (5784) hasn't changed in a week either, but we are back from Disney World and that will soon change.

Disney Report

High Point: Not knowing or caring what day of the week it was. Even Jordan was uncertain at one point.

Low Point: Blister on little toe.

Miata odometer: 100,774

2007

Time off is a good thing. The extended weekend was nice, but you haven't seen nothing yet. Tomorrow we are heading for Disney World.