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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought the Mazda MX-5 that belonged to my mechanic (or, both of my mechanics. Or both of my mechanics and one wife. Or something like that). Just actually going through the process of buying the car was interesting enough, since it was a private party sell, with a lien on the car on their end, and I wanted to take out a loan to buy it. As a dutiful little ex-UT student, with a tiny savings account that's been there for 8 years now, I went over to UFCU for my loan and for instruction on how to actually manage to buy the car. They politely enough told me everything that was needed. John and Dan (the mechanics) and I agreed on a price for the car, so all that was left to do was fill out all the paperwork. Oh, the paperwork. You see, the car, the loan, etc. were all in Dan's wife's name. As a result, she was the one who needed to come to UFCU with me to sign all the paperwork, and she had a great deal of paperwork to bring. It turns out she wasn't able to find all the paperwork, but this was not a major issue because the needed information was available online. Only it turned out John hadn't renewed the registration on the car, and UFCU wouldn't fund a car with expired registration (can't transfer the title, anyway, I think). So Dan's wife and I went and found a Williamson County tax office and paid the needed fees. We returned to the UFCU, finished the paperwork, and I vroomed off to go demand the "keys" to my car from John and Dan. They of course happily obliged. After I spent a few hours showing off the car at work (and doing some real work, too, I swear!), I returned to the shop to meet nugget who wanted to show off his new 911. I also discussed the autocross that weekend with Dan, and we decided I should leave the MX-5 there. Dan was kind enough to bring the car back to the shop and put the street tires back on after the autocross, so I could have it to drive to work Monday morning. I'm very thankful to him for that. So I actually got to have my car for a week, and it was great. I love this car. It's an absolute blast to drive. The steering is very responsive and body roll is minimized. The ride can definitely be rough, but that's something I'm happy to accept for the way the car feels around corners. The throttle response is fast and lively, and though the car doesn't have the push the supercharged '94 has, in the "real world" on the street it has enough power to leave me happy. The exhaust is loud - sometimes a bit louder than I wish - but it has a rich sound to it. It turns heads without rattling windows. If I'm driving quietly, it's not noticeable to people indoors behind closed windows. The second weekend I owned it, the first weekend I had it at the house, I washed the car. It was filthy. The top was covered in cat hair, there was bird poop all over the back, and there was a thick layer of dirt all over the poor thing. It got a bath and I discovered that the paint was in need of some care. During the week, after some googling and reading Autopia, I decided I'd use Zaino on the car. This is not a "wax" but a "polish," since it's artificial rather than from natural ingredients like carnauba wax. It's also supposed to last longer than an application of Zymöl. We still had enough Zymöl Clear for a few washings so I didn't order a car shampoo from Zaino. I did order Z-18 Clay Bar, ZFX Flash Cure Additive, Z-5 Polish, Z-2 Polish, and Z-6 Ultra Clean Spray. That's a lot of stuff. The clay bar was obviously to try to get the paint as clean as possible. The Flash Cure additive was recommended... Apparently there used to be a "Z-1" that was a recommended step in the process that's been replaced with ZFX. Whatever. I obeyed the instructions, even if I didn't understand. The Z-5 polish is supposed to help hide fine lines in the paint, while the Z-2 can highlight lines, but has a better look than the Z-5 (or so the documentation says). The Z-6 is a finishing spray that helps layers of polish bind and helps reduce dust buildup on the final layer of polish. And so yesterday, in 10°C (50°F) windy weather, I washed the car with the Zymöl Clear. This was remarkably not-bad, given my aversion to cold and the extensive use of cold tap water! But this was followed by the clay bar. The temperature made this torture for me. The clay bar requires the car to be lubricated, which means water with a bit of soap. I found my hand was the best application tool for the water to get exactly the coating needed by the clay. The downside of this? My left hand was constantly wet in cool temperatures with a lot of wind. Even when I warmed the water in the bucket, my hands were still so very cold. Despite the cold, using the clay bar was a very satisfying process. I had read that I'd feel the bar move more easily across the paint as that part of the paint became clean. This absolutely was the case. The bar went from moving easily across the paint to moving like an air hockey puck moves across the air hockey table. I could see the fine particles of dirt it was pulling off of the paint and had to rotate the bar frequently. The flat areas of the car - the hood and the trunk - were actually much more dirty (post-wash, pre-clay-bar) than the sides of the car, even around the wheel wells. Every time I washed the '94 Miata, I felt like I didn't really get the car completely clean. This time? I felt like the car (or at least the paint) was clean. By this point in time, my left hand was PAINFUL and I was cold so I went inside for a break. When I returned, I washed the car with Clear again (fastest car wash EVER!), dried it very carefully, and prepped the Z-5 for the first application of polish. The ZFX comes in a tiny little dropper, very much like the droppers some liquid food color comes in (a bit smaller than those, though). It also comes with 2oz mixing bottles. One is supposed to mix 1-2oz of the desired polish with 4-5 drops of ZFX per ounce, not exceeding 10 drops in one 2oz mixing bottle. So I filled one of the bottles to just over half full with Z-5 and added five drops of ZFX. The Z-5 is lavender, opaque, and somewhat thick. The ZFX is dark blue and very thin. Shake to combine. This was rubbed onto the paint a few drops at a time leaving a swirled haze on the paint. I left in to dry (Yay INSIDE!). Once dry, I rubbed it off and applied the Z-6. Though all of this was time consuming, it didn't really require a lot of muscle from me, so though my hands hurt from the cold and my back was sore from the bending, I wasn't really all that tired and I avoided sore muscles and joints. But that was just one coat of Z-5! This polish says it looks better as more coats are applied, and the Z-2's supposed to be the really pretty one! So today, I went back and applied the Z-2. It's a very similar process to the Z-5, except the Z-2 is pink instead of lavender and it took a bit more muscle to rub off the car. I also used the Z-6 to get off what little dust accumulated on the car overnight before applying this next coat of polish. I finished the car with one more go-over with the Z-6, and took it to the sun for some pictures. I still don't have a good picture of the car's color, but there are some interesting pictures of the details of the paint. The painted surfaces of the car are now very, very smooth to the touch, and this polish seems a lot more fingerprint resistant than the Zymöl is. Though it took a lot of time, the Zaino took less force from me to use than the Zymöl, and so far, I'm quite happy with the results. I'm hoping this will last longer than both the full Zymöl and the Zymöl cleaner-wax. Even clean and essentially waxless, this "Nordic Green" color got a lot of comments. I'm hoping it looks even better now, with all the work I put into it. Oh! And I forgot to mention, Mazda has done some very, very nice things with this new MX-5. With the top down but the windows and wind blocker up, there's very little outside airflow in the cabin. This, combined with the powerful heater, means staying warm on cold top-down days is even easier. There are also three stages of vents into the cabin, with an added one between the normal floor and dash levels. This lets me have the wind blowing my hair while keeping my legs and lower body toasty warm without multiple layers of clothing. The top is easier to use, the fancy key is really convenient (unless someone messes with the cables, or so Dan tells me), the steering wheel stereo controls are great, the cruise control is a joy to use... This car is better than my '94 in so many ways. I'm so happy to have it. Tags: cars, miata
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Yesterday, Nugget and I had quite a busy day. It started with a trip to John and Dan's shop where we got our cars tech'd for autocrossing this year. Mine failed... The battery wasn't fully bolted down. I had been wondering what that clank was. I yelled at Dan about it (Dan had replaced my battery recently), Dan fixed it and then yelled at the guy who failed me (all of us joking about it, of course). I left my car at the shop as Nugget and I went to Red's Indoor Range, the north location. Nugget had brought his two Glocks and we rented a gun for me. We tried to rent a Sig P239, but it was behaving oddly. The gun would only fire in double action. So we mentioned it to the range employee standing behind us, and he took it back out and brought me another gun to try. This gun, however, had a grip shaped for a specific size finger, and my fingers are much smaller. This leaves one of my fingers on a ridge and is really uncomfortable. So, he went back, again, and brought out an HK USP Compact that shot 9mm. Nugget says this gun fires more like the Glocks than the Sig does, but, well... This one didn't confuse us. I shot nearly an entire pack of ammo and though I enjoyed it, I think I'd like some instruction. We finished up at the range and drove into Pflugerville looking for food. We ended up at a little BBQ place on 1825/Pecan Street. I quite enjoyed my brisket sandwich. After this, we headed up to the Pontiac dealership. If I'm gonna buy a new MX-5, I should at least test drive the competition to make sure the MX-5 is the one I want, right? Well, apparently, the only new Solstice on their lot was an automatic and in the showroom, but there was a 2006, used. So I drove that. The salesperson wouldn't let Nugget come with me - he had to come. Poor Nugget. So, the salesperson and I headed out. Before we even left the parking lot, I knew I didn't like the shifter. It didn't do well going into gear while the car was stopped. It wasn't enough to be a problem, it just wasn't as nice as the MX-5. We get out of the lot and I play with the gears as we head down a very straight street. I made it up to third before deciding that was fast enough for the roadway, then I shifted back down to second. Since I didn't know the car well, I couldn't rev match effectively, so the downshift was a bit unclean. The salesperson said, "I think you got it in second, there." "Yes, that was intentional." What, has that guy never heard of downshifting? Yeah, ok, I did it poorly, but still. We went down some back roads. Pretty quickly, the salesperson asked me what I thought of it. Really, it's a GM car and I haven't driven many GMs, so I wasn't sure yet, and told him as much. Accelerating away from one stop sign I got the back tires to chirp going into second, but the acceleration was a bit disappointing. I could definitely tell that the engine was fighting against the greater weight of the car, in that regard. Eventually, we finally came upon a sweeping curve where I could try to get a feel for the car's handling. Of course, as soon as I started into the curve at an aggressive pace, the salesperson told me to "take it easy, that's fast enough." Well, no, it wasn't quite fast enough. I could only just barely feel the car talking back to me at this point. Still, it wasn't feeling as fun as the MX-5. On the way back to the dealership I got a chance to feel the car at highway speeds. I'd hate to try and pass on a two lane road in this car. Even downshifting, it wouldn't accelerate well. So the Solstice was a real disappointment. Not fun to drive slow, I couldn't really try to drive it fast, and what little I did wasn't a lot of fun. I also sat very, very low in the car - I felt like a midget, like I was maybe 4 feet tall, at most. (Insert crack from John here) Not only that, the attitude of the salesperson was entirely different from the attitude of the Mazda salesperson who came with me on one MX-5 test drive. After a fun corner in the MX-5, the salesperson said, "You drive this car the way it's meant to be driven." Talk about a night and day difference. While I didn't really expect to like the Solstice, I wanted to give it a fair trial. I want to be absolutely certain the MX-5 is the right car, and that drive gave me that certainty. We finished the drive and headed back by the shop to pick up my car. The guys were still there, so we went in to say hi. I mentioned I'd driven the Solstice and John asked me if I'd driven "his" MX-5 yet. I hadn't. So we went and found the card for it (it has a fancy card instead of a key. Whatever.) and I went out for a drive with Nugget. Now, this MX-5 isn't exactly stock. If I'm remembering correctly, it has aftermarket intake, exhaust, flywheel (saving 11 pounds), shocks, and springs. It's an absolute blast to drive. Great throttle response, hunches down around corners, growls when you step on the gas pedal... It's just great. And John wants to sell it. But, of course (my life couldn't ever be simple), there's a problem with that. Dan wants to drive the car this autocross season. So, John and Dan and I are talking about the various possibilities. We'll see... Maybe I'll get a Nordic Green MX-5 after all... Maybe it will have to be Stormy Blue Mica. After that wonderful drive, we returned home to get us back down to one car for the rest of the day. After my fun test driving prospective new cars, Nugget wanted his turn. So we headed down to the Porsche dealership. Nugget explained that he didn't know if he wanted the 911 or the Boxster, and so we test drove both. We started in a red 911 Carrera S Cabriolet with black interior. Both Nugget and I drove it around the Allendale neighborhood (pissing off a few residents in the process - oops). I found the 911 a blast to drive. I didn't really notice its weight (unlike in Nugget's ///M Roadster, where the weight makes cornering a lot less playful for me). The car has a lot to give in all areas and a lot to teach about driving well. Next came the Boxster S. Nugget said he felt like this car fit like a glove, while the 911 was something new and different. The Boxster did feel more familiar and I did feel more comfortable in it, but I didn't have nearly as much fun. If it were up to me, I'd want the 911. It was more fun to drive slow, more fun to drive fast, and will be a lot more interesting (entertaining? embarrassing?) to autocross. The day ended with an extended semi-family Christmas. This is the "semi-family" that is "the people I grew up with who aren't actually related to me." Yes, I know it's February, but we're all busy and some no longer live in Austin, so this was the earliest we could all get together at the same time. It was good to get to see everyone again. Tags: autocross, cars, miata Current Mood: vroom
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Spokes is hosting another event at San Antonio Raceway this coming Sunday. This event will be a bit different from the previous Spokes events. The organizers are calling it a "divisional in a day" format - two courses, at least three runs on each course. The cost, location, starting times, etc. will all be the same as with the one course days. Probably the biggest difference will be adjusting to the new course in the afternoon, rather than just getting more runs on the same course. Course maps for the two courses are public, and are here in powerpoint form, and hosted by nugget here, in a 151KB PDF. Nugget and I are going, along with a friend of Nugget's from California. Tags: autocross, cars, miata
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I want a new MX-5, before mine falls completely apart. I'm learning why my dad doesn't maintain his old cars. It's a pain. My this needs attention, my that needs fixing, my the other is about to fail. Some of this is caused by the supercharger and related attachments, some of this is caused by my driving, but some of this is just flat out old age. The new MX-5s are flat out better cars than my old NA, anyway. It's a bit more than 100 pounds fatter than mine (without retractable hardtop), but stiffer, and the weight is better balanced in the body. Both cars have a 50/50 weight distribution, but the weight is better placed in the NC than it was in the NA. The top on the NC works much better - it's a Z-fold, so it doesn't need the boot, and I can actually put it up and down from inside the car (barely), which I can't do with the NA top (yes, I'm a weakling). There are storage nooks and crannies all over the car, it has speed sensitive volume, etc. It's better from both a performance and comfort/usability standpoint. And the aftermarket performance parts in development for it are shaping up very, very nicely so far. Half the development team is a 5 minute drive from my workplace! I want to build up a large down payment before I get one, though, and there's a lot of talking to do with the mechanics. So I don't really want to put too much into the current Miata if I'm going to end up getting rid of it... But there's so much more it could do. Still, it will never match what a new MX-5 could do with the same mods. I fell in love with that car when I drove it (just like I did with my '94). Tags: cars, miata
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I killed my car this morning. Well, I didn't really kill it... I mean, it still runs. But the idle is unstable, it seems to be making some other noises, and the bottom part of the intercooler seems to have been pushed back a bit. I entered a driveway too fast. I was turning left into the drive, and there was oncoming traffic. I knew my car could make it, so I hit the gas pedal and turned... And heard a rather loud *thunk* as I went up into the drive. I'm kicking myself. Dan laughed at me, when I took it in. John said he thinks he knows what I've hurt, just from hearing me drive up. It sounds like they've dealt with this before, so it shouldn't be too big a deal... I hope. My poor, poor car. Then again, they said another supercharged Miata blew up this weekend... At least my car still runs. :/ Tags: miata
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I absolutely love my car. I went and picked it up from the shop today. They said they didn't get a chance to give it a good shake down, so I should expect to have to stop by for a few things in the next few weeks. Some minor adjustments. I have to turn the key to the "On" position and leave it there for a few seconds before I turn it to "Start." It has the ACT clutch, so the clutch engages/disengages at the bottom of its range (it was like that pre-supercharger, but that's a difference from stock). It seems to be a bit stiffer to shift than before, but that may just be me being used to the Camry. It doesn't seem to like running at low rpm - running at 20mph in 3rd (something it did fine before) causes a bit of jerkiness. But, mostly, it feels like a stock Miata. It pulls away from a stop easily and smoothly. It corners like normal. It sounds like normal. Until my foot pushes on that pedal, when the squeal comes and the car GOES. And oh, does it go. There's a stop sign on my way home that's rarely very busy, and there's a stretch of fairly empty road with clear shoulders - A good chance to go without worrying about something jumping out in front of me. So I went. Gently from the stop (no sense burning tires) but I started to push going into second gear. The car did that trying-to-lose-traction thing I've felt Nugget's car do when he was really pushing it. Nugget and I planned to go for a drive that started with a few pictures, but before we got very far, a bolt dropped out of the car. The car continued to drive like normal as I pulled it over, and it continued to idle as smoothly as ever, but I'd rather only drive it minimally until John makes sure that was a dropped bolt, not a needed bolt, that came off. On my drive home, "Days Go By" came on the radio. Tags: miata Current Mood: jubilant
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I went by the shop yesterday and talked with Dan and John a bit more about the supercharger install. We also ordered a radiator and gauges. With the fans that will be ordered and that radiator, the engine should stay cool enough on my daily drive. If not, I can go to a cowl hood (rather than the heat extration) and will hopefully be able to keep a mostly-stock appearance, while keeping the engine at acceptable temperatures. Gauges that will be added include a boost gauge, coolant temperature gauge, and oil temperature gauge. As I talked with John and Dan, they discussed another gauge - I think "wideband"? - used to show if it's running lean or rich. They said this would be important for tuning, but wouldn't really be required for the long term. All of these gauges are white faced, to match the boost gauge that came with the supercharger. They'll be mounted either above or below the aftermarket radio I've purchased - the stock one doesn't leave enough room for the gauges. I'm still waiting for Dan's engine to be ready. The SCCA Solo II Divisionals are this weekend; the engine should be available soon after. The current plan goes as follows (AFAIK): The engines from each car will be pulled. My engine's head and Dan's entire engine will be sent to the machine shop. The machine shop will use his head as examples for the shims when fitting my head with mechanical lifters. Somewhere in that process, the head will get the camshafts and cutback valves, and they'll make sure it will fit well with the block from Dan's engine. The machined parts will be sent back to John and Dan. They'll reassemble the engine and bolt on the supercharger, and then tune. The machine shop will take at least four days, they'll need two to reassemble the engine and bolt on the supercharger, and then they'll need a few more days for tuning. All in all, the car will probably be down for a solid two weeks. I'll be driving one of those old Camrys in the mean time. While at the shop, I spotted a beautiful classic Mini Cooper in their storage area. Apparently, the car is getting a little work done to get it in nearly perfect shape, and the owner is planning on selling it. nugget needs a Mini, you know, and it will fit in the garage with the other two cars... *sigh* My birthday is in two days, and my mother wants advice on what to give me. Nugget suggested I ask for autocross numbers, which is a great idea. When I talked to Dan last night, he said they know a person who can make them for me. All I have to do is pick a font and colors. Oh. Great. I have to actually try to be creative? I suck at this! So, if someone has suggestions for autocross numbers and letters that would look good on a Montego Blue Miata, I'd love to hear them. Currently, I'm number 98, and I'll need SM2, X, L, and maybe a few other things. Tags: autocross, cars, miata
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I feel like my brain is mush, for some reason. Oh well. Autocross last weekend. See nugget's post for a video. I absolutely sucked. I don't know what it was, but I had terrible problems sticking to the course. I kept going on the wrong side of cones. I was doing better handling the car. I didn't spin this time, though I came close. The car felt very slippery to me. I blame the tires. They probably could have used a bit more air and a bit more tread. Heh. Or maybe I just need to spend an obscene amount of money setting myself up with different rims/tires for autocross days. Hey, I'm spending an even more obscene amount of money on the engine/supercharger, right? On the supercharger subject: Due to the fact that I'm taking Dan's engine, and Dan is a regular, competitive autocrosser, the installation of the supercharger needs to be delayed about a month. In a way, pout, but in a way, this gives me more time to prepare. I need to make sure we get the right radiator and setup for the gauges BEFORE I take the car in, not after. I do not want to risk blowing up my car because I procrastinated. The machine work on the head will probably take 4 days. Dan says he can do the block swap + supercharger in two, and is willing to do it over a weekend so I can watch (Yay!!!), and then will come tuning. Due to the headwork, the tuning will be more of a challenge. John says he's up to it, but wants to take a couple of days to be sure he does it right. So I'll probably be in The Boat (blue Camry) for about a week and a half. Slushbox, slush-suspension, real roof. Pout. At least it has new struts, a new rear swaybar, and a newly fixed transmission. John was telling me it's now a great car! Now for some computer geekery. The fan on my Radeon 9800 was making a bit of a squealing noise at times, and if I powered off the machine, it would make a grinding noise for a few minutes when it was powered back on. This inspired me to search for a new fan for the graphics card. I found a Zalman heatsink and fan that looked like it would work well and be quieter. The set arrived today and Nugget and I began the complex installation. The original heatsink did not want to come off and did not want to be unplugged. Once that was done, screws and braces had to be put in the correct location and the heatsink carefully tightened to the board. However, now my video RAM and chipset all have heatsinks, with a larger, more efficient fan/heatsink on the chip. Hopefully this will allow for hours playing WoW with minimal noise levels. Tags: autocross, geek, miata, wow
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Today was the fifth annual Texas Independence Day parade. A group of Miatas was registered, and I was one of the nine that went. There were three NBs and six NAs. We started as a nice, packed square of 3x3, but the plans involved changing that rather quickly. A parade travels at a slow walking pace, and frequently stops... Well, what better to do with Miatas than circles, figure 8s, etc.? A group of three of us were designated the "trouble makers" and put in the middle row. When the parade would stop, we'd head off around the front set of cars and do various circles and other movements. After only a time or two, the Miatas in the front row decided they wanted in, quickly followed by the back row. So we'd have a square of nine Miatas that would break into a line, make a few circles, suddenly become a disorganized mass of Miatas, and the quickly back to the square. It was wonderful fun. Now, I'm sleepy. Pictures are here, and there's a lot of them. Look for the Longhorns that are ridden by people (page 3). Oh, and my ACT clutch wasn't nearly as much of a pain as I was expecting. Tags: cars, miata
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I went by J Long Autoworks / Japanese Motor Specialists today for the first time. Dan is selling his engine and it looks like I'm going to buy it, or at least parts of it. I'll get the block/built bottom end, but his header won't quite fit my car, so my head will most likely be rebuilt as a frankenstein of his parts, my parts, and new parts. Once this is done, my car will be ready for an Ubercharger. If only my pocketbook were. One of the advantages of going to the shop to discuss the engine swap is actually being around the vehicles... John suggested I should get to drive the Ubercharger car to "see what I'm getting." I think it was a plan to get me to purchase an Uber sooner. It was great fun to drive, and it was really confidence inspiring. Even with Dan's different ECU, the car was easy to drive. We made our way through a bit of traffic before finding an empty road, and dealing with the slow traffic was a breeze (well, except for my lack of patience, but that's a personal problem). Then, on the empty segment of road, it took me a couple of passes before I was willing to really punch the gas. That car had more go than... than... I dunno. It was just fast. Driving back to the shop, among stopsigns and lights, was easy as could be (except for my slight shaking and complete loss of ability to judge speed). I'm looking forward to having a similar system in my car and getting to know the ins and outs. John and Dan also seem happy to answer my ignorant questions about engines - I only hope I can be so patient with non-computer people. Tags: miata Current Mood: excited Current Music: Nugget playing Half Life
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I love my job. It's absolutely wonderful to work for real money, to work around people who tell me they appreciate my skills, and to work with other computer geeks. Work has a really casual atmosphere, with a lot of bantering between employees. Level in the company is insignificant when it comes to the bantering - everyone from the CEO/Founder to the gofers participate. There's a little under 50 people in the company. Weeee! I love my car. It is an absolutely wonderful car, even if it doesn't have as much power as I could wish. It drives beautifully, and the ACT clutch and Flyin' Miata flywheel were great additions (not recommended for those who want a passive Miata, but great for the aggressive Miata driver). I'm looking at other things I should do to/for the engine. I'm also planning on putting Falken Azenis RS on it the next time it needs tires. I wonder how they'll do in the wet compared to the Toyo Proxies T1-S... nugget and I are going to Japan soon. I have never been out of the US, so this will be quite an experience for me. I'm really excited about it, but I don't tend to act very excited... Nugget oozes enough excitement for the both of us. ;) Ummm... what else? I dunno. I miss driving around the country with a trailer camping at state parks. Staying in hotels when I travel is always... Different? A little off? Almost a treat, but somehow not. *shrug* I dunno. I'm just weird. My jaw is doing fairly well (post wisdom teeth removal). I was in for a check up today. It turns out I have a "medium" dry socket on my lower right, and a "minor" one on my lower left. The one on the left is so small, the dentist almost couldn't see it, and it hasn't hurt me at all. The one on the right has caused two brief instances of some pretty bad pain, but not the worst I've ever had. My baseline pain level is to almost-unnoticeable at this point. Eating pulls it up to noticeable, but not bad. Oh, and my stitches are starting to come out (EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!) Tags: miata, random, travel
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I'm updating? Again? Yipe. On a side note, yipe seems to have become one of my new favorite words. With the end of school, my internship with Hire.com is coming to a close. I've found a position with Perseus Labs. They're essentially a test group for a variety of hardware and software. It sounds like it should be fun, and quite educational. They seemed to like the Miata when I was there for my interview. The car's doing pretty well, though it's time for an oil change and, I suspect, a clutch. It had a bath last weekend, so of course it's been rainy this week. And finally, tomorrow is my birthday. My family and I are probably going to dinner tomorrow... My mother is a bit worried. She feels like she doesn't have enough birthday presents for me. The switch for the windows in my car was having problems, and I told her she could buy me a new one for my birthday... and, well, that's pretty much it. I told her she doesn't need to get me a ton of presents - I know she loves me, and that's the point of the presents, right? But *shrug* she's mom. I'm still her little girl. I'm very, very grateful to have such a giving, helpful mom. Tags: miata, random Current Mood: happy
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