9/26/08

I don’t have a whole lot to say today. I realized at about noon yesterday that I had screwed myself by letting the spot south of the shop go. I now have no place to park whatever car I drive to the shop when I go for a hoon in Shi-Chi. I went ahead and parked Fifi there until Saturday morning since I have, technically, paid for the spot through Tuesday. Management has already rented the spot and was going to let the guy move in Saturday so I'll need to get there first thing in the morning. I left the keys with Marty so that he can move it if an anvil falls on my head between now and then. I'll bring the spare keys when I go so I don’t have to bother him at the butt-crack of dawn. Ok, so it’ll be more like 0800 h but that is still pretty early to be rousting a brother from the sack. Well, after nine months of having Matilda, Gregg and I have decided that he’s not going to buy it after all. I called my sister to see if she'd be interested in it but “the market hasn’t been good” to them recently and she’s superstitious about blue cars. John and I are working on the possibility of his buying it, but there are factors which are causing me distress on the deal. We’ll see what happens I guess. Now, on to brighter things, Shi-Chi is running exceptionally well. I drove her home from the shop and she flew down the highway at seventy miles per hour, no sweat. She pulls strong and runs right at 160° on the temperature gauge. I think I might just be able to start to relax and begin to enjoy the thing again. This morning I left early for work, still in the “I'm not sure I trust it 100% yet” mode but it flew right up onto the freeway and buzzed me right to work with no stutters, stumbles, hesitation, or anything untoward. It was a tad chilly out until I hit the freeway though. Oh, and I always smell like gasoline all day when I drive her. At least I think I smell like gasoline. I feel like I smell like gasoline, if that makes any sense. Anyhoo, I parked in the garage and went through the major production of getting out and switching from “Speed Racer” to “Johnny Cubicle.” Ok, so all that entails is changing shoes, but the ordeal of egress is a major, well, ordeal. I just thought it was ungraceful getting in and out of an Elise. Psh, that’s nothing compared to a Seven with the top on! Let me see if I can describe it. First, you put your right leg in the foot well. Then you fold yourself so that you can get your head and shoulders in under the top. Next you put your head back out the passenger side of the car while slipping yourself in to “sit” on the center console. Now you can pull your left leg into the foot well and drop into the seat. Egress is pretty much the reverse except you are hot and tired from hooning. Had I not seen Dick Brink getting in a full weather-gear clad car, I don’t know that I ever would have fingered it out. I probably would still be trying to get both legs in while my head was outside the driver’s side opening. Also, I have to be in the seat before a passenger can get in and they are on their own as to how that is going to happen. So far, Gregg is the only person who’s folded himself in to ride along. I cannot use the tonneau with the top either, at least I haven’t fingered out a way yet. In fact, the tonneau is sitting in the shop right now uninstalled. I thought about packing it and putting it in place once I got out but didn’t want to take the time to clean it up. Ok, I forgot it. I suppose, if I can’t use the tonneau any more, I could reinstall the headrests. I don’t remember if I like the look of the car better with them or without. Something is telling me I like it with them. Of course I'm also looking at pictures taken from Tony Calvert’s car while we were at the Tail of the Dragon and I see that my head is well above where the rests would be anyway. So, it would be a totally æsthetic decision. I wonder where they are, now that I think about it. I haven’t seen them in at least a year or two now. Well, I may have seen them but I haven’t installed them in a long time. Kooky. Ok, I just saw a pair of photos of the car back to back, on had the headrests and the other did not. I flipped back and forth between them a few times and now I think I'm going to stick with running the car sans headrests. The seats do not sit at the same level or angle or something so the headrests are all catty-whompus to each other. So there. Well, it is approaching lunch time so I think I'm going to go play solitaire and call this rant, um, a rant. Y'all have a swell weekend.