Jacked up the back of the car and put its ass in the air on jack stands. Took apart the brakes and cleaned 'em up real good. I put new grease on the backs of the pads, the old stuff was a bitch to get off. The pad on the passenger side was real dry, that is the side the noise was coming from, so I thought that might be it. While I had the wheels off I did the brake bleeding thing to swap out the old fluid for new. Won't be entirely new, but the fluid color in the reservoir on the master cylinder is looking cleaner already. On to the fronts. On a side note I need a hydraulic jack. All this up and down was accomplished with the scissors jack that came with the car. That is a lot of cranking!

Remember how I said the noise sounded like the squealers warning of low pad thickness? Turns out there was a very good reason for that, they were worn. They were worn at about a three degree angle so that one side was plenty thick. This was the side I saw on the outside pad when I removed the wheel the other day. the wear groove is in the middle so it looked OK, but the end of the pad with the squealer was very thin. Bolted the front tires back on and headed to the local Mazda dealer for some new front pads. Looked in the Moss catalog to get an idea of how much they were going to cost first, looks like around $80 for the front 4. When I got to the dealer they had in stock something they called the value pack, just the pads for only $34. Seems they learned that they could cut the cost some by leaving out the all those springs and clips that never really need replacing, thanks Mazda. While I was there I also bought an oil filter. On the way home I bought four quarts of oil and a can of Gunk Engine Flush, hoping this would solve my new annoying lifter tick. I guess those pads were worn out, the new ones were twice as thick as the thickest part of the old ones. Swapped out pads and "bled" the fronts to match what I did in the back.

The brakes were done, now it was time to flush the motor. Instructions said pour it in and let the car idle for 5 minutes. When I started the car up I really heard the ticking loudly. I had the hood up and when I looked in I could see the number three spark plug wire bouncing around. I shut off the car and pulled the wire off. I then tightened the spark plug back up and it took an awful lot of turns, a few more days and it would have backed itself out entirely, yikes that would have been fun. Restarted the car to finish my 5 minutes. Took off the drain plug and drained my thin black oil out. Took off the oil filter. I then hand tightened the new filter on. When I went to snug it up with the filter wrench, it wouldn't go, the wrench just spun freely. I realized that the filter I got was about a 1/2" in diameter smaller than the one I took off. I called the parts department and asked if they gave me the right filter, somewhere in the foggy recesses of my mind I thought that M2 filters were different sized. Parts lady said nope, I got the right one, it was a new part that was superceding the old. I asked if she had any old ones and when she said yes I drove back over and swapped, but I guess I will need a new (smaller) wrench for next time.

Took the car for a drive this evening. A little 25 mile loop on some back roads, nice and quiet, no squeal and no tick. I will sleep the sleep of contentment tonight.

Purchased Today: $56.35 in stuff
Money spent since 03/03/03: $312.01
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 104

Phones back. Needed a new line run from the pole to the house. According to the repair guy, squirrels had eaten into the line!

Went out shopping tonight and bought some stuff for tomorrow's brake procedure. New high temp grease for the sliders and pad shim connections. Brake Cleaner in a can for cleaning up any crud that is on these surfaces before re-greasing. Some brake fluid and a one-man bleeding kit for the possible fluid change out. There will be grease under my fingernails all week.

Purchased Today: $19.93 in stuff
Money spent since 03/03/03: $255.66
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 104

Did you miss me? I missed you. Since sometime Wednesday afternoon my home phone has been dead or severly wounded, thereby severing my ties with the digital outside world. Called for help on Wednesday evening and bellsouth promised a visit on Thursady by 6:00 PM. Thursday AM we had a dial tone on the phone, but no DSL line sync. Called the service center and called off the technician, figuring I could troubleshoot the DSL when I got home. Sometime at mid-day Thursday the dial went away again. My mother-in law called in for help and they said we can't guarantee a visit today because you called after 12 noon. True to their word, no one came. As of noon today still no one has arrived to fix the phone. We now have a dial tone and so much crackling that a conversation is impossible. I am blogging from work where I have Inet access. I can even check my email on the web, but don't want to spend too much time online as around here that is a firing offense.

Purchased Last Couple Days: $zero
Money spent since 03/03/03: $235.73
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 104

The cockpit cover saved my bacon this morning. The Weather Channel had no mention of rain for today so the top was down and the cover on when at around 9:30 there came a 15 minute downpour out of nowhere. At our normal walk around the parking lot at 10:00 AM we peeked underneath the cover into the cockpit and there were a few moist spots, but nothing like there could have been.

This morning when we left for work there was a light scraping noise coming from the right front of the car. It sounded like the squealers warning of low brake pad thickness. It was there when we left work to come home too, but both times at the end of the commute it was gone. When I got home I jacked up the right side of the car and checked the pad thickness front and back. Both were nowhere near the worn out indicators. MMM, next diagnosis is a sticky caliper. With any luck it is just a sticky slider pin. This weekend I'll pull them apart and re-lube the particulars and see what happens. I had to remove the tires to get a good look and I realize that they are getting down close to the wearbars. Only put these on last February about 19,000 miles ago. I think I am going to step back one notch in performance this time, maybe go back to getting 25K from a set. The current Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions are awesome tires, but I don't really drive enough at that level to warrant them.

Purchased Today: $13.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $235.73
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 104

Completed the triathlon on this 3-day weekend, I went for a 20 mile bike ride on Friday, a 6 mile hike in the woods Saturday and a 4 mile rollerblade skate today. Also completed the Batmobile this morning. Want to take some pictures, but it has been raining all afternoon. Wanted to use the natural outside light as I'm sure the dig-cam's flash will not capture the model well. See!

Purchased Today: Nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 103

Went for a nice drive this morning to go hiking in the Sumter National Forrest on a trail we used to mountain bike on back in the day. We haven't done the drive in a while and it seemed pleasant, but to be truthful the drive is part of the reason we gave up the mountain biking. The trail we went to today was about 45 minutes from home and is the closest place to drive to for single track riding. The other "local" trails are around 15 more minutes away. The experience went something like this: 10 minutes to load the bikes, 60 minutes to drive to the trail head, 10 minutes to unload the bikes, 60 minutes of riding, 10 minutes to load the bikes, 60 minutes to drive home and 10 more minutes to unload the bikes. It got tiresome. Now with hiking: you drive 60 minutes, walk 140 minutes and drive 60 back. Still work up a good sweat in the woods with a lot less hassle, it only takes a minute to fill the Camel Backs and shrug them on.

Batmobile is 88% complete. The only thing let is to assemble the desk and the items on it and then screw the interior to the body and then the chassis to the body/interior. That's right, desk, back before the Bat Computer the Caped Crusader used pencil and paper to catch evil villains. Come back tomorrow for a picture.

Purchased Today: Zippo
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 102

Today was an MMM...Time with the Miata Club and one other person besides my wife and I showed up at the Sonic. We just chatted for about a half hour and then went our separate ways to finish our Honey-Do Lists.

The Batmobile is coming along good. I have got most of the painting done and have started the assembly. This morning I realized that I didn't have any model cement, so off to Hobby Lobby we went. Whoever all those glue sniffers were I would like to put a curse on you. This new cement smells of lemons and doesn't really hold. Good thing this puppy is put together with glue and some screws. After a couple of missteps (from not reading the directions,) the chassis is all together. Tomorrow comes the interior.

Purchased Today: Zero
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 102

It wasn't raining and the radar showed no more green so we dropped the top for the ride to work. Apparently radar doesn't show light mist. We did make it to work with it down, but it went right back up. At quitting time, lunch time today, it was still misting. By the time we were done eating and then doing a little shopping at 1:30 it had stopped misting so we drove the last couple miles home in the open air.

Bought a model of the 50's version of the Batmobile today. Haven't built a model in a while, this one needs a little painting on the interior and then it gets glued and screwed together. Hope I finish this one, the last model I bought was an X-Wing Fighter and it sits semi-assembled in a box in the garage...

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, went down ,went up, went back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 102

It rained today. All day. It is still raining. Tomorrow it will be raining in the morning. After that we are supposed to have a pleasant 3-day weekend. It starts a little early too. This has been our four 9 hour days so we can get Friday afternoon off and we have decided to quit doing it. For whatever reason the extra hour a day is sooooo hard. Just a couple more times though. We want to take advantage of it the last weekend in June when we go meet my sister and her husband in Asheville, but after that we're through.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 99

Top motion was the exact opposite of yesterday today. We even saved an errand for tonight just for the pleasure of an evening drive, only to have it start to rain just as we left the house.

Red Sox - Yankees on ESPN2 tonight. I've got the game going in a small window in the upper left as I type this. The dreaded Yankees just took the lead in the top of the 7th. On certain Wednesdays ESPN2 is brining back legendary broadcasters and tonight it is Curt Gowdy. Brings back wonderful memories of warm Connecticut summer evenings listening to Curt call the Red Sox games. Pardon me while I get all misty eyed here.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 99

Hot damn, a semi nice day! Top down on the way to work, up while there and down again after. Got a skate in after getting home and even went for an evening drive at dark. Amazing what a little outdoor fun can have on a person's attitude. Blues, what blues? Every car that I caught on the way out of town turned off before they became a hindrance making for a very pleasant drive on one of our favorite roads. Things got exciting for a minute or so though, DEER! One dashed in front of the car causing me to brake hard, missed by about 10 yards. 5 seconds either way for either one of us and it could have been bad. Just after returning to near normal speed, car and heart, the brights illuminate another set of eyes to our left. This one stood 5 feet off the road and just watched us pass.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 96

Another gray day. No depressing movie for tonight, just a depressing baseball game. Red Sox are playing the Yankees and coming into the game tied for first place in the division and the Yankees scored 5 in the first and so far 2 in the 8th making 7 to 1. The Sox are bringing in another pitcher and I'm turning it off.

Purchased Today: $13.50
Money spent since 03/03/03: $222.48
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 93

Went out to grocery shop - top up. Went out for an evening drive - top up. After supper Donna wanted to go get an ice cream cone. Last Sunday when we headed into downtown Aiken, it was looking like a ghost town, but the ice cream shop was open. Tonight that's where we went and we were an hour too late, they were closed. We took the umbrella and strolled through the empty streets and looked in shop windows. On the drive home the skies opened up, man we are glad we have a garage.

It will be amazing if I can get out of bed tomorrow, it is so depressing here now. The on and off rain that started Thursday is slated to continue until at least that day this week. Today was the third day in a row for a downer of a movie, White Oleander was on tap for this evening. I've got to go move a couple comedies up to the top of my Netflix rental queue.

The Barndoor Fan Club's Muffler Men Photo Contest ended at noon today, even if you don't have a Miata, go vote for a picture you like. Voting Booth Entrance

Purchased Today: Nitso
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 93

Managed one little trip out in the car today. Minor running around errands. The top stayed up because of the off and on rain all day. Worked out that the lull we went out in lasted for the duration, so we could have had the top down, sigh. The thunder is rumbling right now, the radio station I am listening to has had a few weird pauses and I've been booted off line a couple of times in the last half hour. The signs are there, I shouldn't even have the PC on, but the blogging must go on.

Never did watch Last Man Standing, but instead watched Reign of Fire. I like sci-fi, I like dragon movies, but this sucker shoulda never been made. All through it, I couldn't but think that the millions spent to make this movie would have been better used to feed a mid-sized African nation for a week. I've never seen Battlefield Earth in it's entirety, just a few snippets on the cable, everyone said that movie was so dark it stank, well this thing makes BE look like the Music Man. Just a couple of days ago I was on a good movie roll, seems to have gone 180 on me...

Purchased Today: zilch
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 93

Just got through watching Road to Perdition and it was such a downer of a movie that I can't think of anything to write. About my day or anything. The only thing I can say about the movie is it is well acted, directed, photographed, scored, but somehow even the supposedly uplifting ending couldn't save me from the funk cloud.

Maybe tomorrow's 30's gangster film, Last Man Standing, will be more happy. :-)

Purchased Today: still nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 93

Rained on and off most of the day. The top was up during work, but we managed to get a drive home with it down, the last mile in a light mist.

Things are heating up in the Muffler Men Photo Contest. With less than 3 days remaining the entries are flooding in. I've gotten 12 in the last week, 6 of which arrived yesterday. I have gotten only 2 photos of the title character and neither one are going to win. The first was sent in by a person who is so intent on email secrecy that his program scrubs out the address on sent items and leaves behind plus signs, so even if I wanted to make the photo a winner I have no way of contacting him (or her.) The second is a photoshopped man stuck in the corner of a picture where one could not exist, plus the submitter even admitted digitally placing the man in the shot.

Purchased Today: not a thing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 90

Went out to see a little baseball game tonight and just as we were coming home it started to sprinkle. Guess that the top will have to go up in the morning if the forecast is right. It has been a while, so it will be good for the vinyl to get unfolded. ;-)

Purchased Today: zero
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 88

I've always had a short lived loud lifter clatter when ever it was time to change the oil or the level got kinda low. But the last few mornings I've gotten a very quiet little tick that sometimes takes several miles to go away. Hmmm, wonder what this means?

We watched Igby Goes Down this evening and now I seem to back on a hot streak of picking good movies again from Netflix. Tadpole, Playing Mona Lisa and The Business of Strangers to name a couple of others worth looking for at Blockbuster when whenever you find the shelf with the latest new mainstream Hollywood offering is empty.

Purchased Today: zip
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 88

Well I got that pizza I wanted yesterday tonight. We came home from work, parked the car and walked back into town. It is between 2 and 2-1/2 miles one way, but that is OK as it got me out of doing a workout at the gym and I hate working out. The weather was breezy and pleasant and this is probably the last time until fall that a 2 mile walk in the evening wil be pleasant.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 88

Had a hankering for pizza this evening and when we drove downtown to go it looked suspiciously like a ghost town. Maybe that is because that is what is was. Not only was our favorite pizza joint locked down, but every restaurant in the center of the city was closed. Second option turned out to be the Outback Steakhouse on the southside. Every chain place on the south end of town was open and clogged with people. The mob of people in front of Outback persuaded us to bo to Kroger on the way home and buy some steaks for grilling on the Webber.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 88

Totally bailed on the drive-in event with the Club. It wasn't all because we had spent most of yesterday with the group either. Several other factors entered into it. First off being that we have been on the go for the last 2 weekends and not being lovers of living in the fast lane, we wanted some down time for ourselves. Second, the more we thought of going to the drive-in to see a movie, the more we realized why people stopped going to them in the 70s. So instead we did the 90s thing and watched a DVD in the comfort of our living room. No mosquitoes, no stale tasting popcorn, no kids running around, no mini-vans in front with there tailgate in the air blocking the view and most importantly no rickety, smelly bathrooms.

Speaking of minivans, I saw my first Chrysler Pacifia this evening, this is the minivan that a man wouldn't mind being seen driving.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 85

Fun, but long day at Panoz. We actually went to 3 separate buildings. The first stop was the machine shop and admin buildings where they do IMSA and ALMS engineering. From there we took a short drive to the street car production facility where they make Esperantes. After a lunch we visited the Panoz Racing School at Road Atlanta. No way I could describe it here and do it justice, so you'll just have to live your much smaller life in envy. :-)

Purchased Today: $13.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $208.98
Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 84

Gassed up for the dawn launch. We are leaving the house 30 minutes earlier than we would if we were going to work. It will be a long day, over 300 miles, but it should be worth it. Panoz here we come. Not only are we touring the street car factory, but the race car site and the racing school facilities as well.

Purchased Today: $14.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $195.73
Started down, went up, went down again, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 82

Dodged the rain today by just putting the top up while at work.

The car is still dirty and my evening to clean it up are dwindling, guess I'll just shake out the mats before leaving Friday morning. Maybe Saturday I'll have time to clean it up real good the Big Mo trip Saturday. The good news is that they held over the X-Men 2 and Daredevil movies for this weekend.

Purchased Today: nothing again
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started up, went down, went up, went down again, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 80

Rainy day. Tonight after work was a busy one, first it is our every 4 week haircut appointment and then we had just time enough to get a bite to eat before going to 2 hour class on the basics of understanding stocks. It was put on by a local Edward Jones Investment Advisor and was intended as an intermediate course in evaluating stocks. I wasn't interested in going, but Donna said she'd pay me $25 to go with her, so I did. Every man has his price and fortunately for her mine is really low.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 77

I've got to drag myself away from the PC one evening this week, the Miata is filthy - dead bugs from this weekend's drive, mud from 3 weeks ago's hike in Hitchcock Woods, and it is way past the time I use the leather cleaner and then conditioner on the seats.

Hey, at least tightening down that panel did fix the squeak that has been bothering me for several months.

Purchased Today: not a thing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 76

The trip home this morning was uneventful and along our now familiar route. GA 52 to Lula, GA 51 to Washington and then GA 17 to I-20. Settle in for a 4 day week of work before we travel to middle Georgia again next Friday. This time not so far up north and we are coming back Friday night. The Master's Miata Club is going to visit the Panoz Factories over near Braselton (the town that Kim Basinger once owned.) We have to come back as the Club's annual trip to the Big Mo is on Saturday night.

Purchased Today: $8.00 in gas & $2.13 in oil
Money spent since 03/03/03: $181.23
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 74

---

Saturday, May 03

After a hearty breakfast the four of us began the trek back down the mountain. To add a little variety to the trip we took the alternate route back down. You continued on the trail to the inn for anadditional mile and ran into the Appalachian Trail Approach Trail and went back to the top of Amicalola Falls where our cars were parked.

To make ammends to the Miata for leaving it out all night in the "wilderness" we used the 4 hours we had to waste before checking into the lodge on the state park and went for a drive in the surrounding mountains. We tried to duplicate the loop the bicyclists took last weekend in the reverse direction. We almost made it, missed one turn, so we didn't drive across the one-lane bridge, but that wasn't a great loss. The best part of the drive is GA60 north of Dahlonega. There is a stretch of it that is nicknamed "The Snake" and is a mecca for motorcyclists because of it's twisty loopy route over a couple of mountain passes. Yehaw! The hightlight of the whole drive was about 3/4 of the way through when about 75 yards in front of our 2 car parade a decent size black bear bounded down from the woods on one side of the road and beat feet across to jump the gaurdrail into the woods on the otherside. That was either one smart bear to wait for a gap in traffic or a lucky one.

Purchased Today: $14.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $171.08
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 71

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Friday, May 02

Up at dawn for the road trip to northern Georgia, again. This time we were with another couple in another Miata to go almost exactly where we were last weekend. We even used the same route we took home last Sunday to get there. Destination was Amicalola Falls State Park. we were parking our cars and then hiking a 5 mile trail to Len Foote Hike Inn where we would spend the night in the queit splendor of the forrest.

It is a fairly easy hike, mostly up, but some down too. We got a slightly early start as there was rain predicted for the late afternoon. We were prepared for rain (stuff packed in plastic bags, etc.) but just really didn't want to get soaked. The rain didn't come until around 7 PM and when it did arrive it wasn't torrential. The best part was the lighting and thunder show. After dinner a lot of us gathered on the porches surrounding the various wings of the inn and enjoyed show. It was nearly dark and and the lighting was going off all around us on different peaks surrounding us. As if arranged just for us, the evening's entertainment finale consisted of a criss-crossing of almost the entire eastern sky with cobweb of lightning streaks. Almost if there was a cause and effect relationship between them, after the lightning a rainbow appeared against the gray sky backdrop. Because there is no TV and heaven forbid, no Internet, we were in bed by 9:30.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $156.58
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 69

Let me apologize for yesterday's post. I reread it this morning and boy does it need help. It was late and I was tired. My wife wants me to write a little something to email to folks at work telling of the experience in hopes of enticing them to come out the next time the Ultimate Drive comes to town. When I get that done I will replace yesterday's entry with that. (just in case someone important happens to stumble on this, I want to leave a good impression.)

I may have fixed the squeak. There is a metal plate under the steering column and it uses four spring clips and two screws to hold the it in an tie the two sides of plastic under dash together. While shaking the bottom part of the dash around it sounded like the squeak came from the slightly loose panel. I bent the clips a little tighter and gave the screws an extra 1/8 turn. A quick trip to the store this evening was very quiet. We'll see if that is it on a longer drive this weekend.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $156.58
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 68