Well…I really hate being up at 5:14 in the morning…and my damn right thumb is split again and hurts like crazy…and I’m going to aggravate it with the outdoor rides and shifting with that thumb…man, I really hate getting old…it’s going to be a busy day today with hitting the SoS and spending a thousand bucks to get everything transferred and legal…and then I need to run a couple of errands before I get the one outdoor ride in and after that I’ll need to think about making a run to GR to show the car to Tom…still haven’t driven the car other than the 3 miles from the dock to here so it will be a nice shakedown run…it’s supposed to be 60 or so today so it will be a top down run and I can’t wait to see how the wind blocker works and how the top latches down…going to use the cruise control with the buttons on the steering wheel that also has the stereo controls on it so I’ll have something to play with…damn, need to get on the bike by 7 and that is coming up pretty fast…more coffee…I guess I should get moving…more later…

Well…wasn’t really going to do much today but after getting the rides in but I went out to look for the trunk and gas door release and felt that car can really use a wax job but it had to be washed first…so I washed and waxed it with the instant spray wax and now it is slippery and really shiny…and there are only a couple of scratches on the whole car which isn’t bad for a 17 year old car…and I noticed that the battery is under the hood and not in the trunk like the 94…and I am amazed at how far back the engine is in this one…there has to be 2 1/2 feet from the front of the car to the front of the engine…and the whole thing is behind the centerline of the front wheels…it’s like a front engine, mid engine car…so tomorrow I go out and spend a thousand bucks at the SoS to get everything done…even going to renew the plates since they sent that to me a couple of days ago…okay, race time…

Well…happy Star Wars day to all who celebrate…finally, didn’t get out of bed til around 6 and that felt good but I don’t feel that hot right now…feel pretty worn out…again…but I need to get going soon to get the indoor ride in before Man U plays at 9…not sure what I’m going to cook today…have tons of potatoes so I should make a batch of potato soup but I think I’ll see what else I can make with three kinds of potatoes….really hurt my back working on the lawn yesterday but it didn’t start there…it has been hurting for weeks now and I wonder what the heck I did that hurt it initially….not going to be warm enough to get outdoors until 11 or so since it’s only 40 out there and the heat is still coming on…so I wonder if I can have a relaxing morning? I do need more coffee and I’m thinking of making some pour over but that seems like a lot of work right now…lots of races on today with F1, Indy car, and Nascar all racing so I need to get everything done before that starts at 1:30 and they overlap so I’ll have to choose what I want to see…not much to do today…just need to pour coffee down and get moving but I have a half hour or so to sit here until 7:30 and I am going to try to enjoy that….more later…

Well…it was nice to get back to the normal routine today after being away all day Friday…and the routine included 3 rides and mowing the lawn…I was having a problem with the bike and I thought the new front and rear sprockets were wrong…but I figured out that I had adjusted it wrong when I did the replacement work and the gears were off by one…and that kept the shifter from getting to 24th speed since it read 8 but it was only going to the 7th sprocket on the back…after a 15 minute fix I did the third ride and it works perfectly and it is so nice to be able to pedal as hard as I want with no skipping…didn’t take the car out today but I did start reading the manual and the procedure for locking the top down is new to me so I’ll have to figure that out…I did remember that when the NC’s were built they didn’t come with a spare tire since the 17 inch wheels wouldn’t fit in the trunk so I need to get some fix a flat and a new compressor…but then I thought I’ve driven the 94 or 13 years without a spare and only had one flat in that time…I am going to ask 2 grand for the old one and I think it’s worth it even with the rust…okay, time for a little tv…

Well…damn, a second day of being up before 5am and I am confused how that happened after getting up before 5 yesterday and needing some real sleep last night…still so tired that all I want to do is go back to bed but I’ll be on the bike in a half hour or so…the heat is still on so I won’t be outdoors on the bike til later this morning…the trip with my brother went okay with no political arguments but I think we were avoiding them and that is a good thing…I really should take today as a rest day and I just may…detailing the new car can wait since I’m going to have it the rest of my life and there’s no hurry…I do need to cook today and I may make some pour over coffee in a little while since I haven’t made any in a long while and I think I’m going to need it…I may keep the miles to around 20 today with one ride in and one ride out…I still can’t believe we are in May and the heat is still coming on and I can’t get outside until noon or so…I do need to mow the lawn at some point but that may wait until Monday…or today…who knows? More later…

Well…got the car home and in the garage and it is just big enough to make it a tight squeeze in the garage…it really is a nice car and I’m so happy that it doesn’t have leather seats since they get so hot in the sun you can never put the top down and leave it in the sun…I remember the black vinyl in my Fiat 124 would burn the hell out of the back of my legs when I was wearing shorts…it is quite a bit faster than the old car…I mean a lot faster…and I had problems finding reverse since the old car you pulled on the shifter to get it in but this one you push it down…it was a good trip but when we ran over something that plugged the water intake on one side we had to back up for 10 minutes to clear it and then got going…39 mph and it rode really nice…very comfortable but it was so damn cold we didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors…so it was a good day and now the car needs to be detailed and I’ll get on part of it tomorrow…very nice car that I’m going to enjoy…

Well…damn, up before 5 this morning and was up and down all night and that’s pretty normal when I have a big event coming on…and today is pretty big with going over to Wisconsin to pick up the new car…can’t wait to get back here with it and then have a relaxing night…will probably be studying the owner’s manual tonight just to make sure I know how to operate this modern, to me, car…have my canvas shoulder bag all packed up with everything I should need for the trip…book, laptop, mp3 player two pairs of glasses, sunglasses…and my Miata club hat…going to try to get two rides in and the weight work done before I get picked up at 9:15….going to be cold and raining all day today but that’s okay…the ferry has enclosed and heated cabins so it should be cool…but I am going to dress for it since it’s only 42 out there right now…so that’s my day for today and I need to get after the first bike ride in 20 minutes or so…need to make some toast to eat before I ride…more later…

Well…feel like crap again today and it’s going to be a chore to get going…just poured the first cup of coffee and I may have to make some pour over coffee…it’s raining and will be most of the day but that won’t be enough to keep me from driving the old Miata one more time to run out to DD to get some bad for me food…I mean chili cheese hot dogs? Or buffalo chicken thin sliced lunch meat?  Both for 99 cents a pound? Then it gets parked next to the garage until I can sell it…I do need to hit the library for more books, too since I’ve read three out of the four I checked out…damn, I like the sound of rain after how dry it’s been here…won’t be outside on the bike today but that’s okay…I think the new gearing is wrong on the bike but I need to count the teeth on the sprockets to see what the problem is…crap….one more day to the new car and I’m pretty excited about that but I will be relieved when it is parked in the garage tomorrow and the whole thing is done…it’s only 49 here right now and that is not the way May is supposed to be…oh, well….more later…

Well…it’s been one of those days that just got away from me…the bike chain started slipping from wear yesterday and I hoped that just replacing the worn out rear cassette would help but once you wear out one part, the others are too worn to work with the new ones so I bit the bullet and spent three hours today replacing the front crankset, chain, rear cassette, and tearing the rear wheel apart to grease the bearings that were sounding pretty rough…and after that I had to adjust the shifter and probably should have replaced that, too but I was just tired of working on it…and now it’s going to take days to get my hands clean…but right now I just want to read a bit after this day…

Well…damn, I’m so worn out this morning that I can’t get going but I don’t really think I need to get going if I’m only going to do two indoor rides today but I may be able to get outdoors later…I do want to try out the new cassette on the back wheel that I installed yesterday…the old sprockets were worn down to nothing and it started to skip like crazy so I’m hoping that will give me some time until I have to replace the chain and front crankset…it’s funny that I always get about 12K miles before I have to replace the driveline on the bike…it didn’t get down to frost last night staying about 38 degrees but I’m still glad I brought the buckets in to protect them…going to head to to DD tomorrow to get some buffalo chicken lunch meat and I’ve never heard of that before…but at 99cents for almost a pound it could be a deal…and I need bold flavored food since I can barely taste anything anymore…going to try the thawed potato soup today to see if freezing it worked or if I have to throw it out…have so many potatoes here with Meijers having them for a buck for 5 pounds and I think I have 15 pounds in the kitchen that I’ll have to get creative to use before they spoil…not much to do today…I really may take an easy day today since I feel so worn out this morning but we’ll see…more later…