Some Things: They Happened
7/2/2

Oh, life is a highway. I wanna ride it all night long.

Whatever.

So, I get my headliner in the Kronos. I go in and tell them that the interior is dark grey and that the headliner is light grey and I�d really like the headliner to match, so do they have a dark grey one? Yes, they do, said the guy in the morning. Also, since the headliner will not match the handle above the passenger door, don�t reinstall that.

It�s tan. They put in a tan headliner. And me, being not into conflicts over poorly colored headliners in cars I�m about to get rid of anyway, pay them $140 for it and go.

Also, the glue that holds up the headliner smells like a bear took a whiz in my car. Or at least it did over the weekend, we drove Aisai�s 626. Now the Kronos is still a smelly, but most of the funk is gone.

Dad got laid off from Adtran. He designed telephone high speed data stuff there. In a moderately symbolic gesture, he got cable modem at home right after. Now my mom has an email address.

This is a short week at work. In fact, today, Tuesday, is hump day. I�ve never really liked that term, you know.

I got preapproved for an $8000 car purchase for the Miata. However, if buying from a private owner and not a dealer, I have to drag the guy into my bank with the title for him to get his money. If I buy one from a dealer, they can take car of it for me. Now, North Alabama is not the Mecca of Miatas [though arguably, Trussville Mazda in central Alabama is the best Mazda dealer around, at least for parts].

If I had 8k on hand, I could zip down to Birmingham where there is a black/black Miata and pick that up with the cash, then get the autoloan to cover me. And, in fact, I will be able to do this soon.

American Express Blue, the only credit card I own, will allow me a cash advance of $2000 or $14000 if I actually make a purchase. I ordered some courtesy checks from them yesterday and they�ll be here in [sigh] seven to ten days. I get an $8000 cash advance by laundering it through Aisai�s mom�s account. Then I can buy a car from anyone, get the title and show it to Redstone, and then pay back Blue.

I just read a little rant that Zo� did. The thing that stuck out to me was that she was complaining about the heat. Now, I�m not sure, I�m no expert here, but I think that Alabama might always be hotter and more humid than Toronto. Likewise, where Aisai�s sister, Longwinded, lives near Covington, Louisiana, is always hotter and more humid than us.

Lookie, a realtime comparo:

So, what kind of Miata am I wanting? I must get a 1995+ and I want it for less than $8000. I could always get the auto loan raised if it costs more, but I really don�t want to pay more than $8000 [$35000 Canadian]. I�d like the black cloth interior rather than the tan leather. If there is some special edition, which has black leather [and it looks like there was in 1996], that would be cool. Exterior colors are limited, as this is the M1 Miatas. It�s either Black, Red, White, Mondego Blue, or Laguna Blue. I�ll take black or one of the blues. Oh, and the 95 M-Edition has Merlot [pronounced �mare-low� or �burgundy�] with tan, but I�m not all about the tan leather.

I figure I�ll go up to Nashville to get it. I�d rather go there than Birmingham or Atlanta. Heck, I could live in Nashville. But if I ever live in a real city, I�d rather it be either Houston or Tampa.