Update Dos

OK, so it has been another week since the last post, but such is life. This time I'm going to update on a few of the places I've gone in the past month (so no, I didn't hit all this in like one weekend) and I'll give another update on my car... if I have time I'll tackle school in this post as well...

First, the car... it went in and they updated the control arms and couldn't find anything wrong with the engine/turbo etc. for the funny noise and vibration. So I drove it with a tech and got it to duplicate so they are *supposedly* working with Mazda on finding a resolution. Since I haven't heard from them this week, then I'm going to call them tomorrow.

Back to the alignment issue - they said everything should be fine but I went over to a co-worker's house (who incidentally has a knack for tweaking performance vehicles... bit of a hobby) and he measured it and found the my wheels were off (at least the toe was) by like 1/4 inch. So he was able to correct it and now it seems to be much improved. Not sure if it is spot on, but still a drastic improvement. I'm hoping the tires start wearing properly now... because if they don't, then the Mazzie 6 models have no way of adjusting camber or caster (rumored to be two other types of alignment measurements - don't ask me... I can barely check the oil)... so if it has further issues then I have to get some sort of kit to give me the ability to adjust them... or keep taking it back to the dealers who can't seem to get it right. :-(

OK, enough about the car... only other things is I'm getting ready to do a filter change and an oil analysis - almost at 5k miles. And it is still just a fun to drive as ever... Zoom Zoom. :-D

Let's see where are some of the places I've been recently...

I went to Stringray's with some friends a few weeks ago... its a really nice Sushi place in downtown Scottsdale (click here for location - here for official website [has photos]). Bit of a story though...

I had some good sushi... they have a really nice spicy tuna roll... and I had flying fish eggs for the first time... they are tiny and orange... they didn't seem to have much taste. Other types I had were raw tuna, salmon, and eel - nothing very exciting. ;-) Sorry, no pictures... they have a cell phone policy that is summed up as "touch it and get kicked out" type thing. Oh well.

The interesting part was the sake. There was only one menu (and there were 6 of us there, Mark and Emily, Sunny and Eric, Jill, and me) and so I told the waitress to just pick one of their cold sake's and bring it to me. And that is what she did... and it was good... but then we got the bill and that one thing of sake was $40! And that's a small one person sake! So I was a little peeved, but I guess I left myself open to that one. Note to self - when eating at a restaurant that automatically tacks on gratuity, never ask the waitress sporting 'fake ones' to pick your sake... she's busy trying to get them paid off. *sigh*

OK, after that we went to E!ba Cafe in Tempe, right by ASU for some boba, and I got cheesecake. (Location here - official website here). Both were good... the boba is a little different than Lollicup's, but not worse.

Then we went to Chuy's (location here) because Emily was craving a karaoke moment. So that was short and sweet - but nothing interesting to report there.

I also went to the Big Bang with people recently (Mark, Emily, Sunny, me, and three other people I hadn't met before... can't remember the names - they were from both Em's and Sunny's halls). That was a lot of fun - dueling pianos - wooo! I guess it started as a show somewhere in New Orleans and they decided to open one up here on Mill. (Official site here - location from Google here) We only stayed for a few hours - like from 8 - 11. No use staying later because it gets too packed and you get all the college kids in there - which is nothing but aggravating. The dueling pianists were pretty good... and they could almost all play at least two instruments. Sometimes they would play the bass or the drums in addition to the pianos. It was fun to watch... not that I'm biased to the pianos or anything. ;-)

Other than that mostly just lunch/happy hour spots for the past few weeks... I had Keegan's (location here - site here) in Ahwatukee, and Rula Bula's in Tempe (a great little Irish pub - site here - location here), and awhile ago 56 East Bar & Kitchen in Chandler (location here - site here). That's about it - haven't been eating lunch out very often - too busy.

Oh from last week at the Microsoft Training I went to the Park Central Deli for lunch... and had some awesome food. :-) Real deli food. (location here - site here) They are kind of famous - I guess they have been around since the '50s. I actually had some pictures - but I accidentally deleted them. :-( Of course I had a little Starbucks while I was there, it was just begging me... (try the peppermint mochas if you haven't... they are doing them year-round now... it's like Andes mints in coffee - really delectable)

Oh, last Saturday I was at the Buckeye quick build... 12 hours in the sun... and it hit about 100º... so I have a tan finally. ;-) It was waaaaaaaay out there. Like 25 miles west of Phoenix city limits... it took me more than an hour with no traffic and I'm barely on the east side of the Valley! Saw some people I haven't talked to in awhile... which was nice (Brigham's from way back in Payson - Cambell's from Ahwatukee and some others). I would have taken pictures but my phone's battery was low and I was stationed at the main entrance which was about a 1/4 mile from where my car was parked... so recharging would have been a problem.

School will have to wait... as will moving and apartment news (and pictures) as well as info about Brad's upcoming trip and work related stuff....

So stay tuned for Update Tres sometime in the next week or so. ;-)

- C