9/3/14 The Morning Coffee: Moving Day / Miata Day

A Good Morning to you—

Later this morning the moving truck comes. Yesterday I had an exhausting day being anxious about it. And yes, doing a lot of work to prepare too.  :-)

I heard once that the realty industry strives to make people think the houses they buy have the promise of being homes, whereas the houses they're moving out of are just houses. No sale here. I'm leaving my home, and the house I'm moving into is still just a house. I'm not necessarily sad to be leaving, but I'm feeling...what's the right way to say this...appropriately reflective and contemplative about it. My son grew up here. My older dog's grown old here. I started TOP here. I've lived here longer than I've ever lived anywhere in my life. I have history here.

Today is also Miata Day. The press and media unveiling of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata will be live streamed on YouTube today at 6:00 p.m. U.S. Pacific time. It's the fourth generation of the world's most popular roadster, internally called the ND. (Mine was a second-gen NB, 1999–2005.)

You remember how I like roadsters. I'm also going to enjoy going over to the ND Rumours, Speculation, and Concept Cars section of Miata.net and watching a lot of guys' heads explode tonight. There are people there whose lives are going to be a howling desert of emptiness after the reveal. Of course there's always the job of picking over exactly who was right about what and when. That will be fun for the holdouts.

Here's the very last unofficial render. I feel like I've seen about 40. Oh, and you'll be force-fed Duran Duran during the event. Like that hasn't happened before. Thought you'd appreciate a warning.

UPDATE:

[I actually rather like it.]

Life will be carnage tonight at TOP Secret Underground HQ, I'm sure. I've packed myself a little survival kit with an alarm clock, a few dishes and glasses and some tableware, and toiletries. I'm sure by Thursday I'll have a long list of other things I need. As to what's crucial...I guess it's my bed, the dog beds, the coffeemaking apparatus, and the computer. I won't have truly moved until the computer changes venues. A comment on modern life, but there it is.

The Ailsa announcement is on hold until she gets a picture to me, and she's working all week so that won't be until the weekend. Oh, and it looks like my trip to the U.K. is on hold until sometime in 2015 now. (Ailsa thinks I'm trying to get out of going to a "football" game with her and her husband Roland.) And as to how you pronounce her name—it's pronounced "ger-trude ter-WILL-i-ger." So now you know. (It's "ALE-sah." What else could it be?)

And can you believe this? In the bureaucratic inferno that is the process of acquiring a passport, the State of Indiana sent me a new Birth Certificate—and it has a typo. They got my birthdate wrong.

You know what I always say—editors needed everywhere.

Hope you have an error-free day today, wherever in the world you are.

Mike

"Morning Coffee" is auto-published weekdays at 3:30 a.m. Central Time today to be in time for morning coffee breaks in the UK and Europe. For those who rise later, it will be there. The feature is a month-long experiment to give people something to check in with while I'm busy moving.

Want to suggest a topic or ask a question? Leave it as a comment.

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Comments

[John]

Ah, a new Miata! I had the first generation and loved it more than any other car I've driven since, including the BMW 3-series and a loaner Porsche 911 and Corvette. Promised myself a new one if my own endeavors in the land of photography are sufficiently fruitful....

[Mikal W. Grass]

Good luck settling in. Our home is on the market, and I am looking for a new camera. I really don't know which is more stressful.

[Roger]

After you get your passport sign up for Global Entry. It's 80 bucks or so and you get TSA Pre as part of the deal. Between the two getting your jet lagged self back home will be somewhat less jarring.

[Richard Parkin]

I don't see how a Birth Certificate can have wrong birthdate on it. It must be the other entries that are wrong, if you see what I mean :). Unless of course you have been celebrating the wrong day all this time.
On the subject of birthdays, at this time of year I get "Happy Birthday" emails from people I know who are on Facebook and I then find that they have difficulty in understanding that in no way would I give my true birthdate to Facebook etc.

[Bill Duncan]

I've had 3 Miatas, a 1990, 1995 special edition and a 2003. My favourite was the 1995 I'd have to say.. Unfortunately, the salt used up here in Canada, well. I'm not a fan of the latest generation. The "dog seats" in the back have disappeared. The "bare metal" feel of the car has given way to too many of the NA conveniences. (Really, who needs an electric roof in a roadster?) So, I'm not very hopeful on the next gen..

[Chris H]

I'm looking forward to the Miata announcement as well, even though I've not paid it any attention until just very recently. However things come out, for good or ill, there's the fact that the other three generations are out there in decent numbers to be had, if one prefers those. There's something for everyone (well, everyone that likes roadsters) across the generations of Miata.

I do often miss my 1.8L NA, which was delightful right up until I ruined it by making it a dedicated track car. I'll not make that mistake again.

[Mike Plews]

If you are going to crib a design you can do a lot worse than a Ferrari California.
Actually the Mazda rendering is cleaner.
I understand how some of you Miata lovers are going to feel. I have had two Triumphs in my life, a TR3 in my past and a TR6 in the barn. When British Leyland barfed out the TR7 I felt deeply violated but I got over it, BL didn't.

[Ann]

I understand the house vs home thing completely. A year ago, I took a job in a new state, and we left the house we'd lived in for nearly 20 years in a neighborhood we'd lived in for nearly 30. That place was (and still is) our HOME, in a way that the new house isn't yet. Don't get me wrong, we really like the new house. It's a lovely house, and fits our needs better than our old house, but even after a year, it hasn't become home yet. We have this disease bad enough that we actually couldn't bring ourselves to sell the old house. We have it leased out, and when the job ends in a few years, if the new city and new house hasn't become home yet, we'll kick out the interlopers and move back home.

[Chuck Albertson]

You shouldn't pass up a chance to attend an English football match, Mike.

Pity about your birth certificate snafu -- that will only rile up the Birthers again.

[R. A. Krajnyak]

Hope the move goes well.

I can relate to the birth certificate typo. I'm named after my father and there's a Roman numeral 2 (II) after my name. All the documentation I sent for my passport contained the Roman numeral 2. When I received my passport my name had Jr. after it instead of II. A case of over zealous editing instead of a lack thereof...

[Mark]

I am really looking forward to the ND. I am quite hopeful that Mazda has done it right. The NA was quite cute and fun and the NB is almost perfect. My wife and I very nearly bought a nearly new MazdaSpeed NB a while back. Fantastic car but just a bit too small to be comfortable for long drives and weekend trips. Years ago we had a chrome bumper MGB that we restored and now have a Boxster S we picked up used so you can see that roadster lust is quite strong over here. I am sure you will once again add a roadster to the TOP garage at some point. It is too hard to stay away from fun cars.

[Dave]

I must be approaching middle-age. I had my first roadster fantasy last week. We were running errands with a carload of wild kids and my wife was in a fowl mood. A little red rag-top with the license plate "talklss" pulled alongside of us and I launched into the most spectacular daydream of open roads and free time. Oh how I hope I don't die before retirement.

[Jack]

Roadster are wonderful and the Miata looks good in that rendering. As it was originally a take off of a Lotus, I wonder what an Elan would look like in 2015?
Unfortunately, air conditioning, long hair and contact lenses have cut into the sales of roadsters. Not as many to choose from anymore.
I prefer roadsters to sport cars though some would say they are the same. A roadster is a gentleman's car. Performance is not the point, looks are. A sports car is for those under 35 or divorced or soon to be. A sports car can have a solid roof, but a roadster cannot.

But in America half the vehicles on the road are now trucks.

[Patrick Dodds]

Have they made you younger or older?
Good luck with the ongoing move Mike.

[Nature Lover]

The best thing to start making a 'new' house a home is the dogs.
Always helped my wife and I.
She moved south here to redneck country with the three pooches and left me alone near St Louis. Dogs saved her sanity and her soul. A new potential home just has no soul yet.
Me,I was alone.

Nature Lover

[MikeK]

The new Miata (MX-5) is also apparently going to form the basis of a new Alfa Spider. Tough choice?

[Carl Blesch]

Your wrong birth date on your birth certificate reminds me of the first time I tried to file my taxes electronically with one of the popular tax software packages. I got to the end of the process and it rejected the submission because my wife's birth date on file with the Social Security Administration was not the same as her real birth date. Heaven knows how that error got introduced into their system. Was an easy change when we finally got around to going to the Social Security office with birth certificate, passport, etc. in hand. But I had to file our taxes manually that year.

[Roberto]

What about an Alfa Romeo 4C then?

[Chris S]

"I'm not necessarily sad [...], but I'm feeling...what's the right way to say this...appropriately reflective and contemplative."

Completely unrelated to photography and your post, but these words sum up my day: we sent our youngest boy off to his first day of school today.

[Auntipode]

To make a house feel like home, I'd bake a batch of cookies. Aromas tickle a deep part part brain, carrying so many feelings and associations. For you, perhaps the new house will feel like home once you roast the first batch of coffee.

[Dean Johnston]

Hiya!

Is it just my imagination, or is the front end of that car rendering very much like a cartoon face?

[Richard]

Sorry, I think that new Miata is fugly. Looks like a fat tick engorged with blood. I so much liked the one you sold better.

[Robert]

The Miata looks like it has a Ferrari grill and. BMW body style.

[Steve Smith]

Can some explain the relevance of the word real when applied to selling houses.

In England the selling agents are known as Estate Agents which seems logical.

I have no idea how 'real estate', 'realtors' or now, 'realty' came into existence!

[Look up "real property." It came from English Common Law I'm pretty sure. --Mike]

[Rick in CO]

I haven't read the announcements, but is this the (or precursor to) rumored Alfa Romeo-Mazda car that was talked about awhile ago?
I give the styling high marks - looks Alfa-esque!

[Stephen Gilbert]

It's nice. As a Honda S2000 owner, though, I'm roadster satisfied.

My one quibble, which I suspect applies to all current cars, is the LCD screen. Who ever decided that a video screen for the use of a car's driver was a good idea?

[Chad Wadsworth]

a quote from user Angry Canine over at Miata.net "Once again, I wish the modernly rigid chassis, and more efficient modern engines could just be in an NA suit. With the functional interior of the NA, with some more comfortable seats, with some effective side bolsters."

Sounds like some photographers wishing for modern sensors and high resolution lenses with the manual controls and functions of the film era.

back to the Miata - I'm looking forward to seeing what Alfa does with their version.

[Paul De Zan]

New Miata: total success, the best looking car of the entire series, the first one I'd rather have than its primary inspiration, the Lotus Elan. And it's MUCH lighter than the current model. I hope I can still fit I one.

[John Brewton]

Mike, supposedly a new Alfa Spyder will be built on the same chassis, but using an all Alfa drivetrain. We'll see...all the hullabaloo about the new 4C and nary a one to be found.

[Mike Cawley]

It's red, that's a good start! I would rank the style behind the 2nd Gen car. The worst being the current edition. They still insist on putting a "face" on the front but at least it looks a little sleeker.
Hopefully the HP is over 200. (should have been over that a long time ago).