Yes! Man, you're making me nostalgic for home. I haven't been back in almost 10 years — it's been too damned long.

Ah, the ever-lovely Miss Mariano. You outdid yourself, Nibby.

Awesome stories, but I'm slightly confused. The story is tagged as being Hardibro's, but this line:

Hey now, our R3 resembles that comment. Take it back!

Strangely enough, since I've got my '09 Miata new, I haven't done any work on it other than checking the oil/fluids/belts, replacing the wipers and refilling the tires. With one notable exception.

Given the relationship between the average doctoral student and their advising professor, divorce wouldn't be the most inappropriate of terms.... :P

Hah! I did exactly the same when working on my old Protege in the apartment parking lot — I just laid out some plastic in the trunk and put everything I was working with (tools/parts) in there while working. Forgot something inside the apartment? Just shut the trunk. Instant locking toolbox. :)

Hah, so do I. I just happen to have a dad who has a doctorate in Analytical Chem. That shit rubs off on you, even if you avoided chemistry like the plague in school.

Lovely — congratulations! I am officially envious.

Hood flew up halfway through course. Kept foot down until hood broke loose.

Heh, I've done my share of parking-lot repair. Back when I was just a grad student, I had a bit of time but very little money. I've done radiator replacement, brake & suspension work and various other jobs on my old Protege (the toughest being a timing belt replacement.) I did all of this in the parking lot of my…

Translation: break down the ABS plastic into its base components. Via more chemical reactions, convert the component chemicals into the base materials for crystal meth.

*sigh* Maybe not the coolest. But definitely one of more iconic paintjobs.

As the owners of 3 separate Mazdas, I can attest to the difficulty of dealing with spiders. Pretty much every morning, I have to chase them critters off the car glass, hood, or doors. Many times, they manage to sneak into the car while the doors are open and sling their web-lines right across the middle of the car —…

"In response, Mitsubishi has created a special line of cars specifically for this burgeoning group of users. It will be aptly named the Mitsubishi Creation.

No, no, no. You're doing it wrong, Creation Museum. This a highway billboard, so you need to make it car/speed themed. Instead, I propose you put this picture up instead, with the simple, yet effective tag-line:

I'm in your camp as well. The looks were a bit of a shock at first, but the more I see it, the more I like it. It's... funky. Call it names, but it's not boring looking. Plus, it's actually got decent drivetrain options.

I am in awe of you, sir. My brain would have given up and melted ages ago from trying to misspell and green-verb for that long.

Meters Per Gallon.

Brunettes and redheads do it better. ;)