The RX-7
Lots of posts today! So I am leaving work and find my old RX-7 parked right next to me. It turns out that after I sold the car to Fred, he got a job as a consultant BREW QA tester for Qualcomm. So on occassion, I see the twin turbo R1 beauty. Fred has modified it quite a bit, added a lot of chrome under hood goodies, new suspension, 18" wheels and a new
crazy looking carbon fiber hood. I generall prefer the original style of the car, but it does look pretty cool I must say.
I will own one again one day. Or maybe the new RX-7 when it comes out. Or maybe a Lotus.
Hummers
Saw two hummingbirds outside work today. Pretty neato! I haven't really seen any since I moved to CA. It's good to know the little things still exist. They were drinking the nectar of the large square of flowering weeds that grows outside the east side of my building.
In 7th grade, my brother did an experiment to determine what type of food to feed your backyard humming birds. He did different ratios of sugar to water and compared colored water to non-colored water. I forget the ratio that was the best, but they definatly preferred the non-colored water. The 4 post flower style feeder was the most popular as well.
Lidocaine and Butterfingers
Know what that big needle is? It's Lidocaine. Yep, I went to the dentist for the first time since...maybe 1997...most likely 1995. Tracy and her perfect teeth maintenance schedule guilted me into it. I used to really hate going to the dentist when I was younger. But, this was not an unpleasant experience.
My Dad gave me some good advice: Large athletic male types (like my doc as a kid) don't make good dentists...they have huge hands. And I have a small mouth (I guess). So I followed Tracy's advice and went to her dentist, a petite asian woman. Small hands. Better experience!
I only had 2 cavities, one due to a badly installed filling and the other very minor. In addition she pulled my old silver fillings and put in new white ones made of an composite resin. They also won't expand and contract with hot and cold foods. I went in at 8AM, left at 10AM. I don't have to come back for 6 months. Now, that is service.
If anyone else is interested, her shop is called TransDental Family Care and it's in Mira Mesa, near the Hollywood Video and Baja Fresh. She's good and she's nice. Tell her Nathan sent you.
P.S. I bought a box of Butterfingers from Costco to celebrate. Shh!
Padres Games
Russ W invited me to a Padres game. As much as I don't like baseball, I
really like going to the games. It's fun, the beer is decent (RedHook)
and even the seats up in the 3rd level aren't too bad.
It is pricey tho. $14 for the cheapest seats. $50 for the better ones.
Althought we didn't do this, my recommendation is to park and take the Trolley down. It's usually free parking, the trolley is $4.50 round trip and the ride back gives you some time for the buzz to die away.
Anniversary 2004
This weekend, Tracy and I celebrated 2 years of knowing each other. Last year, we rented a cabin up at Big Bear, it was a good time...but rather expensive. This year, due to budget and time constraints, we decided to go camping in a near-by state park. We had originally looked at William Heise, but the ranger told us that it had been mostly burned down by the 2003 SD fire and to check out Dos Picos instead, "it's beautiful and really green". So, we re-set our sight for Dos Picos and made reservations ($12/night, 2 nights + fees = $27).
It was a good time, but a little disappointing. The park was a lot smaller than we had imagined it. Our camping area was right against the park edge, which was someone's back yard. It didn't look like what we had thought. The rangers said it was 'very green', which was attractive to two people from back east that are tired of looking at sand and boulders. The pictures from the brochure showed streams and a lake sized pond, which turned out to be a 50 foot wide puddle with some skanky looking ducks in it. And a bunch of frogs. And millions of bugs...that wouldn't leave us alone. But it was low on water because they were pumping out of it to feed dozens of sprinklers on a few large mowed lawns that they had at the park. Including a large jungle gym for kids. Which just seems backwards to me for a place of 'nature'. And we didn't expect it to be loud...the people...they let the kids go nuts! Yelling, screaming, early in the morning, just loud as hell, and rooting through our stuff too! Brats! And people were blasting music. I mean, really, who does that in a nature preserve. Well, these people do, I suppose.
But, we did get to spend some time alone in a large grassy field under a pretty oak tree, that was really nice. And we went on a morning hike, which was also pretty fun. And we spent Friday night looking at the stars, which were incredible from that location. But we decided to come home a day early anyhow since it had become uncertain if Tracy would have to work Sunday afternoon.
So we packed up and headed out back to civilization. And spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at home. It was quite nice.
Sunday, we went out for a nice dinner downtown, to the "Dakota Grill". Neither Tracy or I had been there and the prices were reasonable. The food was good and we each had a nice glass of wine. I could have done without the waiter staring at Tracy, but other than that it was a good place. I'd go back.
Movie: Signs
I just finished watching Signs, by M. Night Shyamalan. That is one of, if not THE worst movie I've ever seen. It tops that dusty evil car movie that Andrew and I watched in college where the driver is never shown and in the end it drives off a cliff onto a pile of dynamite. I mean, the aliens were terrible looking. Some gangly green humanoid thing with big claws, huge fangs and teeth. Give me a break. And the plot was moronic. Aliens decide to travel across time and space to take over our planet for it's natural resources. And they do this with hand to hand combat!?!? And WATER KILLS THEM? What in the hell! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. They have the technology to travel across the galaxy but can't wipe us out with radiation or a virus or bullets or something more advanced than hand to hand combat? And they picked a planet to harvest whose surface is comprised mostly of a substance that kills them? Did they not see that it rains the stuff from the sky? Good lord.
And the main character, a preacher, has tossed away his faith after his wife is killed by a car. With a horrible scene of her dying, pinned between the car and the tree. And if the car moves, she'll die, yet she's totally able to have a conversation laid out on the hood...'somehow' held together. SO LAME. And in the end, when it's out in the open that aliens exist, bam, he's a preacher again.
Did he do any research before developing this story? Did he watch any
other SCI-FI movies? Did he even hire consult a technical writer?? I
have to imagine that Mr. Shyamalan is just as much of a moron as he
thinks his viewers are.
The thing that gets me is that I loved Unbreakable It was great. And although I didn't like it, the Sixth Sense was very successful.
Please, don't waste your life by watching this movie. Wow.
Nuclear WHAT injections?
So my feet have been hurting more and more lately. Both of them. I can
barely stand for more than 10 min at a time. And it is starting to hurt
to drive a clutch. No effin clue why. My pediatrist thinks it's complex
regional pain
syndrome.
So, he sent me off for a "bone scan". Whatever that is.
See that big scary machine? The one they put 'terminally ill' patients in on shows like ER? It's what's generally referred to as a Nuclear Imaging machine. Basicly a $250k, computer controlled, nuclear camera. That's what they use to watch the isotopes flow thru your bloodstream. Isotopes? What bloodstream, mine? Needles? Again? Jeez. I had this done to check for blood clots in my chest after my accident. One of the most painful trips across a hospital I've ever made. Second only to the trip to the X-Ray with the careless gurney cart driver. I swear to god I shit my pants. Wait, I wasn't wearing pants.
Anyway, this is how it goes:
11AM: Technetium Isotope injection and simultaneous flow scan.
3PM: Return for 2 more images of calcium activity in my feet.
24 hrs later: Piss out the last of the radiation in my urine.
Not too bad. I will post images of the results soon.
mp3 ghost town
Stopped by the old MP3.com campus today on the way back from the doc's office. The first 3 years I lived in SD were spent in those buildings. But today, that place is a ghost town. It looks just like the day I left it actually, even the front desk has forms to sign in. But it's totally empty. Kinda freaky. Reminds me of late night sysadmin work. Server's down, I'm on call, burning up the backroads at 3am in the RX-7, screetching into the parking lot sideways. Good times. Looks like the parking lot was paved recently. They removed all traces of that screwup "YEILD" sign. The bottom floor of the engineering building is the only thing that looks changed, it's totally empty. Bldg 2 lobby looks exactly the same, I was almost waiting for Sonny to walk up and let me in.
I hung out with some old friends this weekend that I haven't really seen since the MP3 days (1.5 yrs?), reminded me of that place and the way things used to be. It was such a cool working environment, so many really smart, hard working people...too bad it was mis-managed, cut into bits and sold away. It still kinda irks me the way things went down for me in the end, but I walked away reasonably unscathed, and now I get to bask in the glow of working for a successful, well managed company. Compared to a continuous slide underwater 50 fold deep. I got to MP3 after the 'boom', my first day was the day we got sued, so I did nothing but watch my 'optionaire' status plummet into the depths. ESPP and watching stocks was so bogus back then. Now, I am all over it. Got the E-Trade action goin. Even wrote a new department IRC bot that queries stocks, just like Jane.
Lots of fond memories at EastGate Mall Rd. Still...I shoulda done a burnout in the middle of the front sidewalk.
ringaling ding
This
is a pic of the gear on the wall at my Dr's office. My ears have been
ringing, kinda loudly, so I came in for a checkup. Did an audio test...I
can hear fine. No infections or anything. Nothing out of the ordinary
for me. Funky. Maybe I'm finally just picking up all the high frequency
EM that is radiating throughout our little planet's atmosphere. I don't
think that it has anything to do with the loud cars at Monterey because
I didn't have that problem until I woke up last week. Maybe I'm just
imagining things.
Monterey 2004
So, Monterey was a blast. Karl had some last minute problems with the
MGA(egyptian
scroll seals) so we eneded up with 2 mighty
steeds:
Nathan & Arne in my RX-8, Karl in the 72 BMW
2002.
The trip up was mostly uneventful, hit a bit more traffic than last
year, or at least more than I remember last year. Traffic in LA, traffic
in Santa Barbara, traffic in Monterey. Thursday night, we stayed in San
Simeon, which you may recognize from
Hearst Castle fame. This year we opted
for the Motel 6 but it was pretty clear (after the sink bubbled up some
charred rubble) that we should have found the place we were in last year
and payed a few $ more. We had dinner that night at the same place as
last year, and it was most
enjoyable.
But this year we had a big seagul that was hopping from table to table
and off the umbrella's. I wanted to shoot that thing. We also make a
stop by Target that night to pick up some shorts and deoderant for Arne
and a belt for Karl...and I picked up a razor scooter. Thought it might
be good for getting around with less footwork. Or at least that's the
excuse I used.
Continuing from San Simeon up to the Concorso, we stayed on the coast for the most excellent twisty's just south of Monterey. That was really the first time I had put the RX-8 thru the paces on the twisty's, so having Karl in the 30 year old BMW was probably a good thing. Especially since I had 200 lb of german meat in the passenger seat and another probably 200lb of gear in the trunk. It made the car handle and respond a little different from my daily commute.
Arriving at the Concorso, we hit an hour and a half of traffic waiting to park. So gay. And then I was forced to park my new sports car in a giant bumpy, dusty, field. It wasn't mowed very well either so my hot exhaust sat against some light brush until I noticed and moved it. A guy in a GT3 broke his expensive car driving thru that. I bet a lot of people will be pissed over that situation. Probably not the dude in the giant smurf-colored SUV with 26" DUBS that parked next to me.
The show was good, lots and lots of Ferrari's. I took a lot of pics this year...compared to last year...I bumped my head so hard on that Lancia that I was just out of it the rest of the trip. This time, I saw rad cars of all types. Saleen S7, McLaren F1, Ferrari 250GT Coupe, Alfa Romeo GTV, Ferrari F-40, Ferrari Enzo, Ford GT40, and my favorite car of the show, an early Abarth Coupe. It was a good show, but after all the traffic and paying friggin $100, I am not sure I will go next year. The one bonus...after the show, we got lost trying to find a shortcut out and ran across a parked Porsche Carerra GT. Arne went nuts and we jumped out to check it out. Just a few seconds later the 'prick on the inside' typical owner pulled up and drove it away. But not before rolling like 2 car lengths back, nearly hitting me, revving to the moon and jetting away. Turns out it was the owner of Monster Cable.
We promptly made our way to Laguna Seca Raceway and set up our tents near the top of the corkscrew. Not nearly as windy as the last two years, yaaay. 2003 was almost unbearable due to the high winds. We ran into some friends from years past, Mike McConnell and Mario and his gang of gear-head geeks from San Diego. Our gang of gear-head geeks needs to hook up with them for a big motorsports party. We met up with Soma and Kaushik as well, who had come up for the races, and they went out to dinner with us. Venturing into downtown Carmel, we had nice food and tried to figure out each other's riddles. We ran into some interesting cars parked outside while we were there. 3 black cars none of us had ever seen before...'Spyker' was the make and the model was R8 I believe. They had a very interesting shift mechanism...it was totally exposed. Slept very nice on the air-bed that night.
Got up early the next day and saw some excellent racing and spent quite
a bit of time in the paddock
area.
Watched the F1 cars getting ready, that was neat. One of the Italian
guys yelled at me to get out of the way. It was kinda neato. Got busted
almost instanly on the razor scooter. Not allowed. Whatever. It's cool,
razor scooters are lame anyway. ;) Checked out quite a number of vendors
as well. I got to sit in the Noble
M12.
Arne and I ran into the former president of VUNet USA while we were
there, small world. He was taking the same
picture
I was. He seemed happy to see us and was interested to know where we
were working now. At the end of the race day, as we were packing up our
chairs to head back to camp, I heard this odd loping idle
sound
coming down the corkscrew. It could have only been a rotary. It was the
Mazda 787B, the only Japanese car to ever win Le Mans. And 6 other
rotary race cars. RAD! I guess they lined up for some shots or
something. I got so excited that I forgot my camera. Dammit! But that's
ok, Arne took pics for
me.
That night, we decided to go out for fast food. But we made a pit stop
to help Kaushik thru his first tire change on the Suburban. We ran out
to Salinas to get the food, brought it back and watched race
videos
with Mike. Kaushik, Soma and Mike's neighbors with a
Mini
joined us. Saw some neato vintage videos (Moss, Gurney, etc) that Mike
had converted from 8mm to VHS. That was pretty bitchin. The weather was
nice and I slept like a baby again. Karl actually got Carbon Monoxide
poisoning from the generator of the huge ass RV next to us. His lips
were numb the next morning!
Sunday morning was a treat...Arne and I milled around the Paddock some more, saw the new Ferarri 612, the new Mazerati and the biggest truck I've ever seen. Just before lunch we headed back to camp, packced up the tents and sat up the chairs on the opposite side of the track near turn 2. This spot has a pretty bitchin view of the track and is perfect for the vintage F1 race. But before that, they brought out the 2003 Ferrari F1 car, driven by the actual Ferrari test driver. It was so cool to see all those F1 cars zipping around Laguna Seca. He tried to set the all-time lap record, but was a full 3 seconds slower (106 sec - 133mph avg) than the Honda Champ car that holds the title. But it was cool watching him try! They were all driving pretty damn hard too...sparks were flying! During the lunch intermission, they brought out some new supercar from Chrysler...followed by the Rotaries again!!! This time, they actually were doing laps on the track. Some sort of "Mazda Heritage" lap. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, except that since they let the VP of Mazda USA drive the 787B, it was a pretty tame race. I would have loved to hear those race rotaries at full tilt.
We finished up the day with a shower and a nice, long trip home. We encountered some sucky ass traffic in Santa Barbara, just like the last 2 years, but other than that it was pretty uneventful. The RX-8 was a great car for this trip, if we'd just had a little less gear, I'd say it would have been perfect. The seats are comfortable and it actually got 21mpg average, even with all that twisty climbing and horse play. The BMW 2002 ran great on the trip as well, but suffered a rear-end failure a few days later. Sorry Karl, that's a big bummer.
I say this every year, but I may not do Concorso next year. The Historics, on the other hand, have been established as good solid fun and a tradition that I definatly want to keep.