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Over the past week or so, Sebastian (our pseudo-siamese cat) has awakened us with coughing fits. We though he was getting a cold, so Gina took him to the local vet. Their first concern was that he had contracted heart worm or that it was possibly asthma. Although serious, heartworm is rare in cats… in fact they usually self-cure. However, there are cases that don’t work out that well. The vet did some blood tests and we found out today that Sebastian just has kitty asthma. He gets some meds on occasion to control the coughing fits. He’s the best cat I’ve ever had and everyone that meets him falls in love right away. He insists on being with us as much as possible and sleeps in (not on… IN) the bed with us (which actually complicated his asthma symptoms). We’re glad he’s going to be fine.

- Duane

Last Saturday I attended a “ropes” course as part of a leadership training program. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done. I’m a little afraid of heights and the top level of the course was 25 feet in the air. The 11 of us that participated had to work together to negotiate cables, beams and ropes. Additionally, there were a few more logistically challenging activities like being locked in a box with loud sound and fake smoke while trying to organize a list and a blindfolded obstacle course. Even though it scared the crap out of me, I’d qualify it as fun and fulfilling.

- Duane

When you’re a geek, you travel in geek circles. My closest friends are the most intelligent and innovative people I’ve ever met. To get to work with them every day would be amazing. Recently, I referred 2 friends to work. One started a few weeks ago, and he has proven to be a amazing asset to one of the teams. Now, one of my closest friends will be working on my team. We’ve had numerous philosophical discussions about coding, security, politics, and beer. I can’t wait to have him in the office. I work for a great company, and have made several friends in the office. Bringing others into this great environment makes it all the better. Woot!

On the 25th-26th of May, I participated in my first SCCA regional at Grattan Raceway, near Grand Rapids, MI. Technically, my car is a Spec Neon and is held to the limitations of the class. However, there is not a regional Spec Neon class, so I had to bump up to “Improved Touring-A (ITA)”. ITA cars have better suspension, engines, and tires. Additionally, the drivers in that class were (obviously) more experienced than I. However, the stewards of the race decided to run our group (ITA) with the TCC group. TCC stands for “Touring Challenge for Corvettes.” Which means I was on track with some of the meanest Corvettes you can imagine… not to mention the GT-1 cars (think NASCAR, but without intake limitations and turning both ways). It was awesome. I couldn’t feel my own heartbeat on the grid… I couldn’t even tell if my car was still running! All I heard/felt was the pounding of the un-corked small block V-8 engines.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we qualified/raced in the rain. I equipped rain tires (and on Sunday adjusted my suspension). Some of the big bore cars ran on a completely dry setup… which means I qualified in front of some MUCH faster cars. The start of the following races was an experience. I liken it to the Millennium Falcon jumping to light speed, except in reverse… and instead of stars, Corvettes were flying by. I was able to keep up with one T1 ‘Vette in the corners, but he would pull away from me a little more in each straight-away. I’m not going to pretend I was even remotely competitive with the Corvettes… heck some of the other ITAs even lapped me. But, it felt pretty good to pass a Corvette a few times. The track itself was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about car setup and learning a new track from scratch. I can’t wait until my next “new” track.

- Duane

As mentioned in the previous post, the new driveway is in place. We tried parking the van and trailer on it 5 days after installation and 2 days after a lot of rain. The right side of the trailer got too close to the edge on the side of the driveway (about 3 feet above the surrounding ground) and the driveway crumbled. The trailer tires were in pretty deep. Glenn came over to share his trailer expertise and help dig out the trailer. With a jack and some boards we got the trailer out and parked next to the shop. There’s a good chance we’ll need to widen the driveway and figure out some sort of reinforcement for the sides.

Recently, we’ve had a lot of big thunderstorms. On Tuesday, our power went out for 12 hours. We’re thinking that some sort of generator is in our plans withing the next few years, since we have a well (needs electricity) and a sump (REALLY needs electricity). In the meantime, we’ve decided to rig up a giant hamster wheel for our pets to run on connected to a couple of magnets. Viola: pet generator.

On the 26-27th I will be racing at Grattan Raceway for the first time. I’ve never been there before, but Glenn is a seasoned pro (wink) and I’ll be looking to him for some pointers. This will be our first “away-from-home” race together, too. Gina will be there cheering us on and keeping us in line.

I’ve been experimenting with Second Life. At first glance, it appears to be a big 3-D chat room. However, there’s a lot more than first meets the eye. There are over 6 million “residents”, with close to 2 million unique users logging in every 2 months. Almost 2 million U.S. Dollars are spent every day! The entire world is user created and the the inventors of the game (or whatever you want to call it) provide all of the tools you need to create your own content and scripts. There are even laws being developed in the U.S. in reaction to Second Life activity. I would gamble that within 2 years, second life will be nearly as commonplace as the world wide web is today.

- Duane

I picked up right where last season ended. I dropped a few tenths off of my best time last year, but I was hoping for even better improvements. There’s a lot that my car needs, but I know there’s a second to be lost by driving better. I’d rather drive better with less horsepower and handling… then add the power rather than learn to rely on it. However, if anyone would like to donate a prepped IT motor, limited slip and new transmission, I would gladly accept it and plaster you name ALL OVER my car.

Last week, Gina contacted Priess Outdoor Supply to give us a quote on an additional driveway by our shop. The price sounded good and they said it could be done this week. On Monday at 8:30 they told us they were on their way. In a few hours, we had a new driveway, extra drainage, and a better landscape grade behind the shop. I’m impressed. It looks a little barren right now, but by mid summer, the ground cover should recover. Never-the-less, it will be a lot easier to get out race trailer in and out of the yard!

- Duane