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About I week ago, I turned 29. Gina provided a Mediterranean feast (the leftovers lasted the entire weekend)… excellent. We had dinner with our families (grill-out with Gina’s parents, my parents, Christian and Robyn). Christian grilled up some amazing fillets that were accompanied by some of my favorites: seven-layer salad (24-hour salad), twice baked potatoes and, of course, Sander’s bumpy cake.

I made out pretty well in the gift department. (Although I’m not so great at receiving gifts…) Gina gave me some of my favorite Japanese candy, my favorite cigars, and a grille for my WRX. Some wrinkle-free shirts from Gina’s parents make both me and my wardrobe happy. Speaking of wardrobe, Robyn and Christian got me some geek-approved Adult Swim tees. My parents hooked me up with magnetic vinyl class and number appliques for my Solo 2 exploits. I should also mention the excellent farting, bubble “blowing”… thing… that Joy (co-worker) got me. Good times.

Glenn will be racing at Mid-Ohio Raceway this weekend. It’s a big pro track with some very interesting sections. This will be my first trip to Mid-Ohio. I hope to bring back some photos, video, and even some good race data. Updates to follow…

- Duane

We (Gina, Christian, Robyn, Mom, and I) gave my dad Tickets to the Eric Clapton concert at The Palace for Fathers Day. Originally, we only had 4 tickets due to the cost and complication of getting 6 seats together. However, yesterday afternoon, I was offered 2 more (amazing) seats for free. (My company has some connections at the Palace.) I gladly accepted them, knowing that Gina and Robyn (sister-in-law) would like to see the show too.

The plan was simple. My parents would take the primo seats (5th row, just off to the side of the stage). Gina and I would sit with Christian (brother) and Robyn. However, when we arrived at the Palace, my mother was horribly car sick. We tried to walk her around, let her rest, and everything in between… to no avail. Just as E.C. was taking the stage, Gina offered to take my mother to the first aid area, knowing that my Dad was really looking forward to the performance. I would now accompany him to the 5th row seats.

Gina was able to catch a few songs while my Mom rested… and could hear the rest of the concert from the first aid area. However, while sitting in the infirmary, my mother and Gina overheard how a scuffle turned into a fight where a man had his finger bitten off. I sh!t you not. Eric Clapton concert… man looses finger. (I’ve been to a lot more rowdy shows, and never heard of anything like this.)

When the concert ended (it was great, btw), Gina and I went to retrieve my mother. Upon our arrival I overheard a great deal about the bitten-off-finger-incident. Good stuff. Some pickled moron, started arguing with a woman… he then punched her, knocking her out. Her date then started to beat the tar out of the pickled woman puncher… eventually biting the pickled punks digit clean off. Mmmm.

We were escorted to our exit, Mom in wheelchair, and then outside to wait for Christian to weave the car through the Palace lot traffic to my mother. While waiting, we noticed a lot of lightning. I quickly dismissed this as “heat lightning” and that we had “10 or 20 minutes before it would even start to rain.” After a single warning drop, the sky opened and we were drenched. My family barely got into the car in time… but there was no room to fit Gina and I into the car. So we retreated back to the Palace to wait out the rain before searching for our car. Drenched is an understatement.

However, we did make it back to the car… and discovered that Gina’s cellphone was missing. I soon found myself wandering around the north exit, calling Gina’s phone, hoping to hear it ring. No luck. We called my family to see if they heard a cellphone ringing in their car. Nope. I’m out of the car again, and looking inside the Palace doors where we had waited for the weather to subside. Nope. Back in the car, and Gina realizes that she had her phone on silent while in the infirmary. Another call to my family, they check my Mom’s purse and all is well again.

Excitement from the mundane. [More Photos]

- Duane

Gina and I spent the weekend making some much needed updates and repairs to our front porch. The original louvered-style Florida windows that occupied the front of the porch nearly kept me from looking at the house before I bought it. Five years later, they have finally been replaced with standard storm windows. (20% chance of checking out the porch via the random cam.) Removing the old windows was easier than expected, however the new ones required a good amount of custom framing. Just about 2 hours after the last coat of paint went on the framing, it started to rain… and continued until mid afternoon on Monday. That evening, Gina and I hung the new windows in their frames. Much better.

My brother, mom, and myself are taking my dad to see Eric Clapton tonight (father’s day present). I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t seen EC in at least 7 years. Good times.

- Duane

I added a vacation day to the 4th of July weekend to complete a few large installs on my WRX. I’ve delayed upgrading my brakes (including brake lines) and installing a new uppipe and downpipe as long as I could, knowing it would take some serious install time. Nearly 40 hours later, the install is done, and well worth the effort. I’m still breaking in my brakes (no pun intended), but I can already tell that they clamp much better than before, with very little fade. The exhaust upgrades reduced turbo lag and allow much more linear acceleration with little additional noise… apart from a little more (welcome) turbo whistle. Gina was a big help when it came to pulling large sections of exhaust out, as well as installing the intercooler (p.i.t.a.), and bleeding the brakes.

I accumulated a few bruises and scratches, but nothing major. According to NASIOC I had a hard time with the easy stuff, and an easy time with the hard stuff. Go figure.

Here are a few things that I learned:

• Use line wrenches when working on brake lines. They strip easily.
• There is a very fine line between enough brake parts cleaner and way too much. Keep some rubberized underbody paint handy for those wheel wells.
• Brake component tolerances are hair-thin. Don’t paint any parts until the brake assembly is complete.
• Liquid wrench is your friend… just don’t inhale a lot of it.
• Wear a mask and goggles when you’re working under your car… no matter how uncomfortable. Do the same whenever you’re sanding, grinding, etc. Your lungs will thank you. Trust me…
• Have a few small containers handy before pulling things apart. Label them so you remember what bolts/nuts go in what parts. This saved a lot of time during re-assembly.
• Re-assemble exhaust parts with anti-seize and fresh nuts and bolts whenever possible.
• No matter how well you clean off the Liquid Wrench (or WD-40) residue, your car will still smoke and smell for a day-or-so.

I hope that helps somebody down the line. All-in-all I am very satisfied with the results.

Apart from car stuff, Gina and I had a chance to hang out with Glen on the 4th, check out some fireworks, and have a few “pops.” We also tried out a few new recipes, and watched some NetFlix goodness.

- Duane

I crewed for my father-in-law, Glenn, at Gingerman Raceway last weekend. Technically, the event was a regional driver’s school with a race on Sunday. Glenn decided to learn the track using the school… however, having 5 or 6 sessions on the track added up to a lot of running around for both driver and crew. The most interesting session included all of the following: tow truck on course, ambulance on course, black flags, and a pace car. I guess the instructors didn’t want their students to be surprised by anything… ever.

On Sunday, the schedule was a little different. There were only 3 groups: open wheel cars, smaller closed wheel, and big iron closed wheel. In addition to qualifying and race sessions, there was a practice. A little different, but apparently useful. After dodging some “aggressive” competition, Glenn finished in 1st place! There was some drama to sort out with some upset competition, but all-in-all it was a great weekend and a great regional event. I was a little too busy to get photos during the event, but some new timing equipment might free me up in the near future. I did get a few interesting photos on the road, including a SUV roll-over, widebody Mercedes and an early morning pic of the racecar. [Photos Here]

George shared a link to some Nokia 3650 goodness with me. Lots of useful goodies are to be had from there. There is one broken link that drives me mad. As a former Amiga-holic, I miss the complete waste-of-time demos (WOTD) that were found on every BBS around the world. There are some nice WOTDs on there, but one cannot be found… Zion. If anyone finds it, let me know.

I dug up my Gameboy recently. I guess I never had a chance to really use it before, but it’s rather convenient to flip open and play for a few minutes. Unlike many of the high-horsepower PC/Playstation2 games, there’s still a lot of interesting gameplay and unique premises. I guess I got a little tired of the average FPS and racing games… or more accurately, didn’t have the time to invest in them. Most Gameboy games can be played for 5 minutes, then put away. Pretty convenient.

- Duane