Weekend Update

Saturday I was an instructor at BMWCCA's (BMW Car Club of America) Street Survival school which teaches 16-20 year old students car control. We had a skid-pad, braking zones, accident avoidance, and a slalom. I'm pretty sure everyone of the kids loved it. I say kids but I'm only a few years older than the students! It took up the entire day, and I would've rather been at the Richmond Marathon, but I'm still glad I did it.

Sunday I autocrossed in Dinwiddie, at VMP. The temperatures were low and the winds were a constant 12-15 MPH. It made for a very blah day. The race tires couldn't keep warm enough between runs to really feel good about my runs. I had to give up time in lots of places to stay clean and on course. In the end, I did pull together a fantastic clean run--my last for the day. It placed me in 1st in DSP, in front of someone I've battled with all season. I was 12th in both PAX and RAW time. I find that DSP's handicap usually puts you within a place or two of your RAW time, at least when you're in the 5-15 region. There were some fast drivers and cars that showed up yesterday, that's for sure. Again, I'm glad I did it, but would've rather spent the day doing other things. So it was mostly a weekend of car-stuff, which did not include actual car work.

Later on Sunday, the roommate and I went out for a 2 hour bike ride. At one point we ended up in Hollywood Cemetery. This place is rather scary at night, especially having never been there even in the daylight. On the way out we heard a gunshot (coming from city side, not cemetery side), my second or third since moving into the City.

This upcoming Friday, my roommate's friend is moving in with us. This means I need to clean out the office-room. I'm excited to be receiving more rent payments. Maybe I'll even save up and go somewhere, or pay off some debt.

Chicago

I just got back from a work trip to Chicago. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday involved 44 hours of work, and therefore was boring. Wednesday however, was awesome. I saw the Chicago Institute of Art, Millennium Park, the Sears Tower (visibility was zero, so I didn't go up to the skydeck), and the Field Museum of Chicago. Amazing stuff!

Back to RVA work...

Almost perfect weekend

I had what seemed to be an absolute perfect weekend.

A special someone and I spent the entire day together Saturday. It began with brunch at Strawberry St. Next there was a leisurely day around the city which included a stroll on Belle Isle. She's never been to Belle Isle, so she loved it! The weather was absolutely perfect to boot. Later there was homemade dinner, a brief but magical show, and drinks to follow.

I woke up the next morning barely early enough to catch my 07:30 flight to Chicago. Its fucking cold here. So cold, in fact, that is snowing on and off. I'm beyond tired, having slept 3 hours in the bed and just 1 on the plane, I'm about ready to fall down. Including the 2 hours of eating, I've been on the clock for 16 hours so far. Secretly, I love this shit! I want to just grab a beer and watch the Giants kick the shit out of the Eagles. Oh well. My Muddy Buddy Brother is going to owe me some dinner next time I see him!

Apparently I get vulgar when tired. My apologies!

Vote

I got to Cary Elementary at 6:15 and found a line 75-100 yards long outside the school. It was pretty uneventful waiting in line, except the light rain and sometimes interesting conversation between fellow line-mates.

When we got inside and closer to the actual polls, they were calling for people with the last name T-Z to skip the line and head straight up. Occasionally, they even called for H-S to come up as there were fewer of them. What caused this? Did the segmentation of the alphabet properly reflect the registered voters, but just people with last name A-G showed up more? Did someone skip his/her homework and forget to research the proper distribution? Or is mandated by law to break up the lines in such a way?

Voting itself was pretty uneventful, except my machine (#1) had a “Charge/Battery Low” warning light blinking, so I alerted one of the workers. Why would these machines not be plugged in, or not fully charged? I also heard one lady tell another “Don’t use Machine 3.” I don’t know why, but that scared me, too.

Two hours after arriving, I was done voting!

Afterward, I immediately broke my Starbucks rule and got free coffee. The place was packed!

richmond, race, concert, concert, race, halloween

Bulk updates, again.

weekend before last
Friday night involved lots of dancing, just like most weekend nights these days. Hmm.
Saturday included a nice Can Can brunch, a tour of Richmond, lounging around the house, witnessing a performance of Bob Gulledge on the Byrd Theater's mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ (we skipped the movie, lol!), and a late dinner at Carytown Sushi. The dinner for 2 is an awesome deal there-- $45 ish for 1 big roll and six other rolls, nearly 40 pcs of sushi.
Sunday I had my best autocross yet in the Miata! I finished 6th in RAW time, 5th in PAX (adjusted) time, 1st in Class, and 2nd in Street Prepared. I didn't get any video because the camera ran out of battery. Then, Sunday PM I saw Dave and Tim Reynolds at VCU's Siegel Center. AMAZING SHOW!
Tuesday I attended the Get Out and Vote concert and saw Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, and Beastie Boys. I was so happy to finally see JJ perform line. Its too bad he had a short set. I was supposed to see Norah Jones open for DMB a few years back, but had a baseball game earlier that day and had to go to the show late. She's dreamy. Beastie was as high-energy as you might imagine. After the show, I got to converse with Jack Johnson. Well, as he was leaving via van, we exchanged a sentence or two.

Most recent weekend
Friday, aka Halloween , I participated in a messenger style bike race. I love how stupidly snobby and rude some (dare I say most!) cyclists are. I was there just for fun and to participate, but received some really rude comments from one of the participants. Said participant acted like there was serious money on the line. I'll bet I'd beat said participant in a straight up race anyday. Bitch! I found out the hard way that WEST 25th St is South of the river, not in Church Hill--which has a NORTH 25th St. I'll be prepared next time. It was a nice little tour of the city, too. Then, I met up with the roomy and we began our Halloween festivities which included Hanover Ave, 3 Monkeys, and Blackfinn. Oh, I was a ceiling fan. I sewed a piece of fabric that read "CEILING" on the back of my Tiki Barber jersey. I had to explain it to a lot of people, but once people knew what it was, they laughed. A lot!
Saturday I went on a nice Motorcycle ride and diagnosed its oil-leak. Saturday night involved dancing at Bank. We were super excited at 1:40 AM to hear "Last call is coming up IN ONE HOUR!" Yay for Daylight Saving Time! Food at Alladin followed. I've come to the conclusion that Alladin's is a lot better than 3rd street for late night food!
Sunday morning I woke up way too early, roasted some pumpkin seeds, and spent the entire day with my family in the Mountains. We picked apples on Carter Mountain and hiked on Skyline Drive. Good times!

I can't wait for the election. GO ROBERT GREY for Mayor!

walk to work!?

I walked to work today! Not because I set out to do so, but rather because I missed the bus. I took the motorcycle to work yesterday, but caught a ride home from a coworker because it was pouring down rain. So I planned to take the bus to work and the motorcycle back home. That plan was foiled when I missed the bus, so I just jogged/walked to work. It took me 45 minutes to complete the 3 mile journey. Not bad of an experience.

More on this past weekend later, perhaps...

Gauley River

OK, so I wussed out and turned on my heat shortly after posting.

I've been putting off posting for several days for one reason. I've got an awesome topic to blog, but don't know what to say. It seems that I am not the best story teller, nor the best blogger. How can I give any justice to my whitewater rafting experience on the world-famous Gauley River!? I can't. So I'll just settle with telling you to see the pictures:

click one of them to see all of them




There's also video, but you'll have to go to the facebook for that.

A few highlights.
1. We did not flip.
2. We did not throw anyone off the raft, except when someone was "riding the bull" for fluffy bunnny.
3. The water temps were much higher than the air temps, which began at 28 degrees :(
4. I jumped off jump rock.
5. I swamp swimmer's rapid.
6. I'm going back next year.
7. We did not hit dildo rock as this raft did.