Yup. The wheels are in motion -- so to speak. A broad new horizon is stretched out before me, and along with it comes a new opportunity to learn. I like learning. I like challenges. I don't think I've had much of either since 2001.
And I've been very lucky, recently. The advent of RiverCityMinis has brought me into contact with folks who've helped me shake the rust off. I feel youthful again. I feel excited about things. I've been more interested in life in general, and have found a focus that I thought was lost. I want to pick up my guitar in the afternoons, take walks, talk about cars, and research research research.
Unfortunately, the down-side to this is always the same. I remember it from when I got heavily into my band in college, when I started getting serious about Microsoft testing, and when I was going rock-climbing: my relationship with Amanda takes a big hit. The end result is that our relationship is not damaged, but often stronger than before. But the process just takes so much out of me, and I really short-change her. It's part of why I decided not to do any more Microsoft testing: it just sucked me dry, and consumed 100% of my time from when I got home in the afternoon until bed-time.
I hate myself when I get stuck on something, because of this, but I really get into a learning groove, and find that I can do leaps and bounds of progress during these spells. AND, though it might not be readily apparent to her, I really do appreciate how wonderful Amanda is, especially when I get like this. Every thought of her just lifts me up and seems to re-double my ability to absorb new data.
I love my wife, and I hope she never ever feels under-appreciated. I just have to figure out how to pull myself away from new projects.
Wow, that rant took a turn...
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Monday, March 14, 2005
Opus is back!
The Richmond Times Dispatch has done the most wonderful thing: they've revamped the comics page to bring back that wonderful water-fowl Opus. Ah, the memories. I'll miss Binkley, Milo, Steve, HodgePodge, Bill, and Portnoy, but at least he's back. I think Bill & Opus could have won the White House in '88.
---
So I got the new control arms installed on Saturday. Very pleased, but I imagine they'll need some tweeking, as they've got a lot of negative camber dialed in right now, and I want these tires to last the Summer.
On a (strangely) more exciting note, though: we got Chris's front sway bar installed in 90 minutes! That's less than half the time it took to do mine. I'm sure it had something to do with Chris being the one under the car with the air wrench, but the whole job felt really smooth and natural, almost like a pit crew - but without the stress. I labeled a piece of cardboard with all of the bolts that would need to be removed, then popped off the end-links and upper sub-frame bolts while Chris removed the other sub-frame bolts. Then, after he loosened one of the monster 122ft/lb bolts, we switched places and I got to break the others free. I was really curious to see if I could apply that much force while lying on my back. What a rush. It felt like it was only a few minutes later that we were putting the wheels back on and lowering the car. Slick, smooth, and relatively easy. I want to do more.
I'm getting really comfortable with the under-carriage of these cars. I could probably swing front and rear sway-bars, lower control arms, and maybe even springs on my own at this point. I've started to memorize the bolt locations, torque settings, and other bits that make the work easier. Now we have to do a couple of brake-sets and I'll be quite comfortable under the car.
I still don't know crap about the engine-bay, but there's plenty of time.
---
We didn't meet Owen this weekend. Very sad. We're getting a pit bull, and were supposed to go and meet him on Sunday, but the folks who are fostering him were out of town until Sunday morning, and we didn't feel like taking a 4-hour drive out to meet him, then turn right around and come home.
More about Owen: he's 1 year old, currently un-neutered (that's gonna change), and has a serious hip injury. VA Tech is going to fix his hip for free, although we will still pay all ancillary fees for his recovery. It's believed that he was a bait-dog for fighting dogs, due to some scratches on his sides. It's also believed that he was probably hit by a car, and then abandoned by his owners. The foster parents met him one day in their back yard, playing with their 2 year-old daughter. He's extremely sweet, super-cute, and needs to be trained.
I can't wait to meet him; I'm really excited!
---
So I got the new control arms installed on Saturday. Very pleased, but I imagine they'll need some tweeking, as they've got a lot of negative camber dialed in right now, and I want these tires to last the Summer.
On a (strangely) more exciting note, though: we got Chris's front sway bar installed in 90 minutes! That's less than half the time it took to do mine. I'm sure it had something to do with Chris being the one under the car with the air wrench, but the whole job felt really smooth and natural, almost like a pit crew - but without the stress. I labeled a piece of cardboard with all of the bolts that would need to be removed, then popped off the end-links and upper sub-frame bolts while Chris removed the other sub-frame bolts. Then, after he loosened one of the monster 122ft/lb bolts, we switched places and I got to break the others free. I was really curious to see if I could apply that much force while lying on my back. What a rush. It felt like it was only a few minutes later that we were putting the wheels back on and lowering the car. Slick, smooth, and relatively easy. I want to do more.
I'm getting really comfortable with the under-carriage of these cars. I could probably swing front and rear sway-bars, lower control arms, and maybe even springs on my own at this point. I've started to memorize the bolt locations, torque settings, and other bits that make the work easier. Now we have to do a couple of brake-sets and I'll be quite comfortable under the car.
I still don't know crap about the engine-bay, but there's plenty of time.
---
We didn't meet Owen this weekend. Very sad. We're getting a pit bull, and were supposed to go and meet him on Sunday, but the folks who are fostering him were out of town until Sunday morning, and we didn't feel like taking a 4-hour drive out to meet him, then turn right around and come home.
More about Owen: he's 1 year old, currently un-neutered (that's gonna change), and has a serious hip injury. VA Tech is going to fix his hip for free, although we will still pay all ancillary fees for his recovery. It's believed that he was a bait-dog for fighting dogs, due to some scratches on his sides. It's also believed that he was probably hit by a car, and then abandoned by his owners. The foster parents met him one day in their back yard, playing with their 2 year-old daughter. He's extremely sweet, super-cute, and needs to be trained.
I can't wait to meet him; I'm really excited!
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
ahamos was a race car driver; he'd say "El Solo #1"!
I don't have a Bocephus sticker or a 442, but we did light 'em up, and it was fun.
Wow. Road rally-driving is some intense shit. 6 pages of instructions, 67 individually numbered instructions, ~75 miles of wild driving, and one navigator who managed to not barf in the car.
Sign me up to do it again! In fact, I already have signed up to do it again. The second rally of the season is April 17th, and this time it's in Richmond.
I don't think I've ever driven like we did on Saturday: slamming the accelerator, keeping a constant eye on the "Average Speed" function of the on-board computer, and then jabbing the brakes to maintain that average speed. We took some wild turns at speed, almost became air-borne at a railroad crossing, and drifted through a couple of corners. The stock brakes were shot by 2/3 through the race, and will have to be replaced before the next one.
I know we didn't come in dead-last. Richard and Doug both missed the first check-point, and the Suzuki Aerio (#12) did a U-turn when they encountered a mistake on the NRI's. We passed a Subaru WRX (#11) that missed a hard left turn, but they crept for a minute and probably simply bought time to make up for it.
Next time, we'll have a better idea of what math is required, and maybe we'll even have two stopwatches: one for keeping track of official rally time, and one for monitoring the time on each instruction.
We'll also keep a second copy of the official score-card so that we can tell how well we did. Right now, we have no idea who won or how we placed.
Update!
We won our class! 6th place over-all, and the winner was a MINI, too! Woohoo!!
Wow. Road rally-driving is some intense shit. 6 pages of instructions, 67 individually numbered instructions, ~75 miles of wild driving, and one navigator who managed to not barf in the car.
Sign me up to do it again! In fact, I already have signed up to do it again. The second rally of the season is April 17th, and this time it's in Richmond.
I don't think I've ever driven like we did on Saturday: slamming the accelerator, keeping a constant eye on the "Average Speed" function of the on-board computer, and then jabbing the brakes to maintain that average speed. We took some wild turns at speed, almost became air-borne at a railroad crossing, and drifted through a couple of corners. The stock brakes were shot by 2/3 through the race, and will have to be replaced before the next one.
I know we didn't come in dead-last. Richard and Doug both missed the first check-point, and the Suzuki Aerio (#12) did a U-turn when they encountered a mistake on the NRI's. We passed a Subaru WRX (#11) that missed a hard left turn, but they crept for a minute and probably simply bought time to make up for it.
Next time, we'll have a better idea of what math is required, and maybe we'll even have two stopwatches: one for keeping track of official rally time, and one for monitoring the time on each instruction.
We'll also keep a second copy of the official score-card so that we can tell how well we did. Right now, we have no idea who won or how we placed.
Update!
We won our class! 6th place over-all, and the winner was a MINI, too! Woohoo!!
Friday, March 04, 2005
Motorsport Madness
So tomorrow begins my exciting foray into the wild world of motorsports. I'm entering the "Beware the Rides of March" rally in Windsor, VA. I really have no idea what to expect, aside from a nearly guaranteed loss. This is not pessimism, it's realism.
Some of the entrants are seasoned veterans, and one of them is last year's points-leader for the ODR circuit. Two of the other entrants are also RiverCityMinis members (go RCM!!!), so I can at least root for friends.
Mr. Cronin will be my navigator. My rally-tables are all ready for him, and I'm totally psyched!
The car's as ready as she'll be: SSR's and Avons installed, both sway-bars installed (rear set to full-tight, front set to loose). The control arms aren't in yet, but that would require getting a full alignment, anyway. I'll wait on that until I get the springs. I might perform a software reset just to get some power back, but we'll see.
So I'm lucky #13 in the race! How about that? My first rally, and I get #13. Is it a curse? I didn't get 4,8,15,16,23,42. That's a boon. I was toying with fun ways of decorating my rally-clipboard, when it occurred to my cube-mate that the number looked rather like a pool-ball. I won a bunch of games today, so I'm thinking of 13 as an orange ball with stripes, so maybe that's good luck. Or maybe I just need to go home now.
Gotta go pack.
Rock.
Some of the entrants are seasoned veterans, and one of them is last year's points-leader for the ODR circuit. Two of the other entrants are also RiverCityMinis members (go RCM!!!), so I can at least root for friends.
Mr. Cronin will be my navigator. My rally-tables are all ready for him, and I'm totally psyched!
The car's as ready as she'll be: SSR's and Avons installed, both sway-bars installed (rear set to full-tight, front set to loose). The control arms aren't in yet, but that would require getting a full alignment, anyway. I'll wait on that until I get the springs. I might perform a software reset just to get some power back, but we'll see.
So I'm lucky #13 in the race! How about that? My first rally, and I get #13. Is it a curse? I didn't get 4,8,15,16,23,42. That's a boon. I was toying with fun ways of decorating my rally-clipboard, when it occurred to my cube-mate that the number looked rather like a pool-ball. I won a bunch of games today, so I'm thinking of 13 as an orange ball with stripes, so maybe that's good luck. Or maybe I just need to go home now.
Gotta go pack.
Rock.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
MINI Goodness
So the SSR's are all cleaned-up and on the car. Not waxed, but at least the hideous red "SSR" stickers are gone.
The sway bars have both been replaced, but we'll see if I need to trade up to the 27mm rear bar.
The control arms are (supposedly) on the way.
Springs are next.
Endlinks?
The meet & greet was a blast last night (thanks to all who came out in the foul weather!). I really enjoy talking to other enthusiasts, but it's really time to start focusing on having fun behind the wheel, then finishing up with a beer. Where is RiverCityMinis going? What are we doing? We're getting some great mods done to our cars, but not really doing anything collectively with the cars.
Richard and Doug and I will put our MINI's to use this weekend in the "Beware the Rides of March" rally. Dad and several others will participate in April's AutoCross school. And there's always the occasional (micro-)group run down Riverside Dr. But let's hit the wineries. Let's all take Rte 5 to W'burg. Let's have our own rally. Let's figure out a way to get more local MINI's together for a group run to anywhere. Nowhere. Both, even. Let's frickin' motor.
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