10/10/2010 Family Update

Unbelievably, here's another update from our family. 

Things are still going well with us. 

A month ago Susan was approached by David Muramoto, a member of our Nissan club, to take some pictures of his Infiniti G37.  He is the Editor in Chief for Nissan Sport Magazine.  Susan took many pictures and some were in the latest issue of the magazine!  I attached a scan of the page where her pictures are and also where she is listed as a contributing photographer. 

Two weeks ago we went to Jared's annual giant pumpkin weigh off.  Jared's is the greenhouse and nursery east of C470 on Bowles and Kari (Susan's sister) works there.  The pugs came along for a dog costume contest; Satchel was a pumpkin and Tweetie a fire dog.  They were very cute and Tweetie got 2nd place!  We think Satchel would have placed too but she was mopey and wouldn't even look up at the judges (she gets pretty mad when we dress her up).  Kari was nice enough to take a picture of us which I attached. 

We finished the studio last week and had our first practice in 8 months a couple of days ago.  We had a good time and even named our band.  We settled on "Alltaken" because all the good names are taken.  The room works really well at dampening the sound; it's not soundproof but helps a lot.  I've attached a few pictures of our practice. 

We got new cell phones last weekend.  Our old ones were starting to regularly malfunction so we decided it was time to replace them.  Verizon has a pretty good deal going so we bought smart phones.  We are in love.  They have so much functionality they're like hand-held laptops.   Very very cool. 

The Sentra we bought last spring has been fun but has also leaked a lot of oil.  We could see it had been in some kind of accident (thanks for nothing Carfax!) and the oil pan had been replaced.  Figuring this was the culprit we asked Kari's boyfriend Alvin to help us pull it apart and reseal it.  On Friday night we disassembled the oil pan and found three different leaks.  The bottom pan was leaking next to the drain bolt, the lower pan was missing about two inches of sealant which was leaking, and the o-ring for the dipstick was the wrong size and leaking.  Needless to say the person who "fixed" the Sentra before did a horrible job.  While we were in there we also removed the balance chain and assembly (dropping a few pounds and gaining a few horsepower).  It's now back together and not leaking a drop.  It's really nice to know someone like Alvin as he did most of the work with only dinner as payment. 

Today we went to City Park for Pugs in the Park.  It was a little chilly and rained off an on all day but we had a great time.  They have a costume contest which, of course, Satchel and Tweetie participated in.  Susan made the pugs brand new costumes and they went as Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Our girls didn't place as competition was stiff but they were incredibly cute and a lot of people liked their costumes.  While we were walking around smiling at pugs we were approached by a 9 News cameraman who asked to record Susan and Satchel.  He took a little footage and told us to watch the news tonight.  Sure enough, we saw them at the end of the 5:00 news!  Susan recorded the story and posted it to Youtube.  Check it out herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdS1TJMF3Rc . 

Well, until next time.   

:)

9/20/2010 Family Update

It's been far too long since we've sent out a family update so here goes. 

Life is going pretty well for both of us. 

Susan is still enrolled in another photography courses at Red Rocks. She's been going there for 2 years and has a long-term goal of getting a photography certificate. She enjoys the classes and I'm glad it keeps her active in her hobby.

Remember those two pictures of Satchel and Tweetie hanging over our fireplace? We donated them to be sold via silent auction at this year's Pugs in the Park. Pugs in the Park is an annual fund raising event for the Colorado Pug Rescue. Hundreds of pugs and their owners come together to mingle and check each other out. It's probably the cutest event that exists.

The final race of the autocross season was yesterday. We had a good time zipping around and sometimes through cones. It seems we're going to be more involved in the events going forward by sharing the role of Chief of Workers. Basically we'll make sure all the necessary jobs are filled at each event. This wasn't something we were necessarily looking to do but it will be satisfying to have larger role in the sport.

The weekend before last we went out to High Plains Raceway (HPR) for our Nissan clubs September meet and greet. The Z Car Club of Colorado had rented the track for the day and we tagged along to hang out and watch. I ended up taking my 350Z on the track for 20 minutes. I was in the beginner group as it was my first time and Susan rode along to help me around the track (she had taken some ride-alongs earlier). I think I did alright as I caught up to two other cars and was waived by one (this was non-competitive driving). Towards the end all the dummy lights in the car came on but nothing felt strange so we finished the driving session. I heard from another driver that the lights meant my car was about to overheat and go into limp mode where it won't rev above 2000 rpm. I was glad that didn't happen. Unfortunately the aggressive driving (I hit 115 in the straight!) was enough to finish off my rear brakes and I had to change them out (this was another first for me). Driving on a real track was immensely fun and I think we may make an effort to go to HPR a few times a year going forward.

The basement studio/rehearsal room is almost complete. We finished installing the carpet last week and moved in our equipment. All we have left to do is mount a second door and finish some small things. We are extremely excited to finally be able to play again. Susan is very happy to not have to keep cleaning her darkroom equipment of our work dust.

That's all from us.
Max and Susan

4/9/2010 Rough Draft

It's been a long while since we've sent out any updates so here goes.

When we were looking for a house one of the main things I wanted was an unfinished basement and I'm really glad we found a place with one.  We recently built a dark room setup for Susan and are in the midst of building a studio for my band to rehearse and record in.  John (Susan's father) built the darkroom table per Susan's instructions while she did most of the rest (plumbing and electrical).  My contribution consisted mostly of carrying heavy things and helping to install the ventilation. 

I believe the studio is around halfway complete.  It has taken been a lot of work and planning to get where we are and we're really looking forward to it being completed. 

As you all know Susan and I have been driving and racing my dream car (the 350Z) for the past two years.  We really enjoy the car but I've been looking for something I could dedicate more fully to racing.  After much research and soul-searching I settled on the Datsun 240Z.  I've been watching craigslist for quite some time and when a 1971 appeared in good shape (no rust) I leapt on it.  The list of things we'd like to do to the car is very long and we're having fun working on it together. 

At this point we've completely stripped and repainted much of the interior.  Hopefully we'll finish the interior this weekend so we can move on to the undercarriage (since the old Z cars are legendary for their rusting the first thing we're doing is rust-proofing ours as much as we can). 

In the meantime we're still racing autocrossing the 350Z.  We went to our first event of the year a couple of weeks ago and had a blast.  The summer season starts this weekend and we're very excited to legally drive crazy again. 

We still help run the local Nissan club (www.conoc.net).  There are over 560 members right now and we're hoping to have at least 1,000 by the end of the year.  We've met a lot of great people and have a good time working on the club. 

Susan has further expanded her photography.