Hello Family,
I’m once again
inspired by everyone’s family updates to send one for our
household.
It’s long overdue and
probably obvious but Susan and I really enjoyed the cruise in May. We had
an unbelievably good time and are looking forward to the next one!
(Stuart was awesome and so cute!)
I started my new job
at Great-West the day after we got back from the cruise. In some basic
ways it’s not very different than my old one at Oppenheimer but functionally it
is vastly different. It is exactly what I was hoping for and I’m really
liking all the learning I’m having to do.
Susan finished up her
large format photography class in May. To her bewilderment Susan received
an A in the class. It seems the teacher had a difficult time keeping
students in the program. Of course, Susan did a great job but not at what
she would call her best. I think it has more to do with the adage where
the more you know and the better you get at something the more you notice your
own mistakes. Susan is taking off the summer from school as there aren’t
any classes she is interested in. This is the first break in school in
three years. Time really flies!
My band had a busy end
to May as we got ready for two shows in one week (Wednesday, May 30th and
Friday, June 1st)! We were a little rusty on the Wednesday
show and made some uncharacteristic mistakes on stage. It was still a lot
of fun and a good time was had by all. The Friday show went a lot better
which was great as we were headlining with three other really talented
bands. Marshall was able to make it out as well as a many of our
friends. After it was all said and done Susan and I didn’t get home until
4:00 the next morning which was the latest we’ve been out in many years.
The band is taking a break from playing out for a little bit to write some new
material.
The pugs are still
cute as can be and relatively healthy. Satchel has made a couple of
mistakes on furniture last which we think may be due to her getting
older. She may be starting bladder-control medicine soon if this
continues as Satchel has an almost spotless record when it comes to this sort
of thing (yay puns!). Rosie still limps happily along and Tweetie has not
disappointed in her habits.
In our
last update I mentioned the destruction of the engine in our
WRX. We are very fortunate to have friends (Mike Miller and Jeff
Freedman) that volunteered to rebuild the motor for only the cost of parts and
machining. It took a couple of weeks to tear down, diagnose, replace/fix,
and put back together. The #4 bearing was spun due to massive
overheating. The bearing along with the other three were flatter than
they should be and we’re lucky it wasn’t any worse. The #4 rod had to be
replaced and the crank machined to compensate for the new bearings. We
took advantage of everything being apart to have the fly wheel machined as it
had developed a bulge. Susan and my contributions were limited to
providing dinner on most nights and being present. Because of Mike and
Jeff we saved quite a bit of money and got to watch the process from start to
finish which was very cool to see.
We only had a few
weeks to break in the newly rebuilt engine before the rallycross we
participated in this past weekend. This race was extra-special because it
was a two-day national event and participants were welcomed from the rest of
the country. There was also contingency money at stake for the top
finishers. We didn’t have a ton of people come from other states but
those that made the trek were very competitive. A guy flew in from Alaska
and took 1st in one of the classes for example.
Saturday (day 1)
started early in the morning as the event location is an hour and a half
away. We also had to give ourselves enough time to unload the equipment,
swap the wheels, and have the car inspected by 8:00. The car was ready
and inspected just in time and, after meeting up with some friends, we took a
course walk. Every driver has to perform a job to make the events work
and most entail chasing down knocked-down cones while getting sunburned and
coated in the copious amounts of dirt kicked up by the cars. Last year
Susan volunteered to remake the timing spreadsheet used for each event.
She did such a fantastic job that we have been allowed to work in the timing
truck for each event where we are mostly shielded from the sun and dirt.
As the days get hotter and the dust continues to fly my love for Susan grows
and grows.
The drivers were split
into two groups based on car class and each got four runs in the morning and
six in the afternoon on a reversed course. Neither of us felt we did well
in the morning but because of others hitting cones (plus two seconds each) I
somehow managed to be in 2nd place, nine seconds behind the
leader. The afternoon session went better and I was able to narrow his
lead by a second or two. My only hope rested in him hitting more cones
than me as he is a very fast driver. It was a long day and we were
relieved to get home to cool off and shower.
On Sunday there was
only one driving session in the morning for each group with six runs
each. The course was brand new and on a different part of the facility
which somehow seemed better for our WRX. Not only was I faster than the
previous days’ leader in raw time overall but he also hit five cones.
This gave me 1st place by around ten seconds. We could
hardly believe it! It made for a nice ending to a long and fun race
weekend. We celebrated with some fellow-racers and the rebuilders of our
engine at our house afterwards. The successful racing was a testament to
how good of a job Mike and Jeff did in fixing the car.
That brings us
basically to the present. As busy as we’ve been in the last month or so
it’s only going to get more hectic as the summer wears on. I hope this
finds everyone happy and well!
Love,
Max and Susan
