11/20/2013 Family Update

Hello everyone,

Here’s another installment in what’s what with me and Susan. 

Susan and I raced the 2^nd to last rallycross on the last Saturday of October.  It was a Pike’s Peak International Raceway which is always fun because of its mixed dirt/paved surface.  We shod the WRX with our oldest rally tires due to the harshness of the course.  I feel like we always have an edge on the pavement due to our experience from our autocross days and it showed in the results.  I ended up being the fastest driver out of 50 for the day by quite a large margin and Susan put in a very competitive effort missing 3^rd place in our class by less than two seconds.  We also scrubbed off the last of the usable traction from the old rally tires. We’ve decided to give them to some friends who ice race.  Rally tires have extremely stiff sidewalls (good for racing) and the ice racers will drill holes in them and install large bolts which give surprising amounts of traction on the ice.  The weather was perfect, the car ran without a hitch, and we really had a good time. 

The day after the race we finally got rid of the cursed tree in the backyard.  Alvin came to the rescue with his 30 foot ladder and chainsaw.  He did the sawing and I did the rope-pulling and together we managed to cut down/defeat the dead tree/devil spawn.  He cut up the trunk and thicker limbs for firewood and Susan and me spent the next couple of hours cleaning up the remaining mess.  Kari later found bug larva in the wood which was the cause of the tree death. We finished up just in time to shower and take Zoey to meet her new owners.  It was my first time participating in this part of the foster experience and everything went basically as planned.  The new owners live on a farm in eastern Kansas and their other dog is a pug rescued from Colorado Pug Rescue.  When we first got Zoey she didn’t show any signs of missing her prior owners and she seemed to forget about us as soon as we relinquished her leash.  *sigh* Such is life I guess!  We’re glad she’ll be in an environment where she can run around and get the attention she deserves. 

I think I need to stop making the declarative statement “we’re going to take a break from fostering pugs.” I said this phrase on the way home from handing over Zoey to her new owners on Sunday afternoon.  The next morning Susan got an email about another pug named Bella. Bella is a tiny little black female and is six years old.  The owners didn’t feel they were giving her enough attention and were keeping her in the garage most of the time.  As the weather has been getting cooler the foster peoples were worried about Bella getting too cold.  Susan came to the rescue and picked her up on Monday night.  We’ve since found out that Bella seems much more like a puppy than her age would indicate.  She reminds me of Tweetie when she was little.  Bella even feels like a puppy with her soft fur and her small stature.  When held she twists and turns to lick and scurries to follow us around the house.  If we didn’t know better we would put her age at six months instead of six years.  She is pad trained and I’ve personally experienced her licking my hand/arm for an hour straight before getting tired and falling asleep.  We were thinking there was a chance we would adopt her ourselves.  If we did we’d still foster other pugs which would mean we’d be breaking a spoken agreement between Susan and me that we’d not take care of more than four pugs at a time.  We decided to wait and see how her vet visit went. 

The last rallycross of the season was on the 1^st Sunday of November at Colorado Off-Road Extreme.  The weather was a bit chilly for most of the day but luckily the wind stayed calm. The morning and afternoon courses were very technical and there were a lot of cones to be hit. We managed to hit a few more than we normally would but ran good times.  I finished 2^nd by only a few tenths of a second and Susan got 5^th place.  For the season I got 1^st place and Susan 5^th.  This was the first season that we went to all 12 of the events and I’m glad we now get a break from the racing.  We may go to a winter autocross or two with the Miatas but it won’t be anything serious.

We took Bella for her vet visit the following Tuesday.  Satchel also came along for a blood test (she is still looking pretty ragged in the hair department).  Bella came out with a clean bill of health.  She’s as light as she seemed and only weighed in at 9.9 lbs.  Her knees could possibly be a problem at some later date but the vet didn’t think it was something we’ll have to worry about.  Besides her hair loss Satchel doesn’t seem to have any real issues.  She’s made uncharacteristic mistakes this past year but with all the foster pugs we’ve had it may be just stress related.  Upon leaving the office Susan and I decided to adopt Bella.  Susan submitted the paperwork and adoption fee that night.  Bella has proved herself to be a loving little pug and we’re happy to have her. 

I decided this last month to build a new computer for myself.  For the last few years I’ve been using various tablets and Susan’s old eight year old laptop for my internet and computing needs.  Now that the newer gaming consoles are coming out and my current system is dying I figured I’d upgrade to a new computer, forgoing getting Sony or Microsoft’s offerings.  I’ve never build a computer before and found good resources online to help me pick the parts out and put it all together.  It was an interesting experience and I feel like I got extra value in doing the assembly myself.  If Susan decides to replace her newer (but still old) laptop with a desktop computer I’ll definitely want to go through the same process again. 

The next weekend was pretty busy and filled with lots of food.  We went to Mount Fuji Hibachi with some friends and our neighbors on Friday night.  It was really tasty and we all decided it was surprisingly better than Benihana.  I had to come in to work on Saturday morning and while I was out Susan decided to rake leaves.  Historically this was something we haven’t done much of per the terms of our “letting our lawn die” code.  Susan was a bit nervous though as the Colorado Pug Rescue was doing a home visit later in the day.  This came up when Susan applied to adopt Bella as the organization is supposed to do the visits once a year.  An audit is about to occur and it was decided to get caught up (our last was over two years ago).  Thus Susan raked leaves.  I got back from work in time for the home visit which, of course, went swimmingly. 

Later that day we went to the Rocky Mountain Division Road Racing Convention and Awards Banquet at Club Auto.  We had no real desire to witness the awards presentation or talk about road racing (we don’t participate in that particular form of the sport) but went anyways.  We did so because a special guest speaker was going to be in attendance – Tanner Foust.  Tanner Foust is one of the hosts of Top Gear America and races in multiple series around the world. He also originates from Colorado and began racing with people in the local scene.  A few other rallycrossers came to the event with us.  Tanner was a genuinely nice guy and an entertaining speaker.  Most of his presentation consisted of him answering various questions and telling stories about some of the crazier things he’s done.  It was a fun event. 

On Sunday we headed up the mountains for dinner at Susan’s parent’s house with Kari and Alvin.  We brought Bella to introduce to the family and she scampered all over the house. Dinner was an excellent blend of beef, potatoes, and carrots that Karen slow-cooked with apple fritters and ice cream for dessert.  Eventually the group split up with the ladies in the living room and the boys in the kitchen talking about this and that.  None of the world’s problems were solved but we may have rounded off some of the corners.  It was a really nice visit and a great way to conclude the weekend. 

This last weekend was a wonderful one for me.  I planned on doing nothing and I was largely successful.  On Saturday Susan went with Kari and Sandra (our neighbor) to Gates Rubber factory to take pictures before it is finally demolished.  It has been mostly replaced by apartments and whatnot and has been a symbol of sorts to those who like to venture into abandoned buildings in the Denver area.  Susan tells me that the work looks to be slow going so far and may take a long time to finish.  On Sunday Susan bought a large format camera. She has been looking for one for the last year or so and is very excited with her purchase.  The one she got was produced between 1947 and 1955 and came complete with film and one-time-use flash bulbs.  Very cool! 

We’re really looking forward to the holidays and not doing very much.  Perhaps the latter part of that sentiment is only mine (I’ve felt like life has been moving too quickly this last year). 

Tldr: we raced, got rid of the stupid tree, adopted out Zoey, began fostering and then adopted Bella, raced our last rally race of the season, built a computer, ate too much, met a TV personality/racecar driver, did nothing, watched the beginning of the end of a hipster landmark, and bought a 60+ year old camera. 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

PS – super-congratulations to Emilee and Ryan for the successful birth of Lee!  We can’t wait to meet him!  J

Max and Susan

10/23/2013 Family Update

Hello everyone

Susan and I had a rallycross the first weekend of September at CORE.  We also camped at the site the night before.  We have almost no camping equipment and borrowed our neighbor’s tent.  It was much bigger than we needed (I believe it was made for nine occupants) and our little pile of blankets seemed very small inside.  A few other rallycrossers (including our neighbor Gregg) camped with us.  No fires were allowed so instead we used an electric lantern and two Citronella candles to set the mood.  We consumed adult beverages in excess and had fun.  I played the part of the old man and went to bed around 10:00.  Susan and the others played Frisbee (it had LED lights) until 2:00am.  I didn’t mention this before but the supposed purpose of camping was to make the event the next day easier.  It’s an hour and a half drive to the venue and everyone is generally rushing around getting things done in the morning.  I woke up to a very quiet campsite at 6:00 before the sun came up feeling refreshed (albeit with a crick in my neck and a sore back).  I think I finally drug Susan out of the tent around 7:30 and by the time we packed up the tent and other stuff the morning felt just as rushed as any other.  In my mind the camping wasn’t worth it and I don’t think we’ll be investing in our own equipment any time soon.  The race itself was fun and I came in a close 2^nd. 

Our foster pug Tina was adopted on September 15^th to a couple we’ve been friends with for the last several years.  They already had a massive lab-mastiff mix and wanted another smaller dog.  They also immediately changed Tina’s name to Lucy which confuses me more than a little since our foster pug before Tina was also named Lucy.  We are very glad to have her get adopted so quickly as it made it easier to let her go. 

Jana was very pregnant in our last update and is not as of this one.  Susan and I went up to visit Matt, Jana, and their new baby girl Elle on the 21^st.  Elle is still in her “so tiny you think you’re going to break her” stage and is very cute in her baby-way.  When she’s in her swing she’ll sometimes bring her hands almost together and touch her fingers in a somewhat maniacal fashion (her parents call it her “take over the world” pose).  Matt made BBQ and we visited for a few hours.  Jana had two very close calls after the birth and we’re all thankful for modern medicine and blood donors. 

The next day was the Colorado Pug Rescue’s (CPR) annual Pugs in the Park.  This is theannual fundraiser for the organization and is quite the ordeal.  Several vendors came out and there are many fundraiser-type things going on.  There was a pug costume contest, a pug race, a pug hotdog eating contest, a silent auction, etc.  At one booth a person could buy squares in a big grid set up in the middle of everything where a pug would be placed.  Whoever bought the square the pug used to do his or her bid’ness would win some money.  Good fun all around. The winner of the pug costume contest was a pug in a bubble bath.  My favorite was a pugstachio with a “get crackin” sign hung around her neck.  Susan and I had to go stag since we didn’t have a foster pug to bring and we volunteered in the foster tent (this is where the fosters are brought to show off).  We met many very sweet darlings and wish we could adopt them all (well, most of them anyways).  We also brought a PA system from our studio to use for announcements.  We’re suckers for pug art and acquired a few cool pieces that will soon adorn the walls of our home.  It was a good time for sure. 

After we adopted out Tina (always Tina to me) I made the proclamation that we wouldn’t take on another foster until sometime in October.  Then CPR emailed us directly about a pug they thought was a good fit for us and we got Zoey on September 26^th.  Zoey is an almost 8 year old fawn female from a home where one of the children developed allergies to her.  The house keeper for this home then took in Zoey.  They let her sleep in their bed until the snoring was too much for them.  Zoey was then banished to the laundry room where she proceeded to whine.  At this point the original owner then contacted the rescue (insert a big *sigh* here). Besides infected ear canals and nose wrinkles she is in great shape medically.  She LOVES people and is learning to tolerate the other pugs.  She is also and by far the largest pug we’ve had under our roof.  Zoey doesn’t have a lot of excess fat but is just bigger in every way than our permanent pugs.  She weighs in at 27 lbs whereas the others range between 11 and 14 lbs. She is well trained and gets free reign while we’re out.  Zoey is already set to go to a new home this Sunday.  The family is driving out from Kansas to get her. 

The SCCA National Rallycross Championships were held from October 4-6^th in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Susan, Zoey, and myself attended (doesn’t “myself” sound better than “I”?). The original plan was to drive out on the 3^rd but we ended up finishing our packing at 6:30 the night before and decided to just head out early.  That night we stayed at a surprisingly nice Days Inn in a small town outside of Hays, Kansas and left again early the next day.  The drive was mostly uneventful with Susan reading on her tablet and me listening to an audio book. With the car so full of racing stuff Zoey got to sit on the floor in front of Susan.  We checked into our Tulsa hotel early around 2:00.  Aunt Julie mobilized some of the family to meet us for dinner at Ricardo’s (a Mexican restaurant).  We sat at a big table and chatted while we ate. Billy, Janie, Kevin and his wife and baby, David, Leslie, Carol, Charlie, Caroline and her baby, and Julie were there.  It was a very nice time. 

The next day we went to the event site (a big field next to Tulsa raceway).  The first day of the race does not actually include competitive racing but rather registration, tech’ing the cars, a practice course, and a class inspection.  After registration and the tech workers verifying our wheels probably weren’t going to fall off and we had all the necessary stickers (yes, this is part of it) we took the car to the practice course to stretch its legs a bit.  We went early as the line for the practice course gets long as the day wears on.  It was good to flog the car a bit and it performed as expected.  After we were done and while we were not present a 2013 Mazda 2 rolled over on one of the turns.  The driver was uninjured but the car was pretty banged up. All the airbags deployed (there were a lot of them) and it was dented on all sides and the top. The course was changed to prevent another incident and the rest of the practice portion of the day was rollover-free.  The last part of the day was the class inspection where all the cars lined up in their respective classes for the competitors to inspect.  One may think that a person driving sometimes thousands of miles to a national level event would know the allowable modifications for their class.  One would be wrong.  There weren’t a lot of issues and all was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction before it was over. 

We woke the next day to find it raining outside and I immediately had a flashback to the horrible and muddy first event we had in Colorado.  The racing field was extremely slick in many places so the organizers let one of the competitors attempt to test drive the course.  It got stuck after a couple of turns and had to be pushed.  The event was subsequently delayed for an hour to let things dry out a bit and the course was altered.  Susan and I were lucky to work in the timing truck and got to watch the sad course workers get wet.  It was very slow going for the drivers in the first heat.  No one got stuck but a few almost did.  When we got back to our car and prepared to drive we were more than a little worried.  We probably shouldn’t have stressed ourselves out so much as the course was much better for us.  The traction got better after our first runs.  Unfortunately for me and Susan we drove much too conservatively and put ourselves well out of contention almost immediately.  The afternoon course was much dryer but a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes kept us low in our class standings. 

The final day of racing was on a course with tons of traction and speed.  Driving was done in the morning to early afternoon.  We pushed hard but could not overcome the mistakes of the previous day.  I ended up in 6^th place and Susan in 10^th.  It’s tough to be beaten by competitors you regularly trounce at local events but them be the shakes.  Susan and I stayed through the trophy presentations before packing up and heading out.  The plan was to visit Susan’s grandmother on the way home and we arrived at her house around 6:00.  Dinner was at Lone Star and we slept in her spare bedroom that night.  The next day we completed the final leg of the trip and decompressed at home.  While we didn’t race very well it was a lot of fun and an experience we were glad to have.  You may have noticed I didn’t mention much Zoey at all and that’s because she was a fantastic companion on the entire trip and caused no strife at all. 

Some tidbits for the end.  Susan has become mildly fascinated with the show “American Pickers” and has started scouring Denver’s antique stores (I told her she should start with our basement).  We have a dead tree in our backyard that we’re going to cut down soon (if hate was a wood chipper this tree would be mulch).  Satchel’s food trial didn’t work and she is still without much of her hair.  We’re changing her meds and thinking she’ll be wearing a sweater this winter.  My band still exists (we even played a show) and you can probably decipher how things are going by the amount I’m writing about it.  Susan painted the hood scoop on the WRX bright yellow and it looks super-cool.  I hate mustaches.  I grew a mustache and goatee for the last several months and discovered I hate the mustache part a lot.  Like bane of my existence type hate.  It’s now gone and all affiliated parties are happier. 

Tldr: we camped and raced in Colorado, adopted out a pug, visited our friends and their baby, volunteered at a big pug event, began fostering another pug which is now about to be adopted, and raced in Tulsa. 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

9/5/2013 Family Update

It was busy in our house this last month with parties, racing, traveling, fostering, and the band playing out.  

Susan and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary by having a get together at our house on August 3^rd.  Susan put up yellow and blue decorations (our wedding colors) and I did the cooking.  I stayed in the kitchen most of the afternoon starting around 1:00 to prep the food.  I made two enchilada dishes (chicken and beef) and put together a taco bar.  We invited both new and old friends and had a pretty full house with 25 or so persons in attendance.  Matt and Jana were able to make it which was great as her due date was in five days and she looked ready to pop.  Susan had everyone sign the guest book from the wedding and put out pictures to look through (evidently I was very baby-faced until recently).  After dinner we had a champagne toast and served a two tiered cake.  The cake was very delicious (much better than the horrible cardboard-flavored one at our wedding) and there was ice cream to go with it.  The time flew by and we saw the last friends off from our home at 1:30 the next morning.  I thought I made too much food but it was just enough as there was very little left at the end of the night.  Everyone seemed to have a really good time and we’re hoping to get a few of these same friends to come to our upcoming twenty year anniversary in 2023. 

On August 11^th we had another rallycross event at our favorite location Colorado Off-Road Extreme (CORE).  It’s a lot of fun as the terrain is varied and allows for diverse courses.  We bought another set of rally tires and were looking to try them out.  They are inexpensive re-molds of previously used rally tires and produced in Finland.  When Alvin mounted them he noted how much softer they are than our other rally tires so we were worried they wouldn’t work well.  We needn’t have vexed ourselves though as they performed very well.  I not only got first in my class (fourth time in a row) but also had the fastest overall time of the day beating out other drivers I have no business being quicker than.  The experience was not completely positive though as the tires were indeed much softer and it showed through the thrashing they sustained.  They look to be wearing out roughly twice as quickly as our other tires.  There is no warranty on tires like these so we’ll be saving them for the national level events.  

On August 15^th we brought home another foster pug named Tina.  She’s eight years old and fawn in color.  She spent most of her life in one home and was given up for financial reasons.  Tina doesn’t appear to have any health issues and is very sweet.  The prior owner said she didn’t like toys but when I tried baiting her with one at home she took right to playing with it.  Tina needs to lose a little weight and is getting a restricted diet to that end.  Like Lucy before her, Tina gets free reign while we are out and has behaved well.  She used to sleep in a utility room with a cat at night but has adapted well to snoozing in our bed with the other pugs.  There was almost immediate interest in adopting her so we’re hoping to get her into a new home soon.  

We were finally able to make our way up to South Dakota over the weekend of the 23^rd-25^th.  We were going to drive up there a couple months back but cancelled because of nearby forest fires.  Susan and I went as part of a group of seven.  Sandra and Gregg (our neighbors), Alvin and Kari, and Dan (a rallycross buddy) met us at the Bowles Wal-Mart at 6:30AM on Friday to start the journey.  We made our way up I25 as a somewhat cohesive group.  

Our initial destination was Deadwood as Sandra wanted to gamble for a few minutes but there was some confusion and Kari and Alvin ended up splitting up from us and taking a different path.  The remaining five of us (sans Kari and Alvin) arrived in Deadwood and Sandra proceeded to play the slots.  Susan wanted to play too and I allowed her to lose two dollars on the penny slots (it was only going to be one dollar but I couldn’t resist her charms).  Sandra came out a little ahead and eventually Kari and Alvin caught up to us in time for us to leave to find lunch.  We settled for a burger place called Sugar Shack a few miles outside of Deadwood.  They had some unique burgers and we enjoyed the food while talking fly swatting techniques.  

After lunch we went in search of a hotel.  We purposely hadn’t made reservations as we weren’t sure exactly what we were going to do.  Susan had, of course, done research so we weren’t completely going about it blindly though.  We drove towards Mt. Rushmore and stopped at a place that had inexpensive motel rooms and cabins.  We initially asked about the motel rooms but, on a whim, inquired about the cabins.  It turned out they had a cabin big enough for all of us and the cost was less than the motel rooms!  It took us about ten seconds to decide to go this route and we unpacked our stuff in the cabin.  The cabin was fully-furnished and I decided it would be fun to cook a few of our meals.  We went out and bought enough food to make two breakfasts and dinner for the evening.  I cooked and we ate well that night.  We played a game called Cards Against Humanity which was fun but probably not Lawson family appropriate.  

The next day we had plans to see the major sites and cruise around on the windy roads all over the area.  After breakfast we went to Mt. Rushmore where we ogled at the monument and ate ice cream (evidently Thomas Jefferson wrote down the first ice cream recipe in America).  We went there first as the light is supposed to be better in the morning (more Susan research).  We then drove off to cruise the twisty roads.  

This ended up being possibly the best part of the trip.  Our convoy of cars included our newer Miata, our neighbor’s WRX, Kari’s S4, and Dan’s turbo-charged Volvo.  Susan had found a road that had THREE loops and several tunnels just wide enough for one car.  There was virtually no traffic at all and we had a LOT of fun zipping around the curves.  I’ve always thought that Colorado had some great roads but I believe the roads we drove in the Black Hills were a cut above.  

After a few hours hooning it up on the narrow roads we made our way to Crazy Horse.  When you go the immensity of the monument-in-progress is slightly lost because of how far away the visitor center is.  It is truly incredible and I hope it is finished someday (in our lifetime).  We ate there and the younger members in the group headed to a cave lantern tour at Jewel Cave National Monument while Sandra and Gregg went back to the cabin.  

The cave was interesting but not as long as we’d have liked.  The guide mostly wore authentic garb and was very knowledgeable about the Black Hills area and caves.  Only half the people were allowed hold a lantern and Alvin and I got the honor.  Because of this those without lanterns had to walk between those that did.  The cave we were in had some perilously steep places with stairs that were almost like ladders.  We were lucky enough to see a few bats flitting about and got a good history of the cave’s discovery and eventual transition into a national monument.  Based on wind and pressure studies they estimate that 95% of the caves are still undiscovered and there are regular 4-day explorations that occur.  We were all thinking it sounded like a fun excursion for our next trip to the area but there are a few catches.  Besides the fact that only experienced cavers and geologists are allowed, one must be able to fit through some pretty tiny spots for long stretches.  Most notable are two areas called the miseries and the mini-miseries.  

The miseries are 800 feet long and 8.5 by 24 inches in dimension.  The mini-miseries are only 400 feet long but gets down to only 7.5 inches wide in a few places.  There is a box in front of the main visitor center which has an 8.5 by 24 inch opening to simulate the miseries.  Kari and Dan (super scrawny) fit without too much of a problem but Susan and Alvin barely managed (still thin).  I decided I already have enough humility and declined to try the passage.  

On the way back to the cabin we picked up BBQ supplies for dinner.  After grilling and eating we played another bout of Cards Against Humanity which Alvin surprisingly won (he won the night before too).  We had a really good time and there was a lot of laughter.  

The next day we said goodbye to Sandra and Gregg and the rest of us went to the Big Thunder Gold Mine for a tour.  It was one of the 10 worst producing mines in the area and the guide enjoyed reminding us of that fact over and over again.  Roughly $200 worth of gold was dug out in 50 years of mining (which is less than what was made on the tour we took).  It was started and worked in its entirety by two German fellows and goes 360 feet back in the mountain (they finally called it quits at 75 years old).  The neighboring mines, literally just a few feet to the left and right, each made over a million dollars.  It is called the Big Thunder mine because of the noise the ore made as it landed on a 600 lb piece of steel used to collect it.  Those are some interesting facts.  The rest of the tour was the guide trying to engage two young kids who were having none of it.  It was a so-so affair and we all agreed that we should have gone to a different mine or another cave instead.  This was the last touristy thing before heading home. 

The drive back to Denver was a fast one and we stayed together all the way to Cheyenne where we ate lunch.  We found out that the Miata can go 110 MPH with the top down on a slight decline in 5^th gear and we made remarkable time.  All in all it was one of the more memorable trips Susan and I have been on in a long time (besides the Caribbean cruises).  Everyone had a fantastic time and we’re already looking to plan another in the near-future.  

The band played a “show” at a Parkinson’s benefit event last Thursday night.  The quotes are there because we were strictly in the background and didn’t have any amplification at all.  The event was held at a large house by Wash Park to thank the larger donors for their past and (hopefully) future contributions.  Buck’s girlfriend Kari works for the foundation and the band she had originally booked fell through so she asked us to fill in.  We played light rock in the backyard by the pool.  It was a somewhat gala affair with catering and valet parking.  The food was good and it was a surreal experience to be there.  I don’t think we’ll be doing it again but overall it was interesting.  It was also nice to have the band play out again (it’s been many months since we’ve done anything).  

This last Saturday we had another rallycross which was fun.  My streak of wins was broken but I managed to hold onto 2^nd.  We used our GoPro camera to film the racing for the first time in awhile and it was fun watching them all after we got home.  See two of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqN9RyWjvGU&feature=youtu.be and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yE5iRR1BKg&feature=youtu.be  On Sunday we helped some friends with changing the brakes on their car and later went to Sandra and Gregg’s house across the street for pot-luck appetizers and games.  We used Monday to recover from our non-lazy Sunday. 

tldr (too long didn’t read): We had a rocking 10 year anniversary party, raced in two rallycrosses, got a new foster pug named Tina, took a fantastic road trip to South Dakota, and the band played at a rich guy’s house.  

*phew* 

That was a long update.  As always we hope this finds you all happy and healthy!  

Max and Susan

7/24/2013 Family Update

Hello Family,

I pulled up our last update and was shocked (shocked!) it’s been over three months since I sent one out.  A lot has gone on and I will try to relay some of it here. 

Our latest foster pug Lucy was adopted two weeks ago.  It was really hard to let her go but we’re very happy she found a good home.  We were thinking we would wait a few months before getting another but an opportunity has come up to get another female named Savannah.  She’s originally from Missouri and came out of the same puppy mill that Sophie and Mr. Bailey were at.  She’s blind and will need to have her eyes removed sometime in the near future (they don’t produce enough tears).  She sounds like a sweet pug and we should be getting her this Friday evening. 

The other pugs are still doing their thing.  Tweetie is still our little trouble-maker.  Satchel has inexplicitly started losing her hair over these last few months.  We’re not sure what to think and right now we’re just watching for behavior changes.  She is really starting to go grey and it may just be that she’ll have less hair in her senior years.  Sophie is as cute and neurotic as ever.  Sometime in the last few months she crossed into being essentially incontinent when on the floor.  She doesn’t make mistakes in her kennel, on the bed, or hanging out on the couch but put Sophie on the floor for a couple of minutes and she’ll start working to change the color of the carpet.  Now that we understand her hatred of the carpet it’s not too big of a deal and she’s sweet enough to get away with it. 

A couple of weeks ago we had a new furnace installed (thanks Mom!!!).  You might be thinking, “That’s silly, it’s the middle of the summer,” but really you should be thinking, “It’s a smart person that fixes their home heating in a time when it’s not actually needed.”  The old furnace was 24 years old and we had to have the fan replaced after it seized up last year (it was meant to last about 15 years).  The new furnace is 98% efficient and pushes around the A/C much better than the old one.  One of the major pluses with the new furnace is that temperature throughout the house is now much more consistent.  It came with a fancy touch screen thermostat that has a WI-FI connection, the weather forecast, smart phone/tablet control, and (best of all) a customizable screen saver.  Right now when you look at the thermostat you see a cute picture of Lucy poking out from under a blanket on her bed. 

We just reached the halfway point in the rallycross season this past weekend racing down at Pike’s Peak International Raceway (PPIR) down south of Colorado Springs.  What’s unique about PPIR is that the driving is on both dirt and pavement.  Tire choice is always a hot topic for the location as rally tires don’t work very well on pavement but have a large advantage on the dirt over street tires.  The pavement surface at PPIR is also extremely hard on tires so many of the drivers opt to use tires that are already worn down. Susan and I actually saved our older rally tires just for races at this location.  I believe we made a wise decision as the amount of tire melted off (“burned off” isn’t exactly what is happening) on Saturday was depressing.  The pavement portion of the course does give a pretty large advantage to the few drivers with autocross experience and I was able to take first place (my third win in a row).  We both had a really great time. 

In May the WRX was down for repairs and upgrades.  The plan was to swap out the open front differential with a limited slip differential, replace the gear synchros, and install a new clutch and lightened flywheel.  In the process of doing these things it was discovered the bolt holding pitch stopper on the engine (basically a dog-bone-shaped hard piece of plastic that connects the car to the top of the engine to prevent it from pitching forward under acceleration) had come out.  This allowed the motion of the engine to completely destroy the motor mounts under the engine (this was probably exacerbated by racing).  It was bad enough that the engine was sitting crookedly under the hood.  This led us to replace the mounts and pitch stopper with heavy-duty polyurethane parts as well as the transmission mount and sway bar bushings.  We also had to get new front axles and possibly a few other things I’m forgetting.  It was quite an ordeal but now the WRX is running better than it has in a long time.  Here is a link to the time-lapse video our friend made of the car getting repaired:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPOHeM0lgqk

About a month ago we decided to sell the Sentra and buy a project car.  By project car I mean a 90s Subaru Impreza that probably isn’t running and needs a lot of work (Susan and I are fully aware that we stopped being sane car owners some time ago).  It took three weeks to sell the Sentra and one week to acquire our project.  We are now the proud owners of a 1993 Subaru Impreza.  Much of the rear end has been replaced with Subaru Legacy parts and the engine is from a 1998 Subaru Outback.  The interior is almost completely stripped out (no back seat, carpet, upholstery, and you can see the ground through many drain holes).  The prior owner (a good mechanic friend of ours) recommends wearing ear-plugs when driving it on the highway.  I was able to get the car home under its own power and into the garage (it mostly runs).  As you can probably imagine Susan and I are very happy with our purchase.  We have a large list of things to fix, replace, and upgrade (we’ve been searching junk yards a lot).  Our plan is to reinstall some of the interior pieces (back seats, drain plugs, door panels), fix the many problems it has, and then turbo charge it (for the win).  Luckily for us a relatively low-mileage and well-maintained Sentra sells for a lot more than a stripped out and barely running rally car and we have a small pile of cash to put into our project car. We’re very excited and it is taking a lot of our free time. 

I’m starting to think the band as a random phenomenon as opposed to an organized group of adults.  In this sense you might say that the band is still occurring.  The recording portion of the CD has now been complete for a couple of months but the artwork isn’t close to being ready.  I’ve decided to step back and take a less demanding role for awhile and not worry too much about it.  It doesn’t sound like I’m worrying, does it? 

August 1^st marks ten years of marriage for us and we’re celebrating with a gathering of old and new friends at our house the following weekend.  Time has really flown by and I can hardly believe all the amazing experiences we’ve shared in the interim as well as the years before. 

That’s all I can think of from our neck of the woods.  We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

4/17/2013 Family Update

Hello Family,

It’s been a busy couple of months for Susan and me since our last update. 

About a month ago we went crazy and bought another red Miata.  For those keeping score we now have five working cars (our neighbors are almost as excited as we are!).  This Miata is newer by a few years than our other one and has relatively low miles (1997 with 70K miles).  It was a pretty good deal but the car came with many issues and Susan and I have spent a lot of time doing work fixing its deficits.  We’ve replaced the suspension, had the exhaust quieted, replaced interior pieces, fixed the soft top back window and zipper, banged out a couple of dents, repaired and painted a back panel, and still have a few things to do.  It’s mostly been fun and we’ve learned a lot about the car.  It is a blast to drive and we’re happy with our purchase. 

The rallycross season began last month and we’ve participated in two events so far.  The first event came soon after a snow storm and the course was a sloppy mess.  Before the race I had thought driving on mud would be fun; I now know better.  Most of the day was an exercise in patience as the wheels spun and spun with steering inputs being almost meaningless.  I found out that I have very little patience when it comes to driving.  The relative high-power our car produces was wasted and there were sections of the course we could have walked through faster.  We both had dismal results and the car was filthier than it has ever been before (this is saying a lot). 

The second race was held this past Sunday and went much better.  It didn’t start that way as I broke a wheel stud when switching out the wheels and stripped another.  We barely had time to replace the stud before getting the car tech’d (having your car tech’d or checked for safety is required to race).  The event was at a truck driving school south of Colorado Springs and is known for its high grip and relatively smooth surface.  It was extremely windy with dust flying everywhere.  It was a great day for us and we finished 2^nd(me) and 3^rd (Susan) out of eleven drivers (most who had beaten us at the prior event).  It was also a year ago this event that the engine blew on the WRX and we were happy to go home with only the power steering starting to fade (yay, another thing to fix!). 

Also this last weekend Susan and I participated in Doors Open Denver.  It is an annual event where various buildings around Denver open their doors for a weekend to people who are interested in seeing what’s inside.  Susan has been going for five or six years but this was my first time.  Because of the rallycross we went on Saturday.  A lot of the most interesting places to visit are churches and we went to several.  The amount of detail and variety in the structures was very neat.  We were a little disappointed that we only got to hear one of the big organs playing but it was fascinating nonetheless. 

Going back another day to late Friday afternoon (it was a busy weekend) Susan picked up our newest foster pug named Lucy.  She’s pretty standard for a pug (cute, fat, crazy, etc) but, unlike our other fosters, has no disabilities.  While we have no qualms about pugs with disabilities it does mean that the chances are much higher that Lucy will find a new home sooner.  We have not had any of our fosters get adopted by anyone besides us and would love to see this one’s story end with finding a good family.  She has never been kenneled that we know of and, because of this, gets free-reign while we are away from the house. Besides being at first fascinated with her existence the other pugs have been mostly ambivalent toward Lucy.  We’re happy to have her. 

My band is still trucking along or something.  We played a show a couple of weeks ago which, while fun, side-tracked us for a month with rehearsals from the CD we’ve been working on for over half a year (not that I’m counting or anything).  I’ve implemented an aggressive schedule to try and finish the recording soon and get a master CD off for production.  It’s still enjoyable but I’ll be very glad to be done with it. 

You may have heard about the “crazy” weather we had last week in Colorado.  We’re jokingly calling it the blizzard of 2013.  The forecasters were predicting over a foot of snow in town and blizzard conditions. Susan said the list of businesses and government offices preemptively closing was the longest she’d ever seen.  It ended up being much to do about not much.  It did snow consistently for well over a day but the weather folks forgot or blanked on the fact that the temperatures have been very warm (60-70 degrees) on most days for the two weeks or so preceding the storm.  Thus the ground was still warm and there was virtually no accumulation on the roads and what piled up on other surfaces melted in less than 24 hours.

That’s the news from our neck of the woods.  We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

2/21/2013 Family Update

Hello Family,

I think it’s about time for another update on what’s going on with us. 

We really enjoyed having everyone here in Colorado during the last week of 2012!  We hopefamily get-togethers like this can be coordinated on a somewhat regular basis going forward. 

On New Year’s Eve we had a few friends over to welcome in 2013.  Our neighbors across the street and a couple rallycross buddies were in attendance.  Since we don’t have live TV we counted down using our atomic clock.  General merriment was had by all.  I had to work the next morning and went to bed right after midnight.  Susan entertained the others until much later the next morning. 

It was a few days later that Mr. Bailey got really sick.  On Friday January 4^th Susan took him to the vet where the prognosis was very grim.  He had pneumonia again and this trachea was very small (the vet said it was like a straw).  I met Susan at the vet’s office and they put him down.  Right after it was done we agreed that we wanted to adopt Sophie.  Susan reached out to the Colorado Pug Rescue as soon as we left.  A family in Nebraska had already submitted an application to adopt both Mr. Bailey and Sophie but was also interested in a different male foster.  We were thinking the family was really looking for a male pug as they had two others in their house and had adopted a male previously.  The people at the pug rescue were very gracious and let us adopt Sophie. 

We haven’t taken on any more foster pugs yet and now just have Satchel, Tweetie, and Sophie in the house.  With the cruise coming up we didn’t want to take on another pug just to have to part with him/her for a week and a half so soon afterward.  The three girls get along very well. 

When Mom was at our house for our mini-reunion she was able to give Susan and myself some crochet pointers which helped a lot in getting us started on our new hobby.  While I’ve dabbled a little here and there Susan has leaped in with both feet.  She’s already completed a few projects and has plans for many more.  So far Susan has made a potholder, a blanket for Sophie, two scarves, a stuffed pig for our neighbor, and a little stuffed bumble bee for her sister.  I’ve managed to make one very ‘special’ scarf and will probably work on a hat in the near future.  It’s been a lot of fun and I urge all of you who haven’t tried it to give it a go.  ;-)

On February 2^nd we went bowling to benefit the Colorado Pug Rescue.  The event seemed to be a success and we had a great time.  Several years ago we used to bowl quite often with Susan’s sister and pre-Alvin boyfriend and bought bowling balls and shoes.  Having our own equipment is a double-edged sword.  It is nice to not use the house bowling balls and old shoes but everyone there thinks we’re really good.  This is really not the case but we did manage a few respectable scores at the benefit (Susan won the first game with 125 and I managed to be in the 150s for games two and three). 

Later that night we went downtown to attend the Colorado Rallycross Award Banquet.  It was held at a karaoke bar named El Charrito (don’t get too excited – neither of us sang).  Most of the regular rallycrossers were there and it was fun to see everyone again.  Much of the evening was spent conversing and passing around a self-published book of pictures from the 2012 season that our neighbor and fellow-rallycrosser Sandra made.  She raced some at the beginning of the season but later just came out to take pictures.  The book came out fantastic and we ordered one ourselves.  Trophies were distributed later and we received one each (1^stfor me and 5^th for Susan). 

From that day until we flew to Florida most of our thoughts were directed at the upcoming cruise.  We went out to do some clothes shopping but found ourselves flummoxed with the lack of summer apparel selection (shouldn’t be too surprising since it’s February I suppose).  It was decided that we’d plan on going to the Ron Jon’s by the port while waiting for our ship to come in.  Even with Susan’s careful planning and copious list-making our packing experience was still frenetic with the majority occurring the day before we flew to Florida.  Satchel and Tweetie stayed with their Puskas grandparents and Sophie went with my band’s bass player Mark. 

The flight out to Florida was uneventful and Mom and Janice picked us up at the airport.  We immediately went to a Vera Bradley outlet store nearby so the ladies could pick up some new bags.  After this brief excursion we went to the hotel. 

We had dinner that night on the pier at Marlin’s.  The food was great and Greg had fun prodding our poor waiter.  There were pelicans flying about and landing on the pier.  Janice saw someone get pecked as they went in for pictures!  After dinner Greg, Susan, and myself had a drink at the bar at the end of the pier.  Later that evening Susan and I went shopping for clothes and other last minute supplies. 

The next morning we ate continental breakfast and headed for the ship.  Carnival had sent an email to everyone saying to not try to board the ship until after 1:00PM.  We decided to disregard the email and arrived at the port around 10:30.  It turned out to be the fastest boarding we’d ever had.  There was no waiting at all and we zipped through security and had our ship pictures taken. 

I’ll sum up the rest of the cruise here: good food was eaten, laughter broke, dice was played, yarn was crocheted, trivia was won, songs were sung (karaoke), excursions were had, shopping was performed, decks were wandered, shows were watched, and tips were paid.  A wonderful time was had by all. 

It was hard to come back to Colorado but the clean dry air was welcoming.  We try to always take an extra day off to recover from our vacations and ended up giving ourselves two this time (Sunday and Monday). 

On Sunday we finally were able to autocross the new (to us) Miata.  It was so much fun. That’s all I have to say about that. 

I think that’s enough for now.  I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy! 

Max and Susan