12/11/2014 Family Update

Hello everyone!  It’s been almost three months since our last update so here’s another one. (I added Julie to the distribution in case she is interested. :))

September

We had a trailer hitch installed on our newest rally car.  Unfortunately we had to have a shop do a custom install since no hitches are made for our car model (in fact our model is specifically excluded).  A friend of ours was coincidentally selling a 4x8 trailer perfect for our needs which we ended up buying.  The wood on the trailer could stand to be replaced and we have some vague plans to take care of it next spring. 

Our newest car purchase (the Subaru wagon we call “Jay”) was in need of some immediate maintenance so, with the help of a mechanic friend, Susan replaced the timing belt, water pump, thermostat, and radiator (thanks babe!).  There are other things that could be done on the car but at least the chances of acatastrophic breakdown have been lowered somewhat. 

On September 19^th we loaded up the trailer and headed to Colorado Offroad Extreme (CORE) to camp andrallycross the following day.  A couple of other racers joined us and we sat by a little fire as swarms of mosquitoes dined on my blood.  I had worn sandals that evening for inadequate reasons and got several bites on the tops of my feet in addition to the many others covering the rest of my exposed skin.  Racing the next day went alright although we were off our game and didn’t place as highly as we’d hoped.  Overall we had a great time though. 

The day after the rallycross was the Colorado Pug Rescue’s annual Pugs in the Park event.  Susan has been active in the planning of the event all year-long and we were assigned to volunteer in the foster tent.  The foster tent is where fosters are brought for people to interact with and, hopefully, decide to apply for an adoption.  While it was fun to hang out with the pugs it was a bit of a pain to deal with the younger dog-walking volunteers.  We also brought a small PA system for announcements and assisted in setting up andtaking down the many tables and tents.  The event itself seemed to go well and I’m sure we’ll be volunteering again next year. 

The last weekend of the month had us going to our neighbor’s house for an Italian poker night.  It was an Italian food potluck with poker.  Fun times were had by all and Susan ended up coming in 2^nd place (yay $$)! 

October

For the past two years we made the trek to the rallycross national championships.  Alas, the early October scheduling had me in the office working through the weekend instead of racing.  Hopefully we’ll be able to participate next year. 

Susan noticed Satchel’s left eye was looking unhappy and took her to the vet.  It turns out that eye isn’t producing enough tears.  There are drops that should help which she immediately went on.  Fortunately the eye doesn’t seem to bother Satchel as the final medical solution is to have the eye removed (this would bea huge bummer).  Subsequent vet visits have shown the eye making more tears and we’re hopeful the drops will be enough (she’ll need them for the rest of her life).  

We had planned a camping trip in the mountains for the second weekend in October but with low participation and poor weather forecasted we cancelled.  We ended up having some friends over for a BBQ on Friday evening instead.  The next day Susan and I woke up and, on a whim, decided to drive up to Buena Vista.  We took Mia (our red Miata) and left with the top down.  About a half-hour into the drive the top went up and the rain began.  By the time we got to the Fairplay valley snow was falling.  I was a bit worried about the roads as Mia was still shod in all-season tires but the snow didn’t last very long or accumulate much.  We had lunch at the best-voted pizza place in Buena Vista and drove back home.  The weather had warmed up and the drive was pleasant.  Perhaps we can make these sorts of impromptu road trips more commonly in the future. 

October 19^th had us driving to Pike’s Peak International Raceway for another rallycross event.  For the heck of it (and to save tires) we raced Jay (I think having AAA has emboldened us).  Jay survived the dayand we had a blast pushing the old Subaru to her limits.  Neither of us placed very high but I still managed to beat several competitors driving much quicker cars. 

Two days later we drove down to Colorado Springs to attend a regional SCCA dinner at an auto club.  From my understanding an auto club is where rich guys store their old expensive cars and sometimes hang out.  My guess is that such an entity is an LLC or nonprofit owned by the rich guys and is a convenient way to not pay taxes on their hobby.  Anyhoo, we had a nice time visiting with the others that attended, eating dinner,  playing on some high-end racing simulators, and racing little cars around their expensive slot car track. 

The last weekend of October had Susan, myself, Sophie, and Bella driving out to Utah to rallycross.  The event was the 2^nd Annual Moab Spectacular put on by the Utah SCCA region.  Most all the participants camped and we arrived late on the Friday before race day.  A bunch of Colorado people attended and we set up our tent near theirs.  The schedule included racing all day Saturday with night racing in the evening.  There would be more racing on Sunday to finish the event.  The site is around 20 miles north of Moab on some federal land which happens to be an old lake bed.  The surface was initially hard with soft silty soil underneath.  Thus the first runs were quicker than the later runs as the courses degraded.  Night racing was interesting and a bit terrifying as there was virtually no wind which allowed the dust clouds generated from those racing to hang in the air and blind subsequent drivers (here’s a video of my first run).  I ended up not driving all the allowable runs as I was worried I would run over a course worker (I got a bit too close on one of my runs).  It was a very dusty affair and the interior of the Evo was coated in dust by the end of the weekend.  We also lost the passenger-side wheel well cover on a big bump.  A wire of unknown use was also tore off in the process which evidently caused our parking lights to stop working.  The event was well-run and quite enjoyable (food was even provided by the organizers).  Our new rally car proved to be rather quick and I got first place for the weekend.  We are looking forward to attending next year’s event. 

November

The first of November was the final rallycross event of the season and was held at CORE.  As is tradition for the event right after Halloween we dressed our race car up and the Evo was a shark (the big fin lasted approximately one turn on the first run).  Light attendance and very few delays had us getting nine fantastically fun runs (here’s a short video of me driving around that day).  We both did very well with me getting 2^nd for the day and Susan coming in 7^th (out of 16 competitors in our class).  It was a great way to end the season. 

Susan got a new job at E2 Consulting Engineers as an HR Assistant.  She has been looking off and on for over two years for another job and we are both delighted.  So far her duties are diverse and more interesting than at her former job.  Her new role gives her the opportunity to gain valuable experience in HR which is great.  Susan didn’t want to keep working downtown and almost didn’t apply for the opening as it is literally across the street from her old job.  So worth it though! 

We flew out to Georgia for Thanksgiving on the Saturday before.  Sophie and Bella were travel pugs andmostly did alright.  Mom picked us up at the airport and immediately made Goulash (my favorite food evar… besides her macaroni & cheese I suppose) when we got to her house.  As always, we felt very welcome.  Since many of you on the distribution list for this email were there I’ll use some statistics to describe the week:

-Different games played: at least 8 (Cabo, Hannabi, and Sushi Go were our favorites)

-Movies seen in the theater: 2

-RC vehicles driven/flown: 4

-House alarm scares: 1 (but it was very dramatic)

-Warm bodies that walked on the pool cover: 2 (one was a pug)

-New restaurants tried: 3 (2 were BBQ)

-Calories ingested: nope

-Acorns ingested by Bella: not enough to cause renal failure

-Tears shed: not too many

It should be noted that Susan and I were stunned by the amount of growth our niece and nephews displayed since we last saw them.  Holy smokes!  We had so much fun and visiting with all of the relatives that were there! 

December

To celebrate 16 years of being together Susan and I drove up to Glenwood Springs on the first weekend of December.  For this trip we only brought Sophie who (as many of you observed over Thanksgiving) is incredibly pathetic and requires a lot of attention.  We decided to go “all out” and stayed at the Hotel Colorado.  It is one of the oldest hotels in Colorado and was frequented by a few presidents back in the first half of the 1900s (Roosevelt even has a room named after him).  We’ve never stayed in a place like it andfound it had a few quirks.  The hallways are incredibly wide and the rooms are mostly pretty small (we were lucky to get a decent-sized one).  Large radiators heated the rooms but for some reason the rooms were sweltering even with the radiators turned to the off position (we utilized the window and ceiling fan for the entirety of our stay).  The hotel prides itself for being pet-friendly and we saw several other dogs while we were there (including two rather large Great Danes).  The elevators have five floor buttons but the top floor is “PH” and is just a large penthouse.  The fountain in front of the hotel had fish in it.  Our neighbors across the street (Sandra and Gregg) also came for the weekend and we hung out with them quite a bit.  We had agreat time and are pretty sure we’ll be staying in Hotel Colorado when we visit Glenwood Springs from now on. 

Miscellaneous (spelled right on the first try!)

The pugs are all doing well.  I was jamming with a drummer briefly but let him go after about a month (nice guy but he really was not very good).  The cars seem to be running fine.  We both still like our jobs.  We’re both enjoying the free time we have now that we’re not racing.  I took a few online IQ tests and discovered that I am not a genius (you lied to me mother! :P). 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

9/17/2014 Family Update

Hello!  It’s been a busy month (or so) for Susan and myself so here is another update on our goings on. 

-Aug 24 – We rallycrossed our new car (“the Evo”) at the truck driving school down south ofColorado Springs.  The surface is really hard there which helped mitigate our disadvantage ofusing worn snow tires.  It was a fun course with a big loop we all drifted around.  We’re figuring out the car and I was able to come in 2^nd place by only a few seconds.  On the way home several of us stopped for dinner at a Chili’s.  It was here the discussion of what we should name the Evo came up.  Several jokingly thought we should call it “the Biebs”.  Much laughter was had.  After dinner we all drove up I25 more or less together when the others started posting pictures of our car with “BiEBS!” where our license plate would be which we thought were edited photos.  It wasn’t until hours after we got home that we realized one friend had actually taped “BiEBS!” on our car before we left the restaurant.  More laughter was had. 

-Aug 26 – We sold the WRX.  Actually, Susan sold the WRX.  The guy who bought it came around for a test drive with his girlfriend while I was on the phone with someone else interested in our other Subaru up for sale.  Susan ended up going with them on a test drive and answering his questions about the car.  We had removed the stickers and other race-identifying garb from the WRX but found that the windshield tint faded around the large rallycross banner we’d had for over two years leaving a clear outline saying “SCCA Rallycross”.  Oh well. 

The guy picked up on this on the test drive and Susan explained the car’s history in detail.  She even had him spin a few donuts in a dirt parking lot while they were out.  He was pretty jazzed about the car when they got back but didn’t have the funding to make a good offer and we bid our goodbyes.  Two nights later he called with an acceptable offer and we sold him the car. Turns out he searched the internet and found our GoPro videos we took racing and got all kinds of excited about the car.  I was initially skeptical about Susan’s method of selling the WRX but it obviously worked. 

-Aug 31 – We drove a foster pug to his “forever home” in Grand Junction, went to a car show, and tasted some of the local wine.  Earlier in the week there was a call made for a volunteer to ferry a foster pug named Sparkpug to his new home in Grand Junction from his current foster home in Greeley.  Susan thought this a good opportunity to show a little support and volunteered.  Fortunately Susan was able to save us the drive up to Greeley by meeting the foster mom closer to Denver after work.  Sparkpug is a big fawn male stray that was brought into the Colorado Pug Rescue fold a few weeks before.  He’s deaf and has pretty bad arthritis. We had him for two nights before our trek and he was a fine temporary addition to our house though he did reinforce our decision to not permanently foster any more pugs at this time.  The drive was pleasant and we made good time.  Sparkpug was a good traveler and mostly slept on the trip. 

We met his new owners at a park to take care of the necessary paperwork.  They were nice folks and I’m sure they will take care of him well.  They also get points in my book for changing his silly name to “Archie”.  By chance there was a car show going on in a different part of the park and we decided to check it out.  It was pretty early in the day and it was evident that some cars hadn’t shown up but we enjoyed walking around looking at what was there. 

It probably isn’t well-known outside of Colorado but Grand Junction has made a name for itself as a producer of decent wine and there are multiple wineries and vineyards in the area. Since we were in town with nothing left we needed to do we visited a few to sample their wine.  We’ve never done this before so Susan picked a vineyard and we headed over.  The first one we went to was closed for the morning but the second wasn’t and there were other people trying the wines when we arrived.  The owner was also the pourer and told us how the process worked and walked us through his selections.  It was fun and interesting though we both agreed his wine was not very good.  Undeterred we went to two more wineries before heading back home through the mountains.  It all made for a good road trip. 

-Sept 5 – We went to a newly opened go cart track close to our house.  It is a K1 go cart facility (they are a chain out of California) that uses electric-powered carts.  Along with our racing neighbors and some other friends we raced around the track vying for the best times. We all had a blast and I did surprisingly well and was even the fastest for one of the races.  It was agreed that we’d gather periodically going forward to test our cart-racing prowess. 

-Sept 6 – This was a busy day for us; the Evo was measured for a skid plate, I picked up wrong-sized rally wheels, and Susan made silent auction baskets.  Our new rally car sits lower to the ground and there is a real risk something important could get damaged while racing. Thus we searched around and found someone to fabricate a skid plate.  I had also ordered rally wheels earlier in the week so after getting the Evo measured for its skid plate I drove up to Loveland to pick up the wheels.  The business owner’s son was there to complete the transaction and, unbeknownst to me at the time, loaded up the wrong-sized wheels into our car. 

While I was out another Colorado Pug Rescue volunteer came over to our house to help Susan put together baskets of silent auction items for the annual Pugs in the Park which is occurring this Sunday.  You may remember that Susan has been gathering and inventorying donated items for the last few months.  I came home to find them still in the basement amidst dozens ofbaskets full of various items.  The ladies finished up soon after and yesterday the baskets were picked up in preparation for the big event. 

-Sept 7 – Our neighbor Mike came by to supervise the installation of new brakes on the Evo and we sold the Imp.  Our new car came equipped with front brakes that were far too large to fit the rally wheels we intended to race with.  Fortunately for us, others online have figured out a relatively cheap solution which is to use the front brakes from a selection of different models in place of the stock brakes.  A little researching and ordering from a few online vendors and we were ready to go.  We had our master mechanic neighbor Mike over to supervise the installation.  As is generally the case with car brakes the work was simple and I finished quickly.  It was at this point we discovered the rally wheels I had picked up were the wrong size.  A little miffed I left a couple of messages with the owner of the business we bought them from seeking assistance.  It turns out the son misheard his father’s explanation of which wheels were ours.  A few days later we met to exchange wheels and all was well. 

Later in the evening we delivered the Imp to its new owner.  I had been conversing with the buyer for the last few weeks answering questions before he finally made an offer.  He lives in a beautiful historic house and we got to see inside while we finalized the sale.  It really reminded me of the house we lived in downtown Findlay, Ohio with its hardwood floors, stain glass windows, and overall feel.  We were ecstatic to finally sell the Imp.  It was on craigslist for four weeks. 

-Sept 10 – We bought another car.  I know what you’re thinking.  Wasn’t the point of selling all those cars to bring the stable down to a manageable number?  Well, yes it was but one ofremaining cars is really nice car that we’d really hate to wreck in bad weather this winter.  We ended up buying a 1997 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport wagon.  Because it is blue (which is an unusual color for these normally green cars) we named it “Jay”.  Of course it came with its own set of problems and we are in the process of replacing the radiator, timing belt, water pump, and thermostat.  There is some rust we’ll have to attend to soon but overall it’s in decent shape.  Jay is pretty fun to drive and we’ve already utilized its wagon to haul stuff around.  It will also serve as a backup rally car because that’s how we roll. 

-Sept 12-14 – We drove to Nebraska and raced in a rallycross national challenge.  A few weeks ago we decided it would be fun to participate in the national rallycross in Nebraska as a lot of Colorado people were going.  Also since we won’t be able to go to the national championships in October because of my job this was somewhat of a substitute.  At first we were going to stay in a hotel but decided to camp instead.  Besides our one night last summer we haven’t camped in fifteen years.  Instead of borrowing equipment again we bought all new camping stuff.  We had lists of things to get and ended up with more than we needed. 

It quickly became clear that not everything we wanted to bring with us was going to fit in the Evo so we had to leave our newly shod rally wheels and related stuff at home.  Knowing this was a possibility I got new snow tires installed a few days before.  Even without the rally wheels et al it was still a close fit.  We also brought Sophie and Bella along.  Sophie because she is starting to go into heat and needs extra care and Bella because she’s cute.  Satchel and Tweetie got to stay at home and get fed by Tristan (our across the street neighbor’s son). Loaded down we started on our journey only to stop about a half an hour in with mechanical problems. 

When I installed the new front brakes I did not tighten up the caliper bracket bolts enough and one fell out causing the caliper to lean out and impact the inside of the wheel.  This made a horrifying sound and I promptly pulled into the nearest turn lane to get off the busy road we were on (Santa Fe and Oxford by the Costco).  When the light changed I found the car wouldn’t move as the caliper was wedged tightly in the wheel.  I was the opposite of happy at this point.  On went our hazard lights and out came my cell phone as I called AAA to get a tow back home.  I had gotten out to diagnose the problem by now and conveyed our situation to the operator.  Since we were in a turn lane much and it happened to be around lunch time there was much honking and lamentation from the other drivers.  It took around an hour before we were finally towed away in which time a police officer came to block traffic behind us (this mercifully stopped the honking). 

We were very lucky that there was no real damage done and our mechanic neighbor happened to have a parts car that had the right bolt to replace the one that fell out.  To put how fortunate we were into perspective we originally had to order the correct bolt through a dealer and wait a week for it to be shipped in.  It took me roughly 10 minutes to get the bolt off the other car and onto ours (and really tighten up all the brake bolts). 

After all this we started again around three hours after we left the first time.  The rest of the drive was mostly uneventful and we arrived at the site around 11:00 at night.  I had prepared foil dinners like we used to make as kids and they turned out much like I remembered them (very good).  It was a bit chilly so we set up camp and sat by the fire until around 1:00 when we went to bed. 

The next morning I tried my hand at making breakfast burritos.  I’ve never made breakfast burritos before and decided to use ingredients that seemed logical/good to me.  I, of course, made way too much and was able to feed Susan and myself along with four other camping racers.  The food turned out to be pretty tasty.  Later in the morning we checked in with registration and lined up our cars for class inspection.  Class inspection is when the competitors get to look at everyone else’s cars to make sure they are classed properly.  It so happened to be that everyone in our class (all four of us) were Colorado racers and the class inspection was really just a formality. 

There was a lot of waiting around for something to happen during the morning.  Most of the time racing occurs in the morning and afternoon.  For this event the organizers had us hanging around until the afternoon when we would actually race.  This is one of those instances where different does not equal good.  It wasn’t terrible or anything but most of us had driven a long distance to race and not to stand around swapping stories.  They did provide lunch and after that we finally got down to bid’ness. 

The course was a grassy field next to a dirt race track.  It was still wet from colossal rain the region had received the week before and the ground was saturated.  We were in the second run group and got to watch the course be rutted out by the first run group.  It was very different racing than we’re used to as chunks of grass and mud were flying around as opposed to the copious amounts of dust we usually generate in Colorado. 

One feature on the course was a roughly 20’ wide and long dip which turned out to be deep enough that the cool looking and expensive font bumper on the Evo scooped up a lot of mud by the time it came out the other side.  Susan was looking mortified when I got back into grid after my first run.  Not only did I pick up mud but the bumper itself was bent down at an unnatural (for a bumper) angle.  I managed to kind of bend it back up by hand and we continued on.  By the time we were done I was flinging the Evo sideways through the dip to avoid scraping the front bumper (which was more fun and faster anyways). 

This first day of racing ended with another meal provided by the event organizers and some jovial times had by the camping Colorado folks.  A couple of “explorers” discovered that someof the track lights were accessible and were delighted with themselves as they flipped them on and off.  It didn’t take too long before the Poe Poe showed up to see what was going on. *sigh*  Honesty won the day and no one was arrested or embarrassed too badly.  One of the revelers may or may not have been Susan.  For my part I kept my dignity by the fire throughout the whole ordeal. 

The following morning I made breakfast burritos again and they turned out even better than the day before.  We discovered that tortillas aren’t to be found in truck stops in Nebraska.  A couple of us ended up having omelets instead of burritos when we ran out of tortillas.  More racing occurred later in the morning and the Evo did admirably.  It was a close thing but a couple of really fast runs at the end were not enough to overcome me hitting six cones (12 seconds of penalties) throughout the event and I came in 2^nd place.  Again a meal was provided by the organizers and I received a cool metal I wore around my neck the whole way home.  After the event was through we took our time packing up and drove home. 

Miscellaneous – the pugs are still cute, I still jam once a week or so, the house is still standing, and we’re both still employed. 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy! 

Max and Susan

8/22/2014 Family Update

Hello everybody!  Not as long as a delay in our update this time (only two and a half months or so).  I liked the format of the last update so I’ll use it again here:

June:

-June 14^th – We drove up to Matt and Jana’s for a BBQ.  It was really nice to see our friends and their little girl Elle.  Good food and company. 

-June 21^st – We bought another Miata (#3).  Let me explain.  The plan for this summer for Mia was to swap her anemic engine for a more powerful one from a Miata of a later year.  After the accident where the fender was crushed via someone changing lanes into the car I reassessed the time and money it would cost to perform such a major upgrade and decided we’d be better off buying a Miata with the larger engine and selling Mia.  The new Miata is a black 1997 formerly owned by a guy living about 3 minutes from our house in Roxborough.  We named the car Debbie.  Our next door neighbor thinks we’re insane. 

-The following Thursday – We got home from work and there was water coming down the street.  We didn’t think much of it as sprinkler water from the neighbors often flows in a similar fashion.  Later in the evening one of our neighbors knocked on our door and asked if we knew that water was coming up from our lawn next to the sidewalk.  Susan contacted the Roxborough water utility who sent a guy to check it out.  He managed to turn off the water line which stopped the flow of water and also showed that the leak was on our side of the valve and thus our issue to fix. 

Long story short - after getting insanely-high quotes from several plumbers we found a local contractor who was able to send a couple of workers out to fix the leak on the weekend. Lesson learned – one can save a lot of money by looking outside the box when having home repairs made (the contractor did the work at 1/5^th the cost we were quoted by the plumbers, even with emergency rates applied). 

-June 28^th –I took Debbie to Tires Plus for an alignment and oil change.  After several hours (I don’t know why I keep bothering to schedule our visits) I was told that there was so much wrong with the car they wouldn’t align it.  The list of problems was great (needed new brake calipers/pads/rotors all around, had bad tie rods, the tires were shot) as was the estimated bill. I sighed and asked them to perform the oil change and leave the rest alone. 

This started us on a month-long odyssey of fixing Debbie and making a few upgrades in the process.  By the time we were done with the work Debbie had newly rebuilt front brake calipers, new pads and rotors all around, new tie rods, new springs, new adjustable sway bars, and new tires.  We also installed a roll bar and swapped in a limited-slip differential from Mia. Tia also received the same sway bars and roll bar.  Note: roll bars are a pain to install (it took us an entire weekend).  Susan also wired in lights that turn on when the doors are open and made a custom garage door button for Debbie (it looks very cool and works well).  Overall it was an interesting experience and I’m glad we did the work ourselves (besides mounting the tires on the wheels).  We saved quite a bit of money and learned a lot in the process. 

July:

-July 4^th – I had to work (thank you quarter-end) but later in the evening we attended a block party on Alvin and Kari’s cul-de-sac.  There was BBQ to be had and after dark we watched several miniature fireworks shows set off in the street. 

-July 5^th – This was to be a rallycross but we didn’t attend as I’d worked a lot of extra hours in the preceding week and was exhausted. 

-July 13^th – We raced the WRX in another rallycross down at PPIR.  The newly turbo-charged Imp was still not running very well so we decided to give the car a break.  It was a really fun event and I managed to legitimately scare Susan a couple of times (as well as send several course workers scurrying away).

-July 15^th – Susan went to a Goo Goo Dolls concert at Red Rocks.  She relayed to me that she had a good time.  There was a chance there would be heavy rain at the venue but only a few drops fell.  It was a late night and getting up for work the next day was tough but I don’t think Susan regretted going to the show. 

-July 26^th – We picked up a used fender for Mia from Colorado Springs.  The color didn’t match exactly but, once we finally got around to installing it, we found it most satisfactory.  I also found a used set of Miata wheels with decent tires on craigslist (we wanted to keep the original wheels from Mia).

August:

-August 2^nd – We went to Vesta Dipping Grill to celebrate 11 years of marriage.  As always the food was delectable and we sat at our regular table next to the front windows.  While we were there we figured out that we’d eaten at Vesta for our previous 8 wedding anniversaries. It’s also our go-to restaurant for our “going out” anniversary and sporadic other celebrations. We decided that the evidence suggests that we really like the place. 

After dinner we ventured over to a fellow-rallycrosser’s home for an outdoor movie night.  He and his husband also brew craft beer in their basement and are planning on opening a microbrewery restaurant in the near future.  We didn’t stay for the movie but did try watermelon flavored beer which was a bit strange to me and a bit good to Susan. 

-August 8^th – We bought a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX (car #6) and admitted to ourselves that we may have a car problem.  This car is simply called “the Evo” and is to be our new rally car/winter driver.  Yes, we already have two rally car/winter drivers but unlike the other two turbo-charged AWD cars the Evo is… yadda yadda yadda.  What can I say?  It’s faster/better/cooler/funner/neater/impressiver.  We’re going to sell off the other two AWD cars as even we know that owning three rally cars at the same time is silly (probably). 

-August 16^th – We rallycrossed the Evo at CORE.  The particular Evo we bought is generally thought of as a cheater-car in rallycross as it usually dominates in every class it’s in.  Because of this we teased our local racing community before the event by posting partial pictures of the Evo on Facebook.  At the event received a lot of approvals from the other racers and the expectations were high that we’d do well.  Of course, we did not.  We over-drove the car badly in the morning before starting to figure things out in the afternoon.  It turns out the car is much more than we expected and we have to turn ourselves down some to compensate.  Very fun though and we’re glad we bought the car. 

After the race we went up to Matt and Jana’s to join them in celebrating Elle’s 1^st birthday. We were late due to the race but made it in time to see a mountain of gifts being opened. Apparently Elle likes to push the keys on Jana’s keyboard so one of the gifts from Susan was an old keyboard of ours.  There was a lot of family in attendance and it was pleasant.  We were late enough that the food was already put away and resorted to eating at Burger King on the way home (it was actually almost as good as I remember it being as a teenager). 

-August 20^th – We finally sold Mia.  That morning I got a call from a southern-sounding guy named Gary who was interested in the Miata.  After work we met Gary, Gary’s wife, and Gary’s son at our local Safeway where he proceeded to give Mia his critical eye.  Mia is the first car we’ve sold to an older gentleman and the experience was much different.  He was thorough in his review and we went back and forth on the price as opposed to the other two young guys who gave our cars a cursory inspection and paid asking price.  I imagine car salespeople love seeing young people walk onto their lots.  We were very happy to finally sell one of our cars.  Now we just need to sell a WRX and a heavily-modified Impreza. 

-Miscellaneous (I did not spell this correctly on my first try; it’s a very hit-or-miss word for me)

-Susan bought a baritone saxophone.  She played a bari in both high school and college and found a good deal on a used one.  For those that don’t know the baritone saxophone is one of the larger saxophones and produces quite a loud sound.  Very fun. 

-I’m still jamming with Charles.  We’re writing and recording some music but mostly getting to know each other which is more important this early on (to me at least).  We’re currently looking for a drummer.

-Susan is helping organize this year’s Pugs in the Park event that is put on by Colorado Pug Rescue.  Besides attending regular meetings she is amassing donated items for the silent auction in our basement.

-The pugs are doing well.  Besides Satchel having a bad bladder infection last month they’ve all been relatively healthy.  Still cute and all that. 

-We reorganized the garage with the help of shelving from Costco and now can fit two Miatas in there.  It has been several years since this feat has been possible and we are proud of ourselves. 

-I recently finished my 100^th audio book since I started digesting books via this medium just over two years ago.  I’m not exactly proud of my “accomplishment” but am amazed at how quickly the milestone arrived.  I LOVE audio books and the flexibility newer technology provides in listening to them. 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy! 

Max and Susan

6/12/2014 Family Update

Holy cow it’s been a looooong time since I’ve sent out an email about our happy household.  I’ll go for some of the highlights by month.

February:

-We met some rallycrossers for breakfast at Sunrise-Sunset early in February.  We had a nice time jawing about this and that and the food was good.

-We attended the rallycross awards banquet at El Charrito.  We both received Ironman awards for going to every event in the season.  I also got 1^st place in our class and Susan got 5^th place. 

-We played poker at the across the street neighbor’s house.  We had a good time and I won the pot! 

-For Susan’s birthday we went with several friends to Mount Fuji which is a tasty hibachi place in Parker. They had to bring over several extra chairs to accommodate our party and we squished together to make room around the grill. 

March:

-Susan and I went to a Colorado Pug Rescue (CPR) fundraiser called Paw Prints and Cocktails where we painted together and drank non-alcoholic beverages.  Our paintings were a mixed bag but it was fun. We’re thinking we’d like to go to another (perhaps with adult beverages provided). 

-My band played a Friday night show early in March.  Mother Nature decided she didn’t want very many people to attend and a mini-blizzard occurred mere hours before we took the stage.  Luckily for us I had invited several rallycross people who braved the snow in their AWD cars and watched us play.  We went on first and four other bands performed after us.  I have always been under the impression that we were a pretty heavy-sounding band but not anymore.  The other bands that played after us were truly heavy and we sounded almost like classic rock in comparison.  It was an interesting night of music for sure. 

-The next day Susan went on a cruise with some of our old Nissan club buddies.  They drove around the mountains a bit and had fun. 

-The first event of the rallycross season was on the middle weekend of March.  There was a school the day before which I helped instruct at.  On race day we decided to drive the red WRX (the “Angry Car”) in our old prepared all-wheel drive class.  It was a battle and I ended up getting 3^rd place for the day. 

-We still had our non-running Subaru we purchased last summer to race and we decided it was time to start working on getting it running.  Thus we asked our mechanic neighbor Mike to come over and help us.  The work began shortly after the first event and technically is still going on as I type this email.

-The next weekend Susan and I went to see Tower Of Power play down in Colorado Springs.  We try to make it to every non-arena show on the front range we can and have gone to see them several times over the years.  They have a new singer who did really well and the show was excellent.  We even got to meet the band after the show and had them all sign one of Susan’s vinyl records! 

-We took Sophie to an eye-specialist as she’d been having difficulties finding her way this past winter.  It turns out she has roughly 40% of her vision due to multiple eye injuries and cataracts.  Fortunately her eyes make enough tears that she gets to keep them and she doesn’t seem to be in any pain. 

April:

-We had another rallycross at the beginning of April.  The Imp (what we’re calling the “new” rally car) wasn’t yet ready for racing so we drove the Angry Car again.  I made the unfortunate decision to have us drive on old and mostly bald all-season tires.  The event location is known for being hard on tires and I didn’t want to wear out our rally tires.  I regretted this decision throughout the day as I spun out 4 times, 2 of which were so bad that I had to put the car in reverse to turn around.  It was a lot of fun but neither of us did very well in the standings, though Susan did end up placing above me (good job babe!). 

-A couple we’ve been friends with for several years came over for dinner and a jam.  Tristan (the male half) plays guitar and we played nonsense in the basement while Susan hung out with Cora (the female half) upstairs.  This past summer they adopted one of our foster pugs (“Tina” whose name they changed to “Lucy”).  It was a good time for all of us. 

-Late in April Susan and I journeyed to Kansas to visit Susan’s Grandma Norita.  Susan’s parents and Kari also made the trek from Colorado.  Some extended family I’d never met were in attendance as well. Norita’s sister and her two sons along with one of their spouses stopped by for a few days.  They were heading home to Oregon from a trip around the Midwest to see family.  It was a good time for all of us and some of us took an afternoon to visit one of the salt mines in Hutchinson.  Hollywood utilizes the mines’ extremely dry and stable environment to store much of its original film and old props.  They put on a good tour and we brought home chunks of unprocessed salt. 

May:

-The Imp drove in its first rallycross on the first weekend in May.  The event was at a new location up by Fort Collins on a fellow racer’s land.  The Imp survived the race but was woefully underpowered for the course and it showed in the results.  This is because there wasn’t time to have it turbo charged beforehand.  The site was really fun though and we’re hoping the organizers have us there again later in the summer. 

-The next weekend we went up to Susan’s parent’s house for her dad’s birthday dinner.  Kari and Alvin came along as well.  We had a nice time hanging with the family.  Alvin had recently bought himself a Miata and we had to take a look at it (buying old Miatas seems to be catching). 

-After a year of not a whole lot happening and a lot of frustration I decided to quit my band.  It went remarkably smoothly without too many feelings hurt and no shouting or fistfights ensuing.  I’m looking forward to starting a new one and have already auditioned a couple of guitar players. 

-We attended a 50^th birthday party for Sandra (one of our across the street neighbors) at her house on the last weekend of May.  There was a pretty good crowd there and we ate BBQ and played poker.  I did lousy this time but Susan salvaged a little dignity by coming in 3^rd place. 

June:

-Our 350Z found a new home early in June.  I had listed it on craigslist a few weeks ago and finally had someone show some interest.  I believe our experience was of the non-traditional type.  The interested party was an 18-year-old army private from Colorado Springs.  He didn’t have a car so had to get a ride from a friend up to Roxborough to look at the 350Z.  He loved the car but didn’t want to take a test drive so I drove him around in it for a few minutes.  The next day he got a loan from a military credit union for our full asking price and we met him down in the Springs to finalize the transaction.  We never did see him drive the car but assume he’s happy with his purchase.  We owned the 350Z for over six years and will miss it but are glad to be down to four cars once again. 

-A few days later I was driving down the 285 canyon when an SUV in the right lane decided to change lanes (presumably without looking) into the side of Mia (our 1990 Miata).  I honked and hit the brakes but the other car managed to smash the passenger front fender pretty good and scuff the tire and bumper.  We both pulled over and exchanged insurance information.  I couldn’t see how I would have avoided the accident and the other driver agreed.  As of now Mia is in our driveway awaiting its fate from the insurance company. 

-Many of our weeknights in May were spent providing dinner to Mike as he worked to get the Imp turbo charged in time for the next rallycross in June.  This was mostly successful and we did drive Imp in a turbo charged form for the 2-day national challenge event last weekend.  Technically the Imp had boost but only up to 5,000 RPM where the fuel would cut off effectively acting as a lowered rev limiter.  Up until that point the car was very quick and we made the best of it.  I was fortunate enough to earn a podium position and came in 3^rd place for the weekend (I also won $100!).  There was some doubt that it would go on with the immense amounts of rain the site had experienced the day before.  We slogged through a few muddy runs early on the first day but afterwards things dried up and the event ended up being one of the better ones we can remember attending. 

Miscellaneous tidbits:

-We painted the hood on the Imp silver with purple sparkles.  It’s very pretty.

-I did end up going guitar-crazy and bought two electric guitars - a new six-string and a used seven-string.  I also acquired an effects pedal that makes my guitar sound like an organ.  It’s very fun to play with.

-I mowed the lawn the other day for the first time this year (a new record!).  Now Sophie won’t get lost in the tall grass of the back yard. 

-The pugs are still relatively healthy and definitely cute.  Satchel had her annual ear-infection taken care of last week.  Tweetie gave us a little scare the other day by acting strange enough that we rushed her to an emergency clinic.  They had no answers for us but she apparently recovered quickly from whatever was ailing her.  Sophie is still infatuated with Susan.  Bella is still a bit insane and hilarious to play with. 

-Hopefully the months long saga of getting the Imp turbo charged will be ending soon.  I just picked up some used higher-flowing fuel injectors which will allow the turbo to do its turbo thing more efficiently.  After the Imp is done we can move on the next car project which will be swapping out Mia’s engine for a slightly larger one (assuming the accident didn’t bend the car’s frame). 

I think that’s pretty much it.

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!