Cross post from Facebook - Max - Population

The Sky will Fall (eventually)

My Initial Thoughts Before Starting

For some time I’ve been thinking about the fact that Susan and I are not going to have children. What impact does this have to the rest of humanity? I’m not talking about the fact that our genes will not continue on or our shared wisdom (heh) won’t be imparted to the next generation; I’m talking about the impact of not contributing to the next generation of earners, spenders, and taxpayers. I’ll admit it’s anecdotal and my sample size is small but I feel that most of the people I know who are in my general demographic are also not planning on having children or only have or want one or two (not enough to make up for us empty-nesters). I’ve read articles about other countries like Germany and Japan worrying about societal and economic issues due to falling birth rates so I decided to do a little research on my own.

I ended up finding most of my data from the CIA’s World Factbook . From the website:

“The World Factbook, produced for US policymakers and coordinated throughout the US Intelligence Community, marshals facts on every country, dependency and geographic entity in the world. We share this information with the people of all nations in the belief that knowledge of the truth underpins the functioning of free societies.

The Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.”

Replacement Level Fertility

What I did first was get the average rates of children born per woman or total fertility rate (TFR) for each country and dump them into a spreadsheet. Then I counted which countries had rates above and below the replacement level fertility. Per the World Resources Institute the “replacement level fertility” is the fertility rate (average number of children born per woman) in which a population exactly replaces itself each generation without migration. This rate is 2.1 in most counties though it varies some with mortality rates . It turns out the majority of reporting countries (119 or 53% of the countries) have TFRs below 2.1. In fact, the average TFR of the countries below replacement level fertility was 1.7. On the other side of the spectrum were 104 countries (47% of the reporting countries) that averaged 3.52 TFR. When I took into consideration the populations of the two groups I found that 52% of the population (3.8 billion) has fertility rates above the replacement level fertility and 48% below (3.5 billion). This makes sense as the world population continues to grow. Next I layered on the GDP per capita .

GDP Per Capita

I found that the average GDP per capita for countries whose TFR is below the replacement level fertility to be $31,125 which is over three times higher than the average GDP per capita for countries above the replacement level fertility ($9,200). This clearly shows that the populations of the richer countries in the world are shrinking while the populations of the poorer countries are growing. To visualize the trend I plotted the GDP per capita and TFR on a graph. What is shown is a clear pattern where countries with higher GDP per capita generally have a lower TFR.

Female Education

What causes lower TFR? From poking around the internet it seems a large part of the consensus is that increased female education levels make the largest impact. From the CIA World Factbook I found the School Life Expectancy for females . It provides the total number of years a female child is expected to receive by country. The data didn’t include all of the countries but it was enough that a chart I created comparing expected female education and TFR shows that countries that educate their females more do indeed have a lower TFR. On average a female child in a country with below replacement levels of fertility can expect to receive close to 4.4 years more education than a female in a country with fertility levels above the replacement level (15.31 versus 10.96).

Just for fun made another chart showing the GDP per capita and female school life expectancy. Unsurprisingly it shows a positive correlation between the two.

So what Causes the Fertility Rates to Fall?

Clearly there is a correlation between lower fertility rates and a higher GDP per capita as well as better educating females. Per Wikipedia there are other causes of lower fertility rates including government population policy, availability of family planning services, infant mortality rate, and more . Generally the more educated, wealthy, and democratic a country is (i.e. more American) the fewer children they produce.

What is the Point?

Well, I started out wondering if Susan and I not having kids would negatively impact society and if our choice was common. There are many articles summing up and speculating the social and economic impacts of low fertility rates on countries. In the short term low fertility rates cause an economic benefit as the costs to raise children are saved or spent elsewhere. In the long term low fertility rates mean a smaller workforce which hurts the economy and a smaller base to tax which puts strain on the existing social infrastructure. Just one couple like us not having kids isn’t a problem on its own as we are statistically insignificant. The problem is that we are not alone and are part of a growing trend in rich countries across the world.

Immigration helps to bolster the populations of countries with fertility rates below the replacement level of fertility. Immigrants generally have much higher fertility rates than even the countries they come from which raises the overall fertility rates in the country they are going to. It should be noted that the second generation immigrants essentially adopt the same fertility rates as the country their parents travelled to. Immigration is the reason the population in America has continued to steadily rise as many European and Asian countries have declined in the last two decades. It’s not all positive as lots of immigration can lead to cultural change and other strains which can upset the existing populace (i.e. Donald Trump). As the world population is currently projected to peak in 2050 immigration can only do so much and for so long.

What gets me is thinking farther out in the future. If economic prosperity, more freedom, and better education lead to negative population growth then is humanity looking at an extinction brought about not by war or a polluted Earth but ultimately by our own desire to improve ourselves?

If the TFR were an unchanging 1.7 for the entire population how long would it take to half our numbers? Using 30 years as the length of a generation and a 19% drop in population due to a fertility rate of 1.7 versus the replacement level of fertility of 2.1 it would take between 120 and 150 years for the population to half. Dropping 90% would occur in around 360 years. Similarly to the compound growth on an investment the compounding decline of the population would happen quickly. This scenario is unlikely though as the fertility rates realistically wouldn’t drop overnight or universally but it does serve to illustrate the potential issue.

Thinking about how one could reverse the trend of falling TFR is interesting to think about. If positive change leads to unsustainable fertility rates does that mean we’d need to implement negative change to save ourselves? Like we’d make it law that women couldn’t be educated or use birth control. Perhaps we’d just need to make sure a few totalitarian countries with large and poor populations stay that way while we would accept their immigrants.

It all makes me wonder if, at its extreme, our pursuit of liberty, happiness, and a better life will ultimately be the end of us.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas!

Cross post from Facebook - Max - Short Story - Industry People

Industry People

In the near-future the populations in many of the prosperous countries are shrinking to the point where their economies and social structures are being threatened. The problem is that many of the people in these countries find the prospect of raising a child to be daunting and not worth the strife. As the populations drop so do the markets and outlooks of the world leaders.

In an effort to avert disaster the governments meet and decide to use industry to artificially create babies and raise them to supplement their populations. These industry babies are created using the best combination of sperm and eggs possible. They are raised via the best childrearing methods experts can agree on. These methods evolve over time based on the outcomes of the industry children.

The industry babies grow into industry people. They were raised and educated to maximize their genetic tendencies and the economic needs at large and thus are generally brighter and more successful when they go out into the world than those raised by a traditional mother and father. The number of natural births drop significantly and more industry babies are created to fill the void.

After two generations religious people are essentially the only ones still having children naturally. The churches preach that the industry people as missing some part of their humanity and are an affront to God. It doesn’t help that the industry people are not raised with religion at all. The industry people refer to those from natural birth as “naturals”. The naturals refer to the industry people as “industry people”.

As a means to improve the next generation the industry people use technology to increase the size of their neocortex which has the side benefit of improving Dunbar’s number significantly. Now the industry people aren’t just being raised in the most ideal conditions but are also actively improving their innate abilities. In two generations the industry people are universally brilliant. During this time the naturals have mostly been relegated to working for the industrial people performing menial labor or they live in societies entirely separated from the industrial people. Many of the naturals view the industry people as abominations and evil. While not illegal generally the industry people don’t form relationships with the naturals. Obvious reasons for this are obvious.

A newly-raised industrial guy falls in love with a beautiful natural girl. Over time and using certain physical wiles she convinces him that the industrial people are evil and should be stopped. Together they come up with a plan to permanently shut down an industry baby-making facility. They would have succeeded but by chance they fail and are apprehended. It turns out that the natural girl is part of a network of naturals actively trying to sabotage the industry people for political reasons (she thinks it’s a religious movement (she’s a genuine fanatic) but in actuality the organization is funded by a naturalist government).

After the industrial guy learns the natural girl’s background and the overall plot he becomes a staunch anti-naturalist and helps pass laws banning the association between industry people and naturals. Through much effort and hardship the industrial people forgo utilizing naturals for labor and work to completely isolate themselves from the naturals.

The industrial people own much of the world’s land and decide to centralize themselves on the Asian and Australian continents. The naturals are forced to leave these areas and are not allowed to return. Naturally the naturals are uneasy about this but they can’t really do anything about it as the industry people use advanced technology to block passage into their new country which the naturals cannot circumvent. The industry people cease all contact and communication with the naturals. The satellites orbiting Earth were created by industry people and are made to not transmit any images or data about the industry country. New satellites sent up by the naturals are easily hacked and made inoperable by the industry people. All electronics flown over the industry country fail. The naturals don’t know what the industry people are up to.

The naturalist governments secretly prepare to invade the industry country. They engineer terrible devices of war and chaos. Through the government-controlled media the people are told fabricated stories about atrocities committed by the industry people. A rumor emerges that the industry people’s land contains a miraculous mineral that cures cancer. This rumor becomes an alleged fact when a television personality on a morning medical show refers to an imaginary study which says that, when combined with coconut oil, the mineral eliminates cancerous moles.

As the rhetoric grows to a fevered pitch two disasters occur which devastate the naturals. A massive solar flare destroys much of their technology and shortly thereafter a new deadly flu wipes out 90% of their population. The surviving naturals suspect the industry people caused the flu epidemic and possibly the solar flare but they can do nothing in retaliation as the very act of survival becomes difficult (the industrial people were, in fact, responsible for both disasters). Tin-pot kings emerge and much of the natural population is subjugated by one ruler or another. In five years the naturals are largely isolated from each other and in 30 years they have technologically regressed to the Bronze Age.

The industry people were able to shield their technology from the solar flare and continued in their self-improvements. They decide to venture into outer space to further expand their comprehension of the universe. To accomplish this goal the industry people find a way to blend their consciousnesses into their technology which will allow them to survive the long and radiation-saturated journey through space.

Their technology has advanced to the point where much of it is biological. Thus when they do blast off into space they actually grow their space ships around large asteroids in order to utilize their gravities and raw materials. This takes many years but eventually the ships are finished and the industry people leave the solar system to explore the galaxy.

The naturals left behind have forgotten much of what occurred in the past. To most the industry people are myths and legends. Some religions arise based on writings about the industry people from before the sun punished the people for their wicked ways. Time eventually eliminates all traces of the industry people and the technologies of old.

Over three thousand years pass and the world is now completely inhabited by the naturals. Their society has advanced to the point where some of the richer county’s populations begin to shrink due to the burden of raising children. In an effort to avoid social and economic disaster they get the idea to create babies artificially and raise them to supplement the population.

11/16/2015 Family Update

Hello everyone!

Our fall is starting to get a bit more wintery so I figured it’d be a good time to write up another update. 

The second Friday of October had Susan and myself going to Comedy Works downtown to see Iliza Shlesinger.  We haven’t gone there in just about forever and had a nice time.  The opening acts were meh but Iliza was quite funny. 

The following Sunday we went to a rallycross down at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR).  Usually the courses are a mix between dirt and pavement but this time the course designers stuck to only dirt for the day.  Since I had just finished replacing the clutch a few days before we weren’t able to perform our usual high-RPM clutch-dumping starts and instead lightly slipped the clutch which hurt our run times.  This was ok as we were still relatively competitive.  Unfortunately the hose that goes between the turbo and the intake manifold popped off during my second run and caused me to not be able to finish the run (big penalty).  I didn’t figure out the problem and then a solution in time for Susan to even get her second run (massive penalty).  It’s really too bad as, even with our plodding starts, Susan would have had a really great day if she’d gotten that second run.  A fellow racer let us borrow a hose clamp (ours was somewhere on the course) which we used until lunch when we rushed to the nearest auto parts store for more (a friend actually ended up finding the original one by the time we got back).  Of course we still had fun and the car made it through the rest of the day just fine. 

Susan went with some other female racecar drivers to paint pretty pictures on the Sunday before Halloween.  They went to Canvas and Cocktails which is where an instructor instructs a group of artistic nonplusers on how to paint a painting while adult beverages are beveraged.  I spent that time relaxing with the pugs on the couch which was just fine with me.  The day before we had run around doing errands and I had swapped out the summer tires for winter tires on three of our cars. 

Our cell phone batteries seemed to not be working as well as they had in the past so we had a service shop called UbreakIfix replace them.  It was more of an ordeal than it should have been as the new battery Susan got didn’t accept a charge at all and the second replacement battery basically gave her the same lousy performance as her original battery (my new battery was fine).  The day before Susan was going to get a third battery installed there was a tragic accident and her phone’s screen was shattered.  It ‘twas a bummer but we ordered her a new one right away.  She was able to activate an even older smart phone which barely functioned but was able to perform basic phone stuff while she waited for the new one to arrive.

Our Halloween weekend wasn’t as much fun as it was productive.  In preparation for Barbara’s (she will be referred to as “Mom” from here on out) visit the next week we spent the majority of the weekend cleaning up the house (she needs to visit more often so we don’t let the house get so dirty and disorganized).  As we were finally relaxing on the couch and I managed to have another crown pop off (the second in as many months).  The fact that I was flossing at the time has led me to believe the universe has a sense of humor or doesn’t care. 

The next Friday I picked up Mom from the airport and we caught a light lunch at The Olive Garden.  Before I left for the airport I noticed the Subaru (“Jay”) was steadily leaking antifreeze.  I guessed a hose cracked due to the recent cold temperatures and I picked up a new one on the way home.  It turned out the thermostat was the culprit so, after a quick trip to the auto parts store and few minutes under the car, Jay was fit for duty being Mom’s transportation for the week.  Susan’s unexpectedly massive new cell phone (seriously, it is huge) arrived in the morning so while I packed up the trailer and rally car for race day she worked with tech support getting her phone up and running.  Mom called it a night early and headed to bed in the green room (so-called since its walls were green when we bought the house and we haven’t repainted) while Susan and I stayed up later than we probably should have. 

On Saturday we attended the final rallycross event of the 2015 season at CORE.  The day started early with our alarms set for 4:30 in the AM.  Mom originally wanted to travel to the event with us but our projected length of the day (over 12 hours) had her driving Jay separately instead.  Mom arrived around the time the first drivers were due to race and sat with us in the timing bus while Susan and I worked the timing system for the first run group.  Then we fit Mom with a loaner helmet in preparation for her riding along while we raced and got into grid (where the cars line up waiting to race).  I had mounted our camera inside the car to capture the moment which turned out to be delightful (I link to the video below).  On some level Mom knew what was going to happen but that knowledge didn’t prepare her for the actual experience.  She rode with both Susan and myself for a total of eight runs and had a great time.  At lunch she left to see Marshall while Susan and I stayed to finish the day.  We ended up doing well with me coming in first and Susan sixth in our class of 16 drivers.  It was a great way to end the season.  True to our original estimate we didn’t get home until almost 7:00 that night. 

Sunday had me and Susan sleeping off the prior day’s excitement.  We finally rose around 9:00 to visit with Mom before she left to see Amanda and her and Marshall’s two little girls, Carmen and Caylee.  They went to lunch at Red Robin and took pictures in the park across from the Columbine Library.  We were warned that we were going to also have some pictures taken so we showered and had the pug’s nails clipped and filed before Mom came back home.  The sun was getting low in the sky when I drove us to our local elementary school where Mom had scoped out a few potential background trees.  The experience served as a reminder as to why we almost never take all four pugs outside the house at the same time.  Even though they were relatively well-behaved it was still a challenge to pack them in and out of the car.  We sat in front of some nice trees with the pugs and then Mom for a few pictures.  The weather was gorgeous and the pictures came out nicely. 

Susan and me had to work Monday which worked out for Mom as she spent much of the day with Marshall.  In the evening we then met Marshall at the Macaroni Grill for dinner which was nice.  A piece of the chicken in my chicken parmesan was essentially uncooked and had to be sent back to the kitchen.  The replacement dish was perfect and, true to my nature, I still managed to finish my meal before anyone else. 

Again, Susan and me had to work on Tuesday.  In the evening we went to Canvas and Cocktails to try our hands at painting while imbibing.  In attendance were Mom, Susan, Susan’s sister Kari, and myself along with other strangers.  After donning our smocks we pumped out the necessary paint for the evening’s activities and waited for the other attendees to arrive (seriously, when are we not early?).  The painting was to be a simple tree with a few colorful leaves and red birds on a blue background.  The instructor was fun and encouraging and walked around giving pointers where she thought they were warranted.  We were mostly quiet as we concentrated on our work.  In the end Mom and me went rogue in our paintings while Susan and Kari stuck closely to the original design.  All the paintings came out great and we had a really nice time. 

I was able to take off work on Wednesday to hang with Mom so I did.  There was snow on the ground from an early morning storm but it melted quickly and didn’t affect the road conditions much.  We ran a few errands and ate lunch at Little Holly’s Asian Café before Mom left in Jay to pick up Carmen and Caylee from school.  Susan got off early from work so we could pick up Kari and drive up to participate in a riot.  Specifically our good friend Matt is a Sergeant for Adams County Sheriff and asked us if we’d like to throw bricks (small 2x4s) at him and his fellow officers as part of their riot control training.  This was too crazy a thing to miss out on so we had to go.  The riot was held on their training facility’s skid pad (a large asphalt lot) and the sun was almost done doing its daily sun thing by the time we got started.  It turned out to be more interesting than fun as we and the other fortyish volunteers kept retreating from the officers in riot gear whilst throwing our scraps of wood.  Molotov cocktails were also utilized but not by any of us rioters (I think throwing them might have been more fun than interesting).  We were supposed to yell and taunt the officers but the three of us found this more to be more daunting than just gathering up and throwing wood and we were largely quiet.  It was cold and an almost constant breeze made us even colder.  This precipitated us leaving around the midpoint of the ordeal.  We decided our lack of effort in the face of mildly poor weather conditions meant that we should give up on our shared dream of quitting our day jobs and becoming fulltime rioters.  Darn. 

On Thursday we drove up to Aspen Park to have lunch with Susan’s parents, John and Karen, at DW’s 285 Diner.  There we ate a mix of breakfast and lunch food stuffs while talking about this and that.  John co-drove another racer’s rallycross car all season and we talked a lot about racing and Mom’s first experience with it.  It was a nice time for sure.  Once we got home Susan and Mom knit together for hours while I sat with the pugs and played video games.  As a last hurrah we had dinner at Vesta Dipping Grill downtown.  The food was fantastic and we stuffed ourselves.  The only disappointment came when we were told that their signature dessert had been discontinued.  Matty’s Wacky Apple, I lift a glass in your honor.  After dinner we went home where Mom helped Susan enter in information on a genealogy website for the remainder of the evening.  I was content to fall asleep on the couch. 

On Friday morning we attempted a couple of errands before heading up to the airport where I dropped off Mom.  It was hard to say goodbye after her weeklong visit.  Hopefully she comes out again soon! 

The next evening had us up at Matt and Jana’s house for BBQ and UFC on pay-per-view.  We got to see their new giant baby boy Kainin for the first time.  He’s quite the cutie.  Their two year old Elle played with Susan for much of the evening which was expected as all little girls like Susan (always have).  The food was tasty and the fights were entertaining.  It was pretty cool to see Ronda Rousey get dethroned on live TV for no more reason than it was the first time it has happened.  We stayed past 11:00 before tiredly heading home.  We spent Sunday recuperating from the past week. 

In other news the pugs are healthyish.  I bought some human nighttime eye goo for Sophie and we’re thinking that it may actually be restoring her vision slightly.  It’s hard to tell as she still runs into things though not as much lately.  Satchel isn’t sure what to think about being made to do her business outside but is mostly compliant.  Tweetie is still her little tweet-self.  It’s just been over two years since we adopted Bella and stopped fostering pugs.  It’s hard to believe she’s eight years old as she still runs around all crazy-like.  We love them all. 

That’s pretty much it I think.  I hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

Cross post from Facebook - Max - Thunder

Thought for the evening. Why do we say "I heard thunder" instead of "I heard lightning?" Why do we need a separate word for the sound of lightning? Thunder is a dumb word. We saw the flash of lightning in our skylight and heard the sound of lightning because we don't need a different word to describe it.

10/8/2015 Family Update

Hello again!  It's updatin' time.  

Late in August Susan started having a sharp pain in one of her back teeth.  A visit to the dentist determined she needed a root canal and a filling.  Soon she got her temporary crown but due to scheduling issues the permanent crown wasn’t “installed” until after Labor Day.  It was around this time that one of my crowns popped off due to me chewing on Mentos.  I luckily didn’t swallow it and the crown was reattached a couple of days later with little drama. 

On August 30 we raced at a rallycross event down at the US Truck Driving School (USTDS) south of Colorado Springs in Fountain, CO.  Normally the parking lot that acts as our course is flat and stable but the unusual and almost daily summer rains had caused many ruts and other unsafe areas.  Fortunately there was still plenty of space to race on safely and we had a grand ole’ time on the low-traction course.  It was a very close finish with me missing 1^st place by a whisker over a tenth of a second (0.107) and Susan coming in 5^th out of 13 drivers.  USTDS is always hard on tires so we used our older rally tires which took quite a beating during the event. 

We had originally planned on camping at Chatfield Reservoir over Labor Day with our neighbors, Gregg and Sandra Tiedeman, but ended up just hanging out with them on Saturday instead.  In the almost seven years we’ve lived five minutes from Chatfield we’ve not yet visited there.  While Susan had been there before as a kid I’ve never gone.  You might think I would have been excited to go over Labor Day but not really.  Despite my poor attitude we packed up our Subaru with camping chairs, coolers of water and wine, umbrellas, and fishing poles and headed over to the Tiedeman’s campsite.  They recently acquired a pop-up camper which they have utilized several times already and it was in attendance again.  I don’t know that I’d ever want to own one but I see the allure.  We hung out and talked with them for awhile and then drove to one of the fishing areas. 

Susan was the sole fisher from our home as I decided to sulk nap in a camping chair under an umbrella.  Susan and Sandra fished and I slept.  Susan seemed to hoard all the luck along the shoreline and caught four fish while we were there (those around us averaged far less than one catch per person).  I woke periodically when she reeled them in and we deemed two big enough to eat.  We headed back to the campsite to cook her spoils. 

Susan did eat most of her fish though she said they were mostly tasteless.  I settled on a hot dog and some oddly prepared sides.  Their son Tristan came by later to hang out.  They started a fire and we played a couple of rounds of Exploding Kittens as the sun went down.  For some reason (probably a diabolical one) the wind and smoke colluded to make sure my eyes were constantly watery and my throat dry until we left.  Though it may not sound like it I did have a good time.  Luckily for Susan she had a better time. 

The weekend of September 19-20 was a busy one with racing and Colorado Pug Rescue’s annual Pugs in the Park.  That Saturday had us rallycrossing at Colorado Off-Road Extreme (CORE).  There are two available areas to use for rallycross and we were in the lower one.  The courses were set up to be faster than normal and I had to shift into second gear many times throughout the day (shifting out of first gear while racing is rarely necessary in our car).  I was putting down times that no one could touch when I had a run where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  I managed to get the back tires off in the fluff on one sweeping turn which caused such a large cloud of dust that I blinded myself two turns later and had to come to a complete stop while I waited for it to clear.  Once I got going again I overcooked a turn bad enough that I went off-course (almost hitting a shovel of all things) and had to back up to get going again (I also managed to hit a few cones).  Despite that miserable run I fought on and finished in 2^nd place less than four seconds from 1^st with Susan right behind me in 3^rd out of 12 drivers (her highest finish of the season in our very competitive class!).  We took our sweet time packing up after the event and were the last to leave.  It was as we were pulling onto the highway that I noticed the car’s clutch was slipping badly.  The sky might have darkened and maybe some lightning flashed overhead at the same moment I felt the car not accelerate when I pushed down on the gas pedal, I guess I don’t really recall clearly.  I’m sure something foreboding occurred though.  On the way home we stopped at Applebee’s for dinner with the Miller’s (another racing couple that live in our neighborhood).  Good times indeed.

The next day we packed up the Subaru with our small PA system, chairs, and umbrellas and headed for Central Park for Pugs in the Park.  As we did last year we provided the PA system used for announcements and volunteered under the foster tent.  We got there early enough that we were able to help set up the multiple pop-up tents and tables used at the event.  After things were more-or-less in order we convened under the foster tent.  Volunteering at the foster tent entails managing the young volunteer pug-walkers (a disappearing kid+pug last year prompted Susan to make a sign out sheet which was mostly used) and answering questions from prospective adopters and potential future foster parents.  All of the available foster pugs were in high demand and I think most had more than one person applying for them by the end of the day. 

Some of the other activities at the event include a pug-licking contest, pug-racing, a hotdog (hotpug?) eating contest, a pug-drop (a pug poops on a grid and people buy “land rights” to the squares within; the person who owns the newly fertilized spot wins actual money), and a pug-costume contest.  There were also many different vendors selling various wares, a food truck, and a frozen-ice truck (a neighbor of ours).  As we were primarily the only adults at the foster tent we didn’t venture out much but did make a journey to see the vendors and bought a couple of plots for the pug-drop (the poop-gods did not look favorably upon our offering and someone else won the poo-prize). 

It was very busy with hundreds people attending and/or passing through (it was the best-attended in years which may have had something to do with the fact that the event wasn’t on the same day as a Broncos game which it has been in previous years).  After the event was officially over we helped pack up and went home to hang out with our own pillage of pugs (not the correct term for multiple pugs but, really, it should be). 

Knowing the next race was only three weeks away and that I’m a mediocre (at best) and untrained mechanic I began the process of replacing the clutch on the rally car the Tuesday after the event at CORE.  I started by asking a couple of fellow-racers who own auto shops how much they’d charge to do the work.  The first guy literally laughed at me and said our particular car’s clutch was one of the worst to change out and he didn’t want to mess with it (the official dealer-specified time to complete the job is almost 11 hours).  The second guy gave me a quote but it was high enough that I decided to tackle the project myself.  No need to go into too much detail but I did work on the car almost every weeknight and weekend day since and I just finished up over two weeks later.  It was indeed a painful experience (both physically and mentally) but very much worth it.  I learned a few lessons throughout (like my long hair soaks up gear oil like a sponge) and know and respect the car more than I did before.  I also hope the clutch never goes out again.  Ever.  4/10, I might do it again. 

Alvin and Kari bought some property on Deer Creek Road and are going to build a house in the next year (hopefully).  They had a BBQ to show off their land on the last Sunday of September to which several racers and old friends were invited.  We brought “Max Sticks” (cheese sticks wrapped in roast beef and, yes, I did name them) and some salad.  Everyone got a tour of their basic plans and we hung out and talked with friends for hours.  By the time we left there was only one Max Stick remaining to which I was proud.  We are very jealous proud of Alvin and Kari on their purchase and future plans.

In other news the pugs are doing alright.  We’re pretty sure that Sophie is now completely blind and we have to help her get from place to place.  It’s sad but she’s a trooper.  Bella is crazy for ice cubes and Tweetie has done her best to get in on the chilly treats (though she still seems confused when she does get one, like she’s thinking, “what’s the big deal?”).  Satchel has decided she’s too good to use the training pads if any of the other pugs have made prior “deposits” and, after several mistakes, we’re much more proactive in putting new pads down for her (slowly but surely Satchel is training us to be the perfect pug-parents).  She’s almost completely deaf now but still gets around alright, albeit with a limp.  We also have a cat-faced orb weaver spider that has been hanging out on our back porch light for the past month or so.  Susan has grown fond of him/her and sometimes leaves the light on to help bugs get attracted to its web.  Oh how people change. 

Susan is extremely busy with work right now and has been putting in overtime along with working at home in the evenings and weekends.  The timing has actually been pretty good since her work getting hectic began around the time I started working on the rally car’s clutch (it’s less of a bummer when both of us are busy).  Quarter-end just occurred last week so my busy time is ramping up at my reporting job which is fine by me. 

Susan knits from time to time and I play my guitar from time to time.  We are looking forward to Barbara visiting us in early November (both for her company and the excellent excuse it provides to clean the house).  Susan’s grandmother Norita just had her 91^st birthday on September 28^th and is still going strong! 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

The bad run - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUgx_GRV1G8 

10/7/2015 Family Update

Hello again!

Late in August Susan started having a sharp pain in one of her back teeth.  A visit to the dentist determined she needed a root canal and a filling.  Soon she got her temporary crown but due to scheduling issues the permanent crown wasn’t “installed” until after Labor Day.  It was around this time that one of my crowns popped off due to me chewing on Mentos.  I luckily didn’t swallow it and the crown was reattached a couple of days later with little drama. 

On August 30 we raced at a rallycross event down at the US Truck Driving School (USTDS) south of Colorado Springs in Fountain, CO.  Normally the parking lot that acts as our course is flat and stable but the unusual and almost daily summer rains had caused many ruts and other unsafe areas.  Fortunately there was still plenty of space to race on safely and we had a grand ole’ time on the low-traction course.  It was a very close finish with me missing 1^st place by a whisker over a tenth of a second (0.107) and Susan coming in 5^th out of 13 drivers.  USTDS is always hard on tires so we used our older rally tires which took quite a beating during the event. 

We had originally planned on camping at Chatfield Reservoir over Labor Day with our neighbors, Gregg and Sandra Tiedeman, but ended up just hanging out with them on Saturday instead.  In the almost seven years we’ve lived five minutes from Chatfield we’ve not yet visited there.  While Susan had been there before as a kid I’ve never gone.  You might think I would have been excited to go over Labor Day but not really.  Despite my poor attitude we packed up our Subaru with camping chairs, coolers of water and wine, umbrellas, and fishing poles and headed over to the Tiedeman’s campsite.  They recently acquired a pop-up camper which they have utilized several times already and it was in attendance again.  I don’t know that I’d ever want to own one but I see the allure.  We hung out and talked with them for awhile and then drove to one of the fishing areas. 

Susan was the sole fisher from our home as I decided to sulk nap in a camping chair under an umbrella.  Susan and Sandra fished and I slept.  Susan seemed to hoard all the luck along the shoreline and caught four fish while we were there (those around us averaged far less than one catch per person).  I woke periodically when she reeled them in and we deemed two big enough to eat.  We headed back to the campsite to cook her spoils. 

Susan did eat most of her fish though she said they were mostly tasteless.  I settled on a hot dog and some oddly prepared sides.  Their son Tristan came by later to hang out.  They started a fire and we played a couple of rounds of Exploding Kittens as the sun went down.  For some reason (probably a diabolical one) the wind and smoke colluded to make sure my eyes were constantly watery and my throat dry until we left.  Though it may not sound like it I did have a good time.  Luckily for Susan she had a better time. 

The weekend of September 19-20 was a busy one with racing and Colorado Pug Rescue’s annual Pugs in the Park.  That Saturday had us rallycrossing at Colorado Off-Road Extreme (CORE).  There are two available areas to use for rallycross and we were in the lower one.  The courses were set up to be faster than normal and I had to shift into second gear many times throughout the day (shifting out of first gear while racing is rarely necessary in our car).  I was putting down times that no one could touch when I had a run where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  I managed to get the back tires off in the fluff on one sweeping turn which caused such a large cloud of dust that I blinded myself two turns later and had to come to a complete stop while I waited for it to clear.  Once I got going again I overcooked a turn bad enough that I went off-course (almost hitting a shovel of all things) and had to back up to get going again (I also managed to hit a few cones).  Despite that miserable run I fought on and finished in 2^nd place less than four seconds from 1^st with Susan right behind me in 3^rd out of 12 drivers (her highest finish of the season in our very competitive class!).  We took our sweet time packing up after the event and were the last to leave.  It was as we were pulling onto the highway that I noticed the car’s clutch was slipping badly.  The sky might have darkened and maybe some lightning flashed overhead at the same moment I felt the car not accelerate when I pushed down on the gas pedal, I guess I don’t really recall clearly.  I’m sure something foreboding occurred though.  On the way home we stopped at Applebee’s for dinner with the Miller’s (another racing couple that live in our neighborhood).  Good times indeed.

The next day we packed up the Subaru with our small PA system, chairs, and umbrellas and headed for Central Park for Pugs in the Park.  As we did last year we provided the PA system used for announcements and volunteered under the foster tent.  We got there early enough that we were able to help set up the multiple pop-up tents and tables used at the event.  After things were more-or-less in order we convened under the foster tent.  Volunteering at the foster tent entails managing the young volunteer pug-walkers (a disappearing kid+pug last year prompted Susan to make a sign out sheet which was mostly used) and answering questions from prospective adopters and potential future foster parents.  All of the available foster pugs were in high demand and I think most had more than one person applying for them by the end of the day. 

Some of the other activities at the event include a pug-licking contest, pug-racing, a hotdog (hotpug?) eating contest, a pug-drop (a pug poops on a grid and people buy “land rights” to the squares within; the person who owns the fertilized spot wins actual money), and a pug-costume contest.  There were also many different venders selling various wares, a food truck, and a frozen-ice truck (a neighbor of ours).  As we were primarily the only adults at the foster tent we didn’t venture out much but did make a journey to see the vendors and bought a couple of plots for the pug-drop (the poop-gods did not look favorably upon our offering and someone else won the poo-prize). 

It was very busy with hundreds people attending and/or passing through (it was the best-attended in years which may have had something to do with the fact that the event wasn’t on the same day as a Broncos game which it has been in previous years).  After the event was officially over we helped pack up and went home to hang out with our own pillage of pugs (not the correct term for multiple pugs but, really, it should be). 

Knowing the next race was only three weeks away and that I’m a mediocre (at best) and untrained mechanic I began the process of replacing the clutch on the rally car the Tuesday after the event at CORE.  I started by asking a couple of fellow-racers who own auto shops how much they’d charge to do the work.  The first guy literally laughed at me and said our particular car’s clutch was one of the worst to change out and he didn’t want to mess with it (the official dealer-specified time to complete the job is almost 11 hours).  The second guy gave me a quote but it was high enough that I decided to tackle the project myself.  No need to go into too much detail but I did work on the car almost every weeknight and weekend day since and I just finished up over two weeks later.  It was indeed a painful experience (both physically and mentally) but very much worth it.  I learned a few lessons throughout (like my long hair soaks up gear oil like a sponge) and know and respect the car more than I did before.  I also hope the clutch never goes out again.  Ever.  4/10, I might do it again. 

Alvin and Kari bought some property on Deer Creek Road and are going to build a house in the next year (hopefully).  They had a BBQ to show off their land on the last Sunday of September to which several racers and old friends were invited.  We brought “Max Sticks” (cheese sticks wrapped in roast beef and, yes, I did name them) and some salad.  Everyone got a tour of their basic plans and we hung out and talked with friends for hours.  By the time we left there was only one Max Stick remaining to which I was proud.  We are very jealous proud of Alvin and Kari on their purchase and future plans.

In other news the pugs are doing alright.  We’re pretty sure that Sophie is now completely blind and we have to help her get from place to place.  It’s sad but she’s a trooper.  Bella is crazy for ice cubes and Tweetie has done her best to get in on the chilly treats (though she still seems confused when she does get one, like she’s thinking, “what’s the big deal?”).  Satchel has decided she’s too good to use the training pads if any of the other pugs have made prior “deposits” and, after several mistakes, we’re much more proactive in putting new pads down for her (slowly but surely Satchel is training us to be the perfect pug-parents).  She’s almost completely deaf now but still gets around alright, albeit with a limp. 

Susan is extremely busy with work right now and has been putting in overtime along with working at home in the evenings and weekends.  The timing has actually been pretty good since her work getting hectic began around the time I started working on the rally car’s clutch (it’s less of a bummer when both of us are busy).  Quarter-end just occurred last week so my busy time is ramping up at my reporting job which is fine by me. 

Susan knits from time to time and I play my guitar from time to time.  We are looking forward to Barbara visiting us in early November (both for her company and the excellent excuse it provides to clean the house).  Susan’s grandmother Norita just had her 91^st birthday on September 28^th and is still going strong! 

We hope this finds you happy and healthy!

Max and Susan

8/18/2015 Family Update

Hello everyone!  This past month and a half has been busy for us and I probably should have written something up weeks ago mitigate this update’s length.  Oh well!  Here’s a TL;DR.  We took a drive in the mountains, re-wooded our racing trailer, went to a wedding, raced dirt drags, attended a house-living party, worked on the rally car, raced in three rallycross events (two local, one national), did Time Attack for the first time, camped a total of four nights, drove 4,800 miles back and forth across the country, had so much fun visiting family in New York, played new games, went to the best mall ever, finished making six gallons of wine, and had our rally car filmed by quadcopters while we raced. 

On the last Sunday of June Susan and I took a top-down drive in the mountains.  We went by the old house and saw how tall the trees have grown.  Driving down highway 74 through the s-curves and past the now-old (but new to us!) library brought back many memories.  We finally ended up at Illegal Burgers which is just off the El Rancho exit off I-70.  The only reason for the trip was an empty calendar which was reason enough for us. 

In early July we decided to finally re-wood our racing trailer.  After measuring the trailer we went to Home Depot and purchased wood and paint.  This was eventful only because we had to tie the larger pieces of wood to the top of our Subaru.  Fortunately everything made it home.  The wet summer we’ve been experiencing slowed our efforts somewhat but after a week or so we were done.  Susan de-rusted and painted the old hardware which we reused and wired up new LED taillights.  We also upgraded the trailer by relocating the spare tire and adding shelf mounts on the front and sides to hold wire shelves.  These mounts have already come in handy and we’re happy with the results. 

The July 4^th weekend was busy.  Friday morning had us getting our rally car’s airbag replaced under recall (we feel much safer now).  In the afternoon we attended our racing friend Ryan Sealey’s wedding at Evergreen Memorial Park which is across from Marshdale Elementary.  The weather was perfect for their outside ceremony.  The music was a mix of traditional and sci-fi with an acoustic guitar Star Wars medley thrown in.  It was fun and well put-together.  Instead of having a traditional guest book Susan was asked to bring her camera equipment for attendees to use to take pictures of themselves holding slate boards with chalked personalized messages.  Susan set up a tripod in the basement by the refreshments but we found that few people were using the setup.  Thus Susan took the camera and I grabbed the message boards and we hounded the guests into participating.  In the end I believe we got pictures of most of them. 

On the 4^th of July we went to the Wellington Dirt Drags in (you guessed it) Wellington, Colorado (though the town is so far north it might as well be in Wyoming).  The event was put on by the same folks that organize the ice racing up in Georgetown.  The racing was held on an open field in town where two 80-yard paths were dug out.  The starter used a green flag and two volunteers at the finish displayed hand gestures to indicate who won.  It was simple double-elimination brackets so we were guaranteed at least two runs per racing group.  Unfortunately for us there were a lot of different groups and most of our time was spent waiting to go.  When we finally did go we predictably did just alright, winning a few and losing a few races.  Neither of us have fantastic reaction times and our car was comparatively under-powered.  After the long hot day hanging out in a field and the long drive home we just had the energy to watch the illegal fireworks going off above the surrounding houses from our driveway before hunkering down for the night.  I’m glad we went to the dirt drags for the simple experience of doing it but I don’t think we’ll be going next year. 

The next day had us with our racing friends Neil and Carol Rickli celebrating them living in the same house for 30 years.  It was nice to visit and we got a tour of their home.  They’ve been autocrossing for a long time and raised their daughter in the sport.  Neil showed off their many mementos, trophies, and newspaper articles.  They made sliders with five specialized topping stations representing five countries.  While I can’t remember them all (I know Italy was in there) I do remember they made for a tasty mix and ate too many of them.  We had a really nice time. 

Our journey to figure out the clunking sound from the front driver’s side of the rally car is still ongoing.  In July I pulled apart and re-greased the strut and then replaced the ball joint.  The ball joint was more painful than the last one I’d done.  I ended up bending the large C-clamp I rented to install the new ball joint and it took me two evenings to complete what was a 30 minute job on our old rally car (the red WRX).  Now I know what to expect when I inevitably have to replace the passenger side ball joint.  For those keeping score I’ve now replaced the strut mount, replaced the sway bar end links, re-greased the strut, and replaced the ball joint.  After all this the clunking sound remains.  I’ll probably replace the sway bar bushings next before my head finally explodes.  

The July 11-12 weekend had us down at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) for a RallyCross and Time Attack.  The mixed surface (pavement/dirt) rallycross course was very long and brutal on our tires (we actually rotated them front-to-back mid-race to mitigate the damage).  Out of the 15 drivers in our class I was happy to come in second and Susan came in a close seventh.  Along with our racing friends Dan and Alicia we then set up a campsite under the grandstands and then watched drivers attempt to drift their cars on the PPIR race track.  There were some successes but nothing to write home about (most of the entertainment came from those who were terrible).  Once it got dark we sat around a lantern (no fires allowed), enjoyed some adult beverages, and then Susan and I went to bed.  Dan and Alicia ended up partying with the drifters and other folks on the in-field until 3:00AM (they were very tired the next morning).  We all raced on the in-field and track the next day in what is called a Time Attack.  Basically a Time Attack consists of a large autocross course (lots of cones) which utilizes part of the track and has the drivers going much faster.  Hilariously it started with a U-turn which was so tight that our car could barely make it without hitting a cone (which in this context would mean our times would be thrown out).  This slowed us down quite a bit but, as we were just there to have fun, didn’t matter too much.  We ended up getting many laps and putting down some respectable times before packing up and heading home.  If our schedule allows we’re going to try to attend more Time Attacks in the future. 

On July 20^th we finally completed a journey that began two months before when we bottled our wine.  The bottling process was simple and we sampled the final product as we worked.  I would say the vast majority of the hands-on time spent making wine is dedicated to cleaning and sanitizing.  Our wine tastes pretty good and we’re thinking of making something different next time. 

The next weekend was the beginning of two crazy weeks which had us driving to New York and back and then to Iowa for rallycross nationals.  It started with another local rallycross at our favorite venue CORE on July 25.  As per usual we had a blast.  For the first time ever I was able to get first place over Peter Zlamany who wins at practically every event.  The course designer tried to make the course more open with larger turns and higher speeds to get us ready for the nationals in two weeks.  He failed in his endeavor instead making a course with extremely tight sections throughout.  There were more cones massacred than I’ve ever seen and Susan was the lone driver out of 57 to not hit any which helped her come in fourth place in our large class of 18 drivers. 

The following day we loaded up the Subaru and, along with pugs Bella and Sophie, started off to New York.  Bella was incorrigible and ended up sitting in Susan’s lap for the majority of the trip with Sophie having most of the back seat to herself.  Since the drive was so long we stopped more times than was strictly necessary and stayed the night in Peru, Illinois.  We pulled into Ryan and Em’s Syracuse, New York driveway the following evening where everyone made quick hellos before heading to bed. 

The next day started with a tasty breakfast and a tour of Em and Ryan’s big and interesting home.  Mark mentioned this and I agree that I’ve never been in a house with so many doors.  We adults consulted on what the day’s plan would be as the kids chased Bella around and watched Ninjago (a Lego-based show where the characters are all of extremely small minds).  Lee was as cute as he could be and smiled and laughed at the pugs.  We settled on a visit to Destiny Mall to experience WonderWorks.  WonderWorks has a mix of attractions including museum-like interactive exhibits, a 4D theater, laser-tag, and a ropes course high over the interior of the mall (three stories up in parts).  We did just about everything we could do including battling it out to see who could make their minds more empty of thought (predictably I won every match).  Since we were there in the early afternoon on a Tuesday it wasn’t busy and we hardly had to wait at all to experience all four of the films in the 4D theater (though Mark sat out the last three).  The hours I’ve spent playing video games paid off in the laser-tag room when I crushed everyone else’s scores with my own.  We ended our time at WonderWorks on the ropes course where we shuffled across various obstacles high above the mall patrons.  I do believe everyone found something they really enjoyed.  Dinner was tasty delivered pizza (advertized as “New York style” though not in reality). 

The next day Susan and I drove to Niagara Falls where we met Mark, Jessie, and their kids.  Once we figured out what exactly we were going to do we bought our tickets and headed to Maid of the Mist.  We got to the falls early in the day and the crowds were minimal and so we didn’t have to wait long to board the boat.  The rain ponchos were thin but effective in keeping most of our body heat concentrated around us (I was so hot).  It was a fun experience although I will bring goggles with me next time (the spray was penetrating).  When we got off the boat we split up with Mark and company heading to the Cave of the Winds and Susan and me going to our car to drive to Canada.  The line to get into Canada was long and slow.  I always get an odd feeling when dealing with customs, like I could say the wrong thing and get sent to another country for enhanced-interrogation.  Fortunately my baby-cheek smile saw us through and into the land of not-a-whole-lot-different-than-America.  I parked in a lot around a half-mile from the falls and we walked along the river to the visitor center.  There were a lot more people on the Canada side of the falls and thick crowds were everywhere which somewhat marred the experience.  We ate lunch from Tim Hortons (Canada’s version of Starbucks) and got overpriced Dipping Dots (though I suppose they all are, overpriced that is).  We made our way back to the car and then back to America.  This time there was a drug dog which made sure we didn’t bring back any of the black-tar Canadian heroin which is in such high demand in New York.  We made a stop in Buffalo, New York to eat Buffalo wings at the Anchor Bar (they claim to be the inventors of the delicacy).  The wings were yummy and Susan figured out that it also happened to be National Chicken Wing Day (no joke, look it up).  No trip to New York would be complete for Susan unless we visited a Goo Goo Dolls landmark so we went to the defunct Superstar Carwash so she could take a picture from the car (its image was used on one of their early album covers appropriately named “Superstar Carwash”).  This done we headed back to Syracuse where we stopped at a winery before arriving at Em and Ryan’s home.  Upon taking care of the pugs Em, Ryan, Susan, and me headed back to Destiny Mall for some go-carting (yes, the mall also has an indoor go-cart track).  After showing the locals what’s what (I was 9^th fastest of the week *blows on knuckles before buffing them on the front of my shirt*) we went home to snack and play games.  The game of the evening was Sheriff of Nottingham in which lying well will win you the game.  Perhaps tellingly I won the first game and Em the second.  Go Lawson spawn! 

The third day in New York had us back at the Destiny Mall for more go-carting and normal mall-stuff (like shopping).  Barbara watched Jonah and Stewart play at Billy Bees (a kid playhouse).  Mark joined Susan, Ryan, and myself for a race and Julia and Evan had a go racing with some other youths (Evan raced twice).  All that racing had us hungry!  Our intent was to then eat at the Cheesecake Factory but a 1.5 hour wait had us walking to P.F. Chang’s instead.  We collectively ate too much good food before going splitting up and walking around the mall.  I made a bee-line to the guitar store where I annoyed the employees for an hour or so making their new guitars used.  Susan wandered around during this time getting thoroughly lost before we met up.  On our way back to see everyone else we stopped at a booth and tasted apple wine thus solidifying Destiny Mall as the best mall ever.  It was good enough that we bought a few bottles before heading back for another go-cart race (Susan and I did five races in two days because racecar).    

The morning on day four in New York had Ryan, Barbara, Susan, and me going to a theater to see Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  The movie was fun and we went back home to play games with the kids.  We played a game called The Game of 49 where the players would bid on cards by dropping their “coins” in containers while one person counted down from 10.  It was fun but a little difficult to manage with all our hands going in and out (possibly this is part of the allure).  I believe it was at this point that Em got out Lightning Reaction Reloaded.  This reaction game allows up to four players to pit their reaction times against each other.  The concept is simple: those who react slowest once the music stops get shocked (literally).  Em, Mark, Susan and me played each other many times.  Em proved herself to have the quickest reaction times while Susan and I took the brunt of the shocks.  Stewart got in on the action and would say “hold this for me” while handing us the controllers.  As soon as you would take it from him he would push the button to start the countdown (he did this several times).  Eventually we turned up the voltage which led to numb hands and lots of laughter.  We weren’t done with Destiny Mall yet and headed back there to go to 5 Wits.  At 5 Wits you pay to go on different interactive adventures.  They had four to choose from and we (Ryan, Em, Mark, Julia, Evan, Susan, and me) did them all.  We had fun figuring out each mostly with success.  Jessie was cooking up a delicious meal of plantains and salad which was ready just as we got home.  Susan and I have never had plantains before and liked them very much.  Julia, Evan, and Jonah were well-acquainted with them and had to be warned off repeatedly from eating more than their fair share.  After the table was cleared we played Sheriff of Nottingham again, this time with Mark, Julia, and Evan.  They picked it up quickly and we laughed a lot.  After the kids went to bed me, Susan, Em, and Ryan sat down for a game of Cabo.  It was a battle to the end but, with more than a little luck, I somehow won. 

We started back toward Colorado the next morning after a wonderful breakfast and an impromptu family photo shoot.  The drive was mostly uneventful and we made it home in good time the following Sunday evening after staying the night in a skuzzy Extended Stay America and taking a quick jaunt up to Michigan to say we’ve been there together.  Susan and I had an amazing time visiting everyone and Em and Ryan were fantastic hosts. 

It was the following Thursday that had us driving out to Indianola, Iowa for the 2015 RallyCross National Championships.  We had left the still-packed-up trailer in the grage before going to New York which made last minute preparations easier.  All the pugs were left at home as the site didn’t allow pets and it was too hot besides.  We made good time despite me driving slower due to pulling the trailer.  Once we got to the site we set up camp where we thought we were supposed to be (queue ominous music).  We were the first to arrive and only campers that night and watched comedy specials on my phone while eating croissant burgers. 

The next morning I made omelets and after we were told we were in the wrong place and had to move our campsite.  About 20 minutes later and while we were in the midst of packing up we were told that it was actually ok that we were there.  Susan was happy to voice her agitation about the situation and the deliverer of the news graciously bore it (he was one of the event organizers).  Crisis averted we got ready for the event to start.  Day one of any national event consists of registration, tech inspection, practice runs, and class inspection.  I had swapped out the street tires for rally tires the night before so we just had to get the right stickers on the car for tech inspection.  Once tech inspection was done and we finally got registered (it was a long and slow line) we went to race a few practice runs.  The practice course was around a half-mile down a dirt road and out of sight from the paddock area where we were just at.  It was a short but fun and illuminating course.  We each took three goes at it and I was happy to note that no one else in any other class was able to match or even get close to my times.  It was during one of our friend Angel’s runs that disaster struck.  On one of the turns the steering knuckle snapped in two on her and husband Mike’s 1992 Mitsubishi.  After finally getting the car dragged off the course and onto a flatbed trailer (this was very difficult to manage since the suspension was basically collapsed) they set out to find replacement parts.  Unfortunately for them their car wouldn’t come together until after the official racing started the next day and they were forced to withdraw from the competition.  Once our friends were on their way we drove to class inspection.  There is often drama at national-level class inspections but, luckily for us, our class didn’t have any.  We got to talk with our fellow competitors and found them to be mostly nice and fun people.  We then headed to a course worker meeting and BBQ which was provided by the event organizers.  Our friends Ken and Randy had arrived during the day and set up their camp right next to ours.  Once the day’s activities were done we played Exploding Kittens for the first time and chased around the three lightning bugs we saw in the distance.

The first day of racing was a wet one.  It rained during the early morning hours and into the first few runs which made the course almost unbearably slick.  While Susan worked in the timing trailer I walked around taking notes on the modified classes (my job was to write an article about them).  We felt lucky that our class did not go first but a 15 minute burst of rain as we were about to race put the course back to being a sloppy mess.  Driving in such conditions really isn’t enjoyable per se; you’re just trying to not make any big mistakes and somehow get decent times.  I did make good enough times to get in the lead and stay there but going off course at the end of my last run in the morning had my life flashing before my eyes.  Susan was in 10^th place after the morning was through.  The weather had cleared and the site dried out greatly by the time we did our afternoon driving on a different course.  This was a fast and grippy course and we had a blast racing it.  By the end of the day I had extended my lead in first and Susan had dropped down to 12^th.  The trailer had been making unsettling noises when we got into town and we finally got around to checking on it.  A quick spin test determined that the right bearing would not easily go forward.  With the direction of Ken and Randy I disassembled, cleaned, and repacked the bearings which had the wheel mostly spinning freely.  Dinner was BBQ provided again by the event organizers.  Some thought it wasn’t very good but Susan and I liked it just fine.  That night our fellow racing buddies Dan and Alicia and then later Mike and Angel joined us for games including Lightning Reaction Reloaded (we ordered it the night we played with the family) which was predictably hilarious.  Being about as dirty as I’ve ever been I showered off in a solar shower attached to Ken and Randy’s truck (we may have to acquire one ourselves).  We went to bed with lightning flashing all around and the beginnings of heavy rain starting to fall. 

I was groggy the next morning from waking up many times from the crazy storm in the early hours.  We skipped breakfast and instead opted to drive to the race site to walk the wet course.  The rain had completely ceased at this point and wasn’t due to start again until the afternoon.  Thus the course started out slippery and then became tacky as the runs accumulated.  By the time we drove there was enough traction that it was a fun set of runs and I extended my final lead to close to 23 seconds over second place.  Susan hung onto 12^th place by remaining quick and staying clean the entire event.  Once we were done driving we began packing up our campsite before the last class of competitors had their final runs.  Trophies were then presented and pictures taken.  Blessedly the event was well-ahead of schedule and everything was finished before 1:00PM.  This allowed all those from Colorado to make it home Sunday night if they chose to (we did).  The drive home was a caravan of sorts with much electronic communication going on.  I failed to mount the trailer correctly and we had a scary moment when a large bump had us dragging it by the safety chains.  Luckily nothing was much damaged and we were on our way soon afterward.  The rest of the drive was uneventful and we got home at 1:00AM Monday morning.  Both Susan and I took that Monday off from work which was the right thing to do as we were exhausted. 

Several months ago I reached out to our local community of quadcopter/drone pilots to see if they were interested in filming rallycrossers driving on the dirt.  I received positive feedback and was able to schedule an event at CORE for this last Saturday.  Around a dozen drivers and three pilots came out.  We borrowed some cones from Colorado RallyCross and set up a short course as there was standing water and mud from the prior day’s rain.  We all had a good time although I neglected to put on sunscreen and my exposed skin was rosy by the end of the day.  On the way home we stopped at a block party by Ken and Randy’s home for some BBQ and to hang out.  We were very tired and soon went home to be with the pugs and wash the day’s mud off the rally car.  

Tidbits

The pugs are still cute as ever.  Sophie has aged more which is sad but expected.  Tweetie has again taken to staring at me until I get a blanket for her to go under and between my knees.  Satchel is still limping around and snorting in my face every morning.  Bella continues to be bonkers and has decided that my lap isn’t such a bad place to hang out after all.  Barbara showed Susan how to knit while we were in New York and she has practiced several times since then.  It’s neat to see the things she’s been able to crochet and now knit.  I still play my guitar but not as much as I should.  I “upgraded” to Windows 10 and have only had to perform a couple of hard resets since.  Not too bad I suppose although my USB ports are still acting wonky.  I got a Fitbit and confirmed that I don’t sleep as well or as long as I probably should.  I also found out that racing a car while wearing a Fitbit produces crazy numbers. 

As always we hope this finds you happy and healthy! 

Max and Susan