it's been a while, i know... but lots is happening.

the "driveway ornament" is coming along well, and i will have a big update once i'm back from europe.

yep, i'm in europe for three weeks.  i'm also taking another 5 weeks off from work in a much-needed leave of absence...  the final 5 weeks will be spent getting the driveway ornament finished and running!

but, to keep the german automotive theme of this blog going, i just spend a day at nurbergring.  this day has turned out to be what's nearly without a doubt "The Best Day Ever[tm].  here's why:

1) driving on the autobahn @ 120+ mph

2) meeting, hanging out, and sharing track day videos w/the amazing folks @ rent4ring.de

3) getting an impromptu tour of the ring and advice before i went on the track from some friends of the owners of rent4ring

4) one of those friends pretending to be an old buddy of mine going for a ride, but instead was a "secret" instructor teaching me the track

5) 6 laps on the ring in a race-prepped opel corsa tubo, breaking 130mph on the fastest parts.

6) pushing aside my fear and trusting in my "friend" as he pushed me to sub 10-minute laps. "don't brake. keep accelerating. move to the right. go! go! go! ok, downshift to third. turn in here. full throttle. BRAKE! hard right. stay in the middle of the track. GO GO GO!"

7) learning to put fear aside and trust in your abilities and the skill of your instructor.

8) see (7). twice.

9) hanging out w/the crew afterwards and comparing notes on the ring.

10) meeting the opel representative that works w/the rent4ring guys.

11) going back to my hotel and meeting up w/another american who keeps a car in storage here just to race on the ring, and finding out it's a porsche gt3. i immediately hooked up a passenger ride for tomorrow evening.

12) drinking a lot of awesome german beer.

13) having "steak und stone" for dinner. that's a 3" thick raw prime rib, served on a red-hot piece of granite. with french fries. oh hell yes.

seriously, days this good should be fucking illegal. i don't know what else to say :)

happy holidays, i think

<standard, expected and mercifully short rant about the holiday season and why they're always not as great as you expect, but always better than you'd hoped, closing with the fact that this really isn't news and that it's better just commit that to memory again, hoping you remember next year, lest you become that santa over there!>

ok, now that i've gotten that out of my system, i hope that everyone's had as an excellent a holiday as possible, and that santa left them something nice (and not empty beer bottles.  that actually was me, i forgot to mention i stopped by!).  holidays mean busy.  that means that not much on the car lately, except for some final painting.  it was nice to take a break from the heavy stuff, but i have a lot to still  do.

today, however, i fully put the cart in front of the horse and bought a rollcage (i did get a great deal, actually)!  this involved a nice 4-hour round trip to sonoma.  in fact, it was my first time to sonoma for any other reason other than drinking wine.  shocking, n'est-pas?  in fact, it was a very un-wine sonoma road trip!




yes, stranger things have happened than trips like that.  for instance, things like the magna carta, and rise of the "art of scrapbooking".

and, if anyone is wondering, i did have a good holiday. it was nice to see my family and the kittens. kittens ALWAYS help. :)

i hope everyone's year is full of promise and optimism.  and if it's not, just remember:  it's the holidays.  this happens almost every year.  next time, move christmas to august and relax over the winter break.