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Happy New Year!

mike — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:33:55 +0000

From Vizma, Cooper, Beemer, and I, we hope that everyone has a Happy New Years. Have plenty of fun and keep it safe. We’ll see you on the flip side. PS – we are heading to the event at International Market Square in DT Minneapolis. If you are there, let us know!

Rockin the NYE champagne!

Happy Gnome

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:35:19 +0000

Just getting back from an absolutely fabulous day hanging at the Happy Gmome. We each did a couple of flights and had several exellent beers. Thanks goes to Hacker for driving!

Merry Christmas

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:26:45 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone was good, family was close, and loved ones are well.

Belgian Beer Tasting ‘09

mike — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:15:52 +0000

One interesting outcome i can always depend on with a high alcohol content beer tasting is by about the 6th round, i cant seem to remember what the previous beer was to compare it to. What i do know though is that we went through some of the finest Belgians available for import here to the US. Thanks to all who attended to make it a great evening….the next day was a tad rough for me but all worth it in the pursuit to find the best Belgian. The photo is of the aftermath of the tasting.

Amery Airport Autocross

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:26:17 +0000

I attended an autocross event yesterday that took place at the Amery Municipal Airport that was organized by the Minnesota Austin Healey club. This event was the most enjoyable autoX event I’ve ever attended…granted I’ve only been to a few so far, this one will probably be pretty hard to beat. The autoX section of the event was on the main plane parking area that was open and flat and after you were done driving that section, got a time from start to end, you got to go WOT all the way down the taxiway that the planes typically use to exit/enter the hangers to the runway. I think my best trap speed was my second run in the morning for about a 101 or 102. There was a guy with a radar gun at the end to register peoples top speed at the end.

I will post my lap times, penalties (for hitting cones), and top speed, and where i finished in the pack when i get it from the event facilitators. In the meantime, i have finished processing and editing all of the 400+ photos i took at the event. Click on the picture below to view all of the pictures.

UPDATE: Full autocross event results have been posted, click on the read more link to view the entire post including the results.

These results provided courtesy of the Minnesota Austin Healey Club who organized the event. Thanks Tom and crew!

Post-Road America ALMS Weekend

mike — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:25:30 +0000

This past weekend at Road America for the ALMS race was (as always) fabulous. Such a great time, money and time well spent. We got to meet, greet, and get autographs from the Corvette and Ferrari teams. I as able to get my Ferrari helmet signed by both of the Risi Competizione team drivers Jamie Melo and Pierre Kaffer (pics to be posted as soon as I’m done editing the batch).

We stayed in quite the shanty hotel…the Days Inn in Fond Du Lac Wisconsin is not highly recommended. We were fine with it but had i brought my wife it may have been more of a problem.

The weather was hot and humid every day with temps reaching 90 every day. That’s okay though and it beats severe storms and rain.

The GT2 Corvettes did very well in their second outing posting a 3rd place podium finish for one of the cars. Not bad for a team still working out the kinks of a new chassis. Very surprised about the Risi team who have been struggling as of late. The M3 BMW’s finished 1-2 for a very strong showing; looks like the sanctioning body will need to look at smaller diameter restrictors soon…the bimmers were dominating this weekend.

A full album of pictures will be uploaded shortly once I’m finished with all of the editing; i know you can’t wait. I also have a couple of short videos I’ve taken with the iPhone to share.

Click on the photo below for the full gallery on Flickr.

Brake Crazy

mike — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:22:47 +0000

Last night we worked on the RSX. Like most Japanese cars, not the easiest to work on and i expected that given that I’ve worked on plenty of Acura’s up to this point. Brake pads and speed bleeders went in without much of a fight however, a good thing to know when doing rear pads in an Acura is that you don’t compress the caliper piston back in after putting the pads in like the front, you actually need a brake piston tool that will allow you to screw the rear piston back in. Strange for this procedure to be so much different than the fronts, but after we figured this out via clubrsx.com we were able to get them back in. Exciting. Another tool we did not have that hindered our work on the brake lines were line wrenches that are speccifically designed to remove brake lines. So, we had to pass on upgrading the lines for now.

Also, if anyone was curious about knowing if the Motive Produccts Power Bleeder system works on an RSX, the answer is no. The universal pressure adaptor you need to put onto the brake reservoir did not seat properly and ended up losing pressure while blowing brake fluid all over the place. These power bleeders work awesome on some cars where an adaptor has been specifically designed for the car. In my case, we had to try to use a universal adaptor which didn’t work. Old school brake bleeding worked though.

My ride is now over at Z-Tech auto with my buddy Ken (owner) who takes good care of me. Their shop is excellent and their customer service is top notch. If you ever need any work done on your ride, i highly recommend them. They didn’t even mind installing aftermarket/owner supplied parts. Most shops bawk at this.

Now, what to do about these black fingernails and hands…tried every kind of cleaner around and they are still nasty. Anyone have recommendations?

History Made – Inauguration 2009

mike — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:09:26 +0000

Yesterday, on the 20th of January 2009, the world saw history on the soil of the United States. Our 44th president was inaugurated in a wonderful swearing in ceremony.

I couldn’t help but feel optimistic, full of pride, and proud to be an American yesterday when i woke up for i knew what was in store and for the changes that would occur in our country for years to come. I feel that there has not been this kind of enthusiasm and excitement in US politics since JFK. There were over 2 million people that stood outside in freezing cold DC temps to witness the inauguration, that is amazing.

I hope you all are as excited as i am for positive changes and strong leadership in the US for the next few years, regardless of your party affiliation, it’s an exciting time for America. It will be a very challenging but fruitful future for the US should we execute well on our objectives. I also believe slowly we will begin to repair our world image and demonstrate the kind of quality decisions, exceptional attitudes, and vibrant economy the US is capable of.

Barack, lead us strong and true….

Stout Tasting ‘08

mike — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 17:53:02 +0000

Fabulous time was had by all this Saturday for our first annual stout brew tasting party. I’m a bit flabbergasted on how to we managed to drink all of the beer that was brought but we only had 5 beers left and those were duplicates. Maybe that’s why i have a touch of a hangover this morning….hmmm. Anyway, here is a picture of the damage before and after. Full beer list also included following pictures.

The Line-up

Some Aftermath

Whats Left

Full Brew Review List for 2008 Tasting

1. Haandbryggeriet Dark Force – Russian Imperial Stout
2. Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Milk/Sweet Stout
3. Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout – Russian Imperial Stout
4. The Czar – Russian Imperial Stout
5. Alaskan Smoked Porter – American Porter
6. Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout – Milk/Sweet Stout
7. Bell’s Expedition Stout – Russian Imperial Stout
8. Oak-Aged Ebenezer’s Brew (bottle 127 of 1521) – Russian Imperial Stout
9. Ten FIDY – Russian Imperial Stout (in a can, oh yeah!)
10. Oak Aged Yeti – Russian Imperial Stout
11. Old Rasputin – Russian Imperial Stout
12. Bell’s Batch 7000 – American Double/Imperial Stout
13. Bourbon County Stout – American Double/Imperial Stout
14. Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout – American Double/Imperial Stout
15. Moylan’s Ryan Sullivan’s Imperial Stout – Russian Imperial Stout
16. Stone 12^th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout – American Double/Imperial Stout
17. Stone Imperial Russian Stout (2005 bottle) – Russian Imperial Stout
18. O’Hanlon’s The Original Ruby Stout – English Stout
19. Eel River Raven’s Eye Imperial Stout – Russian Imperial Stout
20. Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout – Oatmeal Stout
21. Left Hand Milk Stout – Milk/Sweet Stout

I’m hoping we can do this again next year, this was an awesome event this year and everyone had a great time.

Last Day

mike — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:21:42 +0000

Today was the last day at my current employer of almost 6 years. It was a tough day today to say goodbye to so many talented people i have worked so closely with for so long. I am however looking forward to new challenges that i will encounter at GIS. Ultimately, in the end i know at a big company everyone is just a number and replaceable so there shouldn’t be any impact of my departure.