Car Porn

Sunday morning I went to the Wheels of Italy car show at Lake Calhoun. It was a fantastic day for a little car porn. Obviously, it was an Italian focused show, with a larger number of Ferraris being show. But there were other beautiful machines as well.

There weren't many Lamborghinis on site, but this Diablo caught my eye. The first thing you notice about this car (as well as many others), is just how LOW to the ground it is. It looks like your butt is literally 3-4 inches off the ground. The seats are very thin and reclined. Of course, the Diablo has those awesome scissor doors.Many of the Ferraris were very recent 360 and 430 models. But those aren't so interesting to me. Any rich person can buy one of those. It takes a certain kind of madman to buy a vintage Italian car.This car reminds me of the 250GT California in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm certainly no Ferrari pro, so I have a hard time telling what model they all are.
Many of the cars see actual use, including racing, as the next two show.
This was easily my favorite vintage Ferrari. A 250 GT SWB, fully race ready.
Six Weber carbs on the V12.Next I wandered into the slightly more modern GTs. The Testarossa was every boy's dream in the 80s. They used real gold foil to shield the engine cover from the flat 12's enormous heat. 5 liters and over 380 hp. Doesn't sound nearly as impressive these days, with run-of-the-mill Nissans putting down 300 hp without sweating.
But no Nissan leaves people with a view like this!
Next came the "junior" Ferraris. This was led off with a Dino. Not even labeled as a Ferrari when new, it was named after Enzo Ferrari's son. The Dino 246 eventually paved the way for the most popular Ferrari of the late 70s/early 80s.The Ferrari 308. Would Magnum P.I. have been a hit show without this car? Probably not. One of my all time favorite cars, just dead sexy body. Although I always felt the targa top of the GTS model took away the clean lines.Here's what it should be. A 1976 308GTB. Fiberglass body. Weber carbs. 255 tempermental horsepower. This specific vehicle was for sale, but without a price. Given that it's the first year, in nearly perfect condition, it's probably a bit pricey.
There were also a few Italian bikes on the premises. Aprilias, Moto Guzzis, and of course, Ducatis. Here's a Moto Guzzi cafe racer. The sideways V twin was always a weird design choice to me.Everyone respects a Ducati.Being an engineer, I love the fact that Ducati uses a desmodromic engine. What's that mean? There are no valve springs. The valves open and close by mechanical action.Still in the Italian car section is the DeTomaso collection. Whether they belong there or not is a debatable point. Take beautiful Italian styling, add in good old American horsepower, and you should have the best of both worlds, right? The Mangusta was DeTomaso's first attempt. Meant to battle Shelby's Cobra, DeTomaso's naming was very much intentional.Although the Mangusta was not a sales success, DeTomaso tried again, partnering with Ford to bring us the Pantera. A Ford 351 was the stock engine. Now, despite being the Wheels of Italy show, there were some non-Italian cars too. Although a few tried to pass themselves off as Italian purebread.
A stunning British example, an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. James Bond would be happy.And the most unexpected showing, a Porsche Carrera GT. With a 5.7 liter V10 that was originally designed for racing, it sounded awesome! Each blip of the throttle ripped thru the crowd.

Not Going Away

I thought I'd give a little update here. I'm sure many of you may have heard that I was investigating a relocation. For those of you that didn't hear, I was investigating a relocation. I was interested in a position with my current employer, but located in Nashville, TN. I even went down to interview, and was pretty impressed. Nashville seems like a nice place, and the weather sure is better.

Unfortunately, in the end, I just felt that the position itself was not necessarily the best option. My chances of success in the role seemed to be limited, and the role itself covered the entire Nashville District, from Mobile, AL to Lexington, KY. Instead I'll be staying in the MSP area for a while longer.

Donnie's Old

Last weekend we took a little road trip down to the Milwaukee/Madison area to take in a little Brew Crew and to celebrate our friend Donnie's 30th birthday. The trip down was uneventful, except the first 10 minutes, when Mike realized he had forgotten the tickets. Fortunately we were still in St. Paul, so it wasn't a big deal.

Before a game, you've got to stop at Kelly's Bleachers. Where we'll be spending our early evening. Miller Park.Here we are outside, ready to enjoy outrageously expensive concessions. Don't tell Mike or Shawn, but they don't serve Coors or Budweiser products inside. It's all Milwaukee brewed, baby!Obligatory statue to Mr. Henry Aaron, whose 755 home runs could be eclipsed this night.A view of the park. As you can probably tell, our tickets are less than ideal. Oh well, they were cheap.And Barry puts one foul, before he grounds out.Mike and Mitch, with another stadium down in the quest to see them all.Before the game, we all took bets on which tubed meat would win the Sausage Race. If you're not familiar, during every home game, a bunch of ethnic wursts run around the bases to see who's fastest. The crown votes before hand via text message. We all had $2 riding on it, so it's high stakes! I threw my basket with the Chorizo.Go Chorizo!!!Ah, sweet victory!After the game we headed out to the Safehouse, and then over to Water St, where we met our high school friend Jenny. A great night in Milwaukee!The next day we had to head out to Madison for a surprise golf outing with the birthday boy. It was NOT a pleasant morning, as Shawn attested to.After a boot and rally from Shawn, it was picture time. As you can see, Donnie has already been blessed with "the shirt". It's gift that keeps on giving (from 1992). We made him golf the whole 9 holes in it. Here's where the day got really interesting. First, we played as a scramble, with three teams of three. On the first hole, we were all at the tee box to watch Donnie hit off.After this, it was my turn. The first whole is a dogleg right, which is perfect for my slice. I think, "just nail it, and watch it sail!" There was a lake to the left, with some assorted wildlife, but I wasn't concerned, as I almost never hook. I take a backswing, foreswing, and just SHANK THE BALL! This is no ordinary shank, either. It does one hop, then heads toward the lake at a high rate of speed.

In the vicinity of a crane.

A protected species.

It can't happen...

Not a chance...

THUNK!

Yes, I hit the crane square in the head. Do you know how big a crane's head is in relation to a golf ball? The bird's head pendulumed once as the whole body flipped over in what seemed like super slo mo. No one knew how to react, although I think we all laughed our asses off at first. I go over to check on the bird, and it's lying on it's right side, breathing very slow. It doesn't respond to pokes with a driver.

"I killed the crane" is all I could think.

Fortunately, the bird got up about 15 minutes later, and even went for a swim. A serious concussion, at the least. I still think it just wanted to die in dignity, not on a golf course.

Anyways, after the hunt, we headed back to Donnie's for the party.
I think you actually need a permit to put that many candles on a cake! But I'll give Donnie credit, his old man lungs still managed to blow out all the candles in one breath.Later that night, Mike and Shawn (after much consumption) did representations of the crane, before and after impact.A great weekend, even if PETA is going to hunt me down now.

19h10m37s

So wedding number 3 of the year was this past weekend. No exotic machinery wrecked (sorry Nik), but I'm pretty sure one of the bridesmaids was annihilated.

Some interesting stats (many courtesy of the car).

• Driving time: 19 hours 10 minutes 37 seconds
• Wedding time (attended): approx 5 hours
  
• Distance: 1,230.7 miles
• Avg. MPG: 28.4
• Gas Stops: 3
• iTunes listened to: 306 songs (no repeats)

From the numbers, we averaged just over 64 mph. Pretty amazing, I do say. It helped that there was next to no traffic in Chicago either way, and only one major delay caused by an accident.

My cousin Ben and his new bride Ashley.
My mom on the right, and a couple of her aunts and an uncle. Unfortunately I don't remember many of the names. But they all recognized me, despite not seeing me for probably 15 years.
Trent, me, Angie, Matt, Julie, and Kelsey. Trent is Julie's friend. Angie is Matt's girlfriend. And Matt and Julie are my cousins. Does that make sense?
That was about it for the wedding pictures. I hadn't been out to Grand Rapids in about 3.5 years, so it was good to see everyone again.

On Saturday, Kelsey and I went to Saugatuck for some sightseeing. The first thing we did was a dune schooner ride! What's a dune schooner, you say? This!
Western Michigan near Holland has these enormous sand dunes, of which I have many happy childhood memories. We would camp at Holland State Park and climb up the dunes and run down them again. The sand dunes in Saugatuck have been stabilized by planting grass on the dunes.
Here I am, ready to relive running down the dune!
And there I am climbing up. I made a foolish decision, and wore shoes that actively captured as much sand as possible. It's not so easy climbing up the dune.
Lake Michigan from one of the dunes. It's about a mile away.
Yes, even the Amish love the dune schooner!
After an afternoon in the tourist trap, we headed back to my Uncle Ron's house. His wife Karen and he have two dogs who couldn't be more different. Meet Foster and Pudge. Kelsey is for reference. Foster weighs around 100 lbs, and Pugde about 4 lbs.
But Pudge is completely fearless! She would egg Foster on into tug of war matches. Foster would just fling the sock around, with Pudge hanging on for the ride.
And some video of Pudge in action.

Unfortunately I now have to deal with Kelsey asking for another dog. We made a deal. Once my parents get a dog, she can get another. So that should be sometime never.