dlloyd.net – The World of Darren (and Dawn)

A primer…Gizmodo: What Is SOPA? [Sopa] http://goo.gl/mag/aBIlG

I hate Politics. I particularly hate bringing them up here on the blog. However, the SOPA and PIPA bills in the Senate and Congress grant too much power to the government and are akin to censorship. Taken to their extremes, Facebook, Twitter and the like are legally obligated to remove posts that infringe copyright. That sure sounds like censorship to me. If I thought more than 5 people read this blog on a regular basis, I’d shut it down tomorrow in protest like Wikipedia and others.

Do I believe I intellectual property should be protected? Absofuckinglutely. These bills are not the answer. These bills turn us into China, a country notorious for ruthlessly censoring their country.

Next steps? Not supporting any companies that support the bills.

Go figure…2012′s first day up here in Oregon? Gorgeous. Sunny, “warm,” generally epic all the way ’round. Today? Wet, cold…you know, typical Oregon.

2011 was a pretty awesome year for both Dawn and I personally and professionally…2012 is shaping up to be more of the same. Can’t wait.

This past weekend, I had the good fortune to travel to Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA (about an hour north of Sacramento) for the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Eric and some friends have run the 25 the last few years and this year I had the opportunity to come as crew chief for the “Bloising Saddles Racing” team (the name’s a play on the car owner’s last name), driving a 1986 BMW 3 series with the “E” motor. This year we had 6 drivers, 4 crew (and me), Dawn, Eric’s wife Harvest, and my dad.

We left Beaverton with the race car in tow about 9AM on Wednesday, stopping once for lunch and once for diesel. We made it to the track around 6:30 and set about getting the car unloaded from the trailer and the trailer situated in our (narrow) paddock area. We were sharing our pit box with another team from the Pacific NW, with another PNW team next to our pit stall. There was going to be some pit stall and pit strategy coordinating for the weekend! With everything situated, several drivers set off on a track walk (in the dark), while Eric and I went and had beers at my dad’s trailer.

Thursday was an open track day from 9-4, so we reconvened in the pits at 8 to get the car ready. Eric B. (the car owner) was ready to go when the track went green and got a few laps all to himself. After about 15 minutes, he came back in and we started rotating the other drivers through, getting those who haven’t driven the car or track (or both) some seat time. It also gave the crew a chance to practice pit stops–specifically the refueling and driver changes. After a lunch break we were back out on track. We tried a few setup changes in an attempt to correct some understeer, but decided that the change was too much and changed it back, opting to compensate with tire pressures. In the last hour we gave two of our crew who are working on getting (or already have) race licenses a few laps on track. After the on-track sessions ended, we brought the car back into the paddock, set it on jackstands, and had some beers before going to dinner in town and getting some sleep.

Friday morning we got a later start–it was another test/practice day for teams who wanted to, but we elected to spend the time changing brake rotors, oil, and general car prep prior to qualifying in the evening. During the lunch break, all cars must do a test of their two transbonders to ensure they’re working correctly. As a result, I got to drive the car for a partial lap around the track. Just that lap (and nothing close to race speed or conditions) gave me a hint that this track is not something to be trifled with! Qualifying started just after 4 with a half hour practice session, followed by actual qualifying in the last half hour. We sent one driver out for a few more laps in practice in the darkening conditions, then put another driver in for qualifying (in the dark). The qualifying session ended early due to a car rolling over. We pulled back into the paddock, put the car back on jackstands, and had some more beer (thanks Dad for picking up both beer and Dawn!). Continue Reading »

A month has gone by, must be time for another update!

Rennsport Reunion IV…where do I even start?! I guess I could explain what Rennsport is – it’s a gathering of historic (priceless!) Porsche race cars that happens about every three years. The previous three have been on the east coast…but this year it was held at Laguna Seca in Monterrey, CA. A bunch of friends drove and flew down, so Dawn and I, together with my brother and my parents, made the trip and camped at the track. What a blast. The thought of seeing so many historic, race-winning cars in one spot was pretty cool. ACTUALLY seeing them all circulating on track, some even driven by the drivers that piloted that car to victory? Now that’s another experience entirely. Video tells the story…here is some. It felt like a three-day waking dream.

As you might imagine, I took a few pictures:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three

When I started drafting this post, I was saying, “well, Pilot Soccer is over.” That’s only sorta true…the women, who took until their final regular season game against Gonzaga to move to 9-9-1, were granted an at-large bid in the Women’s College Cup. The first round was this past Friday, and the Pilots advanced on penalties 7-6 after tying Oregon State down in Corvallis. The Pilots won that matchup 2-1 during the regular season They play Florida State this coming Friday – also a matchup the Pilots won 2-1 during the regular season!

The men needed 1) a win over Santa Clara and 2) Saint Mary’s to draw or lose their game yesterday afternoon to win the WCC and get an automatic bid to the Men’s tournament (only a 48-team bracket). They got neither, losing 1-nil to SCU and SMC winning 1-nil. It’s unlikely they’ll make the postseason due to a lowe(r) strength of schedule. Regardless, I had a blast watching both teams play at home, which brings me to my next point…

We had the opportunity at a recent women’s soccer game to sit in some seats belonging to a very generous donor to the University. How we came to be in possession of those tickets right behind the Pilot bench and to whom they belong doesn’t matter in this story. As the first half went on, I was getting more and more frustrated with the Pilot “fans” in that area behind the Pilot bench who kept heckling the UP players and coaches. Every time the Pilots would move the ball backwards to restart the cycle and (hopefully) create offence, people would audibly groan or shout “NO!” One person, after head coach Garrett Smith looked down at a roster or some other piece of paper in his lap, shouted “Don’t look down, ‘coach’ isn’t a passive word!”

You might be right. But, I’ve got news for you, buddy…neither is being a fan. Heckling and berating the team YOU’RE THERE TO SUPPORT isn’t being a fan. It’s simply being an asshole. If you were to spend half as much energy cheering for the ones in Purple and White as you spent heckling them instead, imagine what might have happened.

…for my part, I’m just glad I have some restraint.

In other UP Athletics news, Pilot basketball is in full swing – the men complete a three-games-in-three-days tournament tonight against Washington up in Seattle. The Pep Band was in attendance Saturday as they won their first game of the tournament; they beat Georgia State last night. The men return home for a Sunday evening game against Washington State this week. The women dropped a game on Friday but rallied back yesterday afternoon to get a W.

That’s all for now. Perhaps I’ll surprise everyone with at least one more update this month.

Typical Darren. Not posting updates. Let’s get to it, shall we?

This post is being written on the new desktop I built recently…I was ready to bump it up a notch and finally go to a Sandy Bridge-based i7 machine. i7-2600K and 16GB of RAM. Between Photoshop and various VM’s I’ve been running, more memory is ALWAYS a good thing. I’m getting better at what I need for “from scratch” installs. I figure I can be up and running with the bare minimum of stuff in about an hour and fully ready in under a day (install all the programs, updates, etc). Games are the worst, but seeing how I don’t think I’ve played a game that isn’t on Steam in over a year these days, maybe that’s not that big of a deal.

We were adopted by a kitty last month. She’d been hanging out in our back yard for a while, and one day she came up and got VERY friendly and noisy. Near as we can tell she got left behind or she ran away – she’d been fixed, but didn’t have a chip, collar, or anything like that. Without any further ado, meet Vesper. Why Vesper? She’s a tuxedo cat and was going to be “James” (Bond. James Bond.), but the pieces and parts didn’t match up. So, Vesper (Vesper Lynd, Casino Royale) it is!

I added a new drum to the collection in time for the Pilots soccer season. I’ve wanted a Djembe for a looooooong time…now I have one.

Speaking of soccer, the Timbers’ season is winding down and the Pilots’ season is heating up. The Pilot women are in a weird position as of late…they tied Univ. of Miami, beat Florida State, beat Washington State, lost three in a row (SDSU, Seattle U, Boston U), then came home and tied Washington and beat Oregon State. They lost to Stanford (#1 in the country) two weeks ago, then beat USC. People are freaking out (three losses in a row, not a lot of scoring, etc), but I think it’s premature. There’s some stuff I’m seeing that I REALLLLLLY like out there. There’s no need to go all “Gonzaga basketball fan” on the Pilots. Sure, we might not be ranked currently but I’m thinking winning the league isn’t unlikely (that means playoffs).

The Timbers are also in the hunt for a playoff spot with two home games remaining. They played San Jose to a draw last Wednesday…and we were there. We also were at Jeld-Wen Thursday to watch the USWNT defeated the Canadian Women’s National Team 3-nil.

Two more wedding happened since the last post – Paul & Madison back in August, and Sara & Frank two weeks ago. Weddings are always a fun time, but I do have to say that of the ones I’ve been to or involved in since we got married, this is the one that’s left me with the biggest spring in my step. Maybe it has to do with how well I got to know Sara in college and how happy we can tell she is…I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Eric’s done 3 race weekends since the last post – Seattle at the beginning of August; Doernbrecher here in Portland mid-August, and Seattle this past weekend. Good times, including a 2nd in class this weekend. It may have helped solidify 2nd in class in Conference points as well. The car is done for the year, but we’re not done racing. Eric, along with a few other drivers, are going to be driving the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in California the first weekend of December. I’ll be there as the crew chief.

F1 is still, well, F1. Vettel has all but locked up the driver’s championship (likely will in two weeks at Suzuka), and it’s likely Red Bull will secure the constructor’s championship in short order. Watching Vettel is a lot of fun (how the heck does he get 1.1 second per lap gaps?), but it is still a bit of a parade in F1 these days.

ALMS is where the action has been – specifically in GT with BMW, Porsche, Corvette, and Ferrari all battling and battling hard. BMW has locked up the GT championship, but there’s still some racing to be had at Petit Le Mans this weekend. Guess what I’ll be watching all day on Saturday…

Danica has announced she’s moving to NASCAR, to the utter non-surprise of everyone. I’m somewhat disappointed because I feel like she had more she could accomplish in IndyCar, but I know she’s a pretty good driver and has been doing well in the Nationwide cars. Meanwhile, the IndyCar points battle is getting interesting with only a handful of races remaining. I’m pulling for Will “Double Bird” Power.

That’s all for now. Next time there will be pictures of our impending trip to Laguna Seca…

It’s been just over a month, so it must be time for an update here on le blog…

Compared to the last few times very little has been going on. July hasn’t been the most eventful. It hasn’t really been “summer,” so that might have something to do with it. I think the month thus far has consisted of work, a wedding, soccer, and racing.

Wedding: I was fortunate enough to be invited to be in a wedding for one of the guys who was one of MY groomsmen. Amusingly, all of us guys were married from anywhere between 4 years and 3 weeks. I’d been married the second longest at 3 years. Was a good time, and was great to hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. We were all up to our usual tricks (drinks, Halo, shenanigans) for most of the weekend. Mom & Dad were able to camp their way up here and back down to CA again, so it was fun to have a brief visit with them.

Soccer: Women’s World Cup was a heartbreaking affair for fans of the USA, but what a ride it was, particularly in the Brazil and Japan games. The Timbers have some work to do but I didn’t expect them to win a league title their first year. I’m enjoying watching all the same. As a matter o’ fact, Dawn and I are going to the exhibition match tomorrow night…should be fun. It’s got me ready for UP’s season to begin in…wow, less than a month?! Neat!

Racing: Eric raced in Spokane the same weekend I had groomsman duty, so I missed that. What I’m not missing is the trip to Pacific Raceway near Seattle this weekend. Should be good times. It’ll be the first time I’ve gone away for a weekend to the track and had access to a shower and stuff (thanks Mike!).

That’s all for now. I’m hoping to have time to take photos this weekend at the track…stay tuned.