fyrhstrm.com

LSPR is SICK!

admin — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:32:00 GMT

Lake Superior rally definitely rocks. Muddy, somewhat rougher, and still faster than snot, this year Mark and the Mustang was fast and finished everything with aplomb.

Friday were the southern stages around Kenton, but Mark was just keeping everything great so we could do the Keeweenaw stages. But, on the second running of the Passmore stage (in the dark) we were 30 seconds faster - woohoo! We had a nice run against the McCleery's, slightly ahead, but then we had a problem with a clogged fuel filter on a transit and we had to arrive 20 minutes late for the next ATC. Luckily, the rules meant the lateness was worth 12 seconds per minute late, so it wasn't as bad as it seemed. And then, the McCleery's had the bad luck of having a flat ON a stage and it took then some time to fix it (no flashlight!). We lucked out...

On Saturday were the famous stages: Brockway, Delaware, Gratiot Lake, and Burma. Mark left a 30 foot pair of stripes up the start of Brockway for the first run (video here), and was intentionally quieter for the second run where we were faster by 5 seconds. Delaware and the famous delta we did calmy and coolly - no mistakes. According to Mike Hurst, we were the ONLY car to catch air on the 2 yumps at the finish of the first running of Delaware.

We ended up winning Group 5 both days in the ClubRally. The party at the Library was a hoot - ask Kim DeMotte if he remembers anything after discovering the wonders of a concoction called the "1812". There was much rejoicing.-)

Special thanks to our crew: Amanda, Kevin, and Mary - they are always working hard for us, especially in the wet and cold!

Ojibwe starting (or not starting)

admin — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:47:00 GMT

(This is really just a test to see how many times I can use the word start in an article ...)

OK, we started out great - fastest 2WD overall on day one.

But the trouble all started before the start when we could not start the Mustang - a cranky starter AND a cranky float bowl problem on the carburetor. No problem before then, but as we were ready to leave for the parc expose, the engine would not start. Mark and the team did some very quick surgery on the carb, and we then boogied to the raceway for park expose. Then, it would not crank over so we could roll into the ATC, and we needed a push-start. OK, so we ran the day's stages, only needing a push at the start a few times, but the car ran well and we did well.

But, the next day, the crew replaced the starter (with a brand-new-just-bought-from-NAPA part) but it broke upon installing it, and they bought a new starter (2nd try). We got to the park expose at the Tech College, and it seemed cranky again, but we rolled away and got to the start of stage 9, checked in at the ATC, and then rolled up to the SS, and then the engine quit. And then the clutch cable broke. And then the starter quit again (brand-new starter, remember!) The stage crew tried a push start (thanks, Alex!), but with no starter and leaving it in gear, it took 5 or 6 folks before the Mustang would move! Still not starting, we got a push back and parked it (DNF), and later our crew picked us up; we got headed back later under power by starting in gear while on the tow-rope.

Roostertails at Headwaters equals success!

RobBohn — Fri, 26 May 2006 14:26:00 GMT

No spins, no offs, no hitting of big monster tires - clean and green the whole way. Mark's got the number of the beast, and we kept it clean and smooth the entire event - except for the little problem with dust - yeeks!
Of course, we were probably stirring the dust up even more ...and I'm sure Al and Heidi have a story

Italian Village in Chicago

admin — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:55:00 GMT

About 5 years ago I discovered this restaurant, thought it was cool, and then could not find it again. Now, I've rediscovered it - it's at 71 West Monroe in downtown Chicago, about a block and half west of the Palmer House Hilton.

This restaurant serves great italian food in architecture that needs to be seen to be appreciated. From the street it just looks like a small narrow local restaurant, but in reality it's Chicago's oldest italian restaurant. It's actually 3 restaurants, now, with the upper story being sort of an 1001 Nights mediteranean village theme serving more traditional italian, the middle story is all cool copper/brass curves serving modern italian, and the basement is the grotto I didn't get to see.

If you get a chance, at least see the middle level - it's superb.

Edit: aha - they have a website: www.italianvillage-chicago.com

100 Acre Wood

RobBohn — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:06:00 GMT

OK, the big smash-up occurred, and hitting a mine truck tire is not a good thing. It was a lift-throttle slide sideways on a high-speed Right 6 for the fourth chicane, but we persevered the next day and got 1st in G5 on the second day's regional rally.

Haven't been able to find any good pics of the car damage, but mainly smashed just the bodywork; did cause various ills for the next day's event, and Sean of the Cary Kendall group fixed a trailing link/bushing that night that was ripped out by the impact. (previous problem area in rough Maine rally).

Listening to...

RobBohn — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:01:00 GMT

Roseanne Cash / Black Cadillac - awesome elegiac tunes
Judith Owen / lost and found - sophisticated jazz vocals, tight
Erin Bode / Over and Over - Twin Cities-based jazz vocalist, light and airy

Fun Gravel Roads north-west of Indianapolis

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:15:00 GMT

OK, fun gravel roads are hard to find north of Indy in the flatlands, but these have been a favorite short drive for me. This uses Scotland Road (gravel), Pumkinvine Road (gravel), and Elizaville Road (fast swoopy pavement). Attached to this post is the Google Earth KMZ file, which also has an additional FUN section.

Start at Kirklin Indiana (google map here), which is basically at the intersection of Indiana 38 and US 421 (U.S. 421 goes northwesterly from the Pyramids in the north-west corner of Indy).

Go west on IN-38 until it bears right, crossing a creek (here) - GO LEFT onto Scotland Road (onto gravel)

Follow Scotland until it T's - go LEFT

(this is where I added a whole new section in the Google Earth KMZ file, not listed here)...

Take the first LEFT (CR E 950)

Take the first RIGHT (CR N 300 E)

Take the T LEFT onto CR E 850 N

Take the first RIGHT onto N 350 E

Take the first LEFT (onto E750 N)

The road will soon bear left (for a cemetery); take the RIGHT at the cemetery - it will immediately go right then 90 left and you'll be on E 750 N

Take the SECOND RIGHT (N 500 E) --OR-- continue past N 500 E, continue past N 550 E, the road will jog, then will do a 90 RIGHT onto N 640 E (HERE is the general area)

T RIGHT onto CR E 675 N (or CR 725N if you took the second option above)

Follow this road as it bears SOUTH, and crosses over SR 47

Bear RIGHT onto Elizaville Road, and follow it as it twists and turns into Lebanon, Indiana

Beware, it makes a turn HERE and HERE

foo-foo mixes

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 03:43:00 GMT

Frou-Frou (yeah, I know, it was on the "whaddya callit it movie" soundtrack, the one by Josh something or other)
Imogen Heap (yeah, I know, it was on the OC)
Beth Orton's newest LP (limited edition has 5 additional songs)

Vocoder Heaven

RobBohn — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:57:00 GMT

Yes, I know it was on the O.C., but here it is anyway:

Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap) - yep, it's the vocoder song
Rogering Imogen - Roger Sanchez vs Imogen Heap - cool remix

Also listening to:

The Promise (Cynthia Layne) - a Rob Dixon composition
Angeli - (Sasha Lazard)
Yours (Sara Gazarek)
Amazing (Sara Gazarek)
Come To Jesus (Mindy Smith)

Fun Food in the Twin Cities

RobBohn — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:54:00 GMT

OK, not counting the fondue party I attended at Mark and Mary's, the interesting places to eat at the Twin Cities are:

The Egg & I, great breakfast place in Uptown (2828 Lyndale Avenue S., Minneapolis) - this one is called the Little Egg - when it's busy go to the Big Egg on University
Just north at 2610 Lyndale is the French Meadow Bakery & Cafe, all things organic
Chino Latino, party place with food interwoven from Mexico, Thailand, Jamaica, Polynesia, and Korea; and luscious drinks in Uptown (2916 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis)
Arezo Ristorante, excellent Italian in Edina (5057 France Avenue South, Minneapolis)
and across the street from A.R. is an interesting retaurant with a sort of french-twist on american cuisine with lots of seafood, but darned if I can remember its name...

Oh, it's wonderful in Paris!

RobBohn — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:50:00 GMT

Well, wouldn't you know, we won OVERALL at the Paris Texas rally - woohoo! Not bad for a 2wd vehicle, even if it does breathe fire!

Details, pics, and stuff at http://www.rallyengr.com/

LSPR Blues and news

RobBohn — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 23:28:00 GMT

Well, the the Mustang debuted this weekend and unfortunately we had a mini-spin, a mega-spin, a tiny spin, and a DNF. The two small spins were just sliding 90 degrees sideways on the exits of corners, but the mega-spin was a full-bodied humongazoid effort, with us going down the road over some sixes (slight turns), followed by a five over the finish line. When Mark lifted for the 5, the rear came around while we were going over 100mph, and we started spinning at that speed, at night, with the trees whipping by - whoo-whee! The car rotated such that the headlights seemed fixated on the finish control the whole time as we spun. Luckily we hit nothing, and as the spin came around Mark popped it into 3rd and the engine came up to about 4000rpm - so we were going 60mph at the END of the spin. Lucky lucky lucky. Unfortunately during the last stage of Friday the engine's balancer decided to unbalance and we ended up with a bent crankshaft, thus ending our rally. Got to spectate Delware Mine the next day - that's a fun stage! Then we drove Brockway on the way back - fun in a street car but not as fun as in a rally car...

Nice article in the Michigan Tech's on-line newspaper at:

http://www.mtulode.com/index.php?issuedate=&section=12&artid=4752

The Twin Cities is having Tombstone, their big fun rally this Saturday:

http://www.marblesoft.com/tombstone/index.html

Plus, the Twin Cities are having a Rally Cross:

http://www.specialstage.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=241&topic_id=3841&mesg_id=3841&page=

you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you

RobBohn — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:37:00 GMT

King Arthur: Old woman.
Dennis: Man.
King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
Dennis: I'm 37.
King Arthur: What?
Dennis: I'm 37. I'm not old.
King Arthur: Well I can't just call you "man".
Dennis: Well you could say "Dennis".
King Arthur: I didn't know you were called Dennis.
Dennis: Well you didn't bother to find out did you?
King Arthur: I did say sorry about the "old woman", but from behind you looked...
Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior.
King Arthur: Well I am king.
Dennis: Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.

Woman: And who are you?
King Arthur: I am Arthur, King of the Britons.
Woman: Who are the Britons?
King Arthur: We all are. We are all Britons. And I am your king.
Woman: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.

King Arthur: I am your king.
Woman: Well I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well how'd you become king then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.
Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Dennis: Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.

Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

Dennis: Come see the violence inherent in the system. Help, help, I'm being repressed.

If she weighs the same as a duck, she's made of wood

RobBohn — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:30:00 GMT

BEDEVERE: Tell me. What do you do with witches?
VILLAGER #2: Burn!
VILLAGER #1: Burn!
CROWD: Burn! Burn them up! Burn!...
BEDEVERE: And what do you burn apart from witches?
VILLAGER #1: More witches!
VILLAGER #3: Shh!
VILLAGER #2: Wood!
BEDEVERE: So, why do witches burn?
VILLAGER #3: B--... 'cause they're made of... wood?
BEDEVERE: Good! Heh heh.
CROWD: Oh, yeah. Oh.
BEDEVERE: So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood?
VILLAGER #1: Build a bridge out of her.
BEDEVERE: Ah, but can you not also make bridges out of stone?
VILLAGER #1: Oh, yeah.
RANDOM: Oh, yeah. True. Uhh...
BEDEVERE: Does wood sink in water?
VILLAGER #1: No. No.
VILLAGER #2: No, it floats! It floats!
VILLAGER #1: Throw her into the pond!
CROWD: The pond! Throw her into the pond!
BEDEVERE: What also floats in water?
VILLAGER #1: Bread!
VILLAGER #2: Apples!
VILLAGER #3: Uh, very small rocks!
VILLAGER #1: Cider!
VILLAGER #2: Uh, gra-- gravy!
VILLAGER #1: Cherries!
VILLAGER #2: Mud!
VILLAGER #3: Uh, churches! Churches!
VILLAGER #2: Lead! Lead!
ARTHUR: A duck!
CROWD: Oooh.
BEDEVERE: Exactly. So, logically...
VILLAGER #1: If she weighs the same as a duck, she's made of wood.
BEDEVERE: And therefore?
VILLAGER #2: A witch!
VILLAGER #1: A witch!
CROWD: A witch! A witch!...

Movies (listening AND viewing)

RobBohn — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 13:25:00 GMT

The Girl In The Cafe - Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald

A Fond Kiss - Atta Yaqub, Eva Birthistle

Bereft - Vinessa Shaw, Tim Blake Nelson, Marsha Mason, Edward Herrman

Walking and Talking - Catherine Keener, Liev Schrieber, Todd Field, Anne Heche

waydowntown - A Gary Burns film

The Station Agent - Patricia Clarkson, Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale

Easy - Marguerite Moreau, Naveen Andrews, Bryan F. O'Byrne

Cowboys and Angels - Adam Trese, Mia Kirshner, Radha Mitchell

Bigger Than The Sky - John Corbett, Amy Smart, Sean Astin, Clare Higgins, Patty Duke

Danny Deckchair - Rhys Ifans

Rallying As A Contemplative Sport

RobBohn — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 04:20:00 GMT

I had an interesting "notes" navigation experience this past weekend at Ojibwe, so this is yet another chapter in my "Rallying As A Contemplative Sport" series. Let me set the scene:

I do the "thumb on the instruction" thingie; I've got the corners folded over; I've highlighted the "gotcha" instructions; I circle the cautions; I go through EVERY page more than once - all that stuff.

I've navigated for Mike Hurst for some time, and am now navigating for Mark Utecht. Mike and I ran Ojibwe a lot (pre-notes), and I've run notes before, but this is the first "fast" rally I've run with Mark with notes (we ran Pikes Peak and SnoDrift with notes this year, but their pace is not as "fast" as Ojibwe).

By "fast" I don't entirely mean car-speed, but the combination of car-speed and notes that are busy

In the Mustang/RX-7/Porsche/etc., speeds on straights were faster than Mark's Group N car, but cornering is definitely faster in the Group N car versus those rear-wheel-drive machines - it's all about sustained speed. The timing is intriguingly, completely, different.

Mark is very quick on the Ojibwe roads - so, when we got into the higher-speed twisties, I was running "behind" in the notes at times - too much to say. I trimmed words, I trimmed +/-, I cut out irrelevant crests, but it seemed like I was just jabbering away unable to spit it out fast enough. I tried NOT watching the road (the look up/look down), but then my ass isn't sensitive enough to detect some curves (*). I very much prefer looking up to confirm what the heck is going on.

On some stages I got it all figured out, but on others I'd come and go, not quite as "on".

So, it's something I've got to work on, I just didn't expect quite so many "personal growth" opportunities while racing down roads at 100mph.

Rob Bohn

(*) reminds me of a long-ago discussion with a long-ago girlfriend

Favorite Rally web links

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 01:49:00 GMT

Pikes Peak!

My Pikes Peak Pics (no action shots - hey, I was riding in the car!)
WAHOO - We're Sliding Sideways! (excellent pic by Mark Huebbe)
Lots of Great Pics (by Kevin Hahn)
Toll Road Map (as seen by GOOGLE Maps)
International Hill Climb website
Rod Millen (in-car) 2.4 MB video (MPEG)
Climb Dance (1988 Ari Vatanen) Peugot 205 T16 67 MB video (MPEG)

Rallying

Seed 8 Co-Driver Class Materials
Co-Driving Thread on Special-Stage Forum
Rally-America 2005 National Schedule
Rally-America Forums
SpecialStage.com Forums

People

Mayhem Racing (Mark Utecht's website)
Tune Tech Motorsports (Mike Hurst's website)

Coffee Culture in Australia

RobBohn — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 15:16:00 GMT

"flat white", "short black", "mocca" - what the heck is all this?

In Sydney, the inhabitants are crazed about their coffee, and to prove it I only saw one Starbucks in the entire city during my 3 week stay (I think it's there just for the Americans). Each cup is brewed as you watch and made to order. I never ever saw a coffee pot, nor was I ever given a cup that was older than 30 seconds. They name their drinks a bit differently than I was used to to, so here's a translation:

Flat White = Simple black coffee with a touch of milk; sort of a latte without the foam, served in a cappuccino size cup. Kind of like a cafe au lait (a "flat black" nixes the milk but I hardly ever saw this featured)

Short Black = single-shot espresso

Mocca = Mocha (Hot Chocolate with an espresso shot)

Takeaway = To Go

While in Oz I took lots of scenery pictures (no shots of coffee lounges tho) - check out the photo gallery HERE.

Olivier's in New Orleans French Quarter

RobBohn — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:39:00 GMT

OK, everyone's got their favorite restaurant for dinner in New Orleans - I pick Olivier's since it is true Creole, run by the same family that founded it way back when. Real gumbo, real "country" creole, not citified, and presented well. Easy to "get to" as well, at 204 Decatur.

June 17th while updating CS to RTM

RobBohn — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 01:34:00 GMT

OK, two lists...

First I was listening to some Reason downloaded songs:

Mr Loopy's Otopeni: superb in-your-face music with tons of effects and stabs
Clawfinger's In The Light Of Reason: hard-core heavy guitars
Mark Adams Allison / Phobos-Spirit Zen: eastern music for contemplation done completely with synths and only 5 samples

Reason 3.0 added some fantastic new mixing tools in addition to the existing synthesizers and sound modules - awesome...

Secondly, I was playing my music on random and these really popped out at me:

Beth Orton Stars All Seem To Weep
Craig Armstrong Laura's Theme
Anggun Snow On The Sahara
Frank Glover Seal Clubs
Peter Malick Group with Norah Jones Strange Transmissions
Evanescence Bring Me To Life (Kevin Roen Mix)

Zelazny's Amber

RobBohn — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:36:00 GMT

I'm not a fan of book series, but Roger Zelazny's Amber has always been my favorite. You get started with Zelazny's simple prose in Nine Princes in Amber and cannot put it down - I get re-captured by these stories every few years.

Prototypical new-wave fantasy, these stories encompass a world set in both modern time and in a medieval "real-world", where our modern day Earth is merely one of many shadows of the real-world, Amber.

Once the hero Corwin wakes up in a hospital not knowing his name after an apparently horrendous car crash, he tries to discover his "real" identity only to discover that the "real" world isn't, and that he is one of the very few who can traverse these shadows since he is of the one true "real" world

(in progress - more to come)

Links:

The Amber Dictionary (Reality is for those who can not handle fantasy.)

Corrupt.NET's Amber

Scott Z's Center of the Pattern

Ghostwheel.com

Madeline's Proto-Amber

The Golden Circle - a webring of Amber sites

June 11th/12th while updating CS to 1.1 RC3

admin — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 03:57:00 GMT

It's D and K day...

K&D (Kuder & Dorfmeister)
D&K (Dzihan & Kamien) / Geeks & Icons
angeli mella brezza / franK fitzpatricK (sung by sasha lazarD)
massive attacK
lorenna mcKennitt
Deanna Kirk
jim bricKman
David lanz
anita baKer

NOTE TO SELF: I'm looking for the album "Myths Of Red" by Sasha Lazard....

...and of course the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 21:26:00 GMT

For both live music AND good food, you cannot go wrong at the Jazz Kitchen right here in Indianapolis. Check them out wia their website HERE.

Between Wabash and Peru IN (9.5 miles)

RobBohn — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 20:39:00 GMT

Who would have thought this existed in the flatlands of Indiana?

Between the two small towns of Wabash (the first electrically lit city) and Peru (the Circus City) is an interesting rural road that follows the side of a ridge that is about a mile or so away from a river (old river bank, maybe?) The road runs generally east and west, with flat farmland extending north to the river, and a curiously large ridge on the south side of the road (well, large for Indiana). Somethimes the road dives between hills, but most of the time it's hugging the side of the ridge. Generally gentle in nature, there are few curves that surprise you if driving briskly :-)

This is old Indian country, near the Francis Slocum Trail, so I would not be surprised if this was an old trading road. US 24 is somewhat nearby - a few miles away on the other side of the river.

To get to the starting point, from downtown Wabash go south on Indiana 13/15, cross over the river, then turn right (west) just at the bridge (before going uphill) - onto Columbus St. Follow Columbus St, then go left on Vernon St for one block, turning right onto Pike - OK, that's the road to follow... Below is a googlemap for the starting few miles of the drive...

From: Pike St, Wabash IN to: West Elliott Rd, Wabash, IN

Follow Pike; eventually it will make a curve to the left (in the cleft of some hills) and turns into a straight - you will need to do a bear right off of the straight road to follow W. Elliott Rd. Follow W. Elliott Rd, making sure to go right at the Y to stay on W Elliott Rd (the Y intersects with S 775 W). Here's a googlemap of that section:

from: west elliott rd, wabash, in to: cr-100 s, peru, in

...or here's the satellite view where you can see the fields on one side and the tree-covered hills on the other...

Continue on the same road, until you come up to a stop sign at the intersection with Indiana 124 - here's the googlemap:

from: cr-100 s, peru, in to: e in-124, Peru, IN 46970

THE END

Byblos in Toledo

RobBohn — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:11:00 GMT

While visiting the Toledo Area Chamber of Commerce, I was looking for a different place to eat dinner and spotted an office building with a sign outside and a number of cars - the sign said "Byblos Lebanese and Italian Dining". That sounded different enough for me!

Upon entering the front door it looked like an office with a stairway leading upstairs - but once I got up it looked like a nice (slightly older) restaurant.

Looked at the menu and ordered beef kibbe (I've seen this spelled various ways) as an appetizer - this is basically raw meat with onions and other goodies, ground to a paste (sort of looks like liverwurst and hamburger mixed together). The waitress said that their might be half-orders available but was unsure of the price but the price was cheap so I ordered it as an appetizer, and the kebab combo for my meal.

I was served a basket of flatbread - actually quite a few of them, and then the kibbe arrived and it was HUGE - it was an inch thick and covered an entire serving dish - smeared some on the bread and it was GREAT!

When the kebab arrived, I was pretty full from the trying to make a dent on the kibbe (only ended up eating maybe 1/3 of the kibbe). The kebab had lamb, chicken, and beef kebabs on rice with onions and spices - all excellent - my favorite was the beef. The lamb was a bit too spiced-up for my taste - coriander or cumin or something.

Overall, an excellent experience.

Byblos
1050 S. Reynolds Rd.
Toledo, Ohio 43615
(419) 382-1600