25 posts tagged “vox hunt”
Show us the last thing you bought. The end of an era..
How many people can say that they've had their wallet or purse for more than two decades? I can. The wallet you see here was given to me as a gift in 1982! Its hard to believe what this wallet has lived through. It has, obviously, lived in the seat of my pants for almost 27 years but it has done so with grace, poise and determination. If you think I am exaggerating, listen to this true story:
In the summer of 1984, I was swimming with a girlfriend at Shuswap Lake. In my pocket was my drivers license, a lottery ticket for a draw that hadn't yet happened, and a two dollar bill.
While splashing and cavorting, my wallet slipped out of my pocket and sunk out of sight. That was the last I expected to see of it.
However, over a year later, it came back to me in the mail! Not only had it survived the frigid Canadian winter, it had somehow managed to make its way across the widest part of the lake to the other side where it was found by a Provincial Park employee!
Since then, this wallet has never let me down and has been with me on countless bike rides, from BC to Florida to New Jersey to California. It came with me to Death Valley, to the top of the Marin Headlands and to the Flume Trail high above Lake Tahoe.
When I got it back, I was no longer with the same girlfriend and I was driving a different car but the wallet still held the two dollar bill (which by then were no longer in circulation) and the lottery ticket.. and it wasn't even checked yet!
Today, I retire my faithful wallet. Replacing it, an almost identical wallet that not even the shopkeeper where I got it from realized it was there. But the wallet knew. It was waiting for me.
Share a song that makes you laugh.
"Its Yabba Dabba Doo Time!"
In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.
Born in my hometown, on my birthday (although 51 years before I was..), I would have to say Jim Chamberlin is my favorite historical Canadian.
Jim was an engineering genius and visionary who was able to see past the limits of what had come before him in the fields of aircraft and aerospace technology and built instead what he innately knew was the best design. Jim has many interesting attributes to his fame, but among them which I will always be in awe are:
- Exercising his ability to perform 'wind-tunnel' testing in his brain, helped make the Avro Arrow into a legend among aircraft.
- He became the first Canadian to trigger the scientific and engineering 'brain drain' from Canada to the U.S. when Canadian PM John Diefenbaker thought it was a good idea to chop up the prototypes and burn the plans for the above-mentioned Avro Arrow.
- Although an unpopular philosophy at the time, Jim fully supported the LOR (Lunar Orbit Rendezvous) method for travelling to the moon and back. He was certain that it was the safest, cheapest and possibly only way the 1969 historic lunar landing could have been done and was heavily involved in the design of the Lunar Lander.
- He is the only person to ever have been the sole-designer of a manned spacecraft (the Gemini capsule).
Share a song you listened to in 6th grade.
This might explain a little about me.. ;O)
Show us a glimpse of your neighborhood.
Submitted by [Susan].
"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." -- Pamela Hansford Johnson
Show us a self-taken picture of the sunset.
Submitted by Connie.
Show us the most productive thing you'll accomplish today.
Show us what the weekend has in store for you.
For Valentine's Day, I booked a weekend getaway for my wife and I to Myrtle Beach! Even in February, its usually pretty warm here. Soft sand, wonderful hotel and the piece d'resistance.. an extended couples-massage to work out the stresses of everyday life!
Taken from the beach just outside our hotel room.
Our hotel is.. um.. one of these.
"Body and Soul" spa - the location of our massage!
Show us something you think isn't written about enough.
"Gunman at Omaha mall had troubled history"
What I am suggesting here is not that the media doesn't cover the actions of mass murderers enough. On the contrary, these people have far too many media spotlights pointed on them already.
It is the harm to the families of the dead and wounded that is not written about enough. Maybe if someone who is sitting at home thinking, "You know, maybe I'll go buy a gun and kill a bunch of innocent people today" sees some coverage of how the friends and families are affected by these cruel and unforgiveable actions, they might reconsider.
The statement 'gunman at Omaha mall had troubled history' is itself a cruel slap to those who are truely affected. What about the family of everyone murdered? Are they going to have a troubled time now? Could any level of a 'troubled history' justify this bloodthirsty and pointless revenge?
And as for "gun control", its way too late for that - we need "sociopath control".
Show us a corkscrew.
Submitted by Scott.
This is the 'corkscrew' corner at the Laguna Seca track in Monterrey, CA. Possibly not what was intended by "Scott" when this Vox Hunt was suggested, but hey.. I like this corner! Although I've never had the chance to drive this course IRL (in real life), I've been around this corner from my armchair many MANY times.
Just the other day I was racing my '69 Camaro at Laguna (Forza 2 - XBOX360) and while taking the corkscrew, I was reminded of an amazing pass made on this corner by Alex Zanardi on Bryan Herta. It happened when IndyCar racing was at its peak popularity before falling from grace into the embarrassment that it is today, and obviously before Zanardi's major wreck in Germany.
Zanardi was chasing down Herta for several laps up to the conclusion of the race, in his well-known "hard charging" style, passing other drivers like their turbo chargers had seized up. But Herta was having none of it! He kept the door shut for several laps while was giving Zanardi no opportunities to pass. But that wasn't going to stop Alex! He chased down Herta as they climbed the hill on the approach to the corkscrew for the final time and as they crested the hill and began their descent down the corkscrew, Zanardi used his momentum (and gravity) to his advantage and literally launched his car nearly clear off the track, over the dusty California hillside, and planted all four wheels back on the track... ahead of Herta!
Interviewed as the second-place finisher only moments afterward, Herta could not believe that Zanardi did that. You could see that he was visibly upset and probably trying to think of a way to protest this bold and unique way to make a pass. Of the hundreds of races I've watched since then, this is one of the most amazing passes I've ever seen or even heard of.
But don't take my word for it... here is the video:
This is how I want to take the corkscrew!
