Monthly Archives: September 2008

Connie Willis Event and New Kress Theatre

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By Cassie
Saturday was a pretty fun day. We had to run a few errands, but then Britton and I went to an event sponsored by the local library district that was promoting Science Fiction in general and the book Fahrenheit 451 in particular. They invited Connie Willis, a local author who has written many sci-fi books and won lots and lots of awards including the Nebula and Hugo Awards, to come and talk about Ray Bradbury’s book as well as science fiction and writing in general. Afterward, they had a book signing and Britton took a few pictures of us.


Connie Willis signing Bellwether
Connie Willis and Me

Later that evening we went out with Melissa and Alan to the new independent movie theatre that just opened downtown. It was pretty fun. We saw the new Woody Allen movie, Vicki and Christina in Barcelona, I think it’s called. They serve alcoholic drinks and dinner, and you can eat dinner during the movie. The movie was so-so, and half the food order took FOREVER to come (I think Melissa’s food finally came about half-way through the movie), but it was still a good time. I hope it is able to stay in business. Small, local businesses have a hard time thriving in downtown Greeley.


All four of us, after

Afterward, we went back over to Melissa and Alan’s place, chatted, drank more beer and watched the new Chris Rock show on HBO. It was a great night.

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Friday at the Racetrack

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By BK
Instead of working on Friday a friend of mine that works on racecars invited me to go to the Pueblo Motorsports Park. I went with the intention that I’d get a ride in a pretty nice Z06 Corvette. At the end of the day I did. There really isn’t any way to describe how a 500+hp built for the track sportscar feels to ride in. Incredible doesn’t quite cover it. This car simply could not be used on the street…Well…It wouldn’t be even close to safe if you wanted to ‘see what she’d do’. We hit just over 160mph on the straight.

The race track is where performance is safe. This thing has a roll cage and racing seats with harnesses. Plus I had to wear a helmet.


Z06


Back


Interior
Spend $70,000 on the car and strip out everything?


$500 per Tire and they are only good for 4 heat cycles. It doesn’t even matter how much wear is on them. You heat them up when you drive. Then stop to rest and they cool. 4 times….then they are considered used up.

All in all it was pretty fun. The ride made it all worth while and only cost me 1 vacation day at work. Plus the car owner bought everyone pizza.

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Crashing to the Floor

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Strange but True Parable

Last night after watching the Bush Bailout Plan on TV, we went up to make our dinner of nachos (with beans, cheese, buffalo meat, sour  cream, tomatoes, and jalapenos) -YUM!-  Britton was walking with the plate in his hand, and just as I turned out the light to go downstairs with the food, we heard a crash. I thought he had run into the wall when I turned out the light, but when I turned it back on, he was still left holding part of the plate. The rest of it was all over the kitchen floor. The plate had broken on its own.

This seemed completely appropriate for the moment; a crashing plate with a crashing financial system and economy. But yet we did not get any intervention or bailout (should Taco Bell or other nacho institutions give us free nachos?, or maybe they would like to buy our broken plate full??) and neither did all the families who were foreclosed and/or preyed upon. We cleaned it up, salvaged what we could, learned a lesson and will use a better plate that is hopefully better “regulated” for the oven in the future so it doesn’t just shatter in our hands again. And there is always a silver lining: Schnoodle happily licked the floor clean for us so that all we had to do was mop it afterward. I am sure that the big corporations can find a way other than through our money to clean up their mess.

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Sustainability Fair in Fort Collins

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On Sunday Britton, Torrie (his sister), our niece and nephew, my mom, our friend Shana and I all went out to the Sustainable Living Event in Fort Collins that is in conjunction with New Belgium Brewery. Afterward we went to the Holistic Fair in Loveland before returning home. It was pretty cool. Our nephew kept saying this was where all the hippies were, which was somewhat true if your definition of a hippie is someone with long hair, or locks, and who cares about the environment. We learned a little bit about solar power, wind power, recycling, composting, gardening, and much more. There were plenty of interesting people, good food and beer as well. There was even a booth with chickens! There was definitely an underlying political atmosphere that was pretty cool. We seem to have had a lot of opportunities for training in Puerto Rico lately.


The Group minus Cassie


Britton, Cassie, Char


Char Covered in Buttons

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