Mexico!!

I went to Mexico AGAIN! And made it back alive AGAIN!! Woohoo!! Beatin the odds!!

Here are some photos:

Weatherman's truck. He's talking to my boss Jim

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Carl checking out the awesome banner of the race course map:

The view from our beach-side breakfast table, the day before the start of the race:

My breakfast. I think it was called the American or something like that:

The day before the race, the Contingency row is set up with vendors and race products. Thru the center of the street is a line-up of race vehicles awaiting their tech inspection. In order to race they have to pass inspection. I've seen racers wait in line half the day, mostly because some of these races have over 250 entries. They've ALL got to be inspected by one small team.

This is looking the other direction on Contingency row.

This is actually a photo from last year's race. I stayed at a cute new hotel right by the Start/Finish line. Everything was so new, even the lawn chairs on the balcony had their price tags attached.....

The same chair, one year later:

Instead of sitting out on the balcony, the chair was now inside my not-so-new room and half the chair was missing. The top half. But the tag was still attached.

Well at least I remembered to pack my Kindle. I read outside next to the newly filled swimming pool!!!!!

Race day. The motorcycles are lining up for their start at dawn.

The Trophy Trucks begin their start about three hours after the last bike leaves the line:

Sometimes the celebrity Trophy Truck drivers have their celebrity girlfriends there at the Start line to watch them leave: (it's Jesse James' girlfriend Kat von D)

So while they're out toiling and struggling in the desert, I'm in an air conditioned motorhome scoring with both a clipboard...

And the computer...

And at the end of a very long day we put all the numbers together and figure out who the winner is....

This Is Funny

But this sticker makes it just a little bit more funny:

I saw this truck as I was pulling into get a cheeseburger at In & Out.

Cali is On FIRE

Thanks to the shenanigans that they pull in California with their smog and stuff, we have awesome sunsets.

AWESOME!!!

How To Score a Jet Ski Race

This is a waterproof GPS type antennae that our crew constructed. It is suspended underwater a couple of feet with buoys underneath the Start/Finish line:

It is connected to a computer with special software, via waterproof cable, on the boat:

Then each jet ski is outfitted with a little transponder, and every time the jet ski crosses the Start/Finish line, the transponder communicates with the antennae below.

Here's the Start/Finish line....

As the jet skis (or boats, as the racers call 'em) do their thing on the course, we are on the boat next to the Start/Finish line, watching the computer to be sure it is communicating with each transponder. Also, we're keeping a hand-written record of the race numbers as they go by. That's a good thing, because you never know when someone's transponder is gonna fail to "blip" as they go by us. And in a 300 mile race, with 10 mile laps, you're gonna want to count every single lap. Sheesh.

In the past, our scoring was entirely by hand on clipboards, and that meant a lot of writing. Three people would be stationed on the boat, with their clipboards, logging numbers. Then we'd spend HOURS afterward counting up everyone's laps. HOURS. Really. Now with the computer and transponders we can merely verify the numbers as they're posting. Genius. And the hand-written log sheets are just there for safety. I like that more than coconut cream pie.

We celebrated with a nice BBQ at sunset...

BBQ....

Sunset...

Weather. Yep. Weather.

When the mountains look like this:

You can almost bet that we will have THIS the next day:

It's traumatic and fascinating at the same time.

Sometimes the Horoscope is Correct

I always preface horoscope and astrological discussions with this: I don't take the stuff too seriously, it's like a hobby or something. I do have a friend that takes it quite seriously, he is a Guru and received his training after high school in India. He went to high school with me. Played in a band. I was a groupie from the 'hood.

Anyhow, I like to read horoscopes and fortune cookies. Always have. I was sorely disappointed that everything in January went exactly the opposite that my horoscopes said it would. It said I would come into money and never have to worry about finances ever again. That didn't happen. Thanks a lot, horoscopes. I spent a lot of money on lottery tickets!!!!
But it was right about February. Almost to the exact DAY. I know this is coincidental but it's amusing to me.

To make things even more interesting, it told me this new guy and I would fit together well because we'd motivate each other to work together on projects, stay on tasks, and finish them.

So here's Gary, finishing a project that I started...fixing his dog door:

Oh and also it said he would be completely committed to the relationship, unlike the others....

Senator Pearce

Saturday was a fundraiser for our local Republican Party. I, along with a couple hundred people, attended and helped beg for donations.

But our keynote speaker was the big draw: Senator Russell Pearce. He was the author of Proposition 200 a few years ago, which is a law voted in by citizens of Arizona requiring people to produce proper I.D. when they are voting in elections.
Oh and he wrote a little thing called SB 1070.

I met him upon his arrival, but didn't get a photo because I'm tired of the same old same old stiff poses that we tend to do. You know, like THIS:

So I opted for the more amusing STALKER look to my photo with Senator Pearce:

He was signing autographs. THAT'S how much people in these parts like the whole SB1070 thing.