Well I've gone and done it. I am signing up for a medical study which is testing a new drug for the treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa. As the study documentation says, there is currently no (NO, none, zip, zilch, nada) FDA-approved treatment for HS. This study may help to change that. The benefits of using this stuff look to be good, and they outweigh any side effects according to what's out there. For the first 26 weeks I may get a placebo, but for the last 26 I'll get the real thing. I spent today going from place to place getting all sorts of things checked out. It was exhausting, but I got it all done in one day straight through.

And I got my car checked out on a break between appointments over lunch. I've got a driver's ed event this weekend at the same track where I drove my very first track event last year. I'm really looking forward to it. Rumor has it, My Real Driving Coach will be there. I'm actually supposed to see him after work tomorrow to go for a ride-along. And then again Saturday at the driver's ed thing. My car checked out fine, and my replacement numbers should be here later this week. ( Read more... )

It was awesome and I'm so glad I went. And I do not regret taking the 911, nor do I regret the cost and effort that went into getting it spiffed up before I left. Even though this is what my car looked like in the club corral about midway through Saturday:



Bunch of photos HERE.

And a video, just random video I shot strung together, no music, just sights & scenes from the weekend:



I'm whooped so I'm outta here.

Just a quick stop in here. Things continue all a-crazy. So yes, still yet more of the same.( Read more... )

I am not sure where I left off with the tales of my recent adventures, but things are improving. ( Read more... )

Ugh. I'm starting to hate Mondays. So even though it is technically Monday, let us look back upon what was a lovely Sunday:



Bitchfest after the jump.( Read more... )

...will not be the first since my father's death. Therefore, it will be better than this Christmas was. I put on a Santa hat Xmas eve, and wore it all Xmas day, hoping it would inspire some degree of Xmas spirit. Alas, no worky. I was just sad, people. Sad, sad, and sad. It was nice, the travel was fun, it was great to see everybody we saw, we survived financially - I have no complaints. Just...sad. ( Read more... )

Sometimes I feel like such a juvenile. When my driving coach suggested getting together on Friday to do some work on my car, and on my driving, I couldn't have been happer to take the day off from work. I am pretty much the only person in the office starting next Monday, so I thought it would be a perfect time to grab a day off and have some fun.( Read more... )

I'm writing from a motel near Road Atlanta, where I'm camped out for the weekend. My car club has a block of rooms here, and I pulled in to see several familiar cars and faces here. I'm not the best with names, as I've said. I'm one of a very tiny handful of women with this bunch, either working or driving, and I'm not exactly shy. Not just that, but I always make a point of meeting people and getting their names. Remembering? Not so much. So I'm greeted again and again by familiar faces for which I cannot dredge up the names from my memory. Add to that "screen names" which have nothing to do with real names, and I'm a goner. Doh! Oh well. ( Read more... )

Wow. I can't believe this holiday is over. It flew by! My sister and her three kids plus a friend arrived Wednesday night. The gathering time for Thursday got even yet earlier this year - 10:00! So the turkey-timing was dodgy and I ended up putting it in at 2:30 in the morning, getting up once to baste, then falling asleep and leaving it in the oven an hour too long. Still, it came out fine and was delicious.( Read more... )

My paddock space. I really need to call myself Bag Lady Racing

Well I did much better! I had no DNFs this time. I started with 80 seconds on my first run and shaved off 2 seconds with each of four runs after - my last run was 70 seconds, but my score was 72 because I hit a cone. Cone-killing is a sign that I was pushing, especially since it was my last run. I definitely did some sliding around, experimenting with adding speed in different parts of the course, but managed to do it clean until that last run!( Read more... )

Hello, world! I'm here. Things are fine. I've been busy as hell, is all. Several things at work have ballooned and I'm covered up with inv3$tigations and all the attendant details, logistics, constant phone calls at all hours, and work work work.

Fun thing about this one, lots of recordings. Getting them formally transcribed takes forever. I have been listening to them and making notes, transcribing juicy bits. It's very laborious to do on the computer. I long for my old dictation machine with the foot pedals to stop, advance, etc.

Somebody is stopped outside my house. A potential buyer? I may have to scramble. Nobody's been here to look at the house since the first week it went on the market. Still! And I've been a little under the weather so it's not looking its best today. ( Read more... )

No 420, because they're phasing out 3-digit numbers.
So I went with my two lucky numbers.

It's around three in the morning, and I'm soon to bed. It's been a wild weekend. I drove the autocross event today, and apparently used some different muscles. I came home exhausted, fixed a big pot of chicken & dumplings for our dinner, and promptly fell asleep sitting at my computer! When I awoke I got busy doing a few things, and then I was fully awake again, so I made a little pan of no-sugar-added brownies with chocolate chips and hazelnuts and looked through the pictures from the weekend while they baked.

No new photos from today. It was long and busy and got off to a troubled start. First, I had trouble finding the racetrack. Once there, I couldn't find the ladies room. A guy way up in the paddock saw me wandering around at the bottom of the hill, and came down in his car to show me the way. Not the best beginning to a day full of cone-navigating!( Read more... )

DreamGuy managed to catch a couple of shots of me doing my first-timer's version of full tilt. It was a great day. As usual, all the stupid little things I worried about turned out to be stupid little things that were just non-issues in the end. I had three different instructors, and lots of time on track. I pushed my limits, but only came close to going two-wheels off once. Lots of tire-squealing and lots of vroom! Beautiful weather, great people, laid-back setting, and having DreamGuy along really grounded me.

This will not be my usual word-o-rama spew-and-do entry. I'm bone-tired, and as soon as my clothes are into the dryer, I'm off to bed. I went ahead and unpacked both cars, then repacked the Porsche for the next outing tomorrow, an autocross event sponsored by the same club at a much closer venue. Six will be here soon. Must sleep.

I'm so incredibly wired. As soon as I post this, it's off to bed. Then up at 4 and out the door by 5. Thought for awhile I'd left my forms at the office, had a scare for an hour, madly hunting for them. Found them tucked into a random box. So glad I didn't quit looking, assuming they were at the office, only to stop there on the way tomorrow and not find them. Crisis averted! Had to clean the inside glass, sort my stuff and pack the cars by flashlight (long day at work). But by God, I'm ready. I should have time to shoot some photos to the flickr page (link to the left). Hopefully we'll come home with photos and video. Off I go!

Just so you know, immediately after I nailed that tough turn in the last entry? I hit my first cone! Haha! That's the way it goes. I nudged 3 total. Not bad, I'm told. Actually the way the guys said it was, "You only killed three kittens!" Yes, they joke about putting a sweet little kitten under every cone. I'll never think of those cones the same again!( Read more... )

Once upon a time, I got into my Porsche and drove to the local awesome track, home of the Porsche Palace. I had no sooner pulled up to the Palace than three handsome young men insisted on washing my car. "Please, ma'am, let us wash your car!" I feel so old when they call me ma'am. I let them wash my car. Which they do expertly.

I set about cleaning out the inside of the car of crap so that we can take it on the autocross course. But instead, one of the young men approaches me in a Porsche Cayenne and says, "Leave your clean car here and come with me." He drives me up to where the cones are set up. A lone Porsche Cayman sits at the start line. He takes me for a few laps around the course to show me how it's done. Then he gets out and he says, "Please, ma'am, drive this brand new Porsche Cayman with Tiptronic transmission around the course!"( Read more... )

Six out of seven front porch kitties. Missing: Shorty

The front porch kitties must know that The Great Feral Cat Colony Relocation of 2008 is underway. Usually when we pour the food into the metal bowls, they all come running, five babies, two mamas, and the studmuffin. I cleared out my car to make way for the big pens. We've been feeding them in the pens, only putting out food while we were out there, and they've been eating in there the past several days. Last night all eight of them were out while we watched, and into the pens. I wanted so badly to just scoop the doors closed and go, but we weren't really ready at the moment. Of course, now we're ready, and only three of the eight have come out all day. ( Read more... )

Still here. All is well. Well enough, anyway. I've been busy as all hell. Work is nuts, both because my workload is about to explode with a recently scheduled tr1al on my huge complicated ca$e, and because a bunch of my coworkers are acting like third graders. I still haven't done with my mother's finances what I committed to doing two weeks ago, haven't even started that. Need to get dad's medical records together, copied, and a summary written to send that stuff off. ( Read more... )

Here's what ended up being the final version of the video. I fixed the damned music hole and re-uploaded the sucker. Enjoy!

Can it be? My new car?

 

Poor Houston. You are about to lose a lovely vehicle to the Great State of Alabama. I'm flying out in mere hours with DreamGuy, and a guy I've never met is going to pick us up in his truck and take us to his house and sell me his 1988 Porsche 911 coupe and DreamGuy and I will ride off into the sunset. Unless the guy is an axe murderer, in which case, watch the news, I guess. If he is an axe murderer, he is a very nice one. With nice cars. Could be worse.

I must calm my ass down and get some sleep. Long day tomorrow. 

Real quick, here's my packing list:

Change clothes
toothbrush
other shoes
sunglasses
maps
CDs
chargers
paperwork
money
protein powder
meds
TomTom
TICKETS
Money
umbrella
book

We're each bringing a backpack, and I'll have my purse. The end. We arrive around 10AM and should be well on the road by noon. We'll see how far we get and probably stop somewhere on the Louisiana coast (New Orleans? or on to Bay St. Louis? Bayou la Batre?) for the night. We want to get our toes into the Gulf somewhere along the way. It's been too long.

I should be in diapers because I am about to piss myself with excitement. How the fuck am I going to sleep? Watch for still shots zapped to the flickr page along the way, and the usual insane video on our return.