Pueblo time coming soon

M3 @ Pueblo, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

Managed to get booked up for 2 days at the Pueblo track with the BMW Car Club in early October, so the excitement is building already. Just have to get the car booked into the garage for it's check up, and usual fluid changes etc. I'm hoping the tires will last for this visit, but I have a feeling I may need a brake pad or two before I set off, just to be on the safe side.

Of course, I find out today that the track weekend happens to coincide with an MMA fight up at the Broomfield Event Center that we had planned to attend with Ms Klassen (her Muai Tai (sp? - that looks like a drink rather than a fight.....) teacher is fighting). The chances of moving either event are somewhat out of my control, so I'm going to have to make a decision on what to do before too long (I know, a decision, scary). One things for certain though, I'll be at the track event - like I said in a previous post, it's an immovable object in the calendar these days, and helps keep me sane).

Random IM Conversation

Sometimes I miss being back home and hanging out with the family. Where else would you get to be involved in deep conversations like this one?

Daniel says:
how you doing bro??
Aaron says:
not too bad - what about you?
Daniel says:
canny!
Daniel says:
hit my hand with a hammer like so a bit sore!
Aaron says:
what did you do that for? was work getting too boring?
Daniel says:
lol
Daniel says:
maybe!

Apple iPhone 3Gs now outnumber first-gen iPhones

That was quick!

MacDailyNews - Apple iPhone 3Gs now outnumber first-gen iPhones

Colorado Tornado

It seems the tornadoes are gradually getting closer and closer to the city over the last couple of years (although people swear that there was one that hit downtown in the mid 90's before I got here). This was from Sunday night, the photo taken by Chip from his deck. He does live way out east, but technically it's considered Parker still, and to me, that's way too close for comfort. Somehow there were 4 of these things that touched down on Sunday evening, and they all managed to miss buildings and people.

Enspiria Summer BBQ

A nice quiet affair for this summers bbq (apart from the water bombs Mr Tonkin decided to bring to entertain the kids, which they decided to use to soak Chip). Unfortunately, the weather didn't want to help out, so the planned park destination was quickly changed to Kathy's house, the home of all the best parties.

I managed to not bring a camera with me, so these picks are stolen from Tonks

Flickr Does Embedded Slide Shows

Top Gear On YouTube (officially now)

They have their own channel and everything. Happy Days

The Non Camping Post

The Vegetable Garden, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

My initial intent was to post a gorgeous photo of where we camped at the weekend, basking in sunshine, with a beautiful stream flowing next to the tent (or something like that). However, no sunshine, 5 inches of rain and a little sleet and hail meant the stream turned to a river, we sheltered (shivering) in the tent and I never got the camera out. And we left after (just) surviving one night in the elements. It's not often the weather sucks in Colorado, but last weekend wasn't good.

So, instead, I've posted our (or really the wifes) ever growing vegetable garden. If you take a look at this pic, you'll see that the tiny boxes sitting on the table have turned into something a little special. We picked the first cucumber last night, and I can't wait for the tomatoes to be ready - there's something strangely satisfying about picking stuff out of the garden for your tea, even before you realize it saves you dealing with the lines at Safeway.

Liam Jeffrey Ash Arrives

In a rare up to the minute report, Liam Jeffrey Ash arrived in the world at 9.30am this morning, weighing in at 7lb 12oz. So, congrats to Kimmie and Ash - we'll be cracking open the champagne tonight in celebration (as promised). No word yet on whether his first request for a Vegemite sandwich quickly followed....

Update - there's an official web site here (and just for the record, Mac's are great ;-)

Ice Blocking

If you ever wondered what ice blocking was (and to be perfectly honest, it had never crossed my mind until the wife mentioned it a couple of weeks ago), it basically involves a steep hill, the biggest block of ice you can find, and plenty of laughs.



We all headed over to the local field around the corner from our house, and tried it out. As you can tell from the pics, there were lots of laughs and everyone escaped without any serious injuries (although my side hurt a little from all the laughing).

Executive Office at a conference

Cloud Level

IMG_2091.JPG, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

So we decided to take a little day trip out of town yesterday, as the last few weekends had been a little hectic. We kicked around a couple of places and ended up heading to the top of Pikes Peak. Only 14,000 feet high! The good thing about this fourteener is that you can drive all the way to the top (or take a train as well), so it involves little exercise, which is always a bonus for me.

Given how steep the road is, there's plenty of restrictions on speed both up and down, and even a brake heat check half way down to make sure you're not riding the breaks. I was hoping for some a little quicker (but not this quick), but in the end, it was still fun. I have no idea how they send the race cars so fast around the corners, especially with the huge dropoffs and ever changing concrete to dirt road.

Plenty more pics are here if you're interested.

Now heading out to the ESRI User Conference in San Diego for the week, so there may not be many posts this week (but you never know).

Speaking of next cars

Look what just appeared for sale down the road.....

Little Miss Birthday

Little Miss Birthday, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

Last weekend's Birthday party seemed to be a big success. I spent most of the evening at the grill, so took a quick break before the light died to snap a couple of shots in a frantic run around the tables, so sorry if I missed you.

The wife had a blast, which was the most important point, and from the sounds of the laughter and squealing I heard, all the kids enjoyed it as well.

New 911 (or 997 and a half) Promo

My eternal indecisiveness is further elevated whenever I watch a new Porsche video (about what my next car might be). The choice is still at least a year and a half away, but current front runners are (not in any order) 911 (s or GT3), Elise or Exige supercharged, Caterham R500, Nissan GTR and the Audi R8. And of course, replacing the M3 in my garage with the newer version.

I have a feeling that cars as we know them won't be around for too long, so I'm seriously tempted to get a back to basics pure driving experience car, and then a daily driver (or see if I can keep the M), which further complicates my decision. I normally have an ordered list in my head of what's next at all times, but the whole GTR vs GT3 vs Caterham are all so different cars, that I'm in a confused state. I guess it's a nice confused state to be in though, and I'll probably end up getting none of them if/when the time comes. You never know, maybe I'll get rich and just put the deposit down on the F430 Scuderia - the lottery is up to $75 million at the minute.

Anyway, enough rambling, here's the video

Kinetic Energy Isn't So Hot

What happens when you try out a fancy new system on your F1 car for capturing the braking energy and re-using it down the straight for a few extra mph's? Just watch the guy to the left and find out - guess it still needs a little work...

Magic Backup

Todd (famous for not only heading up the Lijit team, but caning his Cayman round Pueblo in the A Group at lightening speed) posted today about a new backup service from a group of guys he used to work with.

Magic Backup will automagically backup your machine in the background, and send the data to the cloud in the sky so you can get it back if your machine blows up, or you happen to lose it in an LA Earthquake or something. Price seems pretty reasonable to me - around $5 a month for peace of mind, and of course there's a nice free trial so you can check it out before you buy it (and they don't even take your credit card for the trial, which is kinda nice). And I'm a sucker for pretty user interfaces...

Rough Ride

Don't get on the wrong side of the NYPD (and note to NYPD person - you probably should check for passers by with video cameras before you try this again).

Reports are stating that the cop has been put on desk duty pending further enquiries, and there's also reports the guy on the bike actually got arrested and held for 26 hours after his little "accident".

Feed Me

Cool pic from Like Cool, that I thought would be quite handy to signify the massive amounts of food that could be consumed at our house today. The annual Wife's Birthday's BBQ happens today, and the slight panic that occurs when you have over 70 people reply in the positive to the Evite, and that doesn't include the neighbours or the friends from work is in full swing. Luckily a successful trip to Costco to stock up on food was preceded with an equally successful trip to the liquor store, so I think we're good.

Despite being chief cooker at the grill, I'm going to see if I can fit in taking a few pics as well, so there might be a chance I post a few tomorrow if you're lucky. Stayed tuned.

And Happy Birthday Evie - still can't believe you're one already. See you in November when we're home girl.

Todays the day

Not only is it my fantastic wifes birthday, but it's the end of an era for a Tyneside legend. Known as "The Boat", the Tuxedo Princess has been a bit of a fixture on the banks of the Tyne since I got to drinking age, and it's rotating dance floor was the cause of many a slippage/spillage/spewage over the course of time.

I'm trying to remember the last time I went out on it - has to be a good few years ago now, but I do remember it being a popular Monday night spot when I was at Uni, with triples for 1.99.

Anyway, as long as they get the necessary clearance that it won't sink as it sails off into the distance, it'll be gone on Sunday to make way for a nice new office building (not sure quite how that works - is the office building floating?). If you see it, give it a wave from me...

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Tyne called on floating nightclub

Stop

Blatantly stolen from Nixta, who stole if from Thomas (as in the Thomas we hung out with when we were in NYC the other week - kinda cool when the web and real life end up intersecting, or maybe it's just got to the point where the web is real life). And stealing probably isn't the right word.....

Anyway, this is especially for my fave lovie in advertising, Rach, who as you saw below popped out another kid last week

Beatrix Olivia Mary Armstrong, Welcome to the World

On Saturday July 12th, Rachel finally had her latest addition to the family pop out, and both new baby and mother are doing well. I don't have any pics yet, but I'll post when I do receive them (trust me, I asked). I did get the "I managed to be shopping at 5, and had the baby at 7" comment though, so I think Rach was pretty happy about that (not sure if that was coz the labor was short, or the fact that she managed to get some extra shopping in before being holed up inside for a few days?).

In related news, Faye decided to have her baby a little early yesterday, so welcome to the world Mia Hall as well. Mother and baby are doing well (and you have to be impressed with a girl who calls work 4 hours into her labor to let us know she's not going to be in the office that day!).

And in related news, if you haven't heard already, Tonks and Aly have joined the "we're having a baby soon" gang - estimated delivery around the end of January, but given recent experiences, it could be earlier or later. Congrats!

UPDATE - pics arrived from Rach

Lindsay Makes the Hot List

Super stardom (if she's already not there) is just around the corner for Lindsay now that she's made the TV Week Hot List for 2008

The Hot List 2008 - TVWeek

Lotus Eagle

Some people leaked the details before the planned British Motor Show release, so here you go. Somewhere in the middle of this car is a 3.5 V6 from Toyota pushing out over 280 bhp. Hopefully it's gonna keep the traditional "corners on rails" handling of all the other Lotus's, and very little weight to ensure it goes and stops quickly and easily.

Official press conference is tomorrow, so there's likely to be lots more pretty pictures and details then - stay tuned.

Wasp Knife

Lot's of press in the UK about the increase in knife attacks etc, so in typical newspaper fashion, a few of the daily papers get everyone even more scared by telling everyone in the world that you can go out and buy the knife below. How exactly that will help the problem, I have no idea. I just know if I see something that looks remotely like this, I'm running as fast as I can in the opposite direction



Apparently there's some legitimate reason for one of these things (I think they mentioned being attacked by a shark or an alligator or something - obviously a common thing when walking around Newcastle).

Pretty Buildings are all the rage

When I was a kid, Southbank was a bit of a mecca for skateboarders. There were lots of cool places to hang out down there, and although I never got to go, it would be featured in the skate and bmx mags on a pretty much monthly basis.

I'm sure it's all changed now, and with it comes lots of new buildings. One that's still not built yet is this one - apparently project planning took so long (4 years) that the original design was obsolete, so they came up with this new one. I think I want to just hang out on the 10.000 sq ft terrace on the roof.

GT-R on Top Gear

Still in shock at where on the leaderboard it ended up.....

iPhone Here, Celebrate with iBeer

The iPhone turned up on Thursday (some 10 days earlier than AT&T predicted), so I've had a weekend of playing with it now. Of course, it would be better if the battery life was better, but I think with a few minor modifications, I can survive. The trouble is it's just so pretty that you want to keep playing with it all the time, which I don't think helps.

Anyway, once I got all the things I really needed sorted out (300 on video, and a few choice tracks on the music side) I started messing around with a few of the apps you can download (Bejewelled and Texas Holdem are the current favorite games, and I got the expected response from the wife when I started waving around my light saber), but the winner so far has to be below - enjoy.