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From the field...

For What It's Worth...

December 31st, 2003:
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

I’ve been so busy that I’ve neglected updating my blog. Work is insane, as usual… but the insanity has been kicked into high gear. In the financial sector, things change very quickly, and pressure has been added to make very precise, technical changes very quickly. So far, so good.

Christmas has come and gone. Our usual Cannonball-style holiday rally was as exciting as ever. All said and done, we travelled to the Grosse Pointe area (a few times), Frankenmuth, Clarkston (a few times), and a few places in between. We had to cancel a visit to Warren due to weather, but we’re planning to make it out there in the next week-or-so.

Decorations, gifts, food, friends, and family. Our first married Christmas together was very nice. (Pictures coming soon.)

Tonight is New Year’s Eve. There are a handful of parties to go to, but we committed to one pretty early… at Brad’s place. Sorry, George. There is a small chance that I’ll make it out to that side of town tonight, though.

Hope you all had a great Christmas/ Hanukah / Kwanza / Festivus and have a prosperous New Year.

- Duane

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December 21st, 2003:
Christmas cookies and spark plugs.

Gina’s parents, Gina, and I spent the day at her parent’s house. We decorated cookies in the morning then Glenn (my father-in-law) and I retired to the shop. We changed the spark plugs on the Spec Racer (sounds easy… but it’s not), and updated the master switch wiring. Ah… my kind of holiday.

I’ve started looking into the finer details of the SOLO 2 rulebook. Everything I want to finish on my WRX will fit nicely into the STX class… except for the electronic boost controller that I’ve already installed. So, either I’ll sell that, or figure out a way to easily switch between the factory controller and EBC.

- Duane

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December 12th, 2003:
Looking California, Feeling Minnesota.

We opened for a national act (Lennon) last night. Her band is a 3.5 piece. That extra .5 is for the computer that sequenced everything and replaced the bassist. They had a tour bus, sound guy, manager, and lots of production. She sounded great and we were honored to play with them.

We weren’t intimidated by them, as I thought we would be… We put on a great show and were invited back to headline mid-January. Check out Rogerbox.net for the latest updates. I’ll have some photos up soon.

- Duane

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December 10th, 2003:
Archived System Update

It’s nice to be surprised… like finding a dollar in your pocket… or the doggie bag from your favorite restaurant in the fridge the next morning. I forgot that during the holidays, the Etcetera logo and background get a special treatment. Cool.

- Duane

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December 8th, 2003:
3 Weeks, 3 Rental Cars.

I rant about American-built (more specifically, Union-built) cars often. A lot of people are sick of it. Too bad. Gina’s car was rear-ended a month ago. Her insurance allows for her to have a rental car while her Subaru is repaired.

The first sh*tbox was a 1-year-old Taurus. It leaked oil all over our driveway. She traded that one for a brand new never-before-rented Grand Prix GT Widetrack. The thing had a lot of useless features… and nothing else. Poor acceleration, poor comfort, poor handling. Yesterday, I noticed it buzzing. Yes, “buzzing.” It sounded like the fuel pump was on, even though the car had been parked for a day. Gina dismissed this as my normal pessimistic paranoia. However, this morning, as she attempted to rush to work, she found the car unable to start. Blah-blah rental car blah. Bullsh*t. It’s brand new. It’s a crappy-made union heap of non-innovative crap. The rental company apologized and replaced it within 15 minutes. That’s great. However, they replaced it with another Taurus. I’ve asked that it not be parked in our driveway. Let it leak oil in the street.

I own 2 American cars. I love them. They’re both F-bodies. But, I wouldn’t want to have to rely on either of them daily. You’re welcome to your opinion. However, in my experience, U.S. auto manufacturers can’t do much to sway me. My parents last reliable car was a 78 Olds. Ever since then, they’ve gone through transmissions, electronics, and interior components like they were recycleable. Feh.

- Duane

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