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It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
I hope that no one will claim to know the final answers; no good comes from prophets. But even when acknowledging our falibility, we must nevertheless continue to think about these matters and give the advice to others that intellect and conscience dictate. And let God be our judge, as our grandparents used to say. - Sakharov
Baka ni tsukeru kusuriwa nai (There's no medicine to cure stupidity) - an old Japanese Proverb
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Home Blog Archive True Stories Vegas, NSXPO 2005, Arizona Real Estate
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Vegas, NSXPO 2005, Arizona Real Estate |
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Tuesday, 11 October 2005 |
What a tiring and fun five days... I left San Jose at 10AM on friday
morning to Las Vegas en-route to Arizona for instructing the driving
school at Firebird Raceway for the 2005 NSXPO. I
decided not to do the NSXPO weekend event as I'm not really in the age
range of most of the other NSXPO participants. It sounded like a
lot of fun, but I was itching to go to Vegas anyways. I never
been to Vegas alone, so I figured it might be interesting.
I got
into Vegas at 7PM, I would have made it in 8 hours if it weren't the
crap bumper to bumper parking lot traffic on I15 about 2 hours south of
Vegas. I checked into the cheapo hotel Circus Circus (never
again) and took a rest because my eyeballs were killing
me from the long drive, but I was determined to go have some fun.
I went to NYNY irish pub and met two hapa sisters and went dancing at
Studio 54... I thought I'd get action from either one, but I got
obliterated and started dancing with some another girl by the bar and lost track of the hapas when I
went to look for them at 3AM, they must have got irritated and gone home. Oh well,
I was way too exhausted and retarded anyways.
Got up at noon the next day and
just took it easy, played some video games, watched a movie then did
the drinking thing
again on saturday night. I met a some girls from the bay area at the
Venetian V-bar and got their digits and then later checked out the Ra
in Luxor and a new after hours place called Seven which was totally
dead.
On sunday, I left Vegas around 1PM
and stopped at the Hoover Dam and rested a bit before getting into Buckeye
Arizona
where my sister's new home was built by 9PM. I get to bed around
midnight and get up at 6AM again monday morning to make it in time for
the 8AM instructors meeting at the NSXPO driving school.
Things
go smoothly all day with the student instruction, both students listen
to me well and the day goes without any incidents. During the
instructor/advanced run sessions, I'm pretty much spanking everyone in
my run group on my shitty street tires. Too bad there weren't
more fun cars to play with... but after about 5 laps my tires get super
slippery so I put on a good show for the specators as I go sideways
through pretty much all turns.
I got up at 8AM again
this morning to do it all over, but fortunately I was able to scheduled
my new home's interior options planning appointment so that I can take
care of it while I'm
down there. I leave the track by 1PM after running 2 more
"drifting" sessions and rush over to make my appointment at the
design center. I choose fancy cabinets, granite top counters, 20"
tile floors, and nice carpets... the lady says it will be good for the
home's resale value... I better hope so... $19K!!! But I keep telling
myself its an investment and the house is 3350 sq/ft, so it better look
nice... The analogy the lady made was having the basic cheapo interior
is the same as having a luxury car with crappy rims. I hope I didn't
get hustled too badly.
Anyway, tommorrow gotta finalize some more
paperwork for the sale of my scottsdale house and make LOOONG trek back
to the Bay Area... its gonna suck.
Speaking of getting hustled...
I was invited to join the NSXPO gang for a group sushi dinner, so I
went to the mall to wash up and buy a clean t-shirt so I wouldn't stink
up
all the sushi. A hot Israeli girl working the kiosk walked up to
me and started rubbing nice smelling oil on my hand and arms... I
was mesmerized by her accent and her kindness and bought a whole bunch
of girly aromatherapy and health spa shit from her. I was totally
suckered and got hustled
probably, she gave me her card with her # on it... but I couldn't tell
if she wanted me to buy more stuff from her later or what... she's only
been in the country for 2 months... but damn, she was so cute. I
should have suggested she move to SF with me... I never been suckered
like that in the mall before, but I have to give her credit that she
was either brilliantly sneaky or she really was cool... afterall she
gave me a bunch of extra stuff and put oil all over me. I guess in
consolation for me, I got the stinky problem solved.
additional commentary:
If I had not have borrowed Ken's GPS system, I would have been screwed.
It was a lifesaver in Arizona as I tried to find the racetrack and my
design center appointments. I was a lifesaver while I was in Boston
last week too. I need to look into getting one of my own
soon. It really is awesome wants you get used to using it. |
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