Nice ad in wall street journal.

Here are some pictures of the Honda as requested. The only noticable difference is the white door. I also went with the blacks instead of the softer reds. Changed the door handle yesterday, so I can use the right key for the door. The donor car is looking donored.

Noah

The round mound of rebound.

Here are some photos from the weekend. We decided to build a bird house. It went pretty good. Then we went to stewart's and got some sundae's. We ate them at the river. It was nice. It was 85 degrees in Albany on monday, today it is 65.

Noah

I went up to Tehama County to sample my grassland restoration plots. The horses became very interested in what I was doing:



They seemed to know a lot about grasses:


"Hmm, that one looks particularly tasty."

Bull fight.

P2: AGR
P1: #2
GT1: #3
GT2: PWL
Champ Car: Si Pag
Atlantics: Hinch
ST: #126 BMW
GS: #96 BMW
Earl: Kanaan

my picks are not interesting this week, but here they are
P1- Don't care
P2- the non Chris Dyson Dyson car. Leitzinger
GT1- evetually the team will give the #3 car a win, my pick #4
GT2- Hard to pick against the #62, but PWL #31
IRL- Dixon
Champ Car- Servia
Nascrap- Kahne #9
Baseball- (Jonathan) Yankees
Koni- GT same as Joel for GT. Not enough information for me to pick ST.
Tim said Jeff Trombley is racing at Lebanon Valley this season. He did no elaborate.

Noah

My picks will be the same as last week.
P2: #7 Porsche (actually I picked #6 last week)
P1: #1
GT1: #4
GT2: PWL
Champ Car: Power
And I will add Koni Challenge...
ST: #29 RSX
GS: #96 M3

Houston will be on ESPN on Sunday at 3:30 (ALMS is tape delayed to next Sunday on CBS at 1)

The track has been resurfaced and changed a bit, so it won't be as brutal as last year. It should be fun because Servia and Dominguez will be racing for a seat. Which means MD will again place his car in the wall. Remember that Long Beach is always the worst race of the year.

After Houston, Champ Car will be off until Portland, June 10. PT will be back, Servia will be in the #3 Forsythe Indeck car this weekend.

Autocon won't be in Houston and will return for Salt Lake City with their new Creation/Judd. Cytosport isn't on the entry list either.

Cyndy and I probably going to Champ Car at Mont Tremblant.

I'd write about the marathon but it was raining and I was asleep.

Earth Day is on Sunday.

74 days of Cambridge.

Two Ruffed Grouse perched in th tree by the outhouse.

I got the Speed GT pick also. Ron Fellows won Long Beach in a Cadillac CTS-V.

Noah

We had a very nice visit to Niskayuna. The blue house looks great. The ride back Sunday was a little difficult but we beat most of the bad weather. Here in Scarborough most of the roads around us are still closed after just under 6 inches of rain in a few hours. 1/4 of the state doesn't have power but so far knock on wood we didn't even lose cable. I took the kids out to play in the puddles after dinner. They exceeded expectations for getting wet and muddy. Part of the main road is washed out near by which impressed both kids.

I see Noah got the Nascar pick. We listened to some of both races on the radio. Jonathan watched the Redsox game today. We saw Beckett hit Guerrero directly in the right hand with a 96 mph fastball. Unbelievably his hand was not broken but he'll be out for a while.

I didn't get a picture with all 4 cousins together.

Chris

Snowed in again! Last night the wind and snow increased to a level that left 2ft of heavy wet snow this am. When the Hudson River Black River employee took the snowmobile to the dam this morning, I knew we wern't going to get out. I took the snowmobile to find him and discovered that the roads in from Big Moose and Watson weren't plowed either. Mike said he tried to turn around on the way in but couldn't so he continued on. By 5pm the roads and our driveway are clear enough for us to get out tomorrow am.

Kate's brother, Jay, a student at Virginia Tech is fine. She talked to him today.

The 1st loon is back in Stillwater for the season. He's made no comment on the snow as yet.

Memories of GT1 competition. So sad.

Niskayuna, NY April 15, 2007 3pm.

Here are some photos. First is Cameron saying "look at me, I'm Jonathan Yo.". The next photo is the dance show that was put on saturday night.

Noah

The American LeMans race was decent. Not a great race. Both Dyson cars finished ahead of the Audi R10's. I think Rahal/Letterman should consider having Tom Milner drive the second stint at Houston. He seems to be getting into the habit of wrecking the car on his own without any help. Of course during the broadcast they spent 90% of the time talking about yellow cars and diesel powered cars. We can all sleep better knowing the Corvettes are using ethanol 10 this year. The Ferraris and Porsches are using "gasoline".
Too bad about PT. My picks for this weekend are not looking very good. Should be a good race anyway.

Noah

Long Beach Grand Prix, 4PM - NBC. Right Jonathan?

The Bad news, PT hurt his back and will be out for about three months.
The good news is that the Salvador Dali helmet of everyone's favorite Catalonian is taking his place.

Picture from Saturday

Picture from testing

Didn't get to watch ALMS.

77 Days Left in Cambridge

Koni GT- Auberlen #96
Koni ST- #48 Chevy Cobalt

Noah

Joel said I have make my picks before qualifying. Here it goes.
P1-#2 Audi
P2-Andretti/Green Acura
GT1-#4
GT2-#44 Long/Lizard
Champ Car-PT
Speed GT-Fellows #16 Cadillac
Nascrap-Burton #31
I have to check the Homestead entry list for Koni challenge picks.

Noah

Quilts April 11

Yesterday we went to Watertown to do some errands and then went on to Sackett's Harbor for an early dinner at our favorite- Goodfellos wine bar and brick oven pizza.

After a fine meal when we should have gotten our check the waitress came over and said, "You are all set and your daughter says Happy Birthday."

Us, "Huh."

Waitress, " Your daughter called and wanted to pay for your dinner. Aren't you Bob Cook?"

Peter, "No."

Waitress, " You're the only person in here who is balding and gray. Oh no, I've already run the transaction and torn up the #s"

She did manage to get it all straightened out in the end.

And, you can hardly imagine! It's not snowing for the 1st time in 7 days- I'm heading out to the clothes line after Peter shovels the deck.

The F1 race was really good. I din't see the whole thing because I got tired at 4am. The track is really cool. It must be the best looking race facility in the world. The layout of the track is cool too. I like the all the turns and the two straights joined by a 180.
The Champ Car race was also very good. I think when all the bugs (refueling) are worked out of the new car there will be some great racing. It would have been nice to see a few more cars competitive at the end, but overall good racing with lots of passing. I haven't heard any quotes yet but Seabass must be really slamming the new car. If he has a below average season it could hurt his plans for next year. It won't look good if he keeps blaming the car either. Justin Wilson also seemed to not have the handle sorted out. That car was all over the place, I hope he gets it sorted out at Long Beach.
ALMS gained a P1 car in the Long Beach entry list, not that speed channel will talk about anything other than Audi's, Penske, and Acura.

Noah

Added Murphy the Bear to the links. He's all about ALMS news. Worth reading.

Jonathan, Champ Car is at Long Beach this Sunday on NBC at 4PM.

The Soprano's are not Family Blog appropriate.

On Saturday I went on a field trip with my California Plants class. The weather was overcast and drizzly, which means that the light was really good for pictures. We first stopped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park to see some of the species that occur in redwood forests.

Hierochloe occidentalis (sweetgrass) in the Poaceae (grass) family:


We then went to Point Reyes National Seashore to see some of the salt marsh, coastal scrub, coastal prairie, sand dune, and closed cone pine associations.

Poa douglasii (sand-dune bluegrass) also in the Poaceae family with Eriogonom latifolium (coast buckwheat) in the Polygonaceae (buckwheat) family in the background:


The view from the Poa douglasii:



Iris douglasii(?) in the Iridaceae (Iris) family:


Calochortus tolmiei (pussy ears) in the Liliaceae (lily) family and a Lupinus chamissonis leaf in the Fabaceae (legume) family with water droplets.

Tony and Carmela weekending in the Adirondacks- who would have thunk it? What a great show.

I've been doing vegetation sampling at Vasco Caves Regional Park. It is at the edge of the Coast Ranges and overlooks the Central Valley to the East. It gets very windy there.


Mimulus aurantiacus:


That's not a plant!

He is Risen

Remember Jonathan, Champ Car is on NBC at 3:30 tomorrow.
Don't plan on seeing any thing this exciting in the race. They tore up this entire area of the street- down to the dirt and repaved it over night.

Seabass caused a red flag after he hit a wall in during Q2 (lost his best time which would have had him in 5th). During the red flag Will Power had a transmission problem and also had to be towed to the pits. He would have lost his best time, but it wouldn't have mattered because he had another sub seventeen second lap in his pocket to spare.

Team Australia is strong and Si Pag will steal rookie of the year from Graham Rahal just like he got the Atlantic Championship. Rahal is already onto his spare car.

PT now has a personal sponsorship from Monster energy drink. He said he had trouble closing the deal in the off season because of the questions surrounding the series, but when the president of Monster showed up Friday he was so impressed with what he saw the deal was done by Saturday.

More people were at the Vegas track on Saturday then at the IRL race in St. Pete on Sunday. This is one of the best street courses in the world.

Nelson is still roaming the paddock looking for a ride as is Jan Heylan.


"April is the best month because it has the first three Champ Car races of the season."
-Me- Poet, Engineer, Reverend, Fortune Teller, Food Critic

1. Tracy
2. Bourdais
3. Will Power (or Si Pag) Walker Racing is the new RuSport

1. Matos
2. Hinch
3. Skerlong

Lot's of good reviews about the track. Conquest has a second car in Vegas but didn't get a check from Pasterolli in time. That car will be filled by Portland. China will be after Surfers Paradise now. Gelles went from plans to field 2 Champ Cars, 4 Atlantics, and 6 FBMW to out of business in 8 months. First Data won't be title sponsor of vegas or phoenix, see their stock price for an explanation. Someone must have woken up Gummy Bear because he's quick all of a sudden and his car looks cool even though it appears to be giving you the finger.

Matt Halliday and Dominguez have the best looking cars. Minardi gets an F.


More good pictures

84 days in Cambridge

Jonathan & Chris Feb. vacation

Paul's snow hut April 7

For the 1st time since we moved here we are SNOWED IN! It has been snowing since we got home Thursday, but last night it really picked up and now we have 8 inches and it is coming down hard. Not a big deal you say- well the road to Old Forge is closed and the road out to Lowville isn't being plowed. We were going to meet friends in Utica today, go to the art museum and then out to dinner. We could get out if we had to but, it seems smarter to postpone the outing.

We have about 10 times more birds at the feeder than we had all winter. They seem to have had their plans upended by the snow, too.

Happy Easter everyone.

"April is the cruelest month" TS Eliot

Cyndy and I will be in the brick house starting in July. I'll be at Qdrive(on the right) in Troy.

87 Days left in Cambridge

Jonathan, watch the Champ Car race on Sunday: 3:30 NBC.



25 years ago...

Christmas 1998. Before the invention of the Christmas Hut (now known as the Patriot's Day Hut, unless some jerk took it down before Patriot's Day).

Cup of dirt.

Yay.

Good(as in interesting) Champ Car article with Newman Haas Lanigan setting their tone for the season and Neil Micklewright being awesome as usual.

I walked back the LaRouche people today(they have had a table of propaganda on campus since I've been there), usually they have signs about impeaching Cheney and so on. But today they had an "Al Gore Food Drive," that consisted of a box full of African cabbage patch dolls. They were asking that you donate an African baby. They are very dedicated people. They are also interested in a bridge across the Bering Strait and fresh water pipe lines from the Arctic to Asia, South America, and Africa(based on reading signs over the past 4 years).

http://www.larouchepac.com/

Did anyone wake up to toothpaste on their toilet seat this morning? I feel pretty safe up here in Stillwater.