Cool Race Fab Ideas

This should have been posted way back in July when it happened, but I was busy. When I worked the scales at the ICSCC races, I looked around the cars and found 2 genius ideas.
The first one: If your car is on fire and you are able to stop and get out, and then you feel like using the mandatory on board fire extinguisher, where would you like that to be? Bolted to the floor of the passenger side (where everyone puts it) so that you have to reach back into the burning car you just jumped out of? No, that's stupid. How about just inside the door where all you have to do is pull a quick pin.

The second great idea: You know how everybody installs the window net into a hole on one end, and a seat belt latch on the other? That pretty much is impossible to do by the driver once he's strapped in isn't it? What if one end was attached by a heim joint? Then the net can still drop out of the way, but it's always attached, and all you have to do is swing it up.

Research

I got together a distinguished panel of judges so that we could rate several interesting beers all at once. Because one of the group didn't care for very hoppy beers, and one of us (me), only likes hoppy beers,we figured those 2 votes would cancel each other out. Also, since not everyone in the group thinks Nelson IPA is the best beer ever, for this test a 10 is whatever each person considered to be a 10. There were 6 judges and a dog. Here's what we decided:

Eel River Organic - 5.2, had a sort of lavender taste to it.
Diamond IPA - 5.8, really hoppy.
Total Domination - 6.3, forgot to write down notes.
Third Voyage - 6, unless you add in the dog's vote. She didn't finish her bowl, so we called that a 3.That brought the average down to 5.4. Really, Really Hoppy.
Loser - 5.4, this test was unfair because we had been drinking IPA's all this time and this was the only pale ale, a retest will be done.
Tricerahops - 6.7, forgot to write down my notes, and somebody forgot to vote, so this might be a hollow victory. Maybe this calls for a retest, also. In fact, perhaps the entire procedure may be an ineffective way to judge beer. But it was fun, so what the hell.

Real IPA

I bought this IPA from jolly old England the other day. For those of you don't know, India Pale Ale was an English invention. A way to keep beer from going bad on the long, hot voyage to India. In the back of my mind, I was thinking I wasn't gonna like it, but couldn't remember why.
Now I know. It's boring. It was modern craft brewers, particularly those here in the Northwest who cranked up the hops to the level I now expect from beer. God Bless America!

Oops, forgot to give it a rating. It's a perfectly good beer, just not when you're a hop fiend like me. I'll say 7.

The Plight of the Gearhead

It's not easy being a Gearhead. I went to the vintage races, and there were so many beautiful cars, but the one that stood out from the crowd for me was this "barn find" midget that was a basket case. All I see when I look at stuff like that is what it could be, and how cool it used to be, thus I am burdoned with a never ending list of projects.
What's a Gearhead to do?
Do you feel my pain?

Mongoose

Mongoose was my favorite beer a few years back, and I was always happy when I found a place that sold it.
I tried some a few weeks ago, and wasn't impressed. I figured I better drink some more and pay attention this time. So. I decided the problem is not with Mongoose, there is no problem at all. It's good news! There are so many other great IPA's out there, that Mongoose is now just run of the mill. What used to be a 10 is now a 7.

For Hippies Only

Fish Tale Organic IPA

Being part hippy myself, I was hoping this would be an exceptional beer. Sadly, it’s just….average.

It’s good, nothing to complain about, but, nothing to brag about either. I guess average would be a 5. But let’s give it a bonus point for being organic, and call it a 6. Don’t forget to recycle the bottle, or bad mojo will visit your teepee.

Book Signing Event

I'm having my first book signing event at Little Italy, the wine and beer place about a block from my house. Yeah, it's also a gas station. That's where I buy my race gas.
December 3rd, from 4 to 6. Why should you come? Because there will be free beer and wine tastings!

http://statelineplaza.com/littleItalys.html