My first photo hit Explore today on flickr. The highest it got was #371 #299 #210(!!). I’m excited because I’ve secretly wished to have something Explore but at the same time I’m perplexed that it’s a picture of my FEET! Not flowers, or a cute kid, or a car. My feet! (Although they are my feet in some of my very hot shoes. ;)) It’s kind of silent vindication for all of those who have called me vain or narcissistic (my dad used that one and I thanked him for finding a much longer, more sophisticated word to make fun ot me ;)) because it was just a road to better photography people! That’s all! Okay, so it was totally me being vain…

So, original plans were to do that Half Dome hike this weekend. A part of me is kinda sad we don’t get to do it because I’m sure I’d end up with some amazing shots with the XTi. A bigger part of me is happy that I won’t be left on the side of a mountain with an ice ax in my head.

The reason we can’t go is because Ben has some stuff that HAS to be done to the track car this weekend or he won’t make it to next Friday’s track day. So since I already had approved PTO for Friday and Monday off, I’ve decided to take it anyway. A four day weekend sounds FABULOUS, yes? I got up and took Cassidy to breakfast before school today. Took a long hot shower with nobody knocking on the door to ask a question, or worried that I was going to use all the hot water, and I SO DID! Then I met Ben for a nice long lunch. Picked Cassidy up from school and now I’m blogging before I lay down and take a nice long nap! She’s off to the park with the neighborhood posse and a few parents to play some baseball.

I had originally planned to do a power cleaning on the house today but, WHY?! I’m on vacation! That’s my montra for the next three days. ‘Why? I’m on vacation?’ I wonder how many times I can use it till Ben snaps?

And! Because I’ve had nothing better to write about lately, another conversation!

This one happened when I got home and Ben had left the cell phone bill on my chair. The same day that my site got hacked and I still had a sense of humor! Previously he said that if we were billed extra for all the Twitters being sent to my phone via SMS he’d not be happy. We weren’t being charged. But GOOD LORD, did you know that Cingular sends you a log of all the text’s? ON PAPER. All 2,356 of them I got last month.

Antigone078: SEE?! I TOLD you the texting wasn’t extra…
Ben: can you call the parents of the tree you killed and give them the bad news?
Antigone078: BWAHAHAH! When I get my blog back: TOTALLY GETTING POSTED!
Ben:

And now for a tomboy post. If you aren’t into total tomboyishness you might want to just skip to paragraph three.

Saturday morning Ben and I got up bright and early to install my new TSE exhaust on the M3. I’ve put off getting an exhaust on the car for a long time because I really love the sound the Conforti intake makes when you mash down on the accelerator. But Ben promised me that this exhaust was The Best Exhaust and I trust him so I told him to go ahead and get it. And I’m SO GLAD that I got it now. It’s throaty and mean when you really want it to but at idle it’s just a nice quiet rumble and hardly noticeable. It’s just, awesome.

Then, this morning we got up and put the Rogue Engineering short shift kit on and GOOD LORD!! It’s like I’m driving a whole new car. I swear it feels like the shift throw is MAYBE an inch. I can slam between gears so fast and I’m REALLY happy now to have the clutch stop on the car or there’s no way my feet could keep up. The process between clutch in, shift, back on gas is one fluid motion that’s over a second after it’s started. It’s just… amazing.

AMAZING!

And as exhausted as I am, I decided that I’d make a flourless chocolate cake at 10:00PM. heh. So that comes out of the oven in about 20 minutes and them I an SO CRASHING OUT. I’m hoping that Cassidy and I can pick up a letterbox or two tomorrow and start the process of getting our own plated. AAAANNNNDD. She want’s her website back. So I need to do something about that. Eventually.

So I will be able to reference this when I need to here are the specs on the M3 to date:

Specs:
1995 Alpine White M3 with black interior.
5 speed, sunroof, power windows, Vader seats.
107,650 miles

Engine:
Intake: Conforti
Software: Conforti

Drivetrain:
Clutch Stop: UUC v3 Bigboy
Shifter: Rogue Engineering Short Shift Kit

Exhaust:
Cat-back: Twin Silenser Exhaust

Wheels: 17″ BBS RGR W/Diamond black finish
Tires: Kumho Ecsta PSX 255/40/17
Stud Kit: Motor-force 60mm

Suspension:
Front Caster/camber adjustment: Ground Control Race
Front Shocks/Springs: Ground-Control Shortened Struts / GC Custom Valved Koni SA / Eibach 450lb - 2.5″
Rear Shock Mount: Ground-Control
Rear Shocks/Springs: Externally adjustable custom valved Koni SA / Eibach 525LB - 2.5″ / Ground-Control Ride Height Adjuster
Rear Trailing Arm Bushings: Stock w/limiters

Aesthetics / Body:
Spoiler: REMOVED (hopefully replaced soon)
Shift knob: UUC Motorwerks RK5
E-brake: UUC Motorwerks RK5
Headlights: HELLA Angel Eyes HID lights

GOODNIGNT!

Watching Carrielee and Cassidy together is magical. They love eachother SO MUCH. Cassidy looks up to her like she is a big sister. She wants to do everything Carrielee does. She want’s to talk like Carrielee talks. She wants to dress like Carrielee dresses. And Carrielee loves it. She’s like, ‘YES! Wear my pants, and my shoes, and let me do your hair, and I’ll put some blush on your cheeks, and hold my hand while we skip off into the perfect pink sunset!’

They were inseparable the entire weekend. When we got home from another fantastic Reid Family Dinner they sat on the couch and tickled eachother and told silly jokes with absolutely no meaning and farted (Reid Family Dinners will do that to ya! ;)) and laughed so hard they could hardly breathe. And that made me laugh so hard I could hardly breathe. So finally I told them, “OKay, it’s late, calm down!” So they stopped laughing for 2 seconds and fell instantly asleep. They do that. They wake up as soon as their little bodies are capable of movement and GO! FULL SPEED! FULL OF LAUGHTER!! till their little bodies can’t process anymore and they pass out, HARD, so that they can wake up as soon as possible to do it all over again.

They do this till I say it’s time to go and they both just fall apart. Cassidy did really well this time. Didn’t cry at all till we got home and it was time to go to bed and when I walked in her room she has gigantic tears welling down her face.

Me: What’s wrong, Baby?

I ask this even though I know the answer because I want her to talk about it.

Cassidy: I miss Carrielee.
Me: I know, Honey. Come here.

*hugs*

Me: I think it’s so awesome that you have a best friend that you love so much. That’s very special.
Cassidy: But it hurts my heart.

*heart shatters on the floor on a bazillion pieces*

I promised her that tomorrow (today [now TWO days ago because I suck and have sat on this post for three days]) we will call Carrielee and print out some of the pictures from the weekend to send to them. And I’m sure that once she’s back in the school routine and playing with her girlfriends that the hurt in her heart will lessen. I just think it’s so cool that she has such a powerful bond with somebody. And it’s even cooler that the somebody is named after me (she got her middle name from me) and who I got to watch be BORN and helped raise for the first few years of her life.

So maybe it’s something the four of us share. Amber, Me, Cassidy and Carrielee. I don’t think anybody will ever really understand us because even Amber and I are very different people, but there’s a connection I have with her and even though we don’t get to see eachother more than a handful of times a year, it’s just THERE. We went through A LOT together. We were eachother’s rock through times and through things that don’t ever leave you. At the core of it all, I think that knowing, loving, then losing Ada has bonded us in a way that can’t ever be broken. Her death is something I rarely talk about, even with Ben. It’s still a really painful memory. I should so that someday, though. I should write it all out before it becomes any more cloudy than it already is.

But, that’s for another day! The weekend was awesome and it was SO GOOD to get to see everybody again. Once I have pictures uploaded, I’ll make get a post up with all the fun stuff.

I have to start posting more for my dad who pointed out my lack of updates this weekend

So, HI! How have you been? I’m great. Just swell, thanks for asking!

We ended up going to the track this weekend. After Cassidy got up Friday around 10ish her fever was back to normal and she was STARVING which usually means she’s better and lets get this show on the road, people!

The car did amazingly well with the new Functional Blingâ„¢ (carbon fibre wing) and Fantastic Sticky Rubberâ„¢ (Hankook slicks tires). I didn’t ride along with Ben at all because 1) my tummy has been consistently upset for about two weeks now and even with a DOUBLE dose of Dramamine I get nauseated after 20 minutes on the track, and 2) Ben was racking up REALLY fast times and I’d have just slowed him down.

As a matter of fact! He has a new personal best for Thunderhill. Prior to this weekend his best time was 2:07.18 and this weekend he turned SEVERAL 2:05’s with the lowest a 2:05.09. SO CLOSE to a 2:04 and the last session he wasn’t going to go out but a lot of cars had left and I was like, “Dude, you’re gonna have clean, clear track and it’s not that hot.” So he went, and was flying around the track and I just KNEW he’d gotten the 2:04 and… the Hot Lap Timer failed and no times were recorded. DOH!

Now I’m trying to talk him into running some Time Trial races. Looking at the times they are running, I think that he’ll do well.

It was great to see Stuart, Andrew, Ivan, Raza, Walter and Florian on the track too. I love it when the NorCalBMW crew makes it to a track day too because you get to make fun of people all day and nobody gets upset and your belly hurts from laughing and your cheeks are sore from smiling. I have big Reid cheeks so it’s a LOT of sore.

I also had the chance to hang out with Lisa quite a bit and away from the party scene for the first time. She’s a pretty cool chick with a wicked sense of humor. And! Cassidy took to her RIGHT AWAY.

Speaking of Cassidy… Ben got a hotel room with a hot tub because it wasn’t much more and thought it would be cool to relax after a long track day. He dropped us off at the hotel and headed to the track right away to unload the trailor and secure a spot under the awning. When Cassidy walked in the room and saw the hot tub she immediately started ripping off her clothes. It was funny. “I HAVE TO GET IN, MOM! I CAN SWIM IN THERE! IT WILL BE SO MUCH FUN! WHERE’S MY SWIMSUIT?! ARE THERE TOYS TO PLAY WITH?! MOM DON’T SIT DOWN WE HAVE TO FILL IT UP RIGHT NOW!!!” I grabbed the mini bottle of shampoo out of the bathroom and dumped the whole thing in and GOOD LORD the bubbles! It was crazy. She was happy and fever free and didn’t bother me for almost 45 minutes.

The next night Ben got in and put in some bubble bath I’d bought at The Black Bear cafe that afternoon when Cassidy, Lisa and I had lunch. When I went to turn the jets on for him, I had forgotten that the bubbles got really bad AFTER the jets were on when Cassidy was in so I added more to the water. By the time I looked over at him again there was about THREE FEET of bubble over the top of the water. I’m not kidding, it was HILARIOUS and I snapped a picture that I’ve been banned from posting online even though all you can see is bubbles and Ben’s head. The picture didn’t turn out all that well anyway because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hold still enough.

And that’s about it. I wish I had more, or something TOTALLY FANTASTIC to share but that’s really…about it. Really. Before my next blog I’ll rob a bank or something that will make for a more interesting post.

Timeline:

Last Saturday - I lay on couch all day trying to fight back vomit. Have headache also.

Tuesday - Up till 2AM with Ben who has headache so bad he’s actually laying in bed moaning. Never seen him in so much pain before. Not even when the local pain medicine we didn’t know he’d been given wore off the day after meniscus surgery… and that pain was pretty bad.

Wednesday - After school Cassidy complains of a headache. Notice the rosy cheeks at about 8:00PM, fever already at 102.4 degrees. Give Tylenol, water, bed.

Thursday - Stay home. Cassidy’s fever bounces between 100 and 102.6 degrees. Clean, laundry, cater to Princess. My head starts hurting. Suck it up, kid sick. No time for me to be sick too.

Today - Up at 4:30AM. Cassidy’s fever is 101.3 degrees. *sigh* Have to call in sick again. Boss is probably pissed, I’ve lost 16 hours of PTO. Suck. Sit at computer to check email, flickr, etc. notice it hurts head to look at screen. Take temperature, 99.9. Great. Supposed to leave in 6.5 hours to spend weekend at track with Ben.

Right now - Going back to bed. Getting up @ 8:00AM to take us to Urgent Care. Crossing fingers. Sorry there’s no blog/flickr updates. Check back next week with The World isn’t crumbling around me.