In the spirit of the last post, and courtesy of Joseph, here is a flowchart:

So I have been thinking about this for a while, and I think I've finally worked up my Top 10 list for beers. I can't eally put it in order of favorites though, because a lot of the time it depends on what I'm in the mood for. However, the following are ones I consistently enjoy and come back to.

• Shiner Bock (Spoetzl Brewery | Shiner, Texas)
  • A pretty solid staple, available cheaply from pretty much all retailers, it is easily drinkable and better than the big three, BudMillerCoors.
• Live Oak HefeWeizen (Live Oak Brewery | Austin, Texas)
  • By far one of the tops of the list, this hefe never fails to please, and always satisfies. Delicious on its own or with a lemon wedge, this is my summer beer of choice, hands down.
• Grotten Brown (Pierre Celis Signature) (Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV | Watou, Belgium)
  • Another one that is definitely at the top, this beer is complex, flavorful, and gets better with age. Unfortunately expensive, and only brewed once, these are in very short supply and almost impossible to get; I have three sitting in my closet.
• Grotten Flemish Ale (Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV | Watou, Belgium)
  • Another fantastically complex beer, with a medley of herbs and honey and citrus flavors. Another Pierre Celis Signature beer, these are also becoming increasingly hard to find, for me at least, and just as expensive as the Grotten.
• Rare Vos (Amber Ale) (Brewery Ommegang | Cooperstown, New York)
  • A wonderfully affordable Belgian-style beer that is just downright tasty. Widely available, even in regular grocery stores, this beer is a very nice American take on Belgian beer.
• Trois Pistoles (Unibroue | Chambly, Quebec)
  • This is a serious, full-bodied beer which barrages you with an abundance of flavors, all of them good. A little different each time you try it, as the different flavors come out in different ways. Deceptively strong.
• Weekapaug Gruit Ale (Cambridge Brewing Company | Cambridge, Massachusetts)
  • A beer unlike any other I have ever tried, it is immensely flavorful without any added hops. Tastes of citrus, caramel malts, flowers, coriander, flowers, with no bitterness. Can't wait to have this again! Not available in Texas, unfortunately.
• Big Bear Black Stout (Bear Republic Brewing Co. | Healdsburg, California)
  • A solid stout, great for cooking or great for drinking. Big bottles are affordable and easy to find. Strong, both in flavor and in alcohol content, this beer holds true to its name. It's big, it's black, and it's stout.
• Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale (Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) | Boston, Massachusetts)
  • These come in the Holiday Sampler packs, and they are by far one of my favorite Sam Adams. If they sold these in 6-packs, they would definitely be a winter staple. Unfortunately, I only get two of these per 12 pack sampler.
• Black Butte Porter (Deschutes Brewery, Inc. | Bend, Oregon)
  • I've only seen this on tap at my local pub, and it's delicious every time. Drinks well on its own, or with a burger and fries. Nice blend of malts and hops, just wish I could find it bottled!

I decided to count up my bottle caps today.

Beer	Count
Shiner Bock	175
Shiner Hefeweizen	18
Samuel Adams	18
Smirnoff Ice Pomegranate	11
Shiner 98	7
Samuel Adams Oktoberfest	6
Samuel Adams Boston Ale	6
Blue Moon Winter Ale	6
Blue Moon Hefeweissen	6
Molson XXX	5
Shiner Light	4
Shiner Blonde	4
Samuel Adams Winter Ale	4
Twisted Tea	3
Shiner Kolsh	3
Guinness	3
Budweiser	2
Blue Moon (black)	2
Woodchuck Draft Cider	1
Wadteiner	1
Rolling Rock	1
Newcastle Brown Ale	1
Molson	1
Labatt Blue	1
Corona Light	1

I like Shiner Bock.

Been pretty busy lately. Vegas was fun, Melinda and I are doing well, school starts up on Monday, just got back from camping at Bastrop State Park for 4 days with Melinda.

School is going to be busy, and I'ma miss my girly when she leaves in February.

Here's a picture of the night sky in Bastrop State Park:


30 second exposure, f/3.5, 28mm

Saturday: Materials (9am), Statistics (2pm)
Sunday: Studying
Monday: Machine Elements (9am)
Tuesday: Heat Transfer (9am)
Wednesday: Las Vegas!

    So as of late, it seems GM is making an effort to switch many of their vehicles to a RWD platform, as they were in GM's heyday. Holden's new Zeta platform is opening the doors for a new line of RWD cars for GM to develop that are not only RWD, but can handle well and be price competitive with the Japanese. As noted in my previous post, GM is bring in the Commodore on the Zeta platform as the Pontiac G8, which means we'll undoubtedly see a new GTO again as well, even if it isn't named the GTO, but rather just the G8 Coupe. The upcoming Chevrolet Impala is going to finally transition to a RWD platform again, since it switched to FWD in 2000 when the name was resurrected to replace the Lumina. All Cadillacs will finally be re-transitioned to RWD platforms again, as well as a number of Buick models.
    So with this recent trend towards RWD platforms and GM tradition coming through, word is that GM will be importing yet another Holden from the land of Oz. GM will be importing the VE Commodore-based Ute into the states as the Pontiac G8 ST (the ST standing for Sport Truck). It will only be offered in V8 trim, likely slightly more powerful than the G8 GT due to engine tuning, probably up to ~400HP and 400 lb-ft similar to the LS2 GTOs. However, it seems that Chevy won't resurrect the perfect name for the Ute, the El Camino. I have no doubt that this is due to the fact that retro jerks will cry out that it's not American, and it doesn't look like an old El Camino, and therefore sales will plummet, just like the new GTO. However, unlike the old GTO and like the new GTO, the Ute can actually handle!
    What makes me especially excited about the Ute is that it actually has some decent hauling and towing specs, with plenty of interior room for two people and an ability to handle well while doing so.

Payload: 1164 lbs
Towing: 3527 lbs



This means it can safely haul two dirt bikes in the bed, one sport bike, and still have enough load for people and gear. Need to get around with more than one sport bike? Tow it! Not only that, but it'll come with stability control, AC, a manual transmission (I hope!!), leather interior, and other nice interior features.

So basically, this thing is going to be freakin' sweet, and it's about damn time we had a replacement for the El Camino.

    So it seems as of late I am becoming a fanboy to Holden, an Australian auto manufacturer, partially owned by GM. However, as of late, Holden has been acting far more independently than most subsidiaries, designing and manufacturing their cars entirely in Australia. In fact, GM's new Zeta platform is the brainchild of Holden engineers. For their upper range of models, their design philosophy seems to be to take a big block GM V8 engine (the LSx series) and cram it into a sporty rear-wheel drive chassis, and style it subtly in order to avoid attention from cops and the insurance companies. Not only do they have a wide selection of big-engined sporty cars, but they also have a full range of cars that compete in practically every category. The ones I won't be talking about here fit below

Model	Class	Competitors
Barina	Sub-Compact	Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris
Viva/Astra	Compact	Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, etc
Epica	Mid-Size	Honda Accord, Toyota Camry
Rodeo	Mid-Size Truck	Toyota Tundra, Nissan Frontier
Captiva	Crossover SUV	Saturn VUE, Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander

    The ones I have been most interested is the brand's range of Full-Size cars, most notably the Commodore sedan. Similar to other brands, Holden took their Commodore platform and extended its versatility across the range by tweaking things to suit particular needs. Similar to Honda and Toyota and their Accord-based Acura TL and Camry-based Lexus ES, Holden created the Commodore-based Berlina and Statesman, which are essentially long wheelbase, luxury versions of the Commodore, with quieter and higher quality interiors, softer suspension, and less aggressive styling, priding ride comfort over sporting intent. However, since the Commodore is a RWD platform, it was only natural to extend it towards the other end of the spectrum as well.

    A few years back the US imported what was essentially a Commodore coupé (known in Australia as the Holden Monaro) with styling changes and re-badged as the Pontiac GTO. At first they stuck in the 350HP LS1 V8, but later changed it to the 400HP LS2, along with the addition of hood scoops in order to keep with the traditional Pontiac snouts. The new GTO was heralded as one of the best cars to come out of GM in a very long time, as it was cheap (a base price of $30,000) and had boat loads of power from the factory and plenty of aftermarket support, and actually handled quite well due to the fact that it was designed in Australia where handling is equally important as straight line power (unlike any of its American competitors like the Ford Mustang GT, which had absolutely atrocious handling in comparison). In fact, magazines worldwide raved about how much fun the car was to drive, despite the fact that it made compromises. No, it didn't handle the best, yes it was slightly heavy, but with the amount of power, it did it more than well enough to hold its own.
    Unfortunately for America, Pontiac's redesign of the Monaro resulted in something that was less than desirable to American consumers, who to this day still seem to want something that LOOKS retro regardless of how it performs. The newly redesigned Mustang GT, with a 300HP 4.6L V8, performs worse than the GTO, yet had sales through the roof. The styling of the Monaro was not meant for the American market, especially not with the legendary GTO badge. When Pontiac sought to import a new GTO, they didn't want a simple rehash of old designs, but rather something inherently different that would still pay homage to the ultimate powerhouse that was the GTO of days past. While the new Mustang GT may pull design cues from the old 60s and 70s Mustangs, that wasn't what Pontiac wanted. And for that, I am pleased. While I do appreciate the retro styling of some new cars, I think the manufacturers are taking it too far. The GTO didn't shout, didn't scream, didn't make a show. It was subtle, refined, but with more raw power potential underneath the hood than many would know what to do with. Poor sales for the GTO, due to its lackluster styling, resulted in price breaks by the thousands for previous year models, with 2005 and 2006 models being sold for well under MSRP in order to try and clear them out the doors. This brought up its reputation as one of the best values for cheap power. In fact, I believe it is/was the only vehicle in 2006 that you could realistically get 400HP for $25k or less. With a warranty. Not only that, but since it's Australian it has a fit and finish that is leaps and bounds above American cars of similar (and not so similar) price, as well as solidly built Australian reliability, which is also far superior to American competitors and you have an awesome value.
    When Pontiac redesigned the Monaro to reflect the classic Pontiac styling cues, they deviated from a beautiful car and, again, unfortunately for the Americans, made it uglier. The GTO does not look nearly as good as the Monaro, in my opinion, mainly due to the big bulky grill.





    The big Pontiac grill just does not flow with the lines of the front end like they are supposed to. The Holden just looks sleeker, cleaner. I think it has something to do with the lip on the bumper, where the GTO's grill hangs over it slightly, the Holden's fits above it. Ironically enough, while many GTO owners in America want to make the conversion to the Monaro, the Australians want to go the other direction and convert their Monaro into an American GTO. I believe it's not only the desire for Australian passion in America and American passion in Australia, but the desire for something different, something unique.
    The last of the Monaros/GTOs came off the factory line in Australia in 2006, making the 2006 model year the final year for the new GTO, coinciding with a complete redesign of the Commodore line, completely designed and built in Australia.

    The new VE Commodore comes in a variety of trim levels, with a base model equipped with a 241HP V6 and the SS and SS-V V8 equipped models putting down 362HP. The trim levels give the buyer a range of factory options to accommodate each person's desires and tastes. The SV6, for example, uses a 261HP 3.6L V6 and sport tuned suspension for a fun ride with fuel savings, and the base model Omega offers affordability and family practicality. When you move up to the V8 models, sport suspension and aesthetic upgrades become standard, with added levels of sporting upgrades such as wheels, seats, etc. Not only that, but the Commodore SS has four-wheel independent suspension featuring a fully adjustable front end, aiding in the well above average handling for its class.
   
    Pictured is the more aggressive Commodore SS-V. The SS Version is a bit more toned down.



    Honestly, a fantastic looking car. Just the right amount of show, but not too ostentatious. A sport sedan, emphasis on sport.

    And, just like the Monaro, it looks like America will eventually get our own version, in the form of the all new Pontiac G8. And again, Pontiac has seemed to destroy the looks by adding their big bulging Pontiac grille. I also DISLIKE the hood scoops on this version, unlike the Monaro, as they seem too squared off, whereas the ones on the GTO were more rounded. While each go with the body style (the GTO being a bit smoother than the current generation Commodore/G8) the hood scoops on the G8 are actually recessed into the hood, whereas on the GTO they actually protruded creating the trademark snout. On the G8 they just look dumb. At least when Pontiac did the redesign this time they molded the bumper to accommodate the new grill without just slapping it on there as it seemed they did on the old Monaro.
    Criticisms aside, I do like that they didn't include the rear wing standard, replacing it instead with the trunk lid spoiler. I believe they do offer it as an accessory, which allows for a choice between sporty and grown-up. Take your pick. Unlike the GTO, the rear bumper was not restyled, meaning the only thing needed to convert your Pontiac G8 to the Holden Commodore SS are all the appropriate badges, a new hood, and a new front bumper/fascia. Those few things actually would not likely cost very much, making this a likely modification for future owners, especially considering the G8 GT's base price will be set at $29,995.
    One thing that really irritates me is Pontiac's failure to import the manual transmission (6MT) version into the US for the 2008 model year, no doubt losing many deposits from potential buyers looking for a sport sedan. However, word is that GM will be adding a 6MT version to the line up as well in 2009, alongside the 6AT (semi-auto, technically) that will be initially offered.






    Now, seeing as how I am a complete weirdo for wagons, the upcoming Commodore Sportwagon (as well as GM's promise to bring in a wagon version of their G8) just keeps looking better and better. Big LS2 V8, sporty suspension, and boat loads of storage room? Count me in. Not only that, but it retains the power and sportiness while toning down the aggressive looks ever so slightly compared to the SS and SS-V.










    Rumor also has it that HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) is going to get their hands on one of GM's more powerful LSx engines to use in a high performance Commodore, which would translate over to the US as the Pontiac G8 GXP. My hopes, as well as the hopes of many others, is that it will be outfitted with the 505HP 427ci (7.0L) LS7 V8 that is used in the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06. You want to talk about power potential? The Lingenfelter Z06 using the same engine runs a twin turbo setup and produces 800HP and 800 lb-ft of torque. With a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. Talk about sleeper potential.

During warmup, a combination calf stretch/t-rex impression. Raaaaa!


Again, warming up. My ass looks FANTASTIC!


During my first bout with the Texas State A squad. I beat that girl during our first round, but only by one point. She beat me by one point during the semi-finals.

Bobcat was fun, and got my ass handed to me thoroughly. I always freeze up at tournaments, and do worse than I normally do in practice.

Longhorn was a TON of work. I was planning on fencing epee as well as saber at that tournament, but they needed me for armoury duties on Sunday, so I could only do the saber event. I worked there doing set up and prep on Friday night for 5 hours, then worked there all day Saturday (until 11pm almost). Sunday started with working from 8am to 3pm, then changing out and fencing until 6pm or so, then working some more and helping tear down until 10 or 11pm. Fencing was okay, but  I froze up again like I had done in the past.

Swifa was where things started to click. I fenced very well there, only losing 2 bouts during pools (out of 7). DEs went very well, and I helped carry us to the semi-finals, where the tensions were high against Texas State's A squad. It was 4-3 victories in favor of us, and I was up. It came down to a 4-4 bout, and if I got the last touch we would advance to the finals. Unfortunately, my opponent got the last touch on me, meaning it was tied at 4 victories a piece, and Dan would be our last resort. A number of my bouts had gone to 4-4 and resulted in me winning (71% over the course of the day, actually), and Dan's ended at 4-4 and we all hoped my luck would extend to him. Whoever got the last touch advanced to finals. Dan made a mistake, and the final touch was a one lighter to Texas State. Audience uproar. They were cheering, we were yelling (out of despair), but it was a fair touch. That bout was by far the most fun I've ever had at a tournament. It was great, and I thanked each member of the opposing team and said just that. They agreed with me that it was indeed a lot of fun to fence each other. Since we couldn't get into the finals for 1st or 2nd place, we fenced off for 3rd with Texas State's B squad. Again, the score came down to 4 victories for UT, 3 for Texas State, and I was up. My bout AGAIN came down to 4-4 (I do like to make these things dramatic, don't I?) and I pulled it out for the win, netting us 3rd place. That was by far the most fun I've had at a tournament, ever.

AFA's epee tournament was filled with a non-stop panic attack. During my warm up, I discovered that my main weapon was registering a touch if I flicked the blade, whether or not I hit something. So I pulled the tip apart and put it back together and it thankfully worked. However, 2 bouts into my pools, a screw came out of the tip and I had to use my backup weapon. After my pools bout I tried fixing my main weapon, only to have to leave it half-way through to go fence some more. Well, during that bout my backup weapon failed the shim tests, meaning I had absolutely zero weapons to use. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a weapon for my next two bouts, while I tried frantically to repair my other two weapons. Being in the middle of a panic attack during all of this didn't make things easy though. I lost more set screws, and at one point the entire tip of my main weapon flew off. I was down to my backup weapon at this point, and it was being flaky on me. Right before my last pools bout I got everything put back together, but had no time to test it. When I got back on strip, it failed the shim test again, so I had to borrow yet another weapon. After losing that bout 5-0 (the guy is a national level fencer, and VERY fast) I went back to trying to fix my backup weapon. After finally getting it all back together and testing it roughly five times, just to make sure, I ended up placing next to last overall. At least I didn't get last place! For my DE I was facing the #2 fencer, and was still having a slight panic attack just from everything constantly failing on me. I got a few doubles, but at the end of the first encounter (3min in) I was down 3-12. After our one minute break, I started moving like I normally do, like I PRACTICE, like a damn saber fencer. I pulled the score up to 9-12 within a minute and a half. Unfortunately, due to my bad start, that was about as far as I got. We finished out the bout 10-15, his win. I don't feel bad about it though, because I fenced very well in that DE, doing the things I'd actually practiced and not just freezing up.

After the AFA tournament I came straight back to the apartment and promptly fell asleep for 5 hours. Exhaustion doesn't begin to describe things.

Pictures from SWIFA later.

Going to be attending the AFA's October Mixed Epee Tournament in San Antonio on October 28, a day after SWIFA #2. That's going to be a fun weekend! 

Tournament went well, for the most part. I did well in pools, but ended up facing Kyle (from the club) in my DE. He beat me 15-11, but ended up losing in the next round 15-6. Being the competitive person I am, I am still kinda irritated at myself because I know I could have done better. I know I did well, but I could have made it further into the tournament.

Tournament	Date	Location	Weapon
Pick-Up Epee	Oct 6, 2007	UT	Epee
Bobcat Open	Oct 14, 2007	Texas State	Saber
Longhorn Open	Oct 21, 2007	UT	Saber
SWIFA #2	Oct 27, 2007	Rice	Saber
Morning Melee I	Nov 3, 2007	UT	Saber
Morning Melee II	Nov 17, 2007	UT	Saber

So, a tournament every weekend for the next month and a half.

    Went to SWIFA #1 this weekend with the saber team, we took 3rd place. Apparently I did well enough to warrant being pulled off épée in order to concentrate on my saber skills. So now I'm a saber fencer. Fun. I just bought a uniform too, which means I might have to invest in a saber mask soon, too.

    BATracer:
    FI 2007: P4 (176 pts)
    /o/ Super 7: P6 (17 pts)
    BAT Super 7: P3 (62 pts)

Alright, I'm now getting too lazy to post the big in-depth race reports, so only short snippets will follow in the days to come. It's really fun to play, though.

Birthday was fun, went to Ginger Man and enjoyed three delicious beers before they closed down at 2am. Went to dinner with the parents, and, unfortunately, did some homework that was due on Friday. No big loss, as the big plans are for tonight.

    Well, birthday is coming up this week. Going out Wednesday night/Thursday morning to the bars with a few select people for my free drinks, and out to dinner with my friends on Saturday. Should be a good time, I'll definitely get pictures of the dinner because we're going to the lake.

    Been finally going to the gym on a regular basis. I am up to roughly 143-144 at the moment, up from 133 in November (though wasn't really working out until recently). Problem with going to the gym is that I do it in the mornings on T/TH, meaning with my 9am on MWF, I don't get to sleep in until the weekends. Lame. It's alright though, it feels really good.

The weekend was awesome. After my final on Friday in History I came straight back to the apartment and loaded the bike and my gear in the trailer. I drove down to Hendrickson, TX with Roger and we unpacked enough stuff to give us sleeping room in the trailer for the night. It was hot and humid, so an air conditioned trailer was a godsend. I spent most of Saturday getting comfortable with the track and my bike. GSS was an extremely technical track, and I got to push the bike down foot-out style:


Taken early in the day, I eventually got to the point where my knee hit my bars occasionally and at one point nailed my horn button.

Later in the day as I became comfortable with the track and the bike, I was able to push her further down, as you can see in the knee-bar relation:



During the last session I was out on the track I spent most of the time chasing this guy on an '06 GSX-R600 around. I could take him in the corners, but I couldn't make a pass because he'd either block me going in for the apex, or simply power out faster than I could muster even with my increase in corner speed.


You can see me in the background chasing after him. The instructor slipped in along the main straight and was able to make a pass along the back straight. He was an Expert class racer, and had a vastly superior bike. However, I was doing extremely well, especially considering my bike only had 35HP. A lot of the people in my level complimented me, which was nice.

GSS was a cool place, since it's an old blimp base. You can see the old mooring pillars surrounding the hangar in the picture. It was hot as hell down there too. 104F in the shade, 110F in the sun, and 145F on the track.



So Saturday was incident free, though I skipped out on a 20 min session on the track because it was unbearably hot and I was getting dizzy. I took a nap in Roger's trailer. Again, A/C was a godsend.

We got back Saturday night around 10:30pm or so, and I crashed out pretty much instantly. I woke up on Sunday and double checked my bag, since I didn't unpack it. Luis came over and hung out for an hour while we waited for Lori. When she showed up we stuck my bike on the trailer and I rode with Luis up to Cresson. Dinner at Outback with a bunch of people, had an awesome time. Rode the morning session at Motorsport Ranch, took a lot longer than I expected to get the track down, but help from Greg LeClaire, Expert class #360, gave me some good tips to help me learn the track. He cut me loose during the first few laps of the second session, while everyone else was still required to follow the instructors. After a while he pulled me off the track and said I could definitely move up to Level 2, but since I was only doing a half day I declined, but thanked him for the kind words. I hadn't done knee-out on my motard very often, so I spent most of the time getting comfortable with the track and with knee out. Towards the end of the third session, unfortunately my last session out, I started touching both right and left knee down. I touched right knee first, which was startling because I haven't touched right knee since my track accident at TWS almost 2 years ago.

Alllllmost...
   

I can't wait to go back.

    Got the bike track prepped for the most part today. All the major stuff is done: spare bodywork is fitted, new brake pads are fitted, new tires are on, oil is changed, chain is cleaned and tightened, which just leaves a few street legal things to take care of, including mirrors, turn signals, head and tail lights, and the license plate. I'll take care of the latter things when I get to the track, since they should only take a few minutes with minimal tools.

    After getting my brake pads on I squidded it up sans jacket around the neighborhood to seat the pads and burn the crap off of them. And burn they did. I went to my old high school's parking lot to do some long hard stops to get the pads heated up, enough to where they were literally smoking. Once they stopped smoking I went retarded and touched the pads. No, I don't know why, all I know is that I am hilariously stupid sometimes. While dicking around in the parking lot I picked up a staple or a small nail or something, and poke a hole in my brand new rear tube. An extra hour and a half of work pulling the wheel, pulling the tube, patching the tube, and putting everything back together was not something I needed nor wanted to do. However, everything is patched up and working fine, and my bike, while ugly as sin at the moment, is itchin' to burn some new rubber at the track.



    Suzuki released their '08 bike lineup recently, and the DR-Z, while unchanged, got a new paint scheme. The classic black remains, with changed graphics, but Suzuki swapped out their standard yellow for a WHITE DR-ZSM. It's gorgeous, and would match the white Speed Triple I want as well.

    Final got moved to Friday at 2pm. Since I leave for Hendrickson in the early afternoon, that means I need to have the bike mostly track prepped by Thursday night. I'll have to leave the headlight and tail light on, but I think those should be easy enough to take off. I hope my new tires get in today, otherwise Thursday is going to be REALLY busy. I'll undoubtedly do some of my track prepping at the track, depending on how much I get done on Thursday.

    So essentially, Friday is going to be hectic. Class, then lunch, then final exam, then straight home to load up the bike and drive to Hendrickson, then unload the bike and finish track prepping it, then sleep, wake up early and RIDE!

    Will I be doing stuff like this? We shall see!

Friday, August 10 - Have the bike track prepped, including plastic swaps and swapping coolant to distilled water, because I leave for Hendrickson in the early afternoon. Camp at the track.
Saturday, August 11 - RideSmart track day at GrandSport Speedway, a new track SE of Houston. Arrive home late Saturday evening.
Sunday, August 12 - Load up the bike in someone else's trailer and head out to Cresson in the early afternoon. Camp at the track.
Monday, August 13 - Elite track day at Motorsport Ranch Cresson, doing the original 1.7 mile road course. Arrive home late Monday evening.
Tuesday, August 14 - Final exam for my History class.

God damn I am going to have an awesome fucking weekend. I've been wanting to get out to the track since March, and now I get two track days? For free? Oh hell yeah.

I've been toying with the idea of getting a classic muscle car after I graduate just to toy around with and get groceries and stuff like that. Since I have the bike for commuting and sporting stuff, my car can be a simple grocery getter and straight line rocket.

The Chevelle SS has caught my eye: