Back in the sun

I love my family. I love Washington state. I have a *very* hard time
with the darkness there, though. It's great to be back where you
really need to wear sunglasses every day. Ahhhh.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Snoqualmie Falls

I wish I had known that these falls were frozen a few days ago. Apparently it was an amazing sight.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Lake Sammamish (Take 2)

I just remembered that I have sweet panorama software on my iPhone.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Lake Sammamish

'Tis the day after Christmas
And all through the lake
Not a creature is stirring
Because it's frackin' freezing.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

UPS Store Carmel

My friends Steve & Jen own the UPS Store in Carmel. They have an amazing life living in paradise. The holiday season is pretty much hell for them, but we were able to pry Steve away for a frozen yogurt. *CRACK* Get back to work Steve!!!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Puppies at the Beach!

These are Jill's new puppies, Osa (female, left) and Elroy (male, right). They have never been to the beach! In fact, they really haven't been anywhere until we took them to Vasona Park yesterday. They love the beach. It was a bit scary at first, but they quickly figured out that it was all fun...


Elroy got slammed by a wave, and was a bit freaked out by it. Eventually he was running at full speed and didn't care if the water hit him. Dogs are simple creatures, and they smell like shit when they're wet.

- Joe

Strombolie!

Delicious!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. I am thankful that this person learned how to park. A long time ago. Then they forgot.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Southern Kitchen, Los Gatos

Frankly the best breakfast place anywhere. Have their "country
special" with grits.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Jay at the beach

This is my nephew, Jay Carleton Nuxoll. He is freakishly cute and very fun to run around with. We built a dam on a creek on the beach, and we both had a lot of fun. He stayed with me for a while with grandma while his sister was having surgery back in Seattle. I just dropped him and my mother at the airport to continue their adventure down in San Diego.

- Joe

Infineon Raceway

Another great track day. Thank you California for the perfect weather.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Insignificant milestone

I just like round numbers.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Meat Canoe

Delicious.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Topless!

As it turns out, this car is approximately 2000 times more awesome as a convertible. I finally broke down and removed the top this weekend - despite the loss of intercooler air feed from the roof.

I must say that I have fallen in love again with what seems like a totally new car that I've had for well over a year. I drove *all day* on Sunday on windy roads deep in the California mountains and valleys - laughing the whole time. Wow.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Pins to go...

At the docs... Pins are supposed to be removed today - but we'll see.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Alcatraz Angels

Alcatraz Angels 019, originally uploaded by joeracer.

This last weekend was Fleet Week in San Francisco. I took a trip to Alcatraz with a group of photographers to capture some great pix of the Blue Angels.

It was a great venue to watch them, and a stunning backdrop for photos... Unfortunately, all the shots were terribly back-lit (by a setting sun) so the colors are not up to snuff.

View the whole set on flickr.

#1 Clipper

Still rockin' the shaved head... I just tried the #1 clipper instead of the #2. Wuudaya think?

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

SPEED!

Over 17Mb/s down and over 1Mb/s up. I weep for you people.

Quakes and Tottenham Hotspur

I was at a press conference this afternoon where the San Jose Earthquakes announced a major new partnership with Tottenham Hotspur. If you don't know them, Tottenham Hotspur is a great team in the English Premier League. If you don't know who the San Jose Earthquakes are, please stop reading my blog. Now.


Presumably the partnership will have more significance when the Quakes build up their developmental program - which will likely come with the new stadium. In the meantime, both teams should pick up a few more fans from across the pond.

- Joe

Hey! I shaved my head!

Why you ask?

Because I felt like it. Well, that and because having one hand is really bugging the shit out me in the mornings. Last time I shaved my head was... ummm... never. The closest was in France during the 1998 World Cup. I cut my hair very short and bleached it stark white. I looked like a punk albino. It was rad.

I just cut a good 8 minutes of total frustration out of my mornings!

- Joe

Palin Bingo

I'm surprised she didn't sound like a complete idiot. Any time a massive underdog doesn't suck in a debate, they're considered the "winner".

*sigh* This is going to suck.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Pinned!

I got my cast off today in my first post-surgery checkup and HOLY COWS! I'z got me some big ass pins sticking out of my hand! It was quite a surprise because I haven't talked to my doctor since a week *before* the surgery.


Now I'm in a smaller removable cast that just keeps the pins safe from being bumped (kinda), but I basically have to stay paranoid and protective.

MAXIMUM WEIRDIFICATION! I have frickin' huge pins STICKING OUT OF MY HAND!

- Joe

(this posting brought to you by the letter L, the number 2, and by Joe's left hand)

Shower + Cast

I get to do arts and crafts every morning! Yay!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Thanks team!

I work with some great people at Navigenics! Thanks for sending me get-well cookies! I'm not sure if I can eat these since I won't be getting my soccer excersize for a while... You guys may have to help me!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

All done!

I'm in the recovery room and I talked a nurse into taking my picture. Looks like I didn't get the beak installed. Holy cow that was weird. I lost a few hours off the clock.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

This hand doc

I'm waiting in the surgery center to get my broken fingers repaired. A woman just shaved my arm and knuckles and they haven't given me any drugs yet. I get to wait on the gurney until they're ready to dope me up and remove my legs and attach them to my forhead. I'm also hoping to get a beak installed.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

I'm no doctor, but...

... I am pretty damn sure it's broken.

This is my very broken right hand. Actually, my right ring and pinkie fingers are very broken. I was playing soccer, and had a bad high-speed wreck involving me hitting the ground, the ball, and another player's cleat all with these two fingers. It hurt a lot. Tomorrow I have surgery to repair the twisted broken fingers. Good times.

Wish me luck!

- Joe

Long time, no blog

Hey all y'all. I got some pings from folks that read this wondering what the heck happened to me... Well in a nutshell I've been really busy, but I have been posting a lot to Twitter. If you don't know Twitter, it is essentially a service that facilitates micro-blogging. One liners. Very easy to do from a phone, etc. I am "joeracer" on there.

I've been racing a lot. I've been playing a lot of soccer. I've been taking a lot of soccer pictures for centerlinesoccer.com. I've been working like a mule. My house is still for sale, but I haven't received any bids, so I may have to yank it off the market shortly. That sucks.

One recent major highlight... I went to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races to watch and help my brother out, and he WON his race! That was a major highlight for sure.

- Joe

Bridge Closed

This is the I-90 bridge facing East from Seattle. It is closed and I am standing in the middle of it. Why you ask?

The Blue Angels just did a show as part of Seafair. I took a bunch of pictures, but my camera battery died. Believe it or not, I came to Seattle this weekend and didn't even know it was Seafair! Tomorrow I'll charge the camera batteries!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

John Mayer

It was quite a surprise to me to get a last-minute ticket to the John Mayer show at Shoreline tonight. We are on the lawn with... uhhh... a few other folks.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Team Lunch @ Mistral

The team is having lunch at Mistral today to welcome our newest member, Katie. I officially work with a group of amazing women. There are some guys too, but who cares.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Masaratis, oh my!

I just finished a day of instructing at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) for Trackmasters Racing and the Niello group - an exclusive exotic car dealer and auto club. There were a lot of very expensive and very fast cars. My student had a black Lamborghini Gallardo - and much to my joy was actually a very skilled driver.

I of course brought the Lotus and had a MASSIVE amount of track time. I just added it up and I drove TEN sessions today, each 20 min long - for a total of 3 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES ON TRACK! Holy cow am I tired
right now.

It's time to hit the road and make the very long journey home.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Coldplay

2 concerts in one week. Coldplay is possibly my absolute favorite band - actually passing up U2 which has me shocked. There I said it.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Roxanne

Watching the Police play Roxanne. Great show!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

$20

(sent from my iTelephone)

Bainbridge Ferry

Yesterday was random and awesome. I had my camera stuff and was
wandering around the Seattle area. At one point I got stuck in a right
turn only lane to get into the ferry line. I said F it and just got on
the ferry. I ended up taking great pictures on Bainbridge Island.

I love days like that!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Watching at Work

We've got a projector up watching the Germany/Turkey game live via BBC slingbox. This is in the design/webdev room at work (also called the Flight Control Tower).

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

World Cup Qualifying

The US is off to a good start in world cup qualifying. 8-0 is kinda sick. Poor Barbedos. Where is that anyway?

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Beckhamania!

I was on the field last night for the Quakes crushing by the Galaxy (3-0), but I could not get over the hype of David Beckham. It's for real. The fans LOVE the guy more than I have ever seen fans love a player. When he first walked on the field to practice - deafening. People kept yelling for him the whole time during warm up. When he came out with the lineup for the start of the game - deafening. When they announced the starting lineups - deafening. Every time he touched the ball - you could hear yells - or high-pitched screaming rather. The dude is popular to say the least.

They drew a crowd of nearly 40,000 to the game last night, which was an all-time record for the San Jose Earthquakes. Nobody is foolish enough to think it didn't have 100% to do with David Beckham being on the field. He is the new ambassador for soccer in the USA and it is working well. Hats off to the tattooed lad with much skill.

Oh wait... I should mention that a bit more. He actually *IS* an incredibly skilled soccer player. He is still one of the best in the world in my opinion.

Okay - that being said... Here's what the ladies want to see:


Enjoy!

Joe's New Desk

I just moved to my new spot at work and I love it!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Tick tick tick...

Well folks,

One more year has passed. I just spent a bunch of time wandering through old photographs putting together a very long list of highlights from the years of exotic travel in search of cool things to see. If that sentence wasn't long enough for you, each of these photos are worth 1000 words:

Joe's Best Shots

I have literally tens of thousands of photographs taken over the years. Every one of them brings back memories of wonderful adventures. I could easily double this photo set, and probably will over time as I mine my archives...

This has been fun for me so please enjoy them, and feel free to comment as you browse. I'll keep adding to this set as I find good ones. :-)

- Joe

Summer BBQ

Today was a perfect California summer day. We had a water ballon fight, watched the US tie Argentina in a soccer game, and now a great BBQ at the Morishige's house. This is what we pay the silly house prices for...

On that note - go bid on my house at www.6082rollingglen.com

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Alice's Restaurant

I rode up to Alice's Restaurant for lunch today. There are always a ton of bikes up here on Sundays.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

U23D

Prepared for U23D. Luckily they let us use our own sunglasses instead of the silly ones they pass out at the theater.

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Early Dinner with Steve & Ashlyn

After a great day at the track, I met up with my good friend Steve and his daughter Ashlyn in Pacific Grove where they live. Steve and his wife Jen own the UPS store in Carmel and have an awesome life. I really envy how much peace and balance they've achieved.

I am lucky to be surrounded by great people that give me hope. :-)

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Laguna Seca Lounging

I am hanging out relaxing between sessions at Laguna Seca. Today has been great - as long as you don't count missing the first session to go get my tire repaired. I picked up a nail in the paddock right before my first session, so I had to run to Goodyear to get it patched. Since then, it's been a great day!

In other news... My house is open this whole weekend, so I have to keep away. Stop by and place a bid!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Here We Go!

View the virtual tour here.

My home of the last 3 1/2 years is about to slip out of my hands. I am both really bummed and excited because I love this place yet really looking forward to a new start.

I need to be closer to work, and I need to move closer to civilization. My current house is just too far from everything... but it is soooo peaceful. I am truly conflicted - but the wheels are in motion and now I'm just a passenger on this wild ride.

Wish me luck!

- Joe

(sent from my iTelephone)

Memorial Day - JC Gauthier

On Memorial Day, we're supposed to take a minute to think about family and friends that have passed... We dig deep and think about all the sad occasions and how those people affected us in our lives. We remember the good times, and hope that someday folks will remember us when we go.

Today I am remembering a good friend, and fellow racing driver, JC Gauthier. What makes this extra sad for me, is that I just found out today that JC is gone. He died after a bout with cancer - just TWO days after I raced with him at Infineon Raceway earlier this month. I didn't even know he had cancer. I have raced against JC for many years and never once did I have any idea that we was sick. He was way too fast to be a cancer patient in that ridiculously fast Ferrari I spent so many laps behind.


Two days before he died, this is him leading a pair of Lotus Exige S's. I'm in 3rd here behind a pair of very fast drivers. :-) According to the posting where I learned of JC's passing, he had his best Infineon lap times ever that day. Good for you, JC. Good for you. Well done.

It was always a pleasure to spend time with JC at the track. He was a very nice - and very fast - man indeed.