What Next?

I'm honestly not sure what to do with this blog.

Obviously, I'm not diligent about posting witty, erudite and captivating anecdotes about my life here... nor tedious, maudlin and petty ones.

I've toyed with the idea before of turning it into a full-blown photo blog, and the idea has even more appeal now that I've taken a look at Dodge's rather nice iPhone photos, but I doubt there would be much appeal. Photo blogs from professional photographers are good to look at; from amateurs, not so much, most of the time.

I also don't maintain another blog, as some of you know, called Life Science Tools of the Trade, which I inherited from three other co-authors who quite rightly bailed on it as a bad job, going on, in at least one case, to bigger and better things.

Hm... there's also the poetry blog, which is looking similarly un-used. Really, the only site of mine that's getting a workout is my Flickr account, bits of which show up here, from time to time.

A funk. That's what it is, a creative funk. Must be.

Anyway, suggestions on a postcard, please, to the usual place. In the meantime, as is my wont, here's a picture of something colourful and tilted, and of course, one of a car.

San Francisco

This is a confusing place.

Here, there's a blend, a mixture, a complete mélange, of different things. The Ferrari Store is just around the corner from a gentleman who would like your spare change. "Chagall, Matisse, Picasso" proclaims a sign - but is there anyone nearby who can buy?

My own hotel, the Hilton Union Square, is fairly opulent, although like the other San Francisco hotel I've stayed in, has tiny, noisy rooms. And it's just down the street, in either direction, from serious dives - hotels that look more populated by drug addicts, crack whores and other similar characters, than reasonably well-heeled scientific tourists such as myself.

Even the restaurants are a confusing mess - sushi, presumably affordable; burger joints, with tasty offerings at a reasonable price; over-the-top bistros and diners that no self-respecting, publicly-funded science geek would ever be able to afford.

It's an interesting city, this San Francisco, I'll give you that - hills a-plenty, the harbour, historic sights. But somehow, oddly, it doesn't really seem like a Pacific Coast settlement. The shore is commercial, to be sure, and full of people fishing, gulls preening, sea lions fishing, pelicans dive-bombing - but somehow, it's not marine.

It's an odd place, San Francisco, but all that said, one, I think, I could get used to. If I had the inclination, the mobility, and of course, the disposable income. For now, though, I think I'll hold steady just north of Toronto, and retain this town as an unusual, puzzling, tourist attraction.

Boo. Allegedly.

Happy Hallowe'en, everyone.

Once again, I was in Southern California.

This post was written a couple of weeks ago, in an airport. And never posted, until now. I apologize for the out-of-dateness, but, as I've noted before, this is a blog, not some real-time, Twitter-like social networking thingamabob.



I like airports.

There's a curious sense of being static - outside of "normal" life. Here, in the departure concourse at Pearson's Terminal 1, it's almost quiet - at around 9:45 in the morning on a Thursday, there are flights departing continuously, but there's no sense of bustle, no crowds pushing, no nerve-wracking "run run run". Compared with, say, Heathrow on a Friday night, this is peace and calm.

And there's more to this sense of being "outside" the usual run of things. With no reasonable internet access (although plenty of paid options), and no need to be on the phone, a certain quiet sets in. I've no reason to frantically call anyone, no need to sign up for the only-slightly-extortionate per-day internet access, and thus no immediate ability to check email. I'm not on Twitter, I don't have an iPhone or Blackberry (yet - although that will doubtless spawn its own blog post in due course), and so I feel, strangely, a bit cut off.

In a nice way.

I'm using an honest-to-goodness text editor to write this post, rather than Blogger's online interface, or something more fancy. I've a few photographs from a recent car show, and a trip to the zoo, to edit - that will take up some time, since I've once again overestimated the amount of time I'd need to get to the airport, check in, pass customs and security, and find myself sitting in the departure lounge. I'm completely off-line, which is an unusual situation in this day and age. And one that could easily be rectified - but I've blogged about being cheap before.

So - how do I follow Eva's peregrinations? I can't check in on the quiet that has recently encompassed the Science Advisory Board, nor post at my other nearly-morbid blog. I can't even see if my recent Faculty of 1000 article review is being voraciously devoured by other scientists around the world.

Ah well. I suppose I'll wander the halls, hoping for interesting airport architecture to photograph. But in the meantime, I'm strangely content - a quiet airport, a chance to sit and think, and of course, write it all down for you to read.

Next stop - Southern California. Again.

Sounds like Whoop

Helpful sign on the inside of my hotel room door.

I'm in California, (not) whoopin' it up.

Oh, and before I forget...

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr matey!

That is all.

Second Annual Ricardipus Racing Awards

One advantage of being settled in a state of more-or-less Status Quo is that it becomes very easy to recycle blog posts from one year ago. In the spirit of which, I give you the Second Annual Ricardipus Awards, for participants in the 2009 Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport. Once again I refer you, if you're actually interested in the race results that is, to the official document. For the record, the Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-02a, piloted by drivers Scott Sharp and David Brabham, won outright, and in the next class down, the rather pretty Acura ARX-01b of Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez clinched the season championship.

But these awards aren't about the race winners. They're about other silly categories that I dreamed up last year, and maybe a few new ones to boot.

So, with no further ado, here they are:

Loudest Vehicle: #3 and #4 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R (tie). In a repeat of last year's performance, these two shook the ground when they went by, despite having significantly less horsepower than last year.

There was lots of local interest, with a GM plant nearby.

Honourable Mention: de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a. Although various other cars were nice and loud, this one gets the nod for a divine combination of engine noise and ridiculous backfires into turn three, all day long.

Simon Pagenaud, going really really fast.

Most Cheerful-Looking Drivers: Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud. An honourable mention goes to Gunnar van der Steur and Adam Pecorari, whose rather pretty car was eventually excluded (disqualified) for a technical infraction. They looked happy before the race, though.

They weren't smiling like this when they signed autographs for me...

Nicest Paint Highlights: Melanie Snow's #56 Porsche 911 GT3 from the GT3 Challenge support race. There really just isn't enough pink in car racing.

Melanie Snow is very fast, but Simona de Silvestro is even faster.

Friendliest Driver: Barrie, Ontario native Kyle Marcelli, who tore up the track in the IMSA Lites support races. I suspect it was the nice chat he had with my brother and I that inspired his performance.

He came second in this race, and first in the previous one.

Silliest Doors: Dyson Racing's Mazda-Powered Lola Coupes. These cars probably also win my awards for "Best Looking" and "Hardest to Photograph at Speed".

This car would have a bit of a crunch in the race.

Best Save: Gil de Ferran. Gil fell off turn two while leading the race, put his foot down, and drove around the corner through the grass. Most people would have spun and crashed. Olivier Beretta gets an honourable mention for doing exactly the same thing later in the race.

He's probably still doing well over 100 kph.

Special Award: best-looking car that spent last year in the shed: Robertson Racing's Mark VII Doran Ford GT-R. Last year, they blew up the engine in testing.

What a looker.

And, finally:

Best Performance Rebuilding a Car to Race on Sunday After the Driver Smashes it up on Saturday Afternoon: Risi Competizione. The team stayed up all night, rebuilding the left side of the car, which ultimately finished second in its class after starting from the very back of the grid.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

So there you go. As before, lots more of this kind of thing over in the relevant Flickr set.