Tokarski

Summary: The tide has turned; Alonso’s / Renault’s dominant lead in the first half of the season has been replaced by a resurgent Ferrari. Ferraris in 1st and 2nd; Renaults in 5th and 6th.Alonso still leads Schumacher in overall drivers points standings: 100 to 89 and Renault is still ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship: 149 to 139.

Race result:

1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
2. Massa (Ferrari)
3. Räikkönen (McLaren-Mercedes)

(5. Alonso (Renault))

Next up: Hungarian Grand Prix - 06-Aug, 6:30 AM CST pre-race live on SpeedTV.

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It’s been a while since we visited the Hancock.

We took advantage of a lazy Sunday afternoon and reasonably clear skies and enjoyed the views.

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This year, the objectives were: Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Deadwood, SD, Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Badlands.Mission accomplished.

We covered over 2200+ miles in 4 days (a self-imposed time constraint dictated by the girls’ swimming class schedule) and had a great time. I’m amazed at how well the girls travel (especially the last day when we spent a full 12 hours, with minimal stops, in the car).

We’re very fortunate to live in such a great country with such a diverse landscape and wonderful sights to see. And, I can think of no better way to see them than to hop in the car with the family and ‘explore.’

A few pictures from the trip can be found here on flickr.

UPDATE: Just got back from the dealership to have the source of the check engine light diagnosed (it came on during our return trip in western South Dakota, with about 700+ miles left to go). Well, the van is in for a new transmission (supposedly a common problem with some of the ‘99, ‘00, and ‘01 Odysseys) and thankfully, it’s fully covered under a transmission warranty extension.

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Highlights: A revised third qualifying session (10 minutes, down from 15) had some ’spirited’ moments with Schumacher and Alonso at each other with some great passing maneuvers.Alonso leads Schumacher in overall drivers points standings: 96 to 79 and Renault is still ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship: 142 to 121.

Race result:

1. Schumacher (Ferrari)
2. Alonso (Renault)
3. Massa (Ferrari)

Next up: German Grand Prix (Hockenheim) - 30-Jul, 6:30 AM CST pre-race on SpeedTV.

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In preparation for our 2006 Family Road Trip out West (see next post), I headed out to the local ATM to get some cash. As I was heading back home, I heard a weird pop from the rear of my wagon and then stopped at a traffic signal (I didn’t give the sound a second thought, since I’ve had an annoying rattle from the rear hatch for a while - and it sounded like more of the same, only a bit different).

So, the light turned green and I was immediately greeted with a “whump, whump, whump” signaling a flat. I pulled over into the median (no room on the shoulder) and got ready to make the change. Car up on the jack, wheel off, spare on (thankfully I have a full-sized spare)…. uh oh….. the spare feels a bit ‘mushy’.

Lovely…..what a great time to find out that my spare had a slow leak and was useless. A quick call to Lupita (who was nearby at swim lessons with the girls) and then to my mom and dad (who happened to be on their way over to the house) brought some reinforcements. They arrived at about the same time and took me home to pick up one of my Winter wheels (thankfully I have another set of wheels for my car for snow use). I was back up and running in a matter of minutes.

Rather than write this off as a random misfortune, I took it as another reminder to add one more item to my pre-trip checklist. I was about to embark on a 2200+ mile trip with the family, and I hadn’t checked the spare on the minivan (never mind that I actually had never really ’seen’ the spare on the minivan since we bought it nearly 6 years ago). Once I located the spare (inside the van, underneath the floor just aft of the front seats), I found my shrimpy spare with about 6 psi - and it needed to have 60 psi. I fired up my compressor and all was right again.

The gods must have been watching.

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F1 star Montoya to drive for Ganassi’s NASCAR team

Can’t believe it……not that there’s anything wrong with NASCAR…..but I had such high hopes for Montoya in F1.

As my brother George and I joked: maybe now he’ll change his name from Juan Pablo Montoya to “Johnny Paul Montoya.”

Update: story on the F1 site

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With the kids at their grandparents, Lupita and I enjoyed an early morning ride on the Poplar Creek Trail right in our backyard. (What’s sad is that this is our first bike ride in nearly 8 years…I’m blaming it all on the kids).With Allie and Annie opting for a second night sleepover, Emily wanted to try the trail out this morning. We had a nice 4 mile or so ride on the first leg of the trail.

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Ah…Pierce Brosnan.

Since his days on Remington Steele, I always thought of him as a little too slick, trying to be too suave, wearing pinkie-rings, etc… And then, all the hoopla over how great he’d be as Bond, etc. I didn’t think he’d be able to pull it off - but I’ll admit he’s among my top three Bonds (Connery, of course, on top…followed closely by George Lazenby’s all-to-brief appearance in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’).

So, it was with great interest I picked up The Matador, after seeing some commercials a while back with Brosnan as a decidedly un-Bond-like character traipsing through a hotel library wearing nothing but black speedos and boots (for the record, I wasn’t attracted to the black speedos…. it just seemed like a very different role / look for Brosnan and I wanted to see more of it). Brosnan’s portrayal of Julian Noble, a hit-man in the waning days of his career, was fantastic…. almost as if Bond had a seedy evil twin.

Lupita and I truly enjoyed this one…chuckling over many of Brosnan’s frequent one-liners. (Those of you offended by vulgarities may want to stay away, as Julian’s conversation is peppered with some doozies….. I do want to go back through the DVD and jot a few of them down, since they’re pretty off-the-wall….).

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Our girls were quite the patriotic artists today in preparation for the 4th. Using chalk, they made a nice rendition of our flag on the driveway and Emily added the first stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner.

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Highlights: Seven cars taken out in an accident on the first lap….quite a bit of attrition overall…only 9 cars of the starting 22 made it to the end. Ferrari totally dominated - Alonso only managed 5th place.Alonso leads Schumacher in overall drivers points standings: 88 to 69 and Renault is still ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship: 131 to 105.

Race result:

1. Schumacher (Ferrari)
2. Massa (Ferrari)
3. Fisichella (Renault)

Next up: French Grand Prix (Magny-Cours) - 16-Jul, 6:30 AM CST pre-race on SpeedTV.

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