So this week, I bring to you…

Long Pause Edition

Yeah, it’s been a bit since my last update! Since the beginning of May, actually… Yikes!

Well, if you weren’t keeping up, we’re in Washington state and pretty settled now. It’s been nice, and since the weather’s finally decided to be summer, it’s great!

We literally live a few miles from the local track, Spokane County Raceway. Every Friday night during the summer they have open drag racing, they do NHRA stuff on Saturdays and there’s various track events going on.

Most notably, there’s Fridays at the Track. I’m hoping to get my husband and I signed up for the August date! The Miata will be back out, and the S2000 will go for the first time.

Lots of… Drag?

Because every Friday night has drag racing, I’ve got a lot of local drag coverage. But don’t worry, it’s not all I’ll ever do, nor will I be drag racing any time soon. It’s much, much too expensive for me!!

A lovely, old Camaro SS. I see cars like this all the time, not just at the drags...

If it does get to be too much, let me know. I’m more into showing the variety of cars that show up anyhow. Gives me new cars to take pictures of and a feel for the local flavor.

Lots of Old

One thing I’ve been getting used to is the large variety of old cars that are up here, not just at the races. Any time we go downtown for anything, and we drive through often, we end up seeing a gorgeous old car or two. It’s awesome.

Seriously, if we stay here for any length of time I’m going to end up buying myself an old muscle car or something….

I really want a ‘Cuda.

Lots of Crazy

And I’m pretty crazy sometimes, mostly because I’m not doing much outside of the house. Staring at the same walls all day really gets to you…

I’m also working on changing schools for something totally different. Once it’s underway, I’ll share. It could mean big things for the blog, that’s all I feel like saying right now.

Next month, July, I’ll be going back to South Dakota for a week… Hoping to see interesting stuff while I’m there and relax a bit. So I’ve been thinking about that. (Yes, there are nice cars in that whacky state!)

I’m working on some modeling, too, but I planned on talking about that more a bit later on.

My Babies

My cars are doing great, actually! Everybody’s getting some new things…

The S2000 got the Spoon wheel we bought before leaving Arkansas, and she’ll be getting a new driver’s seat in the next few weeks… (Bride.)

The S2000's lovely rare JDM piece.

The 240SX is being fixed by some new friends of ours, and she’ll need some new wheels soon. Getting her fixed is one thing, the bigger wheels will be needed to get her moving more often!

And finally, the Miata’s getting new tires! Those should be here tomorrow, I hope! She’s also getting a brand new RPF1, because one was bent. (Not the damaged one, that just needs to be painted and I’ve been lazy…)

We’ll also see about getting a cage made for the 240SX, as well as something worked up for the S2000 so we can get a harness in the car.

And a chance…

I’ll get to go to Formula D this year! Not 100% sure yet, but I am hoping… It’ll be great if so! I’m sure my “coverage” won’t be that great compared to the big blogs, but if I do go I’ll do it from what you’d experience if you went, too.

Why? Because I’ve never been, and wouldn’t you like to know what you’d experience just being a normal person, not some big media name? That’s my thought, anyways.

Countdown!!

Yes, it’s the ever exciting, yet super stressful countdown. May 20th starts off our moving adventure… Pretty much four days of moving everything we’ve got nearly 2,100 miles to Spokane, WA.

Fingers crossed it’ll be a smooth move and things will go okay, because then we’ll start working on picking up that EK hatch I just told you about. Already found some nice prospects. (And one expired posting for a REAL Type-R in Seattle. BOO.)

Final Days

The final days in Arkansas will be spent packing, I’m sure, haha. There isn’t a bunch of car stuff going on, honestly. On the 16th, next Sunday, is the fourth SCCA autocross of the year here, and that will be our last.

It’s very bittersweet, because I love everybody we know thanks to the autocrosses. Leaving them is going to suck, but as people like to joke chances are good we’ll end up back here. (But I’d like to see more of the world first, okay?)

We also have an invite to check out a local Porsche shop, run by some of the guys we know at the autocrosses. I am hoping we get to do that, either this week or early next week, and maybe I’ll have some nice pictures to share! Never know.

Photo Contest

For any fellow automotive photographers out there, there’s currently a contest running here on NASIOC.

I wholly doubt I can win, that’s for sure, but it’s always fun to have another reason to try to do a bit better with my photos. Here’s the first one I posted, which may or may not end up as one of my final entries:

*Crossing fingers*

240SX

Well, she drives!! We are also working on putting her back together. The interior is cleaned out, and we need something to cut the bumper with to make it fit around the intercooler. Any recommendations on something to do this with?

The bugs in her system are going to stay until we get to Washington. Once we’re there, I’ll find somebody with SR20DET experience to fix her up to 100%. Suggestions VERY appreciated, preferably Spokane, but I will get her to Seattle if I’m better off.

I do need to work on getting her out and about a bit more. She’s got some very old gas in the tank, and I think she’d feel a lot better with a full tank of fresh premium.

Oil Filter Giveaway!

Lastly, I have an oil filter that I’d like to give away, if you could use it! I can’t.

It’s an OEM Nissan filter, for the KA engines. Fits a whole bunch of different models, so if you use the same filter as the KA24E or KA24DE, or have one of those, subscribe and leave me a comment saying that you subscribed and would like the filter. Out of the entries, I’ll use one of those lovely random number generators to pick a winner. Entries will be open from now until 12:00 AM/midnight CST on May 14th, this Friday. If you feel like sharing the contest via twitter, let me know you did so and I’ll add an extra entry for you. Sound good?

Let’s consider it a celebration not only because of the fact that I’ll be able to cover exciting car events in the near future, but also because this Friday will mark my 100th published post for CarsxGirl!

She’s Baaaaaack….

Home, that is. My 240SX is HOME!! This is kinda old news at this point, but I did want to make it widely known that on April 1st, yes, April Fools’ Day, my SR20DET swapped 240SX managed to drive home.

She isn’t running 100% yet. The speedometer is not working, something that wasn’t working pre-swap anyhow. We also aren’t sure if the radiator fans are kicking on, and seem to have a temp spike when the brakes are applied… If you have any insights for me, let me know! I’d love to have her working in all aspects here. Been waiting too long for this, haha.

Also hoping that a friend will trade some gold 17’s for her current gold 15’s… Yes, we need bigger wheels. The car is raised. She has quite a bit of new fender gap. And the intercooler is still ridiculously low. See for yourself.

The gap in the front is pretty bad.....

And yet, here's how the intercooler sits. Ridiculous, isn't it? Haha.

My Oops…

Sharing the good means I feel obligated to share the bad. I f’ed up the other day and curbed one of my RPF1’s. I’m going to fix “repair”

It’s mah anniversary…

So happy anniversary to my lovely hubby!! I couldn’t have gotten this far without all of his support. Today’s three years married, and believe me, it’s not easy… But it’s been fun.

Off to the Beach we go!

Using our anniversary as an excuse, we’re going to be spending this week in Myrtle Beach, SC! It works out lovely because our anniversary and my spring break line up and it’s easy for me to clear my schedule.

Why Myrtle Beach? Because this Thursday, Friday, Saturday & next Sunday is Miatas at Myrtle Beach IV. We went last year to three and had a BLAST! Totally a fun fun fun trip. This year we’re showing up two days early to enjoy more of what the Beach has to offer, and we’re taking our S2000 to the Miata meet, because they have to meet our other roadster.

Expect a lot of pictures to be shared and some event coverage from me, it’s great practice for me here! (Taking pictures and doing write-ups.)

The view of Myrtle Beach from the room we stayed at last year... Can't wait to get back.

240SX Important Update

A few days ago we managed to fix the MAF issue!!! Hooray!!! I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how happy it makes me to have a perfectly running SR20DET.

There’s still an unknown issue with the transmission, though. We think it’s because she’s got less fluid than she should. What should be an easy fix has turned out to be another crazy delay, because we cannot find straight GL-4 gear oil anywhere.

There’s one or two places left that I can think of to look before I break down and rush ship three bottles of RedLine MT-90. It’s kinda annoying to have this issue now, but we had no way of knowing she’d do this… And, honestly, I’m just glad that my engine’s running good. She just desperately needs some new, fresh, yummy Shell premium gasoline and she’s good in that department!

Modeling…? What?!

Oh, I figured I’d throw this out there, too — the hubs has agreed to support me in looking into possibly modeling as a side job or whatever you’d like to call it. (Side pursuit is what it is to me, really.)

Not exactly sure how that’s all going to play out yet, but I’ll share it all of course. I’m not going to sell my soul to do it, though, because it’s not that important to me. Just something I feel like trying to do, ya know? I wonder if I can do it or not, really. And the only way to find out is to try.

So….

I’ll probably be pretty quiet this week since we’ll be on vacation, so don’t be shocked if I’m slow to respond, approve comments, tweet, etc. and overall absent from the interwebs.

There will still be posts this week, and after that some lovely coverage of the first big Miata meet of the year!

New layout!

First off, I’m pretty sure if you’ve ever been to my blog before and have visited since sometime yesterday afternoon, you’ve noticed that the layout has changed!

I don’t have any real reason other than I was browsing through themes and found this one… Personally, I really like the simple layout and the way pages are. Only thing I didn’t like is that I lost my spiffy contact page. Thoughts? Let me know, please! I would like to keep it easy for my sake, but of course for all the readers too.

Almost….

I’ve gotten a new MAF in thanks to Enjuku Racing, one that is confirmed to be in good working order. (Well, it came off a working car, so…) They sold it to me for a great price, so THANKS Enjuku!!!

My lovely partner-in-crime, instigator & husband-guy is on some vacation down-time, and after today I’m off of work…. So almost pertains to us having the 240SX up and running. I’ll keep everyone posted, of course, when we actually go and change out the MAF. Again.

Up & Coming Exciting Content

I recently got in touch with a friend of mine on Friday, actually the guy I bought my 240SX off of. Back a few months ago he ended up trading his S14 for a Civic hatchback, that sadly kerploded shortly after.

Well, he and I will be getting together to not only feature his hatch, which is mid-progress right now, but to chronicle the car’s build. I’m totally psyched to be able to put this together for him, and I’m sure it’ll make for some interesting posts. (After all, I seem pretty lame I’m sure with my broken 240SX, haha, especially with no new cool parts.)

Definitely stick around for that, it should be pretty sweet.

Photo Opp…?

On a side note, on my last trip to the zoo I found out that they’re running a photo contest this April. I’ve decided to get together my five best/favorite zoo photos and will be entering them into the contest.

One of the photos I plan on entering... Especially because I <3 foxes.

While winning a prize would be way cool, I’d just be super stoked to go and see my photos there! But winning is just something I feel would be cool for me as an amateur photographer and all. That’s if I have a chance, anyhow. At the very least I will be letting the zoo keep the photos as a donation.

Week Preview

Last, but not least, I figured I’d let you know what’s coming up this week.

On Tuesday, I talk a little bit about the last autocross I went to and share some of my favorite pictures! It was way fun with my new camera bit!

And on Friday, I officially introduce you to my latest bit of ink.

Sharing the Love

First off, I wanted to thank Freddy for the mention this past week here. It really does mean a lot to me when I get support from the community.

Without it, I don’t know how far I’d have gotten. I definitely couldn’t keep going without it. So thanks, guys, for putting up with a girl like me. I work hard to play with the boys! It’s awesome when that work is appreciated.

I also wanted to mention the latest Theme Tuesday that Stance Is Everything put out this past week. Much love to classy car models, I’d love to join their ranks someday…

Waiting for Love

Friday saw the arrival of a used MAF, which will hopefully get my 240SX back up and running. If this happens for Valentine’s Day, it’s all I could really ask for! I miss her dearly, and I can’t wait to drive her for the first time. It’s promising to be quite the experience, and I’m eager to take her to school again.

I am hopeful that this fixes her issue.....

Coming Up…

I’m excited for the rest of February. On the 21st is the first official autocross of the year! Planning to take lots of pictures, and hopefully show off my SR20DET after the long winter project months.

On the 28th, I’m leading the Miata Club on a Polar Bear Run. Last year’s was wet, with a tiny bit of snow. I’m hoping for cool, crisp, dry weather so the top can come down. I never thought I’d be the one to lead group drives, but after doing the first one back in November, it’s not so bad! I just wish I could take pictures too. (But being in the front and driving makes that pretty close to impossible.)

March promises to be even more exciting, when there’s an autocross in the beginning of the month and then we’re heading out to Myrtle Beach over spring break to join up with Miatas at Myrtle Beach IV. M@MB III was a blast last year, and we’re showing up two days early to enjoy the Beach and help them get all set up for the weekend. Funny enough, we’ll be taking the S2000 instead of the Miata this year, but they already know and we did say  last year they had to meet her.

Last year we had a blast at Myrtle Beach, we can't wait to go back this year!

All in all, the winter will finally be drawing to a close, events will pick back up and I’m eager to get out and socialize!

Stay Tuned….

Tax refund time is here for us, and I’m scheming a new thing or two to celebrate…. You don’t wanna miss it, I promise.

Can't wait to ditch cold winter nights for balmy summer ones.

Today’s edition of The Sunday News exists because I have a bunch of tiny little bits of information to share. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Blog Stuff

First off, I need to give a shout-out to SuperTerrificHappy Car Blog, because I made his list of blogs to follow for 2010. Needless to say, Mickie’s super awesome himself, drives a very nice car and takes some awesome pictures. The East Coast definitely has a lot to offer car culture, even if everyone always thinks of the West Coast first.

Secondly, CarsxGirl now has an official facebook page!! I’ll love you all forever if you fan it, haha. But really, do so if you feel like supporting my tiny project here. I’ve appreciated each and every comment more than you’ll ever know.

Third, sometime in the next few months the blog will be going through some changes. I’ll be moving into uncharted territories, with hired help so that nothing is messed up. In this will be a redesign, so if there’s something you’d like to see in the new layout, please let me know so I can add it to my list. I’m super excited about taking this next step, and want to make the new layout as user-friendly as possible, this isn’t just for me!

In doing this, I’m thinking about a slight name change to Cars by Girl, replacing the “x” with “by.” Thoughts?

Car Stuff

My 240SX is not feeling well yet, sadly. The new turbo is in, but we now have two new issues to contend with: Lack of oil pressure & an RPM issue.

The oil pressure is suspected to be the pickup tube inside the oil pan, a fairly straightforward fix. The RPM issue is a suspected bad MAF, not sure how we’re gonna tackle that one yet.

To add in a dash of pressure, our friend’s asked for the car to be moved by the seventh of next month. I sure hope so myself, honestly!

Personal Stuff

I’m back in classes for the Spring semester, but I won’t disappear, promise. I’ve got some interesting posts coming up and will be sticking to my twice a week schedule. So far, I’m loving Elementary Mandarin Chinese! (I can count, which makes me happy because I can tell I’ve learned something!)

I’m psyched that I get to be participating in the Personal MBA Crash Course, thanks to Untemplater. I expect nothing but good things to come out of it and hope I’ll learn some things to help my blog and future business. And check out Untemplater, too, it’s a super cool site.

It’s been a hair over two weeks for my 365 day photo project, and so far, fairly decent! Every picture’s been car-related, but it’s time I start to venture out into manual-mode-land. Seriously.

Also, this Saturday is a tech day with the Miata club… Hooray for that! It’s our first official car event of the year, looking forward to getting started with that. And learning how to clean my EGR valve.

It’s not that I don’t like snow, or that I can’t stand the cold. It’s that the absolute lack of things going on drives me crazy!!!!

Is January over yet?

Thankfully, Arkansas winters are fairly mild, so January is really the only month there’s pretty much nothing going on. Aside from the monthly Miata club meeting, there’s really no organized car events.

This changes for the better in February, when the autocross season kicks off. I’m looking forward to that! I’ve finally “earned” the right to shed Novice status and play with the experienced people. Doesn’t mean I’ll be any more good, it’s just part of my progress.

Anyone ever shipped a car before?

I’m beginning to figure out some of the logistics of our move. It’ll be happening around June, so the weather should be nice for it, which is helpful. Unfortunately, it’s fairly stressful because I’ve never had to do this before…

From what I can gather, our stuff can be moved by the military, but they won’t count our cars as part of our stuff. Which is weird… I wish I could count the Miata as part of our 4,000 lb. weight limit. (I can’t imagine we have that much stuff…?!) Well, with only two of us, driving three cars just is not possible.

I’m therefore looking into shipping the Miata, so if anyone’s had any experience with shipping cars and companies that do that, let me know?

A Speedhunters inclusion…

Proudly, my S13 was among many featured on Speedhunters for their Silvia celebration. It’s the first, tiny step towards achieving fame for her. She’s #9!

Speaking of my S13, the turbo’s back in the car, finally. Here’s how she sat yesterday, and we’re hoping to have her home on Tuesday…. Fingers crossed, there’s a few more bits to hook up and then she’s gotta run.

Soon, finally, soon.... I hope, anyways.

Arcade Accomplishments

Last week the husband and I went to the mall in search of a new calendar for the year. I had one last year, and surprisingly missed it. I figured having something for this year might keep me sorted out, and I like having something to write things down on.

Anyhow, as part of my photo project, I thought it would be fun to stop by the arcade and snaps some pics of our favorite game — Initial D. We even found the game for sale… With a price tag of $3,995. Yeah, so not happening. (That’s nearly twice what I paid for the 240SX.)

As I was trying to figure out how to get a decent shot, he snuck over and brought back $5 worth of tokens. Then issued the challenge.

No, I didn’t beat him… He’s got a lot more experience than I do, both driving & video games, especially Initial D. But I didn’t do so bad either, and kept up the second match. I then decided I wanted to try to take on the computer. I’ve played before, but never did good…. In fact, I never got past the first guy. Yeah, how sad is that?

So I gave it a try…. And I did good. Woah, seriously?! Not only did I beat the first guy, but I beat the second guy on the first try. I even got the third guy, after two tries. The combination of driving in the dark and still working out the steering response kept me from a first-time victory, though I was extremely close. (Less than half a car-length.)

Okay, I know it sounds mundane, but I was so proud of myself. I didn’t totally, completely suck!! Funny enough, that track experience I have really helped me out. It makes you see corners in a whole new way, and you never look at them the same since. Even in a video game I put my real world skills to use… And I won.

Which was made even better since he let me buy my first card! I have one area cleared, and someday I’ll make it back to the arcade to play some more…. It’s a nice little escape.

I'm pretty proud of this, believe it or not.

Oh, and the car I chose? A red Nissan S13. I love ‘em.

I hope y’all got whatever it is that you wanted for Christmas and enjoyed some relaxing time. Unfortunately for me, the weekend after Christmas has been full of lots of work… Ew. At least work means money, and most of that money is spent on my cars, which means things to write about!

I know I *totally* got what I wanted this year...!!

Introducing my first give-away!

Sorry, I’m so excited that I want to start off with my first give-away! I could have done this before Christmas, but I wanted to add some post-holiday excitement to the mix.

At the Miata club Christmas party, we were given some Adrenaline Racing gift certificates… And somehow, I ended up coming home with a TON. I’m never going to use them, and I don’t know anyone else around here who would, so I want to give the readers here a chance to save a few bucks.

Unfortunately, Adrenaline Racing isn’t a huge huge company, so please make sure to check the site before thinking you’re scoring something insanely useful. If you’re in the market for some brakes, this is probably the best use for it. My favorite listed product is the Ultralap Timing System receiver, which would be useful for all those track-lovers out there like me.

If I’ve managed to pique your interest, hit me up with an email: foxieness(at)gmail(dot)com and let me know which you’d like and where to send it. I have the following:

• $10 off any purchase — x3
• $25 off any purchase over $50 — x2 x1
• $50 off any Adrenaline Racing brake package — x2

No worries, 2010 will be full of surprises so who knows if there will be more give-aways or not.

Car Updates

Also exciting news on my car fronts here….

The company I bought my red top SR20DET engine from received our turbo and has sent out the replacement, yaaaaaaaay! I am super, super, super excited to get the turbo. Granted everything works, we will finally have her up and running and will be bringing her home! I miss my baby dearly and haven’t seen her in a few weeks. I cannot wait to drive her.

We also have new turbo lines to go with the turbo, the boost gauge has come in, and I’ve bought a new gauge cluster off of ebay that should work with the new engine. Yippee! I’m looking forward to thinking about modifying my SR20, not just getting it running. (The engine runs fine, other than the whole blown turbo thing.)

For the Miata, I got a phone call last week about the rear finish panel I placed an order for back in September. We were rear-ended by a dump truck, which scratched her bumper, broke one of her tail lights and left a big hole in the plastic rear finish panel. I covered up some of the scratches with an illest sticker, got a new tail light from our mechanic and placed the order for the out-of-stock panel.

I'll be glad to get this gaping hole finally fixed!

I’d all but given up hope when this news came, so it was a Merry Christmas surprise for the Miata that she’ll be all fixed soon! Panel is due to come in on the 30th, and will be left black. Granted that the black doesn’t clash too bad with the blue, I’ll be looking into a spoiler and fender flares that will also be black.

Sharing Some Loves

Awesome blogger Dave over at Stance Is Everything put together a great list of 12 automotive blogs he follows… And I was on it! I’m pretty stoked, because I was listed along blogs I already follow, such as HellaFlush (where I seem to have my own group of haters now, how exciting), MotorMavens and Speedhunters, but also got to find a couple of new ones to follow.

He found me before I found him, but I’ve been following him ever since and let me say, he’s a really cool guy. (And I mean it whole-heartedly!) Theme Tuesdays are always fun to see what’s up, and WTF Fridays are pretty great too. There aren’t many bloggers out there that you can interact with, but Dave’s definitely one of them. So go visit him and check out the other blogs, or give my blog roll over there some browsing. I try to offer up a variety of automotive blogs so that you can find anything to suit your taste. I like them all in different ways.

In other news…

I split up the old “My Other Girls” page and created a new page for each the 240SX and the S2000. With the engine swap, the 240SX became a pretty intense project quickly, and she needs her own page for space. I’m working on listing off the mods we’ve done, which are pretty extensive…

I’m also planning a possible redesign in 2010, and I plan on moving to paid hosting and off of wordpress.com. I don’t plan on that right away, but this is the first warning that it will be coming and may get messy. I plan on hiring someone to help me with it all, as I have zero experience with paid hosting and all that jazz, and would rather it go nice and smoothly without killing my blog.

At that time, I will be open to paid advertising at my own discretion, to help cover the admin costs of the blog. I know not everyone likes ads, but when I’m paying for hosting I’d like to try and recoup some of that cost. And yeah, I’d like to be a paid blogger someday, but I won’t do it via a bunch of intrusive ads. Promise!

Have a safe & happy New Year!

And that concludes the Post-Christmas Edition of The Sunday News, thanks for stopping by!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s! (No drinking & driving please! Keep the roads safe for everyone.)

The Sunday News

First order of news, wtf is “The Sunday News”? Basically, you get to hear some super real-time updates from me on any Sunday that I feel there’s something worth writing about. I’m not sure if this will be every Sunday, every other Sunday, or whatever sort of schedule. I’m just kinda leaving it open to the possibilities at this point. If it goes over well, it may become a weekly feature. That has yet to be seen.

I’m working on some changes around here. Mostly, shortening pieces I publish and adding more pictures for interest. Feedback is always appreciated, as this is the only way I know that if what I’m doing is working or not. It definitely helps me improve and that will only lead to better content. Or so the theory goes.

So far, a big, huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s visited and especially those who have commented. It’s been awesome so far to know that I’ve created this little site, not knowing anything about the car blogging community and have started to make a spot for myself. It’s awesome. (I think everyone should blog, but that’s just me & I enjoy writing!)

Sick-y Edition…?

As of Friday night, my ever-so-loving husband decided to share his cold. While he’s bouncing back already, I have had one hell of a weekend so far. Being sick = being fuzzy in the head, ya know what I mean? And being fuzzy in the head + long shifts at work = not so fun days. Work is work and I must do that, because it pays for the hobby after all. I just hope I can shake this cold, and I’m also glad it happened after classes were already done. Just one final to go.

Recent Happenings

Last weekend was fun, and I wasn’t sick, so that was good. The 4th saw the Miata club Christmas party, which was fun… And fairly interesting. The club is facing some stupid politics and what not right now, so the first board meeting of January will be mighty intriguing to say the least. I don’t plan on missing it… But I am remaining neutral in this whole thing. I’m in the club for the fun of it, not the silly politics that happen when you get a group of people together. Of course, I only found most of this out after the fact… But I was heads upped that night. I do not know a whole lot, but I know enough to know that I do not want to get involved. (If I never mentioned it before, I’m co-tour director of the club.)

I also got an awesome hoodie from the club’s president, embroidered with the club logo and my name. Love it! Kinda sucks that we’re moving away from them, but Washington will be a huge boost to our car hobby as a whole.

The 5th continued the partying, with our local SCCA chapter’s Christmas party and awards banquet. It’s not something I’d normally have attended, but I was told that I had to go to receive my award. Award?! Really? Oh yeah….

Mojito, yum!

Aside from celebrating with my favorite drink, I brought home a hat and a new jacket! Check it out for yourself! I still cannot believe it really went down that way… Crazy!! Shows what a little perseverance can do. (I went to just about every single autocross they had, with the exception of only two or three.)

I really am ridiculously proud of this jacket...

The 6th was the hang over autocross, and deathly cold out. Okay, maybe not deathly, but cold enough that I went for a few hours and took zero pictures. I was kinda sad because I was hoping to make it the debut of my SR20DET swapped 240SX, but complications made sure it didn’t happen. Sigh. Did show off my new jacket though and pick up a new magnet for my car. I lost one when we went to Hallett… Oops.

In more recent news, yesterday the SR20’s turbo was removed and sent back to the seller of the engine. It will be replaced by them under their start-up guarantee. Suspicions are that the engine sat for too long, causing the seals to weaken and the turbo to seize. Either way, I’m just glad I don’t have to swallow another $1k+ of expenses on getting a new turbo or what not. (Maybe not that much, but if I had to, why not upgrade?) Fingers crossed that she’ll be running by Christmas maybe? Oh, and hopefully the boost gauge will be here soon, too. Let’s hope.

And, with that being said… I’m going to end this edition of The Sunday News. It got lengthy quicker than I thought, ha. I think that it’s enough for now.