Finish This Tonight
Sunday. Out of town and on the road this morning before eight after the usual breakfast at the usual place, arriving at Sears Point Raceway just before eight-thirty. A nice quick not too much traffic drive over Richardson Bay Bridge and up Highway 101. A drive up the hill to the parking area, plenty of room, I was maybe the fifth or sixth car in the lot. Down below the pit area was laid out, a large expanse of parked cars, trucks, RV's and tents filled with people working on motorcycles. Not much in the way of spectators, but I'd obviously arrived earlier than any sensible spectator should.
I found my friends in the Buell racing team straight off, said hello (they were busy, this was serious business, after all) and set out with the cameras on my own serious business to see what was what, running into Lisa and Dave after an hour of poking around. Lisa (number 628), a fellow employee, has evidently being racing for something like six years. Yes, I'd seen her arrive at the office in leathers packing a helmet, so I understood she rode a motorcycle, but it never occurred to me she might spend her weekends racing. This is not, as it happens, a sexist thing. When I see a guy in motorcycle gear I don't assume he races on the weekends either, leathers or no. I've had many friends who've spent their weekends racing back up in the hills on the public roads, as it happens, but I think of “actual” motorcycle racing as strictly a spectator sport.
Anyway, a good morning, a good lunch with the Buell team - I know little about racing, but obsessive behavior, whether it be motorcycles or shooting photographs, I know only too well - a buffet barbecue four star production with all the fixings in every flavor and style, I sitting in a canvas chair thoroughly pooped after three hours shooting. I did have the presence of mind to make a note to buy a folding canvas chair of some kind before leaving for this coming long weekend at Laguna Seca, though. I've also been thinking long and hard about how many cameras and lenses to bring. Heavy, lugging these cameras and lenses; nervous, leaving any of them behind locked in the car.
Monday. We were hit big time by the Zotob worm at the company today. The news stories I've seen so far say it's had a limited impact, but it essentially put us out of business for most of the day. That's a big deal. I'll be interested in the after action analysis, if we were hit so hard for reasons that our group had warned management about. One of those “the decision has been made from on high” things, “let's not get mired in any of this useless technical objection stuff”. So I got home late this evening and I'll prepare for the long weekend tomorrow and finish this tonight.
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