back to our regularly scheduled programming...

First off, I want to thank everyone for all of their comments and support while my dad was in the hospital. It's certainly been a stressful few months for all involved, and everything is going pretty smoothly. He's back home from the hospital and working on his rehab, getting steadily back to normal activity.

This weekend was a pretty busy one, with the Wicked Big Meet on Saturday and the fun rally (presented by Trunkmonkey Racing) on Sunday. Monday morning greeted me with a massive infection on my left arm, presumably moving in on the heels of a nasty black fly bite. A course of antibiotics, some naproxen sodium, and an ultrasound (to rule out DVT) seemed to set everything right, and the swelling has all but disappeared.

This morning, this year's copy of Subaru's Drive Performance magazine arrived in my mailbox. I opened it up to find, on the first inside page, one of my photos of Rick Swan's red WRX at Stafford Springs Rallycross earlier this year:

Pretty cool. They mis-spelled my name (it's "Hobgood", not "Hobbgood") in the name credit, but whatever. There's more stuff coming up in print in the next few weeks/months, so I'm excited.

Finally, it looks like Sabs, James, and I might be going to Lime Rock Park on Monday to catch the Rolex GT series... if so, I'll be posting some more photos.

back from purgatory...

For a guy who just had his aortic valve and a big chunk of aorta replaced, on top of a coronary bypass, my father is looking remarkably good and is in unusually high spirits. We're back home from the hospital right now, and they'll be taking him off the ventilator any minute now.

I've been up since 4:45AM today, and he was admitted at 6AM. The surgery went from 8AM until 1:30PM, and we spent the whole time in a horribly cramped, poorly staffed waiting "room." We then waited until nearly 3:30PM in the ICU waiting room before we could go in and see him.

It was worth the wait, though. Everyone in the family is going to sleep better tonight than they have in months. Can't wait to go see him tomorrow.

he's okay

So, my dad is out of the OR, and his surgery went well. On the way up to the ICU right now.

published!

Got some photos from this weekend published over at Edmunds.Com Inside Line. For a little while, it looked like GM Performance Division was interested in picking them up, but it fell through.

Read the story over here.

grammar and the modern alien

After living in a relative news blackout throughout most of last week and over the weekend, I checked CNN yesterday morning. Much to my surprise, I was informed that illegal immigrants from all over the country had walked out of their jobs to protest new legislation that would make them all felons.

I had managed to drive all the way into the office, including stops for gas and Taco Bell, without noticing anything amiss throughout the duration of my commute. Apparently, there are no illegal immigrants in New Hampshire.

According to CNN, however, the "Day Without Immigrant" was paralyzing urban economies across the United States, illustrating the incontrovertible importance of "Immigrant" in our daily lives.

Surely, I thought, there had to be some sort of major effect somewhere in my daily life. At some point in my day, I must have some sort of interaction with illegal aliens working under the table for substandard wages, no benefits, and living in constant fear of the INS. Some immigrant must certainly be taking away the opportunity for bottom-rung service industry employment from a poor, white trash pothead who can't afford to buy another game for his XBox.

But no... throughout the duration of my apparently insulated "Day Without Immigrant," I failed to notice even a single blip.

I suppose it could all be explained by the fact that I live in northern New England, or that our company is too small to hire a normal janitorial staff, or that I just don't get out much.

I think that's too simple, though. It appears that instead of working the jobs that we thought they'd be working, they must all be working in the proofreading and copy writing department at CNN.