COMMANDER'S LOG
Stardate 200803.09
Star Trek Convention
Secaucus, New Jersey
With the mixed reception I had gotten at car shows, I wanted to take the Zhang Heng to some sort of Star Trek event where I would really have an appreciative audience. There was a convention scheduled in March in Secaucus, New Jersey, with at least a half-dozen actors from the various Star Trek series and movies.
So I signed up for the Gold Package: seats near the front, autograph opportunities, dessert with the celebrities, etc. The convention was a lot of fun.
The winners of the costume contest were the miners and the Horta from the episode "Devil in the Dark". Brent Spiner (Data)was selling his new CD. Armin Schimerman (Quark) did some Richard III. With Patrick Stewart doing Macbeth in Brooklyn at the time, there was as much talk of Shakespeare as there was of Star Trek.
I had only been to one previously, many years ago when my kids were younger and just old enough to appreciate it. As it turned out, the parking next to the hotel was not optimal for showing the car and the weather was cold and rainy most of the time. I got to demonstrate it to a few folks.
I made a centerpiece for the dessert party out of my wee Prius, which got me a $75 gift certificate, and got me the attention of actor Casey Biggs (Damar from Deep Space 9), who it turns out lives in Greene County, just north of where I live.
Stardate 200805.03
Green Grand Prix
Watkins Glen, New York
In the first weekend in May there is an event held in Watkins Glen, NY called the Green Grand Prix, an eco-freak answer to the motorspot events for which this town is known. I went there and met Hobbit and Neicy whom I had met online and at last years AltWheels Fest in Boston. This was sort of the same affair, promoting alternative fuel transportation, but featuring a sanctions sports car rally with a fuel efficiency component. We camped out together at Watkins Glen State Park. Hobbit is into sleeping inside his Prius, I opted to bring a tent. The only problem was, I forgot the poles. I jury rigged something that looked servciable out of my survival stuff which included oodles of rope. Unfortunately, my rigging job was not up to the task, and while we were out it rained.
On our return I found that the tent, with its flat top in my configuration had leaked and everything inside was soaked. Fortunately enough stuff was in the car that I managed to set up inside the car and sleep there.
The next day featured the competition and show. The competition was an officially Sports Car Club of America sports car rally. The course was not mapped, but you had to follow a bunch of written directions to drive at a certain average speed to such-and-such landmark, turn L, etc. If you were not good at spotting the landmarks you got lost. Therefore a navigator was required. You had to show up at a checkpoint at a specified time, or you lost points. You could drive it as a regular sports car rally for points, or , as I did, drive for fuel economy and forget about the timing.
I was assigned a volunteer navigator, Vance and started in the middle of the pack, right after Hobbit. My goal was to come within 3 MPG of Hobbit. Driving the rally was kind of fun. We did get lost, but so did Hobbit. At one point we caught up to hime and exchanged photon torpedo fire. It was a rather pleasant 30+ mile drive around the Watkins Glen area, pretty hilly and a challenge to drive for maximum MPG. Nevertheless, I turned in an official 56.9. MPG. Hobbit turned in 59.6 so I met my goal, and won 2nd place in the Prius category. Vance was a bit upset with himself for getting us lost, and said he did not want to do this again. I made up a commemorative poster to encourage him (lots of other people got lost).
After the competition, there was a show for the competing vehicles as well as a variety of other alternative fueled vehicles, including a completely solar powered car, a 1914 Woods Electric Car, and a wood powered pickup truck.
Parked on the other side of Hobbit was a fellow who ordered his Prius done up in the full Prius Racing Team colors. Nice to see someone else who thought the stock colors were boring.
Stardate 200806.01
Local Car Shows
There were some early spring car shows in my neighborhood (Rosendale and Bloomington) that were pretty routine (meaning I didn't win nuthin'), as well as an Earth Day event,
This last one above was interesting because it was completely unrestored.
Captain !! Ther' be WHALES here !!
June came a car show in New Windsor, where I managed to win a trophy.
World War II vintage, complete with machine gun.
What I did not know was that I walked up to the stage, received the trophy, and back to the car with a two-foot piece of toilet paper sticking out my back side. Liz noticed it after I got home. This car show was sponsored by UNICO, which stands for United Italian Community Organizations. My friend Rocco assures me that I owe them and they will come to collect. I envision it like this:
Telephone rings.
Hello?
Hello. Dr. Yee?
Yes.
Hi. Dis is Guido from the United Italian Community Organizations. You remember that car show you attended last spring?
Um, yeah.
The one where you had the toilet paper hangin' outta yer pants.
Uh, yeah.
Well, we din't say nothin' about it, and we never will, if ya know what I mean.
I appreciate your discretion.
Anyhow, we got a little favor to ask of you.
What's that?
We need a death certificate to be signed.
Well, I don't unusually do that.
That may be, but this is right up your alley. You're a psychiatrist, right?
Yeah.
Well, one of our, uh, friends has expired. He had some, uh, legal problems, and we need to keep this kinda private. So we would appreciate your signing the death certificate.
How is this up my alley?
The cause of death.
What was that?
Five gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Worse case of suicide you ever saw.
I'll be right over.
Apologies to all my friends of Italian ancestry. Too much Sopranos.
The next car show had an interesting result. It was located in Montgomery, NY, where they they have car shows about every weekend. Or more, as it turns out. There was a car show scheduled for June 1st to support the Mediation Center for several local counties. The site was listed as the Orange County Park. A Google search listed no such place, so I called some friends who lived in the area, who suggested a likely candidate. The day of the show it was a bit rainy, and I arrived at the chosen park. It is quite a large place with a day camp, riding stables, golf, course, etc. After driving around 20 minutes I saw no sign of the car show and I gave up. As I drove out I saw a sign for a Classic Car Show nearby. I recalled vaguely that I had checked it out online, and declined it in favor of the Mediation Center's car show. That having not happened, I went to check it out. I found the car show sponsored by the Humane Society of Walden, and they had a category for special interest cars. I got nothing against animals, so I entered the car show. A this point car shows are all starting to blend together in my head. But this one stood out because I was mightily pi**ed off when I won Second Place. This would not have been so bad, except that I lost out to one of the ugliest vehicles there, a 1974 frakkin'g police car! This thing had HUGE gumball warning light and this Crayola color paint job that I guess was authentic.
However, there was another set of awards that come at the end, after they give out the trophies for each class, and that is the overall winner in several categories: Best Engine, Best Paint Job, etc. I received a big honkin' trophy for Best Display.
