Felipe Update

This is Felipe a few days ago when he returned to Brazil after his accident. All I can say is, ouch!
I guess he could look a lot worse considering he got hit by a flying piece of another car at over 200 miles an hour and he had to have skull surgery and be put in a coma to recuperate.

Now the big news recently are that my favorite pilot ever, Michael Schumacher is coming back to replace him this season. I am very glad that Felipe is recovering and I really hopes he finishes his recovery and comes back to race, but I gotta admit I'm very excited to have Schumi back. I cried the day he announced his retirement and even though the car completely blows this year and he probably won't even have a shot at winning a race, it's still very exciting to have him back.

My thoughts to Felipe and his family

On Saturday, one of the pilots for my favorite formula one team had a serious accident during qualifying. A piece from another car flew and hit him, leaving him with a broken skull. He required surgery on his eye socket because of a serious fracture and it is now in an artificial coma so he can recover. They say he's out of danger, but it still is very scary.

They said that he'd passed out at the moment, but in the video you can see in the bars on the left that he hit the brake, probably out of reflex but his hand was still on the gas, so he crashed into the wall of tires. These helmets are tested to the max, but it would appear it hit the visor, which explains the seriousness of the injury.

I wish him the best and hope he recovers soon.

Silliness

Heh, the guys won a vma for best rock video :D
I really thought they were going to lose, but great for them. I love how Chester thanked Joe for making awesome videos, but actually had to make a point of saying that Joe is actually in the band. Oh and I usually love tattoos, but I don't like the one Talinda has in her arm at all.

I'm not even going to comment on the race today. I got up late and only watched a little bit and changed the channel near the end, so... let's move right along, lol.

Had an amazing lunch today at Abe's house. I ate so, so much. But everything was excellent and we had a nice time. They really are like our family down here, even more so now that Gus and Mary are starting to join the group.

Schumi's back... sort of

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will return to testing action for Ferrari next week, when he participates in the team’s final pre-season test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.

Schumacher, who last tested in late 2007, will join Kimi Raikkonen in Spain on Monday, as Ferrari begin a three-day session to finalise their on-track preparations for the coming season with their F2008 machine.

Meanwhile, Ferrari wound up their current Barcelona session on Friday, with Felipe Massa and official tester Luca Badoer carrying out a full race-weekend simulation, starting with the third free practice session, followed by the three qualifying sessions and the Grand Prix, along with all the relevant trackside procedures.

Massa successfully completed the simulation. Badoer, however, had to stop in the final race stint because of an oil leak. Massa ultimately completed 95 laps, with a best time of 1m 20.508s, while Badoer managed 75, his fastest a 1m 21.808s.

LPVille

So my friend Mickey created this LP forum and I'm a moderator. It was going to be a LP Fanfic place first and then we just opened it up. Click here if you want to check it out. I spent the day creating skin and boards here and there to make it cool, but suggestions are appreciated.

I have good news for me, Christian Klien has a job! He's one of my favorite drives in F1 if only because he's one of the cutest. BMW signed as a testing pilot which is good news. Hopefully he'll get a seat in a decent team in the future.

I was showing my photos to one of my co-workers, Amy, and I realized that I haven't taken any in a while. It's funny sometimes I take a lot in a short period of time and sometimes I leave it aside. I guess I've been paying more attention to all the stuff I'm doing on the web and I haven't really had anything interesting enough to photograph. I'll keep an eye out to see if I can take something good this week.

Memphis is still cold as ever. And we don't even get snow, at least that way they'd cancel class, but no, the only day that snowed it was at night only so I could wake up to my car covered in a couple inches of ice. It's not easy to get used to this considering Caracas has enviable weather. It's time like this when I miss my house, my old house I should say...

Watch out for the storm

So I was going to go out today to spend some extra cash but it was "extreme weather" day in Memphis. When I woke up we had a tornado watch, which means that the conditions are "favorable" to form thunderstorms that can form tornadoes. Translation: better not leave the house just in case. They usually end at a specific hour, so it'd be like" tornado watch until 4pm for the following areas" and then it's ok, but the problem is they extended later until the end of the afternoon and THEN, just when the sky was about to clear, we got a thunderstorm warning, which is more severe than watch and that means that the sky is pretty much falling so you can't leave the house. My dad was all worried but it wasn't that bad, when it gets really bad they have this deafening alarm that can be heard from any place in the city so you can find a save place, which in my case is the laundry room. It's supposed to be a room of the house that has no external walls and where you keep a flashlight and all that stuff. Thankfully we've never had to use it and I hope we never do. Conclusion: pretty much stayed in the house all freaking day.

I talked to my sister in law for a while, my grandma is still being her old complaining self, poor thing she was bad when I lived there but she has gotten worse with age. And Andy (my sister-in-law) is the only one who spends the whole day with her, my grandma is very controlling and Andy is the one that puts up with it. She is the one staying at home because my brother works all day as does my sister who also lives there. And my brother can be a bit of a jerk, he's like really closed up. Did I mention that she also takes care of my one year old niece and she's pregnant again? Yeah, she has the patience of a saint that girl, I really miss her, we have a lot in common and she's always fun to talk to. And well she was hoping to go back to work but she got pregnant again and she's been staying home, I'm sure it's not easy for her. So she told me about that, Isa (my niece) has had a delicate stomach the last couple of days, but she's better now. It was nice talking to her, I can't wait to go down there in May.
I also talked to my sister, but that always makes me sort of sad. I miss her, but whenever we talk we don't really have much to say. We have a good relationship (even with the 11 year difference, and the fact that we're both very stubborn), but we've never been that close. We can talk but we're not in each other's lives much. She is coming in March to visit, hopefully after we've moved to the new house.

Well that was my boring day today, web news and chatting and TV. Federer retired from the tournament he usually plays before the Australian Open, and people are all nervous and stuff. But it's a stomach bug, I'm sure he'll be ready to play next week. Grand Slams are very big deal to him. I just want the season to start, we need some tennis! I really hope he gets well and wins this thing with the new surface and all. I can't wait for Monday.

Oh yeah I was reading about the F2008, the car Ferrari is using for the 2008 season. I'm really excited this year, especially since Kimi managed to win last season. This is going to be more interesting because the rule changes mean that the drivers have to rely more on their skills than in all the tech stuff from the cars (no traction control this year). Also, that gives room for more passes and less races won in the pits! More excitement! At least I hope so. Anyway, here's the info on the F2008

Ferrari F2008 technical specifications – chassis

Carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure

Ferrari longitudinal gearbox
Limited-slip differential

Semiautomatic sequential
electronically controlled gearbox
quick-shift

Number of gears: 7 + Reverse

Ventilated carbon-fibre
disc brakes
Independent suspension,
push-rod activated torsion
springs front and rear

Weight (with water, lubricant and driver): 605 kg

BBS Wheels (front and rear): 13''

Engine

Type: 056

Number of cylinders: 8

Cylinder block in cast
aluminium: V 90°

Number of valves: 32

Pneumatic distribution

Total displacement: 2398 cm3

Piston bore: 98 mm

Weight: <95 kg

Magneti Marelli digital electronic injection

Magneti Marelli static
electronic ignition

Fuel: Shell V-Power ULG 64

Lubricant: Shell SL-1098

Oh yeah, not one word about him. I filled my mind with other things today. That's the way to go.