Chris Hammondhttp://www.chrishammond.comRSS Feed for Chris Hammond120Summer Meteor Showers, Perseids https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/28/summer-meteor-showers-perseidsHopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to get out and get some good photos, or at least attempt to get some good photos, of the Perseids Meteor showers. Maybe I'll arrange a little s2o gathering one late night out in a dark...Mon, 26 Jul 2004 10:06:00 GMT6d5de91d-3f01-499f-a76c-f866f4d63cc3Cards vs. Metshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/51/cards-vs-metsColwell and I went to the Cards Mets game yesterday. I took ~200 pictures http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/38.aspx Check out this one (3 in...Sun, 08 Aug 2004 21:29:00 GMT18d6a204-0834-449a-a0aa-041451d11e81I know that freak!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/61/i-know-that-freakSo I'm surfing around sportingnews.com today and trying to see if I can still login with my old TSN information, no luck. Either the account is gone, or I just forgot my password, not sure which. Once I get the failed login page I see this image. I think, wait a minute, I know that guy. That's none other than Aaron Ellis, web developer extraordinaire. He's one of a few of us who are still left at TSN. I believe he's currently the only web developer, at one point there were 6 or 7 of us, plus another 6 or 7 programmers.... Here's to ya...Wed, 18 Aug 2004 14:50:00 GMT977a3cdc-6ed8-4afc-8e93-b1af36fc6301New photo organizerhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/62/new-photo-organizerI've been meaning to figure out a good way to get organized on my photos. Right now I have my directory structure broken down by d:\images\year\month\day which doesn't work too bad, but I think I need an organization system that allows searching by content/topic, instead of just date. Scoble posted about organizr I may have to try it out...Thu, 19 Aug 2004 07:54:00 GMTea15841a-141a-482d-9f49-ecf0f8b78453Metallica's Some Kind of Monsterhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/63/metallicas-some-kind-of-monsterRuss and I went and saw Metallica's Some Kind of Monster last night at the Galeria here in St. Louis, Missouri. It was kind of weird that the only place in town playing SKOM was the movie theater at the Galleria. I would have expected the Tivoli, High Points, or Frontenac to be playing such a title over the Galleria theater. SKOM is a documentary on Metallica, ranging about two years, covering the development and struggles of recording the St. Anger album. It was a decent 2 hours, though it felt like it was 3+ hours when watching it. Watching Lars and James go at it you can't help but laugh at how silly these two grown men are, fighting like little kids. It was a cool progression though throughout the movie watching them grow. I'm still not a fan of the St. Anger album, but I did break it back out today to listen to it again for a while. Have you seen SKOM yet? What'd you...Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:14:00 GMT25ff6160-b07f-436a-ac98-fb27f5029819.Text and nGallery informationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/68/text-and-ngallery-informationTime to read up on this information about intergration of nGallery and...Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:00:00 GMTc4fca168-d48d-4ce5-95aa-b984a869192dGateway Cup Photos Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/88/gateway-cup-photos-day-1Here are some selected photos from the Gateway Cup Day 1 in Lafayette Square on Friday Night September 3rd. Greg coming down the front stretch 1 2 3 4 5Greg with Brandon (from Chicago) behind him  1 2 3 4Greg in the pack 1 2 3 4 Greg with a decent break 1 2 3Brandon in the pack 1 2Greg in the pack 1 2 3Brandon behind the Mercy guys 1Greg alone 1 2 3 4Brandon outside the pack 1Greg in pack 1 2 Brandon and Greg 1Andy 1Greg and Andy at Finish 1 2 3Greg after winning 1 And some cool photos from the Cat 1/2/Pro race http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2613.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2581.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2590.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2589.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2615.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2617.aspxand at the finish http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/44/2623.aspx I'll try to go through some of the rest of the weekends photos later this...Tue, 07 Sep 2004 22:24:00 GMT6b03922c-3f80-4ce3-ad68-16cc1cde8f4cGateway Cup Photos Day 2https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/89/gateway-cup-photos-day-2Photos from Day 2 of the Gateway Cup at Greentree in Kirkwood Missouri. The album has photos from the Masters and Cat 4 races.The following photos go pretty much in chronological order. Not necessarily photos from each lap though. First Lap James Nelson in the lower right. 1Brandon in the lower right 1Greg in the back 1Greg in the pack 1 2Greg moved into the lead on lap 3 or so 1 2 3 4 Brandon chasing a big shark 1Nelson is a big shark 1Greg, Brandon in background of the first one 1 2Greg in the pack, Nelson in the first one 1 2Greg and Nelson together in the pack 1You can see Andy's legs on the sea-foam bike 1These two guys just wanted some love from the announcer 1Greg and Brandon in the pack 1Greg and Andy in the pack 1 2Greg stayin on the break 1 2Andy and Nelson in the pack 1 2 3Andy in second 1 2Brandon leading the second pack 1Greg and Nelson in the pack 1Andy strokin it in first 1 2 3Greg leading the next pack 1 2 3Greg and Andy in the back of this photo 1 2 3Brandon and Andy in the pack 1Greg around the turn 1 2Andy 1Nelson 1Greg and Brandon together in the back 1 2 3Greg 1Brandon and Andy up front, Greg in the back 1 2 3 4Brandon and Andy in the line 1Greg 1 2Brandon 1Greg and Brandon 1 2 3Greg getting ready to toss his glasses 1Greg and Brandon, Andy too 1 2 Nelson's bike 1Greg in the pack 1Greg and Brandon in the pack 1 2 3Greg with a few laps left 1 2 3 4Sprint for the finish 1 2 3 4Greg after the race...Wed, 08 Sep 2004 08:11:00 GMTec03559e-52b6-4285-9b5b-73d02aadc504Gateway Cup Photos Day 3https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/91/gateway-cup-photos-day-3Day 3, on the Hill, Greg wins again. Greg back in the group 1 2 3Greg in 2nd, Brandon in 5th, Andy in 9th 1 2 3 Brandon in 1st, Greg back a bit 1 2 3Greg and Andy strategizing 1Brandon Greg and Andy 1 2 3Brandon and Andy upfront 1 2 3 4Greg pullin up, Brandon layin back 1 2Greg and Brandon 1 2Greg and Brandon in the pack 1 2Greg in pack 1 2 3Brandon in pack 1 2Andy in the pack 1Nelson after wreck 1 2 3 Greg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Brandon trying to get back up to speed 1Andy on the far right 1 2 3Greg's legs 1Greg after winning 1 2 3Monkey Faced Greg...Thu, 09 Sep 2004 07:23:00 GMTdc9b7aad-6f5f-421d-9d52-5a66b0ef0930Back from Vacation!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/93/back-from-vacationI'm back from 9 days out of town. First I went to the SCCA Solo II Nationals in Topeka Kansas you can check out some of the photos from the ProSolo Finale http://www.solo2.org/gallery/albums/9.aspx and from Nationals http://www.solo2.org/gallery/albums/8.aspx Thursday morning, after 4 hours of sleep, I drove back to St. Louis and caught a flight Thursday evening to Phoenix for Faye's wedding. Check out some of the photos from the wedding! http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/49.aspx Overall it was a good 9 days. Nationals didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it was better than last year. I did however get dehydrated one day and fairly sick, but after a few gatorades I was back to normal. Hopefully more details on the past 9 days later, I have work to catch up...Mon, 20 Sep 2004 10:39:00 GMT82ab5479-f237-4ff0-972f-afb1e2c6e23fShaun of the dead...https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/97/shaun-of-the-deadIf you haven't seen Shaun of the Dead yet go see it! It is an excellent movie. Funny as heck, and even a little jump out and scare you here and there. The movie is about two british guys who fight off a town full of Zombies, while the world faces an epidemic onslaught of Zombies. This is definitely a see it in theaters type of movie, or on DVD with 5.1...Tue, 28 Sep 2004 09:41:00 GMT85bec43b-619e-4542-a247-89844f2a33c4Will Mount St. Helen's blow? https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/99/will-mount-st-helens-blowWill St. Helen's Blow? Let's hope not for people's safety sake, but you can watch a cano cam...Wed, 29 Sep 2004 15:02:00 GMT50565493-84a2-4508-a644-e16861e87713Mount Saint Helens is being over run!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/104/mount-saint-helens-is-being-over-runMSH isn't about to erupt, it's being overrun by flies!  ...Fri, 01 Oct 2004 16:44:00 GMTa86b49e7-46b3-4809-83bd-7db0f7746b34Mount Saint Helens readies the area for a show...https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/105/mount-saint-helens-readies-the-area-for-a-showScientists are predicting that MSH will blow sometime very soon. The forrest service's servers have been overloaded with all the activity this is generating on the internet. The following VolcanoCam page with images updated every 5 minutes keeps going up and down. If you get a file not found try it again...Sun, 03 Oct 2004 13:55:00 GMT0eea6667-4e93-4a2b-8795-a78252354677Mount Saint Helens rumbles a bit morehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/108/mount-saint-helens-rumbles-a-bit-moreLetting of a little steam? That's what the scientists are thinking. Check out some of the screen captures from the MSH Volcano Cam that I've collected and posted online. http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/52.aspx Some of my other MSH postsMount Saint Helens readies the area for a show...Mount Saint Helens is being over run!Will Mount St. Helen's blow? ...Mon, 04 Oct 2004 11:13:00 GMTc84017fb-2d0e-43ca-b2e8-92055e92d028MSH image directoryhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/109/msh-image-directoryYou can view a couple hundred images...Mon, 04 Oct 2004 11:28:00 GMT5a0cb3e4-31d0-4dad-9aca-aa196424c958Great day in Baseball!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/110/great-day-in-baseballWas yesterday not the best day in Baseball? The Red Sox beat the Angel in Cali. The Yankees lost to the Twins in NY!!! Oh, and I went to the Cardinals game in which they beat the Dodgers! Here are 250 photos I took, I got 3 of the 5 homerun swings I think, possibly 4 of 5, need to check....Wed, 06 Oct 2004 08:35:00 GMTf05a5e0e-49e2-4b62-8991-9b0c8db604b9An even better day in baseball!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/126/an-even-better-day-in-baseballA few days ago I lied, it wasn't the best day in baseball. Up to this point YESTERDAY was the best day in Baseball! We spent yesterday afternoon at the Cardinals game 6 VS. The Astros. I took a couple hundred photos that I am currently uploading, I'll link to them in a bit when they are all uploaded. After the game I went to the Sports Page out in Columbia Illinois for Krista's volleyball game, and to watch the Red Sox win game 7 of the ALCS! Johnny Damon sure woke up yesterday, 6 RBIs for the hairy man, a 2 run shot, and a 4 run dinger!!!! Go Red Sox! Hopefully the Cardinals will win Game 7 of the NLCS tonight and then the Sox/Cards series will...Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:45:00 GMTaec8d169-7265-4033-8c91-56690902b058NLCS Game 6 Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/127/nlcs-game-6-photosI've got the photos from the NLCS game 6 at Busch Stadium (10/20/2004) posted. There are 463 of them. I didn't go through  and remove the blurry ones yet, just made them smaller and then uploaded them. Check them...Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:40:00 GMTef5ac774-ebc0-4162-9cd8-d18d10bc2a9fCardinals Red Sox Worlds Series!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/129/cardinals-red-sox-worlds-seriesCardinals Red Sox in the World...Thu, 21 Oct 2004 21:13:00 GMT41583395-512f-46b2-a297-232c8a94bea9World Series Tickets!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/134/world-series-ticketsGet your World Series tickets! Oh wait, I ALREADY HAVE THEM! :) Auntie Carol and I are heading to Game 4 on Wednesday night! She's flying in Wednesday afternoon and out Thursday morning. I've also got a standing room only ticket to Game 5 if it is necessary on Thursday night. I predicted this would be an expensive week, and it has proven to be so! As for me complaining or gloating for the next year. It's not likely, I'll be on a Red Sox Fan high for a while, but I'm not one to make continual jabs, I only made one comment about the Yankees to Brian... And that was after the Sox came back from 0-3 to win the Series! I am still a Cardinals fan, I still have two hats, a Jersey, and who knows what other Paraphanalia, it is all just retired until after the World Series, this is the Red Sox year! Let's do this one right Red Sox, we'd love to see it done in Four, but if it's done in 5 I'll be there...Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:53:00 GMT84ab10df-787d-4eed-a990-30c0c3bbee2eRed Sox World Series Game 4 photos!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/140/red-sox-world-series-game-4-photosIf you are looking to purchase the DVD of photos, you can get it on ebay. I took 540+ photos at Game 4 of the 2004 World Series. I'll be selling a DVD of the photos later this week, but for now you can view them on this web site! http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/55.aspx I never thought I would see the Red Sox win a World Series, much less get to see it in person! More thoughts on the game and the Sox to come soon! For the Gentleman that were sitting beside me and my Aunt, here are your photos http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/55/4961.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/55/4962.aspxhttp://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/55/4963.aspx   ' If you are looking to purchase the DVD of photos, you can get it on...Thu, 28 Oct 2004 08:29:00 GMTd8722ab2-d105-40c3-9237-15f9b12caa50Photos linkhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/142/photos-linkSince that last entry is so long I wanted to relink to the entry before that for the two Boston fans who were sitting beside us at the game last night. Also to link to a photo of me and Auntie Carol at the game....Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:42:00 GMTbcc0214f-c720-41c8-9157-4ac24dbcf6afBack to your regularly scheduled programming.https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/143/back-to-your-regularly-scheduled-programmingNow that the series is over, and hopefully after this weekend I'll be moved, I should be able to get back to computer topics! Here's something to read and download/try...Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:05:00 GMTf4578b63-84db-4584-b4ba-a11850d6477d2004 World Series DVD for the Red Soxhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/144/2004-world-series-dvd-for-the-red-soxIf you are looking to purchase the DVD of photos, you can get it on ebay. I'll be touching up all the photos I took at the World Series and compiling a DVD for sale in the next few days. I'll post more information here when it is available!  If you are looking to purchase the DVD of photos, you can get it on...Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:53:00 GMT6e53e5e9-1793-40c9-9fd5-7d8d2f190dfaPapa Roach at Mississippi Nights tonight!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/147/papa-roach-at-mississippi-nights-tonightMore to come later, here are some...Sat, 06 Nov 2004 00:07:00 GMT37973c4d-318b-4b52-9ac7-dabc5693de46What a weekend Part 1. Papa Roach at Mississippi Nightshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/148/what-a-weekend-part-1-papa-roach-at-mississippi-nWell, this is the first post about a great weekend! Friday night Roger and I went to Mississippi Nights to see Papa Roach, Trust Co. and Chronic Future. When we got there we noticed the guys from proach were standing out on the side parking lot talking to fans. So we parked and walked around there to say hello. I said hello to Jerry, the guitar player, and told him we'd met before, at Pop's in Sauget Illinois in 2001, and that I went to school with his brother. He faintly remembered meeting me, or at least acted like he did. After saying hello to Jerry I walked over to Jacoby, the lead singer, and said hello, told him I went to high school with his wife. To which he replied, “She's here, on the bus.” So I went over and waited by the bus until they were done with their signing, which I came to find out later was an invite only signing. I guess Roger and I just looked like we belonged there? :) After the signing Jacoby got Kelly off the bus, she came out and said hello, asked what the hell I was doing in Missouri (I know, it's not the most exciting of states, but it's been home for 9 years now). Roger and I went in and watched the first  two bands, I am not much of being right up in the crowd, so at Mississippi Nights it is nice because we could grab a chair in the back and still be able to see. Later in the evening I noticed Kelly was inside watching Papa Roach play, I went up to her and another girl (kelly is in black, jennifer in the striped shirt) at the bar to say hello. We talked for probably an hour to an hour and a half. We got caught up on all sorts of things. Kelly just had her second son, 6 weeks ago, named Jagger. Her and Jennifer had flown out and met up with the guys in Wichata the night before, they were on tour with them until Monday and then were heading back to California and the kids. Jennifer also went to Vanden High School and was in our class (95). Jennifer married Tobin, the bass player for Papa Roach. Jennifer also has two kids now. All the kids (4) were staying at Kelly's mom's house while they were out on tour with the band. Kelly told me about everything that's been going on, how life still is very regular for her, even though she's married to a rock star! It was a great evening, getting caught up with Kelly and Jennifer, getting to hang out with the band members afterwards. I didn't know this, but Dave, the drummer, is married to a Tyler, as in one of Steven Tyler's daughters, Mia to be exact. Seeing things from the otherside, you realize how real people are, even though they look so far away, they are just regular people to, it's nice to see that. Best of luck to the band, and to Kelly, Jennifer and the kids. I hope to see them all again soon, who knows, maybe they will show up at our 10 year reunion next year at Vanden! Here are some photos taken that...Mon, 08 Nov 2004 08:55:00 GMT6f4d979c-ef55-4797-8669-bf6ff4f35574View the war through a reporters eyes.https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/156/view-the-war-through-a-reporters-eyesKevin Sites is the reporter who happened to film the Marine who shot an Iraqi soldier point blank last week. Check out his blog, it's an interesting read. http://www.kevinsites.net/2004_11_21_archive.html#110107420331292115 As for my opinion on the matter, I'm not convinved the Marine should have done what he did, but I don't think I could ever charge him with anything if it were my choice, it just happened to be a dirty part of...Mon, 22 Nov 2004 10:15:00 GMT883ab553-b0a3-4ef0-8f57-c1da28d2c471First Snowhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/158/first-snowToday is the first day of snow. It's falling pretty good outside right now. Of course I left my camera home today! Perhaps I'll grab it over lunch. Pictures from...Wed, 24 Nov 2004 10:32:00 GMT4f98125e-e635-444a-bae2-d4461fd08b6eDay 8 on the Thunderchickenhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/166/day-8-on-the-thunderchickenI spent about an hour wrenching on the chicken today. I've posted Day 8 photos, I had a few days where I didn't get any photos, mostly the days I was wiring up the inside of the dash, so my day 8 is actually just a guess. Today I started working on getting the power steering pump removed from the car. I didn't have too much luck though. Removed the PS resevoir, removed the alternator and moved the belt out of the way, but it looks like I have to remove the pulley from the pump, even though the manual I have says otherwise! More on the turbo bird over on my racing...Sun, 05 Dec 2004 18:36:00 GMT2428929e-5ac4-49a4-84a7-bc9dc5184c3cDigging through old photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/167/digging-through-old-photosSo someone got me digging through old photos tonight... While digging I started hitting some of my old but still live pages. I really miss the...Sun, 05 Dec 2004 19:10:00 GMTf1d49851-f090-4ddf-aa6f-7beda0d760bdSpeaking of weather, it's meteor shower timehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/178/speaking-of-weather-its-meteor-shower-timeLooks like tonight may be a good night to go watch a meteor shower! http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/12/13/sky.watch/index.html Saturday evening around midnight I was taking Pylon out and happened to yawn, as I yawned I looked straight up and saw a beautiful meteor streak across the night sky! I love trying to get out and watch meteor showers, kind of sucks not having anyone to go out and watch them with...Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:33:00 GMT280071ca-d616-4f96-90bd-ef8bdfdf96441 Week till departurehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/181/1-week-till-departureIn less than a week I will be back in sunny California! I fly out of STL on the evening of the 22nd, headed to Long Beach until January 2nd. It'll be nice to get out of MO for a while, be able to have some fresh smoggy air, and breathe again! If I am out there and my sinus problems completely go away I will have to think long and hard about leaving the midwest and going back west for good! Lots of stuff left to do before next Wednesday. Tonight I'm off to the Ho Ho Show (www.1057thepoint.com). Tomorrow Bill is having a Poker party at his place. Saturday is Nelson's wedding party. I really need to do some shopping before I go! Shopping in California on the 23rd and 24th is a huge...Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:01:00 GMT0c566828-e395-4394-ae6b-1d5a23e3b33e2004 World Series Photos DVD For Sale!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/184/2004-world-series-photos-dvd-for-saleMy 2004 World Series Photos DVD is for sale again on Ebay! 2004 World Series Photos...Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:31:00 GMTbf7cceb4-9618-4cc9-a6bd-1bf8a42eabfaMerry Christmas to my friends!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/189/merry-christmas-to-my-friendsI've gotten a lot of text messages from folks today wishing me a Merry Christmas, to all of you who have sent me one, and those who haven't, Merry Christmas!!! Check out some photos I took at the beach last night, unedited, only resized for...Sat, 25 Dec 2004 16:04:00 GMTc363c77b-5096-4d0a-b659-5e4c52a2e337Sunset Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/191/sunset-photosTwo Days of Sunset Photos December 28th with my best friend Faye, in Huntington Beach and San Clemente December 29th in Huntington Beach I'm headed to Vacaville tomorrow morning, spend a few days up there see some old high school friends for New...Thu, 30 Dec 2004 01:08:00 GMT1503bd8e-91b6-4adb-acb7-b104cbe4fae6Jim Miramontes and Erin Farnandhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/194/jim-miramontes-and-erin-farnandFriday for lunch Erin and I drove up to Davis to meet up with Jim. It's been almost two years since I last saw either of them, was a good time catching up a bit. Here are some photos we took after...Mon, 03 Jan 2005 09:38:00 GMTd73f398a-cd6e-4306-a7fb-000acee10819Internet Flight Checkin, gotta love flying Southwest!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/205/internet-flight-checkin-gotta-love-flying-southweYou have to love Southwest Airlines! I now don't have to get to the airport near as early as originally planned. I'm taking only carry on items, and was able to check in over the internet, so I have my Group A boarding pass. SW boards by groups, A being first, B and C being latter, and since seating on Southwest is first come first serve, you need to have an A pass to get a decent seat. That generally means getting to the airport two hours early, but not if you check in online! Rock on with your bad self...Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:37:00 GMT3740f790-6d94-4346-b479-f8355ad21aefBoston Blizzard 2005https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/206/boston-blizzard-2005The family is all stuck in Lexington Massachusets right now due to weather! Fun fun fun. Check out some of the photos of all of the snow we got, I'm not sure how much we actually got, probably 2 feet, some of the drifts are up to 4-5 ft though, kind of neat. http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/67.aspx I was supposed to fly out this evening. Now I'm scheduled to leave around Noon...Sun, 23 Jan 2005 12:18:00 GMT2226e0e0-976f-495e-8b92-3edf6a5318feWeb sites for Friends!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/213/web-sites-for-friendsWell, somehow I have gotten back into doing web sites for friends! I'm currently working on 3, already setup one for Brian, setup one for Greg but need to tweak it to give it a good look and then train him on how to use it. I've also gotta set one up for Faye, but hers will have to wait till she buys a domain name, and so I can come up with a look/feel for her site as well. I'm using the new CommunityServer release from Telligent Systems for these sites, it allows for blogs/galleries/forums all in one app, and once I get the skinning down the sites will be pretty...Wed, 02 Feb 2005 10:44:00 GMT746967e5-3a3c-4480-ba8b-af8d40dcfc8bMSN Desktop Search indexing and Viriihttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/219/msn-desktop-search-indexing-and-viriiYesterday afternoon I was trying to search for something on my PC, I couldn't find it. I checked my settings in the MSN Desktop Search and realized it was only indexing Outlook and my My Documents folder. Well, I rarely keep anything in the My Documents folder, so I setup the search to reindex my machine. 15 hours later it finally finished indexing. It indexed close to 500k items on my machine. During that process I figured out there were some virii on my machine as well. So I had Norton do a full system scan last night and it came up with 9 files on my old harddrive which is hooked up as an E drive. Now I guess I should run a disk defrag and try to clean up the drives a little. I think I'm going to write an application to help me archive my many thousands of images. I have probably 100 gigs of photos taken with my cameras, so I need to figure out a way to archive them on DVDs and have a thumbnailing application on the PC so I can tell what images are on what DVDs. That could be a fun little project to start on this...Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:02:00 GMT039ca965-4153-46ee-96b1-08b8c92d86d1WonderfulCrazy.comhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/224/wonderfulcrazycomI got the domain and web site setup for Faye and James on Thursday evening. She even made her first blog post and uploaded some pictures already! I think she get's her geekiness from her...Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:00:00 GMT7c7302fe-ab15-421d-9070-837bf03fd418Gary Brolsma in Numa Numa Dancehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/227/gary-brolsma-in-numa-numa-danceCheck out Gary Brolsma in this great dance video entitled Numa Numa...Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:52:00 GMT81887a9d-6c5f-4935-8db1-ad32e8361871100 Acre Wood Photos, 2005https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/231/100-acre-wood-photos-2005We went to the 100 Acre Wood this past weekend. Ended up driving down to Potosi to watch the 3/10ths of a mile stages (ran the same course twice), it was like watching a rally cross, just with better developed cars. I took a few photos of this stage, you can find them here. I also took a lot of video from those two stages and the final 10th stage. I hope to have those posted here in the next couple of...Mon, 28 Feb 2005 07:26:00 GMT4992550d-bd57-4dc4-acf6-1eae79e74dc0Police Pursuit video is hogging up the bandwidth!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/232/police-pursuit-video-is-hogging-up-the-bandwidthSince I posted the video it's been downloaded over 12k times, sucking up more than 80gb of traffic on my interland hosting account. Tonight it appears to be moving rather slow, either from lots of downloads, or they've throttled my bandwidth. I've got incoming links to the video ALL over the place. The MJ Morning Show even picked up the link! Plus 100's of other web message boards. I'll try to post some of the other links...Mon, 28 Feb 2005 17:26:00 GMT6c09861f-e0fd-427c-841a-c7cc24e3ad1fNatalie Hammond (Ottiger) Dressage in St. Louis Missourihttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/269/natalie-hammond-ottiger-dressage-in-st-louis-miIf you're looking for a dressage trainer, clinics or private lessons in St. Louis Missouri and the Midwest check out Natalie Hammond (Ottiger) Dressage at NatalieHammond.com. Natalie is the premier professional dressage rider in the St. Louis area and is available for clinics and private lessons. Use the contact form on her web site for more...Tue, 17 May 2005 11:14:00 GMT3a5779dc-e63e-40c8-9624-50f7d2fa0671So far this weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/271/so-far-this-weekendSo far this weekend has been a good one. Last night we setup the SoloPerformance.com store at the Midnight Madness drag races out at Gateway. I shot some video of the StreetFighterz out there having a blast on their bikes. You can download it here, but be warned, it's 25megs and in Windows Media format. Today Rabid and I headed to Kansas City to watch the Cards game. It was amazing seeing so many Cardinals fans there, I  think it was easily split 50/50 between red and blue in the stadium. The ride back was wet. Somehow a big storm front totally missed KC but covered 70 the whole way back. ...Sat, 21 May 2005 23:51:00 GMT90282470-2f72-4124-a028-38d4458542b4R&S Racing SoloPerformance.com Midiv Event #2https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/276/rs-racing-soloperformancecom-midiv-event-2Check out the great photos that Chad got of my last run at the Midiv Solo II event this weekend. Here is a link to all of the shots he took. http://www.solo2.org/gallery/albums/57.aspx And a...Tue, 31 May 2005 23:02:00 GMT3d1257db-241c-4215-a60a-2a08616cc6b9St. Louis Area Dressage Society Photos up soon!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/279/st-louis-area-dressage-society-photos-up-soonFor those of you who recieved business cards with information about photos taken at the SLADS show this past weekend I'll have those up over the next few days. I only took photos of a few select people and am working on some new software for the website to allow me to password protect photo galleries, allowing only those intended to view particular photos. I'll have that software finished over the next couple of days and then will send out usernames/passwords for you to access your photo gallery. I also have some video taken from Sunday of people, I'll send information for that out as well. Before I can send you your username/password though I need your email address! So use the contact form here on this site to send me your email address and I'll email you later this...Mon, 06 Jun 2005 09:18:00 GMT690517c9-42b0-44a1-b285-cede267fa447Don't mess with a Nerd's carhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/283/dont-mess-with-a-nerds-carCheck out Rory's story about his...Fri, 10 Jun 2005 09:22:00 GMTe8f4710c-f245-4d7e-be66-5292c00a0dc1Microsoft Image Editing Beta for Acrylichttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/284/microsoft-image-editing-beta-for-acrylicMicrosoft has just released a beta for their pixel/vector based graphics software package called Acrylic. I'll have to download it and try it out this...Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:57:00 GMT5a02d36a-7ade-4385-bf2d-1c964acc9de6California Earthquakeshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/286/california-earthquakesWell, I'm in California for my reunion, and it's the earth quake season! Faye, Janelle and I are headed up the coast today in the rented Wrangler. Hopefully we don't get any quakes that cause any of those silly landslides that California seems to like to get as...Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:56:00 GMT110a1430-1a36-46c3-91f6-7cd3ec84411bBack from the reunionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/287/back-from-the-reunionWell, I'm back from my 10 year reunion. Lots of pictures and stories to post! I'll have some up on...Mon, 20 Jun 2005 22:35:00 GMT1424dff8-a434-460c-95d3-fd16f40ce33eVanden High School Class of 1995 10 Year Reunion Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/288/vanden-high-school-class-of-1995-10-year-reunion-pI've posted some of the photos I took from the reunion. You can see them here at the Vanden High School web site I setup a while back. I'm hoping to get copies of photos other folks took at the reunion as well, and post them on the...Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:40:00 GMTa952d854-3696-4700-a160-74d60dc1a64eSalina Kansas for the Midiv R&S/SPS Solo Event #3https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/291/salina-kansas-for-the-midiv-rssps-solo-event-3I'm headed to Salina Kansas today for Event #3 in the R&S/SPS Solo Midwestern Division Solo Series, or whatever the series is called. I'm a sponsor, I guess I should know! Will post pics when I...Fri, 24 Jun 2005 07:28:00 GMTeed000bc-01df-4ab8-a8d3-25fe2b6d46dfPraxair Explosion in St. Louis Missourihttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/292/praxair-explosion-in-st-louis-missouriIt looks like I got out of St. Louis just in time! All sorts of chaos downtown today as the Praxair Distribution facility blew the hell up! Bill posted a message over on another site about being able to see the flames from the Swank Parking lot, and hearing the explosions. Wow, wonder what the heck happened. Check out some of the pictures. From the news video I saw here in Salina Kansas I could see quite a few vehicles burning, and no fire department vehicles around to put them out. I think they cleared out the area and were letting things burn. Amazing that no one was...Fri, 24 Jun 2005 20:53:00 GMT559c17bb-94ba-4a3c-aa0b-8aa305631da6Back from Salina Kansashttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/293/back-from-salina-kansasWell, I made the trip back from Salina Kansas yesterday afternoon. 410 Miles in 5 hours and 10 minutes. You do the math. Stopped at the toll booth to get my ticket, then at the next booth to pay my toll, didn't have to stop for gas or any other breaks to the whole trip home. The weekend was good, hot 95-100 all 3 days, but at least Salina gets that good Kansas wind, it kept the heat bearable. I ended up winning my first Divisional of the year, and only the second win I've had over Andy this year, the first being the Walnut Ridge National Tour. We do it again this coming weekend. We'll be headed to Peru Indiana for the National Tour out at Grissom. Looking forward to making that trip again, it's quite a bit shorter than...Mon, 27 Jun 2005 11:46:00 GMTf23fad26-90b7-44cb-934f-ea8cb0e02a3cDrove by the Praxair Explosion Sitehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/295/drove-by-the-praxair-explosion-siteI got my boss to drive by the Praxair explosion site after we had a meeting downtown on Monday. Here are the photos I snapped. Nothing really too interesting, they pretty much have everything blocked off well, though this shot shows a vehicle completely gutted and random metal lying around on the ground.. You'd think they would come up with some different storage methods after the problems they had last week, yet this photo shows all the canisters still sitting outside together! This guy was napping while manning the truck that is still spraying water on the site, I assume to cool things down. Maybe later this week I'll get down and get some better...Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:34:00 GMT90c46888-1344-4080-9d4d-a8e77082ad37To Denver and Backhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/319/to-denver-and-backAndy and I made it to Denver and back. I went 1800.8 miles since I filled up with gas on Thursday night, we left Friday at 4am. The car did well, Andy was in the lead after the first day, but slipped to 2nd on the second day. I finished in 7th both days. Not a great showing for myself, though Andy picked up $200 from Kumho's contingency $$. I took ~800 photos, I'll link those later as there are some server problems right now. I also broke the Digital Rebel, so I'm headed to Best Buy this evening to see how they are going to handle the warranty on that...Mon, 01 Aug 2005 15:11:00 GMT715f8a3f-c4e0-4df0-8769-dd247fb2b57ePictures from this past weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/323/pictures-from-this-past-weekend 1200 photos from the event this past weekend. http://www.solo2.org/gallery/albums/69.aspx Mostly heats 2 and 4, though a few Heat 3 photos in there as well. The new camera, Rebel XT,...Mon, 08 Aug 2005 14:35:00 GMT8fa670ea-f26e-4fab-9c87-644ff60464a4Red Sox VS Royals, Photos from 8/25https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/338/red-sox-vs-royals-photos-from-825I had an adventure to make it to and from the game on 8/25 in KC, but managed to take a few hundred photos at the game. Please feel free to give me any comments. I'm by no means a photographer, just a guy with a camera, so any tips/suggestions appreciated.You can see the photos here http://chrishammond.com/photos/old/category1068.aspxHere's my story about the darn ride back to St. Louishttp://www.chrishammond.com/archive...08/27/1502.aspxAnd then, of course my 2004 Game 4 World Series...Sat, 27 Aug 2005 08:48:00 GMTaca310fc-f04f-4d58-b1e2-f61931ee1ecc2005 Gateway Cup Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/347/2005-gateway-cup-photosPhotos from the University City portion of the Gateway Cup are posted. http://chrishammond.com/photos/2005_gateway_cup/default.aspx I only took Cat 5, Masters, and Cat 4...Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:22:00 GMT72a4fcfd-1bf4-4ac5-812b-df033fab938bSolo Nationalshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/349/solo-nationalsI'm off at the 2005 Solo Nationals, check out the blog over on...Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:41:00 GMTb67b0ddd-ca1b-44ac-89df-e3be38c9dcaf2005 Nationals Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/350/2005-nationals-photosPhotos from Topeka are posted. Thanks to James Elterman for taking most of the 5th heat photos while I was...Sun, 18 Sep 2005 17:49:00 GMT959ec01e-3e06-4f36-8b4e-624e5b6b3be1Faye needs to enable comments!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/361/faye-needs-to-enable-commentsUntil she does, I'll just blog about her over here, and see if she reads this. So they finally got a new Camera. I'm surprised it took her dad so long to talk them into it. He ran out after seeing my 300D and had to buy a 20D (I think that was the model he got) putting my camera to shame. I've now got the 350D (xt) and can't live without it. I took 500 pictures at the dressage show yesterday, some of which are posted over on...Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:59:00 GMT86bf3124-0b62-4954-a3e1-569278022793I just Woot'd the Pacific Image MPEG4 Recorder PV-801https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/364/i-just-wootd-the-pacific-image-mpeg4-recorder-pvI got my first Woot today (tonight/this morning). I purchased the Pacific Image MPEG4 Recorder PV-801 We'll see how it turns out. It could be an interesting/cheap alternative recording source for racing videos. We'll see how it turns out! What is Woot? Check it out for yourself at www.woot.com It's a geek's clearing house, 1 item for sale each day at Midnight, limited quantities at a generally great...Wed, 12 Oct 2005 01:27:00 GMTf7e814b2-12f3-453e-9a4a-321202c4afbeWe're engaged!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/365/were-engagedAll went well with my plans. Natalie and I are now engaged! Pics and video up later this...Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:07:00 GMTc3aac1f1-d400-478e-8591-3a7b0176b04dChesterfield Football Association Pictureshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/375/chesterfield-football-association-picturesI took some pictures today at the CFA game out in the valley. It was my boss' 7-8 year old...Sun, 06 Nov 2005 22:01:00 GMT57f745c1-5e72-42ca-b3f6-a4c7dacdce3fNew TVhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/378/new-tvWell, it's time for a photo of the new TV! http://chrishammond.com/photos/around_the_house/picture13383.aspx I need to come up with a better entertainment center for the components, and speakers, but the old microwave cart will have to work for now. and the old...Mon, 14 Nov 2005 16:11:00 GMT62768c45-e6db-4468-8988-22d097fba03cChristmas Photos!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/404/christmas-photosWe woke up to a White Christmas this morning! Check out the snow, as well as the dogs and the...Sun, 25 Dec 2005 10:08:00 GMT4c9d151f-36f2-4028-a0c1-e5e6a5a9acf3Almost time to go home...https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/418/almost-time-to-go-homeI've been here in Lexington, Kentucky for the past 4 days. I was fortunate enough to meet two of the brightest minds in the industry! Also, I can't forget Chad Hobson (checkout that killer site, what mad skillz). Anyways, back to the brightest minds. I got to meet Shaun Walker, founder of DotNetNuke, and Scott Willhite, one of the Board members for DotNetNuke. I of course got them to sign my DotNetNuke book while they were...Thu, 19 Jan 2006 22:24:00 GMTb48c7375-27a5-44d9-a706-a4a68fe8e0a8Highway Chase in Kentucky and Indiana yesterday!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/420/highway-chase-in-kentucky-and-indiana-yesterdayComing back from Lexington Kentucky yesterday we stopped just into Indiana for some lunch. We got back on Highway 64 and immediately stopped in a traffic jam. We were sitting there for about an hour. When we finally made it through the traffic causing accident we saw a single Ford Explorer, I saw the passenger window broken, I assumed from rolling over. Apparently it was from gunfire! Check out the story...Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:09:00 GMT85d6bd38-09d3-4c05-b8dd-4fc8d52b682aOpening Day Photos Posted!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/477/opening-day-photos-postedI finally got the 293 opening day photos posted! Here are a few of the "good" ones, though I didn't go through them all.   Me walking into Cheers Me and Auntie Carol after the...Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:44:00 GMTff448876-e03d-4e58-a588-99413f2bb6aa280ZX L28ET Oil Pan Removal https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/487/280zx-l28et-oil-pan-removalI took the oil pan off the L28ET motor tonight to try to get inside and see what all I could find out about the motor. I've posted a few pictures over in the 240 photo gallery, check them out, let me know what you think of what you see. http://sccaforums.com/photos/christoc/category1053.aspx Here are some of the recently uploaded...Fri, 12 May 2006 17:54:00 GMT192ea81c-b329-480c-b140-58f17c5bdc9bWhy I don't need my baseball cards anymore.https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/547/why-i-dont-need-my-baseball-cards-anymorehttp://www.slate.com/id/2146218/?GT1=8483 I'll be damned if I'm throwing them out though. Someday they'll be worth something again! I...Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:15:00 GMTd54307d3-9dc1-4ba7-907f-998439538561Surfs Up!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/557/surfs-upHad a blast surfing today. Natalie and Mom came out and watched, took pics. I'll try to get the pics up tomorrow, but not likely to get them up till we get back in town. Nat and I are both roasted, hopefully we don't peel too bad! More on all we've been doing...Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:40:00 GMTed55a28c-54b3-48d6-b0fa-2eb6aaa22425Photos from the California Triphttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/558/photos-from-the-california-tripI've posted two photos so far, from the Dodgers Game today, though I have a few hundred more photos to post over the next few days. Posting them over on...Sun, 13 Aug 2006 01:40:00 GMTfb1af55d-ed9b-4de2-9eeb-21b906f0d3dbFriends and Family World Series Letterhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/141/friends-and-family-world-series-letterIf you are looking to purchase the DVD of photos, you can get it on ebay. Sent this out to a whole list of folks today, in case I missed anyone. Hello Friends and Family!   Many of you I haven’t talked to in a long time, so here’s a quick update on where I am and what I am doing. I’m in St. Louis working for Emerging Technologies Group, programming web sites, loving what I do every day. I’m moving on November 1st to a new place about ½ a mile from work, if you want the address reply to this email and I’ll send it to you.   Now for the reason I am writing this email!   I bring to you good news!   I must say, I NEVER thought I would get to see a Red Sox World Series Championship, much less get the chance to see it in person!!!! I’ve watched more baseball this year than I have since I was a little boy, and probably even more than back then too.   Monday night I called Auntie Carol in Lexington, Mass. and told her to a flight get to St. Louis because I was going to get us Game 4 tickets. I got tickets from a season ticket holder here in St. Louis, got Carol a flight setup for Wednesday, and then proceeded to watch game 3 on Tuesday night from the couch. Throughout the whole series Sox fans have been nervous, the nervous wait, waiting for the Red Sox to screw it up, lose, and end the historic season in a miserable way. Game 3 was no different.   Watching Game 3 all I wanted was for them to win, so that Auntie Carol and I would have a chance to see Game 4, and see the Red Sox win it all here in St. Louis. They pulled it off and the World was abuzz about the Sox, and the fact that everyone thought it was a guarantee they would win it all. Maybe I was more nervous than most because I went to six Cardinals games this year all in which they won. Including Game 1 of the NLDS and Game 6 of the NLCS, and I know what the Cardinals bats can do, they can hurt you, and they could have hurt the Red Sox.   Carol landed about 3:30pm yesterday, I picked her up at the airport and was high fived and thumbs up’d by all the Sox fans walking around the airport, a change from the harassment I’d received from Cards fans on Saturday while walking around the mall in my Damon Jersey (see my blog link below to read about that)! We drove out to the stadium and found a nice free parking space which Josh Colwell showed me back in August when we saw the Cards beat the Mets, (http://www.chrishammond.com/gallery/albums/38.aspx). We walked up to the stadium and around to gate 7, near Stan the Man. We spent the next 45 to 60 minutes taking in the atmosphere, waiting for the gates to open. I also got a cool World Series blanket for signing up for a credit card, which will promptly be destroyed and cancelled when it arrives (you’re welcome mom).   Once the gates open we headed in to watch the Cardinals finish off batting practice and see the Sox take their practice. We got close to a few of the balls hit to right field, but nothing close enough to grab a hold of. It’s interesting watching people scramble and fight for a ball. We ran into Santa Clause there, he had a gift to be handed out later ( )! After watching most of BP we decided to venture up to our seats, 3 rows from the top in section 334. Not bad seats, but I can’t say that I’ve ever really had a bad seat at Busch (stadium). Before the game I took a photo or two of Albert (), I used to work with him at The Sporting News, he is the head photographer there, I also still occasionally play roller hockey with him.   I won’t go inning by inning, or pitch by pitch, but I will point out the photo of Johnny Damon, in his at bat that Won the World Series! () Johnny’s first inning, first at bat, home run won the game which ended 3-0 after nine. It was surprising the number of Red Sox fans at the game, there were probably 2-3 thousand, I think all of them stayed after the game to watch the celebrations. At the end of the game, everyone in the...Chris HammondThu, 28 Oct 2004 10:40:00 GMT03878184-dc9f-45cc-9d29-b4a08d2c01f2A quick personal updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/967/a-quick-personal-updateSo you might have seen all the DotNetNuke posts lately, but what about just a Chris and Natalie post? Well here it goes! (you can follow along with some of the photos here on Flickr) Natalie and I had a blast in Las Vegas this past week. We went on the 3rd, a day before her Birthday. Her parents came out on the 3rd as well so we got to spend time with them for a few days before the DNN conference started up. During those few days we went and saw "KA" at the MGM, took a trip out to the Hoover Dam. After the Hoover Dam we took a quick jaunt North of Las Vegas looking for Red Rock, only to figure out an hour north that Red Rock was actually West of Las Vegas, so we turned around and headed back towards LV. It turned out perfect though, our little detour had delayed us enough to see the most brilliant sunset I've ever seen from Red Rock. Monday I had a DNN Core Team lunch, and then came back to the hotel to go with Natalie and meet Rich and Henry (two owners of Engage Software) and their wives for dinner and drinks. We repeated that process on Tuesday evening after the conference as well. Wednesday evening Natalie and I went to a gathering of people at Mix In Las Vegas, the restaurant on the 64th floor of "THEHotel" which is attached to the Mandalay Bay. The dinner was great and I must once again thank Tracy from www.t-worx.com for the most excellent evening. Thursday evening a large group of us, 17, got together for dinner. We met up in the bar at the Mandalay Bay and then decided to take Taxis down to the Venetian. Somehow we all actually made it to the same place and got to eat dinner together at one restaurant. It was a great time and I got to talk to Erik quite a bit, hopefully talking him into trying to get me to speak at SDC in the Netherlands next September! One can only hope :) Friday Natalie and I took off by ourselves for once. We went to Grand Canyon West, with the main goal of getting out onto the SkyWalk (www.grandcanyonskywalk.com). It was roughly 120 miles from the hotel, though took 2.5 hours as there was 14 miles of dirt/gravel road. The funny thing (well one of them) about the road, this 14 mile stretch was County maintained, as soon as we got to the Indian reservation grounds the road became paved... We were in Minivan for the trip, it was what you might call dirty at the end of the day. Lucky for the Minivan it didn't have a handbrake, just a footbrake/e-brake, otherwise I would have had an easier time getting the tail end of the car to swing out around the corners. We had a good time at Grand Canyon West, even though I have a little beef with the operation they have running there. The SkyWalk is very cool, and you essentially have to pay $79/person to get out on the SkyWalk. They don't allow you to take any personal items out there, for fear of you dropping them on the glass, or worse over the edge into the Canyon below. So you can't take a camera out there with you, they of course will gladly take your photo for you and sell it to you for $25/each. We ended up buying 2 photos, so we got the third one free. But they can only print them, not give them to you on CD, or even email them to you. The prints weren't what I would acll the highest of quality. I'm hoping I can email the staff there and try to get better quality photos from them. Friday evening we returned back to Vegas and went to see "O" at the Bellagio. It was another great show, definitely worth the investment to go see if you're in Vegas anytime soon. Saturday morning we headed back to the airport and flew back to St. Louis. We got home around 7pm and pretty much crashed. Sunday I headed out with Nick and went hunting. It might be deer season here in Missouri but I was hunting bugs, one particular blue one that I hear rumored to still be around Alton Illinois. Our hunt was not fruitful, we didn't find my old Super Beetle, but I will keep hunting. Sunday evening we joined Dominique and Colby for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to...Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:49:00 GMT03edd252-6f14-4467-8170-b3f30c6538d3A new ChrisHammond.com....https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/11/a-new-chrishammondcomI got the urge to redesign, as I do every few weeks. I've added a new photo gallery, with a little bit better functionality than the last one. I'll try to continually add items to it. So far I'm not so sure I like my organizational structure in the gallery, but it will do until I come up with something better. What do you think of the new site? -Chris...Chris HammondTue, 13 Jul 2004 12:48:00 GMT64e17fbb-2118-44da-8f24-ee958618b643Our engagement adventure!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/366/our-engagement-adventureSo now that most folks know Natalie and I got engaged last weekend, it's time to tell the story of how it happened. A little bit of info on this past weekend, Natalie's mother's birthday was on the 7th of October, so we were all headed out to So Cal for the occasion. Her parents live about 17 miles from mine, but by California's roads that's about a 45 minute drive. We, Me, Natalie, her sister, brother-in-law and neice all went out to California for the weekend, to visit with her family and mine. We planned on everyone going to my parent's house on Saturday at 6:30pm, kind of a family gathering, have both sets of parents meet, and just have dinner and hang out all evening. I however had other plans and had Mom scope out locations on the beach for me a few weeks back. The requirements were a good view of the Ocean at Sunset, easy accessibility, and somewhere that 18 people could watch, without Natalie seeing those 18 people until after I asked her to marry me. Dog Beach down in Huntington beach was the perfect location, with two seperate parking areas so that Natalie and I could park, and walk ~1/4 mile to the sand below the cliffs at the second parking area. So the plan actually was for everyone to show up at my parents house at 5pm, and head down to the beach. Natalie and I got to the house around 4:30 and picked up the Triumph so we could drive down PCH with top down, sight seeing a little was the cover I used with Natalie. I had to double check on the location mom picked out, as dad early Saturday morning said the two parking locations where too far apart, after seeing they were nice and close to each other I let mom know via a cryptic phonecall we would be in the same location as planned. Natalie and I drove around Huntington Beach a bit, stopping to watchi a few kite surfers (probably the wrong term) and then headed back up to the first Dog beach parking lot. I took her down for a stroll along the beach, all along looking ahead to see if I could see anyone at the rendevous point yet. We ended up at the point I had planned probably 5-10 minutes before everyone else showed up. Not exactly on time as I had planned, but I think that worked out best as no one was around when we were walking towards where they would all be standing, I was hoping she wouldn't see anyone before I asked her. This whole time Natalie was freezing, the weather the day before had been 83 and sunny, but the weather saturday was getting overcast and windy, probably somewhere near 55-60 with a 15-20mph wind from the ocean. Though, even with the clouds and wind, we had a pretty good view of the sunset, which I had planned everything around, a 6:19pm sunset. We stood there for what seemed like an eternity, finally the family showed up, I had to wave at them behind my back to get them down to the area near the life guard stand (stand 22) that would give them the best view. Natalie actually asked me if I was waving at someone, I said no, I was just cold and shaking out my hands. :) Once everyone was in position I suggested she put her shoes down, she'd been carrying them since we got to the sand. After a few moments, and her wiping her runny nose from the cold wind on my shirt, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She teared up, not saying a word, in shock. I had to ask her, "well, will you?" to get her to knod yes! I rose and gave her a hug and a kiss and then the crowd cheered, she turned and saw 18 people standing up on the bluff cheering for us. It took her a bit to realize it was all of our families up there watching :). Everything turned out great, Greg (my brother) and Dad had my still camera and video camera snapping and shooting away the whole time. We walked up to the bluff and took lots of photos together, with all the family in various arrangements. Afterwards we all headed to Mom and Dad's house in Long Beach for a few hours of socializing. It was a great evening, and special thanks to Mom for getting everything together...Chris HammondWed, 19 Oct 2005 14:05:00 GMTf5eab5c4-51cb-4123-abe3-0d0192bdc14cEngagement Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/369/engagement-photosI posted a few more engagement photos, check them out...Chris HammondWed, 26 Oct 2005 22:32:00 GMTf4722918-1ee0-44f4-b9a5-f43eacb41ec4Topeka Kansas, 2004https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/92/topeka-kansas-2004For the fifth year in a row I am in Topeka Kansas this week. It's the SCCA Solo II Nationals. The Nationals are broken up into two groups. My group runs on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are only 2 350Zs here this year, 4 drivers. Andy Hohl is driving mine. Hopefully one of us will do decent! We (SoloPerformance.com) showed up Friday and setup the store. We've been selling like mad, doing a lot of custom Vinyl for folks, far more than I expected! Hopefully more posts later this week. Thursday I drive back to St. Louis and fly to Phoenix for Faye's...Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:52:00 GMT4c8ec501-bb31-4f3f-aea2-e5ee6fe3cb0eReferral logs are funhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/170/referral-logs-are-funI was looking through my site statistics for solo2.org today and came across an incoming link to the site that has brought 30 people to the site in the past couple of days. So I go to check it out. http://350zuk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4904 Harsh! Oh well, I liked the stripe while I had it on the...Chris HammondMon, 06 Dec 2004 15:54:00 GMT81624f24-34f6-4b22-8d5a-8b3899fb50bbTGIF SCCA St. Louis Region Awards Banquet this weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/199/tgif-scca-st-louis-region-awards-banquet-this-weeTomorrow night is the annual St. Louis region of the SCCA's awards banquet. It's almost always guaranteed to be a good time! I'll be picking up my B-Stock Class championship tomorrow, then drinking heavily and heading out to who knows where afterwards. The party usually goes well into the morning hours. See some of the photos of my 2003 Nissan 350Z...Fri, 14 Jan 2005 08:59:00 GMTa948e080-29f1-40ac-822d-88737c1cd8f3Arkansas National Tour was very productive! My first National trophy, and it came with a Win!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/246/arkansas-national-tour-was-very-productive-my-firA quick (longer than planned) writeup, from a BS perspective The surface was concrete, VERY rough on tires, kinda slick but still not a bad surface over all, a little breakup after day 1, patches before day 2. The weather was pretty windy on Friday, not as much wind on Saturday, by Sunday the wind has switched and was blowing form the east. Not near as strong as Friday though. Both mornings were chilly, saturday was 36 degrees when Heat 1 started at 7:55am. By 1:30 it was ~60 degrees out, Sunny, with a light wind.The event ran very smoothly, great job by the Arkansas Region and SCCA staff. Only two event recommendation I would have, the front gate didn't appear to be staffed very well during the non-heat times (not sure during heats). The other being the choice of Saturday night dinner locations. It was a little too small for the number of folks we had at the event, just a thought for next year There were 185 drivers, I worked first heat in the trailer doing radio, which was nice because I got to stay inside where it was nice and toasty BS ran Second heat both days, there were 10 drivers (2 M3s (4 drivers) 1 RX-8, a Red 350Z, a Brickyard 350Z and my Daytona Blue 350Z with myself and Andy driving). Andy and I were trying out some Kumho 710s, some very large Kumho 710s! We managed to squeeze 275s on all four corners, including the 7.5" front wheels, I ended up installing a spacer up front just to be sure we didn't rub, I don't think it would have been an issue though even without the spacer. After first runs on Saturday I had a mid 46, with Ashir (sp?) running a 46.8 though I thought I had about a 1.5 second lead on the class. Andy, my codriver, I believe had a cone on his first run. Second runs Andy ended up with some car troubles. Just before the big sweeper (turn around) the car died. We're not sure how, or why, but it wouldn't start back up right away. The first though people had (course workers) was that it ran out of gas, which wasn't really an option as it had 1/2 tank of gas. I generally run with little to no gas in the car, but didn't plan so well for this trip and filled up before making the 240 mile drive to Walnut Ridge, which left me with over half a tank. I tried to burn off some gas driving through town, and then hoped to use up some at the practice event on Friday. Andy got the car started back up and came off after his 2nd run with a DNF due to the mechanical difficulties. We looked the car over, revved id, smelled it, looked underneath, nothing appeared out of place or missing/broken. I went out on my second run and the car ran fine, though I was a bit slower, I think due to worrying about how the car would react. Andy went out for his third run and jumped in front of my first run by about .15 seconds. I went out on my third run hoping to best his time, which I was unable to do. I knew this would happen, as I seem to have problems improving runs at big events, I almost always have my best run up front and then I guess over think everything else. Ashir ended up dropping some more time on his third run and finished behind me for the first day by .066 seconds. Sunday brought a new day. I went out on my first run and put about a second on the field, but got a late cone call in the final slolom to put me back into 2nd or 3rd I believe. Andy's first run was one of the fastest in the class, and unfortunately for him was his fastest clean time of the day due to other difficulties. 2nd run he went out and blew the course away, he knocked off 2 seconds from his time and about 1 second from mine, but yet again, a late cone call came into play. Ashir didn't quite seem to be able to get a good handle on the car on Sunday, I believe due to some changes they tried making to the sway bar the night before. My second run I went out, sped up a bit, and cleaned up my run, enough to actually take the class for the day. Andy went out for his third run intent on whiping the floor with me, and he may very well have,...Mon, 21 Mar 2005 06:21:00 GMT6d8baeed-c2a8-4010-91af-5edd3028590e