Gezuar!

April 8, 2011

Mike, Michael, Kela, Kathy, Kris, Dola, Najada, & Howard

Lee, Dola & Kela

Najada


Gezuar!

The Albanian word for cheers, gezuar is a perfect word to describe this week as we have spent a lot of time with Albanian friends old and new. The archaeological work that my employer, RPM Nautical performs each summer in Albania has introduced us to a lot of wonderful Albanian people. Not only did my friend and colleague Howard find an Albanian bride, but the crew of the R/V Hercules works closely with a number of Albanians who assist us while we are working there.

Kathy & Mike

Dola

This month our founder George has brought over two Albanian women, Dola & Kela, who have worked with us for the past few years, to visit the US, and this past week they were here in Key West and we spent a lot of time hanging out and enjoying the fun that Key West has to offer. In addition another RPM crew member, Michael was here for the week from his home near Pensacola, so it was a mini-reunion of sorts for the US based RPM staff.



Kela, Lee & Dola

It made for a fun week of going out on the town, having the crew over for drinks and going out to dinner, lunch and such. It is always fun having visitors, especially those who have never been to Key West. We get to share our little island and see it through the perspective of people with totally different frames of reference. It sort of makes you see your own home in a new way.



George had us all over for a wonderful barbecue at his home early in the week and later in the week we went out on the town at various times. One night, Kathy & I joined Mike and other friends Neal and Ann out for Thai food at Thai Cuisine downtown. Another evening we joined pretty much the entire RPM crew out, meeting first at the Porch for drinks, then dinner at Caroline’s before heading over to Fat Tuesday for Jello Shots.

Kela, Sushi & Dola



Next it was on to the 801 where we caught the Drag show at the upstairs Caberet. Kathy, Kris and the Albanian women got seats in the front row, naturally while the rest of us gravitated toward the bar area. Suffice it to say, the show was unlike anything they may have seen in Albania. It was fun to see their reactions and to watch as the Drag Queens interacted with them. We closed out that night by catching the band Experimento at the Green Parrot.

Experimento





Kathy also spent a day at Bahia Honda beach with Kela, Dola and our friend Lee, enjoying the beautiful beach and another great Keys sunset before returning to the island. It has been almost perfect beach weather as it has been almost summer-like with warm, sunny weather most of the week.

Kela, Dola, & Lee





We capped off the week and their visit by having everyone over to our house for happy hour drinks before heading over to El Siboney for a good Cuban meal. Hopefully they enjoyed their visit to the Keys as much as we enjoyed meeting them. They are now off to Miami for a few days before heading back to New York City until they return to Albania.

Najada, Lisa, Kris & Terry

Todd & Howard



Our Albanian celebration did not end with their departure though, as our friend Najada celebrated her birthday this week with a happy hour get-together at the home of our friends Tom & Terry. It was a nice celebration and we all had a great time! Gezuar Najada!

Indy Carnage

March 30, 2011

Dario Franchitti

Mike Conway





Indy Carnage

The opening round of the 2011 Indy Car series at St. Petersburg featured all sorts of action, much of it not the sort that many of the drivers and teams were hoping for as the start and the new double-file restarts that are being instituted this year created a plethora of spinning and wrecked cars. It added excitement for the fans, not so much for the mechanics who had to hustle to get the cars pieced back together.

Al Unser, Jr., Brian Barnhart, & Kevin Savoree

Tampa Bay Cheerleaders

Unlike the monsoon filled race day that we suffered though last year in St. Pete, this year the weather was picture perfect. There was a decent crowd to watch both the Indy Lights race and the headlining Indy Car race. After checking out of my b&b, I walked the short distance down to the track and watched most of the Indy Lights race before meeting up with some members of Indy Car Nation to head over to victory lane. We had scored access to the Indy Lights victory lane celebration as well as the pre-race ceremonies for the Indy Car race.

First Lap Crash

This included getting a front row seat for the driver introductions and all the other pre-race hoopla. It was interesting, especially since they have built and entirely new fancy stage that comes complete with hydraulic lifts, flames that shoot into the air and fireworks. It was quite a show.

Oriol Servia

Ana Beatriz

Helio Castroneves

The Indy Lights drivers were celebrating their race, which was won by Josef Newgarden of Sam Schmidt Motorsports over his teammate Conor Daly (son of former F1 & Indy Car driver Derek Daly) and Peter Dempsey.



Conor & Derek Daly



As soon as the intros were completed, I headed the short distance to my Grandstand seat along the front straight as was in place to see the huge first corner pile-up that was triggered by Helio Castroneves being somewhat too anxious to move up and causing a five car crash that involved himself, teammate Ryan Briscoe, Mike Conway, Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti. Andretti ended up flipped over on his head and his day was done 100 yards into the first race.

Takuma Sato

Ryan Briscoe

Alex Tagliani hugs Tampa Bay Lightning player & Grand Marshall Vincent LaCavalier

Multiple mishaps followed as the drivers had trouble keeping themselves in check during the early restarts and chaos seemed to come with each successive attempt to get started. Eventually it calmed down and Dario Franchitti who darted to the front early on in an impressive outside pass, was rarely challenged and led 94 of 100 laps on his way to a dominating victory.

Dario Franchitti



Danica Patrick

Will Power ended up second, though he was surprisingly uncompetitive (at least with Dario). The real battle was for third where Tony Kanaan in his first race with KV racing, held off a charging Simona De Silvestro, who drove a spectacular race. It was a really enjoyable race, especially watching the dicing between TK & Simona and watching Danica Patrick close in and eventually punt rookie J.R. Hildebrand out of the way in a battle for 11th place. Danica got around , but was penalized back to 12th place for her aggressive driving.

Simona De Silvesto

Tony Kanaan

It was a good start to the season, a lot of fun to attend and a good way to get me excited for this year’s 100th anniversary Indy 500 which is coming up in May. I can’t wait to see it!

Scott Dixon



Race Hi-lights!

Fast Six

March 29, 2011

Dario Franchitti





Dario

Fast Six

The second day in St. Petersburg for the 2011 Indy Car Grand Prix was spent mostly at the track for qualifying for the race on Sunday. There were a couple of support races during the day, including the Acura Sports Car Challenge race , A Star Mazda race and finally a USF2000 race, but the main attraction for me was the qualifying session for the Indy Car race.





Danica Patrick

I was up early, enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Larelle House and then walked down to the track just in time for the final Indy Car practice. The practice session was mostly uneventful except for an unfortunate crash by Sebastian Bourdais which would end up keeping him from being able to participate in the race.

Ana Beatriz





The break between the final practice and the start of qualifying was filled by support races as well as a cool demonstration of Drifting cars and an air show that included a stunt plane, stunt helicopter and some sky divers. In between the air show, I was able to take a helicopter ride of my own on one of the Safari Copters that operate out of the airport that makes up part of the track. While the track utilizes one runway, the remainder of the airport stays open, allowing for planes to keep flying and helicopters to keep their tours of St. Pete flying as well.







Safari Charters offered a special flight over downtown St. Pete and the Indy Car track that looked too cool to pass up, especially considering the awesome weather. So during the Acura sports car race, I took the shuttle over to the airport and boarded the helicopter for a quick tour.







The perfectly clear weather made for a beautiful view of the skyline, marina and out into the Gulf of Mexico as well as a cool overview of the race that was taking place below, I felt like I was in the Goodyear Blimp or something, it was awesome.



Justin Wilson



Once back on land, it was back to the track to get a seat to take in the unique Indy Car qualifying session. Actually it is three sessions, each designed that the fasted 6 move on until there are only six remaining who then shoot it out in what is known as the Fast Six to determine who will start on the coveted pole position. Strategy and skill both play a factor as different tire compounds and limited time make the jockeying for position intense.





Justin Wilson

Penske driver Will Power continued his mastery of the road circuits by snaring the pole for the second straight year, just edging out Target driver and two time defending series champion Dario Franchitti. Scott Dixon got the third position and Mike Conway, who is making his first race back after recovering from the devastating injuries sustained at the Indy 500 last year. Having seen that wreck happening right in front of me at the 500; it is a miracle that he even survived, let alone is back in a car and doing so well. It was great to see him back.

Dario



After qualifying, it was back to the Larellle House where I rested up and watched Butler University beat the University of Florida 74-71 to advance to the Final Four for the second straight year, pretty cool. After the game, I headed out to the local Northeast Tavern to celebrate another great day.