MsTiara’s Thoughts

So this weekend the owner of our series held a party at his house. I was very excited and kind of curious since I have never been to a billionaire’s house before. The house was 14k square feet and sat on 100 acres of prime California real estate.

The evening started out with all of the race officials loading up into busses for the drive into the hills. After about a half an hour drive, we finally got off the freeway and started driving through the lower class houses (only about a mill to 2 mill each) then we went through a security gate and entered the property. In a way, I was kind of disappointed since California mountain land is rolling hills and yellow grass. Not the gorgeous lushness of an estate on the east coast. However, he did have several acres of planted vineyards and he took over a whole side of a hill and planted rose bushes. The beauty and center point of the whole property was the house, mix of an Italian/California blend that had the sweeping balconies and grand windows that you would expect.

The group I was with was overwhelmed and very cautious. This was our boss and this was wealth outside of the scope of anything we have ever experienced. But our host generously started to make sure that we all had the appropriate alcohol to ease us into the experience. I finally got up the courage to ask for a tour of the house. The kitchen was larger square feet than my entire house in Arizona. The floors were all done in hand hewn walnut and the library was entirely encased in hand crafted walnut bookshelves (my favorite room in the house). The master bedroom itself was kind of small, but then I was introduced to the rest of the suite which took over almost the entire wing of the house.

Artwork wise, they were still in the middle of furnishing and decorating the place since they had just moved in, but there was a beautiful solid jade piece. The base of it was green with white jade veins. The artist had taken the white jade and carved amazing trees out of them. The piece itself (depending on the age of it) could have been anywhere from 100k to a couple of million. I asked several people about it, one who was even there when it was purchased. Sadly, the only thing they could tell me was “we were touring a jade factory in Beijing and liked it so bought it.” This piece would have been one of my most prized possessions; the beauty of it was that amazing. But, to them it was a purchase in a location. The walls were filled with a Japanese Block artist except for the hallway where the master suite was, on the walls there were amazing shots of the Antarctic and a penguin. These were shot by our host himself and you could tell it was something special to him.

The heart of the house was the wine cellar. A room totally encased in marble with a dining table and a grappa making machine. It was attached to the physical wine cellar where thousands of bottle of wine and champagne were stored. While I was on the tour, our host came down with some guests and opened up some bottles of wine for sampling. This was obviously the place to hang for the rest of the evening… Through multiple visits and tours, multiple bottles of wine were opened. My favorite was a white burgundy from France. I am not normally a wine drinker, but this wine was a destination, not something you just drank with your meal or to be social.

While down in the cellar, people would come and they would go. A lot I knew and a lot that were neighbors and guests of our host. One of the guests was a couple who owned one of a kind Ferrari’s. There Ferrari that was parked upstairs that the toodled over in was a stunning affair that everyone kept on raving about since it was truly a gorgeous car. Amusing moment of the evening was me giving the wife advice on how to get her simple old Ferrari Spyder that she wants but since it isn’t one of a kind he didn’t want to buy it for her and the second amusing thing was her husband making suggestions about me dominating him. I smiled and continued to drink my exceptional wine.

Overall impressions was definitely wow followed by, they are just a couple of people holding a barbeque at their house as a thank you for their friends.

The God Room

I don’t talk very much about what I do for my hobby, other than it involves a lot of travel and cars that go fast. But, someone said something last weekend that got stuck in my mind and refuses to let go.

I went out to dinner and ran into some friends and with them was a cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic who is working on some new technology with us that they will then be able to implement in ambulances and emergency rooms around the world. Now, the group of people was quite fascinating since it had 3 doctors, a physical therapist, a nurse and the technologist working on the project. Then there was me. I was asked what do I do and I tried to give my standard explanation about I do analysis of data for Race Control and one of the doctors piped up, she works in the God Room.

The God Room, what a fascinating and descriptive way to explain where I work and yet at the same time, it doesn’t explain the people in the room at all. It is a group of 7 people who I don’t think could be less god like. I remember when I first got into racing and people would mention Race Control or someone worked in there, I felt awe and I got shy and nervous and felt very small since why would such powerful people want to spend time with little ole me. Now after being in the room, I can tell you that we are just normal people with a whole bunch of flaws working as hard as possible and doing the best we can.

Do you remember Junior High/High School and all the cliques? You had the Student Body, the Athletes, the Cheerleaders and the Geeks (oh yeah, and the band J ). Well Racing is just like that. Race Control is the Student Body, the Drivers are the Athletes, the Cheerleaders are the Pace Car Girls and the Geeks/Band is Timing and Scoring. I am not quite sure how I ended up in the student body but the reality is that we are exactly the same as the Band in regards to our insecurities and geekiness and after all this time, I am beginning to think that ALL of the cliques were exactly the same, it just depends on how good you are at hiding the insecurity and what people’s perception is of you more than it matters who and what you are.

A part of me is still kind of unable to grasp the fact that I am someone ‘of interest’ to people. I guess, once you are a band member that you can never quite grasp the being ‘popular’ concept. Hmmmm… I wonder how much of that is the fact I work in the God Room in comparison to ME being fascinating?

We Will Rock You

Last night I went out to see We Will Rock You, a musical using the music of Queen. First, may I say I ADORE Queen. They are my number 1 band of all time. Now, the fact I adore Queen gives you the perspective that I would enjoy the show no matter what and I did. The singers could belt and the music as always was brilliant. Now the story/plot line are a complete different story. Sigh, the connectors were filled with bad puns and very poorly written musical references. In it pure absolute badness, it was hilarious!

Favorite line of the evening, “it’s a simple phrase, two words last one is Off!”

I am still humming, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW!

iPhone OR Why my friends and family thinks I am crazy!

My friends and family know me and love me (really, they do), but they will tell you, with no hesitation, that I am crazy and a GEEK. So, it will come as no surprise at all that the moment I heard about the iPhone I have been dreaming and salivating and wishing upon any star I came across that I would have one as soon as absolutely possible!

But, there was a HUGE tragedy… I mean epic proportions. I was going to be in a beautiful ski resort 2 hours north of Montreal. That is out of the country! (I must laugh at myself with all my capitalizations and exclamation points)

So, what can I do in this horrible situation? First and foremost, there was no way I was going to miss the race and after that slight moment of thinking, hmmm… I wonder if the Race Director would think about moving the race a weekend. Then I realized that changing TV contracts and having to re-arrange thousands of people’s travel plans that it was probably NOT a very good idea.

Next plan of attack, who do I know that is going to be in the states and will go to an Apple store for me? Well, after crazy people started standing in line days before hand (I mean really, how geeky!) I rethought that and all of my friends were going to be with me in Mont Tremblant and the rest of my friends were much too sane anyway.

Hmmm… Next, broadband, Apple has an online store, it goes on sale at 6pm PST. Well, I won’t have it immediately, but I would have it by Monday morning. Alas, I get to the hotel and it is these chalet/condo places spread out around the mountainside, absolutely gorgeous but, not too hot for broadband. But, I will sweet talk my mom into ordering the phone (Hi Mom!). So, there she is, computer illiterate on a Satellite connection trying to order my phone along with thousands of other crazy people and what with the satellite and the slow store, it was quite stressful. But, she got it ordered and the window pops up for delivery and, and (wait for it) it was going to be 2-4 WEEKS!!!!! Breathe… Breathe… Yep, the Apple store never planned on shipping stock and didn’t tell anyone.

Think, think, think… EBay! ($1200-1600, Okay I am crazy, NOT an IDIOT!). Stores, maybe they still have some in stores. Where are my friends located around the US? Dang! Most of them are heading straight to Toronto. But, I will be in Dallas and I have a friend in Houston, and, and… (Breathe).

Well about this point in time, everyone in the paddock has started to hear about my iPhone saga and I think they are laughing at me behind my back (nah, they wouldn’t do that). But, I got lucky because one of my friends in Safety had a next door neighbor who owns an ATT store in Michigan and asked if he wanted any put aside.

SMILE! I had a 3 way approach now to get THE PHONE (yep, it has now raised itself into the capital letter of geekdom). I will land and call the 3 stores in Dallas to see if they have it. Michigan will call his friend when he lands to see if he put any aside and Houston will land and have a call from me on how the two of us did.

9:38 Monday morning, Dallas – Calls to 2 Apple stores and the Cingular store. Completely sold out, no more expected in. On Line orders will be fulfilled next. Hmmm, do they have a demo I can try? (oh, umm, I guess I haven’t told you that I hadn’t even held one in my hand yet. <blush>) Off to the Cingular store to play with the phone – sweet!!! Okay, now I REALLY want one.

So, I get the message from Michigan. Neighbor is sold out, he got 50% less than expected and has already had 10 returns due to inability to get service.

Sigh, it is now in Houston’s hands… tick/tock/tick/tock. Okay, I have to call. Sigh, all that is left is 4 GB models. Dilemma! Do I give in to this lust for the iPhone? Do I buy a 4 GB and return it within the 14 days and pay the 10% restocking fee when my 8 GB arrives or do I wait… what to do, what to do…

You are wondering how the story ends, aren’t you? Well, my iPhone arrives tomorrow at the office, before 10am. I couldn’t help myself, I feel like I need to confess to someone…

Hi, my name is ___ I am a geek and I have a technology problem. BUT I also have an iPhone