One Track Mind – Feb ’17

by Dick Anderson

Well, 2017 has entered with a bang, at least as far as our Annual Gala is concerned. The largest snowstorm of the year, allegedly a nor’easter, chose to arrive on our event date. The gala committee, ably headed up by Kristin Larson, considered postponing or even canceling our event but contractual provisions with the Museum of Science precluded that. So on with the show we went, 130 of us attended and real-time feedback was consistently positive. The museum opened its “Blue Wing” to us and offered some fun and fascinating exhibits to view and even play with. We were able to raise some money for Homes for Our Troops with a silent auction and I was happy to present the “Enthusiast of the Year” award to Richard Viard for his “over and above“ contributions to NER. He is an avid A/X’er who volunteers as its official photographer. Additionally, he made an excellent movie entitled “Autocross – The Movie” which is available for view on our website (www.porschenet.com) and is used by other regions as well. He has run a “how to photograph cars” clinic and has another scheduled for March. He often attends our concours and social events and provides photos from them for the Nor’easter and most importantly, he’s a really good guy!

Every January your board of directors and committee chairs meet to plan the ensuing year’s activities. On the docket are discussions around improving our club to serve the interests of our membership, review proposed budgets for both DE and A/X, as well as plan for social events for the next twelve months. It’s generally, a lengthy, productive meeting and taken very seriously by the participants.

You’ve been hearing me whine about my foot operation for the last three months or so. Well, I’m pleased to report that as of this writing I am “boot free.” So you’ll no longer have to hear about it (do I hear a resounding “YAY!”). What you may hear about are the things I did to while away the time as I was less than mobile. First, I bought a new Macan GTS. Bye bye, RS5, hello, hot little SUV. The downside of this is that our fleet still consists of five cars for two people. The upside is that I now own three Porsches, as well as, the old standby 2006 Infiniti (the “beater”), and my F150. Oh, and an enclosed trailer. I’m seriously thinking about downsizing. Time to sell the GT3? Might be. I also spent some time on Amazon and bought stuff I thought I needed, like a Universal Smartphone Garage Door Controller that requires a bit more work to install than I anticipated (but just think, once installed, I’ll be able to open and close my garage door when I’m in Hawaii!). I also bought some elevated shelving for the garage that installs by attaching to the ceiling joists. What the hell was I thinking? Maybe I can get Jeff, my new son-in-law, to put those up.

This is a month of alliterative things, specifically, those that begin with “P.” The Porsche club Board meeting, the “Patriots,” “Packers,” and “Pittsburgh,” in the NFL “Playoffs,” and the “Presidential” inauguration.

As of this writing, we watched an ugly performance by the Pats in a win against an improved, but not championship caliber, Houston team. Then we watched the Packers beat the favored Cowboys in a squeaker, as the underdog Steelers did the same to the Chiefs. Next weekend, the AFC and NFC champions will be decided and Ann and I will be in attendance at Gillette as TB12 leads the Pats to another AFC Championship (I hope).

Probably the most anticipated show in January will be President Trump’s inauguration. Not necessarily for the normal pomp and circumstance, but for the sideshows that will inevitably result. Who will finally agree to perform, what hijinks will Michael Moore arrange, what will President Trump tweet?

We’ll all know the answer to these sports and politics questions before this issue reaches your hands. January turns out to be quite an eventful month!

Don’t forget to check out our facebook page to ease Porsche “withdrawal symptoms” over the winter months.

Until next month . . .