Wednesday, July 23 we all planned to meet at Stratford Heights and leave for Milwaukee and a few days racing at Superweek. We had planned to meet and leave before 5pm, but Aaron had flipped himself over about a week prior and was still getting his bike put back together at the shop, so the rest of us spent time eating and getting some things ready. Aaron finally arrived to us sharing a dessert of Katie's birthday cake, and the boys began packing the van. Within an hour we were on our way to Milwaukee leaving about 8pm EST. Our host had left their basement door open, so when we arrived in Milwaukee about 4am CST, we had no trouble getting to sleep without bothering anyone in the house.

The first day of racing was early Thursday in Racine, Wisconsin. Poptic finished his first race in Racine, as did Paul Ryan, but Aaron was still sore from his recent crash and Kevin and I got dropped. After the race we stopped at a grocery store and a Culver's before returning to the basement to shower and sleep. Friday's racing was in Kenosha around the Food, Folks, 'n' Spokes Festival. We all watched Poptic race and were surprised when he was minimally involved in a crash right in front of us. We helped him back into the race, but he spent the remainder of the event chasing the pack. We also noticed that he had lost his water bottle during the crash, so we handed it up to him on the backside of the course. During the ladies and masters races Katie and I went and played at the beach a few blocks away. Then before the cat 3 race I rode a few miles to the nearest KFC to get some pre-race fried chicken. Kevin and Aaron had no trouble finishing their race, and though Paul crashed himself on a straight section he got up and managed to finish with the group. I managed to finish 96 of 100 laps of the Pro/1/2 race.

The final day in Milwaukee was spent at Downer Avenue. For the first time all races were held on the Downer Avenue course. The Captain found the local pancake restaurant near the finish line, while Poptic prepared for his race. Poptic raced well staying towards the front of the pack and looking comfortable. Unfortunately, with 6 laps to go he had a puncture and with no free laps his race was over. After Poptic's race Katie, Poptic and I rode north to the nearest Culvers to get some chicken. The cat 3 race had a sizable crash, in which Aaron was involved. Paul Ryan managed to avoid the crashes and stay with the pack to the finish. I was only able to finish 12 laps of the big race.

My first Superweek was 10 years ago with my grandmother in 1998. That year I raced the 4/5 race and drove home through the upper peninsula of Michigan. The following year the Captain and I went and I raced the cat 3 race, which I did until 2004, when I first finished the pro race. I have only missed 2000 and 2006. During these 10 years several have raced with me at Superweek: Scott Denny, Bob Schoettinger, Eric Humbert, Domanie Granger, Brian Nieport, Nathan Bremer, Frank Hollenkamp, Aaron Hoffman, Paul Ryan, Chris Poptic, Kevin Harsley and others. Superweek is some of the longest, fastest and most fun racing in the US.

Joe and the Cisco
Posted by: bull @ 2008.07.22.0125

Each year San Francisco hosts the second largest semiconductor convention in the galaxy - Semicon West. This year I was fortunate enough to be able to attend. By procuring our own lodging in the bay area my fellow R&D co-workers and I managed to convince my boss to pay for the plane tickets out there. My older brother Jim, currently attending Berkeley in pursuit of a doctorate in biostatistics, graciously allowed me and my co-worker Matt to stay with him. (you may recall Matt from the Decavirate Conquers the Orient! article picture with Pikachu, him and me) It was crowded lodging as there were 5 people total staying in my brother's two bedroom apartment, but due to the serious lack of furniture we didn't bump into each other that often.

As the primary purpose of this trip was a vacation without taking any PTO days I left Saturday the 12th and returned Saturday the 19th - despite the fact that we only attended the conference on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference was interesting, but I enjoyed beautiful views of San Francisco much more. This trip I was able to visit a couple new destinations. I took the ferry from the Embarcadero to Sausalito and walked from there across the Golden Gate Bridge. Additionally, as a demonstration of some of the unfortunate limitations of the public transportation system I decided to go the Computer History Museum in Mountain View by Bart/Caltrain/bus/foot and managed to make it there from Berkeley in just less than 3.5 hours. Because of the long trip and needing to get back to catch Caltrain to San Jose that day I only managed to get 25 minutes in the museum. I still think it was worth it. They have a functioning Babbage Engine and I was fortunate enough to catch part of the demonstration. A Babbage Engine is a 19th century mechanical polynomial root calculator. This particular device has 8000 parts and is powered by a 50+ year old lady turning a big crank. It's truly astounding.

On the way home from San Fransisco weather forced me to miss my connecting flight to the Dayton International Airport and in order to avoid a 24 hour insanity festival in the Minneapolis International Airport I flew to Indianapolis and rented a car and drove home. I took a small break at an Indiana Waffle House and enjoyed okay food and delightful service from a rotund waitress named "Juicy." I was able to make it back to BullChester by 3:30am Sunday morning. All told it was an excellent trip - the only major dissapointment was that I was unable to find the time to meet up with any of the Cincinnati expatriots now residing in San Francisco. I took a great deal of photos and unfortunately this overly majestic view of me in front of Coit Tower is the best one.

St Joe's Spring Concert
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.06.03.0000

A few months ago Katie's high school music director, Mr Janson, asked her to play in his spring orchestra concerts and he invited me, as well. So about a month ago Katie and I packed the astro van with violins and some large items from her dorm and headed to Cleveland. We arrived in Brunswick Sunday morning about 11am, where we picked up her sister, Christine, and drove to West 25th street and St Ignatius. Unfortunately, Katie had an unknown ear infection and an upset stomach and puked a few times before getting to the school. There we found the St Joseph Academy girls orchestra rehearsing for a Sunday evening concert with the St Ignatius boys. There was a women's choir, a men's choir, a freshman boy's choir, various solo and ensemble vocal groups, a bell choir, St Ignatius jazz band and the St Joseph orchestra. Since the St Joseph orchestra is mainly composed of flute and clarinets the director had asked Katie and I to play our violins to help balance the group.

After finding the one of three gymnasiums where the groups were rehearsing, we spent an hour or so rehearsing with them before having dinner with them in their cafeteria and then playing their concert. We played a Leroy Anderson piece, some Holst and a hymn combining all the groups. Afterwards Katie and I returned to Cincinnati arriving about midnight.

A few weeks later Katie and I again returned to Brunswick and then to St Joseph Academy to rehearse with the orchestra on a Tuesday and play a spring concert with them on Thursday. After the Tuesday evening rehearsal we volunteered to help the strings during the following day. So Katie and I woke early and arrived at St Joe's for rehearsal. Katie was completely in control of the sessions, and we played for over an hour before leaving for lunch. That Wednesday evening we had another full orchestra rehearsal before the concert the next day. Thursday morning before the concert Katie and I went for a bicycle ride on the local metro park trails. Katie had some issues with her seat and we had limited time, as we had to drive her dad to get the car from the mechanic, so we only rode a short distance, but it was nice to get outside. When we returned to Katie's house I realized that I had forgotten to bring a dress shirt. Fortunately Katie's dad had a shirt from long ago that still managed to fit me. So we dressed and finally made our way to St Joe's for the spring concert, which included the orchestra, some solos and the bell choir. After the concert Katie and I spent one last night in Brunswick before returning to Cincinnati, where her graduation festivities awaited.

Decavirate Uniforms
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.04.09.1517

A few months ago Katie thought of ordering decavirate polo shirts for my birthday. In secret she contacted most of decavirate, and asked them if they wanted to be part of the group order. At least 8 people agreed to be part of the order. As the Bull's birthday is so near mine, she decided that he should be surprised as well, so she contacted Winnie, instead of directly contacting the Bull. Everyone agreed to keep the secret from the Bull and me. There were a few special requests. For instance, John Adams wanted jumpsuits, but the closest thing Katie could find was lab-coats. Originally, Katie had wanted to get a decavirate flag for sailing, but that was too expensive and I'm glad she didn't because the shirts are much more enjoyable and useful. Bremer said a lab-coat would be nice, since he wears one everyday and it would be nice to change it up at work. Finally, Charlie said he didn't want one, but knew how I enjoyed things in bulk, so offered to buy an extra for me.

Nevertheless, after keeping the secret through a backorder, the box of shirts finally arrived at Xavier University Commons before a massive Cincinnati snow storm. Katie and I were at UC picking up Shaun Thobe, so we stopped by Xavier on the way to decavirate. I had no idea about the shirts, but found out about them for the first time when Katie pulled one from the box! We took them from Xavier to decavirate, where I had a quick nap, while Shaun and Katie watched television. Then we returned Shaun to UC and drove to Bull Chester. Of course, the Bull was as completely surprised as I had been! Due to the impending snow storm, Katie, Winnie, the Bull and I were trapped for almost a day at Bull Chester watching Hawaiian beach shows, cooking Indian foods and shoveling snow. Polo shirts were later distributed to Jim Slattery, who ordered the only white polo with black lettering. Reser received his concurrently, but Will, Fazulak and Johnny still have not gotten their uniforms. Bravo to all for keeping the secret, and thanks for the extra shirt, Charles.

Ron Paul Is Interesting?
Posted by: Adam Fuson @ 2008.03.18.0554

As many of you must know, I was introduced to Ron Paul by Jim Slattery. Jim has educated me about relationships, politics and economics. He has guided me from discussions of impractical endeavors, such as submarines and rockets, to more reasonable matters of politics and efficiency. So in mid 2007 Jim introduced me to Ron Paul, who spoke consistently about matters we have often read or watched. Since before we were born Ron Paul has been voting conservatively encouraging the country to behave in a more state-driven and liberty-oriented manner. Paul is the one who insists we should base our financial policy on sound, hard currency and govern locally without indulging in debt. He demands that our foreign policy should be one of peace and economic growth, yet voters seem to dismiss him. Basically, Paul struggles for America to pay its bills and strive for peace. He knows that the nation's activities of debt and unsound money, where private banks control our public government, will only lead to ruin.

So when you ask someone if they are a Paul supporter, how do they answer? Many will tell you Ron Paul is an "interesting guy" or someone who has "interesting ideas." They are nervous about such an open commitment to the man who is seen as the "crazy uncle" in the political arena. But Ron Paul stands for traditional values, why does his position cause such trepidation? Even now as our currency falls in value relative to other nations', there is only talk of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates, Congress and the President creating tax rebates and bailing others out. As Ron Paul predicts, this will only aggravate an already unfortunate situation. For some time now, Ron Paul's chances in the Republican primaries have died, to say nothing of the general election to come, but perhaps his ideas can grow. Don't vote for the lesser of two evils and expect anything to get better. Educate yourself and participate with passion and conviction.