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Journal This is a place where I've been writing jounal entries since I first started my interest in cars. A lot of you remember the old webpage when I had this up, but sadly, I cannot find the old original journal entries... the only ones I have from the old webpage are the entries after I did the SR20DET swap. So I summarized the best I could as the very first entry. Anyway, read it all if you dare. Don't read it all if you don't want to. But it is interesting to see how my car and I have developed over the past year that I've owned it. Journal Entries From: [ 2008 ] [ 2007 ] [ 2006 ] [ 2005 ] [ 2004 ] [ 2003 ] [ 2002 ] [ 2001 ] [ 2000 ] Automotive Pet Peeves Thursday, May 15, 2008 I think pet peeves are natural expressions of passion for things you love. In this case, it's Nissans, drifting, etc. Over the years I've been kind of desensitized to a lot of my previous pet peeves, like when people compare my drifting to what they saw in the first Fast and the Furious. At first it made me want to hit something. Now I have no choice but to brush it off. Or how about when people pronounce "Greddy" as "g. ready" or "greedy"? I've heard that one too many times. Or how about when people say my car is a Silvia? Okay I'm starting to get fired up. Time to get to the point. There is one major pet peeve that still bugs me. The use of "motor" in case of an "engine"... An engine is powered by some sort of fuel. A motor is always powered by electricity. Your B16a or SR20DET is NOT a motor - it's an ENGINE! Don't tell me about your motor swap unless your power window motor crapped out and you replaced it with a new one. Don't tell me about your JDM turbo motor! Oh, and here is the most common abuse: "motor oil". Okay that concludes today's class of Haters 101. Your essay on "Why I will let pet peeves ruin my life" will be due tomorrow, thanks. New Intercooler Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Another part that I bought brand new that has lived its life and is now dead. After 6 years, my HKS has HAD IT... bugs, rocks, curbs, other cars... do me a favor and stay away from this new intercooler ok?!!    I picked up a new Greddy LS Type intercooler. I was a bit weary of Greddy's last cheapo intercooler, but they updated it and have now released the LS type... the quality SEEMS better and doesn't look like a carbon copy of those Taiwan pieces of junk. I wasn't about to spend ANOTHER $1,000 on ANOTHER intercooler - I'm a new dad who has tons of bills to pay. Give me a break! Oh well, we'll see how it holds up! YEAH I KNOW - my car is filthy. Shut up!  
Downey Pizza Co Wednesday, April 30, 2008 I have a guilty pleasure - PASTRAMI. I love The Hat (pastrami dip, chili cheese fries topped with pastrami, pastrami burgers). I know it puts me on the highway to heart failure, but it's just one of those things for me. I can't get enough. There's this place that used to be near one of my old jobs and it was definitely a local favorite. Beers, chicken wings, pizza... a good recipe for any restaurant. Only, this place isn't your normal pizza joint. Yeah, you may have guessed it - they have pastrami pizza. Now don't bust out the barf bags yet. I know it sounds disgusting, but TRUST ME - it's sooooo good. If you are feeling a little adventurous and you love pastrami, you have got to try it. The taste of a pastrami sandwich mixed with hot melted cheese is such a great combination. And if you're there, you may as well order up an anti-pasto salad (to make way for the new artery clogging) and some of their hot wings which are really good. OMG I am hungry.  Downey Pizza Co. 9990 Lakewood Blvd, Downey, CA 90241     Thanks Ryan for taking pics! MY Journal Friday, April 25, 2008 Yeah, did you know that I wrote the program for my journal? Yeah, it's FREAKING FANCY... I have this page where I have a secure login and I can type in my own journal entries and stuff and it will update this journal page automatically for me - because I AM A NERD. Anyway, I'm noticing that I'm becoming a part of this whole blogging community. Funny since I've been "blogging" since like 1998? When I first started there wasn't all this fancy blogging software - you just had to know html and make it look like what blogs look like now - only now, you can add comments and have all kinds of cool little features. After writing this program, I just got a notice from my webhosting company that they are giving us a new feature that will let you put a blog on your site. Nice one - you guys are like 3 years late! Oh well, I guess I already started this project. I may as well continue with it and add the features like commenting and blog rolls and all that good stuff. I wonder what other cool things I can program into it? On a side note, thanks to everybody who has linked to my blog. I'll link you back soon, I promise! Lupe Fiasco Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Yeah you all know that song Superstar. It first caught me off guard because it had a rock sound to it instead of the normal r&b boringness. The song is actually a little annoying to me now because of the way that dude sings the chorus. Just sing like a normal person! Anyway, all day long on the radio you hear songs about about smoking trees, being in the club, shake that ass girl, making it rain - things that I don't give a damn about. I noticed this song because it wasn't about any of that. Instead, he reflects on his own life and lessons getting into the rap game. And yeah, he's INTELLIGENT! I like that. I bought his latest album off of iTunes - "The Cool". It's a GREAT album and it's currently my fav - definitely a classic in my music library. He raps with a couple different styles in the album. It just shows me that not only is he a good lyricist, he's also versatile. Not many of his songs are songs you will ever hear in the club, but it's the lyrical content that keeps me listening - most are socially conscious songs, some are silly and just about having fun (kind of reminds me of Pharcyde's "Bizarre Ride II"). Chicago can now claim another great rapper amongst the likes of Common and Kanye West. I wish I liked more West Coast artists. Oh yeah, and he loves skateboarding. Chalk one up again for Lupe's uniqueness. Here's a song I wish was on "The Cool". I guess I may just have to buy his other album to get it. "Kick Push" - a song about his love for skating. Go to his official website to listen some of full length streaming songs. SUPPORT THE ARTISTS! GO BUY HIS ALBUM! Related Links: His official website Lupe Fiasco on YouTube Lupe Fiasco on Wikipedia Danica Patrick - 1st Woman to Win an IndyCar Race Monday, April 21, 2008  So last night, while we were getting ready for bed, Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 at Motegi, making history as the first woman to win an IndyCar race. After hearing about so much of her successes such as her multiple pole positions and finishing 7th overall last season, it's kind of strange to learn that she's been called the Anna Kournikova of racing. I guess it's only right to learn about this nickname the same time I found out that she's won her first IndyCar race. Air Tran, one of her sponsors, stated that they're putting a picture of Danica's face on one of their planes, that has 2 flights daily.This is such exciting news, especially for me since I'm married to somebody who is so passionate about women empowerment in motorsports. Who am I kidding? I've become passionate about it too. Congratulations Danica! You've just inspired so many more people than you can imagine.    Related links: Danica Patrick's Official Website Andretti Green Racing Yahoo News Danica on Wikipedia I don't hate Monday? Monday, April 14, 2008 Elise slept for 6.5 hours last night and woke me up just in time so that I could feed her before going to work. Getting to spend time with the baby after getting a good night's rest is an awesome way to start my day. I'm ready for the rest of you, work week!! Mama-se mama-sa ma-ma-kos-sa Thursday, April 10, 2008 Yeah, sometimes you wonder and you look things up. I know you want to know where it came from! Soul Makossa (wikipedia.org) Listen to it on iTunes! 
Ken Gushi's Car for 08 Tuesday, April 08, 2008 First Dai gets a ride in the RMR Pontiac GTO and now Kenchan gets a ride in a factory backed Scion TC! Toyo finally made a press release showing off Ken's new car for 2008. How cool is that, to be sponsored by one factory team and then another? First Ford and now Scion. That would be a first in professional drifting in the USA. The Scion TC has been converted from front wheel drive to rear wheel drive using some chassis matching engine and AWD setups available in Japan and is estimating 400+hp. That is pretty much a necessity these days in Formula D. I remember competing in Formula D with a stock SR20DET back in the days! Those days are long gone and Formula D has evolved so much over the years. Well, I am glad that Scion finally got their act together and decided to get involved with drifting. I've been saying it for years - Scion markets so heavily to the youth of America that is is pretty much the most obvious thing to do - make a drift car! And they've found a great driver to represent them... the driver that their target market can relate to the most.       Pretty cool huh? I'm not sure, but it looks to be custom wide body and has a v-mount setup (which also means turbo - who would guess anything less from a Japanese engine making 400hp right). I also noticed the Rogue Status sticker on his fender, which is cool because I believe Rob Dyrdek is an owner of that company. I've been a big fan of MTV's Rob & Big for a long time now. Do work son! Team Orange Tsuisou Monday, April 07, 2008 I am BEYOND tired today. Elise woke me up and she didn't want to go back to sleep. In honor of my sleepiness, here's a journal entry made for you with extreme laziness and unoriginality. Team Orange was the best at Tsuisou back in the day, and they are STILL the best today. Oh wow, here's a throwback journal entry when Nadine and I rode with Asamoto and Kumakubo of Team Orange back in 2003. This is why drifting is fun... not because you can look down on kids with Eclipses thinking "Oh wow, you have no idea what cars are about." Okay maybe that is part of it too. On a side note, look at Tanaka wearing a cast and still drifting better than anybody you've ever seen. This reminds me of a time when Kumakubo was competing in D1 with a cast on. Happy 1 Month Friday, April 04, 2008  Elise is almost 5 weeks old now and I can't believe how much she's changed and how much she grows up every day. Physically, she's gained a lot more weight and is a lot taller now. Her face is thinning out too. My favorite change is that she is so much more alert now. She will sit there and just gaze into my eyes forever, and if I move, her eyes will follow my eyes. There's not really a good way to describe the feeling except that my heart feels like gushing. Thats how I feel when I see this... I can't help but look at it all day long... It's been a week and I still look at it every day, throughout the day. She's adorable. She's perfect! Thank you Nadine for always taking such great photos of her all the time.I know - you probably don't understand what I'm saying and you're wondering "what the hell is this mushy crap. I want to read about something interesting." So this is my official response - "shut up." The Donut Man Wednesday, April 02, 2008  Okay, so I'm not a big fan of donuts, but I'm always down to try some kind of freak recreation of normal boring food. Except maybe fried Twinkies. I don't know if I ever want to eat that. Anyways, Nadine and I have been meaning to try these donuts for a super long time, and as I posted earlier, our free time is super precious lately - so we made a spur of the moment trip to Glendora to pay a visit to The Donut Man. When we arrived there were boxes of empty Strawberry cartons hanging out by the dumpster and a big sign saying Fresh Strawberry Donuts.Nadine and I got in line - YES a line around the building at 9:30pm. There was even a TOUR BUS there ordering donuts - I guess this place is a tourist attraction as well. Everybody was ordering strawberry donuts @ $2.60 a donut. I was happy they didn't run out by the time we got there. We brought it home and before eating them, I made Nadine take some pictures so that I can share with all of you. It was good... not too sweet and the donut was nice and light, compared to heavy angel food cake or pound cake.   If you're ever in the Glendora area, it's right off of Route 66 - 915 E Route 66, Glendora, CA Taking time to take some pride Monday, March 31, 2008 So since we had our baby, any free time I have has become rare. You really think... "What is the most important thing that I can doing with my free time right now?" A variety of things come to mind but lately it's been about my car. I've realized that over the years, there have been some badly executed modifications because I didn't know any better, quick fixes done while at the track, last resort fixes done in order to make it to an event... things that function fine, but don't show the pride and care I'd like to show in the drift car that I've owned for almost 10 years. I think now is the time when I can spend time on the details and kind of go back and fix the things that I never got around to fixing. A couple weekends ago I changed out my alternator to a rebuilt one. I was really happy with this one because the car runs so much better now and I got to spend some quality time with myself and my thoughts and my drift car as well. Next thing to be replaced is my 6 year old HKS intercooler, which is busted beyond belief. Man, I cannot believe how many aftermarket parts I have been replacing lately! I feel like my car is a relic! Here are some more recent pics of the Red Thing. I took off the rear spoiler and of course, a shot of the carbon canards on the front bumper.  
Taniguchi is back?! Monday, March 31, 2008 I hate it when people copy content from other blogs and post it on their own. But I think this time it's an exception. I just read from Auto-Otaku, who read from Taniguchi's blog that he is coming back to D1. I don't think I'm the only one who felt like D1 has really gone to the garbage can when it started losing it's star drivers due to D1's ego flexing and imposed politics. I'm glad he's coming back to D1, not because I think D1 needs some rejuvenation, but because I think Taniguchi deserves to be in the limelight and I'd love to see him come back from a several year hiatus and just smash the competition like he was never gone. What is he going to drive? I'm not sure... Auto-Otaku posted a picture of this, but who knows! He will definitely be a threat in this car, or any car for that matter. 
A new life Thursday, March 20, 2008  So Elise is almost a month old now and it never ceases to amaze me how much I am in love with this little girl. I can't help but smile every time I look at her. Nadine and I are extremely lucky because I kept expecting to wake up every 2 hours to change her diapers or feed her, but that only lasted her first week. After that, it has been every 3-4 hours. Lately she's been sleeping 5+ hours. To make things even better, she doesn't ever cry for no reason - it's always a diaper, she's hungry, or she wants her pacifier. You've got a 1 in 3 shot at figuring out why she's crying and if you know her schedule, you have a really good shot at figuring it out. How uncommon is this? I've never heard of such a well behaved baby in my life. Everything about her just seems so wonderful and perfect that I don't know why Nadine and I have been so blessed. Elise has really been a gift from God and I don't know what we did to deserve such a wonderful baby.I am back at work again. Coming back was hard for me, because I spent my every second for 3 weeks with my newborn baby and I hated being at work not knowing what she was doing or what she looked like at all times. Nadine originally planned on going back to work in May, but she is starting to feel differently now. I wish we could both stay home and focus on her... I think that is how life should be in a perfect world. But it's not, and we have to make sacrifices in order to survive - even if it means that you can't spend 24/7 with the most important thing that has ever happened in your entire life. I think we're going to have to find a nanny for Elise or a day care that has a program for infants. Either that, or figure out a way that Nadine can work from home! Anybody have any ideas or people/places that you can refer? Elise Evelyn Hsu Thursday, February 28, 2008 Last Sunday, my daughter was born. Welcome to the world, Elise. I love you with all my heart. 
Old D1GP videos from Suzuka Thursday, February 21, 2008 Yeah, these are old. But it's always fun watching "the greats" and looking at the differences in car and driving style. Ueo. He is always concentrating on quick and precise direction changes. Watch how fast his hands are! Kumakubo. Does he really need to kick the clutch so much? No... but this is drifting! Kick away! Kazama. He looks very smooth and controlled in this video, to me, a sign of a very confident and calculated driver. Listen to his throttle during the direction changes... he lets off the accelerator, but not fully and only for a split second. You know he is coming in fast for the upcoming corner. At this course and these speeds, the longer you stay on the gas and sooner you get on it after lifting, the more likely you will go flying off course, where it is slippery and you will probably die. Nomuken. Nomuken's driving style is always scary looking to me. He looks like he's fumbling around with the steering wheel and making a lot of corrections. I am sure that it's just his style, but it makes me nervous! Watch his crazy shifting into the first corner... clutch kick in 3rd gear, and a split second later, upshift into 4th! Blogs Monday, February 18, 2008 I'm sure a ton of you read blogs. How many of those blogs ever teach you anything? Read this blog and school yourself! Beyond the Dyno I'm famous! Friday, February 15, 2008 When somebody writes about you on their blog, you are famous. When somebody who doesn't even give a crap about cars or drifting writes about you on their blog, you are famouser! If You Write It: Top Ten Team Name Generators Dai Finds a New Ride in 2008 Friday, February 15, 2008 So I was super happy to find out that my buddy Dai Yoshihara has joined teams with Rhys Millen for 2008. He's going to be the pilot of the Pontiac GTO! This is really big news because Dai has been a part of the Pacific Rim Drift Team since he came to the USA and he's always driven an S chassis - which in ways has made him the underdog because while other drivers were being factory sponsored with brand new 500+hp cars, Dai always stuck with the old school - the Nissan Silvia. It's kind of bittersweet, because I loved watching Dai, Pac Rim, and the Silvia make huge successes together... but finding a title sponsor for 2008 was getting pretty tough for Dai and I'm so glad that instead of finding a sponsor while barely getting by, he finds a sponsor that can possibly take him to a #1 overall finish in 2008. Not that he needs a 550hp Pontiac GTO to do it... I think he's an awesome driver and one of the best. It will just make it easier for him. Good luck this year Dai. Give 'em hell! 
Drifting for me in 1999 Friday, February 08, 2008 Rob found this yahoo auction in Japan for an old Drift Tengoku magazine. I guess unlike here in the USA, these don't go up for auction much in Japan. I guess because we are all super nerdy drift geeks who collect this stuff. Anyway it's the September 1996 issue with 2 EF civics drifting next to each other. I am sure this is what inspired Slide Squad Dave to paint his car in the same fashion and start sliding it around. Knowing that this issue is from 1996, I'm also fairly certain that it's Hatakeyama who is driving one of them. Seeing the magazine brings back a lot of great memories... going up to touge that time with Dave as he showed me what it's like to fly sideways through a corner. Whenever I think back to it, the memory is kind of surreal. I'm not sure if it's because of how blown away I was or because it's like the memory of your first love, or if it's just because it was was at night freezing with fog everywhere. Either way it was totally awesome and one of my favorite memories. You know what's cool? The thought that this magazine may have inspired Dave who in turn inspired me. 
The Alternative Drifting Lifestyle Tuesday, January 29, 2008 It doesn't mean homoesexual drifting... it means.... well, I guess just watch the videos. Chari Dori Estima Dori More Mazdaspeed 3 Friday, January 25, 2008 Here are some more specs on the Mazaspeed 3:
Here are some of my impressions so far:
Ooops! Thursday, January 24, 2008 What's with the crazy amount of YouTube video posts lately??? I don't know, why don't you get to work instead of playing around with your website Benson? TAS D1GP Demo Wednesday, January 23, 2008 So they did a D1GP drifting exhibition at TAS this year. Pretty cool setup! It's really small, probably due to venue constraints but it lets the crowd get really close to all the action. The course is cool because it's got all the basics - main entry towards the crowd, reducing radius corners, walls to get close to, and direction changes. I love Nomuken's left foot braking action near the wall. If you haven't seen it already, here's Kumakubo's Evo in action. I don't really like the Evo... in fact I don't like Mitsubishis much. Okay I hate them. But I love Kuma! He's been one of my favs for a really long time and plus he is the king of twin drift and he reminds me of that happy fat guy from Mulan. And I hate you Rob! Stop showing me those horrible truck drifting videos! Hello MS3! Wednesday, January 23, 2008 So yes, we sold the green machine. After much searching, arguing (yes, because my wife and I both love cars and driving, we argue about them)... we finally compromised with the... drum roll please... A 2008 Mazdaspeed 3. Why we chose this car:
So far, I'm really happy with the car. I've fit tons of baby stuff in the car for our new baby room and from our baby shower. I'm still breaking it in with a couple hundred miles left, but I'm already getting 24-25mpg on average! Sweet! And the car handles oh so awesome.     Now here's the question... what do I name it? Goodbye Green Machine Wednesday, January 23, 2008 So the baby is coming... and it was time to sell my daily driver S13 to buy a bigger car. I've had it since 2003 and it's been awesome to me ever since. When I bought it, it had less than 100k miles and it helped to complete the Mega S13 freak collection. At one point, we had one S13 from every year that S13s were available in the USA. We had an '89, '90, '91, '92, '93. If you are a nerd, you are telling me that S13s were made in also '94. Well, '94s were all convertible and no way in hell would I buy an S13 convertible, so be quiet you nerd! It was really nice driving it, and according to my friends I was going to start fixing it up weeks after I bought it. But I resisted. I already had a low, loud, no frills drift car so I wanted to enjoy the 240sx in stock form. It came with tinted windows, working a/c & heater... it was quiet and had a really strong engine. it was the nicest S13 I've ever driven. Working on it was cake, because NOTHING was rusted or seized. When I worked on it, it was like working on a new car... I would effortlessly pull out nuts and bolts and they looked shiny and new. The car sold FAST! Luckily it went to a very nice man named Chris who LOVES Nissans and was just looking for a nice daily driver just like what I was looking for when I bought the car.  It was fun while it lasted! Suck it, rest of the world! Thursday, January 17, 2008 I am still being impressed by this car that impressed me a month ago, and the month before that, and the month before that. I <3 you, Nissan. Ugly Cars Wednesday, January 16, 2008 So I was doing my daily rounds of reading blogs and on Jalopnik I saw the released pictures of the new Dodge Challenger. And was immediately let down. I've been keeping a mental note of how American car companies seem to half-ass their designs. They seem to be doing a lot of throw back style cars where they make a new car look like their classics, which in itself is kind of lazy I think but it's not such a big deal to me because that seems to be the trend with a lot of things. If you can bring back Cabbage Patch Kids and Transformers, why can't you bring back the Mustang? The problem is the way these companies seem to spend much time on creating nice detail... nice lines here and there that are reminiscent of the classic car yet modern and artistic... then you get to the rear end of the car. What happened??? Did you guys just get tired of designing? The new Dodge Challenger has been doomed to the same fate:
Here are some other sad examples of what I'm talking about: Happy New Year! Tuesday, January 08, 2008 I know, I'm late but that's what everybody puts on their blog. Happy New Year! Man this past Christmas was HECTIC. I thought I would have all this free time on my hands, but I didn't. There were Christmas parties everywhere but it was really nice spending time with family. Christmas was so exciting for me as a child and it kind of died as I became a teenager. But now that I'm older and learning to appreciate things more, add in the fact that I have a family now, Christmas has a renewed charm for me again. Nadine was having some complications and the doctor has put her on bed rest. What is bed rest? Exactly what it sounds like! She has to sit in bed ALL DAY LONG. It's really making her crazy and I don't blame her... it's like turning your own home into a jail cell. But she's hanging in there and she's doing a really good job of not doing much. I'm thinking she'll have to last another month at the longest. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sooner though. So anyway, I'm now Mr. Mom and taking care of everything around the house and I haven't had any time to go drifting but I did squeeze a few hours in there to put on my canards. I took off my spoiler too, for a new look. I don't know why, but my car looks so wiiiiide new. I love it... I'm going to leave it this way for a while. Geez, where are all my pics? My blog is so boring! | ||||||
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