23:42 to go. Back to green—the offending BMW has been penalized.

DPi: Cadillac #31, Cadillac #5, Cadillac #01

LMP2: Oreca #52, Dallara #47, Oreca #20

LMP3: Ligier #38, Ligier #74, Ligier #54

GTLM: Corvette #3 (Garcia), Ferrari #62, BMW #24, Corvette #4 (Milner)

GTD: Lexus #12, Lexus #14, BMW #96

… and we're yellow because of debris coming off the Porsche …

… and we're off!

At the start, one of the GTLM BMWs tags the only remaining Porsche in GTLM. Lots of damage to the rear of the Porsche in the first minute of the race.

Thank you, as always.

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I am ready. You need Andy's spotter's guide this year: five classes, 49 cars.

https://spotterguides.com/portfolio/21_imsa/

Good morning, all.

Chilly and hazy this morning in the Philadelphia area.

At work: a lot of writing and working on my CES 2021 presentation, which will be this coming Monday.

Posted on Hemmings today:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2021/ ... keeping-them-all-straight

—there will be a quiz later.

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That's how you know that the Rolex 24 at Daytona is only two weeks away.

Finally, the front of this year's card.

Ivelis and I don't do a lots of gifts for each other, but she does do the Hallmark vehicle ornaments thing every year. Here's this year's haul. In order:

1955 Pearlescent White Lincoln Futura show car (what George Barris based the original Batmobile on)

1966 Red with White trim Chevrolet C10 Fleetside pickup truck with a tan vinyl bench seat

1970 Fathom Blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS coupe with a white vinyl top and black vinyl Strato-bucket seats (no hint at what engine it has)

1970 Lime Light Plymouth Superbird coupe with a black viny top and a black vinyl bench seat (engine could be either a 426 Hemi or a 440 Super Commando)

Merry Christmas, all.

My alma mater yesterday evening:

https://www.saintthomaschurch.org/even ... tivity-rite-i-2020-12-24/

Some drama last night, and not Santa on the roof. High winds and heavy rain, with a high of 65,000 homes without power in the area. The local utility has it down to under 40,000 at this point, but it's no way to welcome Christmas Day.

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Thank you, Gris. My three years at the choir school changed my life.

Good morning, all.

The church whose choir school that I attended in the late seventies and early eighties usually webcasts its services, but in the past, it was just sound (no video). Because 2020, they now have video, and on Sunday, they did the usual festival of Lessons and Carols. It was a little more ragged than in a normal year, but they still sounded good. My biggest takeaway is that the boys still sway back and forth when they sing—just like we did all those years ago.

https://www.saintthomaschurch.org/even ... ns-and-carols-2020-12-20/

Good morning, all.

Bob, that's great news.

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For my few remaining private clients, the going rate is $100/hour, so that sounds about right. Many charge more.

You're a good guy—but that doesn't mean your time doesn't have value.

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I'm going to pull a Tommy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLvlAgSJRVo

Good morning, all.

Gris, the jewelery catalog joke is good every time. Ivelis laughed and laughed …

Good morning, all.

Quiet at the University—I'd estimate that only 30% of us are currently on the clock.

Good afternoon, all.

Teebee, congratulations on the first date anniversary yesterday. We celebrate ours, too—but we're barely over half the years you two have.

Letty, have fun.

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The iPhone that I replaced was supposed to be FedExed from Bryn Mawr, PA to Carlisle, PA in late November. It went through California. Took sixteen days.

Best wishes, Matt.

Good morning, all.

Quite cold last night, so Ivelis is driving the Subaru down to see her mother this morning—it does a lot better on the ice than an overpowered C6.

Gris, I agree with you on the gifts. Makes us hard to buy for, I guess.

Good afternoon, all.

The snow came, but we kept our power—the winds weren't quite as high as were expected. Thanks for all the good wishes as I worried.

We got about seven inches, and then the sleet kicked in, making the white substance hard and heavy. It pushed my little overengineered Honda snowblower to its limits. We were lucky it wasn't more—a close friend of mine in upstate New York got 35 inches.

There are no good ways to find out that someone has passed, but I'll go on record as saying that finding out by getting a Christmas card returned to sender has to be one of the worst. This event happened to us yesterday.

Letty, hang in there. Bob, best wishes.

Good morning, all.

Like many on Guru, snow is in our future. It's supposed to come to our area In the Wednesday/Thursday timeframe, with the forecasts ranging from six to twenty inches. My biggest concern is losing power—otherwise, we're in pretty good shape with our Subaru Outback (wth the Blizzaks) and our overengineered Honda snowblower.

Getting ready—and a busy week at work, too.

Good morning, all.

Threats of flurries in the Philadelphia area today—it certainly looks like it outside.

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I did think of you, Gris. Besides, he was Army at the beginning of his career …

… all 7,315 convertibles produced in the 1986 model year were considered Pace Car Replicas, but Chevrolet used Yellow in all it's publicity and as the actual pace cars.

Good morning, all.

RIP, Chuck Yeager, who among many other things lent his own special glamour to the C4 Corvette.

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By a Harvard man, no less. Sigh …

… for all of the carnage, the USN had two positives:

1) By blind luck, the carriers were at sea

2) The Japanese neglected to go after the oil storage in any meaningful way

Good morning, all.

When I was in the navy in the mid to late 1980s, the memory of Pearl Harbor was still visceral within the service. That was before I visited the USS Arizona Memorial, with the oil still leaking from the shattered remnants of that ship. RIP to the 2,043 who died that day.

Nice work (as always) Tom.

Happy birthday, Gris!

Good morning, all.

Like most everywhere else, it's cold here.

Ivelis picked up the wreath and holiday bunting yesterday, so that's done.

Best wishes, Tom.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

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That price is eye-opening (bad pun alert!) — that used to be 65-inch money. We have an LG 60-inch LED 4K that we're quite happy with. It looks like we've finally made it to the point where people can accidently buy a TV that's too big.

LG's OLED televisions are widely thought to be the best in the business, but they can go way up the food chain:

https://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-oled88zxpua-signature-oled-8k-tv

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Best wishes, Marcus.

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Cool—hang in there. Best.

On today's lighter topic, I'll agree that they likely don't make coffee makers like they used to. We must have just missed the window for one that would last. I'm also a very heavy coffee drinker—got that habit in the Navy.

Teebee, I hope you are okay.

From the University's epidemiologists: "new loss of taste or smell" is the closest symptom there is to a positive confirmation, but not losing taste or smell doesn't mean you don't have it.

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Our rule of thumb is that there are no good coffee makers—at any price (and we've tried many). We now buy inexpensive and write the purchase date on the back of the machine.

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Maybe twice …

Good morning, all!

Pretty but chilly this morning in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Thanks, all!

Letty, I'll get you a review on the 12 mini once we've had ours for a couple of weeks—if I don't, please remind me. So far, we're quite happy: Ivelis is moving from an 8 and I'm moving from an Xs.

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She was born on Friday, November 16th, 1984, in (of course) Bowling Green, Kentucky. As I've said before, this date means Lauren is now firmly on the early side of the old Corvette versus new Corvette dividing line.

This year was a somewhat fraught one for Lauren, though for different reasons than for most of us. Last November, I put her up for sale, trying to free up room for other automotive interests. This status lasted until about March when I pulled her off the market—just before the lockdowns began.

If remotely possible, I drive Lauren at least a little bit on her birthday—this year, we got nice weather, so I took her into the local shop to get the PA state inspection. She passed with flying colors, which made me happy.

Below is a photograph taken this afternoon—testing out one of the cameras in my snazzy new iPhone 12 mini. Lauren now has 78,857 miles.

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Best of luck for getting power back soon.

Good morning, all.

Winter has returned to the Philadelphia area—the temperature has been dropping for most of the day.

Gris, 50 pictures. More details:

https://j3studiopress.com/2020/11/09/50000-words/

Ollie is a class act; we enjoyed a few minutes talking with him at Le Mans several years ago.

This news didn't surprise me—as drivers age, they lose a little bit of speed. With Porsche's exit from GTLM at the end of this year and Ford's exit last year, many excellent drivers are available.

We are happy with our tankless hot water heater, which we've had for a little over three years. I know life was changing when our HVAC guy carried it in under one arm.

Looks great, Matt. We remain utterly sold on our C5 convertible—Chevrolet really nailled that design.