How do you know that I got something new? When you see me beating the hell out of it. For reasons I don’t understand, I seem to be hellbent on destroying any nice things that I own. I got a new phone, so I drop it on the concrete over and over. Nad buys a new house, so I rip the stairwell bannister out of the wall. We get a new car, so I bash it up real good.

On Monday morning, driving up I95, Hotaru (the name of our Pontiac Vibe) and I were pelted by no less than ten rocks. Having been an active driver for the past few years, I am used to getting hit with rocks on the road. This wasn’t a normal situation - a series of rocks were launched at us at high velocity like someone was holding a rapid-fire rock gun and was firing away. One of the rocks even flew into the open driver-side window, striking me in the shoulder. I ducked my head, thinking that the rocks would break the windshield and hit me in the face. I slowed down, but kept going straight without hitting the brakes, thinking that if I veered or braked hard, I would hit someone around me pretty hard.

Well, the windshield did not break, but the foglight did. Pictured below is the damage done to the light, as well as me holding the rock that hit me. Hotaru (pronounced HO-TAR-OO, not HOT-ARE-YOU) will be fixed tomorrow afternoon. It should cost around $150 for the part, and $150 for labor.

We attended the Mazda Rev It Up Tour today at FedEx Field. We got there pretty early in the morning, arriving at 8:30. Nad had pre-registered, but I decided against. I honestly thought that it was going to be a drag strip with a couple of cars and one hundred people on line. Definitely not worth the $40 admission fee.

A cursory glance of the driving area showed that I was wrong. There were no less than 30 vehicles on hand, and the entire event was set up like a driving course. After a crash course in racing techniques and driving safety, we were able to hit the track in a Mazda 3 sedan, Mazda 3 hatchback, and Mazda 6. We learned how to slalom, control the car under high speed conditions, and braking effectively in a turn.

After a few laps, we hit the competition course to beat the time set early that day. Neither one of us were able to beat the posted score, but Nadia kicked my ass all over the place. Throughout the day on each of the practice courses, she beat my time from 2-15 seconds. Obviously, I wasn’t cut out to be a performance driver.

More images can be found here.