Snow, Surgery, Racing, and Pigeons!

Right off the top, I'm going to apologize for this post being all over the place. I'm under pretty heavy sedation, so I'm not exactly lucid... Of course, I still have enough sense to understand that someone got this waaaay wrong...

Here's a shot of Tag, my wife's German Shepherd.... He loves the snow, so he's been very happy this past week. Always with Tag is his favorite toy, a big solid rubber ball that he can deform quite easily. He has a strong pair of jaws... better the ball than me. Tag comes from a long line of championship Schutzhund Shepherds. Anyone spending any time with him realizes that his instinctive abilities for tracking, obedience, and protection are off the charts. Tag visits the dealership every so often. He enjoys getting out and he especially likes the ladies in the business office who are all dog lovers. There are a few staff members who are a little uncomfortable around him, and you can probably appreciate why since Tag is always "on duty."

Ugh... I'm typing this posting extremely slowly due to my right arm being in a sling (again). After months of slow rehab, my right shoulder decided to "vent." There's a long story about the crash that caused my stage three shoulder separation, but last Monday the injury decided to get my full attention. A small skin flap just above the end of my collar bone released all the fluid from the bursa sack. When your joint fluid is pouring out of your shoulder like a faucet, it's time to seek help (again). So yesterday, Dr. Robert Wilson opened me up, cut 8mm off the end of my clavicle and generally cleaned things up before putting me back together. Here's a "before" photo:

So yesterday I checked into Providence Portland at 11:30am, left at 5:30pm, and was home about an hour afterward. 24 hours later, there's only one word to describe my state: "ouch!" Before I leave this subject, I want to mention how well I was treated by everyone at Providence Portland. Everything at Wilsonville Honda revolves around customer service, so I'm very attuned to how I'm treated in other service-oriented businesses. When the nurse slipped my IV in my arm without as much as a "pinch," I knew things would go well.

I guess there are a number of folks in the greater Portland metro area that haven't read my "Winter Driving Tips" posting yet, since I saw a number of drivers on their cell phones while negotiating the snow. The height of stupidity was the moron on McLoughlin who spun twice in front of me -- AND NEVER STOPPED TALKING ON HIS PHONE!

I've never understood the reason to have signs like the following posted in such an obvious place. But I guess if you are spinning down a congested road and can't be bothered to put down your cell phone, then maybe you need a warning before perching so as not to have a pointed purple steel object perform an unauthorized colonoscopy!

Despite the snow this past weekend, we welcomed a number of new customers into the Wilsonville Honda family. They all drove away in their early Christmas presents with big smiles on their faces. Our staff was pleasantly surprised that these folks braved the conditions to be with us, but everyone said that being able to browse through our entire inventory indoors took the concern out of looking.

I stumbled across a photo of the podium at the 1996 Long Beach GP IndyCar race. That's Jimmy Vasser in the center and Al Unser, Jr. on the far left (oh, that's me on the far right). Al and I had a great race for the last 15 laps or so with me edging "The King of the Beach" at the finish line. Al had been all-dominant at Long Beach, having won the race 6 times in the previous 7 years -- so beating Al and Team Penske at the Beach was a very big deal. I was happy to have my Honda-powered IndyCar at the front at a Toyota-sponsored race! Ha! There's a picture of the car I drove that day in the top right hand corner of the blog, which is now residing in our showroom (along with a few of the other championship-winning Honda-powered cars I drove during my racing days with Honda).

Here's a photo of Al's dad, Al Unser, Sr., and me (nice helmet hair...) that was taken last year as we worked together at the International Race of Executives (IROE). Most people know that among Al Sr.'s numerous accomplishments, he can list being one of only one of three drivers to have won the Indy 500 4 times (Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt share the honors with Al). I've been fortunate to have been asked to co-host the IROE event for a number of years with drivers of legendary status (e.g., Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, the late Phil Hill). IROE raises money for Seattle Children's Hospital by attracting "executives" at $10,000 each to spend a day at Pacific Raceways learning the basics of high-performance driving along with a few race-specific skills. The day is a blast and the money raised is much needed...

One of our service customers that I met over the weekend has only had her 2009 Pilot a short time, but was so effusive with praise, we had to get her testimony on tape. I'll be posting it soon, but let me say that she drives from Beaverton to have our award-winning Service Department take care of her Pilot's needs -- and she made that drive this weekend in less than ideal conditions. She was a good sport and gladly stood in the snow next to her Honda while she told me her story. She's bought domestic automobiles for years, most recently a Yukon, and was hesitant to change brands. She said that within a week of living with her new Pilot she fell in love it and has been over the top about the quality, ride, room, fuel economy.... the list goes on. Enough for now, but I leave you with this: