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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Ron Mann, rjmann@yahoo.com
NOR'EASTER Online -  November 10, 2004 Board Meeting
Northeast Region Logo

Well this is pleasant. Its 6:30, I’m an half an hour early and Bruce and Joyce Hauben just bought me a beer. This is a significantly happier scene than I was subject to prior to last month’s get together when I barely managed to walk through the door for the last 10 minutes.  A super short meeting and a pass on having to craft the monthly minutes were meager compensation for having spent three plus hours in an epic tie up on I-495. I’m certain that it was the Almighty’s way of letting me know that the consequences can be dire if you screw up the clues to a previous issue’s crossword puzzle. I swear on Whitey’s 3.6, I’ll try to plan my sadistic experiments more carefully in future.
   
Steve Ross was this month’s host. Those who remember the last Ross hosting will no doubt recall rather my scathing dissertation on boredom that is tofu. More to the point, Steve did, as he wisely shifted the both the location and cuisine westward by choosing the Piccadilly Pub in Westborough as the site for our gathering. It would seem that the change of venue was well received for although the meeting was not convened until 8:15, none of the attendees seemed to mind the late start. 
   
Speaking of attendees, in addition to the four of us, Dave and Susanna Weber, Karen Adams, Steve Berry, Steve Boris, Andy Jenks and Barbara Collazzo-Noonan were all equally present and well fed as the meeting came to order.  Unfortunately I had chosen the end seat at fairly elongated table.  Thus when Bruce, who was first to speak, began his report, I would have sworn he was rambling on about rambles and attracting ramblers. I cringed; instantly one of the more horrid episodes of my teen years came flooding back.  For a moment, I couldn’t think of anything other than that horrid black hunk of steel. 
   
You see, my experience with Ramblers is pretty jaded. I owned one back in the early seventies. The old man, filled with disgust over tenacity of twin Solexes to resist all attempts at synchronization, forced me to part with my first ever automobile, a true classic, one 1960 Alfa 2000 roadster. Thinking I hadn’t had sufficient driving experience to notice the difference, my dear father secretly conspired with my uncle and replaced it with a 1960 American convertible replete with 3 on the column, sans power steering naturally. I noticed. The cunning plan hatched by my own flesh and blood may have accurately accounted for my dim wittedness, but it had failed to account for my lack of physical stamina. While the Alfa was a bit of a cruiser, the Rambler was a tank. And it drove like one. You see, in those days, I wasn’t the perfect physical specimen I am today, I couldn’t actually summon enough muscle to steer the damn thing out of the driveway. Needless to say, it didn’t stay in my possession for very long. 
   
Thankfully, I quickly shook this image off, as I began perceived that all this talk was not of Ramblers, but of Rambles, specifically next years tour to Lake George. This being the 20th such sojourn undertaken by NER, the plan is to pull all the stops out.  Those of you familiar with our final destination, the Sagamore, will undoubtedly recognize that this will be a special event. There are several surprises planned and given the Hauben’s spectacular success record in this regard, even I, despite my stated aversion for anything faintly related to AMC products, am extremely excited at the prospect. This promises to be a sellout event.  
   
Mr. Ross’s report followed with more blockbuster news. We’ve secured the services of one Mr. Brock Yates as a guest speaker for the February 12th meeting. Long associated with mischievous automotive behavior, Mr. Yates has recently completed a new book on racing. This too should be a night to remember.  Further great news was delivered via Steve from the track committee. They’ve secured an early season date at NHIS next year! Hallelujah! We’ll be holding next year’s novice driving school there a few days before the event, so those novices bitten by the bug will have an immediate chance to test their skills. The remainder of the DE schedule for next year is shaping up, with Calabogie sure to be a headliner event. If you haven’t yet seen photos of the track, do a web search, its nearing completion and will undoubtedly be awesome! Steve also announced that Bill Caterino had accepted the position of next years autocross co-chair. 
  
Susana then furnished the details on the upcoming Annual dinner. We’ve got a cool band (well maybe not by D&C Racing standards, we’d probably not be satisfied with anything less than the Pogues, Led Zeppelin or Beck, but hell, George and I ex-professionals and total whack jobs) the location is great and the date is guaranteed, well almost, to be snow free.
   
Karen presented the treasurers report. With the year winding down, despite the early setbacks suffered at the hands of the BeaveRun event, we’ve managed under her skillful guidance to come through the year unscathed. Bottom line? Hey, we’re in the black! Not bad considering all the fun we had this year. After approving the report, we heard from Steve Berry. The only dark spot in an otherwise great evening, apparently the membership reporting woes continue at national.  
   
There followed a bit of chit chat around the upcoming Zone 1 Presidents meeting, the continued confusion over the pros and cons of E-commerce and the selection of the site for next months board meeting. Turns out it will be hosted at the home of our outgoing President, Mr. Jenks. And so, our business concluded, we all departed at the stroke of 9:30. Cool, thought I. All’s mostly right with the NER universe; I’m off the hook for another month and in a couple of days the only traffic Whitey and I are likely to encounter will be on the back straight at VIR. Turns out those red states are good for something after all! Hope to see you all at the Gala. ‘Til next month.  
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