A few months ago I went to stay at Brad’s place up in Keystone and was greeted by a large box in his basement that held the Ion Drum Rocker.  I quickly tore into the box as I’d read about it many times and was very curious to see them in action.  If you can’t tell from the picture the Drum Rocker is a premium drum kit for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

The difference in these drums and the toy that comes with the game is remarkable.  The standard drums are very light and flimsy, the heads are hard and loud and the pedal, well it sucks.  The Drum Rocker is basically a small, inexpensive digital drum kit.  A real digital drum kit I might add.  You can get an add-on module for it that turns it into a fully standalone drum set that you could play with real musicians.  The heads are quiet and very responsive, allowing for rolls and fast fills with ease.  While the cymbals are a bit hard (they don’t quite crash like a cymbal should) they are years beyond the Guitar Hero World Tour cymbals.  While I’m not a drummer (I can keep a beat fairly well) playing the game with these drums feels like you are actually playing drums, not a toy.

At $300 for the basic kit (the picture above adds the third cymbal for an extra $50) it’s not cheap.  Given the excellent quality if you enjoy playing drums it’s worth it.  Highly recommended.

This weekend I began the process of modifying Ginger for track work.  As I’m planning on taking her to the track several times this year I’m starting to get her all ready for it.  I’m mostly doing suspension upgrades (since I drive road courses) but I’m guessing a few power modifications may sneak in also.  So far I’ve installed a set of K-Sport coilovers (they are VERY stiff), new rims (they have my snow tires on them now, track tires are on order) and a front lips spoiler (that was mainly for look).  My big brake kit is sitting in the garage waiting to be installed (in a few weeks).  I’ve got a cold air intake on the way as well as a set of adjustable front and rear sway bars.

As you see from the picture I need to adjust the rear suspension to lower it inline with the front.  So far I haven’t scrapped anything as I do wish it wasn’t quite so low (I’m going to see if I can raise the front some).

I’ve also been busy inside the car – I’ve enable the navigation system while the car is moving, disabled the seat belt chime, and enabled video input on the back of the navigation screen (I can watch video from my iPhone on the screen and hear it through the audio system).  And no, I won’t be watching movies while I’m driving – I did it mostly because I could.

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything so I figured now was the time to give an update.  I’ve got several more posts in the hamper so hopefully I’ll be back to regular blogging soon.

So without further ado I introduce to you Ginger.  Ginger is a 2009 Subaru Legacy Spec.B.  What is a Spec.B you might ask?  Well it’s the adult fast Subaru.  Not the 22 year old WRX STi fast one, the adult one.  She has a 250 hp flat 4 motor (soon to be doing about 300 hp), Bilstein suspension, 18″ rims and a significantly upgraded interior over the standard Legacy GT (Alcantara seats, Harmon Kardon audio, Kenwood NAV system, etc).  Soon she’ll have new sway bars, coilovers, rims, exhaust and a big brake kit.

I’d been unsure of this purchase for a while as I was upgrading from a base 2008 Legacy 2.5i.  I wanted something that had all wheel drive, would be good around town, good to take to the mountains but quick and nibble enough to take to the track.  So far I’m extremely pleased with her, for the money I don’t think there is a better car out there (at least not one that fit me).  I also wasn’t sure about a red car (when I went to pick her up I’d never seen her) but I’m extremely happy with the dark color.  The Spec.B is a limited production car, with only 500 being built a year (and only 100 in this color).

So welcome to the family Ginger, I’m sure we’ll have a long and happy friendship!