Outside

Little Red Haired Girl was right, such a beautiful day. Seems a shame you gimps wasted it at work. Me? I cleaned out a second drawer in my dresser, sat outside and read a book (Big Fish by Daniel Wallace) and fixed the screen door so it would shut all the way and I didn't even have to use my AK...I have to say it was a good day.







Had to change the battery in my car Friday morning. Went outside and it was a little chilly. I had to bust out the Worlds most comfortable shirt. Hello...old friend. I think it needs to make a comeback, maybe earn it's place back in the rotation. While I'm still single.

"...there's something going on that's not quite right..."

Just listening to R.E.M.'s Document album dancing around the living room eating a banana. Maybe there is something to this whole positive outlook thing. Should have thought of this sooner.

There's something strange going on tonight
There's something going on that's not quite right
Michael's nervous and the lights are bright
There's something going on that's not quite right

("Strange", track #5).

How appapo....

Fun Richard

I have a theory on how Ice Dancing started. Someone was sitting around going, "You know, I like figure skating, the costumes, the skill, the grace, all that crap, there's just one small problem...it's just not GAY enough for me".

Why do you not see any bumper stickers that say, "Proud parent of a C student" or "My child is the all-time In school supsension record holder at Ft. Braden"?

Did anybody else see this:

"- The arrival of a new baby is always an exciting time, for parents and especially for grandmas.
But have you ever heard of a grandma also having a baby on the same day as her daughter delivered? Although Callister, 42, and Bushman, 22, did not give birth at the same time — an hour and a half separates the two births — both mother and daughter were aided by the same nurses in the same room."

Bet you can't guess what hospital this all happened at.....Utah Valley Regional Medical Center


If your 42 year old mother gives birth on the same day as you....you might be a Mormon.

Oddly, the mother's child was born nine weeks early due to complications. Kid's Mormon which means this will probably be the first and last time he's early to anything.

And no I'm not picking on Mormon Girl (for once). She'll tell you it's true, in fact she told me. It's known as Mormon Standard Time.

This is why I don't watch TV anymore.

CBS Breaks Up with 'Love Monkey'

LRHG, I don't even want to hear it..

5 for 3

Today marked he five year anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt. I know for most of you, his death didn't really effect (affect? Where's an editor when you need one?) you at all, but for me, having not lost a parent or a sibling, it was pretty much the worst day of my life so far. It wasn't that I lost a member of my family, but it felt like it. Sounds a little over the top, I know, but if you've ever met my father or been inside my parents house, you would understand.

My dad was a huge fan and it's evident from the Earnhardt memorabilia that fills every available space in my parents living room and bedroom. You name it, I'm pretty sure it's here somewhere. Racing, all forms, but mostly NASCAR, has been a part of my family as long as I can remember. I don't ever remember a time when it wasn't discussed and Dale Earnhardt was always The Man around this house ( I was a Darrell Waltrip fan first, his Budweiser car looked cool, then I became a Bill Elliott fan because, when I was 8 I saw him go 200 MPH and that was the coolest thing ever. Boys are funny that way).

Growing up conversations between my dad and I were mostly about sports. All sports in general, Baseball, football, etc, but if you wanted to really wanted to get him stirred up and get the conversation going, all you need do was start talking about racing. I can't tell you all the state capitals, the Presidents, what the word "Cryptic" actually means, but I can tell you that Dale Earnhardt is the only man in history to win the NASCAR rookie of the year award and the (then) Winston Cup Championship in consecutive years. Growing up, Dale Earnhardt had such an impact on my dad and meant so much to him, that it was almost like he was part of the family. Again, I know how that sounds.

Daytona is special to me, because it's our home track. My dad took me to the track for the first time, I think, in 1985. We went to qualifying for the 500 (The Bill Elliott thing). The first time we went to any actual racing events was 1986. We went Friday for the IROC race and a Goody's Dash series event and we went to the 1986 Daytona 500. We've gone to Speedweeks every year since. We don't go to the actual 500, since you gots to be willed those tickets, but we usually go to the Twin 125's on Thursday (I'm not even going to explain what this is, if you really want to know, ask me later.), the Friday races and from 1990-1999 we went to the Saturday Busch Series race. See, I don't even remember not going.

Dale is the all time overall wins leader at Daytona. He only won the 500 once, but he has 34 total wins at the track (this includes the Preliminary events during Speedweeks and the race in July). He's finished second in the 500 5 times (Tied with Richard Petty for most ever). He was the favorite in the 500 every year and lost it every way you can imagine. In 1990, after leading 155 of 200 laps, only losing the lead when he came in to pit (Second most laps led that day was Geoff Bodine with 8). Leading on the last lap heading into turn three Dale blew a tire and finished 5th. Untouchable all day, he ran over a $4 part that fell off another car (They found it embedded in Bill Elliott's grill) stop him with 1/4 of a lap to go. One of the biggest upsets of all time.

I've been to four Daytona 500's: 1986-Dale was leading with a handful of laps left and had to stop for gas. Geoff Bodine went like 1000 laps on a tank of fuel and won. 2000- Dale Jarrett won. Worst thing I've ever seen. They made some changes to the rules and it made the racing suck very much bad. 2001- Greatest race I have ever seen..except for the final turn.

We were sitting in the stands coming out of turn 4. Dale's car came to rest almost directly in front of us. We watched the whole scene as they cut the roof of the car off and pulled him out. We were sitting up in the tower section so, we couldn't see to much of the detail of what they were doing. Looking through binoculars I could see them start chest compressions as they loaded him on the ambulance. Instant denial set in. Chest compressions-Standard Operating Procedure, right?

We drove back to my brothers house in Cocoa after the race not knowing anything other than he was taken to the hospital. When my dad was told he was standing in the driveway unloading my brother's stuff from the truck. He broke down. Hard. I've never seen my dad cry-ever- and here he was, bent over, head on the side of the truck, crying. I went numb. I started crying. Not for a dead race car driver, but for my dad. This was his passion, this was his hero and it was gone. Just broke my heart.

Dale was something my dad and I connected with. It was something that had created a very strong bond between us. I would usually root against him, just to goad my dad, but deep down I know I was seeing the best. The best stock car driver of all time. Which may not mean anything to you, but it meant everything to my dad, which made it mean all that much more to me.

When Mickey Mantle died, Billy Crystal said that he felt like his childhood had finally ended. February 18, 2001 felt like that day to me.

We went to the July race at Daytona and it didn't start out to well. It was my dad's first trip back since Earnhardt's death and he almost lost it when we walked past the "3" the had painted on the grass outside turn 4. He originally hadn't wanted to go, but I talked him into it and I thought then, that it was a bad idea. When I left to come back to Tallahassee the next day, my dad told me that he hadn't wanted to go, but he was glad he did because he was able to deal with his grief and enjoy racing again. I felt like I gave something back to my dad. One down, 999, 999 to go.

Final note on this, my fourth and to this point, last Daytona 500, was 2002. The guy sitting next to my dad was from Toronto. He was an Earnhardt fan who didn't decide to come to the race until the week before. Total random chance he was seated next to us. After the race was over (Ward Burton won), we were sitting in the stands waiting for the traffic to clear out and my dad and the guy started talking. If you know my dad you know that talking to strangers and even more so, sharing feelings is rare. He and this guy opened up and talked about the whole thing. Two men talking about a man they never met, didn't know anything about outside of he drove a car for a living. Two total strangers, connecting. That's what Dale Earnhardt meant to people.


If you want to read up on Dale's legacy, Nascar.com has put this web site up. You can watch video of different highlights of his career. I recommend the final win of his career.

The sun still came up

To all the single people: Now you know how Jews feel at Christmas.


Again, you're all beautiful babies.



Current Music: Michael Stipe "In the Sun"

Here's to your next 30 years

First, let's all wish Amanda a very Happy Birthday. She's 30. Probably not polite to mention a woman's age, but I don't think she minds. I guess 30 isn't so scary once you've crossed "Wife" and "Mother" off your list. Shouldn't be scary either way. It's not so bad. Sure, it's all down hill from here, but it's a lovely ride (Shoop 4:15). Some favorite Amanda moments:

"It's the Pink Horse on the corner. Wait, I meant Pink Horse. What? The one with all the people out front"

Future Father-in-law: "Amanda, you want some ice for your tea?"
Amanda: "No thanks, that will just make it cold"

"I don't think Jenn is coming back with the VCR" (and no she didn't, but that wasn't my fault. I was an innocent victim)

Her and I lying on a blanket at Sun Fest, we were on our stomachs and all we could see were peoples legs as they walked by. Went like this:
Amanda: " So, then I went over...oh my God, CUTE SHOES!" Guess I missed em. She didn't, not even mid-sentance.

And of course, probably more times than she cares to remember, "Hey, get out of there"

Happy Birthday.

~

Ok, so it's the eve of the Super Bowl. I'll say this before anything else. Pittsburgh has to win. Only if because things have to start going right in my life and this is a really good spot to start. Having said that...

We have to stop this two week wait between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl. You cannot talk about one event for two weeks. If you were going to spend the night with Kate Beckinsale in two weeks, then that, that you could talk about every day for two weeks (and believe me, I would). Doesn't work for the Super Bowl. I'm excited about the game, but lord amd I sick of hearing about it. ESPN has exhausted every single story line and angle and breakdown of both teams' games-twice.

The game doesn't kick off until 6.30 pm. The pregame show starts at 2.30 pm. You're telling me you think there's a chance you missed something? That somewhere there's someone who is still trying to figure out how the Seahawks are going to protect against the Steelers 3-4 defense and whatever the hell? No! We get it by now. It's been two weeks.

I think if you're going to wait two weeks, then the broadcast shouldn't be allowed to start until 30 min prior. Announce the lineups, sing the anthem, kick the fucking ball. That's it. Don't spend four hours telling me what you think is going to happen, when we all know, you don't know shit(Chris Collinsworth, I'm talking to you. How can someone be so ignorant about a game he played?). Just kick the fucking ball. I don't need another profile on the head coaches. I know Mike Holgrem has three daughters, won a Super Bowl with the Packers, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just kick the ball. Better yet, I'm sure the girls are with me here, just make with the commercials.

That's why the game is delayed an extra week. I understand it's sweeps this week. I haven't confirmed that, but I'm an American and I won't let facts get in the way of my thoughts. this way, when the numbers come out, hey look at us we had like 100 billion viewers. Yeah, but they just came for the commercials. Commercials you will be sick of and won't find clever anymore by Valentine's Day (I.E. Every Pepsi commercial. Ever.)

Speaking of not being clever anymore, let's add this: These Got whatever? slogans. Got Tequila? Got Jesus? Got 'Tude? (My personal Favorite), Got MILFS? Whatever. Wasn't clever when the milk people came up with and it's really not clever when you use it. So, please, stop. Just trying help.