Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Congrats!!!


I failed to mention in yesterday's write up a Congratulations. The ones of you that have known me for a number of years, know I used to race stock cars for a few years. During that time, I developed a good friendship with a driver out of LaGrange, GA named Jamie Carr. I met Jamie through a "friend of a friend" deal. I hung out with him when he raced dirt in Penton, Alabama. I helped in the pits and at home. I even hung out with him in Victory Lane a couple times. I even bought his entire dirt operation when he decided to go into the asphalt ranks. Over the years, Jamie helped me set up my car, gave me some great pointers on how to drive, helped me fix it when it was wrecked and even bought a lot of my operation when I decided to get out of racing. After many years of racing dirt and asphalt, Jamie kind of stepped away from it all to spend more time with his family. During this racing season, he got hooked up with an ARCA team. He worked on the cars, set them up, gassed them during pitstops at a couple races and even sat in as Crew Chief at another race. During all this, the owner of one of the cars they work on told Jamie if he could get a second car ready by the Springfield, ILL race, he could drive the car in that race. To make a long story short, Jamie did get the car ready and made the trip to Springfield this past weekend. He hadn't been behind the wheel of a race car in almost two years and wasn't sure what to think. But, he got it and it was like riding a bike. Jamie qualified for the race on time (not on points) and made his first ARCA start. Unfortunately, the day didn't last long. The carb picked up some trash, the engine lost power and finally puked out all it's water only 15 laps into the race. Jamie finished a distant 31st in the finishing order. BUT... He did get the car ready and he qualified for an ARCA event on speed his first time ever trying. Although the results didn't show it, it was a very productive weekend for him. Congrats Jamie on your first ARCA start. Hopefully, something will come along and you will make more in the very near future!!!!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Blast From The Past


Today I called a local Medical Clothing Store to order some scrubs. (We use bright orange scrubs as our bowling team shirts so we look like prisoners. We even have “prison numbers” stenciled over the pockets for authenticity. See picture for our logo) We don’t take our bowling seriously, and the shirts are there to prove it. We just like to go hang out, have a good time and a few drinks. We have a few new players this year, so I had to call and order their shirts for them. As the lady at the store was taking my order, she asked my name. I gave it to her. Everything got quiet. She repeated my name and I said, “Yes.” She said, “Did you go to NHS?” (Initials for my old High School) I answered yes. The she asked if I had a sister and called her by name. Again, I answered “Yes.” She laughed and said, “I know you.” So, of course, I said, “And you are?” She answered, “No one.” And just laughed. I couldn’t let that go and asked again who she was and she got back to the shirt order. Ok, we’ll finish business first. I ordered the shirts and got all the info from her. She acted as she was going to hang up and I said, “Oh no. You aren’t going to just leave me hanging are you?” She laughed again and said, “We used to date.” Oh damn. That was not what I was expecting to hear. I started running names through my head. During High School, I didn’t date that many girls. I was more of a one girl boy back then. (As I am now.. I just wasn’t so much that way after I got divorced the first time) I saw one girl for about 4 ½ years and another for about 2 ½, things like that. There were breaks in between where I saw one or two others, but not many at all. I started running through my head who this could be. She said she would give me a hint and told me someone she hung around back then. The name rang a bell, but didn’t narrow it down for me. Then she told me about one memorable date we had where my car broke down (actually, the engine blew up) and we had to cross a divided 4 lane highway on foot to get to a phone. That was all the hint I needed. I knew exactly who it was. I simply said, “Susan?” Yes it was. Susan was one of the really nice girls I saw during one of my breaks with the 4 ½ year girl. Eventually, I ended up “dumping” (her words, not mine) Susan to go back to the other girl. In retrospect, maybe not the smartest move I ever made in relationships, but one too far in the past to do anything about it now. During the course of our conversation, she even asked me, “Did you marry the girl you dumped me for?” No. No I didn’t. No regrets there. (Actually, there are only two relationship choices I ever made where I had no regrets what-so-ever: The divorce of my first marriage and my current marriage to Darling Bride/# 1 Mom) Susan and I spent about 5 or 10 minutes on the phone getting caught up as much as we could in that short of time. The biggest disparity was she has been married for over 20 years and is about 4 weeks away from being a Grandmother while I have been married for 4 years and have an 8 week old daughter. I don’t know what she’s been up to or what life has dealt her nor does she know any of that about me. She sounded good and she sounded happy, so that’s a good thing. But, wow.. Of all the places here to call and of all the people to answer the phone, who would have ever thought it would be one of the few “ex’es” I have in this town. Pretty cool.

Baby and Mom Update: Tiny Baby is getting bigger by the day. She is becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and starting to use her hands like she's meaning too. #1 Mom is going back to work a week from today. She's not very happy about it nor is she looking forward to it but she is going. It will be a big day of transition for her and baby. Keep them in your thoughts on that day.

Friday, August 11, 2006

August Update


Well, it's been a week since I've posted anything and over two weeks since I actually wrote anything original, so I figured it was about time..

First and foremost: Tiny Baby update. She just had her 1 month check up and is doing well. She has gained 3 lbs, grown an inch and has been very aware of her surroundings for a couple weeks now. Knock on wood, everything is going VERY well with her.. #1 Mom had to take her to this appointment by herself since I was working. She got her 1st shot and took it pretty well. Although, in September, she gets a round of 4 shots in one trip. #1 Mom has to be back at work, so guess who gets to take that trip? I'm sure that will be a fun write-up. As always, we'll see how it goes.

Next, I want to say Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law. They have both been diving for a few years and finally decided to get their Advanced rating so my brother-in-law can take the Rescue Diver course with me in October of this year. They booked a class down in the "Redneck Riviera" (know to all others as Panama City, FL) to do their training. They did some dives in Morrison Spring, FL (68 degree water..brrrr for us Southerners) and then a couple dives, including a wreck dive, in the warmer waters of the Gulf. After two days and 5 dives, both were awarded their PADI Advanced Diver certifications. Congrats, you two...

Sid, Yo-Yo and I all went played tennis the other day, like we try to do two days of the week, every week. It's blazing hot down here right now and we try to stay hydrated during the days we play and, of course, while we're out there playing. During one of our breaks to have some water, Sid and I were each drinking a Propel Fitness water. Basically, a flavored water from the Gatorade folks. I honestly don't remember what started it, but the next thing I know, we got into one of those uncontrollable giggling fits. Of course, this is right after I take a huge drink of water and it's still in my mouth. I do everything in my power to try and swallow the water since I only have a small amount left in my bottle. Needless to say, I lost the battle. Water came out of my mouth and all up through my nose. So, I'm here to tell you, if you pass Propel Fitness water through your nose, the inside of your nose is going to be sticky the rest of the day. It ain't like regular water. LOL... On the bright side, I got Sid to cough up a load of his water on his next drink.

I'll leave you with this final thought: You know you all do it... Scenerio: You have only a bit more drink left in the container it came in. You are pouring the last of the drink into your glass. Your glass is getting full. Do you really think you're going to get more into your glass if you pour it slower????? :)

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

New Generation

This was sent to me via email written by a lady named Cheryl Kennedy Hines


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and some 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents .

We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned:

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Makes you proud most of us reading this are part of the above mentioned.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!