Daytona & More

I have always loved that the biggest race of the year is the first race. The buildup is great and this year is the 50th anniversary so they had all of the living winners there for various things including giving the command. OK so you aren't a race fan and you are wondering what the command is? C'mon - you know..... "Gentleman start your engines!"

So of course lets talk about who I really want to talk about....Dale Jr. He has had a hell of a start to his season with his new team. He won the Budweiser Shootout, which is the actual first race of the season but it's and exhibition race. Yes racing has exhibition races. Then Jr. went on to win his qualifying race. Not a bad start for the year I think. He is currently running fourth but he's unhappy with his car. He thinks he may have a loose lugnut which would suck. His crew chief is letting him know that two of his tires were blistered when then came off the car at his last pit stop. This may not be a good sign either.


Before the race started I was watching Eddie Izzard. Eddie is a transvestite commedien out of England that I happened upon one night when I couldn't sleep. You may also know him as the lead male charachter on The Riches on FX
If you haven't seen his stand up try to find it. Right now he's been on BBC all afternoon - and he's freakin hysterical. He has the droll English humor and he makes fun of America in the most benign way. He really pokes at the country for our ego - it's laugh out loud funny.

So this weekend I'm house/dog sitting. I've talked about this house before but the best thing is they just got a new tv and it's 65 freakin inches big and has surround sound. It's like being at Daytona -without having to deal with all the idiots.

Ugggghhh my professor just called with her comments on my last draft - so it's back to writing.

Have a good night everyone!

One More Day

It's Thursday and I'm exhausted. (only one more day to go) It's that kind of exhaustion where your head actually hurts and you feel like you can't wake up. It also means I've completely lost my filter and the things coming out of my mouth are not always nice or very politically correct. I'm headed off to shower in a minute but thought a few quick things were in order.

* Dale Ernhardt Jr's new number will be 88 and the sponsor will be Mountain Dew Amp so instead of a read 8 we now hae a green 88. I predict that tatoo parlors in the south will be very busy between now and the beginning of the next racing season.

* The army has started a new program to test soldier's brain's before they are depolyed. This way if they are suffering from a Traumatic Brain Injury (the hallmark injury of this war) they now have a baseline. FINALLY.

*My mom is coming to have lunch with me today - I'm very happy about that - sometimes you just need your mom.

*I'm not all that surprised that the jury is at an impasse at the Phil Spector trial.

*I'm also not surprised that OJ Simpson has been charged with more crimes. He is the biggest scumbag ever to get away with murder. He lives his life like we all owe him something. Fucking Asshole - I hope they charge him with kidnapping which usually is a Federal offense. He can then go to a Federal Pen and become someone's bitch. His new name will be O Jenny Simpson and he'll look great in a wig and lipstick.

*If you haven't read about the Jena 6 trial - look it up. Unfortunately I can't do a link because I'm working on my Mac. I don't know why I'm so surprised that this kind of racism still is alive in the US but I am. It's beyond disturbing.

*Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been denied access to the WTC site. Apparently he wanted to lay a wreath. I don't know about you but not only do I now want him at the site. I don't want him in our country. He is a hate monger who sponsor's terrorism. Why are we entertaining him (and on our tax $$).

I'm sure there is a lot more news out there I could comment on but I gotta get moving. Once again please remember that exhaustion = spelling errors so be kind.

Quickies

* Junior did not make The Chase and his damn engine failed AGAIN. Next season can't come fast enough.

*Did anyone see Britney last night? It was awful. I actually felt bad for her - I had kind of wanted to see her redeem herself even though I'm not a fan. The VMA's were so painful to watch that "Rock of Love" with Bret Michael's was better TV.

* I'm dying to see 3:10 to Yuma for two reasons - 1. I really do love Westerns and
2. That Christian Bale is a complete hottie. A hottie who can act mind you.

*That being said, I still think Trent Reznor is the hottest guy on the planet.

*I don't know about you but I can see this thing with Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern being completely true. That Howard was always a little sketchy.

* I got my final grade via email today from my professor and it's and A. I totally wasn't expecting it, I thought the work was B work at the most. Obviously my professor thought differently. She also sent me an unbelievably sweet note of encouragement that actually made me tear up at 6:30 in the morning.

*Now Senator Craig is going to withdraw his guilty plea. Isn't that like closing the barn door after the horse is out? Even if he is innocent it's a bit too late.

* CONTENT ALERT * This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen but it may offend some. This digital short actually won a creative Emmy yesterday. You've been warned and I don't want to hear it if you are offended.

*I swear if I don't start getting to work on time there is going to be big trouble. I'm the only HR person so when my door is shut until 8:30 (we are supposed to be here at 8)people surely notice. My boss (who was the best boss ever) left in Feb. of this year and I think I can probably count on one hand the days I've been on time. Yes, I know it's completely passive- aggressive. Believe me I'm working on it!

*I'm getting wood floors (well Pergo) put in starting tomorrow...I can't wait to see how it looks but what a pain in the ass!

Let's Talk Racing...

So a few posts back I mentioned that I'm a huge NASCAR fan. Well I haven't really said much more about it but that all changes today.


Tonight the boys race the short track in Richmond VA. It's the last race of the season before "The Chase" starts. The Chase Is NASCAR's attempt at some kind of playoff situation. In my humble opinion it doesn't work and they should get rid of it, but for some reason the president of NASCAR isn't returning my calls (that bastard). Here is how it works: first of all the racers get points for everything - leading laps - showing up - wearing a cute fire suit. Ok maybe not for everything but NASCAR has a ridiculously complicated scoring system that I haven't even begun to try to figure out. So anyway the season has 38 races and goes from Feb - Dec. After 28 races the top 12 in the points are admitted into what is called "The Chase" and those guys basically race for the championship. Everyone else still races but they have no chance of winning the big prize. So if you are having a late season surge there is absolutely no chance of you winning it all or if you are having a tough late couple of races you could fall right out of the top 12.

The one thing this format does do is to allow the non-chase racers to really screw with the chase guys. Last year Tony Stewart did not make the Chase and then went on to win either 2 or 3 of the chase races which keeps the other guys from getting points toward the championship. It was funny because you could tell he was having a hell of a time doing it because everyone knows that Tony just likes fucking with people.

So that brings us to today. It's the last race and my driver although technically not eliminated has to have a lot of things happen to make it (side note this is not why I don't like this format). Both Kurt Bush and Kevin Harvick have to have bad races and that's almost impossible at this point. Kurt Bush especially can do no wrong - his car is running well and as a few races ago he has a new crew chief and that has made a huge difference. I'd rather see Harvick not finish - he and Juan Montoya have a good little on track battle going on. I'm hoping Montoya pulls one of his bonehead moves and takes at least Harvick out. Juan - if you are reading you are in no way going to make The Chase so any damage you can do it either guy today would be greatly appreciated.

There area bunch or scenarios that would get Junior into The Chase but I'm not going to go into them here. He does well at Richmond and has won there 3 times. He didn't qualify well and will start in the 21st spot but that doesn't stop him from moving to the front of the field pretty quickly when he has the right car.

I can't wait for next season when Junior no longer drives for DEI (Dale Ernhardt Inc - the company his father started) and he goes to Hendricks Motor Sports. He'll be racing with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears. If you are a Junior fan you HATE those guys. But I like to think I'm smart enough to see that this is a great move for his career for lots of different reasons. Hendricks is not tight with the purse strings like his current owner step-mother Theresa Ernhardt. The bottom line is you have to have the cash flow and good equiptments. DEI doesn't always have that, Hendricks always does. So even if he doesn't make it we have next season. I would of course like to see all fo the stars align and have Juinior make the Chase this year - he's worked really hard and well, he's my favorite dammit.