This past Saturday night I took my youngest son out for a night at the movies. In typical fashion for us we were a few minutes late. The lights had already dimmed and the stream of silly commercials, promos, and mindless movie trivia had been going for about five minutes. Whew! We didn't miss the start of the movie....but we did arrive just in time to see something that I'm really glad we didn't miss. A new Kid Rock music video and it wasn't just any video. It was the new anthem for all our citizen soldiers called "The Warrior."
Well, the first week of the new job is now in the books! Working for this new company is going to be a pretty cool deal. I generally don't spend a lot of time talking about this kind of stuff in my blogs, but these people are really good people and I am extremely pleased to be a part of the organization. Although I am still trying to get the "lay of the land" (so to speak), I suspect that this is the beginning of another long run with a great group of people.
There's lots of other stuff going on in the world out there too that deserves some attention. For all the NASCAR fans, Daytona is coming up soon. There is a cool story there about a guy who's attempting to become the oldest man to ever qualify for the race. We'll talk about that a bit as qualifying gets closer. Of course, there's lots of political nonsense going on to write about. And then there's the Rosie/Donald Trump fiasco.
Since that one is "old news" by now, I'm not going to waste an entire blog on it. But since I wasn't around when it all went down, I will say this........Both Rosie and Donald Trump are nothing more over publicized and over paid windbags. I'm not in any shape, form, or fashion a fan of either. Having said that though, I think Rosie needs to pick her fights a little better. She started that whole deal by sticking her nose where it didn't belong. If she were as intelligent as she would like us all to believe, she should have known that Donald Trump is the last person she would want to engage in a public war of words and especially over something as trival as "Miss America." In the big picture, neither of them have anything of any socially redeaming value to offer those who reside in "Middle America," but they certainly did provide an entertaining distraction from the post holiday doldrums we seem to experience this time every year.
With that, I think this entry is about complete. As I close tonight though, I do want to thank everyone who has sent message of well wishes and support over the past couple of months. You guys are some really special people and you all are a big reason for the success of this 360 community. Thanks Again! And.................
Til Next Time
originally posted 1-27-07 on Yahoo 360
Congratulations to the University of Tennessee Lady VolsToday the 8th ranked Lady Vols defeated #3 LSU 63 to 62 to win the title game that was hard fought until the final buzzer. The Lady Vols take a 27-4 (11-3) record into the NCAA Womens Tourney which starts later this month. Seeds for the tournament are expected to be announced sometime this week.
In other weekend sporting news, the NASCAR Busch Series took its show south of the border again for its second race in Mexico City. Denny Hamlin held off Boris Said to win the Telcel-Motorola 200. Nextel Cup veteran and current Busch Series points leader Kevin Harvick finished third driving the US Coast Guard Chevorlet. Other service teams also fared well in Mexico City. The #25 Marine Corps Ford piloted by Ashton Lewis finished 13th and the #88 Team Navy Chevorlet driven by Mark McFarland had its best race of the year so far finishing 15th.
And finally, don't be suprised if you wake up tomorrow morning and find that one or more superstars from your favorite NFL team is standing in the unemployment line. Tonight, contract talks broke down between the players union and team owners. Long story short is that if an agreement isn't reached by midnight, it's expected that owners will start dumping the contracts of high priced veterans before they go into free agency in order to meet a salary cap that will be as much as 10 million dollars lower than it would have been if an agreement had been reached. It looks like they didn't learn much from the NHL fiasco of a couple years ago. Get the whole NFL story here.
(originally posted 3-5-06 on Yahoo 360)
HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY WEEKEND!!!!
We'll start off tonight by wishing everyone a happy Presidents Day Weekend. For some of us that also translates into a three day weekend. So Enjoy!!!!
I have had a few questions about some of the things I've mentioned in previous posts, so I thought I'd answer a few of those questions tonight.
UPDATE #1: A couple of folks asked about our cats that I wrote about in the entry titled "Broken Glass=My Superiority." The short answer is no, they haven't broken anymore glass. However, I am looking at a new computer monitor tonight as a result of the escapades of one of our two "furry ones." Our previous monitor was the 15" HP monitor that came with the system when we bought it. It was big and bulky in typical HP style. As a result, it put out a fair amount of residual heat. Every winter our oldest cat, "Mandu", is always looking for a nice warm place to curl up. Despite our best efforts, it is next to impossible to keep her off the top of the monitor. We resigned ourselves to cleaning the monitor more often rather than constantly fighting her. Well, that all ended on Wednesday when she decided to barf on the back of the monitor. I'll spare you all the details, but suffice to say, tonight we have a brand new 17 inch digital flatscreen. No more cat on the monitor and a much better picture. Two hundred+ dollars later we can finally laugh about it. I'm just trying to figure out what smelled worse....the fried electronics or the warm cat barf.
UPDATE #2: Some of you having been asking about the email I sent to San Francisco City Supervisor Gerado Sandoval. Well, much as I expected, I never heard a peep! Not even a whimper. Unless confronted directly, people like him usually won't respond. I did a little research on him though and found out that he is a supporter of La Raza. LaRaza is a Latino Civil Rights organization. Among other things, this group supports the return of huge portions of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas back to Mexico. Maybe this explains Supervisor Sandoval's stance regarding the military. Makes about as much sense as anything else I've heard this week. Either way, I don't expect to hear from him or his office. If I do, I'll post his reply for you guys to see.
and finally UPDATE #3: Yesterday I wrote about the Navy NASCAR effort. After a little more research, I've discovered that TEAM NAVY will be on the track again this season. After the departure of David Stremme from Fitz-Bradshaw Racing, the Navy signed a deal with JRMOTORSPORTS . Yes that "JR" Motorsports as in Dale Earnhardt "JR." The Navy will be sponsoring the #88 Chevy Monte Carlo (see picture above) driven by Busch Series rookie Mark McFarland. McFarland qualified the Navy ride 25th for tomorrows Hershey's Kissables 300. We'll be watching. It should be some fun!!!
(originally posted 2-17-06 on Yahoo 360)
EQUAL TIME
Okay, about a week ago, I posted an entry about the beginning of the new NASCAR season where I made mention of Joe Nemechek and included a photo of the Army sponsored 01 car. Well, being a NAVY veteran, I should have known that some of my Navy pals would be standing by ready to give me unlimited amounts of grief....and they did! Shame on me! LOL
This photo is of the #14 Navy sponsored Dodge driven by David Stremme for Fitz-Bradshaw Racing in the Nascar Busch Series. This photo was taken mid-season last year. Since then David Stremme has moved on to the Nextel Cup Series driving the #40 car for Chip Gnassi Racing. Currently, the #14 car has no sponsor as the Navy has apparently opted for other marketing options, but has left open the possiblity of returning to Nascar at a later date and in a limited role. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
For only the 4th time in the races history, a first time participant has won the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. With the help of teammate Tony Stewart and fellow Shootout competitors Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, 2006 Rookie of the Year contender Denny Hamlin took the #11 Fed Ex Monte Carlo to victory lane in the Bud Shootout. The win was Hamlin's first cup win and his first restrictor plate race. Not bad rookie!Qualifying for next weeks Daytona 500 also took place today with Jeff Burton in the #31 Cingular Chevorlet grabbing the pole posistion for the Great American Race and Jeff Gordon turned in the second best qualifying time to snag the number two starting spot.
BUT WAIT!!!!!
After the completion of the Shootout, NASCAR inspectors DQ'd Jimmie Johnson's earlier qualifying run and announced they were looking at several drivers for rules infractions. Those drivers included both Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon. So as it stands at this moment we might not know who the pole sitter is. Thus the drama begins. I guess it's appropriate that a lot of the Speedweeks activities are being broadcast on TNT........after all they're the ones who always say...."We know Drama."
No matter what happens with Burtons qualifying run, since his arrival at Richard Childress Racing, the Cingular Wireless team has been able to turn their fortunes around bringing RCR back to the forefront among NASCAR teams.
Another team on the verge of resurrection is Petty Enterprises. With the addition of Bobby Labonte behind the wheel of the #43 Cheerios Dodge and Todd Parrott as crew chief, big things could be on the horizon for King Richard. Today the turned in the 6th fastest time in their attempt to qualify for the "Big Show" next weekend. Look for huge improvments this season at Petty Enterprises.
Another of my personal favorites looking to have a breakout season is the 01 US Army team and driver Joe Nemecheck. With the US Army as their primary sponsor, Nemecheck and his teammates are always a big hit with servicemembers around the world. With a little luck and some sharp driving......Joe and friends can make all us vets proud this season.
Finally, for those of you interested, the twin Gatorade 150's will be on TNT on Thursday afternoon (east coast) or morning on the west coast.
GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(originally posted 2-12-06 on Yahoo 360)
