This may be the lamest thing I've posted about, but...

I'm so mad! So here goes. 

Professional Athletes do not need to be rested.  If they are not injured, they are paid to play. They become better when they play, not when they rest.  That is the nature of an athlete - they are trained to do this.  As a runner,  a sport I'm more familiar with, you don't stop training a week or two before your taper.  The bye week is the taper, Indy. You just shat on the integrity of the game when you put in a 3rd string quarterback when you're up by 5 early in the 3rd quarter when you have Peyton "Laser Rocket Arm" Manning leading the way to a perfect season. 

Screw you, Tom Moore, Jim Caldwell, and most of all Tony Dungy for leading this philosophy all through the decade.  It's never worked - the only time the Colts have won the Superbowl was when they played all the way through. I hope they're super happy with just making it to the playoffs, because if history repeats itself, they won't make it out of the first game.

At least Bellicheat does stuff that is looked down upon to win. The Colts do stuff that is looked down upon due to sheer laziness.

I hope I am proven wrong, but I still think this is a crappy way to run a football team. I'd hoped Caldwell would do better.

It's the Holiday Season

With the whoop-de-do and hickory dock

And don't forget to hang up your sock

What a silly song. But I'm totally in the Christmas spirit - the tree is up, decorations are hung, and most of the gifts are picked out and wrapped.  I just spent the last hour with an early Christmas present from Candice; a digital photo frame Christmas ornament.  The sucker holds 138 pictures, so I was picking out which ones would go on it. This Friday I'm having some kiddos over and we'll have Christmas cookies and hot chocolate and make some homemade ornaments.  Maybe I'll talk them into going carolling on our street. : )

Have a holly jolly day!

Observations on a run

1. What is with all these random shoes strewn about? There is one that has been on the side of Cumberland Road forever - a nice dressy shoe. I hope that guy didn't have to walk home with one shoe. And shoes hanging over power lines? These were really nice - maybe if you (or the person you're pranking by throwing his shoes over the lines) don't need the shoes, you might consider donating them to a person who would probably love a pair of shoes that fit or didn't have holes or just simply existed.  Jackasses.

2. When installing new plants at your home, remember to take out the tag that comes in the pot.  If you need to remember how much water they need, what they are called, etc..., I'd suggest writing notes and hanging them in your garage. 

3. An old school K's Choice song came on my iPod and reminded me of some "favorites" from Anderson Speedway.   : p


Bonus observation, not from my run.  And maybe a rule to live by rather than an observation.  If you're a guest in someone's home and they give up their desk and or living space to you, don't move stuff without asking, ESPECIALLY IF IT IS PART OF HER HOME OFFICE.  What may look like untidy piles of papers to you just might be separated into specific working piles that you just entirely SCREWED UP and I'm going to have to go through everything to figure it out. EVERY SINGLE THING.  No, I'm not upset. Why do you ask?


Besides all that, Happy Thanksgiving!

Go Colts!!

Way to squeak out another win!! 10-0!

More thoughts about taxpayers rights...

While I still stand by my last post about both sides (pro-choice and pro-life) needing to compromise more on the health care reform debate, it makes me question where our rights as taxpayers begin and end.  I mean, there are many anti-war people who don't want their taxes funding wars, and yet most of them don't stage huge rallies and demand a bill be passed to not allow their tax money to go to our military.  Where do you draw the line? Just because some pro-lifers don't want their tax money to go to funding health care, which could possibly cover abortions, doesn't mean that the government has to acquiesce to their desires.  I sure as hell did not want my tax money going to abstinence only sex ed for the past 8 years, but it did (and look at the growth in teen pregnancy numbers - that sure was effective).   All I am saying is that you can't let one group's moral dilemma hold up something that can bring good to a majority of the people. 

Moments of the night...

Me and "wife's name" are all about BJ.  - I bet more men wished their wives were all about the BJ.

Josh suggesting Dougie (Ok, as an aside, what the fuck is up with being called Dougie? You're a grown ass man.) get the sportmanship award.  Oh yeah, just minutes after Larry Joe, at the front table for perfect show award, stumbles up and announces he may have had a little too much to drink. - One person high on my list of people not to piss off: a drunk Swinford.

Sportsman award winner calling out someone for not accepting an apology after a race, saying that he did not win 7 or 9 of these things by being a dirty driver.  - Whoa dude. Kinda defeats the purpose of the award.

Jared Keller having a gazillion trophies to take home. I think there were 7? haha

Meeting the infamous jhayden! Whoot.

Picking up our big ass trophy!!

I have to disagree with one thing. Rick Dawson says we're all a big family. Sorry, sir. As a person who has a family who love and respect me, and don't threaten to blow up my house or beat my ass or rape the womenfolk, I would like to respectfully bow out of your dysfuntional family unit.  And on the flip side, I would never talk trash about people in my real life family like I do a few of the drivers on this blog, so yeah. Definitely write me out of the will. 

It's like my mind was read. And written much better than I would have.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/018793.html

This pretty much sums up my views on pre-marital sex as well. 

More thoughts on healthcare

Most people who know me know that I'm one of the most liberal tree huggers out here.  I joke with my family that I get emails from Presidents Clinton and Obama and often forward them to them for laughs (my very conservative family loves this). However, the health care reform issue really has my panties in a twist.

I think it is disgusting that the US is practically the only industrialized nation with no type of universal health care. The employer sponsored health care model we have is outdated, given that most people no longer stay with one company for their entire career. It is mind boggling to me that states do not have a group plan that uninsured people cannot buy into; not one that is funded by taxpayers, but, like an employer's group plan, just a health plan for people who are not offered coverage through their jobs or cannot afford  an individual plan.  Similar to the auto insurance one can get if they can't get private auto insurance.  It seems to me there are also other "groups" of individuals who could pool together into a larger group.   I know one of Indiana's landscaping associations has played with that idea - many companies who are part of their organization are small business and may not offer health care (or affordable health care) to their employees, so if they put them into the larger group, the costs would go down.  I'm honestly not sure how it worked out, but the idea is there.  Another group I'm thinking of, because I'm a runner, is the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America).  It's a nationwide group that lots of people belong too.  Maybe they could pool together into a group and offer health care to its member.  I mean, the members are runners. They are probably pretty healthy! LOL  I know there are lots of issues with those ideas, but surely someone smarter than me can figure them out. Those are just a few options off the top of my head. People get paid big money to figure this stuff out.

Anyway, like I said, I'm super liberal. I'm very pro-choice. (Not pro-abortion, but pro-choice.) Many people, including me, have been pissed at opponents of health care reform who are opposed because abortion is covered.  People like me say, abortion is legal.  We say, we're not promoting abortion, just making a legal option accessible.  A large, very vocal opponent is the Catholic Church.  To them we say, how can you want to deny healthcare to those in need just because a procedure is covered that you do not agree with?  And honestly, still in my heart, I believe that.  HOWEVER, maybe we need to look at our stance.  If the abortion issue is the only thing that is keeping the Church from supporting this reform, (not that the church decides, but they do make up a big population and would give a boost to the politicians trying to pass this reform), and they do seem to be on the cusp of supporting a health care reform option without federally funded abortions, why are we balking at the idea of taking abortion out of the equation? Why are we, people like me, standing in the way of better health care for the people who need it the most? Let's say people are afforded health care, but abortion isn't covered.  More people will likely have better education about birth control. Better access to birth control.  No, it won't stop abortions, but it would likely lower the need.  Perhaps there will be a trickle down effect.  People like me, middle class small business owners who pay out the wazoo for health care and have little extra, will be able to give more to causes they support, and some of those causes may better educate people on sex education, or fund more Planned Parenthoods, which offers many health services, including abortions. 

 I know I'm ranting, but like I said, I'm disgusted, and I'm willing to take a step back and look at my motivations and my goals.  I often think people are afraid to come off of their hard line stance because they think "if I give a little about not having federally funded abortions, Roe v. Wade will be overturned and women will be using coat hangers in the back alleys" or "If we support this, clinics will be handing out coupons for abortions at the local high school".  I'm guilty of this thinking too, but I think it's important to step out of your own thoughts once in awhile and not just pay lip service to looking at the other side's perspective, but really giving it some thought.  We might get to common ground quicker than we realize.

Preparing for the role of "runner"

Anthony Edwards returns to TV in the NYC Marathon from Anthony Edwards

: D  Too funny!! Good luck to all the runners out there this weekend!

Moonlight 4 miler

Any race that serves pumpkin bread and hot apple cider is a good race in my book.  Throw in a glow stick (am I dancing to techno at Eden with Reggie Miller?) and a race shirt that glows in the dark? I'm in. 

The race was a nice course that wove through downtown Indianapolis, with about a mile along the canal.  Very nice.  And, oh yeah, it was at night. So it was much different than I'm used to.  I've also not been running lately due to shin splints and plantar fasciitis, so I really just wanted this to be a fun run.  However, the competitive spirit always wins out, and I was passing all kinds of people in the first mile.  I hit the mile in 8:28 ish.  That is all well and good, and I try to focus on a girl in front of me.  I do so for awhile, until she stops for some water.  In a 4 mile race? Goodness.  Anyway, another lady who was running about the same pace as me and I run around her. I try to stick with that lady, and finally pull away from her.  My second mile is about 8:54.  Ohh. I didn't feel like I was slowing down; better run my own race and not focus on other people.  I put in a spurt to distance myself from the people behind me.  Then I remember, I don't know what my own race is! I haven't been training, and I've obviously lost alot of fitness from my stellar running season last fall/early spring.  Oh well.  I just keep chugging, mostly by myself.  I pass a guy around the mile 3 marker and I have slowed even more, 9:03.  Are you joking - I haven't run this inconsistently for a few years.  Ugh.  I try to pick it back up, but my lack of training has seriously become apparent.  I am running alone, I can see the finish line, but it is a block over - we still have to go up and back.  That is so not a funny trick.  I am still passing people (that is one thing about passing people early - if you don't want to get passed back and look really dumb for going out too fast, you gotta keep the pace up.  Luckily, I was only passed by one person right at the 1 mile marker.) Finally I head around the turn and see our truck. I start my finish "kick", if you can even call it that, and my last mile is 8:46 for a total of 35:16.
So, my time wasn't great, but it was enough for a PR.  I also got 2nd in my age group and won a $15 gift certificate for that! And I already mentioned the pumpkin bread, but who doesn't like hearing that twice?  The lady who won my AG had an 8:02 pace; if I were properly trained, I could have given her a run for her money (last year at the Drumstick Dash I ran under 8 minute pace for 4.5 miles).  I would definitely recommend this race and would love to do it again next year. 

There will be detailed racing blogs, I promise...

but first let me just tell you, the vudu, it is powerful. 

Last night was the thundercar enduro.  Let's see whose nights ended earlier than they probably anticipated:

Josh Poore (hahahahahahahahahhahahhahaha BIG BREATH hahahahahahhahahahahahaha - and right in front of us.  Honestly, I could have left right then and been happy.)
Ronnie Rose (OMG. Suck on that.)
Sam Folsom (ok I like him but he's friends with Ronnie Rose, so he got a teeny tiny bit of vudu, and it took him out. Choose your friends wisely is all I'm sayin.)
Randy Hoppes (Again, just an itsy bit of vudu, and his car is filled with smoke. I really just wanted a flat tire or something so he wouldn't place as high. It's like I can't control it.)
Jake McElfresh (Yeah, he was driving a Swinford car, but sorry, I've always kind of thought that he's a punk.)
Eric Evans (I AM DRUNK WITH POWER!)

So, maybe you're thinking that it was all a coincidence that all of my least favorite drivers were stopped short. It's a 200 lap race with almost 50 cars starting.  There are always alot of wrecks and surely some of them are going to be your least favorites.  Some of them, perhaps.  But the only people that I knowingly don't like that aren't in that list are Shawn Cullen and Nick Warner.  They are both low on my list of people I don't like, (ok, they've almost fallen to the indifferent list - Cullen is/was a friend of Rose and Warner is an alleged pothead) but Cullen, although finishing 2nd, was involved in one of the early wrecks and Warner ended up finishing 4th maybe (I totally don't remember and Anderson Speedway hasn't updated it's freaking website yet, ugh!), so at least he didn't win. AND THEN, in the FWD feature, he was in 2nd with I think less than 10 laps to go, and he got a flat.  He got it changed and made it back out, but he still ended up in 5th or 6th (due to a DQ of someone else). So the vudu was there, people. I am not even kidding - don't screw with my drivers and wind up on the vudu list.  

Now I'm irritated because I can't remember where Warner placed in the Thundercars. 
1. Johnny Magee
2. Shawn Cullen
3. Rod Phipps
4. ? Nick Warner? Someone from out of town? I don't remember.
5. Herb Rose (as much as I don't like his son, I don't totally hate this guy.  Not saying he wouldn't dirty you up, but he wouldn't be a whiny prick about it either and say he was going to rape your wife. So, yeah, he should have brought his son up better, but my mom certainly didn't raise me to drop F-bombs at the track and I still do it, so I can't totally blame that on him. Plus he raced with my Pappaw. Talk about old school.)

Well, upon checking the Herald Bulletin website http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/sports/local_story_290233529.html?start:int=0

it seems Warner did finish 4th. So it was all Anderson guys.   And one more thing - can Johnny Magee be stopped? I mean, other than when Ronnie Rose puts him out in the last turn? He's a freaking enduro MACHINE. 

Oh Jon Stewart. How I love thee.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-14-2009/rape-nuts

I can't get this to embed for some reason, but go check this video out.  Crazy.

Another Planned Parenthood closing

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11317330

This just makes me sad.  There are going to be 6 communities where people, and especially women, will have even more limited access to health care in a time when health care costs are rising astronomically.  Many people don't know what Planned Parenthood brings to the community.  Here are just a few services they offer:

Breast Exams
Pap Smears
Urinary Tract Infection testing and treatment
Menopause services
Cervical Cancer screening
Colon Cancer screening
Testicular Cancer screening
Routine physical exams
Vasectomies
Birth control services
STD testing and treatment
Flu vaccine
Smoking cessation
Cholestoral and diabetes screening
Abortion services
Childbirth classes
Parent education classes

and the list could go on forever. Check out their website at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ for a complete list of services. 

It really stinks that they are closing, and I guess it is par for the course in the economy. People can only donate so much when they are struggling as well.  What really irritates me are the people who are so happy that PP's are being shut down, just because they provide services that they don't agree with.  I guess the fact that even more people will lack health care is ok with them as long as their "moral agenda" is spread far and wide. 

Support your local planned parenthood - you can donate via their website above or call 1-800-798-7092 to make a donation.   

 

A racing post will be coming soon, but first...

I ran today! Just a little, with walk breaks.  But it felt so good to be back. I hope I can keep it up 1-2 days per week, because I just do not like walking, especially in the cold. (Running in the cold is a different story.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

The witches will cackle and leaves start to crackle
Under your feet -
It's the hap happiest season, Trick or Treat!

Halloween Theme


I seriously cannot wait until the Haunted Houses and scary movies are in full swing. BOO!

More Wasted Tax Dollars

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/panel-votes-to-restore-ab_n_303812.html

So that's great. Study after study has shown that abstinence-only curriculum doesn't work to reduce teen pregnancy, and that in areas where abstinence-only is taught, the number of teenage pregnancies is actually more than areas with comprehensive sex ed.  But let's go ahead and throw tax dollars at something proven not to work.  Nice job there, folks.  Hopefully this doesn't get through.

Season Championships at Anderson Speedway

Finally, after a l-o-n-g seven days of waiting and wishing for no rain, Saturday rolled around. Cloudy, but no real threat of rain. The races would go on!

I was excited for this race schedule for several reasons:

1. Our car was a solid 5th in points, but had a mathematical chance at any of the top 5 positions.  There was an actual chance to win the championship.

2. John's responsibilities as race director were done. He would be able to watch the race from the stands and not have to worry about the antics of the other drivers.  (However, he still had to deal with my antics as a fan.)

3. Are you kidding me? Rayray was going to go! Yahoo!

4. Season Championships = double points = people really stepping it up = really good racing.

5. No stupid sprint or thunder roadsters or legends.  My apologies to the fans of those cars. I can't stand them. At least not at Anderson Speedway.

6. The Fabulous Figure 8's off the high banks. Allegedly, after weeks of antagonism between the Swinford team and the Poore team, both factions would have a hitman driver to take out another team's car.  Now, at Anderson Speedway, you hear these rumors all the time, and often, nothing happens.  So and so is going to bring an extra car to junk this guy next week, and if #xx bumps me one more time, he'll be eating the wall.  Usually, this doesn't happen. However, with the Swinford's and the people on Poore's teams, I think everyone knew something big was going to happen. 

The races started off pretty clean, with a Street Stock heat win from Rich Boyer.  I was pretty excited about this, as he was in a close 2nd to Bret Miles, Sr. for the points championship. As some of you may remember, I'm not a huge fan of Bret Miles, Jr., so that just kind of carries over to his dad.  I did recently find out that B.J. was much younger than I realized, so my feelings changed from dislike to just wishing someone else would win.   In the second Street Stock heat, Bruce McFall jumped out in front for his second consecutive heat win.  Hells yeah! 5th spot was pretty much a lock, but 6th place Kyle Flynn blew his motor in this heat, so 5th was definitely in the bag.  Still felt bad for Kyle though.

Next up were the Thundercars with Rod Phipps and Rob Allman battling for the championship.  Both are very good, clean drivers and just seem like nice guys. Honestly, I'm sure alot of the drivers here are nice people, but I think it's good to call out the ones who are. Because I definitely call out the ones who aren't.
Josh Poore won the first heat with Rod finishing right behind.  Allman won the next heat, so it was going to come down to the feature! Ronnie Rose finished last, so I was pretty stoked about that, even though I think he wasn't trying, given that he Spoiler Alert won the feature . :eyeroll:

I'm not commenting on the front wheel drives, because there were so many cars, and I was too concerned for the other races.  It was also pretty obvious who was going to win those championships, so I wasn't paying close attention to those.  I must say, those cars do put on a good show. I used to hate them, but I've come around. Ok, I changed my mind.  I would like to say to the orange car's family, SIMMER DOWN. Yeah, he's new, it sucks that he got wrecked, but they were leading the race and he wasn't on the bottom, like you so proudly screamed.  He wasn't hurt and his racing will be all the better for it.  They just bumped him out of the way.  And seriously, do I scream nonsense when my family is involved? Yes. But I know when to stop. And generally, that time is before the police arrive to take you out of the stands.

The figure 8 heats were relatively quiet. Calm before the storm, much? Mike Riddle, Jr (Cobra!) and Shawn Cullen won the heats, respectively.  Booyah!! On to the main events!!

The street stock feature was again, pretty calm.  Rich Boyer was trying to get around Jake McElfresh for 2nd spot, as they were both chasing Bret Miles. Remember, Boyer right behind him in the points chase.  Anyway, from my vantage point, Jake was not exactly giving him room to race, but it also didn't look like he was cutting him off or anything.  I don't know.  But Boyer got a little impatient, or a little aggressive, or whatever, and pushed Jake around a bit, but ended up cutting his own tire.  It seemed like a good gamble, but it didn't pay off.  I'd also like to note that at this moment, something happened to Ronnie Rose's car, taking him to the back, and I let out an ecstatic cheer.  I was not cheering for Boyer's demise.  Remember, not a big fan of Miles.  But he ended up winning, and that risk cost Boyer not only a shot at the championship, but 2nd place too.  Rob Allman ended up passing him in the points race.  And hell to the yeah, Bruce McFall finished the year in 5th!

The Thundercars had a pretty great race as well.  About halfway through the race, someone in the designated hitman car of the evening took Ronnie Rose out, allowing Rod to pass him for the lead.  It was more like a little love tap though, and it didn't knock Rose out of the race, just out of his position.  So pretty much everyone was confused by the fact that the race director decided to throw the yellow flag.  I'll admit, that if the yellow flag is thrown and it looks intentional, the wrecked party should get his/her spot back. But this flag shouldn't have been thrown. Total crap call.  And, just for fun, let's take a moment and count the times that Rose has been the instigator.  Are you done yet? Oh, still counting? I'll wait.  How about now?  Shoot, let's just stop because people do have school and work in the morning.   So anyway, he got his spot back and went on to win. So yeah, nice last place showing in the heat, FEATURE WINNER.  Oh, and you were .009 seconds off fast time this week? You really are a pansy ass.  It's a RACE car, and you're no newbie.  Race the fucking car!    Anyway, Rod Phipps finished 2nd and Rob Allman finished 4th, so the former teammates went 1-2 in the points race for the season. 

So here were are, finally.  The big one.  Who was going to win the championship? Who was going to take whom out? Would any cars remain standing? If a hit in fact did take place, would it be a good one in the crossover, or just a run-of-the-mill ramming someone in the wall.  I'd just like to take a moment and say that if you are a "hitman" driver in the figure 8, take advantage of that big X in the middle of the track for a nice takedown of your nemesis.  Might as well make it interesting for the fans. 
And I must say, I have to give props to Doug Riddle for doing just that.  I will bash on his cowardice in just a moment, but each lap through the crossover, he was aiming for Jeff Swinford.  He wasn't waiting around on the corners, he was going for the money shot.  And about 5 laps in, he got it.  BAM! Riddle clips Swinford and they both go right through and hit the wall by the flag stand.

Let me back up a second.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew that Doug Riddle was going to take out Jeff Swinford, and Andy Shirley was going to take out Mike Riddle, Jr.  And, as a race fan, I generally like the Swinfords, and I generally like Mike Riddle, Jr.  Sometimes the Swinfords are a little too "off the deep end" for me, but they're always exciting.  The Riddle's have also been known to get silly, but my main issue is that I really don't love the owner of Riddle's car, and more importantly, their fans are asshats. Like, straight up, need-a-good-beatdown douchebags.  But like, redneck douchbags, because everyone's a redneck at that race track. (Myself included) So, like I said, EVERYONE knew that Jeff Swinford and Mike Riddle Jr. had giant targets on their backs. Therefore, Jeff and Mike knew that they were targets.  Everytime they came through the crossover, and saw their hitman, they had to wonder if this would be the time.  And neither of them rolled over.  Yes, they tried to avoid the hits, but they didn't pull off the track like big babies (which I totally would have done). So props to them, especially Jeff, when he saw Riddle coming in for the big one. 

And this is where I'll call out Doug Riddle for being a giant gutless punani. After deliberately hitting Swinford (which I wasn't opposed to on principle,  given that I was actively cheering for the other guy to take out the 85 car), he jumps out of his car, escapes through the fence and fucking runs away! Are you kidding me? Swinford, on the other hand, was shaken up pretty good. I don't know if he was knocked out or just a little woozy, but it took him awhile to get out of his car.  But when he did, he came out ready to fight! Ran back to Riddle's (empty) car, where I'm sure he would've put a pretty good pounding on him.  Alas, it was not to be. And Andy Shirley was never able to take out the 85 car - I don't think I've ever seen him take anyone out, and I do think they've had him out there in that car for that purpose before.  Josh Tharp won the race, but Swinford had enough points to win the championship.

A few things about the incident that were funny - in Swinford's championship speech, he said, "It's a shame that happened tonight." Anderson Speedway website  Really Jeffrey? I mean, maybe you have to say that, but everyone knew that your team had the same deal, so would it have been a shame if your guy took theirs out?  And what in the heck was Mike Swinford doing running his mouth to Rick Dawson immediately after it happened? YOU GUYS WERE GOING TO DO THE SAME THING! Seriously.  I know you're pissed, and I totally understand you wanting to fight with the other team, but for real.  Unless it was just part of the show, but I'm doubting that.  Maybe ya'll were just pissed that your hitman driver sucks and you need to find a new one.  Although I did appreciate the fact that no other cars were harmed in the making of this drama.  I was also pretty happy that the Swinfords won the title.  One last thing I found funny, although there may be a valid reason, was that Josh Poore didn't even start the feature.  He is the teammate of Mike Riddle Jr.  I think he might have been skeered.

So that's that.  Points racing at Anderson is over; the rest are money races.  Will there be vengeful drivers, ready to take out the next person who gets in their way? We shall see!

Below is a link to a video of the crash. You can't really see how obviously intentional or just how bad of a hit it was.  Still, very cool of the Mad Cow Racing Team guys to get it.  Check out some of their other videos on YouTube.  Those guys really have fun with their racing team, and I believe one of them finished 2nd in the front wheel drive oval division.  Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qD8jBoAbQ

Make a joyful noise

I just want to say how much I love the new FOX show, glee.  I laugh, I cringe, I cry.  Set your Tivo for Wednesday and don't miss this show!

(courtesy http://www.fox.com/glee/photos/ )

Skylights

Photo of the sky on the first night of autumn.

Colts squeak one out past the Dolphins on Monday Night

So, although the Colts offense had possession of the football for less than one quarter, and the defense was worn down by the surprisingly good "wildcat" offense, they still managed to hang on and pull out a win. Peyton Manning is a football god, people. He and Dallas Clark's performance also helped my husband's fantasy football team (of which I am the, uh, personnel director. :p ).

Go Horse!

My Love Affair with Anderson Speedway

And yes, it is abusive. I’ve gone there since I was a kid, watching my dad race. When I got my license though, I pretty much stopped going, because I had cooler things to do. Or I was grounded - one of the two. After college though, my husband and I started going again. Dad still races, and my husband started racing. I started getting mean. People wrecking my loved ones on purpose? Are you shitting me? Do you know how much it costs to fix a race car? Bleh. There were many arguements, screaming matches and near fights.

It’s been said that the women there are the worst about holding grudges and causing fights, because week after week the guys just shrug it off. And they’re not talking about the women racers, they’re talking about the sisters, moms, wives, and friends of the drivers. Well, I call bullshit. It’s the men that are beating the crap out of each others cars, threatening each other on and off the track, and making rude, misogynistic remarks about drivers’ wives and moms. Fuck you - if you want to talk about how Offensive Remark Warning stretched out someone’s wife will be after you’re done with her Offensive Remark Warning complete or how you’re going to blow someone’s home up, you’re the dick, not me. Not that driver’s wife and certainly not that driver’s daughter.

It sure seems that with all this negativity, I must be an idiot for continuing to return. Sometimes, I think I am. But sometimes, there is a good race, a good moment, that makes me keep coming back for more. There are people who do respect the rules and people who are interested in putting on a good show. Those are the people who make it fun.

Thank goodness someone is watching out for the little guy.

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell