Newbie (again)

[mishka422]

So.....which race is it? Edumacate me.

Hey...what was that screeching halt comment on my thread? I'm confused (no surprise there!)

[dday101798]

Nascar, It will be race #5 in "The Chase" for the season champ. They started doing the chase format in 2003 to spruce things up to compete with other sports. So, after 26 races the top 12 drivers (used to be 10) are locked in to a chapionship battle and the season points for them are essentially re-set for the final 10 races of the year. Before, the season could ahve been over in the first 10 races of the year if one particular driver just domintaed. And, like in 2002, the driver that won the season, never one a single race all year, just had good consistant finishes.

Then you have the drivers, one is Mark Martin, 50 years old and racing for 27 years, retired and came back trying to get his all elusive championship title that he's come oh so close so many times. Then there's Tony Stewart, doing the unbelievable in 'starting' his own team(s) and being a championship contender in it's first year (not very easy to do). Then of course there's Jimmy Johnson going for title #4 (and 3rd in a row), and Jeff Grodon (blah) still trying for #5.

So not only is it an 'important' race as the top 4 drivers are still only but handful of points apart, but it's at night, which is always more fun, and the Charlotte track has a bit of history to it as well.

That's it in a nutshell.

[NoCodeBlues]

Hey, Dylan, why is it that you're not going again? (Hey, I knew you were just kiddin' earlier.)

My boys are the ones really torqued up for this. I'm a little more casual about paved oval racing -- I'm more into rally and road-course circuits myself (WRC, F1, GT, etc.) Still I'm a little disappointed that my man, Matt Kenseth, didn't make it for the cup. And my boys are going to be peeved that Junior's not in the running for it either. I like Martin and Stewart and Biffle, but I guess I don't really have a dog in the fight -- just so long as Gordon doesn't win I'll be happy.

[dday101798]

just so long as Gordon doesn't win I'll be happy.

AMEN!

Doesn't look good for him unless he pulls a massive rabbit from you know where, and the bad news is his last 7 finishes at Charlotte have been improving.

Hey, Martin is still VERY much in it, I'm pulling for him, I remember watching his rookie season and the battles with Big E, Waltrip, Rusty and later on Burton, so after 27 years, it be nice to see him finally pull it off. It would also be nice to see Stewart do it as a first time owner/driver, but since the power plant is oh, gee big surprise, Hendrick, it's not too much a feat in the long term reality of it. HMS has there arms all around the R09 motor and they are tough to beat. Oh, and after Charlotte, the rest of the tracks, Stewart has good performances at.

Kenseth, well, what in the blue heck happened to the ENTIRE Roush stable? Something went seriously awry there. They need to get out on some non-sanctioned tracks and figure out what in the wrold is wrong, whether it's the equipment or all the personel changes they made over there. Something is seriously mis-firing in that camp and Roush is going to be just about the only team running Fords next season. I would suspect the former Gillete-Evernham teams to swtich to Ford next year since they dropping Dodge, but if I were them, I'd be looking at Roush's perfomance since all Fords in the circuit pretty much run a Roush-Yates power plant, and I would be very skeptical about that. Geesh, imagine nearly 75% of the field being all Hendrick power? That's scary.

JR? Well, I can't honestly say what in the world is the story there. First it was DEI's equipment "being dated", then the tension with Theresa, then, switching over to Hendrick which should of been a slam dunk move, eh-eh, not when you continually argue with your crew chief(s) over pit strategy. The most logical concept for him is stating to float around in the past couple of weeks: a swap, releasing Kevin Harvick from RCR who is no longer "happy Harvick" there, has always sought to have all conection of the #3 removed from the car, and let Jr. ride it out at RCR.

So that's my take in a nutshell.

Why couldn't I go? Well, I can't even affor dgas to get back and forth to work, so a plane ticket and hotel, didn't look none to promissing and it was sort of last minute when I saw how low the ticket prices were.

[dday101798]

Anyway, in other news.

Trying to keep my head clear today. The morning got off to a bad start, just thinking about the events and my checklist of this day 11 years ago. It's really hard to keep it off mind whent eh weather is exactly the same as it was then, cold and raining.

Seems like it was yesterday, hasn't been so clear in my mind in quite some time. All the last minute running around when right about now I would have been returning home from working overnight, took a cat nap, then started running around, making sure the flower order was coming along, tuxedos were being picked up, and the best man stayed sober . Then we had planned to use my Camaro, but thought better of it due to the weather and her trying to get in and out witht hte dress just wasn't going to happen. So we had this POS Mercury Marquis we had picked up not too long ago, and I spent the day , washing, waxing, detailing, replacing the thermostat and brakes attempting to get it road worthy.

Hah, what a fun time?

Then the sad part kicks in: Is she even giving ANY thought to any of this too? Or is just going to be another typical party time Saturday for her? Probably. I don't think any of it means anything to her anymore, and that's fine, that's her perogative not mine. Just one more thing to teach the kids as things move along.

Welp, someway, somehow, I'm going to soldier through the next 48 hours and come out best I can.

[dday101798]

And in ironic news:

10/17 will not fall on a Saturday again, and "sweetest day at that as well" until 2015, a mid point in which the long lasting financial effects of the D will be coming to a close.

[NoCodeBlues]

Yes, Roush has a lot of soul-searching to do. They need to do a serious post-mortem on this season to figure out what's gone wrong.

I hate to say it but I'm thinking Jimmie's got it locked up again. I like him and all, but I tend to root for the underdogs anyway. That's why I'd like Martin to get in there.

I kinda' favor Biffle too, (and this might be wrong of me) mainly because he was so "helpful" in showing the young punk Logano the proper "etiquette" to racing. LOL.

(I guess I don't appreciate these hotshot rookies who show no respect, they remind me too much of how Gordon got to be so controversial. Snot-nosed punks. Biffle was the same once upon a time, but he had his own "training" to get him in line.)

My kids like Junior mainly because he's the son of the 'timidator. I wish he'd just get his act together, but I don't say anything to S8 and S4.

...

I know what you mean about the cost of making a trip. I've only got a 3-hour drive, but the gas and hotel costs, even with corporate discounts, are going to mean a lean month for me. (Not to mention Halloween coming up real soon -- costume prices alone are ridiculous, and for what? Some superficial, flimsy bit of cloth that my kids might wear but once?)

Lots of peanut butter and other cheap meals for us the next couple of paydays. But I see this as a mini-vacation, a consolation prize for not being able to take a proper full week of time at some big theme park or other tourist destination. And like I said, my two love cars.

But enough about racing.

...

Try not to dwell on the anniversary, Dylan. I know that's easier said than done (believe me, I do.) Find some other thing to insert as an event for this weekend, some special activity for you yourself -- make it your own.

[dday101798]

Try not to dwell on the anniversary, Dylan. I know that's easier said than done (believe me, I do.) Find some other thing to insert as an event for this weekend, some special activity for you yourself -- make it your own.

I know, I said since the month started, I would give it a 45 minute acknowledgement. But, as with every day I wake, the first thought that pops in my head, is "could today be the day of the impossible?", the last few have been plagued with wondering if she even remembers it. I know folks around her have to be bugging her. In the good times, she would make everybody stop what they were doing and call or send a text almost every day at 10:17 am&pm to say "happy anniversary" (yes things were that 'corny', I used to think she was crazy and sometimes annoying, now I miss it ever so much). So, I know the reminders are there (as if 2 kids weren't enough), but chances are, she's probably just talking sh!t about me now anyway, you know the dirty rotten H I Was to her all through the years.

So be it.

[NoCodeBlues]

Yes, then, so be it...

It's the lesson we all need to have repeated for us from time to time: You cannot control another human being, you can only control yourself. Don't worry so much about your ex and what she might be saying or thinking, because there's really nothing anyone else can do about it.

I too have worried incessantly -- particularly prior to the custody hearing -- about what my xW has been saying to neighbors, friends, our S's teachers and caregivers about me. The best we can hope for is that we get our chance some day to set the record straight, otherwise what can be done?

The comforting thought is that God does know the truth, whatever false witness someone brings against us.

That's not to say it still doesn't hurt to have our character and the character of our M/R slandered. Or to hear the truth gutted and shredded by people we once trusted upon the altar of self-deception and self-interest. And it takes a lot more patience and humility to not respond in kind than I would have imagined as well.

Still, we're supposed to learn to not let that get us down. It's a road, a long road...

[dday101798]

And so, I survived.

The virus instilled in version 1.1 was not all that hostile. Started the weekend by going out with my cousin and her girlfriend Friday night for some pizza and beers, lol, when we came back home we both passed out on her friend, pretty funny, yeah we're not 'big people' any more. My cousin is a pretty habitual beer drinker too, and now that I'm absentee from that practice during the weeek, that has slowed her up, which is good.

Funny, her grilfriend always has her hair tied up in some weird fasion or another which makes her look like 5 years older than she really is. I know at some point Friday night I wanted to make a comment about it as I can't stand when good looking people do silly things to their hair and make them look funny. I must have, because at the end of the night it was down, as well as the next morning when she stopped by for a few minutes.

Anyway, then there was yesterday, the "big day". I did my 45 minute tribute for probably the final time. I slipped only once and sent XW a picture text ofmy champaigne glass and the bottle side by side, with the caption "wish it were the same". I reflected on only the good times, for the most part, and it was nice to burst out in laughter amongst the tears.

Never heard one lick from XW, nothing. Only a random call and text from S12 Friday night that sounded completely rehearsed.

So, that says it all for me. That ship has done set sail. I wish her well on her endeavors, but it is seriously time to close up the harbor in my heart to no longer be her port of call. She doesn't want it anyway. Goodness, you think she'd take 5 seconds out of her busy new life to acknowledge a great life we had, or at leasst so I thought it was.

I did something for myself, all be it stupid, at 4:15 wehn time was up, I put my ring on and wore it until exactly 10:17pm, then put it away. Ironically, the hinge on my ring box exploded when I closed it up. Huh, omen?

So, it's done and over. I'm gong to request the psych help me just shue XW out of mind once and for all on Tuesday. It's time. I've always been about the stats with this thing. The 6 month stat that the WAS would start to get confused was dead on. And I think even the amount of months seperated compared to years together was there too. But now, it's well exceeded and now, it truly is what is, and there's no fixing this. Thus, I need the psych to get in me head and find that last little par of me that still holds out hope for some dumb reason and dispose of it once and for all.