You Gotta Have Guts...

I was listening to Dale Jr "Unrestricted" on XM Satellite Radio last night and he was telling the grossest story about his JR Motorsports Busch Series Driver Mark McFarland. Mark pilots the #88 Navy car for this, the inaugural season of Jr's Busch team. It seems Mark got food poisoning the morning of Phoenix's Busch race (4/21) and according to Jr no one knew exactly how sick Mark was until he was in the car and things were underway. At one point in the race Mark seemed to be having handling issues and he dropped back twelve or so spots. Unfortunately for Mark it wasn't the car at all, it was because he was vomiting all over himself, for three whole laps, while going 125+ mph. Did I mention he wears a full-face helmet?

He went a lap down, got the lucky dog, some how managed to finish the race in the 16th position and then proceeded to sit in the car after the race and throw up for another 15 minutes. I'm not sure who the lucky guy was who pulled him from his car and took him to the infield care center for his four bags of IV fluids but I wouldn't have wanted to draw that short straw. Mark proved he could cowboy-up and do what it took to run with the big guys, I'm sure he earned a lot of respect that night. Plus it'll be a story that he can tell for years to come..."Hey remember that time when I puked all over myself in Phoenix and didn't wreck..." Good times, good times.

Tasty....

While watching Food Network one night I was introduced to a product called Izze. It's a drink made of fruit juice and sparkling water. They made it sound so good on the show that I wanted to find it. In checking the web I discovered they have this drink at Starbucks. So yesterday while out and about on my lunch hour I picked up the Sparkling Grapefruit and I must say it was light and refreshing. Supposedly it's also sold at Target stores so this weekend I'm going to check into that. I highly recommend picking one up. It's available in the following flavors...

Apple

Blackberry

Blueberry

Clementine

Grapefruit

Lemon

Pear

Pomegranate

One Sweet Lookin Ride...

Talla-dale-ga

Dale Earnhardt is being inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega where he had more wins than any other driver with 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second on the list with five. Jr will be running this paint scheme on Sunday to honor his legendary father one day after what would have been his 55th birthday.

- photo courtesy of Fox Sports

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back on the Playground...

I bet Kurt Busch thought that after he won the Nextel Cup Championship in 2004 that he would be one of the popular kids. Turns out that isn't the case. In an interview after the Pepsi 300 Busch race last Saturday (4/15), Kevin Harvick was asked who was the more hated driver Tony Stewart or Kurt Busch.

Kevin Harvick had this to say: "The thing about Tony is... Tony's a racer. And when it's all said and done, he gets in there and does what he has to do and root and gouge a little bit. But when it's all said done, he gets out of the car, and he'll go finish what he started and talk about it and settle whatever differences he has. The great thing about our sport is people either love you or hate you. And usually when there's as many that hate you as love you, you're doing something right on the track. I think most people don't like Tony because he's a competitor. Most people don't like Kurt Busch because he's a dork!".

I laughed out loud when I heard that and I have to agree. If I were picking teams in gym class I'd take Kevin Harvick over Kurt Busch anyday. And another thing...who told him snow angels were a good idea, there's really nothing cool about that.

Sometimes My Job Doesn't Suck...

Okay, for all the complaining I do about my job I must admit it's kind of a cake walk. The customers can be demanding and co-workers down right maddening but my bosses have always been cool.

Today it is sunny and 85 here in PA so our boss told us we could sneak out and hit the local Ritas. What makes this middle of the afternoon jaunt even better is Frank letting us take his sweet Jeep Wrangler. All we have to do is bring him something back. The last time we went to Rita's an entire landscaping crew stopped working to gawk, that was fun. One lesson I did learn today - it's hard to eat an ice cream cone with your hair swirling around your face.

The Boys of Summer

Every now and then my husband gets tickets to sporting events through his work, usually at the last minute. Yesterday afternoon he called me at 2:30pm wanting to know if I could leave work at 4:00pm so we could head down to the Phillies game. It was a beautiful day and I wasn't feeling the Easter leftovers that I knew were waiting for us at home for dinner so I said why not. The seats were great, lower level third-base line. I picked up a hot dog and french fries and got back to my seat as the Natioanl Anthem was playing. Perfect timing. Our row of seats was empty except for us so I didn't have to deal with someone crowding me. Unfortunately the Phillies got their asses handed to them in the late stages of the game courtesy of a grand slam off the bat of one of the Washington Nationals but that didn't dampen my spirits. I got to eat tasty ballpark food instead of leftovers, traffic wasn't that heinous and my other boyfriend Chase Utley was there larger-then-life on the jumbo-tron. Sometimes life is good.

Something Else I Didn't Know About...

I'm already aware that I watch way too much TV but recently it introduced me to something else I didn't know about. Just like I was unaware of Fantasy Bass Fishing, until the other day, I was unaware of how prolific the sport of Disc Golf was. While channel surfing I landed on the New Jersey Public Television Network and they were airing a program with a bunch of guys throwing frisbee-type discs at metal basket-like targets (see photo) on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. I went to the website shown in the corner during the broadcast and it was for the club these guys belong to. It turns out they have tournaments and everything. Who knew?

What Will They Think of Next...

I was up after midnight on Saturday and since it's been a while I forgot what a treat late night commercials are. In the span of approximately two minutes I discovered that they make "Guys Gone Wild" DVD's. It's not just the girls going wild anymore. The guys DVD's are more expensive then the girls, probably because it's a lot harder to find guys willing to get naked on camera.

The other thing I discovered is that "phone" sex is now available using text messaging. I was kind of intrigued by this practice so I went online and it appears New York Magazine did a feature on "sex messaging." Their article focused mainly on the use of sexual text messages to set up booty calls between everyday couples. I wish I would have thought of "sex messaging". Now these "operators" don't even have to talk to the guys who would have called the 1-900 numbers of the past. Now the guy sees the late night commercial, sends a text message and you text back. Money in the bank baby. Where do I sign up?

I Suppose It's True...

Your Power Color Is Teal

At Your Highest: You feel accomplished and optimistic about the future. At Your Lowest: You feel in a slump and lack creativity. In Love: You tend to be many people's ideal partner. How You're Attractive: You make people feel confident and accepted. Your Eternal Question: "What Impression Am I Giving?"

What's" Your Power Color?

Where Do I Begin With This?!?!?

When I tuned into the Nascar channel on my XM last night on my ride home from work there was some kind of hub-bub swirling around but because I missed the first five minutes of the show I wasn't sure what they were talking about. When I got home I made a quick visit to Nascar.com and I soon figured it out. It seems the people at Dateline NBC want to investigate/exploit the alleged increase in anti-Muslim feelings in America by planting either Muslims or people who look like Muslims in the crowds at events across the country to see if their hidden cameras or microphones pick up any racial incidents or discrimination.

This past weekend (4/1/06) they "inflitrated" the NASCAR races at the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia in hopes of baiting fans into making insensitive remarks to the Muslim/Arab people they planted at the track. Much to NBC's chargrin, I'm sure, no one bothered them. When confronted by NASCAR, NBC indicated they are planning to do it again at other venues, undoubtedly to try and get the type of response they thought they'd get at the Nascar races. NBC's actions force us to infer that they think Nascar fans are stupid, racist, bigots who'd fall for their tricks. That's interesting, since we're the same stupid, racist, bigots they've spent $1.2 billion dollars courting over the last six years.

The director of public relations for Martinsville Speedway, Mike Smith, was quoted as saying:

"If there is an upside, it shows that the image so many people have of NASCAR fans is a false one, and it shows that not only at Martinsville Speedway, but at NASCAR tracks in general, it shows what type of security we have in place that can discover something like this, observe it and make sure nothing happens. As disappointed as we are, we feel pretty good about the end result." - excerpted from an article by B. Duane Cross, NASCAR.com

I am proud that things turned out the way they did during Dateline's Martinsville "experiment". As a fan of NASCAR for many years I can deal with people thinking we're a bunch of rowdy drunks but that doesn't mean we're racist or bigots. NASCAR is a big family with deep pockets and wide ranging influence. If you want to tell Dateline what you think of their tacky, shameful tactics you can email them at Dateline@NBC.com

How Can Having 42 Pairs of Shoes Be Wrong?

In surfing the net at work today I was intrigued by three different books...

• "The Joy of Much too Much" by Bonnie Fuller (editor-in-chief of: YM, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, US Weekly & now Star)
• "Fabulosity" by Kimora Lee
• "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" by Judith Levine

While I haven't read any of these books I investigated each a bit further to see if I should. My favorite quote from "The Joy of Much Too Much" is...

"...the current obsession with simplifying life is boring and pointless. An over-the-top, jam-packed, crazed life is the secret to happiness." - Bonnie Fuller

I can appreciate that - I can appreciate Isaac Mizrahi's quote even more..."Bonnie's book is great. She understands the importance of excess."

"Fabulosity" - I learned, is defined as "1: a state of everything that is fabulous, 2: A quality ascribed to that which expresses glamour, style, charisma, power and heart." This book claims to be a step-by-step guide to achieving ones wildest dreams by following Kimora's 16 laws of success. I've seen her house on MTV Cribs - it's seems Kimora Lee understands the importance of excess too.

Finally, I was most intrigued by "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping". I myself made a New Year's resolution to cut back on buying stuff that I don't really need so I read Levine's interview on MSN with much interest.

Right off the bat I had a problem with Levine's definition of "necessities" - toilet paper was okay, but not Q-tips. Hello? I use Q-tips every morning and find them to be as necessary for my ears as toilet paper is for my butt. Takeout food was also taboo - well I can say I've partaken of take-out a number of times in the last three months. For work purposes she and her domestic partner Paul had to share one cell phone and use dial-up internet service at their houses (yes they have two). Well here I was right on the money, my husband and I only have one cell phone between us and we still use dial-up internet. Levine stated at the end of the interview that the experiment taught her "she could live on a lot less and still be satisfied and happy." But having read the whole interview I got a different impression. It seems to me her year without shopping brought her frustration, sadness and longing for things she couldn't have. She also felt bored, restless, isolated and stupid because she couldn't read the latest books or see the same movies as her friends. I'm sure there is a middle ground between Levine's not "splurging" on Q-tips and the excesses of the Kimora Lee's of the world.

Knowing I'm closer to the Levine end of the continuum then the Lee end, I decided to take stock of my own excesses and discovered...

• 42 pair of shoes
• 203 books (not including non-fiction)
• 39 Partylite Candle holders
• 71 movies on DVD (more on VHS tape)
• 243 CD's
• 7 different kinds of dishes
• 10 sets of bed sheets

From this list it's easy where my weaknesses lie, oh well. A world without some vices is a boring and pointless world indeed.