Spin Doctor TG: What do I expect? The IRL announced its new multi-year TV deal today – 5 races, including the Indy 500, on ABC, and the remainder on Versus. Tony George lauded the deal as a way to grow the series’ audience through expanded programming. Hey, more time on the tube for the IndyCars is great for me, the die-hard fan who already gets Versus on her cable package. And here’s to that being better coverage than what ESPN has offered up – that change would be quite welcome. Tony George also commented that the “casual fan” doesn’t go in search of the IndyCar broadcast on TV (no doubt true) so it won’t matter if they don’t make a point to stop by Versus to see what’s on. Well, here’s my question: Who the heck does TG expect to become new “hard core” fans – Martians? (At least they can bring the ice…) Even if the ESPN coverage has been lacking in quantity and quality, the network has a stranglehold on the “sports coverage” mind share. I could tell a friend “check out the race on ESPN Sunday afternoon” and they’ll remember where to look. But Versus? What’s the likelihood my friend’s gonna bother to call me and ask “What network did you say that was again?” The IRL now has to create awareness about not only itself (which it hasn’t been adept at) but also count on a successful awareness campaign around the network. I’m concerned that the growth the league is looking for will be very hard to come by.

Changing Plans?: My little Sonoma vacation later this month may need some tweaks – life and work could interfere to make it a regular two-day weekend. Still have a friend stopping by in that time frame, so I gotta have my house painting done. Bust a move, girl! *grin*

Archives, Not Chives: Listening to the archived radio broadcast of the Giants-Braves game from this afternoon. Tim Lincecum on the mound makes me want to listen, even though the game’s over. And while I listen, I’ll be archiving, purging and rearranging the house so I can get the painting done more quickly. This place is total chaos right now and it really gets on my nerves…

Takin’ a Break: Working hard today, after being up until 1 a.m. working on my place. (Bathroom painted – Bashie wiped out. Sore muscles on sore muscles!) Taking a brief respite now and daydreaming about a long weekend later this month when it’s up to Sonoma for the race weekend. I am ready for another race – nothing live for me since Indy. Sonoma will be great, with gorgeous cars and beautiful scenery – look for loads of photos to appear here soon after. I’ll also be taking a hot lap ride in a pace car and will have pit access (a first for me). A priority is to find my MySpace friend, Bud Moeller – there was much merriment in my “search for Bud” at last year’s race.

I gotta finish my place before a friend arrives that weekend. And there’s so much to do at work.

On that note, better get back to it…

Whew: It’s 12:15 a.m., and my bathroom is PAINTED! Can’t wait ’til it dries so I can move things back in…

Paintin’ Place: Dinner’s over, dishes are washed, I’ve got the Giants and Braves on the radio and I’m about to jump into the old shirt and sweats and take up the paint can and edger. The bathroom will be done before I go to bed, or, or….or else! (Or else it won’t.) But that’s my aim. *grin*

Some Progress: Medicine cabinet and bathroom door painted. Spackling, wall repair and sanding complete. Now I’ll spend the rest of the evening scrubbing the bathroom so it’ll be ready for a fresh coat of white. I may not get the painting done tonight. More repairs were needed than I had anticipated and phone calls and emails have slowed my progress. Got a chuckle when a friend called – he just got a Samsung Instinct and was calling me on it for the first time. His number didn’t change, but instead of his name showing on the caller ID, it just read “Indianapolis, IN.” He’s so big, they named a town after him. *grin*

Drama, As Usual: So, another tour has ended and of course there was drama. Even though I wasn’t at a gig, I heard some of the silly stuff that went on and made some cryptic comments about it on my MySpace blog. (No names or places were disclosed – you’d have to know that set of people to get any of it.) Not very many people saw it (I can get stats on readers there), but one person did and threw his customary hissy fit. I took it down because he was yelling at the friend who gave me the scoop – but he had to share the fact that I blogged about it with others, of course. Not too long afterward, someone who usually travels with the tour but wasn’t there this time got in touch, wondering what had happened. It’s all so silly – I just shake my head and laugh.

Brief Break: I’ve spent every evening this week tossing out, re-arranging, re-orging, scrubbing and prepping things for painting – gotta get all this done and ready for the arrival of my house guest on the 21st. Tomorrow, I’ll finish the last scraping of paint and do all the spackling I need to do in the bathroom and kitchen. Then it gets sanded and both rooms scrubbed, ceiling to floor. Sunday, both get painted. And maybe the wood work in the front hall, if there’s time. It’s been a lot of work, and I gave up a concert in the interest of progress (thanks to the singer guy for the message encouraging my attendance and to the keyboard guy for the offer of guest list – sorry I couldn’t be there). I’m having a great week with this project – it’s incredibly satisfying to freshen up, declutter, re-arrange and decorate anew after living in this space for almost 11 years. It’s a bit like moving without moving, and I can’t wait until it’s done.

Woik, Woik, Woik: Attended a management conference yesterday and had a great day at work today with my team. Jon’s birthday is tomorrow, so I decorated his desk and went in on some donuts (he’s more into pastries than cake) with my other direct report, Lisa. That was the decoy – Lisa’s a terrific baker and made a cake and cupcakes that were killer. She collected about 20 people and invaded a project meeting I had with Jon after lunch. He was successfully surprised. Also, it was the last day for my contractor, Tim, and we took him to lunch. Spent the rest of the day working on goals and issues for the team. My boss (actually, it’s a crime to call him a boss – the guy is a world-class leader, and I couldn’t be more lucky) is helping me use our goals tools to set a course and measure progress in a way that is sensible, concrete and clear. We also had a great brainstorming session to identify issues we’d like to address as we move into our new structure over the next month. It was a rewarding day and has been a great week.