The Giants have begun their defense of the World Series title I still can’t believe they won, and despite my aversion to crowds, I’ve been to four games already this season. Usually I just go for the company’s Day at the Ballpark event, but wanted to take in a bit more of this mayhem in person. Best moment so far was attending the ring ceremony and the last minute win that night. I’ve got at least 6 more games on my calendar (some depend on IndyCar practice schedules, etc.) and I’ve been following the games on the radio as usual. The boys aren’t clicking on all cylinders just yet, but it’s early days. And we’ve got our Panda back!

IndyCar has started up – just got back from covering the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Indy and Texas follow, then 2-3 more races later in the season. I’ve covering races for Morefrontwing.com and RIS-news.com as well as my own IndyRacePlace.com – keeping me busy! www.bashtography.com for photos of racing, cats and Giants’ events.

Health is not optimal – low energy resulted in blood tests which resulted in other tests and I’m due to see a nephrologist soon to see why my kidneys don’t seem to be working right. Walking medium distances and working out have exhausted me, so my weight is still up and fitness level low.

Work is a constant stream of change and growth – global ecommerce was re-arranged by market (I’m on the largest team – US) and am managing three contract writers at the moment. That was a sudden development and my boss is determined that I try managing again, this time with training and support and a chance to actually succeed. I’m willing to try it again, but have to admit there’s some trepidation.

May’s coming soon, right after the first anniversary of Will Owsley’s death. Still not sure I’ve got a handle on that one. Have to wait a couple weeks into May before things start up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – really looking forward to the 100th anniversary of the first race, and excited that I’ll be there with media credentials for the first time.

Work: Work work work. Work.

Health: Up and down. Fitness program has been sidelined by a series of respiratory issues that we’ve finally sorted out, and a series of tweaks to lower back and joints that are ongoing. Have started walking more again. Am undertaking a series of tests to track down reasons for fatigue.

Cats: In December, Sebastian started losing weight and his appetite. Diagnosis: chronic renal failure. We’re treating him with subcutaneous fluids, supplements and Aranesp for anemia. Several indicators point to heart disease as well, so we can’t be aggressive with the fluids. He’s holding fairly steady, but for how long, we don’t know. We’re at the end of his journey so I’m spending a lot of time with him. Miss Moxie is her usual self, trying to pounce on Sebastian but also washing his ears and snuggling him.

This photo is from @akhbarmsr Twitter feed, along with other on-the-scene images from the protests – I hope they are reproduced in other places to avoid them ever going missing. I’ve been mesmerized by the peaceful resolve and the broad participation from all walks of Egyptian life. There is so much yet to come, but the start has been inspiring.

HIM: Did you go to the game?

ME: No, I had to work. (I was decked out in team gear.)

HIM: Can you believe it? 3-0? It was too easy!

ME: Yeah, they’ll make us pay for it in tomorrow’s game – every inning will be murder!

HIM: I was finally adjusting to the drama.

ME: Yeah, I know! I was at my desk all afternoon, listening to the game, and I got tons of work done because I wasn’t stopping to breathe into a bag every 10 minutes. Felt so strange!

HIM: Even if it ends with the NLCS, I’ll be really happy with this season. This has been so much fun.

ME: Totally agree – but we’ll take all the icing we can get on this cake!

Saw several cars with Giants colors and fans hanging out the windows, cheering and yelling and folks on the sidewalks were cheering back at them all. This was a couple hours after the game ended and the vibe was still rolling. SO much fun. Hoping the Giants win the next two at home and wrap it up…can’t even speak the words for the next step. #NoJinx!

The Will Owsley Family Fund

c/o Christ Community Church
1215 Hillsboro Road
Franklin, TN 37069
Please make the check out to: Christ Community Church

Bono’s Back (in more ways than one):  His back is better. And he’s back! Just a few days until U2′s European tour opens in Torino, Italy. Glad he took the time to fully recuperate from what was a pretty serious-sounding spinal injury. My Oakland and Anaheim concerts have been rescheduled for June 2011, so I have plenty of time to look forward to those. And lots to do between now and then, so the time will fly!

Indy Vacation: I had a blast in Indianapolis at the 500, thanks to some amazing tweeps, Jeff and Terry especially. My Bay area buds attended their first 500 and they were so much fun! I did my best to take care of them, even though I suffered from increasing heat exhaustion as each day went by. Race day itself was so hot that I ended up missing over an hour of the race, hiding under the grandstands in the misting fans. I was determined not to become a casualty and end up needing treatment.

Texas Vacation: Didn’t happen. it took several days for me to recover from the heat exhaustion and Texas was expected near-record temps, so I cancelled that trip and stayed home. I also ran with a tongue-in-cheek idea from a Twitter user to create something called FanFit for my Indy blog. The program will make me fitter, lighter, healthier and more able to withstand the rigors of being a race fan. It’s almost ready for prime time.

Indy Blog: Changed it completely last weekend – except for the theme. No longer IndycarTraveler.com, it is now IndyRacePlace.com, and it a much better fit for what I’m trying to do. There will still be some travel tips, but it’s much more about the races and the fun around them.

Work: Work work work work work.

Elbow: Slowly sinking into the wonderful music of Guy Garvey and his gang of musical brothers from Manchester, England. Just have one album so far (The Seldom Seen Kid Live at Abbey Road) but have heard some of the other three. Such amazing songs.

Health: Slight step backwards with the asthma situation. The single medication prescription Pulmicort doesn’t do as well with controlling my asthma, so I finished an Advair inhaler and am now trying a sample of Symbicort, which is also dual-medication like Advair.  Severely limited time working out in July due to lack of time, energy, occasional slight injury and breathing issues. Gotta roll out that FanFit program and get back on the horse!

Up Next: Sonoma IndyCar race (credentialed to the SpeedFreaks organization), potential jury duty conflicting with a planned trip to the Chicagoland race, and then The Fixx at the Sausalito Art Festival on September 4th. Want to work in a visit to family in the Fall and hopefully the WinterIndyTweetup again this year. For the most part, hoping for a quiet end to the year – just want to concentrate on continuing to improve my health and getting my racing blog established.

Before that crash, I met Owsley once – it was backstage after a fantastic show here in San Francisco. He was warm, present and so driven and I just had a sense he would make it somehow. I also spent a good bit of time emailing with his brother Bud and Bud’s wife, Wendi – although that had nothing to do with Owsley’s music. We discussed San Francisco and its restaurants and they told me tons about southern culinary experiences such as plantation breakfasts. (They’re in Alabama.) Our email sessions led to us all gaining about 10 pounds! Bud and Wendi are delightful and it was so much fun getting to know them a little via email.

Needing to feed his growing family, Owsley continued working with Nashville and Los Angeles-based artists over the last decade and a half – Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Shania Twain, The Jonas Brothers, and more. Vocals, guitars, songwriting, producing, engineering – you name it, he did it. He ended up with about 10 gold records as a contributor to other people’s work. Lots of time on the road and time not spent working on his own dreams cost him – somewhere along the way, his marriage ended and he got farther and farther away from the possibility of being a solo artist again.

It must have all been too much to bear, because William Reece Owsley III took his own life on April 30, at the age of 44. He left two sons, Walker and Liam,  with his ex-wife Rebecca Walker. This was the first piece of news I read the morning of May 1 and it has taken the wind out of my sails for pretty much the whole of my favorite month (Indy 500, baby!). Many fans have reconnected and are sharing memories and music to try and help each other through the sadness. I’m a little surprised that it hit me so hard, and I hope Owsley knew in his life how much people loved him – the outpouring after his death has been a beautiful thing to see. I’m clearly not the only person who barely knew the guy but is nonetheless floored by his passing.

A memorial will be hosted in Nashville by Amy Grant on May 24th and a fund for the boys is being established. I’ll post details here when I learn more.

Ouchies: My vacation’s coming up – heading to Indy to cover the 500 for about a zillion blogs and Twitter outlets, as well as just have some fun! Back in San Francisco for a couple of days after that, then the plan was to head to Texas for the IZOD IndyCar race, then straight to Anaheim for two U2 concerts. Well, Mr. Bono Vox had emergency spinal surgery yesterday and although there isn’t any official word yet, I’m expecting to have to cancel my Anaheim visit. June 6th just sounds too soon to  gallivant around on the world’s largest stage after such an injury. I recently obtained media credentials for the Texas race, so will probably leave the night before I had originally planned to avoid missing the practices and come back home on Sunday. Expecting official word about the Anaheim shows on Monday.

The first IndyCar race in Sao Paulo was thrilling – I can’t wait for another race there and am really excited for the season to resume in St. Pete next weekend. My plans for Long Beach have come together – flights and hotel all set. I won the monthly UX department Spark award Friday (for making an impact on a project or team – in my case, taking on a million things while being flexible and supportive of my team mates) and that award comes with a free day off. I may use that to try to get to Pole Day weekend at Indianapolis. Will be there for the May Indy TweetUp and race, for sure. Also aiming for Texas (race day only) and then have two U2 concerts in Anaheim the next two days. Gonna be living out of a suitcase for a while!

• It doesn’t say “Indy”
• It’s not open wheel
• It doesn’t look like a car
• I can’t picture it actually racing; flying seems lore likely
• It is wild, cool, innovative, but UGLY AS SIN

The concept itself is fantastic – it would solve a lot of problems the league is suffering from now. The argument in favor of going with it, despite its radical departure in appearance, is that Indy has always been a place of innovation. This is where I have finally discovered my problem with the Delta Wing (besides my searing eyeballs): Radical innovation at Indy has always come in trickles, dribs and drabs. One guy showed up with a  rear engine car here, another with a wacky sidecar design there. If a concept really proved itself,  it was adopted – sometimes more quickly, other times more methodically. What is really bugging me about the possible adoption of the Delta Wing is that it has to be all at once: ugly IndyCars today, uglier “Bonneville Salt Flats meets Elroy Jetson” things tomorrow. It’s just too unattractive and too radical a departure for these all-or-nothing times – especially when the league is positioning itself to remind the world that it is “Indy.”

So far, I’m all for Swift #33 – a batwing front wing with a wild look, but it still says “Indy.” I want to see the league climb back into a position where it can support multiple chassis and then open the door to this “jettified” radical departure. Let it prove itself in the tradition of all Indy innovations, by showing itself to be the best of several.

I saw Chesley Sullenberger at DFW in June last year, walking alone through the terminal corridors. He went right past where I was seated for lunch. I couldn’t help but smile when I recognized him and I nodded when he saw me smiling, but I quickly felt the need to look away and leave him be. He came by a couple more times as I awaited my flight, and I noticed other people recognizing him as well and just smiling or saying hello, but not engaging him further. He was polite with a nod or smile in return, but seemed to be as he was after the ditching – someone who normally wouldn’t seek out this kind of attention.

The crew and some of the passengers reunited on the Hudson today to celebrate their good fortune and many of them can tell tales of their lives being affected for the positive after the events a year ago. For them, the ditching may be a blessing in disguise – in dealing with the event and its aftereffects, many have no doubt gained an evolved  perspective on what is really important. It could be a small blessing in disguise for New Yorkers as well. For the rest of their lives, any headline containing their town and aircraft will turn their minds  to 9/11 and the trauma that no doubt will linger with them always. But once they can tear their thoughts away from those awful days and weeks and months, they will always have this other “Plane in New York” story to bring a healing, brighter thought – to remind them that sometimes, life can go terribly right.

That is probably the real miracle on the Hudson.

Bright spots:

• I had my Felix for a few short months at least. He was such a comical kitty!
• I fell madly in love with U2. Better late than never! I’ve spent all year exploring and discovering the 30+ years of their work. The two concerts I saw on their 360 tour were mind-boggling, and the stage and screen developed for the tour have fascinated me all year.
• The work situation was resolved in such an inspiring way, and I ended up with the most amazing boss as a result. I am so lucky to be where I am.
• In September, I was adopted by Moxie, an adorable black and white kitten who is my new rambunctious little angel.
• I met tons of great new IndyCar people – some in person, but mostly through Twitter. (How did we survive before Twitter?) The Winter Indy Tweetup was a highlight of my year.
• I’ve pared down my social list a bit. Certain folks were taking up some time and energy but weren’t contributing positive things to my environment. Buh-bye!
• My beautiful Sebastian is still the sweetest thing. He’s slowing down now (he’s almost 16), and I’m making a point to spend as much time as I can enjoying his kitty company.

2010 has more races and race fans in store, as well as more U2 shows. Hopefully, my work situation will continue along its lucky path and my health and that of the kittehs will stabilize and become something to celebrate. Here’s to 2010 being a great one for us all.

http://www.theindychannel.com/video/21960780/index.html

Adam Clayton in Las Vegas - photo by Ayaz Asif

See all of Ayaz’ photos at http://www.ayaz.com/.

Was pleased to get a great spot on the Red Zone 2 rail when they finally let us into the Rose Bowl. The stadium is a gorgeous, massive old thing sitting on lovely grounds in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The neighbors got an earful that night. The roar from the show’s one great surprise probably shattered windows. That surprise came during the Black Eyed Peas set, when they welcomed Guns n Roses’ Slash onto the stage and did “Sweet Child o’ Mine” with Fergie singing. WOW.

The U2 set itself wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t up to par with Las Vegas. First of all, the Rose Bowl leaves a great deal to be desired acoustically. Secondly, to use a racing term, there were “offs” by almost every member of the band at one time or another. But it was a great time spent with rabid Red Zoners with frequent visits to the catwalk by members of the band. (Catwalk was about 5 feet in front us with only an occasional security guard in between.) I could have gone home happy after the first time Adam came down our way – I got a twinkly-eyed smile from his lordship that curled my toes a bit.  :)

The entire show is archived on YouTube – over 10 million people watched as it streamed live.

My photos are here for now.

And here are a couple of video clips I took:

——-

Want to see Anaheim and Oakland on the second leg of this tour next June. Highly recommend it if you can get to a show – an amazing experience and setup that may never be repeated.

I headed to Sam Boyd Stadium a bit early that evening and caught part of the soundcheck. Fans were gathered at various points around the perimeter cheering, dancing and singing along like it was the actual concert. Excellent vibe as we headed in to our seats – everyone was excited to be in such a small place – maybe 42K – to see a show that had been playing to much larger stadiums elsewhere. Not a bad seat in the house.

Really enjoyed the Black Eyed Peas set –  they know how to throw a great party. Then, my boys finally came on and after all these years, I saw U2 live. I was not disappointed. New songs and old came off really well and we were all dancing and singing along, having a great time. My very favorite part of the night was the elderly couple (60s at least) standing near me, singing and dancing like they were kids. Completely adorable.

My photos from the show are on Flickr for now.

I didn’t have a backup battery for the camera, so I only took small clips of video to capture lighting and screen effects. Here are two from Las Vegas.

—

Loved the view from my seat and left the show one very happy camper…

As it was, I was hot and tired and without @shagers for the extra laughs, but it was a funtastic time at Homestead for the IndyCar finale. My boy Dario won the race and the title, I at least had one good night out with my Tweeps, and I got to spend long, lovely mornings at the hotel with my pal J, who came down from central Florida and spent time with his music pals while I did race stuff.

I even got to see a few places besides the room and the track. Went to Coconut Grove for a bit, took in a meal and a sandy stroll in South Beach, and socialized in skanky Florida City, where race folks chased clandestine encounters or holed up in their seedy rooms for a little illicit online sex chat. Well, that’s the kind of town it seemed to be, anyway.

My room near the airport was quite nice – top floor, 10 stories up, facing a golf course with the Miami skyline in the distance. Lots of people moaned before the trip about how bad the traffic would be. I had no problems getting anywhere and only hit pockets of slower traffic at the Homestead exits on race day. Piece of cake.

The time at the track was spent hiding from the sun or crawling pit lane with fellow camera-toting Tweeps. Met some fantastic folks and really enjoyed Homestead. Had what looked to be a nice seat for the race, but spent the whole race in the pits, mostly pit-out, getting shots of cars and stars and being right there for the wife drama as the last laps unfolded: Emma Dixon gnawing on what looked like a plastic bag with ice in it; Ashley Judd taking a slow, measured walk down into turn one to shake off some nerves; both women, married to teammates, congratulating and consoling one another when the outcome was known. It was my first time to attend a championship-deciding race and the strategies and people drama lent some excitement to what was otherwise not a terribly notable race.

Already hating that the season is over…is it March yet?

And here’s how it sounded.

More to come…

The fun awaits – four members of Planet-IRL.com will be in the house and who knows what that will lead to! Got a decent seat for the race, and if I don’t get flaked-out-on, I should have pit access as well. The other three P-IRLers got our media credentials. Off track fun looks like it could be dangerous… If there’s time, I’ll post from the trip; otherwise, see ya once I recover.

Owie: So I finally start feeling better and end up with a throbbing toothache. Hard to concentrate on anything at the moment. Just doing mindless housework and taking little naps.

Might Be Allergic: The more I read about gluten allergies, the more I think it could be my problem. I’ve bought a few gluten-free items at the store and will try to eliminate gluten for a week or two, once I get a few more items in the pantry and can make a real go of it.

But All in All, I’m Lucky: One of my best buds back east just had her thyroid out due to cancer. Things can always be worse, it seems.

Miami: All systems appear to be go for me to attend the last race of the season. Using more travel credits/discounts to make it possible.

Moxie: A sweet little kitty girl is being fostered by someone on my Friend Feed, and I may get to adopt her this weekend. Here is a picture of her cute little self.

Sonoma: What an about-face from last year’s experience, at least on a social level! Last year, I enjoyed roaming the pits taking photos, but my off-track time was highly disappointing. This year, I enjoyed the race and being at the track as a reporter for Planet-IRL.com, and the very same person who aggravated the daylights out of me last year was a very enjoyable companion off track. A great crowd and a more interesting race at Infineon Raceway this year made for a lovely weekend. Some photos at my Bashtography site.

Work, Work, Work: Been super busy, having been assigned to a special unit in addition to normal work. Fun!

Fleas: Yup, still battling them. This long weekend ahead will give me a chance to get the rest of the purge completed, dump all the clutter, and do an extra-intensive clean and flea spray. Still sleeping on the futon, which means I don’t always get a good night’s sleep. Meanwhile, last night Sebastian got his fourth bath in the last 2-3 weeks. He didn’t even try to get out of the tub this time. He yowled a little and didn’t squirm as much. He’s such a tolerant kitty boy…and goodness, he’s sooo soft today!

Radio Star: Well, podcast guest. Not sure if it’s up yet, but I participated in the weekly podcast at Planet-IRL.com with Kohl Kirkland and Paul Dalbey, two big IndyCar fans I know on Twitter. It won’t win any awards, but we had fun.

Testing: Sitting in a user testing lab right now, watching people interact with a prototype we’ve created. It’s usually interesting but not exciting, except that we had a real corker in here earlier today. Guy acted like he was hopped up on 5 Red Bulls – he gave us good feedback, but he was a source of constant laughter in the observation room. Spastic!

Intrepid Reporter: Yours truly will be blogging and photogging at the IndyCar race at Sonoma this weekend. You’ll find a few things here, at my photo site, Bashtography, and also on Planet-IRL.com and pressdog.com.  Huge props to Kohl and Planet-IRL.com for supplying me with media creds for this race. Also, I’ll be tweeting as time allows: @SpeedFreakBash.

From http://twitpic.com/photos/partygirl181084

]]> http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/1460/feed 0 http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/1452 http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/1452#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:58:43 +0000 Bash http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/?p=1452 Solidarity: U2′s “New Year’s Day” was inspired by the Solidarity movement in Poland (think of jailed leader Lech Walesa singing to his wife when you hear “I will be with you again…”), and the song is always quite a moment when U2 plays it live in Poland. Tonight’s show featured the audience in a self-organized flash mob, displaying the colors of their flag to astounding effect.

And, of course, what’s a U2 post from me without a gratuitous shot of Adam? 

From Belga Pictures - click to view their site.

Sun March 14 Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sun March 28 St. Pete
Sun April 11 Barber
Sun April 18 Long Beach
Sat May 1 Kansas
Sun May 30 Indy 500
Sat June 5 Texas
Sun June 20 Iowa
Sun July 4 Watkins Glen
Sun July 18 Toronto
Sun July 25 Edmonton
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sun August 8 Mid-Ohio
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sun August 22 Infineon
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sat August 28 Chicagoland
Sat September 4 Kentucky (might be Sunday, though)
0066cc; cursor: pointer;">Sat September 18 Motegi
0066cc; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer;">Sat October 2 Homestead

Props to Joe at Trackside Online for sharing this over an hour before the press conference. If you aren’t a subscriber, it’s highly recommended and well worth the subscription fee. All the news and on-site reporting straight to your inbox, or you can choose to read it all on their site.

• Mid-March – Preto Riberao, Brazil (and maybe another race as well)
• March 28 – St. Petersberg, FL (via St. Pete’s Twitter feed)
• April 11 – Barber Motorsports Car Park (via various media reports today)
• April 18 – Long Beach (Googled it and found it on the LBGP web site)
• April 25 – Kansas (? – a guess)
• May 12 – Opening day at Indy? If they stay with the shortened month, a May 12 start would mirror this year’s timeframe. Does this not feel reallllly late?

Kentucky has Labor Day, if previous reports hold true, and we know Watkins Glen wants to return to September.

Live Blogs: One person’s view of the race’s events – comments are possible, but it’s a soapbox for a blogger to react to what’s happening (or not) during a race.

Twitter: Quips, quotes, news, photos, and one-to-many comments. You can have conversations on Twitter, but it’s not as concentrated as other forms of contact. Twitter is where it’s at, and it’s not just what’s for dinner anymore.

Group Chat: A few of us gather in a single chat room to experience the races together. Loads of fun – like a virtual race party or tailgate that is very fast paced with lots of zingers flying.

One-on-One Chat: There’s always Yahoo Messenger, once and still the bastion of kids, stalkers and lonely married men getting off in their basements or hotel rooms during narty chats (usually not with their wives). I’m enjoying it as a way to have side conversations with one or two others during a race.

Email: Slower and less-centralized version of one-on-one chat.Good for long-form expression, but I know someone who uses it like text messaging. (Might as well just use chat…)

Texts: One-on-one chat, short version. Good for when one or both parties are actually at the race.

Facebook: Some folks have their Twitter comments populate their FB status; others use FB as a full-featured Twitter. I like it best when race teams and fans post photos and happenings from the race site – using the FB galleries for multiple photos is a lot more convenient than one-at-a-time shots from Twitter via Twitpic or Yfrog.

Forums: They roll a little slower than a group chat – a laid back version of a tailgate party.

At one point today, I had one of each of these rolling, along with the TV broadcast with the volume down and the radio network coverage streaming. It’s a lot of input to take in, and I couldn’t do it all day, but it’s definitely enhancing my enjoyment of the races.

And Robocoaster caught this video of Fatal Shore from the same night:

I’m happy to see these because I was busy at the back and edges of the stage all evening taking photos. You can see those on my photo site.

My friend Carrie is planning to participate in Kili Rocks. She has $7400 and needs $1600 more to reach the $9000 participation donation. She needs to raise the $1600 in the next month to secure her spot on the climb. I’m scheming up something I can do to help raise a little $, but if you can add anything – $5 is terrific – please visit Carrie’s Kili Rocks page and scroll down to the Paypal donation button and lend her a hand. Your donation will help save lives in Kenya.  Thanks!

This is my massage therapy ball. Nothing special about the ball – I bought it at a toy store. I’m using it to break up the adhesions in my abdomen by placing it under my tummy and slowly rolling over it. When I hit a sore spot, I stop and stay there and just breathe through the pain. I’m supposed to do this for 15 minutes a day until there’s no more pain, then five minutes a day after that for maintenance. I’m gonna have to work up to that 15 minutes, I’m afraid. Just spent my first few minutes on it this afternoon, and I have already learned to fear the frog…

Some days it all adds up
And what you got is not enough
Some days are better than others

Some days are slippy, other days sloppy
Some days you can’t stand the sight of a puppy
Your skin is white but you think you’re a brother
Some days are better than others

Some days you wake up with her complaining
Some sunny days you wish it was raining
Some days are sulky, some days have a grin
And some days have bouncers and won’t let you in

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

Some days are honest, some days are not
Some days you’re thankful for what you’ve got
Some days you wake up in the army
And some days it’s the enemy

Some days are work, most days you’re lazy
Some days you feel like a bit of a baby
Lookin’ for Jesus and His mother
Some days are better than others

Some days you feel ahead
You’re making sense of what she said
Some days are better than others

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

—- Bono

Think I’ll go to bed early so I can get extra sleep and still catch IndyCar practice online in the morning. Bubble bath, then big comfy bed with super soft sheets and an even softer feline…sounds like the perfect kickoff!

• Marco Andretti – “Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car”
• Mario Moraes – “Walk On”
• Tony Kanaan – “The Unforgettable Fire”
• Danica Patrick – “Party Girl”
• Helio Castroneves – “Some Days Are Better Than Others”
• Alex Tagliani – “Gone”
• Dan Wheldon – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
• Ryan Briscoe – “Seconds”
• Ed Carpenter – “One Step Closer”
• Paul Tracy = “40″

More to come…

Then I got a call from The International Superstar himself, Shane Rogers, sharing details about his visit with IMS historian Donald Davidson among other things. Always good fun to chat with him. We met at Texas not long after I had surgery, and he’s been aware of the road bumps and keeps asking after my condition. Smart, funny, attractive, dedicated and a good guy – this is the kind of guy you want as a friend.  And as an employee for your IndyCar entity. Jussayin’.

The Bad: It feels like I’m forming adhesions in my abdomen. Had surgery in there three years ago, and this most recent bout uncovered loads of adhesions – all my organs were stuck together. Feels like it’s happening again – the usual stretching or too much walking and there’s a pain in my tummy. The fix if it keeps on this way? More surgery. And what causes adhesions? Surgery!  LOL! Left work a little early because I was hurting a bit. Bubble bath and early to bed for Bashie tonight  – more hours in the “off” position gives a better chance at getting some decent sleep.

Speaking of J-Dub: The blogging world’s very own Meesh got her photo of Justin in Victory Lane in the Indy Star – here’s the electronic version! Good on ya, Meesh!

Taking over his responsibilities is the team of Curt Brighton and Jeffrey Belskus. For starters, this now means we’ll have have to ask “Which Curt?” now that Flirty Curty Cavin (nod to pressdog for the nickname) isn’t the only one you’ll be hearing about/from on a regular basis. But serious questions loom – what does this mean for IMS and especially the Indy Racing League? And how are fans, the media and bloggers reacting to the news? Here’s a roundup:

• First, a preemptive blog post from George at Oilpressure.
• Then, the news from Racer.com.
• Meesh cautions that this isn’t the time for the Anti-IRL brigade to dance for joy.
• Jeff at MyNameIsIRL.com shares his concern for the stability of the sport and the great unknown that it faces at this inopportune time.
• The aforementioned Cavin has reaction from team principals about the change at the top.
• pressdog shouts vindication for his (and Meesh’s) favorite, Robin Miller, and links to Robin’s story from late May that states he was right about this from the beginning and we’d see how long it took to prove that. Robin also gets into the family feud (between George and his sisters) that is driving today’s events.
• Over at Is It May Yet?, there are more props for Miller and the asking of the million-dollar question many of us have – what are The Sisters George’s intentions?
• Meanwhile, Cavin was delivering the mail double-time today, tweeting that “it’s raining news” and giving us much-anticipated details about the league’s softening of oval aero restrictions, starting with the race at Kentucky August 1st. Hopefully we can take down those “No Passing Zone” signs and pave over the double yellow lines that have appeared at almost all of our oval races this season.

Personally, I am a bit saddened that we’ll be spending the speedway’s Centennial Era pondering the fate of the league and of the 500 itself. We should all hope that the potential new deal with Apex Brasil comes to fruition – the deal is believed to bring the series closer to profitability, which may buy the new management team a little extra time from the Sisters George and their demands. But who can say what the long term might hold? And will this uncertainty affect the involvement of new manufacturers and the timing of the new spec, which many are hoping will breathe new life into the sport in on many levels? We live in interesting times…

At night, with show lights and amazing screen…

During the show, they had an actual satellite hookup with the International Space Station to talk with the astronauts – only U2 could pull that off…

Here’s The Claw in its various states:

That rainbow thing is a video screen! The screen shows patterns or it shows the performance to help everyone see…the band looks like ants!

The screen MOVES! It can stretch down almost to the tops of the band’s heads!
Here’s what it’s like during a show:

Those two gray things at the top that have 6 rows each are actually speaker banks! The whole Stage can be a bunch of different colors, or all one shade.

photo by mrbill666

Photo by mrbill666 – see his great Fixx shots on Flickr!

Energy: Or lack thereof…man, I’m wiped out! My energy has been low all week, so the chores haven’t all been done, plus I brought back all the leftover booze from Santa Cruz and it’s in bags all over my apartment until I find a place for it all in my crowded kitchen. Looks like a tornado hit a liquor store and then hit my place.

Writing: Trying to figure out when I’ll have time to resume personal writing projects – the type of writing I do at work is very focused and specific and I’d like to stretch my muscles in other areas again. I wrote a brief bit for pressdog leading into his race notes for the Texas race and discovered just how rusty I am. (Not to mention my usual style doesn’t blend so easily with pdog’s snappy tone.   ) I need to give myself  a few assignments and knock off some rust.

Cy Curnin

The Incomparable Dan K. Brown

Rupert Greenall

The only madman you'll ever need, Adam Woods

Chimey (err, Jamie) West-Oram

It’s no secret that the stars are falling from the sky
It’s no secret that our world is in darkness tonight
They say the sun is sometimes eclipsed by a moon
You know I don’t see you when she walks in the room

It’s no secret that a friend is someone who lets you help
It’s no secret that a liar won’t believe anyone else
They say a secret is something you tell one other person
So I’m telling you, child

Love…we shine like a
Burning star
We’re falling from the sky
Tonight
A man will beg
A man will crawl
On the sheer face of love
Like a fly on a wall
It’s no secret at all

It’s no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest
It’s no secret ambition bites the nails of success
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief

Over love… we shine like a
Burning star
We’re falling from the sky
Tonight
A man will rise
A man will fall
From the sheer face of love
Like a fly from a wall
It’s no secret at all

Love…we shine like a
Burning star
We’re falling from the sky
Tonight
A man will rise
A man will fall
From the sheer face of love
Like a fly from a wall
It’s no secret at all

It’s no secret that the stars are falling from the sky
The universe exploded ’cause of one man’s lie
Look, I gotta go, yeah I’m running outta change
There’s a lot of things if I could I’d rearrange…

—————- Bono

I’m bringing my entire (meager)  liquor cabinet and delegating purchases and contributions to other attendees, and I’ve found a whole mess of basic drink recipes to try on folks. (We usually have our fabulous bartender Ms. Pippi with us, but she’s traveling to Michigan on a family emergency. Love you, my sister…miss you so much…) I’ve built a checklist to make sure we end up having another great gathering. No guarantee the guys will join us this time – it always depends on their travel schedules – but we’ll have a great time, either way. Gotta rest up a lot this week so I can stay up a little later on Friday… 

Blue Moon: A friend of mine tried to order a Blue Moon last weekend when we had lunch at Esparza’s in Grapevine. (They didn’t have it.) I’d never heard of it to that point, but in the last week, I’ve had two others recommend it and read a few references to it. I’m not a huge beer drinker and like my lagers on the light side, so I picked up some Blue Moon this evening and I really enjoyed it. Add that to Boddington’s and Asahi as a beer I will be happy to drink.

Day 1 Photos

Day 2 – Practice/Quals: More photos during a sweltering practice and qualifying session. FINALLY met Crash Gladys and Kenny Sargent from SpeedFreaks-Crash snuck me into the Media Center where we sat in the empty auditorium and chatted up a storm in air-conditioned comfort. Really needed that break – I wasn’t doing to well from the afternoon heat. After quals were complete, I hung out with TISSR, Paul Dalbey and Marc Bever while the NASCAR truck race started. Took off a bit after the race got going – I was only one month-post surgery and really needed to rest. Photos:

Day 2 Photos

Day 3 – Race: Had lunch with a friend at Esparza’s in Grapevine. THE best chips and salsa I’ve had. More, please! Met Crash at the track, where she hooked me up with the Victory Circle access sticker that the SpeedFreaks got.  Since they didn’t have a photographer with them, they let me use it. So cool. Crash and I spent the whole race together, during which she surprised me with a visit to the Live 105.3 suite in turn 4. Had a blast up there!  The racing wasn’t spectacular, but seeing the cars under the lights on that amazing track was thrilling. Left the suite just in time to hit Victory Circle and Helio’s celebration. Photos:

Day 3 Photos

A big thanks to everyone for making my visit to TMS  most enjoyable. I’ll be back – this place is just too awesome to miss!

Finally Together!: After emailing each other all through Helio Castroneves’ run on Dancing with the Stars and staying in touch since, commiserating over the loss of pets and the declining level of competition in our IndyCar series, I FINALLY met Crash Gladys of SpeedFreaks in person this weekend. She is a doll – full of energy and sass and just plain adorable! Kenny Sargent was there as well, with that bad-ass exterior over sweetheart interior. It was great to meet them both.

More Reconnecting: Spent a little more time catching up with the person I disconnected with last fall. I could be wrong, but I think this person may believe I disappeared last year because of  something small, green and shiny. I’m really not petty like that – it was actually some intensely self-focused behavior and a general negative vibe that caused my exit. Hopefully, things will be okay going forward…

Social Butterfly: This week I’m going to meet with a friend and some co-workers I haven’t seen since my surgery. So far I’m booked through Wednesday with one more date to set. This is good for me – I need to build towards being active all day – and it’ll be great to see everyone! Tomorrow I’m finally getting to try GFC – Good Frickin’ Chicken! Nope, not southern fried with a biscuit on the side…this is Mediterranean fare. Shawerma, kebabs, falafel and hummus, etc. Yum!!!

Shrinking – YAY!: Laparoscopic abdominal surgery has many upsides – less pain, faster full recovery, etc. One of the few downsides is something I call the “bloaties,” caused by the CO2 gas used to distend the abdominal wall (this gives the surgeon more room to work). Imagine that “ate too much Thanksgiving dinner” feeling, 24/7. The bloaties can take several weeks to dissipate and I’ve been feeling pretty icky due to them. But it’s getting better! A few days ago I put on my “big pants” and couldn’t get them zipped. I went to Old Navy and got some clearance rack pants in the next size up so I had something other than the one skirt that would fit. Not even a week later, my new pants are already loose and my old “big pants” are now zipping up. Hoping to be down yet another size in the next few days so I can start trying my usual wardrobe.

Watching the 500 Banquet is kinda like taking down the Christmas tree. Its time to put the Decorations away, take a deep breath and look forward to next year.

Shoe-in – Helio Castroneves. Since his acquittal on tax evasion charges last month, Helio has been on a roll. Everything seems to be falling his way – strong finishes in his races so far, the pole, the pit stop competition…it’s really hard to go against him.

Co-star – Teamie Ryan Briscoe is fast, smart and a bit overshadowed by Helio. He could sneak into Victory Lane if his day goes right.

But Wait, There’s More – Dan Wheldon seems to have found what he was looking for. He wrestled his car all month and today it just came to him. He should be watched. Closely.

Long Shot(s) – Graham Rahal and Mario Moraes. Each solid and quite quick, Moraes surprisingly so. There should be some excitement from these two.

Loooooong Shot – Davey Hamilton. He’s found the speed he wanted after spending the month selflessly putting his preparation time aside to help his teamies get qualified. Davey’s a smart driver and Master of Strategy and Setup, Larry Curry, is calling his race so you just never know…

Davey Hamilton and Sarah Fisher

Follow Sarah at:  http://twitter.com/SarahFisher67

Follow Davey Hamilton at:  http://twitter.com/DaveyHamilton

Health Check: Feeling a little better and a little more mobile every day. Kinda limited in my excursions by wardrobe considerations, of all things. I have one skirt that will fit over my blown-up tummy.  (With laparoscopic surgery, they inflate your abdomen with CO2 so they have more room to work. It takes several weeks to dissapate and I look quite pregnant!) I guess I can always opt to wander out in my favorite PJ bottoms – I do have a few pairs of those that I can get on – but that’s kinda like going out of the house with rollers in your hair…  LOL!

Sebastian likes them too!

Here are the balloons from my family:

Here’s a kitty my mom and sis sent:

Three years ago I had surgery to correct a situation in my abdomen, and the condition returned. This surgery was to stop the situation once and for all. It turned out to be  a little more involved than we thought – when my doc got a look in my abdomen, she found a lot of scar tissue (adhesions) from the last time. Before she could take out what she went in for, she had to spend quite a bit of time separating organs from my intestines and my intestines from each other. But it all went without complications so I’ll be recovering pretty much as planned.

The worst part of the whole thing is the post-anesthesia nausea. I didn’t experience it last time, but this time I’ve been awfully queasy and the anti-nausea meds make me disoriented and cause headaches. Better not to throw up after abdominal surgery, so I can’t skip it.

I’ll be off work for six weeks to recover from surgery and recover my overall health. Looking forward to getting out and about for short walks (maybe next week) and then really revamping my overall fitness. But I have to take it easy for a little while and I’m not known for my ability to relax.

I’m looking forward to ending the losses (2 cats and now a body part in 5 months) and to gaining my health back. I haven’t felt well in well over a year. That’s about to change. And I have so much lined up for my convalescence at home – Giants baseball on the radio, all the Indy festivities for May, a stack of recently-purchased CDs and concert DVDs (mostly U2), some movies and a bunch of books to read. Can’t wait until I can resume power walking and regain my health.

Davey Hamilton, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Jeff Olson (most awesome writer) Comment on Viso Status: Take Franchitti with you.

hee hee!

um, no. Leave Hottio his gorgeous hair!

Ramblin’: I’m on Networked Blogs – see the module lower on the right side of the page and follow me if you dare… 

Amblin’ (barely): My health condition has me moving so slowly I really don’t know how I get through a day. Cannot WAIT to feel better – possibly as soon as next weekend!

Gamblin’: Well, not really – no cash at stake. Made my Indy 500 picks on the Downforce site. The usual suspects: Dixie, Hottio Franchitti, Hello-io Castroneves, TK and Briscoe/Disco Infrerno.  Nice that I can change them up until race weekend if a dark horse shows a strong hand…cannot WAIT for engines to fire on Tuesday!

April 7 – Big handoff deadline at work tomorrow and of course I now knew why I was feeling so tired the day before. Sick. As. A. Dog. I called in sick, hit the Nyquil and hit the hay.

April 8 – Even sicker, but worked from home. Won a Red Zone auction ticket for the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl. This means I can sell the other two and pay myself back for the hefty auction price. Red Zone 2, which I believe means i might just be close enough to pinch The Posh One after all. (Look out, Mr. Clayton!) I cranked out a copy doc and handed it off, took care of as much other work as possible and begged off Thursday and Friday to rest.

April 9 – NyQuil + sleep. Can’t keep anything down. Lost about 7 pounds in two days. Noticed a troubling issue with Felix – it seemed like he wasn’t in full control of his legs. No, please. No more kitty problems…

April 10 – More kitty problems. No sleep today – instead, I loaded up on DayQuil and tissues, grabbed a ZIPCar and took Felix to the vet. His legs had completely abandoned him. They kept him for a while and took xrays, blood samples and gave him some meds. The dreaded letters F, I and P were mentioned as a possible cause.  We went to bed early, with Felix in his carrier on the other side of the bed.

April 11 – Still feeling puny, but dragged to Cinta for my scheduled mani/pedi. First one since January. Got home to rest and care for Felix. Vet called with test results – either an infection in his central nervous system or FIP. I got another ZIPCar, went to get his antibiotic prescription and a larger crate and puppy pads for his comfort. He wasn’t able to use the box on his own at this point, so I wanted to be covered for accidents. Got the crate set up on the bed, with a soft towel and a puppy pad.We needed to give the meds a few days to take affect, so we needed to be ready for major cage time.

April 12 – Felix wasn’t interested in cat food or people tuna anymore, so I headed to get him some baby food meat. He was slightly weaker and spent most of his time sleeping.

April 13 – Worked from home to nurse Felix. In the afternoon, I called the vet with a follow up report and they wanted to see him. Nothing different really stood out, so we stuck with the meds and wait-and-see approach.

April 14 – Worked from home  again. Little dood couldn’t hold his head up at this point and wasn’t able to drink from a bowl anymore. I started giving him water with a medicine syringe. He was still interested in eating his baby food meat and cleared a jar plus a little more every day.

April 15 – Arranged to work from home half days the rest of this week, since I was up in the night with Felix. I slept late and worked from 1 -5 pm so I could finish up and hand off another project document. Felix was more listless and ate a little less. The meds weren’t affecting him so far, but the recommendation was to give him just a little more time.

April 16 – Felix continued to slip into worse health. I fed, watered and changed his puppy pad every 3 hours or so, around the clock. During the evenings the whole week, I’d listen to Giants games on the radio while holding him. There were loads of tears…

April 17 – Practice on Indycar.com for the Long Beach grand Prix. Felix was in his crate next to my computer desk as I followed the practice. One lovely moment in a week of dark clouds happened when Twitter and news alerts delivered news that Helio Castroneves, his sister Kati, and their lawyer were all acquitted of the tax evasion charges they were being tried for. I was elated to hear the news and it lifted my spirits for a while. I finished another project for work, handed it off, and came back down to earth for a moment…and reserved another ZIPCar for the trip to the vet I had to make in the morning.

April 18 – 8 a.m. and we were at the SPCA animal hospital again. We all agreed that Felix had had adequate time to respond to the meds, yet he was worse. FIP was the final conclusion – and there is nothing that can be done for that. So we set him free from his suffering and sent him on to his next life. Rest in peace, my adorable little kitty dood.

I signed an agreement that allowed Felix’s tissue and fluid samples to be shared with UC Davis for a study they are doing on FIP. Afterward. they told me the study covered everything – all the tests, the euthanasia charges, and even adoption fees the next time I adopt from the SPCA. They were so supportive and compassionate in the way they handled Felix’s case from start to finish. We have a wonderful SPCA here and I feel lucky they care here to help me with Sebastian and his old kitty age. I went home after the vet and tried to decompress. Followed practice and qualifying for the Long Beach Grand Prix – it was a joy to see Helio back in the car and to hear his funny broken English and experience his joy for living again.

April 19 – Watched Dario (Hottie-O!) Franchitti quickly re-establish his place in IndyCar with a win at Long Beach, and got myself a full-sized laptop for use when I’m laid up in bed next month. (HP dv4-1275mx special edition with a pretty blue swirling design on the cover.) Mostly, just decompressed from a very trying couple of weeks. Really warm and it was hard to sleep from the heat, as well as the fact I was really congested.

April 20 – full day at work. I felt like a zombie.

April 21 – Another full day at work. Still really tired, but getting back into the swing of things.

April 22 – Sebastian is 15 today – that’s 77 in people years. Long in the kitty tooth! Another day at work, and finally some time to write up the last two weeks’ events. I’m hoping to update more frequently with less-depressing content…

7:00 AM: Armed with personalized presale code, jumped online and snagged one GA and one seated ticket to see U2 at the Rose Bowl in October. (May be too old to GA – so I grabbed a seat and can decide on the day what I want to do.) GA ticket was a reasonable $55. Don’t even ask about the seat…the sticker shock definitely woke me up. 20 rows or so up, on Adam’s side. No pinching The Posh One from there…drats.

8:30 AM: Tooled down 101 in my ZipCar on the 15-minute commute to Brisbane for work. Daily to-do list only slightly longer than my arm. That’s an improvement. I dove in and barely come up for air…

12:20 PM: 20-minute chair massage from the most-awesomest Sabina. Ahhhhh….

1:00 PM: Leave of Absence orientation meeting with HR. I was the only non-pregnant woman in the room. They all checked out my big, round tummy. Nope,  not a baby. Cake.

2:20 PM: Finally got off the phone with my boss (he’s at the Web 2.0 expo) and almost fainted. Gee, I guess it’s time for lunch. Headed out in the ZipCar and found something terribly unhealthly to eat. Gorgeous day in the bay.

3:10 PM: Back at that to-do list.

4:45 PM: Brain-fried. Needed the car today to run errands, so I headed off to the nearest discount store (Target) to start stocking up for post-surgical recovery. Double doses of toiletries and some lounge/sleepwear and undies a size bigger than normal to accomodate the post-puncture swelly belly. CA state tax went up to 9.75% today. Ouch.

6:30-ish PM: Ocean Beach. I try to see the Pacific when I have a ZipCar. Got out into a stiff wind and I’m still finding sand in things. Got back into the car, rolled down the window and breathed………

7:00 PM: Got the ZipCar stashed in its bed, walked home to find two squalling felines who wanted their dinner, then mine. Deja vu…

10:30 PM: Poli-shows watched (Maddow is Must See TV for me), emails read, Twitter skimmed. Bedtime and some Web 2.0 time for me tomorrow. Night.

Life: I really need surgery. I coulda had it earlier, but one of my coworkers is on leave now (due back April 20) and I didn’t want to leave the other one alone. (Seriously worried neither will be there when I get back in June, as it is.) So it’s surgery May 7th. Meantime, the discomfort grows. Is it MAY yet?

Work: Bad, meet worse. IS IT MAY YET?

Work - Insanely busy. Working on some really interesting projects, but they’re all happening at once.

Cats - Felix had a bad tummy but the vet fixed that up for him and he’s back to his cute little kitten self. Sebastian is doing fine.

Music - So it happened again. I have a habit of getting really into a band at least 15 years after they start. This time? U2. They’ve only been at it for 32 years at this point…guess it’s time to really pay attention.   Been enjoying getting into their entire body of work and hope to see them on tour this year or next (hoping they’ll come closer than Vegas/LA next year…).

Racing - Is it MAY yet? Srsly. DO NOT WANT wait. Tickled that Davey Hamilton will be gunning for another 500. Glad to have Dario back in the IndyCars. Hoping Helio beats his tax rap. Can’t wait for St. Pete in 3 weeks. NASCAR is barely tiding me over…HALP! (Oh, yeah – Versus is helping. Loads of programming this month, including a really good hour on Danica Patrick. Not fluff. Encouraging work from our new network!)

Life: Busy. Reading, writing and following racing and Tour of California and baseball’s about to start.

Health: Not so great. I need more surgery and it won’t wait all year…I have a visit with my specialist March 9th to get a read on where things stand.

Work: Hooo, boy. Crazy busy projects, more on the way, with the terrain constantly changing. Other things are changing, as well. Some of it’s due to the economy, but there are non-economy-related things going on…not all are enjoyable, but they may eventually work themselves out for the ultimate good. All week, a verse from nowhere keeps playing in my head:   “The ice under your feet is as thin as a sheet of paper…”

Kitties: Sebastian is himself – hanging out, sweet, and all seems decent with him. Little Felix is having tummy troubles – everything seems to cause frequent trips to the litter box. I’m slowly trying him on different foods to see if that helps, and he has a vet appointment on the 28th.  He’s comical and sweet and I’m so glad we have him. And Sabrina…I miss her so, but it’s a little better the last few days. I had a very vivid dream last week in which she visited me. It felt like she was curled up in my arms asleep, as she always was, and the message I kept hearing in my dream was “I’m always with you…”  Things have felt a little lighter since that dream.

There’s a red stripe up the heel to compliment the the red star at the ankle. Now if it will stop raining long enough for me to wear them… (not much worse than soggy Chucks…)

Meantime, I’m hoping for the best for Helio. Some folks I know who know Helio say it wouldn’t be like him to knowingly do something illegal – they are citing his trustful, naive nature as something that may have gotten him into this mess. I just hope he doesn’t have to do time, if these folks are right.

Update: Both the Indy Star and Robin Miller at SPEED TV are reporting the driver is Power!  He’ll be on board until Helio’s situation is clear. So Team Penske hasn’t backed away from supporting Helio after all…they’re just announcing their game plan early. That sounds like the Team Penske we know and love…

Sebastian: He’s been so bummed without his little Brina Bean to play and snuggle with. He’s extra-clingy and only eats well if I sit with him. I’ve been giving him as much attention I can.

SF SPCA: I stopped by Saturday on an errand and walked through the kitty condos to see if it was the same as 10 years ago when I volunteered as a cat socializer. Same lovely lofts, mostly full of adorable fuzzballs that need a good home. Including…

Felix!: I saw this little dude, who’d just been made available for adoption 30 minutes before I got there, and had to go in and say hi. I found Mark, a really kind socializer, who joined me in Felix’s room to get to know him better himself. Little Felix was immediately engaging and curious, with the typical energy of a 6-month-old kitten, but a nice settled sweetness to him as well. I wasn’t considering adoption so soon after losing Sabrina, but fifteen minutes later I was telling Mark I wanted to take him with me, so we now have a little bouncing ball of fur in the house. Isn’t’ he cute? 

Sebastian is still hissing a little, but is starting to play with Felix some, and although my heart still aches for Sabrina, it’s fun to have a bit of comic relief and such a sweet kitty boy around to brighten our place a bit.

Work: We’re getting another senior-level writer after all, which is good – we need more hands on deck.

Health: The condition I had surgery for in 2006 is really reasserting itself. Time for another round of tests…more surgery seems a given at this point. The sinus/ear infection has cleared up, but my right ear is still clogged and my hearing is about 40% on that side.

Racing: Is it May yet? Or at least April? Okay, we’ve got the Rolex 24 and Speedweeks coming soon…

TV: Jack is Back!! Other than the political news shows on MSNBC, the only show I see regularly is 24. So happy it’s finally returning after a year off due to the writers’ strike. A girl needs her weekly heart-attack drama…  LOL!

Meanwhile, Santarchy Reigns (Reins?): San Franciscans are participating in SantaCon 08 today, a flash mob of people dressed as Santas, reindeer and elves, cruising the bars and doing just whatever happens. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow the SF festivities at http://twitter.com/sfsanta. Or use Twitter search to find  SantaCon movements in your own town.  Several Santas and a herd of reindeer were on the 1 California bus I rode home from errands – Santa and Dancer were ready for the good times now invading the Mission district and heading towards the wharf.

Sleeping on His Head: I love when Sebastian is sitting up straight, then tucks his nose between his front paws and takes a nap without lying down. So funny.

Mobile Joe – Really?: I saw this in downtown San Francisco the other day…a mobile Starbucks. Ironically, there are at least four Starbucks locations within a two-block radius of where this truck was dispensing joe. How much is enough?

My Lights: I love that you can find inexpensive lights in an array of interesting colors at your local Walgreen’s.

Their Lights: They being the San Francisco Shopping Center’s. Stopped on the upper level to grab a book at Border’s and admired the display of lights under the dome. They reminded me a little of jellyfish…

Work: Chasing last minute updates before the site sees it’s highest traffic of the year on Friday and Monday. Have really done nothing else today but try to get one change approved and implemented. I have to get approvals from very busy VPs who are in meetings all day, so forward progress is slow.

Turkey Day: Gonna roast me a bird, make some dressing and some pumpkin custard (pie without the crust) and have a nice quiet day with the puds, and my friend Rani might come by for a bit. Need a nice, restful day. Lots of stress in all parts of life right now.

I took MUNI 39 up to Coit Tower, took the Filbert steps to Montgomery Street, and walked down the Greenwich steps to the last flight. There’s a home for sale there that I’d love to own (see it here), so I took a couple photos before heading back up the steps to Montgomery street. I cut over and did the rest of the Filbert steps, visiting Darrell Place and the authentic boardwalk of Napier Lane on the way down. I took loads of photos – steps, homes and a lot of the parrots, who were always perched in green and red foliage that camouflaged them perfectly…

Prop H8 Protest: San Franciscans took to the streets this evening to protest California’s vote on Prop 8 ( or Prop h8, as we call it). The passing of 8 bans same sex marriage – I can’t believe this state has actually voted to write discrimination into the constitution. Of late, the city was crawling with Elders bussed in from Utah, Mormons working to get 8 passed. I believe in complete separation of church and state, and abhor that another state and even the Catholic church on the national level spent so much money to meddle in our politics. We’ll turn this thing over somehow…here’s another place to chant “Yes We Can”…oh, and there are photos, of course.

Cats: Sebastian has recovered well from his dental surgery and is back to his big ol’ snuggly food-beggin’ self. Sabrina is steady – eating normally, playing a little, sleeping a lot, no blood clots or strange behavior. I got information today on the procedure and costs for saying goodbye, cremation, etc. Broke my heart, but I need to be ready for it.

Life: Things are calming down a little – lots of stress over the last month and it’s been a tough year all around. Since my hospital stay, I’ve slowly decompressed and have been able to relax and sleep better. I’ve also lost 8 pounds while following the advice of the cardiologist I saw. Still having issues accepting Sabrina’s ultimate fate – tears well up very easily – but I’ll do my best with that. It’s a tough one.

Work: Short-term hiring freeze means no more writers for us this year or early 2009 – to take up the slack, my direct reports will now report to my boss as well, which frees me up for more project work. It didn’t make sense to have two managers and two non-managers if the team isn’t growing for a while. It’s disappointing, but I will find other ways to challenge myself and may resume managing once the team is large enough to need two managers.

Politics: I cannot wait for Tuesday. I’m hoping for a massive change of direction for the whole country – we’ve been doing it one way for too long and the pendulum needs to swing the other way to see if balance can be found.

NaNoWriMo: To write or not to write – that is the question. The annual exercise of cranking out a 50,000 word novel in one month’s time has begun, and I’m sitting on the fence. I guess I can start, and drop out if I want. Better than deciding half-way through that I want to do it. It’s 1667 words a day…still not sure what I want to write about.

Yum: A coworker brought us cocoa puffs from the Liliha Bakery on Oahu – puff pastry filled with chocolate pudding, topped with chantilly frosting. Incredible. Too bad it’s a 5 hour flight to get more…

Charming: While riding a cable car the other day, an adorably-attractive elderly couple were singing (beautifully) “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” as I stood in front of them. After they finished, I thanked them for starting my day with such a lovely moment. I love this city…

This last week or so has been an awfully big adventure – one I hope not to repeat any time soon.

Please keep my angel in your thoughts. Whichever way it goes, I want her to feel no pain, so will make a firm decision when the first sign appears.

My angel with the funny face

UPDATE (9 a.m.): The little one was active most of the wee hours of this morning, walking into the living room/kitchen several times, drinking lots of water, using her litter box twice, and this morning, she batted a string around for a few minutes (not a full-out romp, but definitely a good sign), then ate a few bites of kibble and a few bites of tuna. I’m happy to see her more active and eating (!!!), but I have been awake for all but an hour or so as a result, and I’m pretty groggy. Mommy will be worthless today.  *grin*

(A big thanks to PattyChaseVan for the heads up.)

Last fall, Peters, Curnin and another cast of adventurers climbed to base camp, Mt. Everest, to perform the world’s highest-altitude concert to benefit a Nepalese treatment center. To support Love Hope Strength Foundation’s promise of “One Cancer Center in Every Country, One Concert at a Time,” they’re now in Peru to perform, inspire and raise money for INEN, the main cancer center in Peru.

Nick Harper, Brien McVernon and Fastballers Joey Shuffield, Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga join Peters and Curnin as performing musicians. Everest trekkers Slim Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats and Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx are shown as additional fundraisers not making the trek this time. Meet all the trekkers, read their stories, follow their journey, send messages, and most importantly, donate MONEY, here:

http://www.perurocks.org/journal/

Photo from Stan at The Score by way of Meesh.  (You can  -  and should - read Meesh at “So…here’s what I’m thinking…“  )

Cold, Again: I have my third cold in four weeks and it’s freezing in my place. I’m happy I can stream SpeedFreaks on my phone with the iPhone upgrade – may just do a bubble bath, dose up on Nyquil and hit the hay early, and I can listen to the Freaks’ two-hour Paul Newman tribute wherever I go in the house.

Settled In: Finally got time to complete unpacking and here’s what my new space looks like:

Yum, Part II: Hauled home a Panda Feast from Panda Express today – steamed and fried rice, Kung Pao and Orange Chickens and Beijing Beef. Froze half and will eat the other half over the weekend…bliss!

Live Traffic Reports, 24/7: Thanks to Feedjit, you can see what towns visit this blog, over in the left column. If you click “Watch in Real-Time,” you’ll go to a live feed page that gives you browser, operating system and referrer information. Of course, since this is just a little stop way off the main road, there won’t be much activity, but it is kinda fun to see where folks are coming from and going to…

Training: I’m attending another day-long seminar here in SF tomorrow – “Coaching and Team Building for Managers” will keep me preoccupied 9-4, then I’ll be rushing home to bake up a storm, because…

Bake Sale: …I formed a team of folks at work, named us “Project Yumway” and we’re going raise the most money for the Children’s Miracle Network at our company’s competition/bake sale on Friday. Peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, lemon shortbread and garlic cheese biscuits are my contributions. My team mates are bringing bundt cakes, cup cakes, Pavlovas, fruit tarts, croissants, brownies and more. We will crush the other teams with our yumminess.  *grin*

Zoo: Strained a muscle in my back moving and unpacking things, so I didn’t participate in re-landscaping part of the San Francisco Zoo along with my coworkers. (Walmart.com participated in “Be the Change” Day, organized by Hands On Bay Area.)

2009 Races: Been exploring which races I might attend next year and nailing down hotel reservations while the choosin’s good. My Facebook buddy Tom Beeler is encouraging Kentucky, Chicago or both (I had to take a moment to catch Tom up on my Sonoma adventure…hoo boy) and I’ve been looking at several other races as well. Won’t be able to make all the races I’ve booked rooms for, so I’m selecting options that have flexible cancellation polices…

Corned Beef Hash: Yeah, it’s a heart attack on a plate, but I get a hankerin’ for it 3-4 times a year. (Since it’s so seldom, I always indulge myself when the hankerin’ hits.) Usually, I make it from scratch, but didn’t have all the ingredients I needed this time. So I broke the glass with the little hammer and accessed my emergency rations (aka Hormel Homestyle in a can). I’d been reading well past lunch time and was starving – and why does it take so incredibly long for the stuff to reach that “crispy but not burned” state that makes it so yummy? Anyway, there’s a little left for breakfast tomorrow – an egg and some toast and that’s a hearty start. Mmmmmm!

Out of curiosity, I checked my stats to see who’s been looking at this year’s photos. I noticed a few folks were stopping by here a few times, then going off and looking at my Sonoma photos from last year, but never seeing the ones from THIS year. Funny, I posted links to this year’s photos right here, two weeks ago. (You people just don’t READ, do you? LOL!)

But…

I’ve found a better place for all my photos and they all (33 albums as of this date) live on my Picasa Web site now. Just:

1. Click the words “my Picasa Web site” in the last sentence.
2. Click an album to open it.
3. Click a photo to see full size, or click “Slideshow” to automate the display.

It’s all there – the last two Indy 500s, last two Sonomas, loads of Fixx concerts, Martin Gore from Depeche Mode playing the piano in our penthouse suite on the Exciter tour, my kitties, other critters, niece and nephews, etc.

Enjoy!

Sabrina stalks a snack…

]]> http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/772/feed 0 http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/767 http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/archives/767#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:01:27 +0000 Bash http://www.bashful7.com/BashUp/?p=767 Light of Day: I’m moving from a cube that is very small and very dark to a bit larger space with plenty of light and a window. Here it is, pre-move:

And the view from my seat includes the bay and Candlestick Park to the right of the hill:

My boxes are all unpacked and my electronics all set up and running – just need to decide where to store a few things and the desk will be ready for visitors tomorrow. Look for a photo or two tomorrow evening.

photo by icka
© All rights reserved

Another day is lost tomorrow when we all convene at AT&T Park for Walmart.com’s Day at the Ballpark. Brad Hennessey will start for the Giants after we all enjoy a tailgate with the usual dogs and burgers fare. I’m really torn about that – will probably attend but not eat anything until I get inside the park. AT&T is known for its food – especially Gilroy Garlic Fries and a huge range of additional San Francisco treats.

So today, we’re all packing in a hurry since tomorrow is a total loss. And we’re eating more sweets in honor of two birthdays: George’s is today, Alvin’s is tomorrow. They both sit next to me (for two more days) and are two cool designer doods. George knows Dario Franchitti’s cousin, Jarrett, who’s director of apparel at Nike, so we sometimes chat about that and racing. Alvin is another shutterbug who loves the Nikon D80 as much as I do. And the coolest thing happened today: George and Alvin’s boss Vanessa had her second baby – a special present for George. Needless to say, we’re getting nothing done but some packing (NINE boxes for me – I’ve been here 4 1/2 years, so I gots lots of STUFF).

Saturday, the company’s involved in four Hands On Bay Area events – I’m participating in the replanting of landscaped areas at the SF Zoo. We had an informational potluck today (I brought baked macaroni and cheese), got our tshirts and stuffed our faces for a bit. Our company’s partnering with Home Depot, Accenture, Symantec, CBS5-TV, The Gap, See’s Candies, Glaceau’s VitaminEnergy (I love their SmartWater) and Panera Bread on these activities. The ballgame, the move and the zoo cleanup all look like photo ops to me, so check back as the days progress to see wildlife in various forms…

• Scott Dixon clench his second championship
• The second-closest finish in IndyCar history (.0033 – a few inches). Race all afternoon at 214 mph and it comes down to that. (The closest IndyCar finish was .0024 – 2002 at Chicagoland Speedway. And the closest finish in motor sports history happened in an Indy Lights race last year – .0005 was the difference. Where? Chicagoland Speedway, of course.)
• The results reversed – at first we were told that Scott Dixon won the race, but a review of the video tape showed it was Helio
• The record set for the winner starting from the farthest back in the field. (Helio started 28th – dead last – due to a penalty during qualifying. The previous record was 26th.)
• The record set for most laps led in a season (Scott Dixon)
• The record tied for most wins in a season (six)
• E.J. Viso come from 26th to race as high as 4th before a punctured tire put him into the wall and out of the race
• Mario Moraes starting 27th and running well into the top 10 for a good while before crashing out
• Milka Duno leading a few yellow flag laps and a single green flag lap and holding a good speed and line as she got passed by the contenders on that restart
• A “true” rookie (Hideki Mutoh) winning Rookie of the Year
• Will Power having his best oval finish and sounding exhilarated at the close racing, saying he’d had the most fun all season
• Three wide racing for the lead for 3-4 laps just shy of the midpoint of the race, with lots of other three wide and pack racing all day. I found myself holding my breath on numerous occasions.
• Vitor’s last race for Panther end with an mechanical failure that put him in the wall (real bummer)
• Tomas Scheckter out early with yet another mechanical issue (not drive shaft this time)
• Both Vision cars showing some speed (though not showing great final results)
• Another chance to use “Graham Rawall” (or “Graham in the Wall Camps”) as the 06 found the wall on an oval yet again
• Sarah Fisher crashing out and suffering a foot injury

There was so much going on today that I’m sure I missed some – it was a terrific finish to the championship and I can’t wait for next season. There’s a non-points race in Surfer’s Paradise, Australia (Oct 25 at 10:30 PM eastern on ESPN Classic; re-air Oct 26, 11 PM ET on ESPN2) and then the long, cold winter sets in.

Happy Kim-Day!: Kim Diep is my technician at Cinta, and today is her birthday. She didn’t seem to mind working on her day and was excited that her husband was coming in to the city to take her to dinner after work. She keeps me laughing all through the buffing and polishing with tales of the adventures of her two young sons, Kevin and Jordan. Happy birthday, sweetie!

I’m set for the weekend – happy as a clam. Just need to score a nice bottle of sangiovese and all will be perfect!

I connected with Bud on MySpace and finally met him at Infineon Raceway at Sonoma last month. Bud races a temperamental Ferrari and a trusty backup Ensign in the Historic Grand Prix and he and his wife Carol are two of the sweetest people you could meet.

So here’s to Bud on his day – I know there are good friends, good food, and good wine surrounding him today!

Happy Birthday!

(Hope you like marzipan frosting!)

A birthday message?

My first thought is that it must be someone’s birthday and that this is a very clever way to mark it. But then I got closer and read the message:

Everyone loves a winner!

Now, I don’t imagine Michael Phelps’ girlfriend really works at Walmart.com, and I don’t know who has the massive crush on Phelps, but this technique has multiple applications – birthday, weddings, new baby, promotion, good luck…very smart.

Indycar.com says Wheldon will drive for Panther, replacing Vitor Meira. (Indystar.com has it, too.) If the money comes together, they may run a 2nd car for Vitor. If not…where will Vitor go? Some of the “transition” teams are talking about expanding or, in the case of Derek Walker, joining for the first time. Many of them have struggled with drivers who just haven’t been catching on. Vitor is very talented and a solid driver who could help any of those struggling teams. And where does Paul Tracy fit in to the picture? And Alex Tagliani? This will be interesting to watch.

Gus is in town – it’s been over a year since I’ve seen him. Our friend Lucy is moving to Kauai next week, so we sent her off with our favorite pizza at Giorgio’s, joined by the delightful Marilyn and the perfectly demented Demery. The salad, pizza and chianti were delicious and we added to the enjoyment with a text message “orgy.” Gus texted a folk singer friend of his, Beth Patterson, who lives in New Orleans and was battening down the hatches for Hurricane Gustav. When Beth replied, Lucy texted her back. A different member of our party would follow and we passed Beth around “like a groupie,” as she put it, and the conversation was warped and hilarious. (At one point, I asked her if it was textual harassment…) I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. After dinner, we crossed the street to the Plough and the Stars Irish pub for a nightcap. (And we all agree that Clement Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues is the best block on earth.) There’s a stage for live music at the Plough, but this evening the musicians were casually seated around a table to play their reels and jigs. At one point, the bartender (a real authentic Irishman) sang a hilarious tune about a dubious Scottish barber and the unfortunate haircut he received from him. It was a terrific moment, so this Scotswoman forgave the insult to her fellow countryfolk.

And while I was reveling with my friends here, Diamond was hanging with the racers in Oswego and sent me a photo of himself and Davey:

Diamond and Davey Hamilton party it down in Oswego, 8/31/08

(Is that what beer goggles look like to the beholder? LOL!)

Just a perfect way to top the perfect evening.

Davey in his HP fire suit, Oswego Speedway, 8/31/08

UPDATE: Davey brought the new car home where he started, in 4th. Awesome to see him racing again! His next event is September 12 at the Terre Haute Action Track, where he and other IndyCar notables, including Sarah Fisher, will race modified stock cars in the Race to Recover – benefiting the recovery from the June floods in the Wabash Valley in southwest Indiana.

Classic, Too: Once the painting is done and I re-floor the kitchen and bathroom, I want to fulfill a long time goal and buy a collection of wicker furniture for the bedroom. With its white woodwork and yellow walls, it’s perfect for creating a country cottage vibe and I’ve spent some time today looking for just the right white wicker. Of course, being a radio junkie who grew up in central Indiana, I can’t think of wicker without hearing a certain radio jingle playing in my head. A small shop near Tipton, IN, called “The Schoolhouse of Educated Wicker” advertised heavily on several local stations when I was growing up. It’s made wicker shopping pretty fun to hear that tune in my head again. *grin*

Classic, Again: House salad with Italian vinaigrette, Giorgio’s perfect New York style cheese pizza and a glass of chianti…I’m heading out at 6 for a walk to 3rd Ave and Clement (via a couple shopping districts) for dinner with Gus and Lucy.

Davey Hamilton (red) at Oswego, 8/30/08

Ready to Roll!

Last check, Davey was running second quick in practice, so it looks like that brand new #6 car is a good one! Go Davey!

UPDATE 9:45 p.m: I just got a message from a Danica fan on MySpace saying, “You must be the one who let IMS Radio know we couldn’t hear KO in the pits – how many Bashes can there be in San Francisco? Thanks for doing that.” LOL!

Not long after practice ended, I got an email from my friend Gus, whom I haven’t seen in ages. He’s here in the bay area and we’re going to get some pizza at Giorgio’s (best pie in SF!) with our friend Lucy tomorrow night. Woo hoo!

Good Fortune: I can never resist lunch at Panda Express, and I love the fortune I got yesterday and just now opened: “Participation in sports may lead you to a lucrative career.” Guess I better invest in some pro lenses. *grin*

3 1/2 Day Weekend: We’re about two hours from being sprung from the office for a long weekend. Other than following the IndyCars and baseball, I have made no plans. I like the idea of winging this one. Do whatever comes up, which may be nothing. *grin*

Meantime, it’s time for lunch, and there isn’t a Mary’s Pizza Shack to be found around here. I’m stuck with the usual salad/sammich/burger/soup and taco truck fare. Not much else available out here on Sierra Point.

Time Warp: Back in mid-June, I ordered a nice silk camisole and tap pant set from Wintersilks. No special occasion, just something nice for me. Our mailroom head, Mr. Z., said he left a package for me one day in late June, and that was the only package I was expecting, but it was nowhere to be found when I got to my desk. It appeared that someone had swiped it, and the item was sold out on the Wintersilk’s site, so I thought I was out of luck. I just now got back to my desk with takeout from Baysider Cafe to find the package waiting for me…two months later. Nice way to start the weekend. *grin*

http://www.bashful7.com/marcohuge.jpg

George Lucas was at Infineon for the race. I did not see him, but did hear an interview with him on the radio network, after which nearby Lucas Valley Road and Skywalker Ranch were mentioned. I had the good fortune to spend a weekend at the ranch once – here are a few pages of photos from my old website.

The Best Abs: Nice photo of Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon on Tomas’ MySpace page. Now, I’m not usually into the too muscled or “cut” look, but check out the bod on The Scheck!

1. Click the larger photo of Roger Penske for the full-sized view.
2. Look for a box on the right side of the page. The box will contain text (You are at the first photo) and another picture. Click that picture to view it.
3. Continue clicking the photo on the right side of that box to go forward, or click the photo on the left to go back.

Love the orange - one of my favorite colors

Living room, looking into the dining nook

Cozy love seat - just the right size for shorty me to curl up on

Loads of pillows...

The bedroom window box

I’m considering a return visit for my birthday or a weekend getaway soon. Can’t imagine staying anywhere else in Sonoma.

A little KINDness: Had my chair massage today. I sent Sabina some Helio photos yesterday and gave her a brief overview (2-3 lines?) of the race weekend visitor situation. She shares everything with her sister Kathleen (from whom I’ve also gotten great massages) and after reading what I sent, they bought me a Sesame Peanut Chocolate KIND bar because they thought I deserved better – and for a laugh. (I’m laughing too – everything else last weekend was perfect and I can’t wait for Sonoma to come around again.) Proceeds from the sale of this little snack benefit Peaceworks.net – a yummy treat for a good cause with a kind (and funny!) intention behind it. Sabina and I always have a lot of laughs during massage time, but today I learned that she used to work as a producer at KCBS radio, where my dial is set most of the time. So I shared my radio background with her as well – just one more thing we have in common.

Tasty: One of my direct reports is a baking whiz and today she brought us her first cheesecake. It has a gingersnap crust with a thin layer of pear and then the cheesecake filling. Incredible. Thank goodness for the walking trail and the gorgeous 80-degree weather.

I’m heading out for a walk…

Another email was waiting from the CEO, telling us we are being kicked out at 2 p.m. Friday for the Labor Day holiday. I like having another long weekend lined up. Maybe I’ll resume painting my place, or do my favorite cross-city walk to the beach if the weather’s warm enough. There will be baseball games and racing to enjoy, as well.

• Cars, cars, cars of all kinds
• Bud Moeller, in the flesh! (Remember last year?)
• Helio and his hot new girlfriend
• Ryan Briscoe’s cute caboose
• Mama Ice, Papa Ice, Emma Ice and Ice
• Tomas “Hot Papa” Scheckter (and the world’s skinniest legs!)
• Daniker, Daniker, Daniker
• Marco’s newest movie theme paint scheme (better than Indy at Indy!)
• The best media folks, even if they’re a little hard on the lens (think RM, bless his heart)
• Owners and drivers and tires, oh my!
• Air show jets making smoke hearts
• Lollipops
• The World’s Cutest Cottage(TM)
• Did I mention cars?

I appreciate your patience as I dig out from under the photo blizzard. Got some good ones!

I had pit access – except it wasn’t hot pit as I was led to believe. No biggie, but nice to know I can get the exact same credential through Indy Downforce, so I can grant myself access occasionally for great picture taking opportunities. Schweeeet!

I’ll be sifting through the 2200 photos I took over the next few days and sharing them here. Just have to share a couple now – this is the cutest thing I saw all weekend, followed by the other cutest thing I saw all weekend:

Davey Hamilton

Davey and a cute kid

*grin* I have tomorrow off and will work on getting more shots up here on the blog. Meantime, I’m starving and there’s an incredible cheese waiting for me in the fridge. I had it for dinner Friday night at The Girl and The Fig – it’s called Redwood Hill Bucheret, and it was the star of the cheese sampler at my table. I’ll be enjoying this one all week.

Stay tuned for more photos!

The exhaustion portion of my health condition is really playing havoc right now. Despite gorgeous weather, I’ve only spent 2-3 hours a day at Infineon Raceway so far for the IndyCar event. If I do everything I’m booked for tomorrow, I’ll get to the track around 7:30 a.m. and be there until at least 5 p.m. I’m due to take a hot lap ride around the track in a safety car, and that session begins at 8 in the morning – UGH. I’m sorely tempted to skip it, but it represents my one true thrill for the weekend, and I’d hate to miss that.

I’ve been given a credential that allows me access to the garage and pits, even during competition. That will be a first for me. So I’m snapping away, capturing cars, personnel, media folks, drivers, wives and girlfriends – a real kid in a candy shop experience for this race fan – one I’m grateful to my visitor for arranging.

The painting I’ve done recently has caused additional problems, in the form of very tight back muscles. Yesterday I carried a backpack and camera bag at the track, and it proved too much. This morning at about 3 or so, I awoke with spasms between my shoulder blades. I did as much yoga stretching as I could muster and eventually the spasms let up. But as the day in the pits wore on today, my lower back seized up, even though I’d left all bags behind and had only my camera with me. Once Helio Castroneves nailed his 26th career pole, I headed back to the cottage, stopping along the way for some take-out slices from Mary’s Pizza Shack (HIGHLY recommended). I have one pepperoni and two cheese slices remaining – a delicious evening snack and blissful breakfast ahead.

As far as the visitor goes, well, let’s just say it’s been a strange trip so far, and it will be done soon enough.

Just had a nice nap and I’m off to soak my back now…need to rest up for tomorrow.

Activatin’: There’s so much talk around the IndyCar series about the need for sponsor activation – I saw an example of it a couple weeks ago that I caught with my iPhone and sent to some interested parties as proof that it’s happening out here. Now, not everyone would think to push Enrique Bernoldi, but here he is, big as day on top of my favorite Indian restaurant. And apparently in other parts of SF that I haven’t seen – I’m hearing about various locations and different designs from this sponsor.

1. Foodie - they want to try the hottest restaurant in the Michelin guide, which of course will be hard to get into. Now I don’t mind a good meal, but I really hate the “see and be seen” scene that usually goes along with the “hot spots” in The City.
2. Tourist - the tour bus or gimmick restaurants are a nightmare. The line’s out the door to get in, the service is spotty and the food is inconsistent at best. And you can often expect a three-ring circus for atmosphere. These places exhaust me.
3. Enthusiast - doesn’t have to be fancy, or even a real sit-down place, although it might be. These folks like what they like and they go every time they’re here because you can’t get it where they live. This is more fun for me than the other two, even if I don’t particularly love the place they love. I have these places myself, back in Indiana, and it goes beyond food and into ritual to get a meal there. I enjoy seeing others have the same experience.

Fortunately, my visitor is an Enthusiast and we’ll be grabbing a meal at a quintessentially-Californian fast food place that I love as well. There will be plenty of time for more fancy food the rest of the weekend! *grin*

Speaking of Sonoma: I will be taking loads of pictures and trying to blog from Infineon. At the very least, I may get a report or a photo or two posted here during the weekend. A more comprehensive post will likely appear here on Monday.

Rounding the Corner: Got the bedroom all squared away last night, and cleaned the kitchen this evening. Tried to hang the towel bar and shelves, but the screws are too long for the drywall and whatever’s backing it. I’ll have to see if Cole Hardware has something shorter that might work – otherwise, it’s back to the old “over the door” towel rack. (grrrrr…)

Welcome, Joe!: My new boss started work today – he had orientation and lots of meetings, so I only saw him at lunch. We have our first meeting tomorrow and the brain dump will begin… Glad to have him on board!

After work, I picked up a computer accessory and about $25 worth of candy for my desk (Den Mom likes to supply the whole floor at work with chocolates). I also stopped at Cole Hardware and got bunch of items, including a gallon of ceiling paint. I was loaded down like a pack mule, so I wanted to catch a bus instead of walking home. The plan was to paint the bedroom ceiling and start on the woodwork this evening, so I needed to save energy for that. A few moments later a bus arrived, but the driver wouldn’t let me on. “You can’t bring paint on the bus.” Imagine me – a chubby mid-40s woman in her 92nd running Indy 500 event jacket – a threat with a new, sealed can of ceiling paint. Yup, I was surely gonna whip that can open, bust out a brush and start tagging “Danica Patrick” and “Tony Kanaan” on all over the bus interior. *sigh*

I knew from NextBus data that another bus was just a few blocks behind this one, so I dug my canvas bag out from under all that candy in my backpack, stuffed the gallon of paint in it, slung it over my shoulder and took that next bus home. But now I’m royally peeved….as I shuffled on and off the crowded vehicle with my haul, I managed to tweak a muscle in my upper back. No painting for me tonight – and I really needed to get a start on the job. Will be handling some smaller chores, catching some Olympics coverage and going to bed early. Tomorrow will be a very busy day.

Sunday: Lots to do and here’s what’s happened so far:

• Speed-watched over 20 hours of Olympic competition (fast forwarded unless men in spandex were on!) with the opening ceremonies still waiting – gonna watch those in full
• Washed the kitties’ water fountain
• Washed, folded and put away 8 loads of laundry while rolling the TV broadcast of last night’s IndyCar race
• Washed dishes
• Scrubbed kitchen – ceiling, walls, woodwork and cabinets
• Spackled the dents and nail holes in kitchen walls
• Painted kitchen ceiling and walls
• Caught the wreck and last 8 laps of NASCAR at the Glen
• Heard another AWESOME Giants come-from-behind win over the Dodgers

Cabinets and woodwork tomorrow night and the kitchen’s DONE!

UPDATE: TK tells Mike King that he never got directly involved in the conversation about driving for Ganassi, so it must have been his agent fielding those calls. And just now, he told Kevin Olson that he and Marty Roth discussed forming Roth-Kanaan racing…one night over dinner….and “a few drinks”… LOL! Also, word has it the sale of Kentucky Speedway to SMI is slated for October, so rumors of trouble might just be rumors.

As the Bashie Turns: So, with everyone else changing their minds, seeming to change their minds, or just being rumored to have changed their minds, I think I’ll join in. I’ll let you all know when I decide what to change my mind about…unless I change my mind. :p

Doggone It: So I’ve babied my bad left knee (by not exercising, mainly) to the point where stairs aren’t a problem anymore and I’m ready to start my walking program again. Of course, that means the left foot issue I had xrays for a few months ago has reared its head again. Pinched nerves – crikey…

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*

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…

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.

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.

UPDATE: Lookit that! They’re rolling the radio network as well. Bob, Scott…have a good one. I’ll be sitting over here with Davey…  *grin*

Progress Report: Bathroom and kitchen purged of unneeded items. Living room half done, with an estimated completion date of 7/24. That leaves the bedroom (and books…loads of books) and the hall closet to tackle starting Friday. Saturday morning, it’s off to the hardware store for a ladder, heat gun, spackle, scrapers and paint. Whee. *grin*

Yellow: As in caution. In addition to my bad left knee, I now have a bad left foot, victim of a toppled heavy wooden chair at a Thai restaurant in South city today. Two toes are not sure what color they should be, so they’ve gone a range of pinks and purples with some deep blues edging in. This will hinder my progress on several fronts, so I now have to re-plan my attack… *sigh*

Meantime…: Both my team and myself spent a ton of time in training last week, they for collaboration skills and techniques, and me for product management. This all plays into the re-org nicely, but we couldn’t get much done outside of that. So, of course, the CEO asked us for a high-quality presentation exploring something we’re not doing on the site right now so he can present it at the Home Office this week. *sigh* I think we got a good set of ideas out the door, but it was a mad scramble. Back to the training – if your company does software dev of any kind and you need your processes and thinking straightened out a bit, Marty Cagan‘s your guy.

Ruht Roh!: So, you might have read me here or heard me there mutter something about the massive purge and paint project I need to do to my entire apartment. You know, the one I’m starting right about now and was planning to have done by … oh…say….end of September? Well…seems like my big Sonoma weekend in August now includes having a house guest for a couple of nights. And no, it wasn’t MY idea. LOL! It WILL be lots of fun, but guess whose revamp of abode is now in fast track mode? Uh-huh. Apologies in advance if I get a few paint splatters here and there on BashUp.

Watching the Daytona 400 now. 60 laps to go…

• You’re Just Jealous – Lots of fans think any criticism of Danica equals jealousy that she gets all the attention. No doubt there is some jealousy – she was the face of the league long before she won her race – but that doesn’t mean that she’s incapable of making mistakes or driving in a manner that ticks off other racers. It’s been politically incorrect to criticize Danica so far – but in the spirit of “What’s good for the gander is good for the goose,” I think that should stop. She’s good enough to be out there and competing, and she has to take the good, bad and ugly as a whole, just like everyone else.
• What Do You Expect? She Sucks! – Uh, no. She’s definitely not the best driver out there, but she’s far from the worst. If you divide the current field into threes, she’s likely near the top of the middle tier. And for all the recent criticism of her style when protecting her spot, a lot of drivers will tell you that she has improved steadily as she’s gained experience in this series. Helio Castroneves in particular went out of his way to point out that she doesn’t overdrive her car like she used to, and makes good choices about how to handle on-track situations.
• Our Princess Gets Special Treatment – If she really is Princess Blocks-a-Lot, why doesn’t Race Control black flag her? Is there a separate rule book for her? I think there’s some complexity in this angle. Brian Barnhart has stated that he hasn’t seen any reason to black flag her for blocking, and some broadcasters and journalists agree that she isn’t blatantly blocking, just protecting her line within the rule book. Her own point of view is that she shouldn’t be easy to pass – why should she just pull over? “If you’re gonna pass me, earn it.” But I have to consider that there is likely a set of “unspoken” on-track rules of etiquette that develops in any series – especially one as small and dangerous as IndyCar. It’s pretty likely that the drivers’ definition of blocking is broader than the league’s rule book – we are talking about race drivers, here. They’re by necessity “lead with the forehead” types who are inclined to think you just need to get out of their way. And due to the danger inherent in close quarters open wheel racing, a driver’s perspective of “taking care of each other” is going to be different than that of Race Control as well.

My own perspective is that we probably have a case of Danica not adhering to the driving community’s “rules of etiquette,” yet not quite meeting the rule book’s definition of blocking. And that’s something she needs to be concerned with. “What goes around comes around” can strike you at just the wrong time if you haven’t built up much good will with your fellow competitors. Hopefully she can open and keep a dialog with her fellow competitors, to learn what they think she’s doing “wrong,” as well as to remind them where appropriate that she’s not going to pull over to the apron and let someone by every time they come up on her. That might also help keep the complaints about her out of the press, where her reputation takes a hit as well.

Pride (in the name of love): It’s Pride Week here in San Francisco, with a big celebration tomorrow and the huge parade on Sunday. I’m not one for big crowds and don’t have plans to attend, but am delighted to see all the marriages taking place here this week. Even though I’ve never been interested in participating in the institution myself, I firmly believe it should be for all who want it. I know some very happy, long term committed couples who are getting married this summer, and it just makes me smile.

Back into the whirlwind!

Rest Weekend for Racing: Well, sorta. My IndyCars have a weekend off, so the focus will be on Michigan International Speedway for all the NASCAR goings on there. I have a friend who’ll be on location, so should hear some stuff from him to make it more interesting.

So Tempted by Texas: Last 3 days, I’ve quelled the overwhelming urge to hop a plane last minute and do the race at Texas Motor Speedway. Instead, I kept my responsible side to the fore and stayed home. I have, however, managed to exchange well over 100 emails with a friend who’s there covering it – just in the last two days. I almost feel like I’m there. Feels weird to have no ICS race tomorrow, though. I’ll have to go outside and play…

Stunner: Got out for a nice walk to run some errands today. It was perfect here in San Francisco, and will be a few degrees warmer tomorrow (that’s still perfect). Clear skies, low 70s, slight cool breeze. My city sparkled as beautifully as ever today.

Indy winner Scott Dixon led a good deal of the race and finished 2nd.

High- and low-lights:

Graham Rahal is in danger of becoming Graham Ra-Wall. Two races in a row he’s tried to go outside slower traffic and skated into the fence on the marbles. A motor sports writer I occasionally correspond with says Graham is a real dream for his line of work and I can see why – he’s communicative, well-spoken, says what he thinks and it’s clear that he *does* think. He’s got skills on the track, as well, but he still needs a bit more practice picking the best time to make a move.

Townsend Bell started the race like a rocket – passed 11 cars on the first lap! He fell back mid-race but ended up 11th, a full 10 spots ahead of his starting position. A.J. Foyt IV made a similar gain on the first lap, as well.

Oriol Servia drove his way past his original starting place after going down a lap due to needed repairs to a damaged right front wing. Servia finished 6th.

Marco (low): got into another incident, this time involving three cars. (high): As Marco usually does, he manned up and accepted responsibility. Really admire that about him.

E.J. Viso continues to impress on track, even if he still has that little smirk that says “I’m better than this American oval stuff.” Perhaps. But he’s learning quickly and definitely isn’t afraid to make a move. A good 8th place finish for Viso.

Sarah Fisher was the clear recipient of a Bash “Den Mom” Hug for her difficult month at Indy. This week, the hug goes to Vitor Meira. Coming off a terrific 2nd place finish at Indy, Vitor had a rotten weekend at The Mile. He crashed during qualifying, and spent the entire evening (until about midnight) in the garage with his crew while they rebuilt his car. According to the IMS Radio Network, Vitor ventured out for 15 pizzas to feed his guys, and went out again for 30 coffees as the evening wore on and his guys grew tired. Vitor didn’t have a great car today and played it safe all race, just looking for a finish when he got collected in the Carpenter-Andretti crash with three laps to go. Panther has more thrashing ahead of them in order to get themselves ready for Texas next weekend.

8:30 p.m.: SuperShuttle arrived, transported me to SFO.

10:30 p.m.: Boarded AirTran flight. (Darn, not the Air Tranica plane…) Plane was loaded with race fans for the direct flight to Indy – great vibe. Overheard someone saying he was the great-grandson of Ray Harroun.

11:30 p.m.: Despite the fun and laughs, I inserted my noise canceling ear buds, settled into my business class seat (almost big enough for me to curl up sideways in), and tried to get some sleep.

May 22, 2008

6:30 a.m.: Flight landed at Indianapolis International. Took an eternity to taxi to the gate.

7:10 a.m.: At the Alamo counter, they upgraded me to a Parnelli Jones orange Mustang. Almost too bright to look at that early in the morning, but I figured it would be 1.) fun to drive (yes) and 2.) easy to find in race track parking lot with thousands of other cars (yes).

8:00 a.m.: Arrived at my sister’s house in Fishers, mauled by 5-year-old nephew Josh, (the 11-year-old, Luke, had already caught his school bus) and a happy, slobbering yellow lab (Chase).

10:00 a.m.: Napped while my sister helped out at Josh’s kindergarten class.

12:00 noon: Met dad, stepmom, brother-in-law, and Josh (freshly sprung from kindergarten) for lunch at the Nickel Plate bar and grill in Fishers. Had an excellent hand-breaded tenderloin sandwich.

2:00 p.m.: Parents headed back to New Castle; drove to my hotel and checked in.

5:00 p.m.: Dinner back at sister’s house – followed by a brief concert by Luke on his Guitar Hero game. (Josh sings “Going out on a whale on the Crazy Train” – cute.)

7:00 p.m.: Headed back to the hotel, listened to Talk of Gasoline Alley and Indy Live while setting myself up for my five-night stay. Wanted to sleep early but it was midnight by the time my eyes closed for good. Ugh…

May 23, 2008

6:00 a.m. Whose idea was it to get up this early? :p Very slowly gained a state of semi-awake while checking email and looking at the doubtful weather forecast. Although armed with the recommendation to try breakfast at Brickyard Crossing (thanks, CC!), was unable to wait that long and partook of my hotel’s breakfast instead. Next year, for sure!

8:00 a.m. Left hotel for IMS.

8:50 a.m.: Parked in Lot 2, entered Gate 5 and headed for the garage area to make my morning rounds.

10:00 a.m. Settled into the Tower Terrace in front of the Media Center, tried to get online to blog with my Asus Eee PC. Plenty of public wireless signals detected, but could not get connected. Ah well. IndyCar practice eventually got underway and I was joined by my Facebook pal Tom Beeler, who took a break from his media job to come say hello. And then, the rain…I tried to connect with other Facebook pals John Edward and Crash Gladys, eventually getting a text back from Crash, sharing that it was “Limo to all the race parties night” for her. (I just can’t live like that…) Told Crash I’d find her on Sunday.

5:10 p.m.: After a day of sheltering, wandering, shutterbugging and not seeing any more track action, it was time to head to Plainfield for Curt Cavin’s Carb Night Burger Bash. My mom, two sisters, niece and three nephews headed down from points north to join in. The party started at 6:30 and they arrived a bit late, but still got to see eventual race winner Scott Dixon in person. The little ones spent a good bit of the evening outside with me, full of milkshakes and shivering, so I left the party early (apologies to CC, Jeff of “My Name is IRL” fame, and his readers- really wanted to meet you all). We finished the night at sister’s in Fishers, where the little ones wore themselves out on her new Wii Fit. Didn’t get to sleep until 1 a.m.

May 24, 2008

6:30 a.m.: Whose idea was it to get up this early? :p Very slowly gained a state of semi-awake while checking email. Needed to be at sister’s at 7:30 so we could drive to New Castle for breakfast at 8:30.

8:30 a.m.: Stacks Restaurant, New Castle IN. Two sisters, niece, three nephews, dad, stepmom and I laid waste to some pretty decent breakfasts, then went to parent’s for a few hours of lolling around while the kids ran through the house. For some reason, dad decided to make real, stove-top popped kettle corn right before we had to leave for lunch in Muncie. But it was awfully good…

12:30 p.m.: Mom’s house, Muncie IN. Two huge Pizza King pizzas were delievered (I can’t tell you how happy this made me!). Kids had a fenced-in yard and a full-sized trampoline with safety netting to romp on. It was a lovely day, so we hoovered down the pizza and lounged around outdoors under the big patio umbrella.

6:00 p.m.: Back in Indy at Scotty’s Brewhouse. Picked at a salad while visiting with a friend I hadn’t seen in 4 years. She and I could gab all night, but I enforced my 9 p.m. curfew so I could try to get some sleep. Ha. Still not adjusted to the time zone and finally got settled after midnight.

May 25, 2008

6:00 a.m. Whose idea was it to get up this early? :p Very slowly gained a state of semi-awake while checking email and looking at the glorious weather forecast. Quick breakfast topped it off.

7:15 a.m.: Pointed the Parnelli-mobile towards IMS.

8:20 a.m.: Traffic? What traffic? Split the early- and late-arrivers perfectly. Parked in Lot 2, in through Gate 5, headed off to the Clabber Girl stand for another quick breakfast. Wandered around, enjoyed the gorgeous day, took tons of photos and kept track of Facebook pal John Edward, who was stuck in the late-arriving traffic jam. Texted with my sister – she and the whole family were at a cousin’s house for a BBQ and they had a race pool going. She was asking me who to keep and who to trade. Settled in my spot early and quickly found the stands around me packed in with race fans, so by the time John arrived, I knew I’d miss shooting the main ceremonies if I went to greet him. Never tracked down Crash, either – need to email that woman!

1:11 p.m.: Kristi Yamaguchi (always a favorite – so cool to see my skating and racing worlds collide) dropped the green on the 92nd 500 and we settled in for what I later called “four hours of pit stop practice with a few sprints in between.”

5:30 p.m.: Wandered around the grounds after the race to let some of the traffic get out of my way. Finally left grounds at 6:10 and didn’t get out of my lot until well after 7. Back at hotel at about 8, completely exhausted from a day in the sun (big shout out to my best friend SPF 85 for keeping me pale as ever), but too wired to sleep. Watched most of the race replay and some local sports coverage while catching up with email and my usual round of web sites and blogs. Got to sleep about 1 a.m.

May 26, 2008

7:00 a.m. What the…? My alarm was set for 8:30 and there I was, wide awake at 7. Sleep deficit continued to grow. Everyone came to my sister’s in Fishers for a BBQ. We had a way too much to eat and a really nice day.

7:00 p.m.: Back at the hotel to pack while watching the victory celebration on TV. Planned to get to sleep early, but yet again I got caught up in following coverage of the race, reading papers and blogs and emails. Got to sleep at midnight.

May 27, 2008

6:30 a.m.: Ugh. Showered, finished packing, checked out and headed to my sister’s for breakfast with Josh. Left at 8:45 to turn in the Parnelli-mobile, then wasted time at IND waiting for my 12:05 flight. Stopped over in Vegas and touched down at SFO at 4:30 p.m. Grabbed a SuperShuttle to my place, where I was greeted by one feline (Sebastian) and hissed at by the other (Sabrina, who soon purred and made up). Posted some photos on my blog before turning in early for a real night’s sleep at last…

Deja Vu: Milwaukee. The (historic) Mile. West Allis, fair surroundings, beer and brats everywhere, and friendly folks who love their racing. And an Andretti and a Rahal on the front row. Wait – is it ’92 again? *grin* Looking forward to tomorrow’s race. If it plays out as usual, something dramatic will happen that will feed Eddie Gossage’s publicity machine in Texas and we’ll then have a week of fun with that. Hey, Texas will be fun enough as it is – The Dragon has added it to their limited schedule, and with Scheckter racing, there’ll be a little extra something to watch.

A Few Laughs: Actually, quite a few. Curt Cavin’s Inaugural Carb Night Burger Bash was a big hit, despite the blustery weather. There was an auction of several racing related items and some chat time with Cavin’s radio show co-host, Kevin Lee. The guest of honor was pole sitter Scott Dixon, who had other commitments and couldn’t stay all night, but did a nice Q&A session and took loads of photos with folks.  Here’s one with the intrepid Cavin himself:

Despite the cold temps, everyone had milkshakes – 96th Street Steakburger shakes are the best in town.

It’s a bit more orange than this in full daylight…and it really GOES!  :p

Tour More Days: More Fixx dates, including one in Vegas that got bumped to a Saturday (July 26). That makes it much more doable and it’s on my short list for a little summer diversion. (Just gotta build up some defenses for the drama and bullshit show that often accompanies that scene…*sigh*)

Snore More Days: Neeed Sleeep. It’s been really warm here in San Francisco, with the last couple of days in the 90s. This is rare and most residences in the city do not have air conditioning. Last three nights have been fairly sleepless and I’m really dragging. Today is much more tolerable and I’m hoping to get a nice walk in before the sun sets.

ESPN and ABC will carry TV coverage, but they are generally not so great. Turn down the audio and listen to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.  The Radio Network provides coverage for the first two hours and the last hour of quals. In between, local coverage is provided on 1070 The Fan. The Fan carries the radio network coverage as well, so you can hit them up at 12 noon local time and ride out the whole 6 hours.

Follow the speedway video boards and live public address and launch a live timing and scoring app here: http://www.indycar.com/

Curt Cavin’s blog will have the scoop and answers to readers questions all month.

My Name is IRL and Pressdog have commentary as only they can provide.

Follow the Indy Star’s tweets on Twitter!

Enjoy!

For the Fixx Fans: A few summer dates trickling in. July5 at Kettering OH; July 12 at Portsmouth VA; July 13 at NYC; July 25 at Las Vegas; July 27 at Anaheim; July 31 at Saratoga, CA. Hearing about a possible date near St. Louis.

Still Hungry: Eating regular food once a day, but still doing liquid/soft most of the time. Still a little hungry most of the time, but in many ways, I feel pretty good so will keep it up for a while. Once I get back to Indiana, there will be too many things I have to have (Pizza King, for one), so I’ll be off this modified diet at least for a few days!

Vacation!: Truly, really taking one. I never take more than 3-4 days off, but end of May, I’ll be off 11 whole days in a row, thanks to Memorial Day and two weekends. Heading to Indianapolis for family and 500, then will just hang at my place for a few days. Maybe a spa day. Considering the Fourth of July weekend back east. Maybe. Definitely taking a day or two at the end of August for the IndyCar race at Infineon.

Asus Eee!: My new ultra-portable laptop should arrive tomorrow – I’ll be able to blog updates from Pit Road at IMS!

Lightning McQueen, Where Are You?: Just saw Cars for the first time. Adorable. :p

Speaking of Cars…: Today I worked from home due to my tummy disorder, but I needed to drive to the office to get some paperwork and notes. I’m a ZIPcar member and the only thing left to reserve at my local stop this morning was a BMW 325i. My first Beemer experience…it was a dream to drive…I’m ruined for the usual Civic hybrid or Prius.

I just don’t want to go…

One of the musicians breaks down and sobs every time I see him. “My life is so hard…” You can only advise someone to stand up for himself so many times. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” To dump your troubles and sob on someone’s shoulder every time you see them is rude and thoughtless. I’ve taken to avoiding him when I’m around (and then he mopes). Sheesh.

There are “drama queen” fans who always seem turn up just when you’d like a nice, low key time. (And then you have to listen to the opinions the guys have about those fans once they’re out of earshot!) For instance, there’s a sad case who turns up with a long-time friend of theirs. She lives near one of the guys and is always IMing or calling him. He can’t stand it: “The cow’s said she got me some Bali Shag. Now I have to be polite and deal with her.” He notes her obsession with one of his band mates, adding: “No way – he has high standards. And he’d never live it down if we found out he was with her.” She’s not a happy person, even less so when she doesn’t get much attention from her favorite – I feel sorry for her. Then there are the “desperately cling to the singer while my husband sits in the corner” types, and the “two beers and I’m making a scene” types – they all seem to turn up at once (often together)! Some people find it amusing to have all those agendas bouncing off each other, but it just makes me sad.

Top it off with some the folks who help out (and sometimes take advantage of their position with the guys, costing them money or power tripping on and alienating others in attendance.) The guys have very sharp opinions about that, too..

Add it all up and the vibe’s toxic. I’ve been too busy with my management career to hang out much these days and haven’t been in their scene for a while. I miss hearing their music live, but some of it’s on my iPod. And I miss some of the folks, but I am in touch occasionally. I just like my space to be clean and toxin free. I hope my sister won’t be too upset if I decide against it…

Sick Kitty: My sweet little Sabrina put a scare in me the last couple of days. Fortunately, I think she’s going to be fine, but she was weirdly wobbly, with dilated pupils, a glassy stare, lethargy and no appetite for about 24 hours. She’s doing a bit better now, but I’m keeping an eye on her per the vet’s orders to make sure all systems are going well. She’s definitely eating now, and is back to her cuddly self, but she’s still a little spacey looking…

Flu Bug: I’ve been aching and chilling from the flu the last two days. Ready for that to be gone…

Racin’: So much racing this weekend. Danica’s first race since winning her first. Trucks, N’wide (yay Smoke – sorry about your broken ankle, Dario. That’s a bummer.), Sprint Cup and Forumla 1. Plus I still have Grand AM from last week to watch. Sheesh! Listening to the Giants-Reds game right now, but will try to squeeze it in a bit if the game doesn’t run to extra innings.

The menu for this dinner-time race includes a small salad with fresh lettuce from today’s farmer’s market; California Pizza Kitchen four-cheese thin and crispy pizza (the fontina and smoked gouda make it special); and a nice 2005 sangiovese from Ortman Family Vinyard in Paso Robles, CA. Dessert is Ben and Jerry’s Creme Brulee ice cream. Salut!

The race is live on ESPN Classic at 10 pm ET, but if you opt for that, turn down the audio and hear the ROCKIN’ IMS Radio Network call.

*Engines have fired. Four laps to warm up instead of three – it’s cold and we need extra heat in The Magic Rings. Whoa – TK’s car is waaay smoking. We’re GREEN GREEN GREEN. MARCO INTO THE WALL turn 2!!! Man, poor kid. We’re yellow. More yellow good for weaving and building tire heat, so hopefully everyone will restart safely. Marco’s out and walking. Wasn’t a hard hit, but enough to bust the left front suspension. His day is toast.

* GREEN GREEN GREEN! We get a full lap in without trouble… :p We’re all watching TK, who was smoking quite a bit before the initial green flag. NO SMOKING signs being ignored by 7-Eleven car. Race Control has checked in with him about it. Davey Hamilton explains that cold Hondas sometimes smoke, but only a little. This wasn’t a little.

*Godzilla and Danger Mouse fighting it out for 10th. Godzilla wins.

* 20 laps in the books. Twinkle Toes leads it. Marty Roth just got lapped. Yasukawa next. Helio’s dancing away with the early lead. Round and round and round we go. When we slow, nobody knows…

* Target cars are gaining on Mr. Disco Ball…

*Lap 47, Roth’s down two laps, Ed Carpenter pits.

*Festival of pitting: Danica’s in now. YELLOW!!!! why? Marty Roth is stalled. Godzilla has a damaged “flipper.” He lost in in front of the safety car! Left front wing busted, otherwise looks ok.

* 50 laps in the books, second caution of the day. Penske cars runnning 1-2.

*Godzilla has a nice new flipper and a full tank of ethanol. We’re still yellow at lap 55. Getting the furled green – let’s get back on this ride! GREEN GREEN GREEN! Dixie breaks up the Penske Party, Townsend Bell has moved from 16th to 6th.

*Lap 72, Briscoe Inferno is falling back. Currently 5th after Nariz blew by. Nice showing by the Foyt team – Danger Mouse is running 6th!

* Lap 91 YELLOW! Meira brushed the wall in turn 4. Half the field is pitting. Bent suspension on Meira’s right rear. Pit replays: Carpenter stalls on Pit box entry. Hits his tire, team mate Foyt hit him. Ed’s pitting again for a top off and inspection. Meira’s day is done.

*Lap 97 GREEN GREEN GREEN! Dixon’s got the lead now. Twinkle Toes is 2nd. Danica’s climbed to 6th. Now to 5th. Girlfriend is looking hooked up.

*We’re past halfway and now official. The Iceman Cometh…Jay Hot Rod Howard’s in for a look-see after brushing the wall.

*Briscoe Inferno used Hot Rod as a pick and passed our Princess again. Wonder if she’ll swat him for it. :p Quattro’s out of his car, after being several laps down. Perhaps the pit contact with his team mate did him in…

*Nariz is nosing in on his old buddy Twinkle Toes’ 2nd place spot… lost it a little and both Briscoe Inferno and Well Done got him.

*Lap 140 – Yasukawa pits. The other local hero, with both American and Japanese citizenship. Now O’Ryan the Hunter pits. Nice easy stop for the ethanol car. More pittage – Danger Mouse in. Oh no – YELLOW! Yasukawa into the wall. Sucks for the pit partiers…More pittage – Loads of red cars coming. Also Danica! and Nariz. They move in and out in unison that would make a synchro team cry. Nariz scored himself a couple of positions.

Lap 149 – more pittage. Helio, Ed and Danica are topping off. Strategery! Lean it out or get another yellow and they might make it.

*50 to go GREEN GREEN GREEN!!!! Nariz blows by the Inferno again…

* Godzilla pitteth. Easy stop.

*O’Ryan hunted down the Hammer and took over 5th. 25 laps to go. The Iceman is skating away…will he have enough fuel? TV goes to break – the story of the Magic Rings gets air. It’s good, but Ode to Racing set the bar soooo high…

*Briscoe scrapes the wall, continues to run high. We’re still green with 18 to go. I may get to bed by 9:30 after all. (There will be a 5 a.m. alarm for me tomorrow…) O’Ryan stops for a sip of ethanol. Radio says Danica is hanging way back to make fuel. The others on her strategy have been flying and may not make it. Townsend answers the pit bell. Seven laps…who’s on fumes?

*Hammer pits! Iceman pits! Nariz pits! Well Done pits! Twinkle Toes and Danica lead with 4 to go!

*Danica slides past Twinkle Toes and leads!!!!! 2 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! DANICA WINNNNSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Okay, we’re unified. Then, second race out, a transition driver, and the youngest ever in Graham Rahal, wins. Now in race three, the first woman to win a major open wheel race. You couldn’t write it any better. I was hoping to sleep early tonight, but I may not be able to…this is just terrific. I’ve been crying since lap 198 when she took the lead…

STUPENDOUS! Watch this explode!

———————

A huge nod to My Name is IRL and Pressdog for the live posting inspiration and for establishing most of the driver nicknames used in this post. It was fun – but I have a ways to go to match you guys…

Weekend Wanderer: It was amazing here in San Francisco this last weekend. Low 80s, clear skies, a nice breeze. I went out for three walks and did my “One-Woman Economic Stimulus Package” routine again. Hit the Farmer’s Market for almonds and gorgeous flowers:

Saw my favorite Attack Cat:

Saw some gorgeous goldies:

And dropped loads of money on Macy’s Hotel Collection 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets that are BLISS to sleep on. Also got a Michael Kors giraffe print flat sheet to serve as a futon cover:

There were a couple of night races and some pretty good Giants’ baseball games to make the weekend extra sweet.

Is It May Yet?: Can’t wait to see my family and the Indianapolis 500. It’s about a month until opening day at the speedway and the coverage of qualifying, practices and the silly season that goes with it all. Read today that Jim Nabors is well and will be back to sing Back Home Again in Indiana. Helio’s dancing partner, Julianne Hough, will sing the national anthem. She’s as good a singer as she is a dancer. Should be hearing announcements of one-off teams and drivers over the next 2-3 weeks, and waiting especially for confirmation that Davey Hamilton will race again.

Poor (yeah, right) Babies: My two spoiled fur children are curled up on their little table…the one with the soft blanket / heating pad / soft towel on top…sitting in front of the heat fan. They’re snuggled up in all that warmth, purring their pea brains out.

Time Suck: For ages, I’ve resisted completely giving in to my motor sports fascination, but the last few months I lost that battle – now following F1, Indy Car, Indy Lights, ALMS, Grand-Am, Craftsman Trucks, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series in NASCAR. Add baseball and I’m pretty much booked until mid-November. *grin* It’s pretty easy to write, take care of many household chores, etc., while keeping up with all of it, and it fits the bill for a nice, chill weekend. I’m enjoying it.

Squish: Went for my baseline mammogram Tuesday (a few years late). Who in their right mind thinks it’s a good idea to X-Ray round parts with a square machine? It took forever to get the X-Rays taken correctly. We can do better, I think. *sheesh*

SuperDavey!: Mike King mentioned a few weeks ago that Hewlett Packard is on board to sponsor Davey Hamilton in the Indy 500 again this year. And Davey’s been quoted saying he’s definitely running Indy, but no races leading up to it. And No Fenders reports that it will be in a third Roth Racing car!

Racing to Keep Up: There’s so much racing news going on and so many radio and TV programs that I can barely keep up. I may not get to leave my house this weekend…*grin*

I haven’t written much about my managerial situation because at least one of my direct reports occasionally reads this blog, but I nearly left my current company on two occasions last year due to a complete lack of support and guidance in my new role as a manager. I had decided in late January I was leaving for sure and started my job search. I was about to apply to a batch of jobs when my former boss gave notice about two weeks later.

In the month since she left, my new boss has worked with me to create a structure I’ll have a real chance to succeed in: cutting my availability for project work from 26 to 16 hours a week, freeing up time to spend with my direct reports. He’s given me tips and pointers for processes I can use to guide my team and prepare them to take on more challenging projects. He also shared some good feedback from my team. They knew I was getting no help (and they would tell me that regularly), but they were understanding and empathetic when talking to my new boss about their experiences. My new boss has attributed that to the fact that I’ve maintained and nurtured good relationships with them. He encouraged me to continue being genuine, open and honest with my team. I had talked about my lack of availability, acknowledging that I knew they needed more of me and that I hadn’t given up on finding a way to make that happen. He held that up as a big success, saying the team could easily feel exasperated and ready to work elsewhere, but my efforts to acknowledge their needs and to do the best I could had prevented hard feelings.

By contrast, my former boss would tell me, “your team doesn’t get the support it needs.” (Uh, thanks for letting me know….)

I’m still pretty exhausted from the stresses of the last year, but I feel myself growing more excited about the opportunities ahead. It could be pretty darned good.

Many of the new drivers have little to no experience racing on ovals, and I have to wonder how long they’ll be doing their best Milka “the moving chicane” Duno impressions. It just follows that when I think of Milka, I think of probation and that led me to wonder what the newcomers will think of IndyCar’s punitive measures. Not having followed ChampCar closely, I still seem to remember one possible penalty was the removal of some or all of a ChampCar driver’s “Push to Pass” allotment. (Without the few seconds of extra turbo boost provided by “Push to Pass,” ChampCar racing apparently had even more bouts of “lockstep” than our own beloved league.) I’m amused at the thought that the former ChampCar drivers will find our punishments as down on power as the cars are. Probation? Especially when it’s IndyCar policy not to publish details? 10 lashes with a feather would hurt worse. Yeah, okay, thanks to such esteemed blogs as My Name is IRL and Pressdog, we eventually learned the whole field was placed on probation about 3/4 of the way into the season. (shhhhhhhh…don’t tell… but Brian Barnhart channeled the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, faced with so many unruly children that everyone got a swat…just to be safe.) Some drivers could well have been on the much dreaded “quadruple-secret probation” by the end of the season. But we don’t know for sure…

Wonder if the whole field will be put on notice for Homestead? Wonder if the newbies snicker behind driving gloves at the lack of teeth (figuratively. literally?) here in “Down Home Land?” Whatever their thoughts, I hope they eventually come to enjoy their stay. I know I will.

The Florida Wild Mammal Association rescues, heals and releases wild animals of all kinds in the area around Tallahassee, FL. Whether an animal is hurt in an accident or has been shot by hunters, Chris Beatty
and her staff care for, heal and release wild animals back in their habitat, protecting populations of native species in the panhandle area.

The organization has a number of small buildings and pens to house animals until they are healed and ready to return to the wild. They can handle almost anything – from marine birds, reptiles and amphibians to squirrels, deer, rabbits and more. Chris and her staff are now raising funds to build a 100 foot flight pen to allow the rehabilitation and release of our national symbol of freedom – the bald eagle – instead of having to turn them over to state authorities.

Please visit their website and follow the Paypal button to make a donation to this wonderful organization. Also, please be sure to check out Judy Cooke’s adorable blog, featuring photos and information about the FWMA’s current patients. Judy’s photos capture the most precious critter faces and her blog reflects the caring and kind spirit of the FWMA’s mission.

When you donate, please include a comment about the flight pen if you want your donation to go specifically to that project. Even a few dollars will make a difference, so please help Chris and her staff today.

Thank you!
Bash

Speaking of Work: Tough day, but it went well in the end. We got our bonuses, and once we got over the fact that Uncle Sam took about half of it away in taxes, we all enjoyed the company barbeque our leaders arranged to celebrate last year’s successes. And today, I had to do some of those “difficult” manager things for the first time, helping both of my writers and some of their team members with some procedural issues and also clarify roles and boundaries.

Healthwise: Doc has confirmed that my condition has returned and ordered up a repeat ultrasound in early May to keep an eye on things. There’s one treatment: surgery. I need to think about which surgery – some techniques can remove the tumors again, but there’s no guarantee I won’t need even more surgery down the road. Other techniques can guarantee no more tumors, but they have consequences I need to fully consider first. (We’re not talking malignant tumors, just really uncomfortable ones.) My comfort level is what will drive the timing of this – when it starts to get really annoying, we’ll schedule surgery, so I need to make my decision about treatment in the next few weeks.

Racin’: I’m loving all the Indy Car radio programs, and really happy there’s no cab race this weekend to take up all my time. I’m liking it well enough to follow my openwheelers each race (and Smoke – wait, he’s an openwheeler, too!), but the Cup races are such a time suck. A friend from Toronto is visiting family here starting tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll see him this weekend instead.

Sportin’: Am now catching the Giant’s spring training game on MLB.com’s Gameday Audio.  And the World Figure Skating Championships will be held in two weeks. Just too much to follow!

Webbin’: The Florida Wild Mammal Association folks finally had time to survey their entire site and send a lot of new content for me to upload. I’m almost done with the home page, and hope to get lots more new content up tomorrow. Find them in my web links —> thataway —>

Ultra Sound? Prolly Not: Had an ultrasound Thursday – I’ve done these before, prior to my surgery two years ago. This time, they took lots more pictures and called me back to the room to take even more after the radiologist saw the first batch. I’m wondering what they thought they saw, but I’m sure I’ll hear from my doc in the next few days…  Sadly, if the condition’s returned, the only real treatment is surgery.  *sigh*

Got a second ticket in Tower Terrace so I can try out the location…

Life: I’m feeling the return of symptoms that led to my surgery two years ago. Went to my doctor on Friday and she’s ordered a couple of tests. Been there, done those, here we go again.  *frown*

Music: Word is Gary Tibbs has left The Fixx and they are now recording with the bassist they had when they became big – Dan K. Brown.  Will miss Tibbs but have always loved Brown’s playing, as well.

Racin’: Smoke smacked the wall really hard today and banged himself up in Las Vegas. Bet he’s gonna be killer sore the next few days, poor guy. Bummed that he wrecked in both races this weekend, and tore up that gorgeous candy apple red Old Spice car in the N’wide race. Carl got his second cup win in a row, so that’s the up side of the weekend. In the next couple of weeks, three IndyCar radio shows start up (Indy Racing Weekly, Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, and a show hosted by Patrick  from TSO on racefanradio.com) and the Formula 1 season gets underway. I’m going to be up to my ears in racing soon, woo hoo!

Beisbol: Spring training is underway, and it’s a tough start for the Giants – but I think we’re expecting a rebuilding-type season. Still good to switch on KNBR 680 and hear Jon Miller and Dwayne Kuiper call the games.

Baking: No fancy dishes lately – have been baking the usual loaf of bread each weekend – Starter Joe the Sourdough Starter is doing well and making nice, tart bread.  Tasty!

Racing!: IndyCar is testing in Homestead FL this week, and tomorrow we get a news conference with more details on the absorption of the ChampCar series and probably more information on how many teams and drivers will be participating this season. Looking forward to getting down to the season – just a month away!

Still Waiting: Still no official word that the IRL and ChampCar have united, but all signs point that way. Last word is there will be a press conference on Thursday. This is going to be interesting. Very enlightening to hear Robin Miller and Darryl Waltrip talking on Wind Tunnel about how Bill France encourage Tony George to split from CART (now ChampCar). Waltrip called it a “divide and conquer” tactic and that France drove NASCAR right by open when racing once it was split. Here’s hoping Tony George has learned from this folly (leave France for the French!). Meantime, ChampCar’s three (or four) amigos – the owners known as KK, GF, DP and PG – look like Keystone Cops the last few years, trying to prop up a losing proposition after CART died in bankruptcy court. The Crappies on Crapwagon.com, a bunch of diehard ChampCar fans, are already predicting that Penske, Ganassi, Andretti Green, Rahal and others will do their best to regain control of the whole thing once it’s back together. Not sure if it will happen, or in time to save open wheel, but it sounds more promising than what the two series have seen lately.

BART Blues: One of my direct reports takes BART to work, and lately she’s being followed by an older Latino man. She’s been taking different trains, hopping off at transfer points, and he follows. Yesterday, he walked up to hear and said, “Taking a detour, I see.” She’s gotten BART police involved and has started driving to work occasionally, but I’m worried about her. It’s a pretty brutal commute and the train is a better option for her than driving every day. I hope the guy leaves her alone so she can do what’s best for her. Creep.

Merger!:  OMFG. OMFG!!!! I’m trying so hard not to get excited about this, but the second email I read today, from TrackSide Online, carried news of a last minute push to unite the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series for this season. Robin Miller broke the story late last night and isn’t a done deal – there are a ton of details to work out. It may not be possible at this late date, but it seems all parties are preparing to do everything they can to make it happen. I’m trying to keep my hopes at an even keel, but this looks like the best chance we’ve had to merge our open wheel series and end the feud and start mending the damage. I’ll be watching this closely the next few weeks…

Is it March Yet?: I’m seriously jonesin’ for open wheel racing to start. And Grand-Am sportscars and ALMS. Even Formula 1. I may even break down and watch the Daytona 500 here in a couple of weeks, just to see some wheels turn. I still have the Chili Bowl pay-per-view on my DVR – I guess I’ll have to get dirty with that again! *grin*

Baker, Baker: Made some majorly-tasty sweet bread yesterday and a nice sourdough today. Starter Joe’s getting tarter – I imagine by summer, my sourdough will be killer!

I baked two gorgeous loaves of egg bread while following the Rolex 24 Saturday. Followed it all day Sunday as well – 24 straight hours. Ganassi got his third Rolex in a row; my favorite sports car driver, Alex Gurney, finally had a strong finish with a second; and Penkse was back for the first time in 35+ years and came in third.

I’m also following all the goings on in the presidential race. Of all the GOP candidates, McCain is the one I can tolerate and I’m happy he’s gaining momentum. The Kennedys’ backing Obama was huge, and Teddy’s speech was terrific. It’s energizing to see so many people engaged and interested in the process, especially younger people. The other morning on transit, I saw a kid with an iPhone watching the Florida GOP debate, and there’s all kinds of profiles and groups on MySpace and Facebook. After so many years of apathy, it’s heartening to see all the engagement.

At work, we got a new writer on a contract-to-hire basis and he’s already impressed us with his smarts. He’s a great fit with the team as well – good sense of humor and he loves chocolate and cake.

It’s been pretty cold here lately and that means more time in the bath – reading two books right now and finally getting through February’s edition of Racer Magazine (back to racing again – figures!). I’m currently in the middle of a great article about Alex Zanardi. You may remember comical Target commercials starring Alex and Jimmy Vassar back in the 90s. Alex lost his legs in a racing accident but is still active and vibrant. The guy got a custom racing hand bike a month before the New York Marathon and decided to enter it. The bike broke on the morning of the race, and he raced anyway, finishing fourth in that class. That’s Alex!

The cats are being pampered even more than usual lately – I got out my old heating pad for my back the other day, and ended up slipping it under a towel that tops a little table they sleep on. The table is next to my computer desk and in front of a heat fan. When the fan and the heating pad are both on, my babies are in hog heaven.

Rolling in Dough: Spent the weekend baking bread for the week. Could not locate bread flour anywhere last week, so my loaves are a little flatter than normal. Went out today and restocked my bread flour, so will be good for next weekend’s bread. Made a sourdough using Starter Joe yesterday – this is the second loaf from him and it has a bit stronger tang. He is developing nicely and back into the fridge until next weekend. Made a nice, eggy (2 more of the 30 used up!) sweet bread today, so we’re good to go.

Flan’s the Plan: Also brought home evaporated and sweetened condensed milks, along with half and half and heavy whipping cream. I’m set to make all manner of custard-like dishes in their jiggly, eggy glory. I’ve even seen some savory custard dishes with cheese and bacon – denser than a souffle and helped along by the same baking techniques that I used for the cheesecake. Calories? Cholesterol? Fat? Oh yeah, plenty. I’ll be taking these dishes to the office to share…

Zeppidy-Doo-Dah: It’s everywhere – since the reunion show in December, I’m running into Led Zeppelin music everywhere I turn. So, joining in, I’ve been watching DVD a bit lately and struggling with a decision about which format to buy The Complete Led Zeppelin in. I’d love to have the artwork and whatever else comes in the boxed set, but as distracting as life is right now, it may take me a year to rip them all. Then again, it may take that long to download it all.  I’ve owned it all before, on vinyl, cassette and some on CD, and it’s time to get it all into my iPod. It’s startling how powerful the impact of their music is on so many levels, and the fact that it never feels old or worn. And it all started way back when…when I was a young kid in Indiana, first hearing “Stairway to Heaven” on WLS-AM out of Chicago.

Egg Overload: Meantime, I was surprised to find a few extra eggs in my grocery order. Usually I buy 6 at a time, since it’s just me and the cats. But in the winter I tend to bake more, so I ordered a dozen. Lifted those out of the bag and looked under some arugula, and there at the bottom was a family carton of EIGHTEEN more eggs. I checked the receipt and wasn’t charged for them – freebie eggs are not a terrible thing, but now I have 31 in the fridge to make use of in the next week or so. Guess I should hit up Allrecipes.com and find some custard and quiche recipes. Maybe try an egg nog. The possibilities are darned-near endless!

Very Sad: Just read a moment ago that Christopher Bowman, a former child actor and obscenely-talented US figure skater active 15-20 years ago, was found dead in a SoCal hotel room overnight. He struggled much of his life with addiction, and a possible overdose is suspected. Bowman was so blessed with natural athletic and performing ability that, despite a career-long cocaine habit and spotty work ethic, he would pull out performances that usually put him on the podium even while he was grossly under-trained. All the top skaters of his time – Canada’s Kurt Browning and the US’ Todd Eldredge included – knew that Bowman could blow them away if he ever harnessed all that ability with hard training. It never happened, but he sure put some wildly entertaining and dramatic performances on the ice. He would drive his coaches mad by deviating from planned choreography and making up half his routine as he went along – sometimes it faltered, but often it worked. His post-skating life saw him battling rounds of trouble and entering rehab and it’s sad that he never seemed to find an anchor. RIP, Christopher, and thanks for all the memorable moments you gave us.

Speaking of Joe: Well, only alluding to him until now….but anyway, meet Joe, the sourdough starter. Anyone who’s made and fed and nurtured a starter understands that they become their own beings. Joe was born four days ago so he’ll need to grow a little longer until he’s the perfect tartness, but I may bake my first loaf of sourdough this weekend to gauge where he is in his development. My cats are both bread fiends, and there’s been a slight yeasty-sour scent in the kitchen due to Joe’s presence that tantalizes them. Sebastian in particular wails at me every time I go into the room – he thinks I’m baking just for him.

Swimming: We’re getting wet, windy, wild weather here, and the worst is yet to come. About 4 am or so, the next blast comes, with 2-5 inches of rain and winds up to 60 mph. The height of it is due to hit while I’m trudging from bus to train to shuttle to get to work. Ugh.

Work changes impacted me the most. They were mainly due to a promotion and a few circumstances beyond my control, such as people leaving the team, continual growing pains and changing processes. Most of it hasn’t been easy, and I nearly changed jobs twice. More changes are ahead, and I’ve decided to give it a little more time to settle out and see if things shift for the better. The UI part of the content team is reorganizing again – we won’t be sharing my boss with the category marketing writers anymore – so there may be half a chance for some structure to settle in. That should be for the good.

My personal life changed very intentionally. About this time last year, I decided to usher in a “less is more” and “higher quality, lower quantity” theme. I’ve reduced or eliminated contact with a number of people and left social circles that just don’t fit the new theme. Meantime, I’m making new friends in different areas and around different interests. I’ve gotten even more into open wheel racing this year, and have developed a growing interest in the evolution of online social networking via Web 2.0 and beyond. I’m reading more and spending less time on my usual message boards and email lists and have started volunteering for the Florida Wild Mammal Association. They are planning a revamp of their web site and I will execute those changes when they’re ready.

The theme for 2008 is already set: More Fun. Less Stress. I’ve got a few different activities in mind to try out for the new year, some mental and some physical, that should help me employ the theme quite well. I’ve purchased a URL for my photography and hope to get a separate site set up for that this spring – I need some more photos first. I want to learn more about the technologies that fuel Web 2.0 and perhaps employ them on my own sites. I will be re-doing my apartment from floor to ceiling in the next year. And I have a couple of physical activities I want to try in addition to walking and yoga to take better care of myself and eliminate stress while having fun.

The trick will be finding a way to prevent the work/career track from getting in the way of the personal track as much as it did this year. Wish me luck! *grin*

Cookin’: Whipped up cream of potato leek soup, Thai peanut butter chicken, garlic herb chicken and “Clone of Cinnabon” cinnamon rolls. Need to do an au gratin dish tomorrow to finish up the potatoes, and I’ll have food for lunch and dinner most of the week. Found most of the recipes on allrecipes.com – great site with user reviews and comments that include tips and tweaks that are very useful.

Awwww: Woke this morning to text messages from some of my boys in Vegas  – “Wish you were here.” That’s so sweet. I’m actually glad I’m not there to witness some of the acts of desperation that could be on display. There are lots of tensions in attendance: people obsessed with band members; former lovers who no longer speak; band volunteers who power trip on other fans, etc. It’s so lovely and peaceful when all that isn’t around and it’s just a small group of folks who want to share a few drinks and some laughs. And just got a call from Rupe again – he’s nursing a terrible headache from too much whiskey in the desert.  Poor dear. *grin*

Ruped: Talked to family and a few friends so far today, including Rupert, who’s currently traveling with his band mates. He said the radio show they were supposed to do yesterday in Phoenix resembled the Keystone Cops – a totally amateur production that may never see the light of day, despite the fact that it was a nice performance by them. He said their gig last night was fun and that my friend Gary managed to make it – Rupe is a big Gary fan! He commented that their webmaster has been busy eating since he’s not working and has gotten a bit round. (Always ready to comment, that Rupe!) Rupe himself sounded great. He’s really missed touring – they haven’t been on the road nearly as much as they used to – so he’s completely happy to be performing for a few days.

Poke: It’s been a bad day to be Bash’s left eye. On the way to the train this morning, a gust of wind blew debris in my face and something sharp is now stuck under my left upper eyelid. I came home and dug into my earthquake prep area for the first aid kit, which I think has eye wash in it. My cardboard recycling sits next to the EQ storage area and as I leaned in to find the kit, I lost my balance and got a face full of sharp cardboard corners. The sharpest one went right into my left eye. I’m squinty and saving my screen time for work issues, so the Helio videos will have to wait…  *grin*

Sh*t St*r: So this guy who is tour manager for a band I know got in touch last night, suggesting that I might get involved with a certain aspect of the band’s business. This guy has had differences of opinion with the person who is currently doing that work, and there was talk last year that I might help out but it was never fully discussed and there was a lot of doodoo hurled around by the two in disagreement. I ended up squarely in the middle of that. I asked to be left out of their power struggle and greatly reduced my amount of contact with the parties involved. So today I dropped a line to a band member asking if it had been approved by them for sure this time, and I got “huh – news to me. Lemme think this through” as an answer. Yup, Mr. Tour Manager is up to poop stirring again. If anyone is wondering why I won’t break my neck too much to show up on that scene anymore, crap like this is a big part of the reason.

Sick: Again.  Really sore throat and dizzy headache. Been napping on and off all day. Hope I can sleep tonight.

Swampered: MySpace is esplodin’! I got a few greetings last year, but I can’t keep up this year. Slammed with comments! Nice thread on the Fixx board, too. Haven’t read that board in a few weeks – just not a thing I have time for at the moment, but I heard there was a thread for me and went for a look. Sweet.

Right: Helio and Julianne danced at an Indiana Pacers game to help drum up votes for his dances in the Dancing with the Stars competition. Monday night, they’ll perform the tango and the samba – Helio cracked that his tango “looks like a marching band” and his samba was “Aye Carumba!” so he really needs votes. Please vote for Helio!

Rite: It’s time to turn back clocks. Which means it’s time for fall cleaning to be wrapped up (ha! like I have time!) and it’s almost birthday time. These are my annual rites of autumn…along with tuning in to figure skating as the season starts. Last year, I didn’t see a single salchow and ended up dumping all the broadcasts onto videotape without watching them. This season, I’ve seen three performances – one by 14-year-old Caroline Zhang, who is adorable – and one each from Jeffrey Buttle and Brian Joubert. It’s early in the season, but the level of skating is awfully strong…hope I have time to watch more this year.

And look what Helio is wearing now: Insider

Flippin’ Sweet!

Freakin’ Sweet!: So, I was listening to SpeedFreaks last night and about 15 minutes in, my good MySpace pal Crash Gladys read a comment on the air that I had left on their page. Earlier in the year, Mike King read an email I sent him on his Indy Racing Weekly program. Guess I’m just a racing radio airtime junkie… *grin* You can always hear the most recent SpeedFreaks radio show on their site – they have guests from all over the racing world, and there’s never a shortage of racy fun.

NoHersh: Hersh had to change his plans to visit California due to family health issues. Some kind of epidemic of family crises in his life this year. He’s not the only one, lately. So, he and his wife Lee will visit us next year. *frown*

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Helio and Julianne – you’re SAFE!: ’nuff said.

Where I Been: Here, that’s where. Got a new computer Saturday and spent most of the weekend getting it set up and personalized.

Working Stiff: Man, work is grinding me down. My boss’ boss wants her to get more involved with all things content. After being pretty much left to my own devices for over a year, the super-intense focus now is on me prepping her for her weekly meetings with her boss. I guess this means my meetings with her won’t be shoved aside, rescheduled or canceled quite so often anymore. There hasn’t been much in the way of focus on my career or improvement in those anyway (that’s what these meetings are supposed to be for), and it looks like that won’t be changing. There’s also more hovering over the shoulder behavior, figuratively, anyway. Smothered, or ignored? Neither, please, but if I have to choose – ignored. The last little bit of joy has threatened to leave the building…

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Joshua and Luke: My sister and bro-in-law took my nephews Josh and Luke to Orlando today for a looong weekend of rides and junk food and way-expensive tourist knickknacks. Can’t wait to see the pictures!

Jack…Paul…Hersh!: An old colleague of mine will be back in SF next week – we’re planning to connect for a bite to eat and catch up with each other. Jack and I worked together at a company called Ecrio, which made mobile messaging software for a few companies in Europe. Then, I’m due to attend an event hosted by another former coworker’s new company. Paul is at Organic, an interactive ad agency, and they’re throwing themselves a birthday party. Next week, Hersh arrives from Canada for a visit with family, friends and a few fellow Rundgren-heads. It’s gonna be a really busy couple of weeks…

Another Lovely Day: Went out for a few errands today, and it was even better than yesterday. It’s supposed to rain most of the week. It’s really early for us to have so much rain – Friday, it poured most of the day – but it’s been so dry this year that it’s  good we’re getting some moisture. Every little bit helps cut the fire danger.

Pippi: She’s back at her old job, with her regulars lined up at the bar for her potions. Says it’s a little weird getting used to a schedule after not having a job for almost a year.

Crash: Finally got a chance to tune in to Speed Freaks, featuring my MySpace pal Crash Gladys. She’s a huge open-wheel racing fan and it’s great to hear someone on a racing show who actually DOESN’T want to talk about NAPCAR. We’ve been trading comments about the state of the dis-union in our sport. Right as the show ended, she squeezed in a “Vote for Helio” comment – she’s a big fan of his, also.

Testing 1, 2, 3: A few stars of the IndyCars ran a test at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama today. Being put to the test was a paddle shifting system and a variable ratio steering rack that would both make the sleek machines a bit easier to handle. Tony Kanaan of AGR ran the fastest laps of the day, with life-long friend and rival Helio Castroneves right behind. Also testing were Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti of AGR, Vitor Meira from Panther, and both TCGR drivers, Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon.

Bash Update: Not much new here – battling a nasty cold at the moment, but mainly it’s work, then rest, then work some more. It’s all good. If I feel up to it tomorrow, I have a manicure/pedicure scheduled at Cinta, but otherwise I’m gonna chill and read and do whatever comes to mind.

Moving Slowly: I use transit to get around – there’s nowhere to park in my neighborhood so I don’t own a car. Wednesday, the shuttle to work was overcrowded and I ended up sitting in the stairwell. There were people standing the whole length of the aisle as well. As we were driving on the freeway, the driver had to stop abruptly and those people dominoed forward, with the last one falling on top of me. Her weight came straight down on the top of my head, jamming my neck. I had a chair massage that day, which helped the neck stiffness and headache, by my lower back is still hurting from it. We’ve been complaining about the overcrowding to the transit company, and they finally replied that they will address the issue. Yesterday, the driver actually asked the standing passengers to get off, which is what we feared they would do. The standing folks need to get to work too – and they ignored the driver, who finally drove his route. If they start enforcing a new rule and leaving people behind instead of getting a bigger bus, that’s going to really tick people off. They only make a few runs during morning and afternoon rush hours, and it’s going to blow if I have to start leaving my house at 7 am instead of 8:15, just to have multiple chances at the shuttle.

Don’t forget to vote for Helio!

Helio’s laces were tied just right last night!

Meanwhile, on MySpace: Things have been hopping! If you scroll down just a bit, you’ll see a Napoleon Dynamite image I made with an online wallpaper generator – Vote for Helio. I hosted the image on my site and posted it in a comment on Helio’s MySpace page a couple days ago. I just remembered that I could see the traffic on that file in my raw stats (which I rarely dig through), so I just had a look. Helio’s page is getting SLAMMED – looks to me like he’s making a ton of new fans. 

Here’s Firestone’s Ode to Racing. Enjoy.

Pippi!: She’s planning to move back to California next month, bringing her bunny with her! Woo Hooo!

Vegas?: Those Fixx boys have two gigs in Vegas right after Thanksgiving. Pippi and Big Bunny will likely be there. I’m going to try, but it’s tough timing. Even if I get the time off, which is possible, I’m going to be really tired and likely needing a four-day spa stay, and not flights and gigs and two nights of all-night parties and all the attendant drama and posturing that goes with it. This will be a last-minute decision…

Right Tasty Wee Biscuits: ‘er, cookies, if yer a Yank. Tuesday is the International Food Fair at work – it’s a potluck people donate food and buy tickets to, all benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network. I volunteered a dessert and have begun the process of cranking out a small mountain of yummy, lemony shortbread cookies, in honor of my Scottish ancestors. Fortunately, not ALL of our 700+ employees attend this thing, so three batches will more than meet the quota I have to hit…if I don’t eat ‘em all. *grin* Wash ‘em down with a Go Girl, and I’ll be good to go for days!

Old: Feeling so worn out this week that I skipped the Todd Rundgren show Thursday night. Hadn’t seen him for 3 years. Guess it’ll be at least another before I do…

Crazy: Initial word is my team will be very busy next year. I truly hope this means we get to hire a few more folks, or I may die of old age by the end of 2008! LOL!

CA: There’s a good chance my Pippi will be back in CA before the end of the year. Bunny’s business is closing so there’s really nothing holding him there. I can’t wait to get her back, and bonus – I get him, too!  Woo hoo!

Thanks for your consideration.

Staying Safe: Here’s hoping the Indy Car and IPS races at Chicagoland Speedway stay safe. Lots on the line in both series, and one entrant in the IPS pulled out due to the dangers of starting so far back in the field on an oval. My MySpace pal Ryan Justice decided to sit this one out after being in a similar spot at Homestead this spring and getting involved in a serious wreck. It’s a matter of economics, as his family is invested in his ride and doesn’t want to risk the $. Instead, they’ll save for his future. The ICS race will be a barn burner, if it holds true to their history at this track.

Discoveries: Go Girl Energy Drink. Tunguska Blast herbal supplement. Three products from DHC: After Bath Hair Treatment Oil, Deep Cleansing Oil, and Olive Virgin Oil. Lucerne Green Tea Yogurt, available at Safeway.

Dario on the Pole: Franchitti took the pole for the final race of the Indy Car season, and has 4 drivers between himself and challenger Scott Dixon. Tune in tomorrow for the season-ending mayhem, which includes the Roth Racing cars sporting green monsters as the livery. Way cooool!

Over the last few months, I’ve been ignoring questions and requests for clarifications from people at both my blogs. I guess it’s time for a blanket response:

In posts on personal matters, sometimes I am addressing actions or circumstances directly relating to some specific person or people I know. These posts are about someone’s actions in relation to me, things they tell me (in one person’s case, over several sessions of sobbing and telling me how hard day-to-day life is), or information from their colleagues, etc. Often, a specific person or situation inspires me to riff on a broader, more general theme. It’s not worth anyone’s time trying to figure out who these posts are about, or whether it’s a specific comment or one of those more general things. In the main, I’m communicating my opinions about something to people who usually already know the details – the rest of the world are passers-by.

I don’t have time right now to write all my friends one-on-one very often (I do go to email if I need to share specific details). I’m slammed with work, and my awesome friends have agreed to come to my blog for my thoughts. If I omit names and details, it’s because they aren’t necessary to get my point across, and it helps maintain a certain amount of privacy. If you were there, you’ll know who I’m talking about in most cases. If not – again, does it matter? Probably not. My point still gets across. If you weren’t there, you may still think you’ve figured it out anyway. Be very careful about making assumptions. I may know some stuff you don’t, and you’ll jump to some wrong conclusions based on what I chose to leave out. Or, maybe I’m talking about someone/something else all together.

I tried to password protect a more personal post once. People hated having to dig in their mail and find the blog password I set for them at the beginning, etc. I hated having to resend everyone the password. It didn’t save me time, and saving time is why I opened a blog in the first place. So I remain in the open but vague, and no, I won’t share specifics privately with anyone other than close friends and family. Please accept and respect that. I don’t have time to maintain a separate private blog for these kinds of thoughts. Perhaps if you are bothered by lack of details or oblique commentary, you should read someone else’s blog, or skim by the more personal posts.

To the handful of you who contacted me, thanks for your understanding on this. To the gossips – hey, at least link to my blog so the context is there! Geez! To the rest of you (aka the vast majority of my readers), sorry for this interruption. (You probably didn’t bother reading this far, anyway. LOL!)

My picks – man, this is tough. I want it to be Dario Franchitti, and I think that the oval will make it more likely to be. But Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan both know how to win on these things, too. Nothing against Dixon, but if it can’t be Franchitti, I’d love it to be his best friend and huge team player, Kanaan. He was completely unselfish in Sonoma and I think he deserves it for that. But if it is Dixie, he’ll get my respect. In fact, he already has it. Stealthy, solid, consistent and always well-behaved, the New Zealander won a title in 2003 and is worthy of a repeat.

Dream finish? Danica Patrick getting her first win near her hometown of Roscoe, IL. Only bad thing about that is the timing – the interest generated couldn’t be channeled into next week’s race, and it would definitely be muted by the long break until next season starts in March. But it’d still be great for the series, and well-deserved for The Go Girl. (Yeah, I know she’s a Go Daddy Girl, but I like Go Girl better.) Followed by Franchitti for second and the title, with Kanaan and Marco Andretti getting in there for an AGR sweep – they’re my team.

If it’s someone out of the top tier, make it Meira. The dude just deserves a win. But, Panther’s not doing so well lately, and the focus will be on his likely new team mate, Hideki Mutoh, who’s making his series debut. A DRR win by Buddy Rice would be welcomed, and I’d LOVE to see Darren Manning get a victory for the Foyt team.

We’ve had plenty of rumbles and lots of tension between teams and drivers this season, and this last race is a pressure cooker – not only for the title, but for those hoping to prove/improve themselves for next year. It could get pretty interesting out there Sunday. Stay safe, folks! And don’t forget to follow it all with our very own Pressdog, who’s off-leash, on the premises and telling it like it is…

Do you know the Welsh band The Alarm? “The Stand”, “Marching On” and “68 Guns” are some of their best-known tunes. I hadn’t heard their music until I saw them play live this summer. I really enjoyed the spirit of their music and the energy of lead singer Mike Peters, and was stunned to learn that he was just off his second battle with leukemia.

Peters has joined with other cancer survivors to create the Love Hope Strength Foundation, with a mission to raise money and awareness through various events usually involving music. He and others have climbed Mt. Snowdon for a performance and played a concert atop the Empire State Building, and are now preparing for the ultimate trek: Mount Everest.

More than forty musicians, mountaineers and survivors will set out for base camp on October 13^th, with plans for an acoustic set once they arrive two weeks later. Podcasts and other updates will be shared daily and a documentary crew will capture it all for everyone wishing to participate “virtually.”

I’m honored to have an acquaintance making this trek – Cy Curnin of The Fixx. I’m sponsoring Cy in honor of several relatives who have had cancer and invite you to join me with a donation of your own. Paypal makes it easy and quick and even a little will make a difference.

Please sponsor Cy today and help build a global network of support for those dealing with, battling and beating cancer.

Thanks so much for your support!

New Look for a Good Cause: Decided on a 3-column layout so I can pop some banners in easily on the left. Please follow the top one to the Love Hope Strength Foundation and support the climb to base camp on Everest, and the concert that will take place there. You can sponsor a trekker and help in the fight against cancer by making a donation on the foundation’s site.

7 is 9: Davey Hamilton raced in the Classic for supermodifieds at Oswego yesterday in the no. 7 car. He finished ninth. Glad Davey’s racing again and I hope he can get some more sponsorship deals going so we can see him in the IndyCars more frequently. I think his 9th place finish at the Indy 500 with a middle tier team, after having not raced in 6 years, makes him a solid candidate for a ride in the 500 again. But he’d also bring more consistent and higher results throughout a season than some of the drivers who have full-time rides right now, so I’d like to see him get a chance at it. A good scenario for Davey might be a ride share…he drives most or all ovals for a team, and someone else does the road and street courses that would be too hard on Davey’s repaired feet and ankles. I’d sure miss him in the broadcast booth, though…

Pampered: Had a manicure and facial at Cinta today. Planned the rest of the long weekend when I got home. There will be many rest breaks, and a few walks. Weather’s been incredible the last few days. I’ve spent the day listening to Drone Zone on SomaFM, and Lemonchill on MySpace, which is helping things sllloooowwww. down. Ahhhhhhh…..

Busy: Work will be re-igniting soon, and I’m planning changes for my web site, this blog, and also beginning to help an organization with their site. More details on that when it settles down a bit. Three concerts await me this month, as well. And spring cleaning has stretched into fall cleaning, which is actually better timing for San Francisco. Our warm weather happens in September and October, and I need to paint my place so having all the windows open will be necessary. Then when the November rains come, everything will be clean and fresh when I have to close up tight here. Oh, for a 28-hour day…

Tickets? Check.

Sunscreen? Check (SPF 70).

Sun Hat? Check.

Camera? Check.

MyFi? Check.

Walking Shoes? Check.

I’m ready to roll at Infineon. Watch this space for details and photos.

I saw The Alarm at the Mezzanine in July. Lead singer Mike Peters has wrestled leukemia twice, and he’s a real force on stage – their show was loads of fun. He’s founded Love Hope Strength to fund research and treatment for those battling cancer, and he and about 40 other musicians, survivors and a documentary crew are about to climb to base camp on Mt. Everest and perform an acoustic show. Cy and Jamie from The Fixx are among the trekkers starting out in mid-October. Follow the link above to learn more, and if you can get involved somehow, please consider it. I’m sponsoring a walker in another event they’re doing and have joined The Army in memory of my grandmother and in honor of my niece Ashley and friend Donna, both survivors.

Pippi: We’re planning to hogtie Big Bunny and move him to the west coast.  We’re planning lots of things.

Why do females get preggers to try and trap guys?

I was just reading the profile of someone whom I’ve always wondered about on that front – he’s not too bright, and at the time, there was a nice pile of money in his life – and it got me to thinking about this topic. Who could ever be so desperate and selfish as to use an innocent human life in such a way? Drop a kid with one guy, and if he doesn’t go for it, try another one. Eventually, they end up with a fool they can control and manipulate, and PRESTO! – the idiot spends his life trapped under the world’s largest thumb. (“Oh, and give Mummie your receipts…did you spend it all?”)

And then there are the children…most of the time, they’re just little pawns in a game. They suffer the worst of it, with a mom who treats them like they’re merely the ties that bind, and a dad with no spine, suffocated and emotionally wrecked. Gotta suck when your parents are TRASH like that.

Off my soapbox now..

• 145 visits from 106 unique visitors
• 8 countries – Chile (obsessed with my Fixx photos), UK, Australia, Japan, Canada, Germany, Togo
• US visits from: Cali (one frequent blog reader in LA), DC, Mass., FL, VA (howdy, Leesburg), OH, NJ (rock on!), NY, MN

Welcome. This blog mainly keeps family and a few friends up-to-date with what’s on my agenda. Anything too personal or private or controversial (or interesting!) is shared in occasional email, so please forgive the mundane nature of this blog. But thanks for stopping by!

Mission:Pip-possible: Did a mani/pedi at Cinta today, ran a few errands, then came back home to veg out. Brainstorming with Pippi on how to get her back to California. She desperately wants to bring her sweetie with her, but I’m thinking if he can’t manage it soon, she may just come back on her own. She loves him, but the messy situation he’s in (ex-wife screwed him financially, etc.) is really putting a strain on them.

To the Arcade!: Nailed down tix for the Arcade Fire gig. In the next 6 weeks I have a race and three gigs coming up. That’s twice as many events as I’ve attended all year so far. Too much work. Really crappy, that. Something’s gotta give…

Here’s hoping next week’s race at Kentucky is a lot less expensive for everyone.

El Lay: Someone in the Los Angeles area is extremely interested in this blog – reads daily. Unless someone has moved there recently and hasn’t told me, I don’t really know anyone there who could possibly WANT to read this every day. Ah well. Hope they find more interesting reading material somewhere on the web! LOL!

A Little Breather: Gonna take another slow weekend, watch some Indy Cars go round and round at Michigan, and finally have a moment to fully take in the gift my UK pal sent me. He told me to share it with Ms. Pippi, and she got hers today.

A Little Bother: Pippi reminded me of something I heard last month. Seems that dopey ex-”date” of mine has collected yet another admirer the guys put in the “SKIP DIVE/STALKER” category. There’s one who travels from another country to see him. No one can imagine why he tolerates her – they can’t stand her. There’s a girl who used to chase one of the other guys. That got her nowhere, so now she’s going after Dopey. Pip said something today that brought it to mind and it makes me marvel at bit – seems the only folks left he can spend time with are desperate, messed up or just plain dumb. Too bad he can’t seem to keep decent company…

A Lotta Chile: Someone using an IP address in Chile made three visits to my site today, each time only to my photos of the boys. Wouldn’t that just be ironic… (Naw, I better not finish that one. Some of you know where that one ends up – the SKIP! LOL!)

Ready to Race: My Indy Cars are racing at Michigan International this weekend. Looking forward to it!

Mo’ Music: In addition to Todd (Tee Arr) Rundgren next month, we’re also getting a concert by Underworld! Really looking forward to that – love those guys.

Tee Arr!: Todd Rundgren at the Great American Music Hall Thursday, September 13. No New Cars, just Tee Arr by his old self. That’ll be good. 

Taxicabs: Tony Stewart won at the Brickyard today. Followed it on the radio network until the Giants game started. Still no Bonds homers, and we lost this one. Ah well, if it doesn’t happen at home, there’s no better place than L.A. for Barry to tie and perhaps break Aaron’s record than Dodger-land. *evil grin*

WOW: The package arrived from my UK pal today. Wish I could tell you what it contained, but WOW – my boys ‘r’ just THAT good.

Other Racin’: So the Chump Car World Series is racing in “Sanazay” as the locals call it (that’s San Jose for the non-locals), and the taxicabs are ruining the bricks at IMS. I love my IMS Radio Network guys so much that I’ll probably tune in for some of their broadcast anyway, and I may pop over to the Chump Car site to see what their online coverage is like. Can’t wait for my Indy cars to get back on track next week.

Ire: So I got an email from Mr. Tour Manager last night, telling me to ignore all the unpaid help and to come to him if I need or want anything while the boys are all around. He’d make sure I was taken care of.

Bonds Watch: Barry’s three homers away from breaking Hank Aaron’s all-time record and the media has descended on San Francisco. It would be nice to see him at least get closer today – it’s his birthday.

Lounging: Well, okay, I logged on for a couple of hours and did some work writing, but mostly just lazed around the house trying to recover from the general exhaustion I’ve suffered the last few months.

You GO, Girl!: Danica Patrick qualified second for Mid-Ohio today, her best starting position for a road course. These big powerful machines have no traction control or power steering and they’ve been a challenge for Patrick (a 5-foot, 100-pounder) to muscle around non-oval races. Her three AGR teammates are right behind her on the starting grid – a really strong showing for Andretti Green.

Ripped: Heard from one of my musical pals today. He ripped the local help for only looking out for their own good time and “thinking with their willy” and being too far up the butt of the other unpaid help (they don’t have any paid help outside of the tour manager) who’s always overstating their position and doing shit that pisses the band off. He also said he had something really cool to send me…can’t mention it here, but can’t wait ’til it arrives!

Serial Sorrys: Got a PM from my favorite cereal today – “Sorry to miss you Sunday.” Got a call from Rupe – “sorry didn’t get you backstage Sunday night.” He said he was coming out to find me and his friend Rob Hughes, but got stopped by other visitors who wanted to chat and chat and chat. He remembered how tired I said I was at dinner earlier that night, and was sorry I missed seeing everyone. Also told me their Vegas gig in August is canceled.

HB2U: Two of my favorite people ever, ever, ever are celebrating birthdays today – virtual cake all around in honor of Gus and Aki!

Slow Going: Dragged myself to dinner with Rupert, Ira and roadie Jimmy from The Fixx, then went for their show at the Mezzanine. The Alarm went on first and cranked out a fun set. Then my Fixx boys blew the socks off the packed in, sold out crowd. Now, I don’t mind the headliners, the Psychedelic Furs, but after The Fixx…it just doesn’t work that well. Took off after a couple songs and headed back to my place, just a few blocks from the venue. The plan was to reconvene with The Fixx and some pals a little later at a nearby Irish pub, but I fell asleep within 15 minutes of getting home. I’m happy I made it that far into the evening – it was a terrific show. Just got a call from Adam who said he saw me in the audience and thought he might see me after the show – said they had a terrific time at the pub. Look for photos on Bash*tography.

Wiped:  Went for a mani/pedi today, plus ran errands all over the Union Square area. Still battling this bug and officially wiped out for the day.

Worldwide: Visitors in the last two weeks from Cote d’Ivoire, Tilbury in the UK, and California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, D.C., and New York here in the U.S.

Music City Speed Show: My Indy Cars are racing on the bumpy 1.33-mile oval at Nashville tonight. Here’s hoping the only rumble is that of the engines (or the cars barreling over the bumps). Don’t need any more of the lo-jinks that we saw at the Glen lat weekend.

Tee Arr Not Fixxed: Heard from a couple of my Fixx boys. They had to bail for a 4-hour drive after their appearance at the Moondance Jam and didn’t cross paths with Todd Rundgren, who was appearing four hours later with The New Cars.  I’m still iffy for the gig tomorrow night here in SF, so I may not be Fixxed either. Good thing I’m just sick and not broken… *grin*

Tee Arr: For you folks who were asking me during my Memorial weekend visit home if I’d heard from my musical pal Todd Rundgren lately, the answer is now yes. He dropped me a line in the wee hours this a.m. – he’s on the road with The New Cars. I think he was drunk – pretty darned funny email. He and the Fixx boys are on the same bill on Friday the 13th. Sadly, it’s in B.F.E, Minnesota, so I won’t be there to take in such a delightful happening. Told him to have a drink for me if he hooks up with my Fixx boys.

Fixxed Soon – Maybe: That is, if I don’t relapse on whatever I’ve been battling all week, bug-wise. The Rockin’ the Colonies tour rolls in Sunday with the P. Furs, The Alarm and The Fixx. We’ll see if I can make it. If not, well, they’ll be back this fall.

Beisbol: The All-Star Game is on right now, just a 20-minute walk away in AT&T Park. I’ve had it on the radio as I finished up some more work. Definitely heading to bed early, so glad it started early and is winding down now.

7 is 8th on 07/07/07: Davey Hamilton returned to supermodified racing, driving the number 7 car to 8th place in Oswego. Not too bad, considering the car was late to be finished and he hadn’t practiced much in it. He commented on the IMS radio broadcast from the Glen today that it was one 7 too many on 07/07/07 (he was actually due to drive the 6 car, but Otto Sitterly drove that). Davey’ll race in Oswego again on 9/2.

Watkins Glen: The Indy Cars are racing at the Glen this weekend, plus Davey Hamilton’s returning to the cockpit of a supermodified for the first time since his crash at Texas. He’s racing at Oswego, where my pal Diamond is involved with SBS racing. Diamond, though, is being a traitor to us openwheelers – he’s missing that race (and a simultaneous Fixx show in Buffalo) to watch taxicabs wreck in Daytona. (Okay, so he’s visiting family, too…*grin*) I’ll be keeping up with the activities at the Glen while I continue declutterizing my house. (Whee.)

Independence: Most folks I know are out of town right now, so our usual 4th of July picnics and parties are not happening this year. So long as my knee holds out, I’ll be spending today getting free of clutter here at home. I’m looking forward to the end result!

Readers: Just checked my stats for the first time in ages – in the last month, there have been readers from the UK, Germany and Chile, as well as DC, New York, Georgia, California, Virginia and Indiana here in the US. Welcome!

Smoothing Out: Things at work are a little smoother – after I spent time this weekend working, of course. Gave my part of the photo project back to my new guy, who’s in a better place to handle it now, and got a lot of things done today. Still plenty busy this week, but last week’s marathons took care of the crisis. Still thinking about my long-term future, however. I see things potentially getting worse and staying there for quite a while before they get better and I don’t have any extra to give.

It’s All Dario: Franchitti is on a tear in the IRL series. He started on pole and dominated the race at Richmond tonight. He’s really been on a roll the whole season, and that usually means plenty of interview time afterwards with his wife, Ashley Judd. She’s definitely a way different interview than anyone else around the league. I’m happy for the Great Scot – Dario has seemed to have crap luck in the last few seasons and he really deserves this wave of good fortune.

Bullring: The Indy Cars are racing at Richmond, VA,  tonight and that’s always an action-packed event. Trying to get my out-of-house errands done in time for the late afternoon start time here on the West coast.

Fixxed: Two weeks until the boys are here…I’ll be ready for a little fun by then. *smile*

Expensive Lessons: The IndyCar Series broke in the new Iowa Speedway, in more ways than one. Rusty Wallace’s new track is a challanging one – add in much cooler and overcast weather than expected and a bunch of impatient drivers, and we had more wrecks than we’ve seen in ages. Some folks were just not careful enough – others had their cars set up for conditions that never materialized and spun out as a result. No injuries, but a lot of CARnage. It was a costly debut that finally got down to some racing, with Dario Franchitti nosing out teammate Marco Andretti for the win. Richmond is next – another short track where a lack of patience often brings much wreckage…

Lumbering Taxicabs: I don’t follow NASCAB, but have the broadcast video on today because they’re running at Sonoma. I’m heading up there for the first time in August, so want to get an idea where I might shoot photos from. The taxicabs use an easier course configuration than the IndyCars and look soooo clumbsy turning left AND right.

Gigantes!: A long, dismal losing streak ended last night in a 13-inning victory over the Yankees, and a walk in the park by the Giants today. Lovely day here in SF for baseball.

The British are Coming: The PFurs, The Alarm and The Fixx will be here in about three weeks, playing a gig at the Mezzanine. Looking forward to a gathering of friends for this one!

Corny, but Wicked FAST: Sunday’s the inaugural Iowa Corn 250, run at Rusty Wallace’s new track at Newton, IA. The banking and surface of the tack give it more grip than anywhere else we run, so lots of wheel to wheel action should occur. It’s gonna be sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

Visitors: Haven’t checked my stats in a while – a nice international roster has been by the last few weeks! The UK, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Canada and several locations around the US. Welcome to BashUp!

Fenway’d: The Giants are visiting Fenway Park for the first time since 1912, and last night’s debut there didn’t turn out so great. This afternoon’s game starts in about an hour – hope Matt Cain has a great showing against Dice-K.

Detox: I’m gonna do a detox weekend – liquids, broths and lots of books. Need to see if that will clear out all the residue from the allergies. If not, I’ll be off to the doc…

USGP: The Swarm of Angry Bees (aka Formula 1) will race at Indianapolis this weekend. I don’t follow F1, but my favorite folks at the IMS Radio Network will broadcast it, so I’ll be tuned in while I’m reclining with my books.

My motto: Real racers don’t need fenders and roofs. *grin* (and in the way off chance he finds this blog in a Google search – Happy birthday tomorrow, Davey H.!)

Soon to Be Fixxed: Heard from Ira – he was in Indy visiting his main squeeze and finishing nailing down the flights/hotels for the boys’ tour next month. Lots of internal flights and extra expense meant some of the guys’ plans to bring family along got canceled. Kinda bummed about that. I’ll see the boys in San Francisco mid-July, and maybe in August in Vegas.

Sonoma, Take 2: Had to cancel a trip to Sonoma earlier this year, but I’ll be attending the IndyCar race there in August, along with getting pampered at the Sonoma Mission Inn/Spa. All part of the plan to add a little more luxury to life. Looking forward to it!

Chase: He’s the best dog ever….

Hee Hee: Ira (my musical pals’ tour manager) sent me a funny:

INSTALLING HUSBAND
Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance — Particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, Desperate
———————————————————— —–
Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, While Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.

Please enter the command: “http: I Thought You Loved Me.HTML” and try to download Tears 6.2 and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck, Tech Support

I told Ira that I never install anything more complex than Boyfriend 5.0 due to the above types of issues. I mentioned that Fling 1.0 – 3.4 usually worked best on my operating system, and I sometimes even download Road Bump 0.99b for very short term use. He said he recently installed Main Squeeze 2.0 and that it was running well, even though it recently got a virus. (Feel better soon, Kim!)

Junior Giants: The Giants benched a bunch of the “old” folks for a day off, and the kids did us proud. Cain pitched more like we expect him to, and Lewis, Alfonzo and Franzen lit up the Rockies. Lewis hit for a cycle – only the 23rd rookie ever to pull that off, and something Giants giants Willie Mays and Barry Bonds have never done. The Giants won 15-2.

Racin’: It’s Pole Day at Indy, and I’ve got the speedway P.A. and WIBC streaming online, plus ESPN and ABC will cover the actual qualifying once it starts. Right now, it’s practice time.

Restin’: I’m going to lounge and nap most of the weekend to try and get rid of this bug. It’s pretty tenacious.

Even though I’m not feeling well, I went out for a walk today. It was 86 degrees and just too nice not to get out and enjoy it. I got in about two miles, stopping for a Jamba Juice, running an errand or two and ending up at AT&T Park just as the Giants game was starting. Took my camera and got a few shots of the best ball park in the world! Listening to the game unfold as I type…hoping it will cool down in here pretty quickly so I can get to sleep early and hopefully avert whatever bug seems to be buzzing me.

Stunning: It was a beautiful day here. I went for an Aveda Tourmaline Manicure at Cinta with my favorite manicurist, Kim Diep. Then I wandered to Naan n Curry for chicken tikka masala, ran some errands, window shopped and ended up walking about 3 miles, all while listening to the Giants whip the Phillies 9-4. I ended the excursion with a stop at Taylor’s Refresher at the Ferry Building for a yummy milkshake, which I enjoyed outside on a bayside bench with a view of the ferries departing for points east and north. No jacket, no goosebumps – it was exactly the right temperature for an afternoon by the water. (Pretty rare for San Francisco, except for parts of September and October.) Tomorrow will be warmer, with possible record temperatures at the beaches. I may have time to squeeze in my favorite seven-mile walk across the city to Ocean Beach. It’ll be good training for Bay to Breakers…

• Heard from my UK pal yesterday – said he was coping with his back injury with lots of reclining. Poor thing. Hope he heals quickly. One of his bandmates sent a text today with regrets that we couldn’t meet up this time. I’ve been so busy that I couldn’t have gotten away for the festivities even if they’d have had a guest list. In just the time it takes to drive down there, I can get so much done here, let alone the time spent there and the drive back. Took a 2-mile+ power walk on my way to the grocery and took care of several errands along the way. Got that all done in less time than the drive to Santa Cruz would have taken. I’m hoping by the end of May I can get back to a closer-to-normal schedule and actually use my weekends for fun and relaxation.

• On the sports front, the Giants swept the Dodgers in LA and then went to Arizona, where they promptly forgot how to win against the “BabyBacks.” And Dominant Dan Wheldon whipped the field at the Kansas Lottery Indy 300, setting himself up as the favorite going into the Month of May at Indianapolis. I’d be tickled pink if I could see him win his second 500 in person. He has such deep respect for everything the race stands for.

UK Pal: My beloved UK pal called today to tell me he won’t be near enough San Francisco on this trip to get together – he’s flying back east on Sunday morning to see his lady. He apologized for the band not having a guest list for their private gig, which is a small personal function and not the usual private corporate or organization gig. It’s hardly something he can control and even if he could, I’d feel really strange showing up at a total stranger’s personal celebration! Poor dear has injured his back and is really dreading his trans-Atlantic flight later this week. That won’t be a fun 10 hours, nor will having to play a couple of gigs straight off it help matters much.

(Try to) Beat LA: The Giants have been on a roll lately, with their stellar pitching finally being paired with enough offense and defense to get the wins. Tonight, we’re at LA, where we’ll give it another go against our worst rival. The game starts in 40 minutes and I’m just hoping to keep my eyes open long enough to catch some of it.

Visitor: On top of that, a friend has written that she’s coming to SF the first weekend of May, and she’ll want to come see my baby kitties, so I have to find a way to finish the spring cleaning I started before the other writer left us in February. This isn’t a couple of hours worth of work – I’ve got loads of stuff torn out of closets and cabinets for a major purge, and I get a little done here and there, but the amount of time I have to work at home right now is really delaying the completion.

SoNOma: I have to cancel my trip to Sonoma next weekend, also. I’ll need the weekend to finish the cleaning and get the onboarding work done for my new employee. My musical pals will be down the coast playing at a private show Saturday, and I’ve invited my UK pal to dine in San Francisco the next day if his schedule will allow. Otherwise, I’ll be at home all weekend next weekend. Working. *sigh*

So…: If I forget to post an update here for the next few days, it’s just because I’m too swamped. I’ll eventually catch things up here, when that light appears at the end of the tunnel. *grin*

Aloha?: I’m thinking about joining some friends for a trip to Hawaii in July. Yeah, off season, but what the heck. It’ll be more affordable, which will help. I’ve never been and have started collecting people’s thoughts about where to visit and what we shouldn’t bother with. Leave me a comment if you have any tips – thanks!

Supreme Wort: The top court chipped a chunk out of Roe v Wade today, by upholding a federal ban on late stage abortions. A sound byte from a right-winger struck me as terribly ironic. She celebrated the court’s decision by pointing out that the shootings at Virginia Tech highlighted how precious life is and that we should protect it. (Probably uttered while clutching her NRA membership card.) We can’t get these right wingers to support gun control laws – it seems they find life precious enough to protect only when it means interfering with a woman’s reproductive rights.

Visitors: “Oh, Canada, our home and native land…” Welcome, eh? Cayman Islands. Man, I’m jealous. Would love a break there. France. Bonjour! My reader in Ashburn VA isn’t around as much lately. Probably got bored.

On Time, In Style: Got my Tissot watch today, and I love it! No more digging out my phone to see what time it is. The watch came in a huge box with a 136-page catalog, a 280-page history of the company and several other booklets. The jeweler says to change the battery every two years…it’ll take me that long to read all this!

Bummed: One of the most adorable and dynamic people I’ve ever worked with is leaving our team. Caroline did a terrific job in her management role and gave it several months to see if she got comfortable, but she confided in me that she wasn’t convinced it was the right thing for her. Really bummed that we’re losing her, but I know she’ll be more happy this way.

Baseball!: After being rained/snowed out in Pittsburgh, the Giants are back at it against the Rockies tonight, and have just wrapped up an 8-0 shutout. Just want we needed!

Tissot: Found a dealer who had the Bellflhour (yup, that’s how they spell it) watch in stock, but with a mesh band instead of black leather. I wanted to see the watch in person to judge its dimensions – it looked like it might be too big on the Tissot site. It’s perfect. I had Mr. Baume of Baume Swiss Jewelers order the black leather version for me. Should arrive next week.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?: We’re talking to some great people and are about to make some decisions about who will fill my open spot on the UI Writer team. I’ll be so happy to have a teammate…crossing my fingers there are no delays in the decision-making process.

Global Viewers: Various folks across the US (including paradise – er, Hawaii) stopped by, as well as a couple of folks from the U.K. Howdy!

SLAPped (Again): Our illustrious SLAP project is starting back up again. Looks like “working on the weekend” will be back in play for a while. It was so nice to have a weekend off this last go around…

Out of Words: I told someone today that I really needed to get my employee hired, because I’m about to run out of words. Guess if that happens, I’ll have to make this a photo blog. *grin*

The L’Occitane Incident: Needed a stockup at my favorite purveyor of lavender items. Came away with over $300 in merchandise – new Almond Apple treatments caught my eye. I can use the new stuff during the day, and the Immortelle Very Precious line at night. Ultra Rich Shea Butter eye balm is a 24 hour thing, and Lavender candle, hand cream, shea butter and lotion topped off the haul. It’s all waiting the purge of “lesser” products I haven’t found to my liking. It’s all about the pampering. *grin*

Busy Friday: Cranked out everything I could to avoid having to work for the umpteenth weekend in a row. Yesterday was fun, though – lots of little kids visted for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. And someone brought in two Maltese dogs – one was a 12-week-old pup. ADORABLE!

Howdy, Hayward: Someone across the bay in Hayward googled my whole photo credit name (Lisa Bash Beard) and spent a good bit of time looking over my site and blog. Wonder if it’s someone I know…

F-Line – Castro to Fisherman’s Wharf: These street cars are from Italy and the original signage is still in place inside the cars.

The World-Famous Cable Car: Nope, they aren’t “trolleys” – we don’t have trolleys in San Francisco. These beauties are the only national monuments that move, and they are my most favorite way to get around. They only cover parts of northeastern San Francisco, but that works for me. One line passes right by my apartment. The other two lines run just a half-block away.

Two Kitties: Sabrina gets most of the “face time” on my blog because of that cute moustache, but my Sebastian is a gorgeous boy. Here’s some face time for him:

My Favorite Droidbox: Here’s where I drop the rare letter or bill that I actually send via snail mail:

There He Goes!: Helio, that is. Two years in a row, he’s dominated the IRL race at St. Pete, and when Helio Castroneves wins he climbs a catch fence and hangs on it, celebrating with his fans. That trademark move has earned him the nickname “Spiderman.” (Somehow, Spiderman morphed into “Pideymang” in my childhood household…) Anyway, Pidey made his assent again yesterday, to the delight of the camera crews and my old college mate Vince Welch, who works for ESPN and interviewed Helio after he got off the fence. Helio is effusive, emotive and excitable and always an amusing interview – his sunny nature, Brazilian accent and “almost” command of the English language combine to create some funny moments. And his quotes are fun even when he isn’t fighting the language – after last year’s win at this race, he said “I drove it like I stole it!” He’s such a popular “brand” in the Indy Car Series that his upcoming wedding is being referred to as “Castronuptials” in the press. Helio, Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and Dario Franchitti are all personalities that make the racing even more interesting for me. It’s fun watching them do their thing.

I.R.A.: Heard from my friend Ira today – he’s on the road working. (Also got a text fom my UK pal, still celebrating his birthday). Ira shared some tentative plans for my musical pals this summer, and spoke about the difficulties of conducting a long-distance relationship (his lady lives in Indiana – he’s in Seattle). We’re both so busy we haven’t kept in touch lately, so it was nice to catch up a bit.

And Mellieeeee!!!: Add Mellie to my recent visitors. (Well, see her comment on my last post – she added herself. *grin*) Hope all’s well in Tejas, my friend. (You too, Joel in “clear-on-the-other-side-of” Tejas.)

Love My Nikon: Here’s a shot I took of Sabrina with my new D80 and the amazing 85mm f1.4 lens. This was shot in very low light. Isn’t this the best funny-face ever?

Workin’ on the Weekend: Anymore, if I have large writing projects, I have to do them at home. I’m going to be a writin’ fool this weekend – have a ton of projects that are due front part of next week. At least I’ll have Giants’ baseball and the IndyCar race from St. Pete, FL to keep me company during all the writing.

Passers-by: Readers from various parts of the US and UK the last few days.

Freezeframe!: My camera gear arrived today: Nikon D80, 50mm f1.4, 85 mm f1.4 (my DREAM lens!) and an 18-70mm f3.5 super wide angle. Lens cases, a couple memory cards totaling 4 gigabytes of memory and some accessories rounded out the buy. I’m good to go for photos for a long time to come…

New Viewers: Cote D’Ivoire, Slovenia and Argentina stopped by this week. Also, my frequent visitor from Ashburn, VA. Plus, all my family and pals in the middle.

Shopping: Spending some of my bonus – camera gear and the like – it should arrive later this week. Hoofed around the last couple of days to run errands, and I’m on the lookout for a particular model Tissot watch, so having to visit lots of jewelers here in the city. So far, no luck…

The IndyCar season begins this week, and I know Tom would have been keenly following the races leading up to the 500. I gotta think he’ll have the best seat in the house for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” from now on…

Bonus!: Tomorrow we get our bonuses, and I’ll be online this weekend ordering all that new camera gear I’ve been hankerin’ for. Already lined up a Tourmaline mani/pedi at Cinta for Saturday. Time for some pamperin’! Will be heading in for another massage at Novella, soon.

Visits: Same readers as usual, plus a visit from Lancashire in the UK, and someone in Florida, and a few Californians.

Bonus: Found out the gross total of my bonus today. NICE number. Now if they just didn’t have to take away so much in taxes. I’ve already got plans for the money – spend some, save some – so it’s just a matter of what the net total ends up being. A trip back to Indiana to see the family is among the plans I’m making for it.

The fog’s rolling in now, so it will be back to normal tonight…

Parisian Proxy: My Proxad/Dedibox visitor(s) are still poking away at that Year in Review post on my blog. Always turns up a 403 or 404 code. Had a bunch of SPAM attempts the last couple of weeks, but installed some antispam plugins and they are all gone…

Spring Forward Early: Wheee! I love light, so an extra month of DST works for me!

Grateful: As tired as it’s making me, I am SO fortunate to be in the position I have at work. One of the merchandising writers and I are joining with a team of designers to explore a very important potential shift in how we do things. Can’t say any more about it except that it could change everything, and for the better. Really exciting!

introspective: A big hit for Boston (the band) back in the 70′s says “Don’t Look Back,” but I can’t help but reflect on my ‘tween and early teen days when that band’s music filled the airwaves everywhere I went. This evening we learned that lead singer Brad Delp was found dead in his home today. No foul play suspected, and an autopsy report is due Monday. He was 55. Always marveled at how he could sing much higher than I ever could, and although I didn’t follow the band that closely after the 70′s, I recall occasionally reading comments from people about what a genuinely good human being he was. RIP, Mr. Delp.

Free!: Well, at least for the weekend. As much as I’m loving my work at the moment, I need a breather. A Tourmaline Manicure awaits me tomorrow at Cinta, then Gus and I meet tomorrow evening for dinner. Sunday is supposed to be a stunning day, and I hope to spend it wandering my bestest and most favorite parts of San Francisco.

Freaky: Been clearing out some old stuff in storage and ran across a printout of a magazine article that gives me pause. A few years ago I was involved with a musician, and since I was also involved in his fandom pretty heavily, I wanted to remain anonymous – only a couple of my bestest friends knew. (I can mention it here because I’m usually involved in a few fandoms, so good luck sorting it out! :p) One morning I awoke to emails from each of those friends, each with scanned pictures of a nationally-published interview that contained some very thinly-veiled references to me. Our little tryst ended three years ago and I’d forgotten about it, so it was weird to see that article again…

Gazing Arizona: Someone in Phoenix read every single page of my blog yesterday. They must truly be bored! *grin* Howdy to mi familia and my friends back east. And Joel, deep in the heart of Tejas.

Neon Bible: Downloaded the new Arcade Fire album today, and have spent much of the day getting to know it. Good stuff!

GUS!: My dear pal Gus will be in town this week, recording up at Skywalker Ranch. He runs Super Audio Center in Boulder (which used to be a division of Sony Electronics – they developed DSD/SA-CD hardware and software called Sonoma). We’ll definitely be heading to Giorgio’s for our favorite pizza. Looking forward to it.

Catalog My Catalogs: Funny, just yesterday morning I was grumbling via email to a friend about how much I hate junk mail in my mailbox – credit card offers, coupons, etc. But I love to get catalogs, because I enjoy stimulating the economy but hate shopping malls and large stores. Checked my mail today…SIX catalogs. I guess the universe heard me. Makes for enjoyable reading during my bubble baths…

Rise ‘n’ Shine: Pip and I were playing a game via text today (I was pretty bored waiting for some info at work). We were matching some of our acquaintances-in-common with breakfast cereals. We know, as a collective, folks we call Fruit Loops (and sometimes “soggy Fruit Loops in the bottom of the bowl”). Among that collective, we have Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles, Malt-o-Meal, Cream of Wheat, Mueslix, Shredded Wheat (shows the sweet side until you get lured in, then…FLIP! goes soggy much faster than advertised…), Grape Nuts, Post Toasties, Rice Crispies, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Cap’n Crunch, Fiber One, Special K, she is Lucky Charms, and I am Apple Jacks.

Giants: Won their Cactus League opener against the Cubs, 9-2. Woohoo!

(Someone’s wearin’ their) Proxy Frock: Several attempts today, using the same French anonymous proxy server as a month ago, trying to read my 2006 Year in Review. Strangely, several folks have been trying to read that post (must be all those exciting bath products I listed!), but often they get the wrong URI for it. Speaking of reading, here’s a shout out to Joel, who found this spot via Google and said it was fun to see my mentions of who was reading me and where. Nice to hear from you again, ya Texan!