Taken from the road while entering the track in Charlotte last week. Get all patriotic for Memorial day weekend by putting up your true colors...anyone have any idea what that "G" on the tent means? I am curious as to who would seriously put this sort of display up at a major sporting event weekend.

Anyway, it has been a relaxing weekend. Time for some grilling with the youth group and some more sleeping in tomorrow morning. Anne has been sleeping a whole lot lately--I guess this is not exactly a bad side effect of the pregnancy, though it is not one that is publicized much. Besides that, all is well.

I had a nice day in BG yesterday afternoon--got a haircut, getting more work clothes from Salvation Army, and visiting friends. I really need to snag some more green coffee beans from the roasters though. Ok, time to grill.

This was the scene that I stared at for around an hour and a half in Charlotte. We left the race a little early so we could get out before the crowd hit. We JUST missed this window. As one of the first two cars in line, were waiting for a full hour and a half--though they originally told us that we would have to wait for the ENTIRE speedway to empty first.

Anyway, we got to see a "Cops"-like scene, a bunch of people who could hardly walk, and pretty much one of the most impressive parades of humanity one could hope to see.

I drove the Maritz cart today--it was really fun, but I stunk on it. It was a rather humbling experience. Actually, it is probably a good thing that I did not do well enough to possibly qualify for a long-term driving position with the team...I got my dissertation back. It needs a lot of work. I am going to get on that now.

NASCAR!

Fans. They were neat.

I just got back from the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge in Charlotte. It was a fun weekend. I learned a lot about culture, racing, corporate stuff, and had an all-around good time.

WORK: I was doing survey work with a colleague from work who has Nextel as a client. It was a bit of work, but wow, racing is a lot of fun to work around. I pretty much asked fans to do fill out some surveys and answered questions/helped them whenever they had questions.

RACING: Those guys are GOOD. Wow. It is NOT just driving around in circles--they do some of the most precise driving I can imagine anyone ever doing. We checked out the truck races beforehand and the trucks were impressive (when it was not "caution lapping" at least--and that race in particular had a lot them)

FANS: In terms of social stuff, it was a world of contrasts. Racing is best appreciated when you look at the precision and skill. I am not sure how many fans were there for this reason though. Case: Most people enjoy looking at just one driver...unfortunately, this driver is most often Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was not doing very well during this race in particular but his fans (who are about 60% of the fans there) barely seem to notice his driving--they just notice his presence. I was impressed by how friendly the crowds were--for as "rowdy" as our stereotypes of NASCAR fans are, those people really were nice. The "rival" drivers' fans would have a tacit discussion over their beliefs over who will win and then slap each other on the back and settle their differences with a "wooooo buddy", a slap on the back, and by sharing a Bud Light and/or a cigarette. Seriously. This happened more than once. I determined that the fans were nice after seeing these interactions and after the realization that I would much rather lose my wallet at a NASCAR event than at a baseball (or some such) game. :)

Other contrasts: macho people who take erectile dysfunction medication; praying to Jesus Christ for the safety of the drivers but not for the fans (who are far more obvious in their desperate need); anti-smoking and anti-drinking slogans at a festival of smoking and drinking (yes, the series that was the Winston Cup two years ago has very large beer and hard-liquor sponsorships); calling it a "family" sport and then having PamelaAnderson as the Grand Marshall of the race. I will stop now...but it was worthy of a dozen social studies dissertations.

REALITY: Anyway, it is going to be really hard to get back to work after that weekend. I am worn out and ready to not see corporate logos (or smell beer and/or cigarettes) for a while (but I would go again in a second).

This unsweet piece of plastic was screwed onto this Miata. Yes, it is supposed to simulate side exhaust pipes. We could not decide whether it was a joke. I thought it was funny anyway.

Our embryo is doing well. We are really excited about it. By the time s/he arrives, we will be bursting.

Life has been pretty good. We helped move Randy into a pretty neat apartment in downtown Perrysburg. I went fishing with the Bible study guys yesterday. We caught some teeny fish and threw them all back...but it was a good time.

I am excited that Saranga purchased webspace. He has a lot of space and a lot of time...this is very good.

Gerry was squirrel-hunting with a cracker as bait. He has those things pretty well tamed.

Things have been ok this week. I wish I had a great story to tell, but I have been waiting for feedback on my dissertation and have been fixing the computer (after I had the main (and newest one I own) hard drive crash).

Our baby now has armbuds. Its ears and eyes are beginning to form. Cool, huh? Anne has a lot of pregnancy books and keeps us both well-informed.

My poor Annie is a bit sick. She has strep throat and a cold, but she is getting better. It is tough to justify taking drugs at this stage of the pregnancy, but amoxicillin checks out as being ok.

Saranga was over and we modified my boat from a heavy 6 volt system to a light 9 volt system. Those ducks had better watch out.

Got to go...I just got done watching Nunsense at Zoar and Anne and I are helping to move Randy into his new apartment in Perrysburg tomorrow.

Got hCG?

BIG NEWS: Who dat is? My baby's mama!

Yeah, I guess it is safe to let the cat out of the bag. Our due date was calculated (by us, so it may not be valid) to be somewhere around January 10th. I cannot put the right words out here. We are going nutty. I guess you can ask us that in person or on the phone or something like that.

Unrelated news: I could not post this earlier (we "found out" on Monday well enough to tell people) was because my stupid main hard drive that had a ton of stuff on it crashed. The dissertation computer works, but I was using it to FINALLY turn in a complete draft of the dissertation. Yay. The Perrysburg paper accidentally had me in as graduating in two days though. Anyway, I am doing as much recovery as possible on the stupid drive. Man, I wish I would have made a recent backup of stuff.

As a part of work, I will get to go to a NASCAR race to do surveying for Nextel. Yay. This was a genuinely happy thing to have the opportunity to do.

Now to figure out NASCAR in a hurry...and parenting. :)

Casey at the party...fiddling with the phone instead of Jannelle.

It has been a good two days, even though the sad deal finally played out--Casey moved. I was really burned out at work, but now I am ok. More importantly, I made a lot of progress on the dissertation. I also finally switched over to summer tires and put a really ugly cupholder in my Civic. Another sad thing happened--my cousin died unexpectedly on Tuesday (he was 41), so I have some funeral stuff to do. Luckily work is very understanding when it comes to deaths in the family.

In other news, I now have a slow--but working--remote-controlled boat, in case anyone wants to visit and annoy some slow ducks.