Off to Portland

We're off to Portland, OR this afternoon. I have to be there for staff meetings (Sunday and Monday).

I'm hoping to hook up for happy hour with a few PNW bloggers on Saturday.

On Monday we'll be spending the night with this guy.

Because some of you just come for the pictures

I won't name names.

My most excellent day at the paperclip

As you may have guessed, I had a great time at the race on Sunday. We left the house at 8:00, stopped at Panera for breakfast to go, and reached the track by 10:00.

We were directed to an access road that leads to several parking lots located behind the camping area. While it meant easy-in/ easy-out from the lot, it also meant walking all the way through the campgrounds. And they were muddy. This is how things were after two days of constant rain:


When we got to the track, our first order of business was buying tickets. We decided to wait to buy tickets for fear the race would be rained out. Though we paid a bit more per ticket, we ended up in very good seats. More on that later.

The next order of business was finding a good position for the airing of NASCAR Raceday Live, scheduled to begin at 11:30am. Here's how the show looked from our point of view. We had to fight for position. And it was VERY windy.


We stayed through the first 30 minutes of the show and then headed off to buy merchandise.


After that we headed through the gates and to our seats. We had excellent seats. We were right off turn two, about 24 rows up, with a great view of pit stall #1 and the pit road finish line. In a race where it's hard to gain track position, pit strategy is everything. We saw several close battles to be first off pit road.


This was our view of the back stretch.


The pre-race flyover.



My guy, Tony Stewart, had a GREAT race. A lot of tires were blowing, ruining the fortunes of many drivers by putting them lap-after-lap down. Stewart finished a solid third, his best finish so far this year. Take a look...



The best part? Court and I behaved like the married couple we are. We held hands almost the entire time we were there. Sitting in the stands, I either had my arm around her, or she had hers around me. My back started bothering me, so I spent the last 250 laps kinda leaning on Court. We were clearly a couple. And no one batted an eye. No one gave us grief. In fact, no one even noticed us that I can tell. It just goes to show you: NASCAR fans have way more class than most people are willing to admit.

The guy in the seat next to me was a real-estate agent from NC. I told him about my desire to own farm property somewhere between Hickory and Asheville. He's a Jr. fan. The guy next to him was a Harvick man. Next to him was an Edwards fan. And next to that guy were Stewart fans (husband and wife). Most of the people in our section were married men out on a Sunday without their wives. One in ten people were women, who were generally there with their husbands.

The last 50 laps were COLD. Clouds came out and it was VERY windy. I had trouble driving home for the wind.

We had a great time. I can't wait until the race in October. Maybe I'll persuade Syd to come back for that one. Who knows what I might do to her otherwise.

If you missed NASCAR Raceday today...

then you missed seeing this sign on TV.


I'm watching it on the DVR and that obnoxious sign is in just about every shot. HA!









Here are three snippets from SPEED's Raceday...



The fly-over...



After Chris in ATL gave me his pole.

Bitches

Y'all gotta start holding hands.

Because Sassy asked....

This is a picture
of my office.

Thanks GM.

I called my mother today.

TMH

I learned today that an English professor at the college always gets TMI mixed up.

He writes it "TMH."

Now all the humanities bunch say or text "TMH." [A newcomer to this group, I was clueless until someone explained. It makes sense that TMI would come up a lot.]

It's sorta like how I've come to use the word blob.

I beat you to it GM

Check out Syd's button. She let me touch it.

Yes, it was good for me. I can't say how it was for her.

I out-dumbassed Syd

And lived to tell the tale.

Road trippin' again

We're headed to Syd's and then to the in-laws in Little Rock to return the kids.

Back Tuesday.

I hate when I forget a birthday

Happy birthday Yankeegirl!

Congratulations Sharon!

Hop on over to Sharon's and offer congrats. She did it!

Name that pussy... cat

I have a pretty good hunch that, among many of my blog friends, one name more than any other will come to mind for this cat.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Hat Tip

This just in

I just heard a guy on NPR claim that "we're all adrenaline junkies." Based on the traffic over at Syd's, I'd say he's right.

Syd's Post Secret

I think Syd sent this postcard to Post Secret.

Not to be outdone, her K sent in this postcard.

Overheard at Trop's

Court: I showed Syd that recipe from Pioneer Woman and confessed that I might have a bacon fetish. She told me I'm normal, so I feel better.

Me: I don't know that you ought to be taking advice from Syd about what's normal.

Which of my blog friends is most likely to try this?

Hat Tip: Boortz

Shhhh! Don't tell Syd...

but there was an audible girlie scream overheard at Trop's when I got a package in the mail.

Included in the box was the ultimate dyke sweatshirt, and Tony Stewart paraphernalia, including this handy dandy Tony Stewart connecting rod bottle opener keychain.

Yankeegirl, you ROCK!

Happy New Year!

The year ending was challenging, but it was a great year none-the-less. It was a year of meeting people, many times face-to-face.

First came the get-together in February at Sassy & Fran's. Despite Amanda coming down with fever, it was an enjoyable trip. It is always great when you can be with people in person.

The second was our trip across the South in June, when we met up with Sharon and Ms. A in AL. Then we made a stop in MS to spend time with Syd & K on their farm. On our drive back we met up with Ting & Caly from the LL board at iVillage.com and spent a night with them in TN.

And third was the Lesbian NASCAR Camping weekend. Oh man, you haven't lived until you have done a NASCAR weekend. I'm just saying.

Yeah. I know what you REALLY think.

My sleep is all out of whack from all the traveling and driving. I was taking Coricidin-D during the PA leg of our trip and should not have been. I have a thyroid condition. I was WIDE awake last night. Read a very interesting article on futurology. There's a story there for another time.

We put about 2,600 miles on Judy (she had fresh tires and excellent grip). And we put another 600 miles on a rental car (family van for the weekend in Memphis with the kids). We got back to East Jesus at about 9:00 Sunday night. I slept late this morning and took Amanda shopping this afternoon. The three of us met our friend Susan for an early dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. While there we decided to see a movie, Charlie Wilson's War.

It was a pretty good film. A liberal point of view, but an approrpiate one in my opinion. Considering who wrote, produced and directed it--that will be the major distraction used to find fault with the film. This is unfortunate.

We were home by 9:30.

So, not wanting just yet to get to work on everything due Wednesday, I decided to assemble my hookah. It came with no instructions, so I went looking.

Though I have plenty of bong experience (those two and a half years between high school graduation and when, having just turned twenty, I began college), a hookah is an entirely different matter.

I'm trying the molasses tobacco. It is very sticky and has the appearance of pulverized dates. It's wonderful.

Any time you find yourself in East Jesus, stop in and I'll bring out the hookah. It also travels in a really cool carrying case.


As for 2008? Bring it on!

I, for one, am excited!