REPORTING BACK FOR DUTY

i'm BAAAAAACK!

first of all, i need to apologize for the long delay in getting back on here. Fer those who don't know, i was just on a week vacation to florida...and the disney resort hotel room i was staying in was having multiple issues with the internet cable thingy, and so i had internet access for all of about 15 minutes or so the entire time! i was hoping to post at least once a day, but it didnt happen. argh!

so anyway...the trip was AWESOME...but of course...WAY too SHORT! it flew by in NO time. but me and the fam had a lot of fun. we had enough time to do all the disney parks, and also sea world...where we WANTED to have Shamu get us wet...we sat in the "splash zone"...but we were a row too high! but it was still a HECKUVA show.

as was the Great American Race...the 09 edition of the DAYTONA 500!!! i could NOT believe that i was actually there. it was one of those moments in your life where you literally...stop...take a deep breath...look around...get tingles down your spine...have a big smile come across your face...and you mumble to yourself the words of the great Quagmire from Family Guy..."OOOH RRRIGHT!!!" I had some dude take a picture of me in front of the car of my favorite driver, Jeff Burton, as it was about to go in to inspection. (SEE ABOVE)


the atmosphere was tremendous, and so were the people! the moment i stepped out of my car in the infield parking area, i had people to my left and people to my right offering food and drinks. then later i was honored to be one of the limited amount of people to be in the media center before the race for a pre-race press conference with Kieth Urban. He not only took a few questions, but he actually sang two songs! it was pretty cool. (SEE SIDE PICTURE). Unfortunately fer me, i did NOT get the opportunity to get a glimpse of his good lookin wifey, Nicole Kidman, who was there with him...somewhere. (i still say she has a pair of the BEST legs of ANYone) oddly enough, guess who ELSE was there? none other than tom cruise! i saw him for a brief moment, but the glare coming from his humongous sun glasses blinded me so i looked away.

the race itself had LOTS of good racing and was highly entertaining. with a couple of exceptions. number one...it was rain shortened. but EVERYbody there KNEW that it was eventually GOING to be, so it wasnt a HUGE disappointment.

the other thing that was disturbing...the man driving the #88 car, dale earnhardt junior. WHAT a PUNK!!! i have said it for quite a while - i know he's the "most popular driver", but i am NOT a fan. and i'm not talking about just the brian vickers incident. i'm talking more importantly about one that happened involving "my guy", jeff burton. it was late in the race...and like i said, EVERYone knew that rain was coming within a matter of MINUTES...and the 31 car is running solidly in 3rd...the 88 is pushing him from behind, but he's a LAP DOWN...and what's he decide to do? try and make it THREE WIDE...something we saw MAYBE two or three times all race! so, it sent the 31 car WAY back in the pack because he was stuck in the middle lane. i had my scanner set on his frequency, and he was cussin' up quite a storm...as was i. you DONT do that in the closing moments of a race when you have NO shot at a win. if he was on the lead lap and that close to the lead then i would have no problem with it. but he WASNT. sorry junior fans... he's a PUNK!

well...its wierd to think that roughly 24 hours ago i was sitting poolside under a few palm trees in 82 degree weather getting some last minute rays...and now here i sit with a news report about a winter weather advisory in effect until late tomorrow night with anywhere from 4 to 6 inches of blowing snow expected. YIKES!

but it was sure a BLAST while it lasted. and that is thee definition... of a vacation.