Faster, Faster, Don't Stop Now

NASCAR All Star Race

I want a true NASCAR All Star race.

I want Jimmie Johnson in one of his cars from Charlotte. I want Jeff Gordon in T Rex. I want Awesome Bill in that million dollar winning car (or the one that set the track record at...hell, was it Dega or Daytona?). And if Dale Sr. were around, I'd want him in a clunker, because hell, the man did more with clunkers than anyone else.

That would be an All Star race to me - one that features not only the best drivers, but the best cars. Then we'd see what generation had it best.

(As an aside, the Weather Channel is playing TSO. Hee!)

New Year's Resolution

For May I shall be crocheting. And because I found a beautiful afghan pattern, which I'd never get around to doing without prodding to learn to crochet, I'm taking a class through the community college. Starts May 22 and runs through the end of July.

So NYR is crochet!!!

(Yeah, this will be known as "Heather learns a skill that she'll utilize to make a potholder. Then she forgets it entirely.")

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Working in Rehab

The annoying thing about the days I show up at the Rehab center for volunteering and tons of people are there? That means that there's too many cooks in the kitchen. Yesterday, literally.

It's frustrating to try and prepare food for animals when you have someone standing there telling you a tray is done, when it isn't. There were animals needing food in the afternoon. Someone should have looked to see if all the cards on that tray were for the afternoon.

Also, I was all confused on preparing food for the ground hogs. At midnight I woke up and realized the problem - someone had put the wrong size bowls on the tray. No wonder the food wouldn't fit!

And lastly, lots of people there, and everyone wanted to work with the cute and fuzzy animals. No one wanted to clean stuff. And no one would dive in and just DO something. Luckily Halley jumped in and made sure I got a shot at feeding the baby birds (skywardprodigal, I now know how to entice a baby to eat!), but otherwise, people were wanting to do "cool" stuff, and I'm the one checking to see if there's laundry to wash or if caging needs to be cleaned. I washed some dishes, I cleaned caging for two hours...it was hard work! For which my back is paying today.

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Horse Racing

Of the good: when they compare the Derby to NASCAR. (There's drafting, yo.)

Of the bad: everything that happened after the finish line. Cried for 15 minutes over Eight Belles.

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Kyle Busch and Dale Senior

So Saturday night's wreckfest (come on, any time there's a big one on a short track, you can call it a wreckfest *g*) has led to something I want to say:

Kyle Busch is no Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Thing is, neither was Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The myth of the man is greater than he actually was. People who never even watched him race talk of his virtues. (Yes, I just put Senior and "virtues" in the same sentence.) His actual fans have raised him to mythic proportions. The reality is, yes, some things he was great at. But he was no saint on the track and he wasn't capable of astronomical racing feats. And supposing what he would have done is a moot point.

First off, Dale did wreck people for the win. For the win. And a lot of times just because. One thing that Dale said, though, that I do remember him saying, was that if he dished it out, he expected to receive it in return. I don't think Kyle is ready to be on the receiving end. (In fact, I think Kyle would say that the other driver lacked talent - a statement that I hate more than anything in NASCAR - even if that driver was Jeff Gordon.) Plus, when wrecking someone for the win, that means they can get across the line pretty soon after you wrecked them and won't lose too many spots. It's not the same as putting them in the wall with five laps to go. Plus Dale owned it most of the time. Kyle needs to own his badassness.

Dale was at his best in a crappy car. He could make a crappy car do things it shouldn't. Because he was wrestling the car and not other people. Kyle is at his best in a loose car. He can make a car on the edge of out of control do things that 99.999% of the field can't. Neither of those men was/is at their best when they're wrecking other people.

Oh, and Kyle came into the sport demanding respect. So did Dale Sr. Demanding is not how you get respect, though, it's how you piss people off. Look how long it took Senior to get people on his side.

So Kyle isn't Senior, and Senior wasn't the Senior he's remembered as today. And frankly, if anyone wants to know how to make friends and influence people...be the exact opposite of those two guys. *g*