Finish Lines

Well isn't that just a bunch of crap? Today is Sunday the 5th of January 2014 which signifies the last day of 16 days off for Cicely and I for our holiday break. It has been really nice staying home and doing whatever we want to do for the past 2 weeks that's for sure! Tomorrow will be the first workday of the new year for us both and the start of whatever changes the year has in store for us both.

I think there will be a lot to learn and growing to be done over the next year so we need to keep our chins up and roll with any punches that may be thrown our way. Otherwise the next thing we know it will be the end of the year once again and we will wonder where all the time went.

Before we know it tax time will be upon us (boo!, not looking forward to taxes this year because of Cicely's business), baby will be here to make sure we know that she is in charge and that we don't know the first thing about sleepless nights.

We are still positive thought and looking at it as a fresh start on everything just as every new year brings. I will at times be frustrated and tired of the crap the monkeys throw at us, but at the same time I am looking forward to it. OK, the excitement stops at getting another year older wiser.

Supercross - Hell Yeah!!

It's January and anyone that follows racing knows what that means - the season opener for supercross racing and at the usual venue, Anaheim California. Last nights race will be the first of 3 that the teams will go to Anaheim before heading to other locations during the 17 race series, finally heading all the way over to the east coast to race in New York, something they have not done in a very long time, then back to the west coast to end the championship in Las Vegas.

They have a new format this year, well not necessarily "new" but one that they brought back to the series. I for one like it a lot better this way because you get to see a lot more racing and if a racer has a bad start or gets caught up in something he still has a really good chance to get into the main event. The format is now setup as "heat 1", "semi 1", "semi 2" and then "the last chance qualifier" aka the LCQ. From the heat race 8 riders go directly to the main, each of the semi's take 4 to the main as does the LCQ. In the past it was 2 heat races with the top 9 going to the main then an LCQ with the top 2 from the race going to the main.

For me there was a lot more edge of the seat action and great racing in general with the format. So yeah, I will admit that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's racing so it would take a lot for me to not like it of course. I was only worried it would not be as intense as it ended up being, instead more drawn out - if that makes any sense.

One of the main riders that I follow, #7 James Stewart had a decent heat race finishing up in second place which gave him a ticket directly to the main event. Unfortunately after a so-so start in the main and kicking some major ass getting back up through the pack to position himself in second place, setting up first for a pass with 2 laps to go he had a gnarly get-off about 3/4 way through the first set of whoops. When they played it back in slow-motion it looked 10x worse.

Thankfully James got up on his own and left the track immediately after so hopefully he is not injured or has re-injured something. I felt really bad for the guy, ever since he started running the 450's it seems he has had some bad luck with injury and get-offs in general. I have my own theories about the "why" as do most I bet.

One theory is that I think he was always wide-open on the 2 strokes and knew every little thing that bike would do under him so he was in total control. I think now with the 450's if you consistently grab that much throttle the bike is going to control you. I think he just needs to either grab smaller handfuls of throttle or figure out his best method to ride them more like a 2 stroke.

The even bigger problem for him is that many of the up-and-comers watched how he rode the 2 strokes and then taught themselves to ride the 450's that way - mostly because they just did not know any better and/or starting on the 2 stroke would not be a good career decision. So they come into the pro scene as rookies that are crazy fast. I remember races several years back where James would be in first and start lapping the rest of the racers all the way up into 2nd through 8th place or more of the main event. That was simply unheard of in almost any sport to be that fast.

No matter, he is still a rider with some crazy natural talent and mad skills and I think the rest of the lineup on the gate better remember that. Once he finds what he needs to make it all click everyone is in for a big surprise! C'mon James, I for one want to see it! I hope the news reports state that there is no injury and he will be back next week in Phoenix to kick some ass.

NASCAR

Not much to report on the NASCAR racing front other than the fact that the teams are ramping up for the kick off to their season in Daytona this month. I think they usually race the last weekend or so of the month, the 26th this year possibly? I am looking forward to the races and I really hope that I can get deeper into them this season.

This past year I barely watched because I had so much more on my plate that I wanted and needed to accomplish. So sitting in front of the TV on Sunday for 4 hours or so was just not in the cards. Maybe this year it will be more doable with baby and with a lot of the bigger projects I was focused on being done now for the most part. Of course anyone that knows me knows that there is always a project in the back of my mind that I am wanting to do!

Bracket

So yesterday afternoon I was getting ready to build babies new stroller when Cicely asked me to come into the house and look at something in the kitchen. Nope, not a killer sub sandwich to reward me for all my hard work, but instead she found that one of the shelves under the counter where we store our pots and pans is drooping really bad from the weight of the pots and pans.

She asked if I had any ideas and if we could somehow easily fix it so it does not continue to sag or worse snap at some point with all the heavy pots and pans coming crashing down. I immediately said thanks baby for pointing this out and next the gears started turning. I grabbed my tape measure, scoured the wood pile I use for this sort of thing and went to work.

After  couple hours of cutting, measuring some more, sanding, drilling and screwing parts together I had a finished piece that was ready for paint. I am super proud of it too even though it's nothing spectacular to most woodworkers. It's more that I was able to see the problem and come up with a killer solution in such a short amount of time.

Most importantly, Cicely thought it was pretty cool as well - thanks for the support baby! Sure I could have probably just purchased a shelf bracket at Home Depot but what fun would that have been? I have so many killer tools so I like to use them as much as I can. It's robust enough to hold the heaviest of pots and pans without taking up a bunch of the space under the support. I am satisfied with the result and now it's on to the next project.

3D Printer Build (incomplete - "Fail")

So I have to say that I have yet to build the printer or even start on it. Yea I know - WTF? Why not? Well simply because there are more important things to attend to and I don't want to start it when I don't have a solid chunk of time to really get into it. It will happen and there is no real urgency to getting the thing done other than the fact that I want to finish it.

My buddy at work got his in the mail last week - albeit one that was already assembled - and so he has already been printing on it trying to get a character that he made long ago to print out as an ornament I think. He said that it's much more of an undertaking than he thought it would be. Mostly getting everything to scale because he is printing the parts out individually and different colors. Body one color, arms another and so on.

So yes that is still on my list of things that I want and need to get done sooner than later. My bass guitar sat lonely the entire vacation as well which was not in the original game plan but shxt happens and it wears you out. The next thing you know it's the last day of the vacation - yep that is exactly where I sit right now. No regrets though, I would not change anything - it was a very much needed time away from the usual day-to-day.

Fuzzy Walk

So not only was it nice out today but it was nice enough for us to take Oggy for a walk. I even wore shorts and was not cold at all. Although I did have a sweatshirt on up top, that does not count because I usually do for comfort.

I think Oggy had a really good time and enjoyed the walk as well. He has not been able to go on walks much this year because both of us have been so lazy by the time we get home we just want to kick back and relax. Usually we will at least try to take him to the mailbox but that is maybe a 10th of a mile which is just not enough.

The normal walk that we go on I have measured with the car and it's just a hair under 1 mile round-trip. So counting all of his little detours and circle-backs to sniff and mark bushes with his scent he gets The full 1 mile which is perfect for a little Chihuahua.

In the past going for a walk was never a problem for me because I am generally Mr. "go-go-go". I would take him for his 1 mile walk and then I would come home and get on the treadmill for at least another mile or 2. I honestly think I just got burned out doing so much friggin' exercise on top if working all day.

Especially back when I was walking a mile in the morning before work, then working out in the afternoon at the gym and doing 1-4 or more miles of cardio for my warm up before strength training. Then at the end of the day coming home and taking Oggy for a 1 mile walk then trying to do 1-2 miles on the treadmill either before or after dinner. Too much!

Right now it's actually really good though because Cicely needs the exercise to get her heart rate up and that sort of thing for baby and for herself. But she is tired so often or has to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes it makes it tough. I totally understand where she is coming from and hey, at least she is trying.

Anyway I went off on a tangent there for some reason, LOL. All I really wanted to mention was that we were able to take Oggy for a walk and it was nice.

It would be great if the the winter stays mild like it has been so we are able to continue to do outdoor stuff. On the other hand if it remains mild we will have to listen to the weather guessers and everyone else complain about "a drought" all summer long.

Behind Us

With the days away from work now behind us and as mentioned before, the new year in front of us it should be recipe for a really good year. I try to be more of a "look at today" type of person and learn from what I did yesterday. This year it may be a game of give and take to do what I normally do and I may need to thicken up my skin a little - more on that later possibly.

Lot's of planning and lessons to be learned that's for sure in 2014. Baby will be here before we know it and our lives will be forever changed just as they were the day we found that adorable little fuzzy kid and took him home with us.

I know we can do all of it and do the best we can to have greatness. Many years ago when Cicely and I met we knew that we were going to make something awesome out of our time together. I think so far we have done a dam good job and we both look forward to doing more awesomeness!

Photo: Shelving bracket I made. I realize it does not look like much in the photo but it was really fun to make. Not to mention it's as strong as it looks! On to the next project....